Heavy Metal

"What are these things, and why are they in this part of the dungeon?"

A woman screamed while firing a few arrows into what seemed to be living suits of armor. Even though the monsters were easily punctured, they kept rising again.

"I can't find the core. It's not where it should be. Damn, why did that idiot have to go down!"

One of the adventurers lay on the ground with a pale complexion. A large, muscular man shook him and poured a few recovery potions down his throat, but the man did not move.

"He is dead. Leave him."

Shouted the leader of the group, Beros. His armored form caught the glow of the scattered light in the chamber. He lifted his massive shield and bashed it against an advancing suit of armor. The construct flew back and struck the wall. The plate on its back bent, and its limbs fell apart, yet moments later, the pieces began to rattle and pull themselves together once more.

"These are not living armors. They are possessed suits of armor."

Beros said as he finished his analysis of the enemy.

"What's the difference?"

Replied the large man called Grahn, who was still swinging his axe in wide arcs. With of his swings dug into the armor and shredded the iron they were made from. Yet, even when they were damaged or pushed away, they somehow continued to recover or new ones appeared from the black mist around them.

"The difference."

Beros growled, raising his shield to block another blow.

"Is that living armors have a core. Break it, and they're done. These…"

He spat the word out in anger.

"…these things don't have cores. They're being controlled."

"Controlled? By who?"

Sable snapped, loosing three arrows in rapid succession. Two found gaps in the armor, the third ricocheted uselessly off a shield. All three enemies fell apart only to rise again, dragging themselves together piece by piece. Beros' expression darkened. His eyes flicked across the chamber, past the haze of black smoke, as though he expected to see someone smirking in the shadows.

"Either they are in that mist, or watching us from nearby."

"So, where are they?"

Sable shouted while ignoring the reassembling armors. She raised her bow into the mist but could see nothing. Her teeth clenched in frustration as she loosed several arrows in random directions, striking only empty air.

"How should I know? That dead fool was supposed to figure these things out for us. And stop wasting your arrows."

Beros snapped and then glanced at the lifeless rogue lying on the ground. The man had been their tracker, the one responsible for disarming traps and detecting hidden enemies. The rest of the party were fighters who had relied on his warnings to avoid ambushes. Now, with him gone and the black mist spreading through the chamber, there was no way to locate the creature lurking within.

"What should we do then? Just wait?"

"Skills and magic are not endless. Whoever or whatever is behind this cannot keep it up forever."

"I hope you are right."

"But first, put on your masks. We do not know if this mist is poisonous."

Although they did not step into the fog, they did not remain idle. The three remaining adventurers searched through their fallen companion's satchel and retrieved masks. They covered only the mouth and nose, yet they were designed to resist poison and other corrosive effects.

Rusty crouched low, hidden in the darkness, watching their mounting panic with quiet satisfaction. His twilight iron puppets crashed against the D-rank adventurers again and again, buying him time to circle behind them. Their armored bodies were battered and torn apart quickly, but as long as Rusty scattered spare parts across the ground, the constructs could reassemble. As long as the damage was not absolute, they could still be controlled.

He had targeted the rogue first, knowing the man had sensed something of his presence. A well-placed arrow followed by a swift stab from the shadows had removed the party's greatest obstacle. Now only three remained.

The skill advanced rapidly. Thanks to his battles in the mines, Rusty had collected several mana crystals to replenish his reserves. With them, he could sustain the darkness element that cloaked his body in almost perfect invisibility. He heard the survivors speaking of waiting him out, but he had no intention of granting them the time to regain their bearings.

"They seem to be more resistant to the darkness. Is this because they are D-ranks?"

He had managed to dispose of the rogue but noticed that the man was still able to crawl out of the darkness with a dagger lodged in his back. The rogue had even managed to scratch his current body in an attempt to retaliate. It was clear that he could not underestimate these humanoids or rely only on the element of surprise. The chamber, although silent, was wide, and his mist could not cover it completely, not with his current mana reserves. It was time to move to the next part of the plan.

"It is your time to shine, Gleam."

