Extra Chapter.
20 Golden Tickets Acquired. (Daily Goal Reached)
...
"Virtual Laboratory, lock the target on the eyes."
["Beep!"]
My retinas glowed with a faint bluish hue, and immediately, the vision was filled with digital markings, highlighting the skull and eyes of the Venomous Land Shark.
My MG-Tyrant 001 machine gun began to spin, the rotating drum emitting a threatening mechanical growl.
The shark stopped moving.
Its instincts screamed that something was wrong.
Its dark, empty eyes narrowed, and I could see the hesitation in its body. It tried to turn and flee, but...
It was too late.
"Too late, idiot."
"BANG!"
"BANG!"
"BANG!"
"BANG!"
The high-caliber bullets pierced the creature’s eyes, drilling straight into its skull. The brutal impact caused its head to explode, spraying red blood and bone fragments in all directions.
The smell of gunpowder and burnt flesh filled the air.
The shark’s body trembled for a second and then fell, motionless.
Silence.
Only the echo of the gunshots still resonated through the forest.
I sighed, furrowing my brow as I approached the smoking carcass.
"...That was too easy."
Even though it was a natural predator of this environment, the shark didn’t stand a chance to react.
It was strange.
I knelt next to the dead body, observing the open wounds, the muscles still tense. Then, a realization hit me like a punch to the stomach.
This wasn’t just about the shark.
It was about my weapon.
Even a Mage without defensive spells wouldn’t survive a barrage of bullets from the Tyrant 001 straight to the eye.
If a Mage were caught off guard, even without magical armor or protective barriers, they’d probably die in the same way as this shark: with their head exploding.
But... what were the chances of a Mage letting that happen?
Zero.
I shook my head, pushing the thoughts away. There was no point in reflecting on that right now.
I took one more look at the creature’s lifeless body and felt the temptation to cut a piece of meat to take back to the Tower.
It would be interesting to fry it.
But... it wasn’t worth it.
Even though some organs from this shark could be sold for some value, I didn’t need magic crystals right now.
So, I turned away and walked over to the stone corroded by acid spit.
There it was: the Blue Water Flower.
Its petals glowed softly, still damp with the waterfall’s dew.
I knelt and carefully picked it, storing it in a sealed compartment of my armor.
First ingredient collected.
On my way back to the Tower, I eliminated a few more smaller creatures, accurately collecting the necessary ingredients to complete the initial mission. After handing everything over to the ghost at the mission post, I received my magic crystals with a mechanical wave of the hand and then headed back to the mission board.
The reward of 5 crystals for collecting ingredients wasn’t much compared to what I could get selling healing potions, but I didn’t mind. Now that I had a basic understanding of what I’d find outside the Tower...
That’s when my eyes locked onto a mission that immediately caught my attention:
[Investigate the disappearance of an acolyte in the deepest part of the forest.]
["Level: Dangerous"]
["Reward: 50 magic crystals"]
["Recommended level: Level 2 or 3 Acolyte"]
["Description: Some strange things seem to have emerged in the forest. Probably some battle between the leaders of the magical creatures in the forest caught the acolyte Jhony in the crossfire. Find the cause of this situation."]
I accepted the mission and received a small map showing where I needed to go.
It didn’t take long for me to leave the Tower’s door again, the enchanted steam reactor on my chest vibrating gently as I moved toward the unknown.
Following the map’s trail, I entered deep into the forest and started to feel the change in the environment. The forest was different. The vegetation seemed denser, and the air, heavier.
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The presence of the Scavenger Eagles above me was unsettling. I could feel their piercing gazes, as if each one of them was ready to strike at any moment. They were so quiet, so relentless in their watch, that the atmosphere became almost oppressive.
I knew that if I were an average acolyte there, my body would likely be trembling with fear. But the weapons of my armor gave me a cold, calculating confidence.
"Virtual laboratory, perform a scan of the surrounding area. I want to know what’s happening here!" I muttered, breaking the silence as I observed the eagles, huge shadows high above, waiting to strike.
["Beep"]
["Initiating real-time scan task..."]
Time seemed to drag on as I waited for the response, my hand close to the trigger of the machine gun in case something happened. My robotic legs were flexed, ready to leap, my hands steady, instinctively holding the weapon’s control.
["Establishing dynamic monitoring for the surrounding area..."]
["Beep!"]
["Beep!"]
The response finally came.
["Source of disturbance is an unknown smell."]
["Direction: Southeast."]
["Distance: 500 meters..."]
An unknown smell? I furrowed my brow, feeling a twinge of curiosity. I could feel something in the air, something not related to the natural environment of the forest. It was something more, something… not human.
"Blood mixed with dew?" I thought, then moved my hand to the helmet of my armor, trying to focus more on the sensations.
