Chapter 71: Quests

[Once survivor James confirms the self-destruct sequence, survivor James should escape the HUMA immediately due to imminent explosion.]

“Huh? Couldn’t I just go to the next floor?”

[Consequently, the teleporter will be spawned beside the HUMA outside.]

“Got it. Thanks for telling.” James shrugged. He then pressed the button. A system message then showed a countdown timer of twenty minutes.

James jogged outside. The system kindly pointed him the way through the maze. For extra measure, James ran a full kilometer away and hid behind a rock. After about ten minutes, the giant mecha exploded as if its stomach had been hit by a rocket. The system kindly spawned the golden portal next to James.

James walked through the portal as he glanced into the distance. Smoke rose up from the north. In the waiting room, he wondered about the village—whether it was possible to save it.

“Nah, it was a trap. Even if I win against the raiding force and save the village, the robot will kill me next.” James justified himself. When the loading screen reached 100%, white light enveloped him and transferred him a moment later to a reception desk.

He looked around and found himself surrounded by bunches of orcs, goblins, and large ogres. James immediately drew his axe and blade while dropping his leather bag, with the extra weapons he pilfered from the previous floor strapped with spider silk on it.

“Chill out, the war is tomorrow,” an orc spoke to James. This orc spoke. Moreover, unlike other monsters James had met before, these guys did not attack James on sight.

After five minutes of staring at these monsters, James sheathed his longsword and axe and picked up his leather bag.

[Quest: Save Hamilton Town]
A war with Novik raiders is brewing. Make sure the town still stands and its residents are safe.
Objective 1: Prevent Novik raiders from entering the town.
Reward: 500 coins + random armor chest
Objective 2: Kill all elite Nirvok and disable the HUMA
Reward: Floor completion

“Huh? How the heck am I going to disable that giant robot?” James asked the system.

[A HUMA Slayer Firearm will be able to penetrate the HUMA. If you hit its reactor, the HUMA will explode or be disabled. You only have 5 bullets.]

“You look strong with all of that metal armament. You will be registering, right?” an orc tapped James’s shoulder as he pondered by himself at his system notification.

“Yeah? Sure. But I am not going to fight that giant robot thing,” James muttered.

“Of course not. No mortal has ever beaten that thing. But we have that ancient weapon.” The orc pointed toward an anti-tank gun mounted at the top of the wall. James frowned as the fantasy wall clashed with modern weaponry. “Our job is to prevent those damn demons from entering.”

“Well, alright.” James turned toward the receptionist.

“Name?” The scholarly orc looked briefly at James as he asked James’s name to be written on a parchment.

“James.” James answered. When he looked around, he realized that most of the residents here were orcs and goblins. He wondered why they didn't bat an eye at his figure—someone who had a furry body but an orc face.

“Ahh. You are in luck. You will have the best seat in the house. You will be guarding the HUMA Slayer. It is our only hope against HUMA. We think they know we have the HUMA Slayer, so we expect that place to be attacked. Please protect it well.” The thin orc nudged his glasses as he assigned James to the wall. James had a foreboding feeling that this was all designed by the system. James then picked up his leather bag and went to the wall.

He didn’t bother asking whether they had an inn or not. First, he had no money. Second, he didn’t trust these guys not to steal from him. So, he chose to sleep beside the anti-tank gun.

He tried to touch the anti-tank gun, but a translucent purple barrier stopped him. It was not the usual purple flash, but an invisible wall that glowed purple when James touched it.

“Not a purple flash, but a barrier, huh?”

[Survivors may not touch the anti-tank gun until tomorrow or when the engineer dies.]

“Hmm…” James tilted his head. This dungeon was unlike the previous ones where he just needed to kill anything that moved; this dungeon had some events going on. James then lay on the ground. After taking his Cloak of Dark Night, he tried to get some rest.

“The environment here is normal. What was with before? It was so weird without any wind. And the ashen field,” James muttered as he looked at the sky and the field. The grassland stretched wide. At the horizon, he could see a standing giant mecha that looked like a rhino—the HUMA. The enemy had already arrived. That made him nervous. He knew what it was capable of.

“Well, well, aren't you a diligent one? You should sleep in the inn,” a goblin who was the gun engineer came to the gun. There was no purple barrier to stop him. Using some dirty cloth, he wiped the gun barrel, oiling it. Five anti-tank shells were placed beside the gun. He wiped those too.

