[Congratulations, you have awakened your Blacksmith System.]
Rashin stared at the system notification.
'What?'
[You have gained the White Cells Aura.]
[You have gained the Blacksmith skill.]
[You have gained the Appraisal skill.]
[Notice: You have three starter blueprints.]
[Would you like to proceed with system synchronization?!]
He watched as the options played before him.
The feeling was familiar, like a missing part of him that had been gone for a long time.
Not a single second of doubt as he spoke...
"If it means killing these monsters, then I'll take any power presented to me!"
[Welcome. You are now a Carrier.]
As the system announced, Rashin began to feel a huge boost of energy bursting out of his body.
He was prepared to battle.
(Present time.)
Now standing before the Hakia, he gripped his dagger tightly, the blue energy dancing around his body.
"Ra...shin?" Eri, still on the ground, called out with the little strength she had.
"Are you alright?" Rashin asked, but not once did he take his eyes off the Hakia.
Eri allowed the yellow light leaking from her staff to heal her before kneeling.
"I think I am... What about you? We need to leave before we—"
Her words choked in her throat when she noticed the Hakia was bleeding, and it didn't seem like it was healing.
Just then, Rashin spoke out loud...
"I don't intend to leave this place until I have killed that thing. That doesn't mean I want you here. Run away from this place. I can't protect and fight at the same time."
Eri, still trying to process the fact that a Hakia had an injury, struggled to keep up with Rashin's words.
Before she could even say a word, the Hakia began...
"No! No! No! How can this be happening?! It's actually hurting me? Why won't I heal? Damn it! What's happening?"
The Hakia panicked.
It wasn't just that.
'Is it... feeling fear?' Eri was more than shocked to witness the scene before her.
"Damn you, human! Just what kind of power did you strike me with?!" the Hakia yelled, his eyes already taking a different shape.
He grew a long tail behind him, with gigantic wings springing out from his back. Sharp teeth and spikes grew from underneath his skin.
The man who once looked human now bore the qualities of a monster.
Rashin spun the blade in his hand. "Priestess, if you wish to stay, I won't change your mind, but don't get in my way."
"You don't mean..."
Eri couldn't believe Rashin would think of attacking a Fallen.
Rashin? The same man who had no blessing of authority?
"Tsk! Forget taking your body! You're too dangerous to be kept alive! And so, I'll kill you right here! Right now!"
The Hakia stretched his hand forward, deconstructing his skin into a long blade.
Rashin took a deep breath. "I'm 100% ready," he said to himself.
After staring at each other for a while, they both clashed against one another with amazing speed.
While Rashin received just a scratch on his arm, the Hakia found yet another dark streak growing at the side of his stomach.
"Damn you!!!"
He came back, sending a powerful arm strike.
Rashin was more than ready to counter.
He boosted forward, his knee now resting on the shoulder of the Hakia.
"Die," he said calmly before shoving his finger into the Hakia's eye socket and then filling it up with the blue aura around him.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
The Hakia screamed in pain, green blood dripping down his cheeks like tears.
As the Hakia fell onto his back, Rashin was there, spinning the dagger again before stabbing the Hakia in the chest.
A loud scream for help left the mouth of the Hakia and then...
Crack!
Rashin used his hands to break the Hakia's neck.
Eri watched, jaw dropped, as she noticed the Hakia's skin turned solid, as if he had been frozen in ice for a long time.
'Did he just... go one-on-one with a Hakia?' Eri could barely believe her eyes, even though she had watched it happen.
The fight was completely one-sided. The Hakia barely put up any resistance.
'When heroes fight the Hakia, they buy enough time for the rift to collapse and suck the monsters back into their prison. In all my life as a priestess, this is the first time I've heard of someone damaging a Fallen, not to speak of killing one.'
Eri observed as Rashin was tilting the Hakia's chin to confirm if he was truly dead.
'Just like you were in the past... Rashin Montero.'
Meanwhile, the system notification appeared before Rashin.
[You have killed a Fallen One.]
[Reward: A Long Bronze Spear blueprint.]
[You have gained one Soul Stone.]
[You currently have 3 slots for fully evolved souls.]
Thinking the notifications were over, Rashin was surprised when more began to show up.
[You have gained the skill: Dagger Expert.]
[You have gained the skill: Speed Blitz.]
[You have gained the skill: Dodge.]
'Ah... that's so many things.'
He stood up, turning his gaze from the notifications to the dead Hakia that lay in front of him.
'I didn't want to question it at first, but somehow I was able to kill this Hakia. Even in my time, I was never able to do that.'
He stared at his palm.
'This aura around me... Could this be what is harming them? If it is, then that means I have the power to kill these monsters. The Hakias can be killed, and I alone wield this power.'
He thought to himself.
"Rashin..." Eri, who had already stood up from where she knelt and was now walking towards Rashin, called out.
Rashin looked at her.
"Priestess, you still stayed."
"Of course, I stayed! Why on earth would you think I would run away without you?! I already told you, I can't survive alone!"
She stormed towards him.
"You should value your life above all else."
"I don't need your sassy lectures."
Eri stood in front of the dead Hakia, and her eyes were definitely not deceiving her.
The Hakia was dead.
"Rashin..."
"..."
"What are you?"