I don't know what's going on, but clearly, it's not going to be pretty.

"Alex, what did you do?!" Faith yelled out from behind me.

I turned around and responded, "I don't know! I just asked for help, and they started screaming!"

"Guys, we have company!" Nickoli yelled, turning his yellow tankette around to face the five armored people heading straight toward us.

"Shit! We gotta bail! Nickoli, do you think your tankette is faster than their run?" I frantically asked him.

"I doubt it. This thing moves at most at a jog," he explained.

"Fuck it, guess it's time to fight," I quickly said, turning around to face the armored people approaching.

"I guess we have no choice," Faith said while getting off the tankette.

"You sure you can fight?" I asked her with doubt.

"I mean, if I can beat you in a fight, then that's more than enough," she remarked arrogantly while taking the blade off her back again.

"Shut it, I can take care of the two on the right, you guys take care of those three on the left. Got that?" I said, pointing at each of the guards respectively.

"Alright!"

"If we have no other choice…"

I took out my pistol from its holster and aimed it at the closest of the two approaching me. I could see one more also changing direction toward me but was cut off by a tank shell exploding near him, causing him to run back toward Nickoli and Faith.

I looked down the sights and fired, but the person was able to quickly dodge to the side and avoid it.

"More resilient than I thought," I said annoyedly while firing multiple more rounds at him.

He was able to dodge most of them, and the few that did hit him seemed to have no effect on his armor. Before I fully realized it, his partner was able to get close to me in my tunnel vision.

"Shit!" I yelped out while dodging backward from what I assumed was a sword.

The person did not relent and continued to swing at me, not giving me any options other than to keep moving backward in a panic. The original guy that I was shooting at finally got close enough to begin swinging as well. He also seemed to have a sword, though it was closer to a long blade if anything.

I was able to move back enough to finally get a few proper shots in again. I fired a volley at the guy with the long blade. Like before, the bullets seemed to have no effect as they hit him. Do the bullets not pierce him? Though since this world seems to be game-like, the gun I'm using may just be shooting energy or magic that resembles it. Hell if I know.

The two continued their flurry of attacks, with seemingly more vigor than before. I was moving backward and dodging more rapidly now. I may have a lot of endurance, but I can't keep this up forever! In my panic, while dodging, I misstepped on a crack in the road and lost my balance for a moment.

"I have you now!" The person with the long blade yelled out as he took a step forward and swung horizontally, aiming at my chest.

I was able to use my other foot to propel my body backward suddenly, though it wasn't fast enough for me to fully dodge it. I could see the tip of the blade ever so slightly slice, or rather, cut my chest.

Fuck, at this rate, I don't think I'll be able to survive. Hopefully, the other two are having better luck so they can help me out.

I quickly snapped my head to where the other two were, hoping they were heading my way to help me. Instead, I saw Faith bleeding from her other arm, much more than her original bleeding from her right arm. Nickoli seemed to be struggling to free himself from being strangled by one of the armored people.

"Your friends are not going to help you, little one!" I heard the person with the long blade yell out while raising his sword.

I guess there was only one logical move if we didn't want to die…

"WE SURRENDER!" I yelled out while raising both my hands.

"What?" the person said, confused, lowering his blade.

"I said we surrender," I repeated, looking straight at the person with the long blade.

Actually, what the hell, the person isn't even a man. I guess I didn't realize in the heat of the moment, but they look like a bull if anything. I thought the horns protruding from the armor were decoration or something. Guess they weren't. This world gets weirder by the second.

"You think surrendering will make you survive, you-" the Bullman said, raising his blade again.

"Tibus, you know the captain's orders," the other swordsman said, placing a hand on Tibus's shoulder.

"Listen, you know how much I hate the captain for the dumb policies he implements, but he should at least understand us killing these vermin who are intruding in this town," the Bullman rebutted.

"Still, though, I dislike him almost as much as you do, but I don't want to be reassigned for disobedience. After all, you don't want to end up patrolling those border villages, do you?"

I could hear Tibus mutter something under his breath before lowering his sword.

"STAND DOWN! THEY SURRENDER!" the swordsman barked at the other three people attacking Faith and Nickoli.

The person strangling the now almost pale-faced Nickoli released him and stepped back. The two others with weapons drawn near Faith also backed away. Faith looked over and gave me a confused look. Nickoli was still gasping for his breath while on the ground.

"I was half expecting you guys to still kill me, to be completely honest," I said with an exasperated sigh.

"We normally would, but you're lucky considering the situation we're in," the Sword person said as he sheathed his sword.

"What's the situation?" I asked, now intrigued.

"Well, you see, a report came in from—"

"I think that's enough chit-chat. Just throw those three in a cell until we decide what to do with them," Tibus muttered annoyingly.

"Right, hand in your weapons. Now," he said, motioning with his hands.

I handed him my gun. However, as soon as I tried to let go, it remained attached to my hand.

