Something was wrong with the air today.
It tasted metallic, like licking a battery, and every instinct Nero had developed over the past month was screaming at him to turn around and run.
But instead, he was climbing into the back of a military transport truck with a group of people he barely trusted.
Because apparently, his life choices had become a series of increasingly bad decisions.
"Ready for another day of not dying?"
Nero threw his pack into the truck bed and turned to help Aurelia up.
She stared at the vehicle like it was some kind of alien spacecraft.
Which, to be fair, it probably was to someone from the celestial realm.
"This contraption is meant for transportation?"
"Yeah, it's called a truck. Four wheels, engine, goes vroom vroom."
Nero patted the side of the vehicle like it was a friendly dog.
"Much faster than walking, way less fun than flying."
Aurelia climbed in with the grace of someone who had never seen a combustion engine but was too proud to admit it.
The way she gripped the metal bench suggested she was expecting the whole thing to explode.
"Relax, these things are built like tanks. Probably safer than whatever divine chariot you're used to."
"I do not recall using chariots."
"Right, memory issues. My bad."
*VROOOOM!*
The engine roared to life, and Aurelia's knuckles went white as she gripped the bench harder.
Her poker face was intact, but Nero could see the slight tension in her shoulders.
It was kind of adorable, watching a divine warrior get nervous about a truck ride.
"So, this is everyone then?"
Jin settled across from them with the easy confidence of someone who'd done this a thousand times.
She gestured to the other team members as they climbed aboard.
"You've met Sarah, our resident pyromaniac."
"Hey, I prefer 'fire specialist.'"
Sarah gave them a cheerful wave, her black ponytail bouncing as the truck lurched into motion.
"And our two additional team members: Rebecca Torres, earth manipulation specialist."
It's the woman with the messy brown hair and calloused hands.
She nodded at them with a friendly look.
"Laura Frell, the archer of our team… a great supporter and reconnaissance."
The woman nodded with a neutral expression.
It's the younger one who looked to be in her early twenties, with alert eyes that seemed to look at everything.
The quiet, confident one who probably preferred to stay silent while observing others.
"Nice to meet you both. I've heard some wild stories about your partnership."
Rebecca's friendly gaze lingered on Aurelia with obvious curiosity.
"Wild?"
Aurelia tilted her head with obvious confusion.
"Well, for starters, that armor and those wings aren't exactly normal."
Sarah leaned forward with the enthusiasm of someone who'd found a new gossip to talk about.
"Are you some kind of enhanced human? Government experiment? Alien?"
"I am... what you might call a displaced warrior."
Aurelia's response was carefully muttered.
"My origins are not entirely clear to me due to memory loss."
"Memory loss from what?"
Laura's sharp eyes studied Aurelia like she was solving a puzzle.
"The crisis that brought us together."
Nero jumped in before the questions got too deep into dangerous territory.
"Found her half-dead during one of the early monster attacks. She'd lost most of her memories, but her combat skills were intact."
"And now she follows you around like a loyal bodyguard?"
Rebecca's tone had a very curious look.
"She's my precious partner."
Nero said it with his usual nonchalant tone, like what he was saying was an undeniable fact.
"... Soon to be something more, if I play my cards right."
"I owe Lord Nero my life."
Aurelia's golden eyes met him for a split second before looking away with a faint redness on her cheeks.
"... He saved me when I was vulnerable and gave me purpose when I had nothing. That creates... significant obligations."
"Aww, that's actually sweet."
Sarah clasped her hands together like she was watching a romantic comedy.
"You two make a cute couple."
"We aren't…"
Nero said that with a wink, which made everyone stare at him with knowing looks.
"... Right, just two people who fight together, live together, and stare at each other when they think nobody's watching."
Rebecca's deadpan reply could have cut glass.
"Totally platonic."
While Sarah nodded her head with a smirk.
Before Nero could reply to another good banter, Marcus finally decided to contribute to the conversation.
"That angel chick must be head over heels for you, huh?"
His voice cut through the friendly conversation like a rusty knife.
"You must be real good in bed if she serves you like that."
The temperature in the truck dropped about twenty degrees.
Sarah's mouth fell open in shock.
Rebecca went from friendly to murderous in record time.
Jin just shook her head like she'd expected this level of stupidity.
Meanwhile, Aurelia and Nero's faces showed nothing with regards to that comment, as if they expected such trash to come out of his mouth.
"Marcus, what the fuck is wrong with you?"
Sarah's voice was ice-cold fury wrapped in barely controlled expression.
But before anyone could properly respond to Marcus being a walking piece of shit, the truck suddenly came to an abrupt stop.
*SCREECH!*
Everyone pitched forward as the brakes slammed.
"What the hell?"
"T-There are monsters blocking the road!"
The driver's voice carried from the front cab.
"Looks like a whole pack of them!"
Marcus's face lit up with the kind of smile that belonged to serial killers and politicians.
"Finally. Time to show these amateurs how it's done."
He cracked his knuckles like he was about to start a bar fight instead of facing potentially lethal creatures.
"Everyone out! Standard formation! Nero, Aurelia, and Marcus on the front, Sarah and Rebecca on the flanks, Laura, go take the rear support and cover any gaps!"
Jin's expression shifted into tactical mode, her earlier coldness shelved for more immediate concerns.
*Thud! Thud! Thud!*
They jumped out of the truck and immediately saw the problem.
A cluster of monsters had decided to use the main road as their personal hangout spot.
