2026-02-06 15:05:36"Fire! Kill that demon now!"
The Iron Fang squad Captain's voice cracked with panic. Three heavy-class assault rifles barked simultaneously inside the cramped cave chamber. RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
In seconds, hundreds of tungsten bullets obliterated the stalactite where Finnian had stood. Limestone dust exploded, filling the air. However, their target—the green-glowing man—was gone.
Not vanished, but moving too fast for normal human optic nerves to process, even with tactical HUD assistance.
SHING.
A green blur flashed between the ranks of soldiers.
The squad Captain felt a cold breeze on his neck, followed by a warm, wet sensation. He looked down, puzzled why his vision suddenly tilted. His body collapsed, his head rolling off his shoulders, cleanly decapitated by a shard of quartz crystal swung at supersonic speed.
"Dammit! Where is he?!" screamed the sergeant next to him, spinning his body encased in a hundred-kilogram Exosuit.
"Behind you, idiot," Finnian whispered.
Finnian clung to the back of the Exosuit like a spider. His fingers, glowing green, gripped the armor gap on the back plating. His new muscles—the gift from the Dryad—screamed with power. With a primal roar, Finnian ripped the steel back-plate until its hinges snapped.
CRACK!
The steel tore like wet paper. The pilot's back was exposed. Without hesitation, Finnian plunged the quartz crystal directly into the soldier's spine.
The sergeant convulsed violently as his nervous system was severed, then collapsed, falling onto the third soldier who was firing blindly in panic.
Finnian leaped off the falling corpse, sliding out through the hole made by the giant drill earlier. He inhaled the outside air—air thick with gunpowder smoke, diesel fumes, and the smell of death.
He stood on the lip of the freshly blasted cliff. The view was an industrial hellscape. The ancient forest below was being raped by Iron Fang's war machines. Dozens of trees had been felled, replaced by floodlights and temporary barricades.
And in the middle of it all, a monstrosity stood.
A "Titan-X4" model Walker Tank. A six-meter tall, four-legged machine with a railgun on its back and two chaingun machine guns on its mechanical arms. The machine was sweeping the forest area, knocking down massive trees as if they were toothpicks.
"Nice toy you got there, Thorne," Finnian muttered, his pupils constricting as he scanned the battlefield.
He could see 'lines' of energy in the air—visualizations of bullet trajectories before they were fired. The world felt slow. Too slow. Finnian felt like he was running underwater while everyone else was frozen.
Whirrrr...
The Walker Tank's turret head swiveled. Its infrared sensors picked up Finnian's excessive body heat on the cave lip.
"Priority target on the ridge! Destroy!"
The Titan-X4's main cannon glowed blue, charging up.
"Let's dance," Finnian grinned.
Instead of taking cover, he jumped down.
He landed on the neck of the giant drill sticking out of the cliff, then sprinted along the length of the boring machine, using gravity's momentum. As the railgun fired—BOOM!—the cliff behind him shattered into dust, but Finnian was already fifty meters ahead of the blast radius.
He darted between burning tree stumps. Machine gun bullets chased him, tearing up the earth behind his heels, but Finnian's Core-enhanced running speed kept him one step ahead of the enemy's autotargeting system.
He reached the hind leg of the Titan-X4.
The machine stomped its foot, trying to crush Finnian like a cockroach. The ground shook violently. Finnian slid under the ten-ton steel leg, then used his claws—fingernails now as hard as stone—to climb the hydraulic hoses on the machine's thigh.
"Hey! Got something on the left hull!" the Titan pilot shouted over the external speakers.
Finnian climbed agilely to the top of the chassis, right behind the armored cockpit. He pressed his glowing palm against the emergency hatch panel.
"Knock, knock," Finnian whispered.
He channeled green energy from the Core into his palm. Static electricity exploded. A small Bio-EMP discharged from his hand, frying the hatch's electronic locking system.
The lock indicator light turned from red to green.
PSHHHHT.
The hatch popped open with a hydraulic hiss.
The pilot inside the cockpit turned in shock, just about to draw the pistol from his waist. He wasn't fast enough. Finnian leaped into the cramped cockpit filled with screens and buttons.
A brutal struggle ensued for five seconds. Cramped, bloody, and vicious. Sounds of snapping bones and muffled screams were heard, then silence.
