CHAPTER 28: THE ROAD THAT BURNED ITSELF [4]

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[Rugged Overload Activated!]

Strength output +400% for 15 seconds. Strikes absorb counterforce!

~----~

BAM!

Ethan hit the Warden in the chest.

The first punch was a map-making blow, a feeling for the lattice. It was Ethan’s warm-up as he got used to the incredible power surging through his veins.

A little bit of math was all it took to realize the power currently thrumming through him. After his breakthrough to F Rank, his base strength became 11, but with the passive ability of the Gauntlet, his base power was 16 with it equipped.

A 400%+ increase for 15 seconds meant that for the next 15 seconds, his base attacking power would be stabilized at 64!

At his current level, this was borderline OP.

If Ethan’s first punch was a warm-up, the second was a message.

BOOM!

Force traveled through those glass bones in a white spiderweb and made a sound like ice failing on a lake. The Warden shuddered before folding around that hand, plates complaining.

Ethan punched through the defense of an E-Rank Warden!

Reid’s world narrowed again. On one hand, he was shocked at the devastating power that Ethan just managed to deal but on the other hand, he knew that this was an opportunity that he must take advantage of.

BAM!

He walked a third shot through the old bullet’s path, letting the time-slow give him the patience to choose an angle that didn’t exist until he made it.

The round threaded between Ethan’s spikes and split the knot of vibrating shards a breath after Ethan’s third punch caved the plate over it.

Finally, the Phase Beacon died, but the lies couldn’t keep up with that many truths at once. Like the legendary boxer, Mike Tyson once said, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.

The Warden spasmed.

It tried to shear Ethan’s arm but Rugged Overload drank the impact.

The Gauntlet was not just all-out attack afterall, it was durable enough to protect itself from one attack from an E-Rank Warden.

Rugged Overload fed the spikes, and Ethan took a half-step deeper before driving his hand home, straight through glass and heat and straight past the E-Rank defenses of the Ashroad Warden.

Light leaked out of seams like breath leaving a chest. Then, the Warden collapsed neatly as if someone had closed a book.

Silence took a few seconds to remember how to be.

"Status," Reid called, his exhale slow, Rifle lowering. The time-slow bled out of his veins as the world’s speed returned to normal.

"Just surface cuts," Kara said, breathing hard, checking her arms. "I’m fine".

"A couple bruises here and there," Jonas said, flexing his hand. "Nothing serious, it’ll fade". As if on cue, the bruise on his jaw lightened a shade as the superhuman regeneration effect of his ability was already working its magic.

"Ammo," Holt began, then stopped when the system chimed softly.

Ethan focused on his own interface.

~----~

[Threat Neutralized: Ashroad Warden (E Rank)]

[Threat Neutralized: Glass Jackals (F Rank)]

[Group Survival Credit: Moderate]

[You have gained +2 Improvisation Points!]

[Current IP: 8]

~----~

The Wheel ticked in Ethan’s periphery.

He had 8 IP now, humming like a pleased animal.

He tried not to smile, but he couldn’t help it as a smile broke out involuntarily. He also tried not to look too long at his hand. The gauntlet withdrew, spikes folding into skin, leaving only the impression of weight in his bones.

Travis blew out a breath he’d been holding for a lifetime.

He took a quick nervous glance at Ethan. "Okay," he said, voice shaky. "Should I begin calling you the Incredible Hulk now? I mean, what the heck was that punch?!"

Ethan chuckled. "It happens".

"It happens?" Travis chuckled bitterly. "I’m freaking losing my mind. But so long I survive, I guess it really doesn’t matter".

"About that Warden," he laughed again nervously. "So... we add ’mantis made of knives’ to the vacation photo album, and then we never come back here."

"Noted," Reid said, but he was staring at the car pile like it might stand again and ask them to dance.

"We move," he finally said. "The Ashroad stacks problems."

They re-formed the line. Holt took point one step left of Reid now, eyes on the flows that only he could read. Mira kept the wind in a careful thread at their backs, a push that was their push, not the road’s.

Kara rolled her shoulders, testing for damage; Jonas rolled his neck, testing for more fight.

They walked.

The mirage-pillars thickened until the corridor became a hallway with no ceiling, a tunnel made of heat.

Twice the rope twitched like something had pulled it; twice Holt’s hand shot out and adjusted Reid’s angle by half a boot-width to keep the line honest.

The road tremored again. Deeper, more certain.

"We’re going deeper," Mira said softly.

"It hears us," Holt replied.

Ethan’s mouth had gone dry. He swallowed and tasted mineral and heat. "Let’s hope we don’t encounter more higher ranks".

Reid didn’t look back. "Let’s hope we’re lucky".

They reached a low shelf where the vitrified highway had heaved and set. There, shade pooled under the overhang like mercy.

Reid lifted a hand and they ducked into it, backs to glass. The air here was less cruel. Not kind, never that, but less intent on erasing them.

"Water," Reid said. "Two minutes and no more."

They passed canteens.

Kara dabbed a crack on her knuckle with alcohol and didn’t hiss, while Jonas prodded a slice across his ribs and watched it finish knitting. Holt thumbed dirt from his scope with the care of a man cleaning an altar.

As for Mira, she leaned a shoulder against the glass and caught the wind with two fingers, letting it spin a coin-sized vortex that kept dust off her face.

She was practicing with her ability.

At that same moment, Reid’s eyes found Ethan’s. A silent question lived there that he didn’t voice; how many more tricks do you have?

Ethan answered without words, flexing his fingers once. The spikes didn’t appear, but the promise did.

Out beyond the shelf, the Ashroad rolled heat in slow, pleased waves.

And then, somewhere under the glass, something else stepped. The whole shelf hummed in response.

"Rank?" Travis whispered, because saying it louder felt like an invitation.

"Not F," Holt said.

"Not E," Reid agreed. "We avoid it".

They clipped back into the rope and circled. The Wheel purred at the edge of Ethan’s vision like a coin between fingers, eager for a flip.

They left the shade and walked on toward whatever waited with its hand out, doing well to avoid direct contact with whatever was out there.