Twelve Razor Hounds, wolf-like creatures with metallic fur and teeth like chainsaws.
Ten Stone Crushers, walking boulders with anger management issues.
And four massive Spike Boars that looked like they could bulldoze through a brick wall.
"C-tier and B-tier mixed group."
Laura called out, her bow already in hand.
"Standard elimination tactics should be sufficient."
"Fuck standard tactics!"
Marcus was already glowing with that orange enhancement aura, his muscles swelling like he was on supernatural steroids.
"I'm going to crush these things!"
"Marcus, hold the formation!"
Jin's command came too late.
*CRASH!*
Marcus charged straight into the monster pack like a human wrecking ball.
His enhanced fist connected with the nearest Razor Hound, and the creature exploded into chunks of meat and metal.
*SPLORCH!*
"Well, shit. There goes our tactical approach."
Jin clicked her tongue in frustration.
"Everyone, support the idiot. Don't let them surround him!"
The team moved like a well-oiled machine despite their vanguard-tank being a reckless moron charging too far.
*WHOOSH! BOOM!*
Sarah's fire magic lit up the battlefield, flames washing over the Stone Crushers in waves of superheated death.
*TWANG! THUNK!*
Laura's arrows found weak spots with surgical precision, each shot aimed at joints and eyes.
Jin danced between enemies with twin daggers, her movements fluid and deadly.
Rebecca slammed her hands into the ground, and stone spikes erupted beneath a Stone Crusher's feet.
*CRACK! CRUMBLE!*
But it was Marcus who stole the show, even if he was doing it in the stupidest way possible.
*CRACK! SMASH!*
His enhanced strength turned monster bones into powder and armor into scrap metal.
The Spike Boar charged him head-on, and Marcus met it with a punch that sounded like a sonic boom.
*BOOM!*
The creature's skull caved in like a deflated football.
'Holy fuck, he's actually good at this.'
Nero watched the carnage while staying in formation with Aurelia.
They moved together like they'd been fighting as a team for years instead of weeks.
When a Razor Hound tried to flank them, Nero's sword took its legs while Aurelia's blade found its neck.
*SLASH! SLICE!*
Perfect coordination, no wasted movement.
They covered each other's blind spots instinctively, their combat styles meshing like puzzle pieces.
"Your technique has improved quite a bit since our last night's spar."
Aurelia parried a Stone Crusher's attack and riposted with lethal precision.
"Thanks to a good teacher."
Nero grinned as he decapitated the wounded creature.
*THUD!*
The last monster hit the ground, and the battlefield went quiet except for Marcus's heavy breathing.
He stood in the middle of the carnage, covered in monster blood and grinning like a maniac.
"That's how you handle C-tier trash."
But his celebration was cut short when something massive stepped out from behind a cluster of trees.
*THOOM! THOOM! THOOM!*
Each footstep shook the ground like a small earthquake.
The Orc General was about 2.5 meters tall, pure muscle, and had a bad attitude, with tusks like ivory daggers and eyes that burned with intelligence.
Needless to say, it was an A-tier monster judging from the pressure it emitted, and it looked pissed.
Marcus's grin got even wider.
"Now we're talking."
He charged forward, red-orange fist cocked back for what would have been an epic punch.
*SLAM!*
His enhanced fist met the orc's palm, and stopped dead.
The creature hadn't even budged.
Marcus's confidence flickered for the first time as he realized he was outclassed.
But before anyone could even respond—
*FLASH!*
A silver streak passed by him faster than thought.
"Light's Wrath."
Aurelia's voice was cold as winter as her blade traced a perfect arc through the air.
*SLICE!*
The Orc General's head separated from its shoulders with surgical precision.
The massive body swayed for a moment, then crashed to the ground like a falling tree.
*THUD!*
Although it was easily dispatched due to being off-guard, it was still an A-tier monster.
You could only imagine the shock others felt when they saw that.
"..."
Everyone stared at Aurelia in stunned silence.
She'd just one-shot an A-tier monster like it was nothing.
And more surprisingly, it was followed by—
---
\[Summon: Aurelia – First Star Valkyrie (SR) Level Up!]
---
'... What?'
But before shocked Nero could even open up the status screen, Aurelia's voice broke their stunned thoughts.
"We need to move. Now."
The angel was already heading back to the truck, her expression grim.
"The noise will attract more creatures. Staying here is not advisable… They're here."
As if summoned by her words, the forest around them erupted in roars and howls.
*ROOOAAAAR!*
*HOWWWWL!*
*GRAAAAAAH!*
The sounds came from every direction, getting closer by the second.
And there were a lot of them.
Way more than the small group they'd just handled.
"Everyone in the truck, NOW!"
Jin's command got everyone moving.
*VROOM! VROOM!*
The engine roared to life as they piled in, the driver flooring it before the last person was fully aboard.
Through the back of the truck, they could see the source of the noise.
A wave of monsters was pouring out of the forest like a living tsunami.
Dozens of creatures, maybe hundreds.
And at least a quarter of them had the size and bearing of A-tier monsters.
"... What the fuck?"
Sarah's voice was barely a whisper; her face was pale.
"Why are there so many of them?"
The truck bounced and lurched as the driver pushed it to maximum speed, but behind them, the monster horde was gaining ground, running like they'd lost their reason.
This wasn't normal monster behavior.
Something was driving them forward.
Something that made even A-tier creatures look frenzied…
***
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