Rusty picked up a small rock from the ground and tossed it toward the place where Gleam was waiting. Once the rock rolled past her she knew the signal had come. Gleam's feelers twitched with excitement as the message reached her. Concealed behind a cluster of stalagmites, her eyes glowed like narrow crescent moons. She lifted her antennae and began to cast. A surge of fiery energy soon appeared before her insect form.

*Fwoosh*

A flaming arrow shot out from the shadows, its bright orange trail cutting through the darkness. It struck a boulder near Grahn and burst into sparks. He flinched and turned his massive frame toward the source.

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"Damn it, there is a mage in there!" Grahn shouted as he raised his axe.

Sable saw a second flame arrow streaking toward them and dodged to the side. She quickly drew an arrow, notched it to her bow, and fired into the mist. She could not see the caster, yet it was possible to predict an enemy's location by the flight path of the spell.

"Die!"

For a moment, silence fell across the chamber, then more flaming arrows rained down. They seemed to come from every direction, even from above, as if multiple mages were hidden outside the mist.

"( ˶°ㅁ°) "

While the arrows flew, the person firing them began to panic. One arrow had buried itself in the ground and had nearly pierced her carapace. She could bend some of the arrows aside with magic, but she still remained in the same place. When one shot came dangerously close to hitting her, she finally decided to find a new hiding spot.

"Show yourself, coward!"

Grahn roared and stomped forward, swinging his axe through the mist. The blade cut down two of Rusty's puppets, scattering their parts in every direction, yet the constructs kept clawing themselves back together. Beros remained calmer, although his shield arm shook slightly under the constant blows. He hesitated to enter the swirling mist or run toward the exit because he believed their real enemy waited within the darkness, ready to strike. Another volley of flaming arrows streaked toward them, forcing everyone to dodge, and this was the moment Rusty had been waiting for.

Rusty's body tensed like a coiled spring. Using Gleam's fiery distractions, he had maneuvered to Grahn's flank. The barbarian's broad chest was bare and shining with sweat, a perfect target. Rusty planted his feet firmly and drew back his metallic arm. The halberd shimmered with enchanted twilight steel as he charged it up with mana.

'Fortify Enchantment!'

While the enchantment activated, he shouted the name of the skill in his mind. Most of its power had already been spent against other monsters, but one strong charge remained. With his new ability that strengthened enchantments, Rusty was certain he could bring down the musclebound warrior who stood facing the other way.

*Bzzztt.*

The weapon left his hand, its tip buzzing with electrical energy amplified by the skill. The halberd cut through the air like a thunderbolt, sparks trailing behind it. Grahn's instincts were not as sharp as the Rogue's, and his eyes widened when he heard a thunderous sound behind him. He tried to turn, but the halberd struck true.

The weapon slammed into the side of his chest. A shockwave burst outward, shaking loose chunks of stone from the cavern ceiling. Grahn's axe flew from his hands as his massive body was hurled backward into a pillar of rock. The crack of ribs and snapping bone echoed, and he crumpled forward, coughing blood.

"Grahn!"

Sable shrieked, her voice breaking with genuine fear. She loosed three arrows in blind fury, each slicing through the haze toward the source of the attack. Rusty had exposed his position for a moment, and both adventurers seized the opportunity. One arrow nicked his metallic frame but bent aside, unable to pierce it. The next two were deflected by his shield, which he now also had to raise against Boros, who leapt into the dark mist like a madman.

"This must be the leader! Back me up, Sable."

"You don't have to ask me…"

Before she could finish, bolts of fire shot from behind her, forcing her into a desperate backflip to save herself. From the corner of her eye, she finally saw the source. A silvery ant clung to the cavern ceiling, hidden among the rocks. Once spotted, Gleam skittered behind cover, keeping the silencing spell active to confuse the archer.

"Damn bug!"

Sable's eyes were bloodshot as she activated a strange skill. Though only one arrow left her quiver, it split into many and rained down on the ceiling where Gleam had been moments before. If she could not pinpoint her enemy, she had decided she would simply destroy everything around the area.

