Konrad couldn't tell how others perceived the storm, but even without a proper mana sight—
It was terrifying.
He could feel the pressure from miles away.
The essence was overflowing, corrupting, or exploding everything in its path.
And that fleeing animal swarm seemed like a mere inconvenience in comparison. But it was also one that could have trampled them to death way before the storm arrived.
"The counter went up," Dmitry yelled, running as fast as he could.
And indeed, as Konrad clutched his PDA as well, he saw a new orange dot dead ahead.
One. Alone.
"What kind of checkpoint is this," he panted, his sides burning, "with only one guard?!"
The Captain scoffed, clutching his AK to his chest.
"We'll ask once we're inside his shelter."
Except, it didn't seem like they would make it.
The emissions were still far, although a mana storm must have been traveling fast. But the horde of those startled animals—mutants, and whatever—was only fifty yards from them now.
That dot marking the Stalker was at thirty, but they still couldn't see him.
Which could have even been a good sign if it meant he was hiding in a safe place, but—
They still had to get there somehow.
"Fuck, lay down suppressing fire," Dmitry shouted, firing his rifle on the move.
Right. Konrad had one, too, cold steel bumping against his thigh with every rushed step.
He yanked it by the strap and undid the safety, peppering the mass of animals at random.
There was no point in trying to aim. With so many targets, it was almost impossible to miss.
But the horde showed no sign of slowing down, regardless.
"Aargh," the Captain groaned, emptying his magazine without achieving much. "There. I can see a cabin behind those concrete blocks," he yelled, not even trying to reload.
Konrad had already dropped his PDA in his pocket, but that place must have been the one.
Nowhere else could have had a Stalker sit out an emission anywhere near or far.
Not that the checkpoint was anything special.
A literal chicken-wire fence that seemed to go on forever along the tree line. A makeshift metal gate with a few concrete traffic separators in front for cover, and—
A green cabin, sized like a truck container, with its windows welded shut and the door closed.
Dmitry slammed against its side, not bothering to slow down.
Konrad still had a few paces to catch up before he could reach it.
But the sea of animals was already close. The waves of flesh parted before the larger obstacles, but not before him. Even after firing all those rounds, he remained under their radar.
And had he not erected a physical barrier around himself in the last second before impact—
No, even then, the swarm swept him away.
Off his feet, further from the safety of that cabin—
And he couldn't tell whether Dmitry made it or not, but he was already way too far.
It would've been better if he anchored his wall of air onto something solid, rather than himself.
But it was too late for that now. At that point, he was fighting for sheer survival. And if he didn't want his barrier to crumble, he'd better channel a lot more of his essence into it.
The animals never stopped.
They didn't seem to care.
No jaws tried to snap around his throat; they would only keep charging ahead.
But they took Konrad with them for at least a hundred yards, away from the only shelter.
By the time the last rodent passed him, and he tried to get up, the sky had changed color again.
It was late in the morning, but he found himself in complete darkness.
Storm or not, the air felt dry and charged. The blowout was already here.
A wave of radiation washed over everything.
If not for the Bubble he had found the day before, that alone would have killed him.
But that was only the start.
The friction in the air created hundreds of small lightning bolts and swept across the land.
His rifle acted as a lightning rod for them, at least a dozen hitting him in quick succession.
The compressed-air barrier was not made to stop them.
But he somehow deflected the worst of it.
Until the next phase.
The real Blowout, this time.
Radiation and lightning were something he could fight against. He could survive.
But the immense pressure of the corrupted mana blowing over him?!
It dispelled his barrier in less than a second.
It spoiled his entire pool, essence draining away from him faster than he could blink.
And the air, too.
The pressure knocked it out of his lungs, leaving him unable to do anything at that point.
Three seconds in this emission was enough to immobilize him for good.
And in the fourth—
Two pairs of hands grabbed him out of the blue, and while Konrad could no longer keep his eyes open, he was moving. Somewhere. Somehow. Away from the pressure.
Five more seconds, and the atmosphere changed around him.
There were sounds, but he could not make them out.
His eardrums might have shattered.
But he could feel the slam of a thick door, the calming of the winds around him.
And his body, his skin—every muscle and tendon felt like burning.
Konrad was an empty husk of a body, melting from the inside. Where his large pool of essence used to be, there was nothing now. He didn't have a drop of mana left.
Worst even: that familiar trickle he had felt in the Zone before was gone, too.
As if he became blind and deaf to the magic of the world. Repelled. Forever dead to it.
Except the rest of his pain would still ease away.
"Konrad? Hey," Dmitry shouted in his face, and he felt his breath on his skin. "Kid, come on, say something. Thank God you had those artifacts on you. Hey, are you alive?!"
The artifacts. Right.
The sickening heat was finally leaving his body. His eardrums seemed to be healing, too.
It didn't happen in an instant, but both the Bubble and the Stone Blood were doing their jobs.
And he found those yesterday, while drunk.
Drinking might not have been that bad, after all. Yeah.
"I need a vodka," he gritted out, his voice still hoarse.
But he had it. He could open his eyes, too.
At a glance, he was inside that green metal cabin they were running towards.
The Captain laughed, letting out a long sigh of relief.
"Nope, no booze for you, kid," he said, collapsing to the floor by his side. "But I'm glad you survived. One second, you were running with me, and the next—"
"Yeah, that was rough," Konrad nodded, coughing, trying to get up.
"I've never seen a swarm this big," the stranger noted, standing by the door. "And I've survived quite a few Blowouts by now. I've no idea how you did it, though."
Konrad winced.
He didn't, either.
Or rather, he had no idea what he would do with himself now.
His pool remained empty. The magic that saved his life—he could no longer access it.
Stretching his arms, twisting his torso, he was all fine. His body was.
But even as the massive storm subsided outside, his essence didn't seem to return.
Not a single trickle of mana.