“Go after him, we’ll take care of the gate.”
Hana hesitated. The thing outside in the laboratory was covered head to toe with armor. It stood up, showing its massive height. It looked, for lack of a better word, alien. Her father was an experienced warrior and Jinyoung had proven he was more than capable, but they hadn’t stopped arguing since their reunion above ground.
Before she could protest any further, Jinyoung shouted at her.
“Neither of us are going to stand a chance against him! If you’re going to catch up, you need to go now!”
With a grim nod, she printed from the room. Jinyoung was right, of course. Using [dash] he had a better chance of catching up to Henry, but there was no way he could stand up to him in single combat. Her father’s hand was still bleeding heavily, likely a side effect of a rogue skill. At full strength, Youngho might be able to best most players in one-on-one combat, but Henry would undoubtedly exploit any advantage he could get.
And whatever that thing next to the gate was, it wasn’t likely any of them could take it on alone.
She whispered a small prayer and set her mind to the task ahead of her. She had to find Henry and recover the samples of purified sin and the research drive.
***
The lab outside the control room was the size of a large auditorium. It could’ve been a lunch hall, or munitions warehouse. But the entire space was empty except for the center which held the cradle.
Jinyoung kicked aside a few shards of glass before jumping over the window ledge and landing in the open space. It was even colder in here with the gate. Colder than it was above ground, somehow.
“Don’t draw your sword,” Youngho whispered.
“Why not?”
He peered at the creature standing before them. It was well over six-feet tall, probably closer to seven. It had broad shoulders and long, almost lanky arms. Its legs were similarly long and thin. And its head, if you call it that, was almost triangular, ending in two points where its ears might’ve been down to its chin. And, the entirety of it looked to be covered in gleaming armor.
“It hasn’t shown us any threat and I don’t think we should either.”
The armored figure’s head turned and gauged its surroundings. It looked to be taking stock of the space before landing on Jinyoung and Youngho.
“Have you [scanned] it?” Youngho whispered.
Jinyoung nodded. In fact, he scanned it shortly after he entered the room. It had returned a single word.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
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“Nothing,” he responded. “Whatever it is, the system doesn’t have an entry for it.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Jinyoung took a step forward. And then another. He took each step slowly, not to hide his movements but rather to call attention to them.
“What are you doing?” Youngho hissed.
“If it’s not showing us any threat, I’d like to return the favor in kind.”
The two of them slowly made their way closer to the alien creature. Whatever it was, it didn’t look like anything they’d seen before. Until now, the monsters and creatures spawned by the gates showed no signs of civilization or intelligence. Some creatures showed signs of battle intelligence, forming groups and executing strategies, but this thing was different. The presence of armor was especially surprising.
“Armor,” Jinyoung whispered. “That isn’t something monsters just have. It means someone had to find the materials for it, purify the elements, and actually forge it.”
As they got closer, they could see that the armor was intricately detailed. There was scrollwork and etchings that rivalled the greatest artisan work by humans. But was also dented, scratched and showed signs of wear. Whatever this thing was, it had been through battles. A fair number of them, more than likely.
Jinyoung stopped, leaving about 20 feet between them. He was about to ask Youngho for suggestions when he heard it.
“Estheymos giyan, cureya?”
[New dialect detected]
What the hell? Jinyoung looked at his adopted father who returned his gaze with wide eyes. Over the years, Youngho had seen monsters scream, screech and holler, but this thing had spoken. There was no mistaking it, this thing was a sentient creature.
“Kistabloth oreyas countania. Hesseth nirai noomko.”
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Youngho shook his head and pointed at his ear. “We can’t understand you.”
The figure shook its head. And then, instead of speaking, it pointed and drew their attention to the cradle.
“Mindaly phrayeth casta. Arestundo kay duth, Volux.”
[Loading dialect. Please wait.]
“Wait,” Jinyoung said. “I understood that last word. It said, ‘Volux.’”
The creature reacted immediately and stiffened at the word. It extended its long, armored hand before it and held it open. Out of nowhere, a beam of light came into existence until it was a solid object. The armored hand closed its fingers around it and swung it around into a fighting stance.
“A spear,” Youngho said in awe. It was a blindingly bright spear that looked like it was made purely out of light. But, by the way the creature handled it, it definitely had weight. And if it had weight, it had mass.
“Shit, I think I said the wrong thing,” Jinyoung whispered. His hand fell to his sword hilt and the creature reacted immediately.
“Isthaya, umio. Tikeya mo hand!”
“I think it wants us to put our hands up,” Jinyoung muttered, tightening his grip on his hilt.
“Do as it says,” Youngho hissed. “We don’t want to fight this thing unless we have to.”
The monk raised both hands to shoulder height, leaving his palms open. But the motion didn’t do much to assuage their mystery guest. Behind an armored helm, it scanned the two humans before stopping on Youngho.
image [https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/120826873/c7fb950fe9a34d96b95039b77965e347/eyJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.jpg?token-time=1739750400&token-hash=q8jDNmn0w4BIKxptywtkOVHZa1MZHnT7y6BIXd2WqEw%3D]
“Defezo hand, lire pon.”
The armored figure shifted its weight and adopted an aggressive stance, pointing its spear straight at Youngho. When it spoke next, Jinyoung was surprised to hear its message loud and clear.
“I will cut your hand or your throat, you choose.”
> QUEST: CRADLE of Ice (UNIQUE)
>
> * Destroy the research drive
>
> * Destroy samples of purified SIN
>
> * Destroy the CRADLE and close the GATE
>
> Reward: None.
>
> Failure: Failure to close the gate will result in an outbreak.