Chapter 176: The Hidden Hunters

Despite the growing tension, Jaxon never stopped firing. From the rooftop, he continued picking off infected one after another, doing everything he could to slow the creatures pushing deeper into the streets. But the soldiers below were still being overwhelmed. Their numbers continued to fall as more infected broke through the defensive line, forcing the survivors farther and farther back.

’This won’t do.’

Jaxon’s eyes swept across the battlefield before settling on the streets leading deeper into the safe zone. ’Natasha, Na-rin... I’ll leave the ones that make it inside to you and the others.’

There was no way he could cover everything at once. If he kept trying to eliminate every infected while also protecting the soldiers, the more dangerous ones would be left unchecked. Once those creatures spread throughout the safe zone, the damage they could cause would be far worse than a few infected slipping through.

Jaxon quickly made his decision. He stopped targeting the ordinary infected and shifted his attention toward the mutants.

A pale arm suddenly snapped through his scope. One of the long-armed infected had caught a soldier and was dragging him across the ground. The man desperately clawed at the concrete, trying to grab onto anything that could stop him, but the creature continued pulling him toward the horde.

Jaxon immediately adjusted his aim.

THUP! The suppressed round tore through the creature’s head, obliterating its skull down to the neck. Its grip loosened instantly, and the soldier dropped onto the ground, coughing violently as he scrambled onto his hands and knees.

Jaxon had already moved his crosshair toward another target when something suddenly grabbed the soldier from behind.

Another pale arm wrapped around his torso and yanked him backward.

"AHH!" The soldier screamed as his body was dragged across the concrete.

Jaxon tried to swing his rifle toward him, but the infected surrounding the man blocked his line of sight. By the time he found another angle, the soldier had already disappeared beneath the mass of infected.

’That son of a...’

THUP! His next shot tore through the long-armed infected responsible, dropping it instantly as he didn’t waste another second.

He shifted his position and moved across the rooftop, looking for a better angle on the battlefield. As soon as he reached the other side of the building, his scope settled on a Gorefist rampaging near the defensive line.

The massive creature had both hands wrapped around an armored vehicle, violently crushing the metal while the soldiers nearby scattered to avoid being caught underneath it.

THUP! The Gorefist’s head snapped backward as dark blood sprayed from the back of its skull. Its enormous body went limp and collapsed against the armored vehicle, finally coming to a stop.

Jaxon quickly moved on the next target. A Crawler suddenly leaped onto a nearby rooftop, its twisted body flying toward a soldier desperately firing his weapon.

THUP! But a bullet struck its head in midair as the Crawler dropped before it could reach him. The notification barely registered before Jaxon shifted his aim again.

He moved from rooftop to rooftop, constantly changing his position to find better firing angles and avoid being boxed into one location. Every time he settled into a new position, another mutant would eventually appear somewhere in his scope.

Crawlers, Gorefist, Long-Armed infected. One after another, they fell beneath his rifle.

THUP! THUP! THUP!

But no matter how many mutants Jaxon killed, more continued emerging from the breach. The horde wasn’t slowing down. If anything, the number was increasing.

Jaxon moved to another rooftop, searching for his next target. His eyes swept across the battlefield until they suddenly settled on a figure that immediately stood out from the countless infected below.

It was the Variant he had noticed earlier. The creature was larger and darker than the other Variants, its body almost completely covered in blackened flesh that made it easy to distinguish even among the massive horde. Unlike the others, however, it wasn’t rushing toward the soldiers or attacking anything in its path. It simply stood there, quietly observing the chaos around it.

Then the Dark Variant suddenly crouched. A moment later, its enormous body launched into the air.

It cleared the breach in a single leap and landed on top of the wall with surprising ease. The other seven Variants followed close behind, jumping onto the wall one after another until all eight stood above the battlefield and looked down at the chaos below, watching the infected spread through the streets while the surviving soldiers desperately tried to hold them back.

Jaxon narrowed his eyes. Slowly, he raised his DMR and settled the crosshair over the Dark Variant standing near the center of the group.

THUP! The suppressed shot crossed the battlefield. Just before it reached the target, the Dark Variant’s head shifted slightly to the side.

The bullet passed where its skull had been a fraction of a second earlier. It continued past the Dark Variant and struck the Variant standing directly behind it.

SPLAT! The round tore through its upper body, ripping apart flesh from its chest to its shoulder. The creature staggered backward before collapsing heavily onto the wall.

A system notification appeared in Jaxon’s mind, but he ignored it.

’It dodged?’

’How the hell did it know?’

Before he could think any further, the creature slowly turned its head. Its completely black eyes locked directly onto the rooftop where he was standing.

Jaxon’s expression changed. ’Shit.’

THUP! He fired once again. But the Dark Variant moved before the bullet reached it. Its body shifted sideways with startling precision, allowing the round to pass through the exact spot where its head had been a fraction of a second earlier.

Jaxon narrowed his eyes as the creature landed in a low crouch and immediately looked back toward him.

Then a deep, furious roar erupted from its throat.

"GRUAAAH!" The roar thundered across the battlefield, but Jaxon didn’t flinch. He kept his rifle steady and fired again.

THUP! Once again, the Dark Variant moved and his bullet missed once more.

Jaxon’s expression grew serious. He pulled the DMR away from his shoulder and immediately changed position.

His enhanced body carried him across the rooftop as he sprinted toward the edge and leaped to the next building as he quickly raised his rifle again.

The other Variants were already moving. One leaped toward another section of the western wall while another disappeared into the mass of infected below. The remaining Variants began spreading out across the battlefield, each heading in a different direction.

Jaxon immediately tracked one of them as it jumped from the wall.

THUP! His suppressed round tore through the horde as the bullet punched through several infected bodies in its path, spraying blood and flesh into the air, but it never reached the Variant.

The creature had already disappeared among the countless infected, using their bodies to shield itself from his line of fire.

’These bastards...’ Jaxon clicked his tongue.

He shifted his scope toward another Variant, only to find the same thing. It had also disappeared into the horde.

One by one, the remaining Variants vanished among the infected, carefully keeping themselves hidden behind the mass of bodies.