Chapter 214 - Nightstalker

Rynold audibly gulped a mouthful of dry saliva as he inspected the soldier's corpse.

He moved from one corpse to another, observing the patterns. Rynold kept doing so to achieve a viable conclusion. As he went on, though, Rynold soon realized that it was pointless. He realized that staying here — analyzing, observing — would do nothing to bring these people back.

As Rynold stood in the middle of scattered corpses of soldiers, he hesitated. A part of him broke at that very moment as he realized that these were lives already lost.

'Damn it.'

Knowing he couldn't stay here any longer, Rynold looked around for tracks. And, not a minute later, Rynold found something — or rather, something found him.

Sensing a presence approaching him, Rynold quickly maneuvered to face it. He didn't want to shy away from any threats, not especially when his opponent killed these soldiers in cold blood. If Rynold could do something about all of this, it was right now.

Facing the creature head-on, Rynold took his stance. Both of his Mana Gauntlets were extended into Strength-form, ready to tackle whatever comes his way.

That is if he knew what he was expecting.

Contrary to whatever threat Rynold could think of, the creature that came his way wasn't human in the slightest. It didn't stand on two legs, which was fine, but its four legs were proportionate to its above-average size.

This creature was similar to a wolf; only this was bigger than any four-legged canine Rynold ever saw before. And, its appearance was stranger than any other wolf too.

Its fangs and claws had a steel-like shine to them. Not only that, but its fur was jet-black too. It was unnatural to see these colors out in the wild, especially in a canine that had no business in being that large. All in all, Rynold noted that this thing was uniquely terrifying.

Luckily, Rynold wasn't one to shy away from a fight — especially when his opponent was staring him down with its red, bloodshot eyes.

"Come on."

Rynold muttered the two words underneath his breath, as shaky as it was. His attention's sole focus was on the black wolf in front of him.

Almost like responding, the wolf suddenly lunged at Rynold with full and unrelenting force. It was excessive, Rynold noted, as its size and speed would've tramped Rynold. Regardless, he anticipated this fully.

The black wolf's maw opened wide, revealing sharp and deadly fangs. It was going for a bite that would've easily ended Rynold's life or, at least, tore him to shreds. But, Rynold wasn't so easy to take down now, was he?

As soon as the black wolf got close enough, Rynold extended his hands and grabbed hold of both the upper and lower jaw of the creature. He knew he wouldn't be able to take on the entirety of its stampeding force, but Rynold could at least shift that force to something else.

Flip.

Using his Mana Gauntlets to its utmost capacity, Rynold flipped the wolf on its head as it went over Rynold. Its body then slammed to the ground with significant force, making it seem like a master technique. But in reality, it wasn't anything like that, as Rynold felt tired after executing it.

He then approached the black wolf with great caution. Rynold couldn't understand it just yet, but there was something special about this thing. Aside from its size and appearance, that is.

"What are you..?"

Rynold activated Scan as he took one step at a time. With a steady and cautious approach, Rynold waited for the Scan to complete.

[Nightstalker Mk. I]

"That's different."

As soon as Rynold got close enough to see wires coming out from the wolf's side, he immediately relaxed his guard. He didn't even have to read the creature's description anymore as it was clear as day that this thing was a robot.

The craftsman inside Rynold was impressed. He knew how hard it was to create something new — and even harder to imitate something that already existed. Turning an animal into an animatronic was a feat in itself, and Rynold felt respect for the guy who made this thing.

Unfortunately, that respect fell short as Rynold's seriousness overwhelmed every inch of it. There was no telling how many lives this loose animatronic had claimed. It had gone on a rampage until Rynold stopped it. He got lucky that the thing's durability was weak; otherwise, this fight would've gone longer.

"There's no time to waste."

Rynold moved to the creature's side and flipped it over, revealing immensely complicated circuitry. To which, the first thing that popped into Rynold's head when he saw it was that this wasn't magic. There were no signs of Mana or anything, just wires and electrical components.

"Strange..."

He could've sworn that something this intricate could only be achievable using magical components. A Mana Core would've provided endless energy and excellent quality.

But, this thing was mechanical.

Nothing about this made much sense. But, the distant sounds of fighting reminded Rynold of why he came here. He had to save those that could be saved, not lamenting over some mechanical creation. So, with that, Rynold consciously chose to destroy this thing once and for all.

Stepping back a few feet, Rynold aimed True Caliber at the mechanical animatronic and shot explosive bullets at the thing. He destroyed it with just two shots and moved on not soon after.

Maneuvering through the dense forest once more, Rynold spotted groups of soldiers lying on the ground, dead. And, as much as he wanted to stop and check things out, there was nothing he could do.

From a glance, though, Rynold could tell that they had died the same way. The splurts of blood were similar to the first group of soldiers Rynold encountered. It was a brutal sight and an even more brutal way to die. But, there wasn't anything Rynold could do about it at this point.

As he kept moving at his pace, Rynold's thoughts wandered. He thought about where that Nightstalker came from and what was it doing here of all places?

