Chapter 70: Steel Tears Flesh Apart

Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Steel Tears Flesh Apart

Chapter 70: Steel Tears Flesh Apart

Axel Vance lowered the binoculars and watched the mass of mutants charging up the crater slope without the slightest change in expression. Their screams rolled across the wasteland as dozens of bodies poured toward the ridge at once, but Axel only looked toward Seth Brundle and said calmly, "Get the grenades ready." Seth immediately grinned and dropped to one knee beside his pack. "Appetizers coming up."

A moment later, the first explosion erupted in the middle of the charging front line. Fire, smoke, dirt, and shattered rock blasted into the air, tearing open a gap among the mutants who had been packed tightly together. Several disappeared beneath the blast entirely, yet the ones behind them showed almost no hesitation and simply continued advancing over the bodies.

Seth stared at the rushing horde and shook his head. "Absolutely no sense of self-preservation." He continued using the explosive support they had brought while the crater slope became increasingly obscured by smoke and dust. Each detonation broke apart another section of the charge, but more mutants kept pouring from below as though the settlement had an endless supply.

Lionel Cosgrove had already brought the heavy belt-fed weapon into position. His altered bound-effigy body barely cared about the weight, and when he opened fire, the roar rolled across the entire crater. The advancing mutants were forced back under the storm of metal, with some collapsing instantly while others staggered forward despite injuries that would have stopped an ordinary man.

"Come on!" Lionel shouted over the noise, grinning like a lunatic. "There’s plenty for everybody!" His enthusiasm would have been disturbing under normal circumstances, but after everything Axel had seen from him lately, it barely registered.

Seth switched his attention toward the mutants that slipped through the worst of Lionel’s fire. He kept his rifle trained on the slope while shouting observations whenever he noticed anything unusual. "Watch the skinny ones! They’re faster than the others, and they’re using the rocks to move around the main line."

Several dark shapes were already climbing along the crater wall rather than charging directly upward. Their thin limbs moved with disturbing speed, using smoke, broken stone, and narrow ledges to approach the ridge from the side. One of them suddenly launched itself from behind a rock and came down directly toward Lionel’s back.

The roar of the enchanted chainsaw answered first.

Axel had already moved behind Lionel by the time the mutant attacked. He brought the chainsaw upward in one smooth motion, intercepting the creature before it could land, and the enchanted chain tore through with almost no resistance. Blood sprayed across Axel’s face and clothes, but he merely shifted his grip and turned toward the other agile mutants closing from the flank.

"Too slow," Axel said.

Then he rushed them.

The chainsaw moved through the attackers in brutal arcs, its Spirit Binding enchantment making the weapon feel almost weightless in Axel’s hands. The faster mutants tried to scatter around him, but speed meant little once they were within reach of Physique 3.1 and a supernatural weapon that refused to jam. Within seconds, the entire flanking group had been cut down around the ridge.

[Spirit Binding Lv.1 — 600/1000]

Lionel finished feeding another belt into his weapon and glanced over his shoulder. "Damn, that one almost got me. Nice save." Then he looked down at the gore sprayed across his clothes and complained, "Next time, could you angle that thing somewhere else? I’m tired of ruining shirts."

"Stay alive first," Axel replied as he secured the chainsaw again and picked up his rifle. "Complain about laundry later." Lionel muttered something under his breath but immediately returned his attention toward the crater.

The first major assault had completely collapsed. The slope below was covered with bodies, broken equipment, and dark trails of blood slowly running downhill between rocks. Despite the losses, the mutants still had not fled.

They simply stopped.

Dozens remained farther down the crater, roaring and pacing as though waiting for another command. Axel narrowed his eyes and shifted his attention toward the raised platform where their leader sat.

Papa Jupiter slowly stood from his crude throne.

From his position below, the mutant patriarch stared at the devastation covering the slope with visible confusion. He had clearly expected another group of lost travelers, not three men carrying enough firepower to break the first assault in minutes. For a moment, his expression suggested he was trying to understand whether his settlement had somehow been deliberately targeted.

Only three outsiders had appeared.

That made no sense to him.

Still, if he allowed the fighting to continue this way, there would not be much of his clan left by sunset. Papa Jupiter finally extended one thick arm and released a commanding roar that echoed throughout the crater. The remaining mutants instantly stopped their chaotic shouting.

Then they moved.

Instead of charging again, the settlement split to both sides of the central path. Mutants withdrew from the open ground with an obedience that made them look far more organized than their primitive surroundings suggested. Within moments, a wide passage had been cleared through the middle of the crater.

Seth’s expression changed immediately. "That’s not good." Lionel also lowered his weapon slightly and stared down at the opening.

"What is this?" Lionel asked. "Halftime?"

At the far end of the newly opened path, movement appeared inside one of the largest caves. Several huge mutants emerged slowly while carrying something between them. Even from the ridge, the object looked massive.

A stone coffin.

Axel stared at it and felt his instincts tighten. "Get the heavier explosives ready." He kept his eyes on the coffin and added, "If that thing opens and something comes out, we hit it before it gets comfortable."

Seth nodded and began preparing what they had left. "Understood." Lionel shifted his position and kept the heavy weapon aimed toward the center of the crater.

The mutants carried the coffin to an open area and lowered it carefully onto the ground. Then several members of the clan gathered around it and began chanting in harsh, broken voices. The sounds carried strangely across the crater, making the ritual feel far more organized than anything Axel had expected from them.

The first group raised crude bone blades and began spilling their own blood over the stone surface. Their faces showed no hesitation, only absolute devotion, as though injuring themselves for whatever was inside the coffin was an honor. When they became too weak to remain standing, others dragged them aside and took their places.

More blood covered the coffin.

Then more.

The process repeated again and again.

Axel raised his rifle and started trying to break the ritual from a distance, but the mutants immediately crowded around the coffin. They used their own bodies as shields without hesitation, absorbing the incoming fire while the blood sacrifice continued behind them. Every time one fell, another stepped into the same position.

"They’re buying time," Seth said grimly.

Axel already knew.

The question was what they were buying time for.

The sacrifice continued until roughly two dozen mutants had collapsed around the stone coffin. By then, its surface was almost completely dark with blood, and the chanting throughout the crater had become louder. Even Papa Jupiter stood watching from the platform with an expression of intense anticipation.

Then the coffin moved.

A deep impact came from inside.

Everyone on the ridge froze.

Another impact followed.

The heavy stone lid suddenly exploded upward with enough force to flip through the air before crashing several yards away. The surrounding mutants immediately backed away from the open coffin.

"Now!" Axel shouted.

Seth already had the explosive support ready. Axel took it from him, judged the open coffin below, and sent it toward the target before whatever was inside could fully emerge. None of the mutants reacted quickly enough to stop it.

The blast hit moments later.

A violent explosion swallowed the coffin and sent a wall of dust, smoke, and shattered stone rolling across the crater. Papa Jupiter and the surrounding mutants disappeared behind the cloud, while Axel, Seth, and Lionel instinctively narrowed their eyes against the debris.

For several seconds, nothing could be seen.

Then a sound came from inside the smoke.

Creak... creak...

Axel’s expression hardened.

Lionel slowly lowered his weapon.

Seth stopped smiling.

The sound continued from somewhere inside the dust cloud.

It sounded like something chewing.

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