The police precinct looked like a fortress that had failed spectacularly.
Thick coils of rusted barbed wire lined the perimeter walls, and the massive steel security gates were completely blown off their hinges.
Moon and Garrett crouched behind a burned-out armored transport vehicle just outside the gates, observing the targets.
Garrett hadn't exaggerated. The two Special Blight-Fiends patrolling the courtyard were nightmares.
The first was the heavy-brute. It was eight feet tall, a grotesque mountain of swollen hardened muscle and bone-plating.
It dragged a massive concrete pillar behind it like a makeshift club, its heavy footsteps vibrating the asphalt.
The second elite was a stark contrast. It paced frantically near the armory doors like a caged animal.
It was lean, stripped of armor, and completely feral. Jagged three-foot-long bone blades protruded directly from its forearms. It twitched erratically with its muscles coiled tight.
"The brute is slow, but if it hits you, you're paste," Garrett whispered and gripped his fire axe until his knuckles turned white. "I'll take the big one. I can use the axe to chip away its knee joints. You take the feral one with the blades. Keep it distracted, stay alive, and wait for me to finish the tank."
"Sounds like a plan," Moon said.
He didn't mention that his definition of distracting involved total annihilation.
"On three," Garrett said.
"One. Two. Three!"
Garrett exploded from behind the vehicle and rushed into the courtyard with a roar to draw the aggro. "Hey, ugly! Over here!"
The heavy-brute turned, let out a deep echoing bellow, and hoisted the concrete pillar over its shoulder to meet Garrett's charge.
The feral blade-armed elite instantly locked onto Garrett as well. It dropped to all fours and prepared to launch itself like a missile at the tall man's back.
It never got the chance.
Moon blurred into the courtyard, using his 1.7 Agility to cross the distance in a heartbeat. He didn't use his iron baton. He used his bare newly mutated skin.
He lunged forward and delivered a devastating front kick squarely to the side of the feral fiend's ribs.
CRACK!
The feral elite shrieked as it was launched sideways, skidding across the asphalt. It recovered instantly and flipped backward onto its feet.
Its hollow white eyes locked onto Moon. It crossed its bone-blades with a sickening shing sound.
"Come on, Edward Scissorhands," Moon taunted and dropped into a loose brawler's stance.
The feral fiend vanished.
It was terrifyingly fast. It cleared the twenty-foot gap in a single bound and brought both bone-blades down in a lethal scissor-strike aimed directly at Moon's neck.
Moon didn't panic. His enhanced nervous system tracked the blur of motion.
He ducked and let the blades slice the empty air above him. He spun and swung his iron baton at the creature's exposed hip.
But the fiend possessed unnatural reflexes. It twisted mid-air and brought its right blade down in a vicious arc to intercept the attack.
Moon saw the blade coming. He could have dodged. Instead, a crazy thought crossed his mind. He needed to test the limits of his new cheat.
He didn't dodge. He intentionally raised his left forearm to block the bone-blade.
"Moon, move!" Garrett yelled from across the courtyard as he watched the blade descend.
CLANG!
The bone-blade struck Moon's bare forearm. It didn't sever the limb. It didn't even cut deep.
The E-Rank [Toxic Carapace] hardened his skin into treated leather upon impact. The blade only managed a shallow glancing slice, drawing a thin line of red blood.
But the offensive property of the Carapace was instantaneous.
SZZZZZ!
A violent hiss erupted from the point of contact. The acidic poison of the Carapace immediately transferred to the bone-blade.
The corrosive green energy aggressively ate into the monster's weapon, melting the bone and traveling rapidly up the blade toward the fiend's flesh.
The feral elite shrieked in absolute agony, stumbling backward as the poison burned into its forearm. Its terrifying speed was instantly crippled by the pain.
"Yep. That works," Moon grinned and shook the minor sting from his arm.
He didn't give the creature a second to recover. Moon surged forward.
He sidestepped the creature's clumsy panicked swipe, grabbed the back of its bald corrupted head with his bare hand, and violently twisted.
SNAP.
The feral fiend's neck broke with a loud pop. It crumpled to the ground, dead.
Moon quickly slapped his hand onto the corpse.
[Ding!]
[Target Killed. Activation Requirement Met.]
[Plunder Successful!]
[Raw Agility +0.8 acquired.]
