A deafening crash barreled through the cramped basement. The generator overloaded, the makeshift engine built up pressure, power surged through the transmission system, and the hydraulics released their stored force. Amid the shriek of grinding metal, scorching heat leaked from the crude exoskeleton as fierce power raced through it. 

The rebar reinforcing the shoulders groaned under the strain before splitting apart, unable to bear the load. With a swing of Ji Jue’s arm, that absurdly enormous, wailing hammer came crashing down from above. A shockwave burst in every direction along with a spray of thick blood and gore, as if he had just smashed a tomato.

The aberrant that had barged through the doorway had its vision go black. Before it could even react to taking the full force of the hammer blow, Ji Jue swept the hammer sideways and sent the creature flying. It slammed into the wall with another thunderous crash, splitting cracks across the surface.

Howling in pain, the aberrant, which was basically a chaotic mass of countless limbs fused together at this point, thrashed wildly. Its limbs flailed in every direction, awkwardly propping its body back up as it rapidly recovered. It had already looked like an indistinguishable mass of mangled flesh to begin with. Ji Jue’s two hammer blows had only rearranged its features.

Now, the eyes that opened across what passed for its “shoulders,”...