Jake breezed through the next several waves of the challenge. Each new wave spawned fifteen more mutants than the previous one, and a new type of mutant was introduced with almost every wave. However, all the mutants he faced during the Wave Survival challenge were ones he had already encountered in this world. The experience points he earned were tripled, thanks to the Increased XP booster he had purchased before starting the challenge.
The second wave had forty mutants to kill, but it didn’t introduce any new types, so most of them were walkers interspersed with a few leapers. During this wave, he earned 1,275 XP, bringing his total up to 2,335. To level up to 43, he needed to reach 5,375. The third wave had fifty-five ex-humans and added another type of mutant—a shambler. However, there were only a couple of them, and Jake racked up 1,965 XP during this wave, bringing his current XP to over four thousand: 4,300/5,375.
Wave 4 had seventy mutants and added whippers to the fight, featuring fifteen more mutants than the previous wave. The fourth wave mostly consisted of walkers and leapers, mixed with three shamblers and two whippers. Jake earned 3,069 XP during this wave, and that was when he leveled up to 43. His XP was now 1,724/5,500. He earned 5 skill points but decided to allocate them, along with all the other skill points he would earn during the challenge, after finishing the Wave Survival. By his estimation, he should be able to level up a few more times by the end of the challenge and a few additional times if he successfully completed it. So if everything went smoothly, he would end up with quite a few skill points.
Wave 5 didn’t introduce any new mutant types, featuring a total of eighty-five ex-humans. Like the previous wave, it mainly consisted of walkers and leapers, with a couple of shamblers and whippers. He earned 3,300 XP in this wave. The sixth wave ramped up to one hundred mutants and, in addition to the walkers, leapers, shamblers, and whippers, added a couple of slashers to the mix, each worth 250 XP. In this wave, Jake earned a total of 5,535 XP, allowing him to level up to 44 and earn five additional skill points.
The next wave, the seventh, was somewhat different from the previous ones, breaking the pattern slightly. Instead of the usual addition of fifteen enemies, this wave increased the count by twenty-five, but all of them were only walkers and leapers. There were no shamblers, whippers, or slashers present. Although this wave had added ten more mutants than the previous ones, they were all low-level mutants, resulting in Jake earning only 3,900 XP. Despite earning fewer experience points than in the prior wave, he still gathered enough to level up to 45, bringing his total skill points to fifteen. His XP now stood at 1,610/5,750.
After each wave, there was a five-second break, which Jake didn’t really need since he couldn’t get physically tired as long as he had enough mana stored in his body. However, during each five-second break, all the dead bodies of the mutants he killed in the previous wave disappeared, which was a good thing. If all the dead bodies had remained, the rooftop would have become clogged with them quite some time ago.
The Electro had not been activated even once during the previous seven waves. The mutants shrieked and screamed, creating quite a cacophony that made the anomaly pulsate and send waves of vibrations through the air. However, the sheer noise generated by the horde of ex-humans swarming the rooftop wasn’t nearly enough to trigger the Electro. Which was another good thing. Jake didn’t even want to imagine what could happen if, for any reason, the dangerous anomaly were to activate.
Just like Wave 7, the next one added twenty-five more mutants instead of the regular fifteen. To get through this wave, he had to eliminate a total of one hundred and fifty ex-humans, which was quite a lot. That was why Jake immediately launched himself toward the first ex-human emerging from a rift gate. With a single swipe of his claws, he killed the creature and then moved on to another mutant. He knew he had to kill them as quickly as possible. He couldn’t afford to let one hundred and forty-nine remaining mutants swarm onto the rooftop all at once.
Jake continued to take down one ex-human after another, but despite his efforts to be as quick as possible, the rooftop was steadily becoming overcrowded with mutants. It wasn’t long before more formidable enemies, like shamblers and whippers, began to emerge from the rift gates. His Feral Instincts constantly warned him about enemies that were about to strike when he wasn’t aware.
At one point, the ability alerted him to a whipper lashing out with its tentacle, prompting him to leap to the side. He quickly spun around just as the whipper lashed out again. Extending a sword from his right wrist, he sliced through the tentacle, severing it. Retracting the blade, he dashed toward the whipper, morphing his right hand into a smashfist.