“The battle is tomorrow, you know,” James answered.

“Well, that's true. You can even see them from here. But don't worry, there are night sentries in the towers. They will tell us if they come, and this gun will plow through that metal monster.”

“I see,” James yawned. The cloak offered him a comfortable temperature. It was as if he were in an air-conditioned room. Soon, sleep took him.

A light from the dawn penetrated through James's eyelids. A bell tolled in the distance. It only took several days for James to lose the habit of waking up early in the morning. His good habits from being a corporate slave died fast.

James groaned as he felt the ground shake.

“They are coming,” a goblin shouted as mercenaries rushed through the wall. James frowned as they looked like the orc boss and elite goblin he fought back on the first floor of the trial dungeon.

“How are they going to siege the wall if the giant robot stayed behind?” James asked an orc mercenary nearby. James had seen them doing raids with their robot raptors, but he hadn't seen any other robot for scaling the wall.

“Their metal cavalry could climb walls. Be wary, they are tough. Normal arrows and swords would bounce right off. You need to use a weapon’s blessing.”

“Blessing? Ah, you mean skills?” James asked, and the orc nodded.

“You could use them, right?”

“Yes, of course. I could use a bow, sword, and axe.”

“Ha ha, I was worried for a second there. I was sure you could use at least one of them with how many weapons you carried, but you never know. Good—if you can use bow blessings, you should join the archers. Here they come, brace yourself.”

“Ugh, why am I poisoning the arrow? Stupid,” James cursed as he bit an arrow before putting it in his crossbow. A bow skill would penetrate a human body like a cannonball; there was no need to poison it. James realized he had formed some bad habits during his dungeon exploration.

James was agape as he looked at how many of those purple monsters there were. There were hundreds of them, all riding mechanized raptors. Several golden meteors from bow skills flew from the wall. Some hit them while others missed. The raptors were fast and spread out. It was hard to hit them.

“I wonder if I can keep those raptors. They seemed so convenient. They didn't trip even when the raptors in front of them died—they just leaped over them,” James muttered. He fired off his bow. His aim was not the best, but it still hit a raptor. The raptor then tumbled, sending its rider rolling on the ground.

“If you can control them,” the orc said while drawing his axe.

Not all warriors here could use bow skills. Unlike James or other survivors who could just buy weapon mastery, the inhabitants had to train for years to get a weapon skill. So, most of them could only use one type of weapon skill.

The raptors leaped to the wall. Using the claws from their hands and feet, they scaled the wall like monkeys climbing a tree.

“Die!” Golden light flashed from the orc’s axe. James reeled back from psychological trauma. To him, every golden light not from his weapon was a threat. But the weapon skill was not aimed at him, but at the climbing raptors. The axe crushed the raptor’s head like a watermelon.

The rider jumped from the raptor and clung to the wall, but nearby goblins speared him to death. When another raptor jumped in from the wall, James lunged at it with his sword skill, cleaving both the raptor and its rider in two.

The good news didn't last long, for the raptors retaliated. Unlike horses, these raptors had sharp teeth and claws. Not everyone fought as well as James and his new orc friend. An orc soldier screamed when a raptor bit off his shoulder. A goblin couldn't even scream as its head fit nicely into a raptor's jaw.

The mechanical raptor was not the only threat. The rider was a skilled fighter as well. It took two or three people to kill a Nirvok.

James was on a roll. This kind of battlefield was perfect for him. The Nirvok were good, but without ranged weapons, James’s fire breath roasted the riders alive. They had to be lightly armored to ride the raptors. The raptors were agile, but James's ice magic was enough to hinder them. Then, using his weapon skills like V Slash and Hurricane, he could kill two of those raptors in one skill.

“Watch out. The fur one can breathe fire!” Other mercenaries stayed away from James. They were worried about friendly fire. James spawned ice spears and breathed fire without abandon.

“The monster is coming. Prepare the HUMA Slayer!” an orc shouted toward the goblin engineer, prompting him to load a bullet into the cannon. James glanced at him, wondering whether he would be rewarded if it was not him who killed the HUMA. The quest mission said as long as the HUMA was dead, it shouldn’t matter who killed it. So, he let the goblins do his work.

The battle was reaching its peak as the giant robot finally stepped forward. James could only pray the anti-tank gun he had would kill it before the HUMA launched its missiles and machine guns.