Chapter 14: Iron Angel

Aerion, or as it was previously called Hillcrest, was a humble kingdom a few centuries ago, until a part of the kingdom mysteriously ascended to the skies. Obviously, such an event drew the interest of the nobility, who immediately moved to the new 'Paradise'.

A fortress of difficult access, free from weather catastrophes, and protected by the most reliable warriors—it was a promised land for those who could afford to live there. While the rest, remained in the old Hillcrest, now with no one to care for.

Months and months of civil wars with the aim of only acquiring basic necessities. Hillcrest is currently in ruins, and the descendants of the old inhabitants live scattered throughout the region, in precarious conditions and at risk of death every day.

Meanwhile, in Aerion, they noticed that their warriors were diminishing, so finally remembering those below them, they opened an 'opportunity'. In a single night, hundreds of posters rained from the sky with the following message:

"Prove yourself worthy of being an Angel, and you and your family will be worthy of Ascending to Aerion."

<…>

The Bald laughs and points to his opponent, "Ladies first. Oh wait… You're not a lady! GYAHAAHAHAHA!", he runs like a mad bull towards her, turning the front part of his body into metal.

[Metal Charge]

[Description: The user runs at high speed and, at the same time, transforms parts of his body into metal. He can then collide with his opponents, using his increased weight and his resistance to knock them down or push them away with great impact.]

Alice walks calmly towards the soldier, firmly gripping the hilt of the sword, remembering the pain that the damned one made her pass. And then, she defends the attack.

[Perfect Block]

[Stamina: 65/75]

He receives half of the impact that was going to Alice, being surprised and pushed back—however he maintains his balance, just feeling a slight pain in his arms. "Ouch! Why does it hurt if the attack was for you?! What cursed trick is this, Snail Demon?!"

"I AM NOT A DEMON! NOT EVEN A SNAIL!"

"That's what a Snail Demon would say!", with a metallic punch, the ground shudders with the shock wave, temporarily destabilising Alice.

[Limit Extender: Speed]

A blue aura as agitated as a lightning bolt transcends the bald man's body. And with a jump, he hits Alice with a Metallic Kick at a speed almost impossible to react to. The player is thrown several meters away.

[HP: 57/65]

"FRECKLES!" screams the necromancer—desperate because she still has his weapon.

"Hey, you were bothering me before." like a vengeful spirit, the Bald emerges behind Solol—who turns almost breathless. "If you're going to die, at least try not to disappoint your ancestors with cowardice."

"Y-you're right…" he gets up, leaving his opponent a little surprised and proud. And then he uses his fear as fuel to run as fast as possible. "I'M A COWARD AND VERY PROUD!"

Disappointing, he positions himself to perform the [Metal Charge], however, a wind cut emerges from the fog completely obscuring his vision. With his quick reflexes, he manages to imbue his hands in metal and defend himself from the blow.

[Stamina: 50/75]

But while he was protecting himself, he feels something piercing his back. And he looks down, seeing Alice's sword piercing his torso. That vision was unbelievable, it was impossible for her to go unnoticed by him.

He tries to grab the blade to break it, however, in a second the player retreats—with a notably high speed. "What happened?! How did she get so fast…?!"

"Now we are even, Baldy!"

[Alice LvL. 5]

[HP: 57/65]

[Stamina: 50/75]

[Mana: 50/50]

[Class: Swordswoman]

[Strength: 6]

[Defense: 4]

[Stamina: 6]

[Speed: 13] ← +5 Points

[Intelligence: 1]

[Magic: 1]

[Luck: 1]

Even after being stabbed, he remains standing, staring at his own blood, which brings back memories from decades ago—when he punched trees until his hands bled... But why did he do that?

<…>

"My name is Bryndor Silvervein! Glad to join you all!"

I still remember my first day… I was so young, I had such long hair… I finally managed to join the Angel knights, now my parents can live in the luxury of Aerion. They will be very worried sick about me, but I will be fine, I am strong!

My squad was led by a guy named Caelan, his communication skills were terrible, unlike his cooking, no one could made a pumpkin pie like him. He always cooked one after missions.

My other 2 companions were an old man Theron, and a beautiful woman named Lyra. Initially, I thought that old mummy would slow us down, but in reality, it was the opposite, that guy was a monster, and was only in the squad because he refused a promotion, he even taught me how to use [Fullmetal]. But I could never reach his level.

Lyra was an excellent locator, it was almost as if she had a third eye, I lost count of how many times she saved me from falling into a trap.

When we were together, nothing could stop us…

Except the ##### #######—BRRRRR!!!!!!!

<…>

He turns around, happy and laughing at Alice, "GYAHAHAHAHA! I like you! What's your name again?"

"Alice."

"Bryndor. How could I forget my own name?"

"Look, I just want to find my friend, we don't need to kill each other here."

"Hmpf. No, you're going to have to kill me. Because when I get out of here, you can be sure that I will come back to finish the job. And this time, it won't just be me.", with a bloody smile, he imbues the [Fullmetal] into his entire body. "So if you want to live one more day, give me a worthy fight to the death!"

