Chapter 217 – Lust For Vengeance.

The window appeared before Rusty, but he did not even spare it a glance. Instead, he stared at his metallic hand. Only moments ago, it had been smeared with humanoid flesh and blood. It had been punctured, scraped, and dented in several places, yet no signs of damage remained. In their place lingered a strange void within his very being, something he could not fully explain.

Even though the mission had been classified as hard, the rewards were worse than those he had received from Gwen’s mission. To make matters worse, he had obtained a stamina enchantment talisman, a stat he did not even use as a living armor. The only explanation he could think of was that, aside from difficulty rating, the length of the summoning also played a role in determining the quality of the rewards.

‘That child…’

Rusty closed his fingers slowly, the metal plates grinding against one another. The battlefield had vanished, replaced by the familiar summoning chamber and the silence that filled it. He had been summoned before and had taken part in many battles, but this felt different.

The emotions of his new summoner still lingered and weighed on him. They were far stronger than anything he had felt when called by Gwen. The anger and desperation were almost palpable. The massacre had not been enough. A deep-seated anger remained, accompanied by a strange and hollow sadness.

He dismissed the windows and moved to the console to examine the summoner profile. The youth who had brought him forth showed no signs of proper mage training, yet he had somehow managed to summon Rusty in this newly empowered body. A glance at the statistics made it clear that this young man surpassed his previous summoner.

Even though he was younger than Gwen, his stats surpassed hers. All of the attributes related to spellcasting were impressively high, yet it was clear he lacked proper training. Worse still, Rusty had only received a measly five coins for completing the mission, nowhere near what he had hoped for.

“What is the point of this when I have to spend it like this…”

Rusty could not shake the weight pressing on him. He felt deeply for the youth. Everyone the boy had known had been slaughtered right in front of him, leaving him with nothing. Rusty’s main reason for taking on summoning missions had always been to earn more coins for Gwen and to unlock additional abilities. The only consolation was that some upgrades carried over between summoners, such as the expanded storage space. Others, however, like the skills that increased how far he could move from his summoner, had to be upgraded separately.

That meant it might be wiser to invest in shared skills rather than focusing on a single summoner. Still, doing so would only make things more difficult when he was summoned by Gwen, who remained the one he wanted to prioritize.

“I will probably have to make a decision…”

The system offered him many summoning missions, and perhaps he would need to narrow his focus to only one or two summoners on his journey. He had once been certain he would devote himself to helping Gwen, but after the mission he had just completed, even that resolve felt uncertain.

“That kid needs help…”

With the meager amount of five points, he would not be able to obtain both the bronze and iron armor summons as he had with Gwen. However, he still had some leftover points from his previous summoning, so he could at least give the child something to summon while he was not there. This situation felt far more dangerous. Teral was seemingly alone, while Gwen at least had the safety of the summoning school, where the teachers would protect her. But who would protect the boy?

“…”

“Is this what the humanoids call a conscience?”

He mumbled to himself as the cursor hovered over the options. He knew that the upgrades he selected were used by his summoners, but he was unsure whether they were truly necessary for their survival. Even though he had received only five points, he had also gained several experience talismans, along with some meant to help with enchanting gear.

His metallic hand moved slowly as he spent the coins he had received. A total of nine points were used to grant the child access to both bronze and iron armor for protection. While those suits of armor were not particularly strong, with the amount of mana Teral possessed, he should be able to summon many of them. They would be enough to protect the boy from people like the raiders, at least as long as he did not have to face them alone.

“I have lost four coins. But perhaps I can choose another mission?”

Rusty asked himself as he moved over to the mission section. After clicking it, he was brought to a grayed out screen where the two previous missions were displayed. Even when he tried clicking them, nothing happened. Instead, he felt a sudden certainty that time had run out. The summoning chamber began to shift, and he knew it was over.

His interaction with his new summoner had been brief, but he hoped the child would survive on his own until the next mission. Rusty knew that with each new mission, the probability of receiving more summoner coins increased.

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“I’m sure he’ll be fine… I wonder what Gleam will think of this!”

With everything seemingly in order and new talismans ready for use, he exited the summoning chamber. Just as he expected, his consciousness returned to his regular body, and he was back to fight another day. However, as he was pushing himself out of the hidden compartment, another scene was playing out, something that he had not foreseen.

*****

“Dead… they are all dead… everyone… everything is gone…”

Teral, the lone survivor, fell to his knees as he watched the entire village burn before his eyes. The humans who had done this all lay dead around him, but even with revenge taken, the young man wanted only his family back. His parents and little sister lay where they had fallen, their bodies growing colder as fire devoured the world around them.

Teral’s strength finally gave out. He collapsed onto the ashen ground, his fingers clawing at dirt that still radiated faint warmth from the summoning circle. The smell of smoke and blood filled his lungs, each breath a painful reminder that this was real. The metal spirit had vanished, but the nightmare had not ended. He was still here.

“They’re gone…”

He whispered, his voice barely coming out.

“I’m still here… but why?”