Chapter 450
Catalina raised an eyebrow. “A Titan?”
“An extrely powerful monster,” the Commander explained. “There are ten of them in total. Or, at least, there were initially. We’ve managed to take down a few of them. The System refers to these creatures as Titans. They’re essentially guardians: once you destroy a nest, a Titan quickly forms nearby and rushes to stop you from destroying any more.”
“I’m guessing these Titans are so seriously tough motherfuckers?” Catalina asked.
“Extrely so. When we destroyed our very first nest, the entire crew was ecstatic. But our joy was short-lived. When we saw a Titan forming on the surface of Ravage not far from us, we initially thought it was just another regular mutant. But we were quickly proven wrong. The Titan was enormous and, as we learned a bit later, far more powerful than anything we’d faced before. At first, we hoped we could take it down, but we greatly underestimated it. Many of my n got killed.”
The Commander lowered his gaze, shaking his head at the mory.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Catalina said softly.
“But the rest of my people managed to escape,” he continued. “The Titan chased them, but luckily, it was too large to squeeze into the subway entrance. After so ti, we took down another lair. Sure enough, another Titan erged. This ti, we were ready. However, it was a different type of Titan than we’d expected.”
“So there are several types of Titans, huh?” Catalina asked. “Each one with a different set of abilities, I suppose?”
“Exactly. I’m not sure how many types there are, but I guess there might be ten.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Because our mission is to defeat ten Titans in total. We’ve already taken down five, and every ti, it’s been a different type. By the way, there’s no telling which type will show up after a nest is destroyed.”
“So you’ve killed five Titans already, huh?” Catalina’s tone carried genuine admiration. “That’s impressive. You’re halfway there!”
“Yes, we did defeat five Titans so far, but it ca at a terrible price. I lost so many people. When I first ford the Spartans, there were several hundred of us. And how many do you see here now? Only a few dozen left.”
Cayalina nodded, a sorrowful expression on her face.
“One ti, a huge centipede-like Titan appeared. It was too fast, and its attack patterns were too unpredictable, so we decided to flee rather than fight it. However, unlike so of the larger types of Titans, it had no trouble following us into the subway.” The Commander shook his head again. “It was a massacre. Only a handful of my people made it back to the base.”
“That’s awful,” Catalina said. “What you went through in this city is beyond words.”
“That’s why we need your help, Jake,” the Commander said, looking straight at him. “Each battle with a Titan cost so many of my troops. I’ve already sacrificed too many, and now I simply don’t have enough soldiers left to take on the remaining Titans.”
“How do you know there were ten Titans in total initially?” Jake asked.
“Because after the Ravage Contamination fully developed in our city, the System gave us the ability to check the status of this plague. We can now monitor it anyti we want on our PDAs. Let show you.”
The Commander pulled out his PDA and waved Catalina and Jake over. Catalina pushed back her chair and walked around the table to him, but Jake stayed where he was. He had never tried to summon Dead City’s stats before. The idea had simply never occurred to him.
He recalled that, back in New Hope, he could always check the status of the Ravage Contamination with a simple thought, instantly learning what percentage of the city was infected at any given mont. Deciding to try the sa thing now, he gave a ntal command to summon Dead City’s stats.
He wasn’t particularly surprised when the information appeared in his mind.
Ravage Contamination Status: Active
City Area Affected: 71%
Titans Remaining: 5 of 10
“That’s interesting,” Catalina said, studying the sa information on the PDA the Commander was holding in his hands.
“Jake, co over here,” the Commander called. “It shows how many Titans are left and the percentage of the city still affected.”
“I already checked it out,” Jake said without moving. “I can do it with a thought.” Before the Commander could respond, Jake continued, “You said you destroyed so of the nests?”
“That’s correct.”
“But how many?”
“Just a handful. Why?”
“I take it that a ‘nest’ is basically what used to be a high-rise building, right?”
“Yep.”
“So basically every single high-rise building is now a nest?”
“As far as we know, yes.”
