The Bloodwood Eagle was flying slowly on Erix's command.
"Let's find a good spot and land," Rin said as she and others observed the devastated city.
"By the way, what did you get from that treasure chest we got in the village?" Erix asked.
"Ah, I put it in my inventory instead of opening it," Rin said as she stuck out her tongue with a smile and took out the treasure chest.
[ Treasure Chest (Uncommon Grade) ]
"Nice. Let's open it," Erix nodded.
"Wait. Sis Isabella, you open it. Let's see your luck," Rin said as she presented the palm-sized treasure chest to Isabella.
"Are you sure?" Isabella asked as she felt that this thing was fairly important.
"Yep. Just open it. If it has a weapon, then you should use it to fight and level up," Erix said with a nod.
"Yes. That's a good idea," Rin said, agreeing with Erix as she smiled.
"Alright," Isabella said as she touched the treasure chest and pressed on the lock.
The treasure chest shined before opening and spewed out two small orbs.
One orb was white colored, with a tiny chime bell in it.
The other orb was a cyan-colored orb, and in it was a wooden branch that looked like a magic wand with a tiny black crystal at its end.
Rin touched the white orb as it shined a bit before a chime bell appeared in her hand.
[ Wild Caller Chime (uncommon-grade): Ringing this chime will attract creatures below level 50 to you. Radius: 2 kilometers ]
"Hmmm, we can use this later," Erix said as he took the chime and put it in his inventory. "If we use it now while we are still not even level 20, we'll die in no time."
"Yep," Rin said with a nod before she touched the cya-colored orb.
The orb shined briefly before a magic wand appeared in her hand.
[ Black Wind Wand (Uncommon-grade) ]
-Magic: +30
-Mana points: +100
-Wind attributed Attacks deal an additional 30 wind damage.
"This is nice, alright. Sis Isabella, you take it," Rin said as she handed over the wand to Isabella.
"But I don't even have any attacking skills yet," Isabella said with a wry smile.
"Don't worry, you will get one soon," Erix said.
Afterward, all of them continued looking below.
Three minutes later, they saw a massive mansion of some wealthy family and even some people alive with barricaded fences further blocked by cars and other things.
In the front garden of that mansion, there was a big fountain, and ten people stood there with guns in their hands.
Aside from them was a muscular middle-aged man with a katana in his hand.
There was also a woman wearing a crimson dress as she held a gun in her hand. Unlike the normal guns in those ten people's hands, she had a handgun with blue and red patterns. It looked magical.
When Erix, Rin, and others flew over them, they also saw them and were surprised.
"Hey!!"
The middle-aged man shouted as he waved his right hand toward them.
"Should we land there?" Rin asked with doubt.
"Nah. Let me go down first," Erix said as he took out his hammer. "I also want to try out a new thing."
"What new thing?"
"Flying," Erix grinned with an exciting glint in his eyes as he dropped his hammer down before he also jumped off!
The people below were startled seeing that, and Rin and Isabella also exclaimed in shock at the sudden unexpected move by Erix.
However, they were even more shocked when Erix manipulated his hammer as it flew below him before Erix straightened his body and put his feet on the hammer's head as he started flying!
Since he could control the hammer with his Metal Control, he kept controlling it while standing on it to fly!
Since the control range was 10 meters and the hammer was always 10 meters within him, he could literally fly!
'Control…'
Erix finally stabilized his feet on the hammer's handle and flew smoothly.
'I did it.'
Suddenly, he felt something in his head.
[ You can evolve Metal Control to a Tier-2 skill Metal Manipulation after completing some tasks ]
[ Kill Mortal-order enemies: 0/100 ]
[ Kill Supra-Order enemies. 0/10 ]
[ Mortal-Order skill stones: 0/10 ]
[ Supra-Order Skill Stone: 0/1]
"Skill stone?" Erix muttered, and following that, he saw another window panel with details along with a monotone voice.
[Skill Stones are drops you get from killing enemies above level 50. Mortal-Order skill stones and Supra-order skill stones are dropped only from enemies above level 50.]
'Oh…'
Erix put all that aside for now and controlled his hammer to descend on the ground while controlling it.
He was flying slowly since he hadn't mastered this flying method. But he planned to find a better flying medium later and master flying via his metal control skill.
A few seconds later, he landed before the middle-aged man, whom Erix assumed was the leader.
"What's up?" Erix asked.
"As you can see, we are in a pinch. Zombies are constantly pushing in, and it won't be long before they break through our defense here," the middle-aged man said with a loud laugh.
"If you can help us, we won't forget this favor," said the beautiful woman standing beside the middle-aged man.
Erix thought for a moment as he looked at the middle-aged man and his wife. They looked wealthy and influential and should have contacted the military for rescue before the internet and electricity disappeared because of that mysterious bright light.
"Did you contact for help from somewhere else?" Erix asked.
The middle-aged man nodded.
"Yeah, we did. We contacted the military multiple times, and they also said that they would send people to rescue, but all electric devices are not working anymore, probably because of that bright light, so we can't contact them anymore."
'I guess that group formed by military and civilians with power planned to come here,' Erix thought. 'Probably some big shot in the military would order them a route to here, so they can rescue them.'
A plan formed in his head that involved future benefits if it succeeded.
'I can also put down that bastard before leaving this city.'
"Alright, let's go," Erix said with a grin behind his mask. "We'll go to the military base on foot. Killing everything on our way."
"B-But, can't you make some rounds on that big flying mutated eagle?" the woman asked with a wry smile as her eyes slightly twitched.
"No," Erix shook his head, lying with a straight face. "That Eagle doesn't let anyone sit on it except us four. If you want to die, I can let you ride on it. What do you think?"
"Uh…"
"Haha, it's fine. I can feel that you are powerful, and I also have skills and weapons. I agree that we should go on foot to kill zombies and mutated creatures, so we can also get stronger," the middle-aged man said with a wide grin.
"You can call me Toshin, and this is my wife, Lena."
"Alright. So, are there only twelve of you or more inside the mansion?"
"My son and daughter are inside the mansion. They are at level 10, slightly below us. I'll call them here," Toshin said before he walked towards the mansion behind the fountain.
Erix waved his hand in the sky and commanded the Eagle to fly down.
"Will it be safe to be with them?" Isabella asked as the Eagle flew down.
"It's fine. Erix must have a reason for doing this," Rin said with a smile.
After they landed, Erix used the Iron Flower skill to cover the Bloodwood Eagle into a flower barrier.
"Aaron will be safe on the eagle," Erix said as he commanded the Eagle to fly and follow them while flying above them in the sky.
*Whistle…*
The Eagle nodded before flying up, making circles around them thirty meters off the ground.