34 - M3 Satan

Merlin breathed out deeply before he took his hand off the strongman's neck, looking at the imprint his hand had made on the corpse he muttered

"I had a family too, you know?"

At this point in time he had long since given up on seeing his family again, even if he was returned to earth he would not look for them, he had changed too much to fit into their peaceful lives. Merlin quickly scanned the room for things that would prove useful for his escape as he retrieved and put the bayonet back into his inventory, then he retrieved the Colt and checked it over, once he removed the magazine and looked into it he was pleasantly surprised

'So the ammunition regenerates in this one too… Good to know...'

Then he walked over to the corpse of the mage, the mage's eyes were wide open gazed over, his pupils were unfocused still containing the same amount of shock that they did when Merlin had stabbed him in the center of his skull, he was dead

"Let's see if you have anything useful on you…"

He quickly checked over the body of the mage and found a journal, he didn't take the staff that lay beside him on the head reader

'Don't know if that's a unique staff… It could get me in trouble… So I could be staying here for too long…'

He checked his own appearance quickly before he found a door and simply walked out of it, luckily the building he was in was deserted and located in a less populated area of the city he found himself in, he didn't walk towards the outer walls instead he walked towards the center of the city and soon found himself a busy market

"...Perfect"

Merlin walked to the edge of the market and closed his eyes for a few moments, he simply imagined himself dying a few times before his presence disappeared almost completely, then he walked a few times around the market before he returned to his original spot, only this time he carried a small leather pouch containing a few handfuls of silver coins, he didn't leave the market at once, in fact, he stayed there until evening and only left after he purchased a few items, namely a small dagger, a bow, a backpack, and 8 arrows, then he found an ally and smeared some mud onto his jeans around his knees and elbows before he walked towards the gates and quickly found an inn where he walked in, his nose was hit with a variety of information before his eyes even adjusted to the brightly lit inside of the inn

'Mud, alcohol, freshly cooked food and a faintly describable scent of mold… This is an inn alright…'

"Hello! Go ahead and take a seat, I'll be right with you"

Merlin nodded and as his eyes adjusted to the bright interior he quickly scanned the room

'3 groups of adventurers and hunters, two guardsmen, 4 kitchen staff out back, and 2 waitresses…'

Merlin then did a second take after a free seat and soon sat down at his own table and waited as he was told, soon a young waitress walked over and asked him while wearing a charming smile

"What will it be?"

"Well I would like some food, whatever you recommend, then I'll also like to rent a room…. I hit it big today, caught 3 birds and 2 rabbits!"

The waitresses eyes widened as she showed a wide smile and exclaimed

"Wow!"

Merlin showed a smile as he analyzed the situation

'Of course, the waitress wants to squeeze out as much profit she can from a young and naive hunter that's hit it big, so she'll do her best to butter me up'

Half an hour went by before Merlin's predictions went right, 6 of his seven silver coins had been spent and he was too drunk to see straight as he laid on his back in his lent room, of course, that was all part of the plan, Merlin closed his eyes and breathed a few times before he opened them again, his eyes had turned fittingly cold for his next action as he stood up and walked over to the window and opened it before he reached his hand out and spoke

"Buy an M3 Stuart"

[Ding! Buying one M3 Stuart, 83 points deducted]

The tank that appeared on the deserted street was rather small for a tank, being only 4.8 meters long, 2.3 meters wide, and a little over 2.5 meters tall, the Stuart weighed only 15 metric tons and was built and used by the US once they entered the second world war, built and designed as a light scout tank and was equipped with a 37mm tank cannon as well as 3 x .30 caliber (7.62 mm) Browning M1919A4 machine guns, Merlin showed a slight smile as he saw the tank appear, then he spoke

"Apply the crocodile blueprint to the M3…"

[Ding! 50 points required, buy now?]

"Yes"

[Ding! M3 Stuart successfully converted to M3 Satan]

Outwards the M3 didn't change much, though the 37mm gun was replaced with a Ronson flamethrower, the nickname Satan was quite official… And quite fitting for Merlin's order to the android commander that stuck its head out of the hatch and gave Merlin a salute, Merlin returned the salute before he spoke

"Insurgents have taken root in this city, you are to raze the city in its entirety"

"Yes, commander!"

"Good, start with this building, then move along the main streets, scuttle when you are out of fuel and ammunition"

"...Yes commander, please step back"

Merlin stepped back in the room and waited, a few seconds of silence followed before the Ronson flamethrower began spewing fire towards the inn Merlin was currently inside, near-instantly the entire front of the inn was on fire some of the flamer fuel spewed in from the window and lit Merlin's room on fire, Merlin yelled at once

"FIRE!"

Then he stumbled out of the room with his backpack as he yelled again

"FIRE!!!"

The inn seemed to come alive at his second yell, as the old saying went 'when one yells fire it's only the second time that means shit's lit'

Merlin came running downstairs, a few people also came running after him one of which had been looking out of the window to see what was going on when the M3 Satan turned its nuzzle towards the window, that is to say, he was positively 'lit' as the kids would say, he rolled down the stairs while he was on fire, Merlin noticed that the poor soul seemed to have broken his neck on the way down the stairs which saved him quite the suffering and ended his infernal screaming, the people inside quickly tried to put him out but dosing him with a bucket of water

'Wrong choice…'

As anyone that had received fire safety instructions before could tell you, it was a bad idea to douse a gasoline fire with water, the fire quickly spread over the entire room, Merlin avoided the flames and females that now were on fire as he stepped back and ran into the kitchen and quickly stuffed some preserved food into his backpack before he ran out of the kitchen and grabbed a blanket and quickly dosed it in water before he ran into the room again and used the damp sheet to cover one of the waitresses and were rolling on the ground before he picked her up and carried her outside, then he picked another sheet out the driving line and ran back into the inn, however, he quickly returned as there were no one left to save inside, then he began administering first aid to the waitress by pouring cold water out over her legs that had been burned rather severely, she screamed in pain as she did Merlin showed a slight smile as his hands began shaking and kneeled over before he threw up, the waitress that had recovered enough to speak coherently quickly yelled

"Help my parents… They're still… Inside!"

Merlin wiped his mouth before he shook his head and spoke

"There was no one left to save"

"Please… You have… to help them…"

Merlin showed a smile and asked

"You don't smell that?"

The waitress was confused for a moment before she turned her head to the side and vomited, the smell of burnt flesh was overwhelming and the sky was lit up as if it was daytime, Merlin quickly ran over and picked up the waitress before he spoke

"We can't stay here"

"Please… My parents…"

"I can't save them! Besides, if I go back in there I'll die too, I don't want to burn to death!"

The waitress looked over towards the inn that now was fully enclosed in flames that were inching closer to them as they spoke, then she let out a sorrowful cry as she clung to Merlin, the very person that had caused the fire, Merlin showed a slight smile as he listened to the notifications in that the system gave him

[Ding! Achievement unlocked: human slayer VI, award: 120 points]

[Ding! Achievement unlocked: human slayer VII, award: 150 points]

[Ding! Achievement unlocked: human slayer VIII, award: 200 points]

[Ding! Achievement unlocked: human slayer---]

Merlin showed a wide smile as he thought

'They can burn for what they did to Geo and Jane…'