Chapter 31

  Jake made his way through the thick woods of what used to be a city park. Now, it was so rown with vegetation that it looked more like a juhe area was crawling with ex-humans, so he stayed vigint. He wove through the trees, leading with his assault rifle. Every now and then, mutants burst out of the foliage, but Jake stitched them with bullets long before they could get close. Fortunately, the city park oputed mostly by low-level mutants like walkers and leapers, so he didn’t have much trouble dealing with them.

  Occasionally, he came across a replication pod hanging from a branch sturdy enough to support its weight. A replication pod created a mutant inside of it, nurturing it from a single cell to a fully grown-up creature in a matter of a few minutes. Once a mutant was fully developed, a replication pod opeo let it out. After that, a replication pod sealed itself shut once more, filling with some kind of life-giving liquid, and the process began anew. As Jake picked his way through the rown city park, he made sure to obliterate every replication pod he entered, ripping them to shreds with bullets.

  At one point, he leveled up, but he decided to hold off on allog the skill point for now. He po do that once he finished his mission and got back to the safety of one of his hideouts. With the day drawing to a close and darkness desding, he decided he would call it a day after pleting his current mission. While he had initially inteo check the survivors’ stash, he figured it could wait until tomorrow as there was o rush.

  Finally, the trees opened out into a vast area of tall grass. Jake paused at the edge of the treeline, sing his surroundings. With no mutants in sight, he took in the clearing, finding nothing of i except for a magical anomaly right at the ter of the open area. It hovered motionless a few feet above the ground.

  Many anomalies he came across were difficult to detect, with some beiirely invisible and only noticeable by the sounds they emitted. However, the anomaly h in the middle of the clearing was different. It was clearly visible, resembling a rge bck hole as if the very fabric of reality had been ripped open in that specific spot.

  As soon as he stepped out of the trees, Jake sensed an unseen force tugging him toward the anomaly. Initially weak, the pull intensified with each step he took across the clearing. As he approached the anomaly, the frew stronger. At some point, he stopped walking. It was obvious that if he veoo close to the anomaly, the pull would bee so powerful he would be uo resist being drawn into the abyss of the bck hole.

  Bag up until he reached the edge of the trees surrounding the clearing where the pull was weakest, Jake used his PDA to analyze the anomaly.

  Name: Dark Void

  Description: Dark Void pulls in living creatures to subject them to mana-infused meic mutation. If the victim is an ex-human and survives the process, it bees signifitly strohe ces of a regur human surviving in the Dark Void are slim to none.

  Danger Level: 10 (Very High). A failed attempt to close the Dark Void immediately triggers it, causing the Dark Void to draw in anything within its reach.

  Jake pocketed his PDA and looked at the Dark Void once more, his brow furrowed in thought. So far, he’d entered several types of anomalies, and all of them had different abilities. Some anomalies pulled you in only to fling you away with tremendous for a random dire. Another could shatter every bone in your body. Yet another unleashed a bst of magical energy, inflig harm ohing within its reach. Each type of anomaly had a different and dangerous ability.

  Anomalies were alsered differently. Some of them were triggered by physical tact, while others activated when approached too closely. Retly, he had discovered that certain anomalies could be set off by loud he Dark Void, uhe others, appeared to be stantly active, exerting a persistent pulling for its surroundings.

  Jake observed a ring of barren spacirg the anomaly, devoid of the tall grass in that particur area. The ground within this circle appeared darkened, as though scorched. This ominous dark ring likely marked the event horizon of the Dark Void—a point of urn. The dark circle measured approximately thirty yards in diameter, indig the area where the pull of the Dark Void was stro. Anythiering the bed earth within that circle would likely find it impossible to escape the grip of the anomaly.

  Jake was at a loss for what to do. Based on the description of the Dark Void, he uood that if for whatever reason, he was uo seal it shut, the anomaly would trigger, dragging everything within its effective rao its depths. Although he stood at the edge of the clearing where the Dark Void’s pull was weakest, Jake was still within the anomaly’s effective range. He khat if the Dark Void was triggered, its pull would intensify signifitly. Jake found himself in a dilemma; he couldn’t move farther away from the anomaly but instead had to get closer to it. Based on his experience, he khat he o be approximately thirty yards from an anomaly in order to cast a Closing spell on it.

  And that was the predit Jake found himself fag. He o make his way much closer to the Dark Void than his current position. So he o position himself about fifteen yards from the dark circle in order to be able to cast the spell on the anomaly. On the correct position, he would have to trate fully on using the spell for at least a minute or longer. Any distra would break the spell, triggering the anomaly. Whether he would be able to avoid being pulled into the Dark Void while being in such close proximity was anybody’s guess.

  He sed his surroundings once more, noting the absenutants within the clearing. However, he was aware that many of them lurked in the woods surrounding the area. Upoering the park, Jake utilized the ser app on his PDA to identify the types of mutants he would enter within the area. Due to the app’s current level being only 1, it was uo dispy the proximity of mutants, though. As a result, Jake had no way of knowing if there were enemies nearby. Any ued attack while casting the spell would put him in serious jeopardy.

  Just as Jake pted the situatioiced a mutant emerging from the trees on the opposite side of the clearing. The leaper, moving on all fours, immediately caught sight of Jake despite the signifit distaweehe ex-human instantly burst into a run across the clearing toward him. Jake brought up his assault rifle, aligning the iron sights with the approag threat. His index finger instinctively found its pside the trigger guard, ready to unleash a barrage of bullets on the charging mutant.