—Biochip, lock onto that shark’s eyes.
["Beep!"]
My retinas glowed with a faint bluish hue and, imdiately, my vision filled with digital markers, highlighting the skull and eyes of the venomous land shark.
My MG-Tyrant 001 machine gun began to spin, its rotating barrel emitting a nacing chanical growl.
The shark stopped moving.
Its instincts scread that sothing was wrong.
Its dark, hollow 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!"
High-caliber bullets pierced the creature’s eyes, drilling straight through its skull.
The brutal impact caused its head to explode, spraying red blood and bone fragnts in all directions.
The shark’s body trembled for a second before collapsing, motionless.
Silence.
Only the echo of the gunshots still resonated through the forest.
I exhaled, frowning as I approached the shark’s carcass.
That was too easy.
Even as a natural predator of this environnt, the shark hadn’t stood a chance to react.
It was strange.
I knelt beside the corpse, observing the open wounds, the muscles still tense.
Then a realization struck .
This wasn’t just about the shark.
It was about my weapon.
Even a Mage without defensive spells wouldn’t survive a barrage from the Tyrant 001 straight to the eye.
If a Mage were caught off guard, without magical armor or protective barriers, they would probably die the sa way this shark did — their head exploding.
But... what were the chances of a Mage letting that happen?
Zero.
I shook my head, pushing the thoughts aside.
There was no point dwelling on that now.
I gave the lifeless body one last glance and felt the temptation to cut off a piece of at to bring back to the Tower.
It would be interesting to fry it.
But... it wasn’t worth it.
Although so of this shark’s organs could be sold for a decent price, I didn’t need magic crystals right now.
So I turned and walked toward the rock corroded by the acidic spit.
There it was — the Blue Water Flower.
Its petals shimred softly, still damp with the waterfall’s mist.
I knelt and carefully picked it, storing it inside a sealed compartnt of my armor.
First ingredient collected.
On the way back to the Tower, I eliminated a few more minor creatures, precisely gathering the necessary ingredients to complete the initial mission.
After delivering everything to the ghost at the mission post, I received my magic crystals with a casual wave of his hand, then returned to the mission board.
The reward of 5 crystals for gathering ingredients wasn’t much compared to what I could earn by selling healing potions, but I didn’t care.
Now that I had a basic understanding of what awaited outside the Tower...
That was when my eyes fixed on a mission that imdiately caught my attention.
["Investigate the disappearance of an acolyte in the deepest part of the forest."]
["Level: Dangerous"]
["Reward: 50 magic crystals"]
["Recomnded Level: Level 2 or 3 Acolyte"]
["Description: So strange events seem to have erged in the forest. Likely a 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 before I stepped out of the Tower’s gates again, the enchanted steam engine in my chest vibrating softly as I moved toward the unknown.
"Vrooom~~"
Following the path marked on the map, I ventured deep into the forest and began to feel the change in the environnt.
The forest was different.
The vegetation seed denser, and the air heavier.
Carrion-Scavenger Eagles perched in the trees.
I could feel their piercing gazes, as if each of them were ready to strike at any mont.
I knew that if I were an ordinary acolyte there, my body would probably be trembling in fear.
But the weapons of my armor gave a heroic confidence.
—Biochip, scan the surrounding area. I want to know what’s happening here! I muttered, breaking the silence as I watched the eagles — enormous shadows high above, waiting to attack.
["Beep."]
["Initiating real-ti scanning task..."]
["Establishing dynamic monitoring of the surrounding area..."]
["Beep!"]
["Beep!"]
The response finally ca.
["Source of disturbance: unknown scent."]
["Direction: Southeast."]
["Distance: 500 ters..."]
Blood mixed with dew? I thought, then raised my hand to my helt, trying to focus more on my senses.
Sothing had happened here — sothing that caused a massive bloodshed, and the creatures had been drawn by the sll.
But who or what had fallen in this forest and released so much blood?
I wasted no ti and began moving toward the scent of blood.
The Garden of Demon Infants described on the map I received upon accepting the mission — usually eerily silent and completely devoid of life — had transford into a terrifying battlefield, utterly different from normal.
As I approached, I could hear the horrific screams of the Demon Infants 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 scent of blood that had caught my attention.
Using trees and tall grass as cover, I slowly crawled toward the battlefield.
Soon, I found a position with a good vantage point that allowed to observe what was happening.
There were two groups fighting.
The aggressors were, of course, the hideous Demon Infants and the other wandering souls that lived there.
Opposing them were several knight-level rcenaries struggling to contain the horrifying creatures before them.