On the run, he lashed out at a nearby walker with the claws on his left hand, opening up the mutant’s throat. Another one attempted to strike out at him, but he ducked, sprouting three bladed tentacles from his back. As he continued to run, he lashed out with all his tentacles at the mutants surrounding him from all directions. He slashed at their throats and opened up their torsos, pierced through their chests and stabbed their eyes. The lifespans of his tentacles were pretty short, but as soon as they detached from his body, he instantly sprouted new ones, spending some of his mana for the action.
Upon reaching the whipper, he threw a powerful punch aimed at its chest. His smashfist effortlessly broke through the mutant’s protective organic layer, breaking through muscle and snapping ribs inward with surprising ease. Jake withdrew his smashfist from the huge hole in the mutant’s chest he’d just created, and the large ex-human collapsed. Just like that, the whipper was dead. Now, one powerful punch was all it took for Jake to kill powerful, well-protected mutants like shamblers or whippers.
His Feral Instincts warned him of a slasher approaching from behind. Jake leaped to the side, successfully dodging the attack. His ability kicked in again, alerting him to yet another mutant nearby. This time, Jake couldn’t evade the attack in time, and he felt claws rake against the flesh of his back. However, it inflicted minimal damage, and his Enhanced Regeneration was already at work, repairing the torn flesh.
Jake continued to battle the mutants surrounding him from all directions. Despite his incredible speed and agility, along with useful skills like Enhanced Reflexes and Feral Instincts, the sheer number of enemies made it impossible for him to dodge every attack. However, the damage inflicted by the mutants was minimal, and his body healed quickly during the fight.
Finally, the eighth wave was finished. During this wave, Jake killed one hundred and thirty walkers, ten leapers, three shamblers, two whippers, and five slashers, earning 9,000 XP. He leveled up to 46 and now had a total of twenty skill points at his disposal. Even though the challenge wasn’t over yet, he had already accumulated a significant amount of skill points. He couldn’t wait to allocate them to his attributes and acquire new skills and abilities. However, he pushed those thoughts aside, knowing he needed to remain focused on the Wave Survival challenge as he still had two more waves to survive.
In the brief five-second pause following the seventh wave, Jake took a moment to check the status of the challenge.
Remaining time: 16 min 44 sec
As far as he knew, there was no time limit for this challenge. The Remaining Time line simply indicated how much time was left to obtain the cloaking ability. If he failed to finish the challenge within that time frame, he wouldn’t be rewarded with it. While Jake’s main goal was to successfully complete the challenge to level up several more times, he was also eager to finish quickly enough to earn the cloaking ability. Having a new ability at his disposal was never a bad thing. Every skill and ability not only enhanced his chances of survival but also helped him maintain his status as the apex predator in this world.
Just as rift gates began to appear all over the rooftop, marking the start of the next, ninth wave, Jake heard a rhythmic whirring sound. The moment he recognized it, anger bubbled up inside him as he already knew what was happening—one of the helicopters patrolling the area was closing in on his location.
He turned toward the sound and saw a sleek, futuristic helicopter approaching his position. It was somewhat higher than the rooftop he stood on, and for a moment, Jake hoped that the chopper would fly over the building without its occupants noticing him. However, his hope quickly evaporated when the helicopter settled into a hover above the roof. The aircraft was completely black, adorned with a red demon skull painted on each of its sides.
Just like all the other helicopters belonging to Los Demonios, this one appeared civilian. Aside from a machine gun mounted in one of the side doors, it lacked any additional weapons. While Jake battled the first group of walkers that had just emerged from the rift gates, he made sure to keep the chopper in his field of vision. The helicopter hovered next to a building a few dozen yards above him. It was too high in the air for Jake to reach by jumping.
For the next several seconds, the pilot and door gunner observed Jake battling the ex-humans as more mutants poured out from the portals. Then, the door gunner tilted the barrel of the machine gun downward and unleashed a barrage of bullets.