Chapter 302

The vehicle was gaining speed, but Jake was nevertheless closing the distance to his target. The bandit in the back of the pickup truck shifted his stance, rotating the machine gun to face the road behind. Securing his footing, he adjusted his aim, pointing the barrel at Jake.

However, he didn’t open fire. Instead, he shouted, “Leave us alone! We got no beef with you!”

Jake kept chasing after the vehicle, gradually getting closer. He was preparing to execute a powerful leap into the bed of the truck. The bandit manning the weapon must have realized Jake wasn’t going to let them go, because he muttered, “Fuck it,” before firing on him.

Jake felt bullets zip past him, striking the asphalt and exploding on impact, sending bits spraying. The gunner adjusted his aim and fired another burst of automatic fire. Jake dashed to the side to avoid being hit. Most of the shots missed him, but one managed to hit him on the shoulder.

The round exploded on impact, blowing a small hole in his armor and whipping him around. Jake staggered but managed to keep his balance. When he turned back toward the fleeing vehicle, he saw the car was now much farther away, having finally picked up enough speed.

Momentarily slowing him down, the bandits seized the opportunity to put some distance between them and the predator chasing their vehicle. Jake sprinted after the pickup truck at his top speed, but as the car accelerated, the gap between him and his prey gradually widened. 

The gunner should have kept firing at Jake. Sure, the bullet that had grazed him dealt no real damage, but at least more impacts would have slowed him down even more. However, the bandit ceased fire, despite Jake still chasing them. 

“Sorry,” the gunner suddenly shouted, clearly apologizing for the hit.

If Jake could laugh, he would. The regular soldiers of Los Demonios were not only unwilling to fight him anymore, but they were now even apologizing for inflicting minor injuries. They had finally realized that having him as their enemy wasn’t a good idea at all.

Only it didn’t matter. Jake was determined to annihilate Los Demonios, erasing the bandit organization from existence, and nothing would prevent that from happening. He had once offered them a chance to leave him be, but they blew it. Now they would pay dearly for crossing paths with him.

Jake knew he wouldn’t be able to catch up with the speeding vehicle just by sprinting after it. He needed to try something different. Pushing off the ground, he executed a powerful mana-infused leap, propelling himself forward and upward. Instantly, he morphed his right hand into a grappling hook and launched it at the building to his right.

Once the hook latched onto the wall, he yanked with great force, pulling himself toward the building at incredible speed. As he soared through the air, he noticed the speeding car below, highlighted for him, making it easy to spot.

It was the third upgrade for his grappling hook ability, called Enhanced Clarity, in action. Its function was to highlight enemies within a certain range to him, allowing for better strategic targeting and decision-making during combat.

Once Jake connected with the building wall, he clung to it using Adhesive Secretion. He quickly adjusted his body position and pushed off the wall, executing another powerful mana-infused leap. While airborne, he deployed his grappling hook again, latching it onto the road below. He yanked on the cord, propelling himself to that spot at incredible speed.

Jake landed right in front of the pickup truck, rising to his full height and turning to face the approaching vehicle. The driver wrenched the steering wheel to the left to avoid crashing into him. Perhaps he acted out of instinct, or maybe he believed that crashing into Jake would cause more damage to the car than to him.

Seizing the moment, Jake launched an acid shot aimed directly at one of the truck’s rear wheels. The corrosive liquid struck its target, instantly eating through the rubber and causing the tire to burst with a loud bang and a violent hiss.

With the rear wheel compromised, the truck swerved dangerously. The driver desperately fought to regain control, but the steering became erratic as the truck began to tip. In a heart-stopping moment, the vehicle rolled onto its side, momentum carrying it across the asphalt. The screeching of metal against the pavement pierced the air as the truck tumbled, rolling several times before it finally came to rest on its roof.

Debris scattered along the road, and thick clouds of dust billowed from the wreckage. The pickup was now a crumpled shell, tires still spinning in the air, while Jake stood at a safe distance, watching the destruction he had just caused.

The gunner was pinned beneath the heavy vehicle, dead. The driver was still alive, though. Disoriented and trapped inside, he struggled to get out of the wreck as smoke began to seep out from under the hood. The doors were crumpled and wouldn’t open, so the driver kicked the cracked windshield free, sending shards of glass flying. He then crawled through the jagged opening, scraping his arms as he emerged from the cab.

When he saw Jake move toward him, he panicked. Rising to his knees, he lifted both hands to show he was not a threat and shook his head frantically. 

“Don’t kill me,” he pleaded. “I don’t want to fight you! Let me go. Please!”

Jake kept walking toward him, quickly closing the distance to his prey. He transformed his right hand into a drill and powered it up. Upon seeing this, the bandit began to tremble, his face a mask of horror.

“Please, no! ” he cried out. “Let me go! I’m not your enemy!”

Jake kept approaching the human. Seeing that his pleas fell on deaf ears, the bandit lowered his hands and quickly pulled a heavy-caliber pistol from the hip holster. He aimed the handgun at Jake but managed to fire only one shot, which struck Jake but dealt little damage, before Jake was on top of him.

With his left hand, he wrenched the pistol from the human’s grip, accidentally breaking his index finger in the process. After tossing the pistol aside, he pressed his palm against the back of the bandit’s head and forcefully pushed it forward, bringing the face closer to the spinning tip of his drill.

The bandit tried to resist, but he was no match for Jake’s inhuman strength. A second later, he drove his drill into the middle of the bandit’s face, turning it into a gory mess. Jake released the now-dead bandit, letting the body topple onto the ground.

Morphing his drill back into a normal hand, Jake straightened up. Just as he did, he heard footsteps and human voices behind him. He spun around to see a group of regular survivors stepping out of a nearby building where they must have been hiding.

Jake watched as the humans walked toward him. They must have observed the brutal scene from the safety of the building, witnessing him wreck the Los Demonios vehicle and kill the driver.

Their laughter filled the air, and their faces sparkled with excitement. They all looked very happy, laughing and making jokes at the expense of the killed bandits as they cheered Jake on for his victory. Clearly, nothing lifted their spirits like witnessing bandits being killed.

Unlike the members of Los Demonios, regular survivors no longer feared him, believing he was on their side. However, as Jake watched the group of survivors approach, he found himself unsure about how he truly felt about them. Were they his allies, or did he see them as mere prey?