115 Levelers (2/2)

Skyns answered over our chat system, “It looks like it can use magic, whatever it is. That’s either telekinesis or gravity. I’ll get you out.”

The monster carried me with it as it burst back towards the others. Once underneath them, it shot out of the rocky ground. It’s speed was blistering as the flash of red and black reached them.

Once it slowed down near them, I got a good look at it. It was a big creature, not enormous but much bigger than any of us. It had four limbs, and it had metal skin. That meant it was durable. It reached up with a mammoth hand and grasped at the air. As it did, the others all pulled together, their bodies clanking together.

The monster fell back towards the ground. As it landed, fissures formed in the ground beneath it. We all floated helpless as lost children before stopping inches from the ground. A second later, and it laid us gently onto the ground. We each scrambled up as the monster opened its arms towards us,

“Yo, sorry if I scared you guys. I knew you’d fire at me if I walked at you head on. I figured this was the best way to not be shot at, if you know what I mean.”

I aimed my pistol at him before this thing stomped the ground. My pistol jerked from my hand again before the monster reached out with an arm. The pistol stopped mid flight before pulling back to me. The monster pointed at me,

“I’m trying to work with you guys here. If you could just, I don’t know, not try and kill me, I’d appreciate it.”

The monster dropped the pistol back into my hand. I looked at the others. They looked at me just as dumbfounded. None of us had ever seen an eldritch like this. It was intimidating, but it didn’t seem like it meant to harm us.

A bead of cold sweat fell down my face. I’d faced sentient eldritch before. They always lured you in with sweet words. This thing was no different. I analyzed it to try and get some weaknesses. As I read, I got a grip on what was going on.

Dimension C-138, the Harbinger of Cataclysm(lvl 2,406) - Once a member of earth’s native species, humans, this unknown boasts tremendous durability. It’s level doesn’t accurately reflect its ability to absorb punishment. This is due mostly to its armor, which is made of an unknown substance that is both flexible and exceptionally rigid.

Its health pool is vast as well, and it can use that life force for mana, giving it flexibility in combat. It has several ways of using this enormous mana pool. Its runes can charge with energy, enhancing its strength and speed. It can warp gravity at will using its mass as an anchor. If you’re lighter than this creature, it will sling you around like a ragdoll.

That wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t for how devastating it is in melee range. It fights with its massive fists. As primitive and predictable as that sounds, it proves much more difficult to stop in practice. It has enhanced its simplistic techniques to produce a remarkably effective style of close combat.

A tenacious willpower aids this creation’s monstrous vitality, creating a vicious warrior class. Given time, this thing can chew through almost any foe. It even has a large, powerful aura that drains its foes. Considering there are no effective types of damage on whatever this is, fighting it isn’t advised.

If you want the wealth of experience this monster provides, the best course of action is to stay at a range and unload tremendous burst damage on it. With your party’s current capacities, this analysis recommends fleeing before it gets a hold of you. Otherwise, you will be at this monster’s mercy.

This wasn’t an eldritch. It was an unknown. We never trusted unknowns. They were strange beings, almost like Old Ones. If anything, I always thought of them like big balls of chaos. I hated dealing with them for the same reason I hated dealing with sentient eldritch. They were unpredictable, and that made killing them hard.

The only good thing was that they always gave heaps of experience. Killing an unknown beneath your own level resulted in several level ups. This one would give us several missions worth of experience. We would gain over a hundred levels a apiece, at least. The thought of so much experience made my mouth water.

This monster though, it wasn’t something worth fighting for just levels. If anything, we were lucky that it hadn’t killed us when it found us. I turned towards the others, sealing my face mask and speaking over our intercom,

“This isn’t worth it. We might be able to kill this, but we’re better off not taking the risk. We’ll have to fight a few dozen other missions before we get back to where we are, but...”

Skyns hissed over the intercom, “Looking at that thing makes my skin crawl. I don’t think it’s worth fighting either. Not at our levels at least.”

The others nodded in agreement. We were ready to get out of this mudhole before a message appeared in front of us,

Quest unlocked!

Seeker of Forbidden Knowledge(Tier: A- timed quest | Terms: Kill Dimension C-138 | Reward: Sentinel rights and doubled experience for killing the unknown) - Dimension C-138 was once known as Daniel Hillside, a normal sentient following Schema’s system. After gaining forbidden knowledge, he’s traveled in the footsteps of demented creatures.

As such, his long term potential for damage to the system is high. His termination results in enhanced rewards along with high status in Schema’s system.

As I read through the message, my jaw dropped. Royal guard was nothing compared with sentinel rights. A sentinel’s rights meant unrestricted access to Schema’s universe. Upper tier worlds would be open to us right off the bat.

