[Hell Rain has successfully integrated with you.]
Benign nodded. He'd be testing it out immediately. The skill had to do with hell, but since he got it so easily, he doubted it'd be as terrorising as the fire of hell. It might quite literally mean raining fire.
He spread out his hands to his sides. To commemorate the first use of these fantasy skills he was bestowed, he'd take the honour of burying fallen soldiers.
"I've to measure the target area and calculate possible impact…" His eyes scanned the area where the majority of the bodies lay.
It'd be like bombing a field of corpses, and while it'd be absurd in his world, it seemed to work for this one. Mentally activating the skill, he gestured a parting of the clouds.
A bright ray of sun pierced through the clouds, and more rays made patches in the skies.
Their intensity increased, and under the rays formed massive, scorching balls of heat that stayed above the ground, then descended.
[Hell Rain… Commencing… Level One… 20%]
[Mission Alert!]
[Seek shelter.]
"Seek—" Benign didn't complete his words before he started a sprint away from the bodies. The sun rays parted more parts of the sky, far more than he had bargained for.
"Did I make a miscalculation? It should've only barraged the area I wanted it to."
[Hell Rain… Commencing… Level One… 60%]
[Seek shelter. Threat to host.]
Benign kept up his sprint, the sea of bodies slowly becoming the size of a lake behind him. "How far should I go?"
But he could guess that the only place to save him from his own undoing was where the sun rays didn't part the sky.
He paused, breathing heavily. He had run harder than during the lizard-man chase, because it'd truly be shameless to die by his own hand. He resumed the sprint.
"How could such a formidable skill come so easily?"
The sea of bodies was merely a puddle now, and more than a mile away, the sun rays had stopped parting the skies. "I should be good. Commence properly."
[Hell Rain… Commencing… Level One… 80%]
[Hell Rain… Commencing… Level One… 90%]
[Commenced.]
BOOM!
THUD!!
BOOM! BOOM!
THUD!!
Deafening. Resonating.
Benign watched from the distance as balls of fire, the size of a fist, made juddering impacts on the pitiful ground. He could still feel the vibrations from where he stood.
The fire rapidly consumed the corpses and the surface they touched. An intensity that made flesh peel without contact.
This wasn't a peaceful funeral. It was a grandeur.
"HAHAHAHA!" Laughter tore from Benign's throat amidst the rhythmical crashes. These soldiers must be pleased to have such a send-off, even if their deaths were bleak. "No need to thank me-" he coughed mid-laughter and cleared his throat, looking at the sky.
For a while, he remembered the last seconds of his life before he died, surrounded by machine guns firing and two nations dishing out bombs. His friends yelling his name as strength left his body. Compared to these soldiers, he had died alone.
After everything, he felt exhausted but not to death. The balls cooled into rocks of lava, making the area resemble a river of igneous stone. He watched the skies close.
"This is not a skill I can use in one-on-one combat at all." He folded his arms and shook his head. "It even threatened to kill me. How can I get more skills with different ranges?"
[Complete missions. Missions pop up when there's a threat to your life. Or to find the core.]
"Only?"
[They also pop up when there's an ally you need to acquire. Or to move your mission forward. I'd arrange a window for you when you've accumulated two more skills.]
Benign dabbed his shirt with his gloved hands. He had sweated a ton within the last ten minutes. "When can I select the skill I want?"
[You are given the skills available.]
He paused, tilting his head. Available? Who else used the skills if not him? He sighed. That wasn't a good thing. He couldn't find the words to ask what he'd require to attain skills. There really shouldn't be something like that.
"This has been bothering me." He changed the topic, continuing away from the ruin of Hell Rain. "Could you sound more human? Maybe change your voice settings to something more familiar."
[Like your comrade Kendrick's?]
Why that one? Did he seem attached to him, or was it because he mentioned him that one time? "No. Something else. I want to forgo the past."
[Voice settings changed.]
The soldier shrugged. The robot now sounded like a man in his thirties. Easily someone he'd take advice from.
"You can speak informally too. You are the first member of my unit. Do you have a name?"
[It is LEG 101.]
"Right. But I can call you…?"
[LEG 101.]
"Well then, Lego, it is. Don't sound so serious."
[...]
Benign cracked his knuckles. He needed to find a village—or someone sane—in this desert to rest, gather food, and obtain more information.
He was also inexplicably hungry after all that running, and the exhaustion made it harder to stand. Heat mirages almost got to him.
"To the land of the notorious elves, it is."
[You are already in their land.]
"Then to meet a notorious elf, it is."
The desert was simple to navigate;no harsh winds, sinking sands, or anything outrageous like the deserts of his world. Within hours, he'd walked a good distance toward a possible sanctuary. He could tell… or hope.
By dusk, he finally sighted a small shack, and by its side stood the figure of a lady, gallant at the entrance. He stared at her for a long time as his eyes slowly processed the sight.
"It is an elf, right?"
[Obviously.]
Benign rolled his tired eyes. The machine didn't gain human conscience despite sounding more human.
He squinted at the elf now facing him, holding her steel rod tightly.
She didn't look like a warrior. Her skin was pale, her hands bore no scars from battle. Her simple clothes were certainly no armour—just a short dress humans would wear to a club.
She was tall for an average human girl, her hair a colourful mix of blonde with pink streaks.
He strolled toward her with his last streaks of confidence and hope entangled together.
"She's kinda pretty," he muttered after closer observation. Her ears were pointy as expected, but her eyes were deep purple, giving her an otherworldly look. He was out of his world anyway.
He kept his weapons behind him to avoid scaring her or appearing threatening. "I come in peace, young elf," Benign said as he raised his arms and approached. "I am but a humble wanderer looking for a place to rest."
He expected confusion to flash in her eyes. But anger flared instead, her lips turning down in disgust. He arched his brows, confused.
"Your clothes are funny, Mr. Wanderer," she mocked. "And no, this isn't a place that can be a sanctuary for beggars."
Benign dropped his arms, processing her words. He could understand her thanks to his skills, but why did those harsh words have to be the first he'd understand? And what was her deal?
"I said leave, or I'll kill you," she continued, gesturing in a shooing motion.
Elves weren't unfriendly in those novels, and even Noria was the least friendly.
Still, this felt excessive. Benign reached for the gun behind him.
"Care to say that again?"