The pilot's corpse was thrown out of the hatch, falling to the ground six meters below.
Finnian sat in the pilot's seat, which was still warm and wet with blood. "Okay... how do you drive this damn tractor?"
He stared at the complex control panel. His former elite hitman hands took over. He might be retired, but he still remembered basic heavy vehicle hijacking training from his military service.
He pulled the dual control levers. The Titan-X4 roared, its steel legs shifting position.
"Control overridden," the machine's AI voice sounded flat. "Welcome, Operator."
On the tactical screen, Finnian saw two Iron Fang Drop Ships deploying an infantry platoon right in front of him. They hadn't realized their tank had changed hands yet.
Finnian grinned wickedly. He pressed the primary weapon triggers.
"Eat this, assholes."
BRRRRTTTT!
The twin chainguns on the Walker's arms barked. A rain of 20mm bullets swept across the landing zone. The bodies of Iron Fang soldiers exploded in red mist before they could even touch the ground. One Drop Ship was strafed until its engines caught fire and exploded, crashing down on the remaining troops.
Total chaos.
"Sector 4! Titan-01 has lost control! Friendly fire! I repeat, Titan-01 is Rogue!" Enemy radio in the cockpit screamed in panic.
"Rogue? I prefer the term Under New Management," Finnian replied over the intercom.
But the victory was short-lived.
A giant shadow swept over his cockpit. The VTOL aircraft hunting him since Chapter 1 returned. This time, it was carrying a full payload.
"Destroy that unit," Thorne's command sounded cold on the radio channel Finnian had hijacked.
Two Hellfire missiles launched from the VTOL. White smoke trails sped straight toward the glass face of the Titan-X4 cockpit occupied by Finnian.
"Ah, shit," Finnian cursed. The danger warning system inside the cockpit screamed red: IMPACT IMMINENT.
No time to maneuver. This Walker was too slow for Finnian's current reflexes.
Finnian punched the emergency 'EJECT' button. The ejection seat was jammed—damaged during the fight earlier.
"Perfect. Just fucking perfect."
With berserk strength, Finnian kicked the graphene-reinforced front cockpit glass. The glass cracked but didn't shatter. The missiles were fifty meters away.
Finnian channeled his remaining energy into his right shoulder. His veins glowed blindingly bright. He slammed his shoulder into the cockpit glass with all his might.
SMASH!
The glass shattered outward. Finnian leaped out at that exact second.
KABOOM!
The missiles slammed into the Walker Tank right in its chest. A thermobaric explosion engulfed the massive machine in a ball of blue and orange fire. The shockwave hit Finnian in mid-air, flinging him far beyond the perimeter of the landing zone.
He flew like a kite with a cut string, spinning uncontrollably through the smoke-filled air.
Far below him, it wasn't hard ground waiting. But a stretch of black swamp, bubbling and emitting toxic green steam—illegal chemical waste that had settled in the valley for years, now stirred up by war.
"Hold breath!" Finnian thought a split second before impact.
SPLASH!
He fell through the surface of the thick black sludge. Cold, viscous, and burning the skin. The green light on Finnian's body extinguished instantly, covered by the darkness of the toxic swamp that swallowed him whole.