[Limit Extender: Speed]

In the blink of an eye, he disappears from Alice's sight. Even scanning her surroundings, she finds no sign of him, until she notices a large shadow below her. She dodges by rolling to the side, and contemplates Bryndor falling to the ground like a missile.

The shock wave raises a huge wall of dust, and the ground becomes unstable to the point of making it difficult to walk in that area. Blind and with limited movement, the only thing she can do is try to guess where he will attack from.

Thump…Thump…Thump…!

She hears the sound of stones being crushed…

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The sound has its frequency increased…

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

The sound was coming from behind her.

She spins preparing with a defensive pose, but in the middle of her movement, she is grabbed by the leg by Bryndor, who runs out of the smoke and jumps—grabbing Alice's leg with both hands and slamming her against the ground like an ax.

"PLEASE WORK…!" murmurs the player almost out of breath.

When she was about to collide with the ground, she throws the sword in front of her to defend herself. And a successful [Perfect Block] is executed.

[Stamina: 40/75]

The shock wave throws the two back, and Alice survives with only a few scratches. But the soldier recomposes himself instantly and advances against the player who was still getting up.

Until he stops, feeling a strange pain in his back. "Ouch!", he puts his hands behind to find the cause and pulls out a spider, but not any spider, that was an Undead.

Solol returns in a confident pose, "Why don't you fight someone your size?", and behind him a group of undead spiders appear.

"Again?! Goddammit!" he growls irritated as he crushes the creature's head with one hand. The little monsters attack him with [Poison Bullet], which he easily dodges most of, however one of them ends up hitting his knee—making him feel agonizing pain.

Seeing this, Alice's eyes shine, "Poison? Of course, even if his skin is resistant, it's still his skin."

"Exactly, and the moment he runs out of strength to use Fullmetal, it's going to be GG EZ! I know, I'm a genius."

It was a poisonous rain, even crushing some of the Spiders, this still opened a gap for him to be hit. The poison begins to affect his health, his muscles become more relaxed, his vision becomes blurred.

Only 3 spiders remained, but he barely had the strength to stand and was just crawling pathetically.

<…>

"Holy shit… He's still alive?! QUICK! BRING HEALERS! NOW!"

(What…? Why are they screaming…? Can they shut up…? My head is burning…)

I was only able to see with one eye, but all I saw was a blur that looked like several people running. I tried to move my head, but I couldn't, it was as if something was holding me.

My vision was clearing, I saw an Aerion healer horrified at me, while trying to apply some healing spell on me… My god…!

I could see…! THERE WAS A BLOCK OF ICE GOING THROUGH MY HEAD!

How the fuck I'm still alive…?! Wait, my friends… Where are they?!

<…>

"Is he going to be okay?"

"He lost almost half of his brain, it's a miracle he's still alive! His squad… Weren't so lucky."

<…>

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

[Limit Extender: Strength]

The aura once agitated like a lightning bolt, now had the form of red flames. He gets up in fury punching the remaining spiders, the metal of his skin at a very high temperature, to the point that the bodies of the creatures melted easily.

Seeing his small army being destroyed once again, he makes a silent request to Alice, "My gun…"

She takes the Death Gun out of her inventory and throws it to Solol hesitantly. "If you try to run away, I'll come back from the dead and stick this gun where the sun doesn't shine.", he waves nervously, and Alice switches her personality to a smiling one, "Thanks for the cooperation!"

Now, with the Death Gun in hand, Solol looks at Bryndor with a mixed expression of desperation and anger. He swallows dryly, knowing that if he wanted to get out of there alive, they would have to go through that metallic monster.

[Experience: 151/275]

"Huh?"

Bryndor no longer has the energy to maintain the [Fullmetal], and the second his skin returns to normal, he suffers the maximum effect of the poison. And then, he falls face first on the ground, lifeless.

"Well, that was anti-climactic.", Solol approaches the body, "Yep, he's dead. Thanks for the assist."

"W-wait, what? He… He died?!"

"Obviously. Now excuse me…", he raises his hand, trying to transform him into an Undead. "Arise and join me, mindless soul!"

"OH C'MON!", he continues incessantly, even receiving the same message, "Give. My. Undead!"

Alice falls to her knees, disbelieving that she killed someone, "I… Killed a human…"

He turns his head, frowning, "No, WE killed. And what's the problem? He was just an NPC. Like all the monsters we've killed so far."

"But…" she gives up, and agrees in hesitation "No, you're right…"

"Glob. Glob.", Fedora with his stealth skills, climbed onto Alice's head without anyone seeing him even arriving.

"Oh, there you are! Did you sleep well?"

After dozens of attempts, Solol kicks the ground in frustration "Whatever. I'll find a better Undead anyway.", he crosses his arms in irritation. However, he sees something on the corpse's clothes that catches his attention.

He signals Alice by whistling, and when she turns around, he throws a bracelet belonging to the corpse. "What is this?"

"Check it."

Even without understanding anything, she checks the item's description. And her eyes light up when reading the message.

[Runic Bracelet]

[Description: A bracelet that uses the rare magic stone Runic Pearl as a power source, which grants the user access to Mana Vision.]