by Cobyboy
But Feihren was not letting any of these bastards escape.
'Equip>>> Titan Cronus Heavy Gunner Armor'
...
[Titan Cronus Heavy Gunner Armor] [2]
"Description: Mortals kneel before the Titan"
"Effect: Grants bonus damage to weapons w/ more than 200 rounds/mag'"
"Effect: 'Titan Morph': User is morphed into a mad titan, 10% bonus HP"
"Effect: 'Grants user ability to sacrifice movement speed for HP (vice-versa) (1 MS <> 100 HP)"
*[Titan's Arms]: When MS is below 50% of base MS, summons Titan's Arms. Amplifies melee engagement damage*
*[Titan's Slate]: When HP is below 50% of base HP, summons Titan's Slate. Highly Improves mobility. Triggers Hovering*
"Effect: 'Helm of the Headless Titan': immune to headshot bonus damage (does not void base damage)"
...
It was a gigantic, slate gray mechanical armor standing 3.5 meters in height. Neon-blue outlined the entirety of its body. Incomprehensible details embroidered the entirety of the suit, as a ghastly gaze could be seen on its helm.
'Titan's Slate Mode'
The armor slowly thinned as it changed into a scary looking speed-demon of some sort. Parts of the originally large body then came together and formed a skateboard-like object. Then Feihren gave chase.
...
A good distance away from the Coboro village…
Several figures could be seen gasping for air. These knights and soldiers of the Wolfenstein kingdom have been acting as a group of rogue mercenaries and bandits that were bent on destroying Coboro village. They were commanded by the King himself to carry this out. This was all to lure out some guy named Feihren or something. According to a noble who lived on the eastern side, the dwarves in this village were comparatively weak due to the fact that they had been away from their mines for some time. This prevented them from making the weapons and magic equipment they were best known for, which was the source of their strength.
They hadn't underestimated their enemies, but the arrival of that guy in the brown and purple coat seemed to be the determining factor for their victory. Those flashing lights and loud noises that slowly but surely picked off everyone who was targeted could not be fought against.
The intruders were now confident that they had outrun the dwarves, so they decided to take a rest. Suddenly, a buzzing sound was heard above them. They looked towards the sound, and to their surprise, a floating figure glowing with blue light was hovering there.
"You guys still dare to rest after all you did? Wow, talk about guts."
The figure atop the floating board-like object jumped off of it as he slowly descended. The board-like object then shattered to pieces that assimilated into the figure's body. They sharply inhaled as the figure steadily grew in size.
*Boom!
A god-like white giant made of metal appeared in front of them! Every one of his steps made a slight tremor that could be felt even from a distance.
The intruders were now scared sh*tless!
A few of the intruders who were weak-willed made a run for it, but within mere seconds a blue flash appeared and a gigantic arm extended to grab and crush anyone who dared escape!
Witnessing how ruthless this giant was, they were now frozen in fear…
The white giant then spoke…
"Who commanded you to do all this?"
Contrary to the scary image of the giant, the voice that spoke the question seemed… normal, empathetic even. But it seemed none were willing to throw up the white flag just yet as none of them spoke.
With a casual grab, Feihren took one of the intruders and repeated the question.
"Who commanded you to do all this? Answer me or you know what will happen."
Feihren slightly squeezed as the man started squealing in pain and shouted "It was King Louie the 3rd! He commanded us to draw out that Feihren guy! Please spare me, god!"
"That's all I wanted to know." Removing the helmet and revealing himself, Feihren said to the man,
"Tell your king that he does not need to look for me, I'll be the one coming for him"
Feihren released his grip on the man that immediately started running. Feihren closed the helm again and muttered to himself 'Indeed that guy is just pitiful, both of them, calling themselves "kings", being angry for pathetic reasons, willing to kill an entire village for a pathetic goal'.
'Bugs indeed need to be squished'
As he proceeded to kill all the people around him aside from the one he told to return, squished like the soldier ants they were…
...
Within the bushes nearby, the 5 remaining people from the Ranustin Kingdom witnessed the scene as it unfolded.
Their bindings had released a while ago, but they happened to bump into a group of 'bandits' so they decided to stay hidden. Then that gigantic god-like figure appeared…
It just so happened that it was the same guy they were planning to kill just a moment ago! What a pathetic goal that was.
A voice fearfully muttered, "I am so glad that I'm still alive."
[1] Grabbing something virtually (Picture out how people seemingly grab items that are virtual i.e. Like the people in the Ready Player One movie do
[2] The cover photo is the one mentioned in this.