***
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Latest Chapter
Chapter 241: The Echoes of Iron
The first snow of the new world did not fall with the toxic, gray ash of the old corporate regime. It fell in perfect, crystalline white flakes, blanketing the rusted steel barricades and the cracked asphalt of Sector Four in a pristine layer of absolute, freezing silence.Winter had arrived on the dying planet, but for the very first time in half a decade, the people of the Undercity were not freezing in the dark.Deep within the reinforced concrete walls of the sanctuary, the air was incredibly warm and thick with the comforting smell of roasted grain and clean, boiling water. The massive geothermal pumping station that Leo OConnell had secured deep beneath the crust of the earth was operating at maximum efficiency. Heavy, iron pipes snaked through the residential hab-blocks, routing the superheated steam from the planetary core directly into the makeshift homes of the refugees.Leo stood on the elevated metal catwalk overlooking the central
Chapter 240: The Buried Secrets
The morning frost covering the steel barricades of Sector Four was a stark, biting reminder that the world was no longer governed by the warm, unnatural hum of the Verdant Core. Winter was approaching rapidly, and for the first time in five years, it was going to be a completely natural, brutally cold season.Leo OConnell stood at the edge of a massive, excavated crater near the northern perimeter of the sanctuary. He blew into his gloved hands, watching his breath form thick white clouds in the freezing air. Down in the pit, a team of laborers was using heavy iron chains and scavenged pulleys to hoist a massive chunk of debris out of the way."The temperature dropped another five degrees last night, Warden," Captain Silas reported, walking up to the edge of the pit with a heavy clipboard in his hand. "The makeshift shelters are holding up against the wind, but if we do not secure a reliable, centralized heating source before the first blizzard hits, the children and the elderly are g
Chapter 239: The Foundation of Dirt
The morning sun broke through the dissipating fog, casting a warm, golden hue over the rusted steel barricades of Sector Four. The deafening rumble of heavy diesel engines echoed down the main avenue, vibrating the cracked asphalt beneath Leo OConnell boots.He stood at the main gates of the sanctuary alongside Captain Silas, his arms crossed over his chest. Driving slowly toward them was a convoy of three heavy transport trucks bearing the faded, jagged emblem of the Northern European Remnant.The convoy stopped just outside the defensive perimeter. The drivers did not step out with weapons drawn. They stepped out with their hands raised in clear, undeniable surrender, gesturing toward the cargo beds of their vehicles."Well, I will be damned," Captain Silas muttered, lowering his binoculars. "Karkov actually kept his word. The trucks are fully loaded. I see the medical auto-docs, the bio-scanners, and at least three tons of refined structural steel.""Fear is a very effective motiva
Chapter 238: The Neutral Zone
The wind howling through the twisted steel cables of the shattered suspension bridge tasted of salt and ancient rust. The bridge spanned a massive, dry canyon that separated the outer borders of Sector Four from the desolate wastelands of the European Remnant. It was a no-man land, a graveyard of rusted civilian vehicles and shattered concrete. It was the perfect place for a parley.Leo OConnell stepped out of the heavy transport rover, the collar of his leather trench coat turned up against the biting cold. Captain Silas and Viper flanked him, their weapons lowered but their eyes scanning the fog covering the opposite end of the bridge. Viper adjusted the strap of her plasma shotgun. Her cybernetic spine whirred softly. "I count twenty heat signatures in the fog, kid. They brought a small army to a diplomatic meeting. Typical warlord paranoia.""Let them be paranoid," Leo said, his voice a steady, low hum. "We are not here to start a war. We are here to set the boundaries."From the
Chapter 237: The Living Soil
The heavy transport rover rattled over the broken, cracked asphalt of the wasteland, the massive diesel engine groaning in protest as it navigated the treacherous terrain. Inside the cargo hold, the atmosphere was incredibly tense. Six rogue technicians, including their bleeding, mutilated leader Aris, sat on the ribbed metal floor with their hands tightly bound by heavy industrial zip-ties. They looked utterly defeated, staring at the floorboards in terrified silence. They had expected to conquer the ashes of the old world with alien technology. Instead, they had been brutally violently humbled by a young man wielding a shotgun and a pocket full of thermite. Viper sat near the rear doors, her single human eye locked onto the prisoners. She casually tossed her ceramic combat knife from hand to hand. The rhythmic, clicking sound of the blade hitting her synthetic palm was a calculated, psychological torture designed to keep the captives entirely compliant. "You do not have to look s
Chapter 236: The Forgotten Machines
The dawn of the new world was not built on grand, sweeping speeches or the waving of triumphant flags. It was built on the agonizing, back-breaking labor of moving concrete with bare hands. For three weeks following the collapse of the global magical grid and the death of Finnian OConnell, the survivors of the Undercity worked from sunrise to sunset. They tore down the oppressive, towering barricades of Sector Four and used the rubble to construct water-purification cisterns, defensive walls for their crops, and simple, sturdy shelters that could withstand the harsh, natural storms of the coast. Leo OConnell wiped a thick layer of grease and sweat from his jawline with a heavily stained rag. He stood in the center of what used to be a luxury commercial plaza, watching a team of former cartel mercenaries and refugee laborers work together to dismantle the rusted, heavy chassis of an abandoned Iron Fang crawler tank. "Pull the hydraulic lines first!" Leo shouted over the grinding noi
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