It was at that moment that the reality of the situation began to hit me. Something had happened here—something that caused a large bloodshed, and the creatures were drawn to the smell. But who or what had fallen in this forest and released such blood?
I wasted no time and started moving towards the smell of blood.
The Garden of Demon Babies described in the map I had received when accepting the mission, which was usually eerily silent and completely devoid of life, had transformed into a terrifying battlefield, completely different from the norm.
As I approached the location, I could hear the horrible screams of the Demon Babies and the wails of wandering souls. I also heard loud human voices, cursing in anger and fear. Apparently, this was the source of the pungent blood smell that had drawn my attention. Using the trees and grass for cover, I slowly crept toward the battlefield. Soon, I found a spot with a good vantage point, allowing me to observe what was happening.
There were two groups fighting at the site.
The attackers were, of course, the horrific Demon Babies and the other wandering souls that lived here. Then, there were some Warrior-level mercenaries fighting to hold back the horrible creatures before them.
They seemed to be a group of skilled and experienced mercenaries. They appeared strong and vigorous, lacking neither physical strength nor courage. Furthermore, their equipment was very good. They had large, thick shields made of steel, arm and shoulder guards, and each of them had a bow. This made them capable of hunting many of the common demons in this forest.
But unfortunately for them, the demons surrounding them were some of the scariest creatures in the forest: the Demon Babies.
A Demon Baby had no legs and crawled on the ground with a pair of sharp claws, dragging a long organ that resembled an umbilical cord behind it. They were ugly and had twisted bodies, but they looked remarkably similar to human babies. However, their faces were not made of smooth, youthful flesh but of wrinkled, dead skin, and their facial features were squashed, giving them extremely ugly faces.
Among the knee-high bushes, these small demons crawled back and forth, uttering curses and screams that echoed throughout the area. Whenever the cry of a baby was heard, it immediately caused the human mercenaries to scream in fear.
Although these Demon Babies had small bodies, each one possessed the strength of at least a fully-fledged knight, which was equivalent to that of a knight. Not only that, but they also had a pair of deadly claws. Every time they leapt forward and hit the large wooden shields, they left deep scratch marks behind.
However, their most deadly weapon was their magical abilities.
When I arrived, these Demon Babies were trying to break the defensive shields with their bodies.
One by one, the Demon Babies rushed from the bushes, leaping into the air and trying to land behind the defensive shields of the mercenaries, but each time, the mercenaries, who were prepared, knocked them down with their arm guards. There was even a Demon Baby that couldn’t escape in time and ended up pinned to the ground with an arrow.
Even though it was pinned to the ground, the Demon Baby was still very fierce, frantically digging into the earth with its claws. Then it raised its body and let out an irritating baby cry toward a nearby human mercenary.
The scream was shrill and deafening, but while it was merely an unpleasant noise to others, when the cry reached the mercenary closest to it, it instantly struck him with the terrifying ’hypnosis spell’.
The muscular mercenary suddenly tossed aside his shield and placed both hands firmly over his ears, shouting: "Haha... hahaha... they’re calling me to play."
Soon after he shouted, blood tears streamed from his tightly shut eyes, terrifying the rest of the mercenaries.
Before anyone could do anything, two other Demon Babies emerged from the bushes, fierce smiles on their ugly faces. They opened their mouths and screamed at the mercenary who had already been hit by ’Blindness’.
Even a Level 2 acolyte, if hit directly by these spells without protection, would have trouble defending against the curse of a Demon Baby, let alone these mercenaries, who were just regular humans. Before their fellow mercenaries could knock him out, this mercenary wildly shoved everything around him and ran out of the defensive formation.
"Idiot! Activate your vital energy and get back to the formation!" A middle-aged man, who appeared to be the leader of the group, immediately shouted from within the formation. But it was too late.
If someone had been looking down from above, they would have seen some movement within the bushes around the mercenary team, as many quick-moving blades of grass shot toward the mercenary who was running away in confusion.
"Brendou!" A man with a bold appearance threw aside his own shield. He closed his eyes, then reopened them.
"Buzz~~"
His vital energy was activated. His body was enveloped by a bluish electrical aura, and he grabbed an axe before starting to run to rescue his friend. However, he was forcefully pulled back by his leader, who had also activated his vital energy.
"Don’t go, Evef! It’s too late now..." The leader grabbed the bold man’s arm as he looked helplessly at the man who was leaving.
As if to prove his words, Brendou, who had lost his sanity, was knocked to the ground by a swarm of Demon Babies.
"No!!"
"Stay away from me."
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
"Stop... stop tearing me apart..." His cries filled with pain and shrill screams lasted only a few seconds before completely stopping. Then, all that could be heard was the sound of the Demon Babies tearing at his flesh and chewing on his bones.
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1871 Words