162 THE SCORCHED BOSS
Another impact slammed into the barrier, this one strong enough to make the force field flicker and crackle with static.
For a heartbeat, they saw it—a hulking, twisted creature clawing at the dome, its body pulsing with faint, radioactive light.
"Those… things—what are they?" Liorea cried out.
Zairgid's voice was tight. "Mutants. They must have followed the train's energy trail…"
The farm's drones swarmed toward the breach, forming a defensive line. Above them, the sky inside the dome flickered between daylight and chaos as the barrier began to fail.
"Back to the train!" Damen ordered.
-----
The sirens screamed louder as cracks began to spiderweb across the dome. Each tremor sent waves of distortion through the air, like heat haze made visible.
"Everyone, move!" Damen shouted.
Kail grabbed Liorea's wrist and pulled her toward the tramway that led back to the platform.
Androids around them shifted from farming mode to security mode—their eyes glowing red as they deployed energy rifles from their arms.
A volley of plasma fire erupted toward the breach, lighting up the haze.
Through the flickering barrier, the creatures came into focus—massive, sinewy beasts with blackened hides and molten veins glowing beneath the skin.
Their faces were warped beyond recognition, half flesh and half metal, as though radiation had fused bone and machine together.
One of them slammed its claws against the dome again. The barrier burst outward in a surge of light and sound.
"Go, go, go!" Damen barked, pushing the others ahead into the platform.
The air outside the dome rushed in like a dying breath—dry, acrid, and heavy with dust. The nearest mutant screeched, its voice a metallic roar that rattled the rails beneath their feet.
"Damen!" Kail shouted, "Come on inside!"
Damen turned, watching as the farm's defense drones engaged the creature. Beams of blue light tore through its chest, but the monster barely flinched.
It seized a drone in its jaws and crushed it like paper.
The group stumbled onto the platform just as the train doors hissed open.
"Passengers, please reboard immediately," the AI conductor announced calmly, as if nothing was happening. "This area has been compromised."
They dove into the carriage.
Damen stood outside the tramway still waiting for the monster that breached the farm. "What the hell is this thing?"
He identified the monster instantly—just as he identified artifacts.
Name: Scorched
Description: Formed from the remnants of animals and war machines fused together by radiation, meta contamination, and failed bio-engineering projects after Armageddon.
Abilities: It can discharge stored radiation energy as bursts of plasma or EMP waves, disabling drones and weapons nearby.
Then the creature's stats appeared in his vision:
Name: Scorched
Strength Rank: BB Meta Rank: B Blood Rank: B
Strength: 988 | Charm: 8 | Meta: 623 | Command: 622 | Blood: 846 | Armor: 846
The Scorched stood over six meters tall, hunched like a gorilla yet shaped like something that once crawled on four limbs. Its skin was charcoal-black, textured like cracked obsidian, and split open by glowing, magma-like veins that pulsed in rhythm with its heartbeat.
In places, its flesh had melted into steel, forming a patchwork of corroded armor fused with muscle. Its head resembled a distorted wolf's skull, the lower jaw entirely mechanical and lined with metallic fangs that screeched when they ground together.
From its spine jutted broken metallic rods—fragments of missile launchers and antennae from long-dead war drones.
Its eyes were gone, replaced by two rings of molten gold that burned within the sockets, scanning its surroundings through heat and electromagnetic patterns.
One of the monsters roared, a deafening, metallic scream, and a shockwave of EMP burst from its body, rippling through the air.
The drones attacking the pack instantly shut down, dropping from the sky like dead birds.
"Damn, EMP?" Damen muttered in shock at the mutants' ability.
Then the creatures turned toward Damen.
"Big Brother, come back to the train! Don't fight them!" Kail's voice shouted through the comms.
But Damen didn't listen.
His tone was calm, almost amused. "Don't worry. I just want to test the strength of the wildlife in this new world."
One of the Scorched raised its head, the molten rings in its eyes flaring brighter—and fired.
A column of plasma screamed across the field. Damen moved before it struck, leaping effortlessly into the air. The beam tore through the farmland, incinerating half an acre of crops into ash.
"Raaawrr!" another creature howled, leaping after him—but Damen was already above its reach, suspended in midair, his cloak fluttering in the wind.
Passengers on the train watched in disbelief.
"We're saved! The SIA sent a hero to protect us!" someone shouted.
Liorea smiled faintly. "Technically, he's not a hero yet."
From above, Damen studied the pack.
He dived as electricity gathered around his arms. He seized two of the Scorched by their limbs and executed his meta skill.
"Electrocution- Echo In."
"This is the first time I'm using this… creep. Be honored", Damen screamed.
Electric arcs surged through his hands, coursing across their molten skin. The monsters convulsed but endured. They were resistant to electricity though, their armor tanking most of the charge.
"Damnit, you two are tough", he said.
Then a second pulse erupted, then another, a chain of rhythmic shocks hammering through the creatures' bodies in rapid succession.
Blue-white light flared across the dome as he released them.
When he landed, both monsters collapsed, their charred limbs twitching, their bodies half reduced to ash.
Damen's Electrocution skill got an Echo upgrade.
But more Scorched emerged—five, maybe six, their eyes burning like miniature suns.
"Hell no… more of these?" he cried.
Damen steadied his breath.
His autonomous combat systems synced with his movements, sharpening every reflex.
Double plasma bolts hurtled toward him.
He grabbed the scorched corpses and swung it up as a shield. The blast hit, disintegrating the carcass into vapor.
Without deliberating, Damen dashed forward—faster than the eye could follow—and struck another creature head-on.
"Thunder Crush—Echo In!"
His fist crashed into the monster's skull.
A concussive wave of kinetic pressure rippled through its head, followed by another, and another—each one punctuated by bursts of kinetic crunches and lightning.
"Thunder Crush- Echo In"
The Scorched reeled, molten fluid dripping from its shattered jaw.
With two of their kind slain and another crippled, the pack began to retreat. They let out guttural metallic cries before vanishing into the background.
"Is it over? That was a tough fight," Damen thought, breathing hard as the last of the Scorched disappeared into the haze.
But the battle wasn't over.
The ground began to vibrate—slow, deliberate thuds echoing from the smoke beyond the field. The remaining Scorched weren't retreating.
They were clearing space.
Then he saw it.
Another Scorched emerged from behind the pack, towering above the rest. It rose to its full height—twelve meters, dwarfing its kin.
The air rippled around it as heat bled from its molten veins.
This one was different.
Its shoulders were reinforced with metallic plating, and from its back jutted twin cannon barrels, fused directly into its spine like extensions of its skeleton.
Every movement made them glow, their cores heating to a blinding white.
"Damn it," Damen muttered, his Vision Connect flashing red warnings. "That's the Scorched Boss."