It came across as suspicious, not that Rynold could give a reason why.

Regardless, he kept thinking about it and didn't stop until he reached a messy battlefield. There were bullet casings all over the ground and, with it, were a handful of dead soldiers that had put up a good fight. Even though Rynold didn't know any of them, the loss still affected him slightly.

Tsk.

Turning his head slightly, Rynold followed the path of destruction, thinking it would lead to the fight. It was a sensible choice and, soon enough, Rynold reached a critical point of warfare.

'This isn't good.'

Soldiers were fending off against other Nightstalkers, and they were clearly in over their heads. The soldiers were losing badly. Rynold didn't like what he saw at all.

There were a handful of Nightstalkers, no greater than ten. And, even though Rynold took care of one Nightstalker without relative ease, it wasn't the same case for any of these soldiers. Their bullets, for the most part, had no effect on them.

As the Nightstalkers pushed the soldiers back, Rynold now had no choice but to intervene. It was his job to save these people, anyway, might as well start doing it now.

That said, Rynold started by pinging off the Nightstalkers at the back. With True Caliber and explosive bullets, Rynold took down two Nightstalkers with a shot to each of their wide backs.

Boom!

The explosions Rynold let off caught the attention of the other Nightstalkers. To which, the animatronics changed their sights all to Rynold, who had suddenly appeared. Doing so bought time for the remaining soldiers to regroup and flee, but they didn't seem to care about saving their skin.

One after the other, the soldiers let out a barrage of bullets at their opponents, even though the Nightstalkers paid them no heed. Their ammunition seemed to have no effect on these mechanical beasts. But, even so, the soldiers kept firing, maddened desperation and fear in their eyes.

Rynold, on the other hand, was about to get his hands full in dealing with these things.

The Nightstalkers were no joke, after all. The animatronics were swift and forceful, but its defenses paled in comparison. The mechanical canines could fend off bullets made from gunpowder, but Rynold had better weapons and put up an even better fight.

Similar to his previous encounter, a Nightstalker took the first charge. It charged at Rynold without holding back and carried its whole weight forward. Rynold, on the other hand, swiftly moved to intercept the attack.

Crash!

Activating Protecting Light to shield himself, Rynold took the attack head-on. He had experience dealing with a Nightstalker before, and this one was no different.

With the estimate of how much force the Nightstalker used to attack, Rynold knew how much strength he needed to counteract it. He admitted it was a risky move. But the benefits outweighed the risks as Rynold activated Charging Fist and punched with everything he had.

The result: Rynold won by a landslide.

The sound of a loud metallic crash indicated Rynold's victory. With the Nightstalker charging directly to Rynold's fist, the animatronic's metallic fangs shattered in an instant. Rynold won by the sheer force of his Mana Gauntlets. So much so that it even broke the mechanisms inside.

After taking one of them down, Rynold turned his attention to the next Nightstalker. He then fully extended his drill and charged at the nearest one, dealing massive damage. Rynold's drill paired with a Fire-Attributed Augment spell did good work against his opponents.

As Rynold kept fending off the remaining Nightstalkers on his own, the soldiers soon realized what was happening. Their angst and frustrations soon left their faces as they saw Rynold take on the mechanical beasts all by his lonesome. It was impressive to find a guy fighting them alone. And it was even more impressive Rynold didn't use any modern weaponry to do it.

"What the hell are you standing there for?!" Rynold called out as he took down another Nightstalker, leaving five left. "Get out of here! NOW!"

Rynold didn't appreciate the soldiers standing still and twiddling their thumbs. A person shouldn't stand still on a battlefield. Doing so would've gotten them killed. And, even though Rynold was doing all of this to save them, he certainly didn't like it when they didn't take the chance to run.

That was just ungrateful.

As Rynold's voice reached the soldier's eardrums, they dumbfoundedly looked at each other. Confused as to what to do next, the soldiers still didn't move from where they stood.

'The fuck is wrong with these people?'

Taking down yet another Nightstalker, leaving two left, Rynold's brows furrowed in frustration. There was nothing more annoying than these people right now. In his head, Rynold thought that these soldiers weren't very bright.

They acted as though they had lost their heads — making them clueless and incapable of moving on their own.

'Are military folk really like this? Lose their commander, and they become like this?'

As far as annoying things go, this was definitely it. Rynold didn't want to have to deal with incompetence right now as there were more battles ahead. Dealing with these people would only slow him down.

'Piece of shit.'

In his frustrations, Rynold grabbed both upper and lower jaws of the final Nightstalker. From there, he released his frustrations on the Nightstalker by literally ripping the creature into two. He pulled each side in opposite directions with all of his strength.

If the creatures were alive, Rynold would probably be covered in blood right about now. But, with that taken care of, Rynold approached the soldiers who were still in a daze.

"What are you people doing?" Rynold asked, his voice nearing the point of anger. "You should get out while you still can. This isn't the place for people like you."