They appeared to be a skilled and experienced group.
Moreover, their equipnt was quite good.
They carried large, thick steel shields, arm and shoulder guards, and each of them had a bow.
That made them capable of hunting many of the common demons in this forest.
But unfortunately for them, the demons surrounding them were so of the most terrifying creatures in the forest — the Demon Infants.
A Demon Infant had no legs and crawled along the ground with a pair of sharp claws, dragging a long organ resembling an umbilical cord behind it.
They were ugly, with twisted bodies, yet they bore a disturbing resemblance to human babies.
However, their faces were not made of smooth, youthful flesh, but of wrinkled, dead skin, their features crushed together, giving them grotesquely hideous expressions.
Among knee-high bushes, these little demons crawled back and forth, uttering curses and cries that echoed throughout the area.
—Blood...
— I want to kill...
—I hate living beings...
—Existing is bad...
Whenever a baby’s cry was heard, the human rcenaries imdiately shouted in fear.
—Sniff~~
Although these Demon Infants had small bodies, each possessed the strength of at least a full-fledged knight.
In addition, they had a pair of deadly claws.
Every ti they leaped forward and struck the large shields, they left deep scratch marks behind.
However, their most lethal weapon was their magical abilities.
When I arrived, these Demon Infants were attempting to break the rcenaries’ defensive shields using their bodies.
"Jump~~"
"Pow~~"
One by one, the Demon Infants rushed out from the bushes, leaping into the air and trying to land behind the rcenaries’ defensive shields.
But each ti, the prepared rcenaries knocked them away with their arm guards.
There was even one Demon Infant that failed to escape in ti and ended up pinned to the ground by an arrow.
"Buzz~~"
Even pinned to the ground, the Demon Infant remained ferocious, frantically digging into the soil with its claws.
Then it lifted its body and released an irritating baby’s cry toward a nearby human rcenary.
—Sniffffff~~
The scream was shrill and deafening.
While it was rely an unpleasant sound to others, when it struck the nearest rcenary, it instantly hit him with the dreadful ’Hypnosis Spell.’
The muscular rcenary suddenly threw his shield aside and clamped both hands tightly over his ears, screaming.
—Haha... hahaha... they’re calling to play!
Soon after he shouted, tears of blood stread from his tightly shut eyes, horrifying the rest of the rcenaries.
Before anyone could react, two other Demon Infants erged from the bushes, ferocious smiles on their ugly faces.
—Sniffff
—Sniffff
They opened their mouths and scread at the rcenary who had already been struck by ’Blindness.’
Even a Level 2 acolyte, if hit directly by these spells without protection, would struggle to defend against a Demon Infant’s curse — let alone these rcenaries, who were rely ordinary humans.
Before his fellow rcenaries could knock him unconscious, the rcenary wildly shoved everything around him and ran out of the defensive formation.
—I want to play!! Let be happy..
—Idiot! Activate your life energy and get back into formation! a middle-aged man, who seed to be the group’s leader, imdiately shouted from within the formation.
But it was too late.
If soone were watching from above, they would have seen movent within the bushes surrounding the rcenary team, as nurous rapidly shifting blades of grass shot toward the confused fleeing rcenary.
A bold-looking man threw aside his own shield.
He closed his eyes and then reopened them.
"Buzz~~"
His life energy activated.
His body was enveloped in a bluish electric aura, and he grabbed an axe before running to rescue his friend.
However, he was forcibly pulled back by his leader, who had also activated his life energy.
—Don’t go, Evef! It’s too late now... the leader grabbed the bold man’s arm while helplessly watching the man who had broken formation.
As if to prove his words, Brendou, who had lost his sanity, was thrown to the ground by a swarm of Demon Infants.
—No!!
—Stay away from .
—HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
—Stop... stop tearing apart...
His screams of pain and shrill cries lasted only a few seconds before stopping completely.
Then all that could be heard was the sound of the Demon Infants ripping his flesh, chewing his bones — and laughing.
—Haahahaha~~
—Flesh and blood...
—These living ones are delicious...
...
1681 Words
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Power Stones Campaign.
300 Power Stones = 1 extra Chapter that day.
600 Power Stones = 2 extra Chapters that day.
1000 Power Stones = 3 extra Chapters that day.
2000 Power Stones = 5 extra Chapters that day.
3000 Power Stones = 8 extra Chapters that day.
Gift campaign!
- Magic Castle = 5 Chapters.
- Spacecraft = 15 Chapters.
- Gachapon = 20 Chapters.
- 20 golden tickets = 1 Chapter
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