Chapter 957: Fire‑Spitting Insect 2

He held the axe with one hand in a normal grip and the other in a reverse grip; the youth wielding double axes drew a deep breath, his legs exploded with force and he leapt high.

The ground collapsed, and his leg muscles bulged like a grasshopper's.

Under the tremendous recoil, his body shot like a cannonball, instantly leaping into the sky and accelerating toward the mutant.

Boom!

At the same time, he, who had seized the opportunity to jump, barely dodged the mutant's casual strike.

The erupting flames instantly turned the ground beneath him into a sea of fire.

The crowd gasped.

Watching the black dot leap into midair, they suddenly realized that person was the leader of their Safe Zone, and also the only three Fourth Rank Awakened Ones!

"The leader hasn't left!!"

The crowd cheered, having thought they were thus abandoned.

But now it seems the leader is clearly preparing to launch a counterattack!

In their excitement, the Awakened Ones on the ground, like they'd been injected with adrenaline, stopped fleeing and joined the fight.

They still have hope!

Meanwhile, the youth hanging briefly in the air glared, his eyes locked on the Human-Insect's mouthparts; his target was precisely the mutant's most obvious weak point.

That disgusting maw writhed, as if concocting something; its pink, baby‑like inner structure looked utterly fragile, like sea cucumber entrails.

If we smash that monster's mouthparts, perhaps there's still a sliver of hope!

The wind howled.

The closer he got to the mutant, the hotter the surrounding air became, his hair curling as if he stood in the heart of a furnace.

He exerted all his strength.

Within 0.2 seconds he had leapt to midair, his left hand holding the axe horizontally as a shield before him, while simultaneously his right hand short axe, bolstered by his full strength, readied to strike the monster's skull.

In the eyes of the many Survivors on the ground, the youth soaring upward looked like a moth lunging at a tower.

Orange‑red flames scorched the night.

For a moment, before the monster's massive frame, the youth stood like a warrior charging toward the sun.

"Leader! Keep going!!"

"Brothers, attack together!"

"Go for it!!!!"

Their voices hoarse from shouting.

The remaining Awakened Ones screamed wildly.

Perhaps spurred by the youth's retaliatory turn, they too summoned their last courage, roaring as they desperately attacked the mutant.

Spiritual energy flared, dazzling skills slicing the night as the black dots all smashed into the mutant.

Men and women, young and old, alike either sprayed gunfire or hurled stones, exerting everything they could to buy the youth time.

At the brink of despair, the scene of everyone united as one resembled a movie's climax.

However, the Awakened One hanging in midair had little to think about.

Dodging once was a matter of luck...

Lacking movement skills and possessing only the most basic levitation ability, he could no longer change direction.

In this situation, aerial combat would become extremely perilous; once attacked, he could only take the damage head‑on.

Although he clearly knew it was tantamount to suicide.

But he could only gamble that he could withstand a blow from the monster in midair, buying himself a chance to strike back!

Closer! Even closer!

17 meters!

13 meters!

7 meters!

As the distance closed, the mutant perched on a stretch of ruined city wall suddenly raised its insectile body, its compound eyes swaying back and forth.

It, which had never managed to kill the youth, had now completely lost its patience.

Cha!!

The insect's cry wailed.

Half of its huge face, smeared with mouthparts, emitted a piercing shriek, and within the cracked mouthparts a ball of orange‑red flame formed.

Obviously, the human attack seen as food had utterly enraged it.

The shrill shriek sounded like a blackboard being scraped, making heads spin.

In an instant, a flame far larger than before appeared.

The insect's mouth vomited forth a burst of extremely hot flame, like a fire‑dragon, instantly engulfing the black dot.

Sparks shot out, igniting buildings the moment they landed.

And many of those who had mustered courage also burst into human‑shaped torches amid the exploding flames.

The temperature surged upward.

At the flame's core, in fire hot enough to melt steel, the youth felt a piercing pain; his left arm, raised as a shield, instantly carbonized in the terrifying heat, his scalp burned, and the skin, stripped of moisture, cracked like dry bark.

Pain! Too painful! In utter agony he sensed a burnt stench filling his nostrils, his inner spiritual energy surging forth as he desperately resisted the dreadful burning effect.

For a moment, the shield formed from spiritual energy resembled a heat‑resistant wall blocking the flames.

Yet in less than a breath he despaired to find his spiritual energy draining away at breakneck speed.

The speed was such that it seemed to squeeze his strength like a pump, draining him completely in the blink of an eye.

I can't hold it back!!!!

Heart-wrenching pain, the violent high-temperature attack almost roasted him into human jerky.

Evaporation, melting.

Under the high temperature, the surging blood in his vessels seemed to have its moisture drawn away, the viscous plasma scalding him so that his whole body trembled.

Pain! Too painful!

Caught in the fire's spray, he seemed to be rapidly vaporizing as if fallen into a steel furnace.

With merely a first-level gap, the difference in their strength was so great it nearly drove him to despair.

Using his last reserves of spiritual energy, he furiously opened his remaining eye, locking onto the mouthparts, while his left eye had already burst from the high-temperature roasting.

"Break it for me!!"

A roar squeezed from his chest; this was his final, desperate strike.

Under the gaze of countless survivors, this third-rank Awakened One surged through the flames like a war god, instantly arriving above the mutant's head.