Rusty noticed this but could do nothing to help Gleam. Somehow, the D-rank adventurer had managed to contend with his darkness element and was now locking him in battle. Their weapons clashed in furious strikes, but neither gained the upper hand. Their armor absorbed the blows, and aside from a few shallow cuts, both fighters stood mostly unharmed.

It was clear that the strange mask the man wore was responsible for the effect. He also had a helmet on, which made removing it impossible. Even so, Rusty did not panic. After a few exchanges with this opponent, he realized something important. The man was not nearly as strong as the fighter he had faced before, and this might have been due to his class.

His level was higher than that of the martial artist Rusty had fought a few days earlier during the adventurer guild test. This revealed that just as there were rare and powerful monsters, classes could also vary in rarity and strength. Although this man was a D-ranker in his third class, he was still at the lower end of the spectrum. Rusty, on the other hand, was a monster with a rare evolution, a true elite.

With a well-placed shield tackle, he sent the man stumbling backward, then hurled his sword forward to confuse his enemy. Just as expected, Beros raised his shield to deflect it and was unprepared to see another weapon appear out of thin air. Now wielding a mace, he activated several skills to strengthen his strike, including Lesser Twilight Embrace and even Basic Terror Aura, which could make an enemy flinch for a brief moment. That single instant was all the time he needed.

Rusty's mace came down with brutal force. The Armored Warrior tried to parry with his sword, but the difference in strength became immediately clear. Metal clashed against metal, and Rusty's blow shattered the blade on impact. Shards of steel scattered in every direction, sparking as they struck their armored bodies.

A clean hit to the man's side sent him crashing away. The metal bent under the impact, and the sound of bones breaking rang out beneath it. Beros let out a gasp and spat blood inside his mask as he tumbled forward. He clutched his side but refused to yield.

"What are you doing, Sable, hel—"

Before he could finish, Rusty surged forward. His speed increased now that he was in his all-purpose body with no restricted parts to slow him down. A relentless barrage of strikes rained upon the man, each blow landing with crushing force. The internal damage mounted until Beros collapsed onto his knees.

Beros' shield slipped from his trembling hand and clattered onto the stone floor. His breath rasped through the filter of his mask, each inhale wetter than the last. Blood seeped from beneath his helm as his gauntlets scraped against the ground in a futile attempt to lift himself. Rusty loomed over him, mace heavy with dented fragments of steel, his eyes glowing with a shifting light of white and black.

"N-no!"

The cry of defiance left his lips, but it could not stop the inevitable. Rusty's mace came down one final time, caving in the helm and reducing his head to pulp. The body slumped to the side, lifeless, the leader of the party now nothing more than a broken corpse.

Rusty turned toward the last survivor. The woman stood encircled by three iron puppets. They lacked the strength to kill her, yet they were more than enough to keep her pinned down. With his strongest foe gone, he could finally grant Gleam some respite.

"Stay away from me!"

Her voice cracked as her eyes locked on the fallen leader. She loosed a volley of arrows in desperation, but Rusty raised his shield and brushed them aside. One shaft pierced the side of his knee, yet he pressed forward unfazed, his body a construct of magic metal rather than flesh. Joints meant nothing to him. Step by step, he closed the distance, and soon her struggle reached its end.

"N-no stay back, I c-can't… no please…"

The woman begged him to stop, and for a moment he did. He looked at her pathetic form as tears streamed from her eyes and snot dripped from her nostrils. Yet he noticed her hand clutching a hidden dagger, and he remembered how she had behaved when facing the three weaker adventurers. This was not a victim. This was a predator who had finally met someone stronger.

His mace came down and struck her squarely in the face. The blow silenced her instantly, and her body crumbled lifeless to the ground. With that, the battle was over. The dark mist surrounding the area quickly vanished, and it was just in time since he was nearly out of mana crystals.

"That is all of them. We did it, Gleam!"

He cheered and turned toward where Gleam should have been, but something was amiss. She did not respond to his calls, and in the corner, he saw only a cluster of arrows and a small pool of blood…