CHAPTER 25: SECOND OPTION

"This is... a little too insane, isn’t it?" Heath said, stabbing a knight from Luna’s side with his sword.

"Well, of course it fucking is! What do you want me to say, huh?!" Dustin replied, having finished another soldier at his hands.

"Good question. Maybe something like how you know that we won’t be affected by this spell because we’re from a special lineage or something?" Heath said, flicking his sword to get the blood off.

"Now’s not the time for jokes, Heath. We can literally die if we’re careless," Dustin replied.

"Well I’d prefer to die than be turned into whatever monstrosity that is," Heath responded, pointing to a knight who had turned into a half-dead monster due to the effects of the spell.

He had one leg missing yet was still dragging himself on the ground and swinging his sword toward the Luminarian soldiers to do whatever little damage he could.

"I told you we shouldn’t have enlisted ourselves for this," he added.

"You speak like we had a choice— watch out!" Dustin cut himself off mid-sentence, warning Heath of the incoming knights.

Dustin and Heath immediately shifted into a back-to-back formation, their shoulders brushing as they covered every angle.

"It was either dying there or dying on the battlefield. We at least have some chance with the latter," Dustin said, completing his sentence.

CLANG!

Their swords collided with two opposing knights while the mages on their sides handled the rest.

"That was the plan..." Heath responded, holding off a knight with his sword at the same time. "But it doesn’t seem like the case now," he took a step back to breathe.

Then using his physical enchantment to its limit, he delivered a strike at his opponent’s sword, breaking it in half before slashing his neck.

"I know. Too late to regret it now though," Dustin replied, kicking the knight in front of him, forcing him to take a few steps back.

Dustin saw the opening and instantly charged forward. The knight thrust his sword forward to keep him back, but Dustin didn’t stop.

His left hand shot out and grabbed the blade of the knight’s sword. A searing heat pulsed from his palm.

The sword glowed red-hot then sagged like melted wax, bending into a useless and twisted shape.

"What the fuck?!" the knight screamed. "Aren’t you a knight?!"

"A bit of both," Dustin smirked. His own sword flashed in a silver arc. A clean slice and the man’s head tumbled from his shoulders.

"Man you sure are brutal," Heath commented.

"No, it’s just that I don’t want to die," Dustin replied, flicking his sword in the air to get the excess blood off its blade.

"Oh you won’t be dying, don’t worry about that," Heath said, pointing to the half-dead knight who was still slithering on the ground.

"That’s... sigh. You’re right I guess," Dustin replied, a deep sigh leaving his mouth.

"Come on now, don’t get too depressed. All we have to do is make sure we aren’t on the brink of death. From what I’ve seen it seems like that spell only affects you when you are about to die," Heath explained.

"And how exactly do you not die when you are literally in a war?" Dustin questioned.

"Again, good question," Heath remarked. "Hmmm, let’s see. There are two options really. It’s either killing everyone who comes to kill you, or well, just running away."

"I like the second one better," Dustin replied.

"Haha, of course you do. You got a wife and kids, after all," Heath commented.

"You say that as if you don’t," Dustin rebuked.

"I have a son though, and he’s old enough to take care of stuff even if I don’t return," Heath replied.

"Oh? So are you trying to say my daughter can’t do that? Didn’t know you were that sort of man, Heath," Dustin said.

"Dustin... your daughter is six," Heath replied, looking at Dustin dead in the eye.

A second later both of them broke out into laughter.

"Well, I know you’re not the type of person to make my girl not see the uncle she likes so much. So I presume both of us prefer the second option," Dustin said, putting his hand on Heath’s shoulder as he calmed down his laugh.

"Sure sure, my wife’s also not old enough to be living without a husband," Heath replied, smiling.

They did not have much time to talk though, since they faced another squad of Luminarian soldiers in no time.

"Doesn’t seem like there’s enough room for us to run," Dustin mentioned, getting into a defensive formation.

"Wait until there is then," Heath replied, raising his sword.

"Fair enough, I guess."

***

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

[+20 EXP]

[+20 EXP]

[+20 EXP]

Three mages dropped dead on the spot, as thick blood began to swell out from the hole in their skulls.

"M-Monster! He’s a monster!" the knights who were supposed to protect the mages panicked, seeing their support units taken care of within a second.

They threw their swords away and began to run away with their backs turned to Allen.

"Oh come on, I’m already running low on bullets here," Allen said with a hint of frustration in his voice.

He aimed at them through the iron sight of the MP5. Having switched back to its single shooting mode due to his limited number of bullets, he had no choice but to go for headshots every time.

He let out a breath, his hands completely still as he waited for the knight’s head to align with the crosshair.

Click.

He pressed the trigger, and the knight fell to the ground. Seeing this, his comrades panicked even more and began to run with all their strength, yet it wasn’t of any use.

One by one, all four of them fell face first to the ground.

[+20 EXP]

[+20 EXP]

[+20 EXP]

[+20 EXP]

He lowered his gun with smoke still coming out of its barrel.

He was about to turn around and continue his EXP farming when suddenly he was hit with a new stream of notifications.

[You have gained a total of 2600 EXP!]

[Congratulations!]

[You have levelled up!]

[Tier 3 of Armory has been unlocked! New Recon Capabilities are now available!]