Chapter 13: Return
The attack on Coboro village was quite devastating. Being attacked by a hundred trained soldiers acting as bandits is never to be underestimated. Within the population of around 200 dwarves, elders and young ones included, around 30 were killed during the attack, which was not a low number for this small tribe of dwarves. It was not easy, but all they could do now is move on, and survive.
Now that the village is in horrible shape, and staying within the Wolfenstein Kingdom's vicinity is akin to courting death, they have decided to return to the old mining tunnels on the mountain range. Despite abandoning it a decade ago due to the depletion of minerals, they now had no choice but to return to the area where they feel the safest, even with the danger of them not being able to return to the livelihood they excel at.
In the middle of the village, the remaining people were gathered before they set off on their journey.
"I would like to escort the village in going back to your old home. The attack on the village could be said to be partially my fault, and for that, I deeply apologize to you all." Bowing deeply, with eyes full of determination and sincerity, Feihren asked for the town's forgiveness.
Everyone around had blank expressions on their faces. These looks seemed to say, 'Why are you blaming yourself for all this?'
With a pleasant smile, the injured but still lively village chief had a dismissive expression. It was as though he was saying that it was totally not Feihren's fault.
"Come on kid, you are not to be blamed in all this you know? When we found out that the attack was planned by the king all along, I was not surprised. Ever since he succeeded the throne we have had a rocky relationship. With all the harassment from the nobles intervening in our lands, I already expected that a day like this would eventually arrive."
The villagers all nodded in agreement.
"Come to think of it, the one on whom the blame should fall would be me. I have failed to protect the village. Even though I have been the chief for a long time, I am still no good…" A saddened expression of regret is on the old chief's face.
"Don't think like that chief! The one to be blamed is that bastard king!"
"Yeah! He's a shameless excuse for a king!"
"Old chief has always led us properly. We wouldn't have survived for this long if not for you chief!"
Tears welled up in the old man's face "Thank you, my brothers. [1]"
...
A long line of dwarves could be seen marching through the woodlands towards the foot of the mountain ranges. A huge fire could be seen on the horizon behind this trail of dwarves.
They had burnt everything left of the village, crop fields included, as if to leav
e no trace of their existence there.
As for Feihren's request to escort them, everyone naturally agreed.
The path to the mountain ranges from Wolfenstein kingdom isn't as perilous as some would think. In fact, according to Old Mendi himself, the area around the kingdom is safe because of knights patrolling most of the time.
Even though the eastern part of the kingdom is not as protected as the other sides, numerous adventurers venture forth and travel the eastern paths. It just so happens to be the quickest route to the Omod Continent, as well as a roundabout route going to the outer parts of Shodan Continent. The more the adventurers travel this way, the less likely that people will encounter random monster attacks, as the adventurers clear many of them out as the pass through. Bandits are another thing, but the dwarves, which are travelling in huge numbers, would not be an attractive target for these petty hoodlums.
It was eerily quiet on their first day of traveling. They had traveled a good distance at this point, and within around 4 more days they would reach the old mining area. If a small party or an individual were to travel from Wolfenstein to the mining area it would only take a day or two, but a group of more than a hundred would definitely take longer. Given that most of them are travelling on foot and the mules and carriages are carrying all the elderly, young, and injured dwarves, they would take even longer than usual.
Normally, peacefully traveling for such a long time brings a false sense of security, but for old and experienced people, such as the chief and Feihren (he's technically old, after all), all of this just heightened their alertness, thus preparing them for any trouble that would come.
The first two days of travel passed quite peacefully, not a single hint of danger could be seen along the path they have travelled. This was good in a sense, but life has always been unfair, and they knew it would balance everything out, sooner or later. So they were all prepared for when they would have to face tough consequences again.
On the third day just before sunset, the dwarves decided to camp in a conveniently open area. The plains in the vicinity provided a better view of the surroundings in comparison to the thick forest, were danger could lurk behind any of those gigantic trees. Soon enough, they have set up in a good place to camp.
But a short ways away from where they set up camp the chief saw some weird looking creatures. Upon closer inspection the old chief exclaimed in shock while revealing an excited and happy face.
"It's sentient ores!"
They were Shiny creatures standing at almost 3 meters tall. Golems with bodies made of different kinds of metals and minerals were roaming the plain in the distance.
With curiosity blooming within him, Feihren did not hesitate to ask about these odd creatures.
