Chapter 7: The Iron Line
The deep, percussive roar of M1A2 Abrams tanks firing echoed through the concrete canyons of Midtown Manhattan. It was a rhythmic, mechanical thunder that Leon knew wouldn’t last another forty-eight hours. Right now, the remnants of the National Guard and the military were pulling back, desperately trying to establish a hard perimeter around the civilian evacuation zones near Grand Central.
Leon moved through the smoke-filled streets like a ghost, his new Cloak of the End-Game doing exactly what it promised. To the few terrified civilians sprinting past him toward the military lines, he was nothing but a blurry, dark silhouette slipping through the gray haze.
His target wasn’t the evacuation center. His Perception stat was locked onto a heavy, surging pulse of raw mana radiating from a Tier-1 Outbreak Gate that had dropped right onto the steps of the New York Public Library.
As he neared 42nd Street, the scene turned into a slaughterhouse.
The military had set up a blockade of sandbags, razor wire, and armored Humvees. Heavy .50 caliber machine guns tore through the air, their tracer rounds painting bright orange streaks through the dust. They were firing at a swarm of Gnoll Ravagers—hyena-headed monsters standing seven feet tall, covered in rusted chainmail, and driven by a frenzied bloodlust.
"Hold the line!" a sergeant screamed over the deafening noise, his hands shaking as he reloaded his rifle. "Keep firing! Don’t let those bastards cross the wire!"
The heavy lead bullets were hitting the monsters, tearing through their flesh and slowing them down, but it wasn’t enough. The Gnolls had massive health pools compared to the low-tier Kobolds Leon had fought earlier. Worse, the leader of the pack—a giant, twin-axe-wielding Gnoll Chieftain standing nearly nine feet tall—was leading the charge, using its massive iron axes to deflect the incoming fire with terrifying speed.
’That Chieftain is Level 8,’ Leon calculated, crouched behind a burning city bus just fifty yards from the military line. ’If the military kills it, the first-blood bounty for the surface gate goes to the government. I’m not letting that happen.’
Leon didn’t care about the soldiers, but he didn’t want them dead before he could harvest the field. He needed them to keep drawing the monsters’ attention.
Silently, Leon slipped out from behind the bus, navigating the blind spots of both the soldiers and the beasts. He activated his defensive skill.
[Activating Skill: Chitinous Plating (Rank: D)]
[20 Mana Consumed. Your skin density has increased to the level of reinforced steel.]
Leon felt his skin harden, a subtle, metallic gray sheen passing over his forearms beneath his cloak. He didn’t hesitate. He burst into a dead sprint straight toward the flank of the Gnoll swarm.
With an Agility stat pushing past forty, Leon moved at a speed that defied human biology. He was a dark blur cutting through the smoke. Before the nearest Gnoll Ravager could even register his presence, Leon entered the fray.
Custom Protocol: Sovereign’s Domain: Wither (Level 2) — Initiate.
A thirty-foot radius of absolute, suffocating darkness violently erupted from beneath Leon’s boots. The moment the outer edge of the domain brushed against the closest four Gnolls, their terrifying roars choked in their throats.
The system notifications flashed in Leon’s peripheral vision, but he ignored them, focusing on the sensory reality of the slaughter. The heavy chainmail armor worn by the Gnolls began to rust and flake away into orange powder. The thick, muscular frames of the hyena-monsters withered instantly, their strength stats slashed by twenty percent.
Leon didn’t need a weapon. He stepped into the guard of the first weakened Gnoll, dodged a sluggish swipe of its rusted mace, and drove his bare, steel-hardened fist straight through the monster’s chest cavity.
Crunch.
His hand punched through the brittle ribs, crushing the beast’s heart. As the Gnoll died, it didn’t drop to the floor as a heavy corpse. The Wither domain immediately turned its flesh to ash, and a cool stream of blue light flowed from the dust back into Leon’s body.
[Target destroyed. You have restored 1% of your maximum Mana.][Absolute Extraction Activated.]
Strength +1
Constitution +1
"Beautiful," Leon murmured, a cold, predatory light flaring in his eyes.
The mana regeneration from his evolved skill was working perfectly. He spun on his heel, using his enhanced speed to dance through the remaining three Gnolls in his immediate vicinity. He shattered their skulls and snapped their rotted spines with effortless precision. Each kill fueled his mana pool, keeping his domain active without draining his core.
From the sandbag barricade, a young lieutenant who had been firing his pistol suddenly froze, his eyes widening as he stared through his binoculars into the smoke.
"Sir! Look at the eastern flank!" the lieutenant shouted, his voice cracking. "Someone... someone is fighting them barehanded! The monsters are turning to dust!"
Captain Harrison, the commander of the sector, snapped his head toward the coordinates. Through the haze of gunfire and smoke, he could only see a terrifying, blurred shadow cloaked in black fabric. Every time that shadow brushed past a monster, the beast withered and dissolved into gray ash.
"Is that an Awakener?" Harrison whispered, his teeth grinding. "A solo player? Get him on the radio! Find out what faction he’s with!"
"Sir, our comms are dead! And he’s moving too fast! He’s heading straight for the Chieftain!"
Leon had already cleared the vanguard. He stood just ten yards away from the massive Gnoll Chieftain, his dark duster billowing in the heat of the burning cars.
The Chieftain stopped its advance on the military wire, its yellow eyes locking onto Leon. It sensed the heavy, suffocating aura of Finality radiating from the human. Realizing this was the true threat, the giant beast let out a deafening, earth-shaking roar and raised its twin iron axes, leaping straight toward Leon with enough force to crack the foundation of the library steps.
Leon didn’t back down. He lowered his stance, his eyes locking onto the trajectory of the falling axes.
"Your stats belong to me," Leon said.