[F-Rank Passive Skill: Basic CQC acquired.]
A massive surge of Agility flooded his legs, but Moon didn't have time to celebrate. He spun around.
Garrett was in trouble.
The heavy-brute had shattered the concrete ground, knocking Garrett off balance.
The tall man was on his back, desperately holding his fire axe up to block the concrete pillar the brute was trying to crush him with. Garrett's arms were trembling as the pillar slowly descended toward his chest.
Moon kicked off the ground and moved faster than he ever had before.
He didn't attack the brute's armored back. He slid low across the asphalt and arrived directly behind the monster's thick legs.
He gripped his iron baton with both hands and swung it with 1.8 Strength directly into the back of the brute's right knee.
CRUNCH!
The joint exploded. The brute roared as its leg collapsed beneath its massive weight. The concrete pillar fell to the side, missing Garrett's head by inches.
As the brute dropped to a kneel, Garrett didn't hesitate.
He rolled to the side, scrambled to his feet, and brought his heavy fire axe down in a massive overhead executioner's strike directly into the back of the brute's exposed neck.
SQUELCH.
The axe cleaved halfway through the monster's spine. The heavy-brute collapsed, dead.
Moon casually reached out and placed his hand against the brute's massive leg. He ensured he claimed his prize while Garrett was busy yanking his axe free.
[Ding!]
[Target Killed. Activation Requirement Met.]
[Plunder Successful!]
[Raw Strength +0.7 acquired.]
[F-Rank Passive Skill: Spear Mastery acquired.]
Moon felt his muscles bulge as his raw power surged violently. But it was the two new skills that made his interface light up.
He instantly opened the Synthesis Cauldron UI in his mind. He threw the newly acquired [Basic CQC] and [Spear Mastery] into the cauldron.
[Compatibility Detected: Extreme.]
[Fusion Cost: 400 OP.]
[Proceed?]
"Proceed."
[Synthesis Complete!]
[New Skill Acquired: Lethal Flow (E-Rank)]
[Description: Grants the Host advanced, instinctual knowledge of close-quarters combat and polearm weaponry. The Host's movements are optimized for lethal efficiency, removing wasted kinetic energy.]
Suddenly, a torrent of pure knowledge flooded Moon's brain. His previously sloppy brawler's stance instantly corrected itself.
His posture straightened, his center of gravity lowered, and his grip on the iron baton shifted to a flawless balanced hold.
He wasn't just a strong street fighter anymore. He was a weapon.
Garrett leaned against his axe, staring at the dead brute, then at the dead feral fiend. He looked at Moon with a mixture of awe and absolute terror.
"You solo'd the feral elite in ten seconds," Garrett breathed. "Who the fuck are you, Cross?"
"Just a guy trying to pay rent," Moon smiled thinly.
They breached the armory doors easily with Garrett's axe. The inside was a treasure trove untouched by the apocalypse.
Racks of riot gear, standard-issue firearms, and heavy batons lined the walls.
Moon completely ignored the guns. He knew relying on Earth-tech meant it wouldn't transfer back to the real world. Instead, he found exactly what he wanted.
He grabbed a heavy black riot spear forged from high-density carbon steel, perfectly balanced for his new [Lethal Flow] skill. He also secured a sharp tactical hatchet and slotted it into his belt.
Garrett grabbed a pump-action shotgun, loaded his pockets with shells, and strapped a set of ceramic riot-armor to his chest.
They stood in the center of the armory fully geared up. The tension of survival had momentarily passed.
"You're a psycho, Cross," Garrett said as he pulled up his system interface. "But you're effective."
A prompt appeared in Moon's vision.
[Player 'Garrett' has requested to add you to their Friend List. Accept?]
Moon mentally clicked yes.
Garrett checked his shotgun and then looked at the armory door. "I move better alone. Less noise. Less liability."
"Same here," Moon nodded.
He perfectly understood. Survival in the Convergence didn't breed teamwork, it bred pragmatism.
Garrett gave a single respectful nod, cementing their mutual preference for solo survival. Without another word, the tall man turned and vanished out the door.
Moon twirled his new carbon-steel spear. The motion was fast and perfect.
He was alone again. He was heavily armed, his stats were soaring, and he had two days left on the clock.
"Alright," Moon grinned and walked out of the precinct. "Let's go hunting."