It took him about fifteen minutes to reach Base Ryder. Cloak active, he approached the edge of the high-rise. He paused for a moment, looking down to examine his next target.
Base Ryder was situated in an area that had once been a small square city park. The base occupied the entire area, enclosed by four concrete walls, each with a tall watchtower at its corner.
It was very similar to Base Catalina. Inside the compound, a usual routine unfolded: workers tended to various machines while guards kept watch. Several armed bandits patrolled the walls, surveying the area outside the base.
Each watchtower was equipped with a machine gun turret. However, only two of the four were operational while each of the other two was currently undergoing an upgrade to the next level.
After successfully taking down Base Catalina, Jake had no doubt about his ability to conquer this base with similar ease. However, since his goal was not merely to destroy the base but to allow the captured survivors to take control, he needed to make sure that the leader, a person named Ryder, was inside before launching his attack.
For the next minute, he simply observed the activity within the compound, assessing each bandit with a thought. It turned out that none of them was Ryder. Perhaps the leader of the base was currently inside HQ.
However, inside the compound, there was a small parking lot, completely devoid of vehicles. This absence suggested that Ryder might not even be present at the base at all. For a moment, Jake pondered his next move.
He could attempt to sneak into the base and stealthily make his way inside HQ. Yet this would take considerable time, as he would need to move very slowly to avoid being detected by the turrets. Besides, it could be quite challenging since the doors to HQ were closed, and he couldn’t open them without alerting the guards. They would definitely become suspicious if a door opened by itself. He had managed to sneak into Camp Miller, as it was called back then, mostly by luck. If there hadn’t been someone smoking on the roof, Jake would have had a much harder time getting into HQ.
If Ryder turned out to be absent from HQ, all of Jake’s efforts and time spent sneaking in would be in vain. Therefore, he decided to postpone the attack on the base for now. After all, it was the middle of the day now, and the base leader would likely be back by evening. Jake decided to leave for now and return to Base Ryder in a few hours.
For the next hour or so, he explored the upgraded city, battling various types of beefed-up ex-humans. For each group of mutants he defeated, he gained a substantial amount of HP, which was great. By his rough estimation, Jake figured he should level up at least once a day now.
At some point, he encountered an anomaly on the roof of one of the buildings. The anomaly had a familiar challenge linked to it. Intrigued, he checked it out.
Challenge: Wave Survival
Objective: Survive all waves. Complete the challenge within 60 minutes to receive an additional reward.
Note: You must remain within a designated area during this challenge. If you leave it, you’ll have thirty seconds to return. If you fail to make it back in time, the challenge will be failed.
Recommended Stats: Evolution Stage 3 “Apex Manifestation”, Level 120, Body 145
Reward: 150,000 XP, 35,000 MP
Extra Reward: Upgrade any skill/ability to the next rarity level by bypassing any requirements.
At level 119 and with his Body attribute at 142, Jake fell slightly short of the recommended stats for the challenge. Still, he was confident it wouldn’t be a problem. After all, this wasn’t the first time he had accepted a tough challenge or faced an enemy that greatly outleveled him, so this was nothing new.
After accepting the challenge, Jake followed a blue line that guided him to one of the lower floors where the designated area was situated. Once he arrived, the challenge commenced.
Since he had completed a few wave survival challenges in the past, Jake was prepared for what lay ahead. He fought through waves of enemies, which consisted of the types he was already familiar with, starting with walkers and leapers in the first wave.
In the subsequent waves, more powerful opponents emerged: shambles, whippers, wraiths, and others. During waves 8 and 9, slashers and chasers joined the fray—two of the most formidable ex-humans prior to the city upgrade.
Even though all the mutants were much stronger than before, Jake had little difficulty dealing with them. After defeating countless powerful enemies in the first nine waves, he leveled up to 120, earning five skill points. However, he chose to hold off on allocating them until he completed the challenge.
At last, the final wave began. It took him about fifty minutes to complete the first nine waves. If he could get through this wave in the less than ten minutes remaining, he would receive the extra reward. He was confident he wouldn’t have any trouble achieving that.
At least, that’s what he thought before he saw the final enemy.
The room he was in was quite large and could accommodate lots of mutants at once. Since it was the final wave, he expected several portals to open, releasing swarms of mutants. To his surprise, only one rift gate tore open in the wall, allowing a single enemy to step through. Once it emerged from the rift gate, the portal sealed shut behind it.
The newly appeared ex-human was huge, well over six feet tall and nearly as wide. Its body bulged with muscles. The massive creature wore a single article of clothing: a pair of pants ripped off below the knees.
The most notable feature of the ex-human was its hands—or, more accurately, the absence of them. Attached to its wrists were two immense metal spheres, each the size of a basketball. Another striking feature was the helmet, which appeared fused with the mutant’s head, covering nearly all of it, leaving only its lower jaw exposed.
A human body typically rejects foreign objects, but the helmet and two metal spheres appeared to merge seamlessly with the monster’s flesh, showing no signs of rejection whatsoever.
Instead of charging at him, the massive ex-human began walking toward him at a rather slow pace. Realizing it would take a couple of seconds for the mutant to reach him, Jake took a moment to summon a description of his opponent.
Meatpound - Level 135 (Elite)
Jake stood in the middle of the expansive room, waiting calmly for the colossal mutant to close in. Once the meatpound was within striking range, Jake sprung into action, and the final fight of the challenge began.