But to break through the flames, half of his body and his left hand were burned to charcoal, hanging limp at his side.

But at this moment, no one cared how severe his injuries were; the crowd only felt this was the prelude to victory!

As everyone imagined, his final right hand burst into dazzling light the moment it neared the mouthparts.

Clutching the belief of certain death.

The youth raised his short axe and slammed it hard into the monster.

A strike fusing conviction and all his strength was enough to smash that disgusting mouthpart!

"Shatter the axe!!"

"Die for me!!!"

The roar and the excited shouts of countless survivors mingled together, as people seemed to see the blood‑gleaming axe smash into the mutant's mouth, killing that damned monster—victory was within sight, they were witnessing a miracle!

However, 0.1 seconds later.

"Whoosh!"

A tendril twitched; on the mutant's massive body, a tendril never before used shot out, and with a tearing‑through‑air sound it pierced the youth's skull like a sword in an instant.

In midair, a burst of blood mist exploded, and the tendril that had pierced the skull retracted backward.

The scene seemed to freeze.

Only to see the shattered brain matter, not yet fallen, being sucked up again by the tendril and casually fed back into the mutant's mouth.

"Cha~"

With insectile screeches, the upright Human-Insect mutant let out a satisfied roar, as if laughing, and began chewing the youth's skull.

Human brains are so sweet, especially those of third‑rank...

One second later.

"Thud"

In the darkness, the headless corpse, still clutching the short axe, slowly fell to the ground.

And that charred arm, even at the brink of death, still gripped the axe handle tightly.

Unfortunately, its owner never managed to inflict even a scratch on the monster from start to finish.

The sound of the corpse hitting the ground was crystal clear in the utter silence.

The crowd stood stunned in place; the reversal in just a few seconds hit them like a slap, leaving them at a loss.

Above, the sound of air bursts drew ever closer.

But at this moment, no one had the mind to notice it.

Standing at the front of the crowd, a weapon‑Awakened One clung to a rifle that fired hollow‑point bullets, his whole body trembling.

They lost, and they lost completely.

He had already seen the monster turn its direction; its many compound eyes looked at them as if they were food.

Regarded by them as their strongest leader, that third‑rank individual.

Before this monster, the fragile were as helpless as infants.

There had never been any miracle.

The youth's brave fight was meaningless; even his manner of death was ridiculous.

"Run... run away!!!"

The freeze was broken.

As the Human‑Insect spewed fire once more, the wailing of many survivors rose again.

But this time, it seemed no one could step forward.

Amid the collapsing crowd, an Awakened One whose face still bore a childish air carried his mother, dazedly following the fleeing throng.

But looking at the crimson spreading in the distance, he did not know where the path to survival lay.

Hearing those shrill cries and the piercing smell of burnt flesh, a look of despair inevitably crossed his face.

After all, who could still save them...

Is there really anyone who can kill this monster!!

Shivering, the Awakened One clutching the rifle tried to turn and flee, but facing those countless compound eyes, a fear like confronting a beast in the wild enveloped him.

His whole body went stiff.

The urge to flee was weighed down by his limp legs.

"No... no!!"

"I don't want to die...!!!"

His reason nearly collapsing, he saw the monster slowly opening its maw toward him.

Just as if toying with prey, within that ferocious insect mouth a ball of flame was slowly forming.

Collapse, sobbing.

The middle-aged man felt the temperature rise again; his facial features were almost twisted together, and snot and tears streamed out under fear.

Why...

Why is there such a powerful monster! Knowing he cannot escape, his legs gave way and he knelt on the ground.

「Cha!! 」

With a roar, the huge mouth split open; a mass of fire that had been brewing for a long time prepared to shoot toward the densest part of the crowd.

Vast crowds of terrified people either clung desperately to their own families or, like madmen, tried to pull other survivors in front of themselves as shields.

Some knelt and pleaded, some wept bitterly.

Standing in the center of the crowd, the only Second Level Awakened One who appeared relatively calm held a bow and arrow, muttering foolishly to himself.

「Useless... useless... 」

「We're dead... we will all die!! 」

They cannot dodge the fire attack.

However, just as he wanted to face the monster before death and shoot even a meaningless arrow.

In the rapidly approaching air burst, a sharp whistling sound suddenly appeared.

That sound was so close that even those who hadn't been paying attention to the sky seemed to sense something.

The crowd collapsed on the ground stared up in astonishment.

Only see the fire sprayed from the insect's mouth briefly illuminate the night; in the high sky, a black dot seemed to plunge into the fire.

That... is a person!?

Faster than the sound.

The upright Human-Insect abruptly turned its direction; the flame originally spraying toward the crowd suddenly spewed toward the sky, toward the rapidly descending black dot.

Its perception surpasses that of humans; it clearly senses that within the descending black shadow lies a power that even it finds shocking.

「Whoosh!! 」

The air was torn apart.

Facing the flames, Lin An accelerated wildly like a meteorite falling from the sky.

At the forefront of the sword, the tip gleaming with spiritual energy seemed to tear through the wind, reducing air resistance.

Facing the incoming flame attack, his eyes twitched slightly and his whole body was instantly covered in a layer of dark gold.

After discovering this monster, he decisively jumped from the fighter jet; the continuously activated Uninterrupted State was enough to neutralize the fire attack.

But... he seemed to have arrived a step too late.