Tsukuru took a few more deep breaths, as he tried to calm himself down.
Eventually, he let out a sigh. He kneeled down towards the body of the Palewalker. Intending to use his Plunder Skill to extract its Beast Crystal. However, it was then that he heard the sound of snapping twigs.
Suddenly, Tsukuru looked up.
When he did, his eyes widened. Among the dense trees, he saw three more Palewalkers begin to emerge. It appeared that his shout of frustration had drawn their attention. Seeing it, Tsukuru grit his teeth.
"Shit." He muttered.
***
Back in the library, Vorden tossed in his sleep. Although, this had become normal from him. Honestly, he couldn't remember the last time he had gotten a good night's rest. Some nights, he was able to sleep peacefully, and dream just like any other person. But, there were also the times where his mind was sent to the dark room within his subconscious. Where Raten and Sil inhabited. And unfortunately, tonight was one of those nights.
Vorden looked around the dark space.
Sil was leaning against the wall, sleeping in his crouching position, and Raten was sleeping on his front in front of the now-empty chair. His arms folded under his head like a makeshift pillow.
Vorden let out a sigh. Lately, this had been happening more and more frequently. And honestly, being in the dark room at night always worried him. With the chair empty, at any point, any of them could sit in the chair, and take over the body. For now, Vorden acted as the gatekeeper, but this was only because Sil allowed him to.
That's when Vorden felt a slight "phantom pain" on his arm, him feeling as if someone was shaking it. causing him to turn and look at it. This meant one thing, someone was trying to wake him up.
Vorden sighed, and walked over to the empty chair. He took his seat, and leaned back. Instantly, the "screen" flickered to life, showing the display on the outside world.
A moment later, Vorden regained consciousness. Kneeling over him with his hand on Vorden's shoulder was Ian.
"Hey, are you alright?" Ian asked. "It looked like you were having a nightmare."
Vorden looked around, seeing that they were still in the little "fortress" Ian had built.
"Yeah, sorry about that." Vorden replied, scratching his head. "I wasn't making too much noise, was I?"
Ian smiled.
"This is a scary place." Ian said. "Someone like you shouldn't be on your own here in the first place, so don't worry about it." After a moment, Ian continued. "Hey, do you mind if we swap for a bit?" He asked.
Ian and Vorden then switched places, with Vorden taking over as guard.
As Vorden positioned himself so he could easily see through the four "window" holes Ian had punched out in the bookshelves, Ian laid down behind him on the uncomfortable, cold floor. Almost instantly within the dark room, Vorden heard Raten stir. Raten groaned, and stretched, waking himself up. Seeing Vorden already "at the helm", as it were, Raten walked over and stood behind him to watch.
"Hey, Vorden." Raten said, causing Vorden to glance back from the seat. "If you aren't going to killhim now, what about when we find the Teleporter?"
A predatory grin crept across Raten's face.
"That Advanced-Tier Crystal could be very useful to us, and no one would find out. What happens on a Red Portal Planet stays on a Red Portal Planet. Besides, you've seen how weak he is. Now that we have his Ability, it would be easy to kill him!"
Vorden grit his teeth in frustration.
"I said, 'no'." He replied firmly. "While I'm in control of the body nobody is going to get hurt."
Raten clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Fine." He muttered. "But one of these days when you're in trouble, don't come crying to me for help! Once Sil sees how shitty of a job you're doing, he'll let me be in charge, and I won't let you decide a single thing!"
***
Back in the forest, Tsukuru took a few steps back as he saw the three Palewalkers begin to crawl out from the thick foliage. Crawling on all fours like the previous one.
As one of them leapt into the air towards Tsukuru, he grit his teeth.
'That 'Skill Upgrade' said that I can make more complex things now, right?!' He thought. 'Well, let's test it out!'
Tsukuru opened his hand, and activated his Ability. The sound of electronic interference could be heard, and pixels began to appear in his hand. The pixels clustered together into a long handle with a wide cylinder at the end. There was a flash of light, and the object came into view. It was something Tsukuru had thought up, inspired by the "Stick Grenades" from WW2.
It was a long, metal stick with a glass canister filled with a green liquid attached to the end. This was nitroglycerin. While Tsukuru was capable of making actual grenades using his Ability now, they all had onemajor flaw. They used gunpowder. And gunpowder…needed to be ignited.
So he would need to create the grenade, and then create something else to light its fuse. However, nitroglycerin was such a volatile compound that all Tsukuru needed to do was throw it. The kinetic force from the impact would do the rest.
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes, and flung the "stick grenade" through the air. Right into the path of the lunging Palewalker. It hit it straight in the face.
Instantly, a moderately-sized explosion filled the air, and a resulting "Boom!" was heard. The Palewalker shrieked, and was thrown back by the force. The Palewalker crashed to the ground in front of the other two Palewalkers. A moment later, the Palewalker slowly got back up. However, its movements were stiff, showing that the explosion had caused it some damage.
Seeing this, Tsukuru grit his teeth. He was hoping that the explosion would have blown its head off.
'Let's see you brush this off.' He thought bitterly. He opened his right hand, and activated his Ability. Once again, the sound of electronic interference was heard, and pixels began to appear under his hand. The pixels clustered together into the shape of a large cylinder with a thick ring at the top, serving as a handle.
There was a bright flash of light. When it faded, Tsukuru was holding a portable propane tank in his right hand. The kind used to power gas grills, generators, and heaters in the old world.
Tsukuru swung his hand forward, lobbing the propane tank at the three Palewalkers. It fell to the ground in front of the three Beasts with a heavy "thump".
As the three Beasts looked down at the tank, having never seen anything like it before, Tsukuru activated his Ability again. This time, he created a copy of the Intermediate-Tier Firebomb Arrow. Tsukuru threw the arrow at the tank, hitting it dead-on. Instantly, the arrow exploded into flames, like normal. However, it also ignited the flammable gas within the propane tank, feeding the flames.
This resulted in a truly momentous explosion followed by a roaring inferno. The force of the explosion sent Tsukuru flying backwards into a tree. A resounding "BOOM!" echoed across the whole shelter, and an accompanying shockwave rocked it.
***
Back in the storage container, Quinn's eyes snapped open, and his upper torso shot up.
'What was that?!' He thought.
***
In Ian's makeshift "fortress" in the library, Vorden lurched back.
Instantly, Ian snapped to attention, him having only just fallen asleep.
"What the HELL was that?!" He shouted.
***
Back in the forest, Tsukuru coughed and he stumbled forward away from the tree. The impact had knocked the wind out of him, and he felt like he had just taken a kick to the back from a professional fighter. Two overlapping System messages popped up in front of him.
[-10 HP. HP: 35/45.]
[You have killed three Palewalkers. 3000 XP received. XP: 4036/12800.]
Looking ahead, Tsukuru could see the nearby trees catching fire. Tsukuru rolled his eyes. Using his Ability, he created a large, square tank of water with a high-pressure hose attached. He pulled the safety off, causing a thick torrent of water to gush out.
***
Tsukuru stood in the same spot ten minutes later, overlooking the destruction. The water tank was now empty, and many of the trees were now blackened. Looking down, he could see the charred corpses of the three Palewalkers.
Tsukuru sighed, and knelt down towards them. He could still feel heat coming off of the Beast corpses. He grit his teeth, and yanked his hand away, unable to lay his hand flat against the corpses of the Beasts due to their residual heat.
"Screw it!" He muttered, he held his hand out. "Summon!"