CHAPTER 38: GENTLE COLDNESS

[You are advised to kill the last soldier to complete the quest and get its rewards. Once you do this, a new quest will be awarded with buffs meant to protect you from the REDACTED.]

Allen stared at the screen, a bit taken aback since the system had never behaved like this before.

He turned his head to look at Heath who was lying on the ground a bit away from him. He was in a similar condition as Allen, with multiple deep burns all over his body.

But his situation was even worse because he didn’t have a system that could regenerate him.

He didn’t seem to be unconscious since his eyes were open, but he still lay on the ground, not being able to muster up the strength to get up.

He could not even move a finger. A gut-wrenching pain echoed through his muscle fibers the moment he tried to move slightly.

He’d also hit his head on the ground rather roughly which had resulted in some bleeding.

"Well, he’s pretty much already dead," Allen said to himself, looking at the sorry condition of Heath. "Too bad I won’t be able to get any info out of him now."

He then raised one of his hands and a M9 pistol appeared in his palms as he took steps toward Heath.

Standing directly in front of him he raised his pistol, pointing precisely at his heart.

With his injured eyes, Heath could see a blurry picture of a man in front of him. He had lost most of his senses and couldn’t hear anything aside from a constant ringing noise in his head.

Therefore it was pretty hard for him to make sense of whatever he was seeing. It all felt like a fever dream to him.

BANG!

A crackling sound spread across the area as the bullet left the gun’s barrel, penetrating Heath’s heart in less than a second.

His body convulsed slightly upon being hit before laying limp on the ground, with blood spurting out from his chest and pooling around his body.

Heath felt the intense burning sensation from his wounds being replaced by a gentle coldness all across his body.

Before long the limited vision he had began to fade out as well, pulling him into a sleep. As the darkness rushed in a single spark of images flashed in his mind.

The smile of his wife.

The naivete of his son.

And the stubbornness of his best friend, Dustin.

His chest felt heavy with regret, with him not being able to fulfill the promises he had made.

As the coldness completely enveloped him his final thought was not of the war, neither of his integrity as a knight.

"Sorry..." he mumbled softly, before all life left his body.

[Congratulations!]

[Quest Completed!]

[+2000 EXP]

[+500 CP]

The messages flashed before Allen’s eyes in quick succession as he stared at the corpse in front of him.

[Alert: Limited time perks have been disabled.]

[Quest Available!]

[OBJECTIVE: Assist your companions and chase away the new unknown threat.]

[REWARD: +3000 EXP, +300 CP, + 2 New Shop Items.]

[LIMITED TIME PERKS: +50% STAM, +30% SPEED, +5% REGEN, +10% COGNITIVE SPEED.]

[DO YOU WANT TO ACCEPT THE QUEST: Y/N?]

Allen turned his eyes away from Heath’s corpse, turning around and putting his pistol back into the armory.

"Yes," he replied.

[QUEST ACCEPTED!]

[BUFFS ARE NOW ACTIVE!]

Suddenly Allen felt a new level of power surge throughout his body. All the exhaustion he had before was gone, replaced by a refreshed mind.

Above all, his cognitive abilities were much faster. He was able to think with much more speed than before, leading to faster decision-making.

However, he did not waste any time rejoicing in his new capabilities. He instantly began putting things in motion in order to defeat this new threat.

"Recall the drone and let it charge for a bit. Also, summarize everything you saw through the drone while he was fighting with Eunice and Luna and report to me."

"Also, buy me some bullets. 500 I’d say," he commanded.

[Understood. Executing orders.]

The system began carrying out Allen’s commands in order, from giving him a summary and recalling the drone to buying the bullets from the CP he had just gotten.

"Also open the shop, I’m buying some gifts for our guest," he said.

[Understood.]

***

The man in silver armor just lowered his hand, looking at his palm then back at Luna. The boredom in his eyes was slowly being replaced by a faint and cold annoyance.

"You’re starting to waste my time," he said with his voice flat.

He raised his other hand and pointed it not at Luna but at the ground a few feet to her left.

A small white ball of light no bigger than a marble formed in his palm. Then he fired.

A thin needle of pure white light shot out and hit the ground before resulting in an explosion.

A huge explosion of pure energy ripped a new crater in the ground.

Luna threw herself sideways, a wave of heat and shrapnel washing over her as she rolled.

The ground shook hard and the sound was a deafening roar that vibrated through her bones.

She looked at the man and he hadn’t moved. He was just watching her with his expression as empty as ever.

A low growl escaped Luna’s lips. The anger inside her finally boiled over.

"ENOUGH of this!" she screamed.

A bright, golden light exploded from her body and wrapped around her sword, enveloping the blade into the same golden glow.

She kicked off the ground but this time she didn’t just run but rather vanished.

Within seconds she was right in front of him.

CLANG!

He blocked the glowing sword with his armored forearm, the impact sending a shockwave of force through the air.

However, Luna didn’t stop.

She attacked again and again in a furious flurry of strikes from every angle.

Her speed was a blur with her golden sword leaving trails of light in the air.

But every single attack was met by a casual and easy block. He was like a stone wall. And he was toying with her.

"Tch!" she clicked her tongue in frustration.

She planted her foot on the ground and kicked off hard, flying backward through the air and landing lightly twenty feet away.

Without a second’s pause she raised her glowing sword high before swinging it down toward the man.

A huge wave of golden energy, a crescent blade of pure light shot from her sword. It flashed through the air, tearing up the glassy ground as it raced toward him.

The man in silver armor watched it come.

Then with a lazy and bored motion, he flicked his wrist as if swatting a fly.

The golden wave of energy hit his hand and was deflected to the side, hitting somewhere far in the distance and cutting absolutely nothing but the dead ground.