Rift gates ripped open not far from the gates of the bandit compound, and mutants immediately began to crawl out. As soon as Jake saw them, he realized they weren’t ex-humans. Instead, they were altogether different creatures. Usually, he encountered mutants of some kind—either ex-humans wandering throughout the city or mutated animals lurking in the gloomy underground tunnels. He also recalled a time when he battled a magical creature known as a Wood Golem, which had the ability to create strange and grotesque minions from the very plants around it.
But the creatures crawling out of the magical rifts opening all around the bandit base were something entirely different. So far, he had noticed three different types of creatures. He summoned their stats one by one.
Spider (Voidspawn) - Level 175
This type of creature possessed a human-like upper body with two elongated arms that ended in sharp claws, accompanied by six crab-like segmented legs that tapered to a point. Its head was devoid of hair, featuring numerous black eyes and a large mouth filled with triangular teeth.
The void spiders scuttled on their crab-like legs with surprising speed and agility. Upon reaching the compound’s perimeter walls, they easily climbed them, sticking the tips of their pointed legs into the surface and moving up sideways.
Fiend (Voidspawn) - Level 155
This type of creature moved on all fours and was the size and the general shape of a German Shepherd. It was furless and had pale skin. It didn’t have a tail, and its snout was X-shaped, consisting of four jaws that appeared disproportionately large compared to the overall size of its body.
It soon became clear that the fiends were not only capable of running at remarkable speed but also of jumping incredibly high. They vaulted over the perimeter walls effortlessly, landing inside the base to unleash chaos and instill panic among both workers and bandits. Chaos quickly erupted within the base: workers scurried in all directions, while bandits struggled to fend off the fiends, firing their weapons in a desperate attempt to repel them.
Sky Raptor (Voidspawn) - Level 160
This creature was a winged reptile equipped with long jaws brimming with sharp teeth and two legs ending in curved talons. As soon as they emerged from the magical portals, sky raptors took to the air, soaring over the perimeter walls. They circled the compound beneath them, occasionally swooping down to pounce on humans, adding to the panic occurring within the compound.
Jake clung to the building’s wall, watching the fierce battle unfold before his eyes. It was clear that the inhabitants of the base weren’t prepared to confront such powerful and high-level creatures. However, the situation wasn’t as dire as it might seem at first glance.
The void spiders had no trouble scaling the perimeter walls, but not many of them actually succeeded in reaching the top. The bandits on the walls fired their weapons down at the spider-like monsters. The guns they were armed with lacked the firepower to inflict serious damage on the attackers, but their continuous fire at least managed to slow the enemy’s advance.
Most of the damage dealt to the void spiders came from the machine gun turrets positioned atop the watchtowers. As it turned out, they were incredibly powerful. Their aim was nothing short of perfect, and the torrents of heavy-caliber rounds they unleashed sent the attackers flying off the walls. Jake could see workers climbing to the watchtowers to reload the turrets that had run out of ammo.
One by one, the spider-like creatures fell to the ground below, bleeding from numerous wounds and stumps of limbs severed by the piercing turret fire. Jake was sure those machine gun turrets protecting the base were the most powerful weapons he had encountered so far. On more than one occasion, he witnessed torrents of bullets literally tearing a void spider in half with startling ease.
Only a handful of arachnids managed to reach the top and jump into the base, but they didn’t get much farther after that. The machine gun turrets could rotate 360 degrees, locating enemies in any direction. Once a turret locked onto a target, it didn’t divert its attention until the enemy was dead. The void spiders that managed to scale over the compound walls were swiftly taken down by the turrets before they could inflict any damage on the base or harm its occupants.
However, the bandits did take casualties. More than once, Jake saw a void spider reach the top of a wall and swing its claws at a bandit who was unfortunate enough to be nearby, killing the hapless human instantly. While the machine gun turrets were powerful, they could do only so much as the sheer number of attackers made it impossible for the turrets to kill void spiders quickly, which resulted in some of the bandits on the walls being killed. Nevertheless, overall, the turrets did an excellent job of defending the base. Without their support, the situation would have been far more difficult for those inside.
Within the base, the bandits fought against the fiends and sky raptors. Although these creatures were somewhat weaker than the void spiders and came in smaller numbers, they still managed to deal substantial damage to the defenders. One by one, the bandits were picked off. While they possessed higher levels than most of the regular survivors, it was evident that they weren’t prepared for an assault by such high-level monsters.
Jake couldn’t help but wonder where those voidspawn monsters had come from so suddenly. How come such high-level creatures targeted survivors who were much weaker than them? It didn’t feel right. Such things shouldn’t happen in a world governed by video game logic.
Jake remained fixated on the scene before him as the battle raged on. The chaos within the base was intense and brutal. The fiends pounced on the bandits, knocking them to the ground and mercilessly tearing the unfortunate humans apart with their X-shaped jaws. The sky raptors occasionally pounced on the defenders, seizing them with their clawed legs so tightly that their talons broke through the victims’ bodies. The winged creatures ascended rapidly into the sky, carrying their terrified victims with them, only to drop them back down. The unfortunate humans screamed at the top of their lungs as they plummeted down to the ground to meet their deaths.
The monsters primarily targeted the bandits, but occasionally, they also went after the workers who tried to stay as far away from the battle as possible, hiding in various places. Both the workers and the bandits were in a state of panic. The only person who seemed completely unfazed by the chaos unfolding within the compound was the leader of the base, Miller. The power suit he was clad in made him nearly invincible. The monsters attempted to attack him, but aside from leaving some scratches and small dents in the power suit, they failed to inflict any significant damage.
Equipped with an energy weapon on one wrist and a massive chainsaw on the other, the power suit transformed Miller into a one-man army. The plasma gun unleashed devastating damage, inflicting severe burn marks on the monsters and dispatching them almost instantly. The fiends and sky raptors were no match for him, and he took them down one by one with remarkable ease. Without Miller and the turrets stationed atop the watchtowers, the bandit base would have been doomed.
Jake was astonished when he summoned Miller’s stats and discovered he was now at level 195. The last time he had checked, Miller had been at level 185. How had he managed to gain ten levels so rapidly? Even Jake, at level 78, found it difficult to level up in the city. Wherever Miller had been gaining experience, it clearly wasn’t in this city.
Suddenly, an enormous rift gate ripped open not far from the entrance to the base. A few seconds later, a massive monster emerged from it. Standing at least three meters tall, it had a humanoid body with powerful legs and arms. Most of its form was covered by what appeared to be armor plates made of bone.
Death Knight (Voidspawn) - Level 200 (Elite)
There was no doubt that this was the boss orchestrating the attack. Once the death knight stepped through the portal, all the other rift gates disappeared, preventing any additional monsters from arriving. The giant approached the gate, violently striking it with its enormous fists, creating deep dents in the surface. It was obvious that the gate wouldn’t hold against the onslaught for much longer.
Something glinting on the death knight’s body caught Jake’s attention. Upon closer inspection, he spotted a metal key dangling from a bony loop on the massive monster’s hip. With a thought, he summoned its description, and two words immediately emerged in his mind: Skeleton Key.