According to the old chief, sentient ores are non-living creatures that have absorbed pure life-force from the core of the planet. This gave the minerals the ability to move, feel, and perceive things, without them being necessarily 'alive'. These creatures are normally gentle giants, but some of them become unstable and absorb the impure life force from half of the fountain. These ones would not necessarily turn out to be so peaceful.
"You seem to be happy seeing these creatures old man. Why is that so?" Feihren asked.
"Young lad, seeing this creature here means that the mining area we had before is now alive again. It seems that the depletion we worried about back then was not permanent after all. Who wouldn't be excited about that? Being able to gather materials and ingredient for our magic equipment would mean that our village wouldn't have to suffer anymore. It would signify that we could move forward once more."
Listening to the explanation of the old man, Feihren instinctively heard a word that stood out to him the most… "Ingredient". He suddenly thought about the Demonic essence ingredient he got from the ape a while ago.
But he remembered something else as well. Back then he had also acquired some "general exp" which was granted every time he successfully killed something, including the wild boar, the Ranustin knights, and the intruders back then. Counting it all up, he has around 2,500 general exp now.
With a smiling face, Feihren inquired, "Old chief, I have a question."
"What is it young lad?"
"How do people in this world get stronger?"
[1] Brother, as in brethren and not biological siblings.
Chapter 14: Samael
Old Wendi was understandably confused about the question, and so he asked, "What do you mean by "this world" young lad? Aren't we all living in the same world? I heard you were once a general? You still look youthful while having achieved such feat. Asking how to be strong would be a bit of a stretch, right? You obviously have great strength."
It was quite the slip of the tongue, but Feihren almost forgot that nobody knew who he really was. So with a dismissive hand gesture, he said, "Ah, forget what I just said chief. Maybe the heat got to me, for me to be asking such a weird question, haha."
Feihren had a lot of questions on how the magic in this world really works, as well as the true purpose of his general exp. So he changed the question to a simpler sounding one.
"What happens when you kill strong beasts and creatures in the same manner as people? I was a general, not an adventurer, so I am not entirely aware of how things like these work."
"Hmm" Old Mendi pondered for a while as he organized his thoughts "In general, killing anything that contains a good amount of life force would be beneficial for someone."
"And what do you mean by that?" Feihren asked.
"The entirety of this world relies on the life force distributed from the core through the atmosphere. It may still be slightly unstable for now, but it was said that all creatures have an amount of life force that is equal to how much strength they possess. As such, humans, demi-humans, and creatures could be counted as "resources" if one needed to be strong through gaining significant amounts of life force." Old Mendi replied
"With the problems that arose in the past that caused the unstable life force emissions in the first place, humans and demi-humans alike came to an unspoken agreement long ago. They mutually avoided hunting each other's lives to increase their own strength, even though it would be more efficient that way. The better choice was to eliminate threats that would affect both the humans and demi-humans, such as wild beasts and demonic creatures. They have life force too, and more often than not it would be way denser and stronger than what the humans and demi-humans possess." Old Mendi continued.
Old Mendi added. "Even things that can't move or speak such as plants have a certain amount of life force, but their life force is somewhat different. It does not serve a good purpose for sentient creatures, so it would only make us 'weak'."
Feihren deeply pondered about what the old chief had said
That evening, while he was resting in his tent, Feihren started tinkering with his game system to find out what the general experience really is. Within his status tabs, the general exp was indeed listed. It was hiding at the bottom-most part, being separated from his normal status window by a rather transparent line.
Feihren noticed something on the rightmost side of the tab on General Exp. There was a little "i" enclosed in a circle hiding there! Feihren felt like kicking himself. It was an Information tab.
'Come on Feihren, you never got Alzheimer's right? Or did you only get it when you arrived in this place. Gosh, this was stupid'.
Almost all RPG gaming systems would have information tabs on things that would be new to players unless it was so simple as to be unnecessary or the developers purposely left it off for the sake of mystery.
Dispersing his self-recriminating thoughts, Feihren 'clicked' the information tab as a blue holographic screen appeared in front of him.
'General experience point: Gaia's Paradox hidden experience resource'
'Congratulations on unlocking general exp by surpassing Divine-class'
'Description: Pure energy runs within your body. Multi-purpose life force!'
'
Currently known uses: Heat and Energy source, Body strengthening, Skill refining, Equipment refining, Spell Amplification, etc.…'
Under the tabs of the known uses were further information was shown.
'Heat & Energy source: conversion of life force to functional energy'
'Body strengthening: improve user's own life force through absorption'