There wouldn’t be some insane level cap for these places. Some of the best tropical worlds required levels as high as 5,000 for entry. We would get a yearly stipend to spend on whatever we wanted. We would get automatic access for forming a guild. It would open up an entire world for us.

Getting this kind of reward for killing such a low level enemy...it wouldn’t happen more than once. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Knowing that, I turned towards the others. Surrounded by rubble, they looked back at me. I spoke over the intercom.

“Did you all get the message?”

They nodded in silence. Skyns spoke like he was staring at a pot of gold,

“You all spoke about becoming members of the royal guard...That’s scrap compared to a sentinel’s rights...”

Mal murmured, “We won’t ever be able to get something like this again.”

Even our good natured Cleric, Thry spoke out,

“I...I wouldn’t mind having our own tropical kingdom...”

I nodded, a wry smile growing on my face, “You know what Thry? I don’t think I’d mind either. Besides, killing this unknown isn’t nearly as risky as trying to get sentinel right’s any other way.”

Joce chimed, “We have a lot of consumables we could use. If we go all out, we might be able to get him.”

Skyns murmured, “I have a ritual prepared that can hit him with a massive amount of true damage. It will take some time to channel though.”

I grinned, “Oh really? Hide somewhere and leave the rest to us. I’ve got a plan.”

I opened my spatial ring and pulled out a black vial full of eldritch energy. Nothing survived exposure to this stuff. This unknown used to be a member of this native race. They’d been assimilated for less than a decade. If I was right, there’s no way he would know just how dangerous this vial was.

He’d be turned inside out by the energy before he could even respond to us. I waved the vial above my head,

“I want to thank you for the good will. You really saved us a hassle here. I’ll give you this. It’s a powerful energizer. It can help you out in a pinch.”

The creature shook its head, “No. That isn’t really necessary. Just leave.”

I waved my hands back and forth, “I insist. If this quarantine is as hard to beat as you say, you pretty much saved our lives. That deserves something.”

I shook the vial in front of it, “I’d feel awful if you didn’t get something for taking the risk to help us. From one leveler to another, let us help you out.”

It uncrossed its arms, “Alright. Fine.”

I tossed the vial at the monster. It reached out with a hand. As it caught the vial, the others raised their railguns and fired at the monster. Skyns flipped the pages of his grimoire and cast a kinetic burst spell on the eldritch vial. The black smoke smothered the creature as a hailstorm of bullets clashed against the metal.

Clashing metal echoed into the distance from bullets smashing on the thing’s metal skin. With a practiced motion, I slid a vial from my side into my pistol before firing a vial at the cloud of black smoke. The others unleashed a maelstrom of metal on the primitive creature before having to reload their rifles.

The heavy aura disappeared from around us. That meant the damn thing was dead, so I raised a hand, ”Killing backwater natives isn't so bad.”

The others whooped with me before an aura of red radiated from the black cloud. The dense, black smoke sucked into the creature’s body, exposing it. Spikes grew off its shoulders and back. Along its armor, magic runes were carved out and glowing. They were the same runes Skyns was using earlier.

A bead of sweat fell from my forehead. A sinking feeling pulled at my stomach as acid ate into the monster’s skin. It didn’t even flinch as it walked towards us.

It raised its fists, “Yenno, I tried giving you guys a chance. I really did.”

Streaks of corrosion burned him down into his flesh. The singing of acid was like a banshee’s howling. A cloud of white mist, all of it a potent neurotoxin, covered him. Like liquid metal, a silver, reflective blood leaked from the creature. We all watched in horror as its wounds healed in seconds.

My vial did damage though, and by the looks of the creature, a decent chunk of its health was missing. The monster crossed its arms and propped all its weight onto one hip,

“Yawm was right. There’s no way I can trust you. It’s a damn shame too. I was trying to be nice.”

The runes across its metal body flared further to life, energy building in them. The skin of it shivered, the armor rippling over it in exhilaration. The ground beneath its feet cracked,

“Letting you throw acid on my face and live though? I’m not quite that kind.”

An aura covered me, like every nerve in my body was being pierced with needles. It was like magma pumped through my veins all of the sudden. Everything became pain. My health drained fast as the monster bent over, readying itself for a charge. My stomach sunk as a realization came into my head.

We had tried killing the wrong monster.

“Besides, killing you is better than what Yawm planned on doing.”

My stomach sank even further, like I was staring at the grim reaper. I only knew one person named Yawm, and I only heard his name in legends.

The monster's runes brightened,

”Compared to that, this is mercy.”