The Fool's Freedom

“Is… Is that Alan?” Walter asked.

There was mumbling among all of those gathered on the wall.

Rosalyn bit her lips. That fool was going to give her a heart attack one of those days. What was he doing either way?! They were all here, preparing to put their lives on the line to protect the modicum of life they’d built with blood and tears, and he—

She exhaled. It was better this way. If he could convince them to retreat to avoid a confrontation with another tier two—

An orb of darkness killed a few people in but a second and Rosalyn’s eyes grew wide. What the hell was he thinking?

“Should we help?” Someone asked.

The barrier was still holding on, keeping them safe. There was another that would go up with but a thought from her. Technically, they could bombard the enemies with skills, but Alan was there…

“Master’s got it!” Mayra, the hateful witch, said.

Some eyed her with skepticism, others with fear, but no one questioned her.

Rosalyn frowned. He had her call him ‘master’ of all things? Perhaps she had overestimated him. Dealing on his own was for the best, lest they hurt him.

If that was even possible…

Had he left them in the dust yet again?

***

Rust was losing his mind.

This was not how conquering Sanctuaries usually went. Not at all.

“I hope they were bad people… Ah, well. Yes, let’s go with that,” the man said. He turned toward Immortal and smiled, “I hope you don’t mind if…?”

Immortal screamed. Rust turned only to see the man stare at the empty air. Like one would look at a System message. He had never seen his large companion so distraught. Was it that tap on the shoulder? Impossible.

“You—you—my Vitality! My life!”

“Sorry, you just have sooo much. I need a few new sources since ‘Cole’ has suffered enough,” the man said. “Oh, I wonder if I can transfuse ‘vitality’. Huh, would that make me a doctor? I’ve been having quite a few creative ideas lately.”

Who the fuck was Cole and what had the madman done to Immortal? Nothing made sense!

A bunch of skills from the panicked tier ones exploded. The man didn’t dodge this time, only continued resting on the chair of darkness. Shadows swirled around him, intercepting all the skills as if they were simple fireworks and not deadly force.

There were gasps and sheer terror.

Rust gritted his teeth. He couldn’t do that, and his protective skills were quite strong. However, he couldn’t risk losing his image. It was time to get his hands dirty. He felt the primal desire rise once again, reminding him of the first few months. It seemed like years ago… yet it hadn’t even been half a year.

Damned System.

“Us three,” his voice reverberated through the swords he was using as speakers, “will deal with him. Everyone else, fall back.”

The command reached everywhere, even those in the Sanctuary behind them. At this point, Rust was not sure if it was due to fear of himself, or fear of the strange man. Was he another conqueror, using them as a stepping stone? Or an alien in disguise…? He didn’t look human with all the lack of color.

And that presence… he had briefly felt something terrifying.

No matter.

The three of them had yet to lose against anyone alone. Much less three on one.

***

Alan watched the tier twos bear their fangs and communicate silently. The others were fleeing quickly, hiding in the woods.

Good. He had some trouble getting the hang of this new mana. It seemed hungry. How could one do good deeds and spare people if his mana was hungry?

The System was fucking with him. It was a powerful development, of course… If he had had this strength back in the Jaderin mines then everything would’ve gone much smoother. And he wasn’t that much higher in level than he was back then.

Alan moved, appearing next to his new vitality resource. The man’s pool was a raging ocean of lifeforce that was almost intimidating by sheer size. Alan briefly thought some foreign god or something would descend to protect it as it had happened with Zirida, but nothing of the sort transpired.

The man was just full of Vitality.

So surely stealing some was not an issue?

‘Immortal’ was a joke of a name either way. Even with it being so much, it couldn’t compare to what Alan had felt during his brief connection with the dragon. And it had been only tier three at best… Then what about those higher up?

An arrow almost took his head, but Alan could sense it coming ahead of time. His new senses were not warning bells like [Mortal Peril] had been. It was a sense of general danger and heightened perception. It felt good to be so aware.

It was great!

The three around him were all tier two, but… they were weak. Why were they so weak? Was it the mana of the world? No. The newly integrated world was rich in mana and resources. Practice then? Experiences? Skills? Levels? Ah, what was it that made them so different from him? The bloodline?

A storm of seemingly rusty swords suddenly surrounded him. There was no escape… for ordinary people.

Alan moved to a small fingernail-sized blob of shadow. He had created a hundred of them in a matter of seconds, just by thinking about it. [Shadow Creation] had improved so much it was ridiculous, and just because his mana was on another level… ah, it was almost like being reborn.

“Bastard!” someone screamed.

Alan frowned. It was not his fault they were weak. He hadn’t meant to kill the two casters. Maybe a curse or two would—

The swords were chasing him. There was power in them that felt somewhat dangerous, and his [Shepherd’s Shroud] wasn’t enough to stop it fully. Ah, what a bother.

He was running low on clothes, so ruining this set was out of the question.

A few arrows joined in, and Alan switched his place again. The arrows, simple in nature, were many times faster and stronger than bullets. The earth exploded where they landed worse than it had when he had used [Void Pierce].

[Dark Step] consumed the shadow he used for the skill— [Shadow Creation] complemented his new movement skill perfectly. It was easy to use, cheap, and fast. The ease with which it functioned gave Alan quite a few weird ideas… He was having a lot of them lately.

Perhaps his tiny monkey brain was finally adapting? It took only what, a thousand points of Mind?

Immortal seemed too shocked to function. There was no rage, just pure despair. So that meant one was down. Good. Killing him felt like a waste of all he could offer. Was it that bad though? Alan had drained only a little. The man certainly had more than a thousand Vitality.