“That ans there are hundreds of nests in your city now,” Jake said. “But you destroyed only a handful, right? Then how co the affected area is already down to 71%? Just doesn’t seem right.”
“We’ve given it a lot of thought,” the Commander said. “The only logical conclusion we ca to is that we don’t actually need to destroy every single nest. The real goal is to defeat the Titans and bring the affected area status down to zero. To do that, we only need to destroy a few dozen more nests instead of all of them.”
“And what happens when you do that?” Catalina asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” the Commander replied. “But we think that once the affected area reaches 0%, the remaining nests and the surrounding Ravage Contamination will simply disappear on their own, and the wall surrounding the city will collapse as well. At least, that’s what we hope.”
“So what do you want from ?” Jake asked. “To defeat Titans for you?”
“Exactly. Those Titans are extrely powerful, and fighting them isn’t easy. But if we managed to take so down, you can too, especially with your army of monsters. Your creatures could greatly aid us if you can get them here.”
“Do you want to destroy the nests too?” Jake asked.
“Actually, we can handle that ourselves,” the Commander said. “Here’s what I was thinking: you and my people could work together.”
“How?”
“We destroy a nest, and when a Titan erges, you deal with it,” the Commander explained. “We can even back you up if necessary, but only if you make sure a Titan always stays focused on you rather than my people. Unlike creatures like you, we, humans, are much more fragile beings, even with many points allocated to the Constitution attribute.”
Jake didn’t imdiately reply, caught up in his own thoughts. Seeing that he was lost in thought, Catalina took the opportunity to ask a question of her own, “How exactly do you bring down a nest?”
The Commander gestured at the pistol holstered at his hip. “Like I said, we believe the Ravage Contamination marks a city’s transition to either Stage II or Stage III. It’s the sa with all equipnt and weapons the System generates for us. When our city was at Stage I, all gear was tier I as well. While it’s not imdiately apparent, because the System actually hides this fact from us, it’s true.
“So when both your city and ours transitioned to Stage II, the System stopped spawning tier I weapons and replaced them with tier II. We, and probably the people in your city as well, didn’t realize this right away, because the monsters beca one tier stronger at the sa ti our gear did. We only beca aware of this tier system after we got our hands on the weapons we now use.
“They pack far more punch than our old gear, even though their regular stats aren’t drastically different. So, whatever Stage the Ravage Contamination in our city is at now, the weapons we’re using are actually one tier higher. That’s why they’re so powerful and effective against the Ravage.”
Jake was genuinely surprised by what he had just heard, but, of course, nothing in his posture betrayed his thoughts. Catalina, on the other hand, couldn’t hide her shock.
“Are you serious?!” she exclaid. “How is this even possible? If the System only allows us to own gear whose tier matches the current stage of our respective cities, then how did you manage to get weapons one tier higher than you’re supposed to have? Kinda feels like cheating.”
The Commander hesitated. After a mont, he replied noncommittally, “We developed these weapons ourselves.” It was obvious he was hiding sothing once again. However, before either Jake or Catalina could ask him any questions, he quickly continued, “So, Jake, help us deal with the Ravags in our city, and I’ll teach your human friends how to make the energy-based weapons we use.
“Since the Ravage in your own city hasn’t yet reached the final stage, you can destroy it quite easily with our weapons, preventing it from spreading across your city. This way, you won’t have to go through the entire process of destroying the nests and eliminating the Titans like we do. So, what do you say?”
However, Jake wasn’t sure if he should actually help these humans. After all, why would he arm the people of New Hope with next-tier weapons, weapons that, as he knew from personal experience, could easily tear through his armored body? If he ard New Hopers with such gear and they ever turned it against him, he would be in serious trouble.
His gaze swept the cavern, noting the positions of every human in the cavern. As he committed their locations to mory, his thoughts continued to churn. Wouldn’t it be smarter to slay this group here and now to make sure New Hopers never had the chance to lay their hands on these deadly weapons? The more Jake thought about it, the more convinced he beca that it might be the most prudent course of action.
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