The honest truth is that the marksman was too slow and would have been crushed under the cart along with the others if it weren't for the demon's corpse.
The moment the redscale broke through the barrier, it started to press down on the contents of the cart with its front limbs. However, the moment it made contact with the strange metal body, it's mind was assaulted with terrible visions.
It saw from the perspective of one particular human and had no control over the actions he took. It was as if the events it witnessed had happened long ago and it was cursed to simply watch.
These... were the memories of a human.
It found itself in a world of glass towers and rancid, smog-filled air. Humans were everywhere. They filled every building like termites and flooded every street like maggots.
The visions shifted rapidly, showing countless moments from the life of this human. Most of the memories involved the lifestyle of humans, so the redscale lizardman couldn't make sense of them. The only information that translated perfectly into the mind of the beast was a shifting chain of excruciating, foreign emotions.
It was terrible.
It started with a sincere and innocent desire for the well being of others, something the redscale had never felt before. The human always made himself available to help others and often sacrificed his own well-being for everyone else. He was both compassionate and generous. As time went on, the human found himself in situations where someone needed to be seen as a villain, and this human would always take the blame and hatred that should have belonged to someone else.
Other people would oftentimes use that human to their advantage, never offering help in return. In short, the redscale felt what it was like to be used. The emotions tied to that experience had no particular name, but made the redscale feel sick.
Those first few moments were uncomfortable, but they were nothing compared to the next bit. The redscale's gut twisted in knots when the human discovered that his lover took most of his possessions and left with no explanation, never to be seen again. Confusion and recognition of betrayal welled in the human's heart, causing a palpable pain that tormented the redscale's soul.
Later, it experienced endless worry when the human's only true friend suddenly fell sick to an unknown disease. That friend was irreplaceable and invaluable. They had a brotherly bond that wouldn't break even after countless lifetimes, but the mysterious illness made that precious friend suffer a very slow and painful death. The host of the memories was there by his friend's sickbed every day, but found himself powerless to save him. In the end, that friend died, leaving the host with nothing but an overwhelming sense of emptiness.
After that friend's death, numerous others spoke to the human and said many things which the redscale couldn't understand. Human language was something that was entirely unknown to creatures such as lizardmen. However, it could feel insult and rage building up within their heart. The other humans grouped up with each other and mocked the host over the loss of his closest friend.
However, through it all, the host of the memories contained himself. The redscale was in pain. Not only because it had to experience everything the human did, but because it felt an overwhelming urge to tear apart each of the humans who grouped up against the host. The bloodlust it felt then was far worse than the effect of the guardsman's agro skill. It would give anything to sink its teeth into just one of them. However, the human held himself back.
Countless hours of foreign memories paraded through the redscale's mind. It didn't understand much of what it saw, but it felt each emotion with horrendous clarity.
Stress, dread, failure, regret, loss, abandonment- they were terrible variations of the darkest of human emotions. With each memory, the redscale was assaulted with something even more wretched than before. But through it all, the host of the memories never retaliated. Deep, deep down, the human was still determined that it needed to contain itself.
This self-containment was by far the most painful for the redscale. It was so terrible that the redscale thought it would end up suffocating to death if it continued watching this tortured soul's memories. It could feel its very soul eroding with each memory, and there was no sign of them stopping.
Bang!
The redscale suddenly felt something hot pierce the underside of its jaw and drive up into its brain, causing the head of the beast to jolt upwards in a mist of blood. Crawling, crimson electricity jolted through the beast's skull, finally returning it to the flow of time and granting it the mercy of oblivion.
The body of the beast fell, it's claw finally slipping from the metallic corpse. The dark mist which formed there quickly evaporated once contact broke.
The machine watched as the beastly reptile's body fell to the ground. He was shocked. He could feel each memory fluttering through his mind the moment they came into contact with each other and he could tell that the redscale had lived through some of his darkest moments.
It made him feel annoyed that his privacy had somehow been invaded, but he was glad the humans under the cart were okay.
The memory invasion kept the redscale distracted long enough to let the marksman reload one more time and land a kill-shot, even though the whole event lasted mere seconds.
The machine watched as the marksman rushed off to help eliminate the remaining two lizardmen. The guardsman and blade caster were doing much better as well. He had no doubt they would be just fine now.
Looking back down at the interface, the machine watched as the numbers flowed into his XP gauge, filling it to the brim over and over again.
[Unique lizardman variant defeated!]
[Contribution: 23%]
[XP + 326]
[XP: 10/10]
[Level Up!]
[GP Unlocked!]
[SP Unlocked!]
[XP: 20/20]
[Level Up!]
[XP: 40/40]
[Level Up!]
[XP: 50/50]
[Level Up!]
[XP: 60/60]
[Level Up!]
[System Shop Unlocked!]
[XP: 70/70]
[Level Up!]
[XP: 44/80]
----
[Name: -]
[Race: Haunted Machine]
[Class: -]
[Level: 6] (0 -> 6)
[XP: 44/80]
[HP: 6/20]
[MP: 10/10]
[STR: 6]
[AGI: 2]
[DEX: 5]
[INT: 9]
[GP: 12] (0 ->12)
[SP: 12] (0 -> 12)
Skills:
[Soul Corruption] (new!)
----
'Wooooahhh.'
Twenty-three percent contribution for one kill got the machine enough experience to level up six times. It must have been a very powerful creature. There were also some upgrades made to the system interface that warranted immediate investigation.
While the machine perused the system's new changes, the adventurers finished eliminating the other two lizardmen. The guardsman and blade caster were breathing heavily while the marksman seemed exhausted from overconcentration. All three of them were sweating like royal swine.
As they caught their breath, they turned towards a wall of stalagmites on the far side of the cave. A dangerously wide trail of blood led there from the place the duelist was injured. The voice of the cleric could be heard reciting healing scriptures. They felt nervous hearing so many healing scriptures being recited one after another. One recitation of a low-level healing scripture would usually be enough to make a full recovery.
Feeling a dark premonition, the three got up and followed the trail of blood. After checking on the three carriers, the mage moved to follow them as well. All of the adventurers quickly surrounded their fallen friend with worried looks.
The fat cleric was doing his best to heal his fallen ally, sweat dripping from his forehead as he began reciting another high-level healing scripture. His once-pristine white robes were now dyed red with his companion's blood as he tried to hold his wounds closed.