The one they called Hunter was annoying though. His arrows were strong, and his aim was great. As for the rusty swords… Alan didn’t know what about them screamed danger. They were slow, and they were easy to dodge. However, getting nicked by one felt like a very bad idea.

He reappeared near the Hunter, but the man was ready and leaped away with surprising speed. Alan gave chase and smiled. The two danced around each other, with Alan dodging arrows and rusty swords just for the sport of it. He wanted to get used to his new senses since combat like this was a rarity.

People were different than monsters.

Hunter finally had enough and disappeared into a shower of grass, only for Alan to sense him appear on the nearest tree.

Alan didn’t chase him there. It seemed that everyone had some sort of movement ability reminiscent of [Dark Step]. This one was larger in range but probably limited in how often it could be used. A true ‘escape’ skill. It made sense. It was too good. He wanted to see what else was there. To experience the power of a tier two.

Jay had a lot to offer and had fought Alan to a draw. Almost.

Now though, things were different.

The rust user appeared before him as if a human of corroded metal was growing out of the ground. Alan felt Hunter prepare something powerful, but didn’t pay much attention to it as swords came out beneath his feet. Not, they were more like spikes this time around.

He jumped away easily.

Why rust though? Wasn’t normal metal manipulation good enough? Kalyntha would scoff at that. Probably flatten the bastard too.

Alan dodged a slash of a sword that looked like it would fall apart any second. And it did. A dust of metal fragments. The death of a neglected weapon.

“Explode,” he heard the man say.

We’re announcing our move names now? Yikes.

Nothing exploded, and Alan frowned. No, wait. The dust—

The world became brown and red and Alan conjured a ball of thick darkness to surround him. A previous attempt wouldn’t have stood a chance, but his new mana was resilient. He could almost feel it try to consume the invasive skill as it descended.

However, this was the attack of tier two after all and it was special. As strong as his shield was, it wasn’t a defensive skill nor was it made to last—it was but a hasty mana construct.

Still, what got through had to meet the [Shepherd’s Shroud] defense as well.

“Got you!” the man said.

Alan frowned as he stepped back. The bow guy in the trees was still charging a shot. What the fuck was that about?

What does he mean got me—

He could feel it. Foreign mana in his bloodstream. It was like a disease trying to infect him. Pieces of something… rusty.

Ew.

“Do you know? The average mortal human has three to four grams of iron in their body. Too little to matter really… but fortunately I have a little skill here that can make wonders with it.”

Alan felt the particles that had somehow bypassed his skill and invaded his body start to grow and spread like tumors. His awareness of his own body was much higher than before after the recent changes. He calmly looked at the one who had done this to him.

“If you don’t want to die, you’ll make an oath to me, tell me all of your class and skills, and help me conquer this place. And release whatever ailment you’ve inflicted upon Immortal. I’ll beg him to spare you. Ah, just in time.” The man smiled in self-satisfaction as an arrow left the bow of the one they called Hunter.

It was a blaze of light that shattered the barrier and flew toward those standing on the wall. A second barrier appeared to meet it, and the explosion that followed was almost as if a bomb had gone off. That barrier went down too.

Alan saw some of those on the wall panic, but the attack was exhausted. Most stood their ground, despite their paleness. Such destructive power… It had taken a lot out of the man though.

I guess I shouldn’t play.

“That wasn’t nice,” he said. His [Internal Mana Boost] made him feel like he was brimming with energy, and the one before him seemed to sense it too. Would his low physical attributes even matter when he was like this? His muscles felt like they could lift a mountain!

The wonders of magic!

Alan used [Dark Step] again and felt the rust energy try to ravage him from the inside. It, however, met with the reality that everything inside of Alan was permeated with the devouring darkness, and [Internal Mana Boost] made Alan’s whole body rage like a storm.

He hadn’t felt this great before.

The Hunter reacted in time, but not before [Spirit Devour] found him. The skill demanded eye contact and had a particularly short range, but it was an upgrade still.

The man blanked. He dropped to his knees, like a puppet whose strings had been cut off. Alan was upon him in the next moment. [Spirit Devour] sounded fearsome, but it wouldn’t be that strong against someone of this caliber.

He needed something stronger. For the second time in his life, the full force of his [Curse of Buried Shadows] was used on a person. He had attacked the Sanctuary, and there would’ve been casualties if not for the second barrier.

So…

Alan left him at that. To suffer. To beg for death in a short while.

“How… how did you remove my mark?” the remaining man asked.

Immortal was curled on the ground, looking like he would cry. So much for that.

Alan didn’t respond. He had quite a bit of vitality stored now. Should I pour some into Cole…? Will he mutate or something?

“Tell me... I hear you have a city in the making. Are you the strongest one there?” Alan asked.

A storm of rusty spikes descended on him. They weren’t shaped like swords this time around. They burst creating a cloud that all rushed toward Alan, bypassing his defenses and entering his body. And his mana devoured it all, supplementing his reserves.

[Basic Mana Body] in tandem with [Internal Mana Boost] made him impervious to poison or disease. He had been afraid of super plagues for some time now, so this was a great result. The old him would’ve managed to resist this invasion for a while too, probably, but only because he understood flow so well.

However, the new him was in a different league.

Alan coated his arm in shadows and used [Dark Step] to close the distance. He shaped the shadows, turning his limb into something demonic and monstrous. The mana made him strong as he grabbed the throat of the one before him.

The man had lost most of his will, it seemed. As he didn’t resist.

“I wonder, how long will you struggle before you tell me all I want to know?”

The ‘hunter’s’ screams came next as he met with his worst nightmares.