"Hey, did you not listen? Turn in your weapons!" he barked more aggressively now.

"I don't think I can. This weapon is somehow attached to my body," I said haphazardly.

I demonstrated by throwing the weapon a distance away, but in midair, it disappeared and reappeared in my mouth.

"Don't tell me you're using magic to try to deceive me?!"

"No, no, I swear. We don't even know how to use magic or what it is!" I responded in a panic.

"They don't seem like magic users. Even then, when would someone who uses these weapons use magic anyway?" the sword-man chimed in.

There was a moment of silence as Tibus stood there thinking.

"Whatever. We'll decide what to do later. We already know how weak you guys are, so even with those weapons, I doubt you'll be able to do anything," Tibus remarked, before pointing at the sword-man. "Follow him to the holding cell. Try anything funny, and we won't accept a surrender."

"Same thing applies to them 2, don't worry we already tried," I said with a sigh.

The sword-man motioned for us to follow him. He was accompanied by two others who were fighting Faith and Nickoli. We were told to be in between them, with the sword-man leading and the other two at the back. We complied, surprisingly with no response from Faith or Nickoli. However, I could tell from the looks they were giving me how upset they were.

We were led through the old, medieval-looking town. The cobbled road and the small wooden and stone houses reminded me of what I had seen in museums about this period. We saw a lot of passersby, all of them resembling animals.

Mostly farm animals, from what I could tell. Sheep, pigs, cows. I wondered if there were wolf-men too. Although that question kind of answered itself, considering I saw the sword-man escorting me to the side, seemingly having a wolf-like tail.

There were lots of shops as well, selling what looked like produce and fruits. I could also see some larger shops with a large sword drawing near the top, which I assumed was the weapons shop.

It was still bustling, especially as sundown approached. There was even what looked like a medical shop. I doubted the guards would let us take a small detour though.

While I could overhear some conversations about farm work, family, and the three people passing through town, most villagers seemed to avoid contact or mentioning us as they cleared a path for us to walk through. Something I did not understand was how we were unable to read the wording on the signs, yet we could understand their language. Weird.

We continued walking away from the shopping area, now heading towards a more secluded part of the village. The quality of the road we were taking changed from cobblestone to just dirt. We pressed on until I spotted what appeared to be a tower in the distance.

Eventually, we arrived at a large stone tower. A massive metal fence surrounded it, which the man escorting me opened with a key. We were led inside the imposing building, which looked just as desolate on the inside as it did on the outside.

The place seemed run down, with cracks in the walls and water dripping from the ceiling. I didn't have much time to dwell on it as we were taken deeper into the tower. Eventually, we reached a small cell with a wooden door reinforced with iron or some other type of metal. Fortunately, it seemed spacious enough for Nickoli's tankette to fit.

The sword man motioned for us to enter, and we went in one by one. There was only a single bed or rather a pile of grasses laid across a concrete slab. In the corner, there was a bucket filled with some disgusting-looking liquid. The door had a small window with metal bars, and there was another window in the wall.

The sight of a large green mass in the corner of the room made me feel disgusted. Strangely, the cell didn't have a bad smell, but I wasn't sure if it was because it had no smell or if my sense of smell had instantly dulled.

"We don't have multiple cells, considering this is a pretty secluded village. Don't try anything, or we'll be forced to kill you. Got that?" he said angrily as he slammed the door shut. I could hear the sound of their footsteps walking away outside.

There was a brief moment of silence as we all stared at each other.

"So, I would like to sa—" I began, but was interrupted.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" Faith yelled in my face, grabbing me by the collar and shaking me back and forth.

I suppose the adrenaline was nullifying any pain from her bleeding arms.

"Listen, how was I supposed to know these guys weren't friendly?" I yelled back in response.

She seemed to ignore me and continued shaking me uncontrollably. My head was starting to ache, and it felt like the headache was growing by the second in this world.

"Still, surrender? That's the worst thing we could have done. We should have run away!" she screamed in my face.

"SHUT UP IN THERE BEFORE I SHUT YOU UP MYSELF!"

We all fell silent for a few moments before continuing our conversation more quietly.

"If you ran away, you would have left me behind, considering I can't move much faster than this thing," Nickoli remarked, pointing at his tankette attached to him.

"Listen, we didn't have many options. It was either leave Nickoli behind or fight. I took my chance with fighting. It's not my fault my attacks were ineffective against them. I'm still not even sure if they were that strong or if we're just that weak, to begin with," I explained.

I could hear Faith grumble something under her breath before going to sit on the "bed" and tending to her wounds. I assumed that her initial injury from the Ilumi had started bleeding more, given the red spot on her dark cloak.

"You sure you're alright? You've lost a good amount of blood," I asked her worriedly.

"I'm alright. I've been through worse, though I will admit I'm a little light-headed, but nothing I can't handle," she responded while lifting part of her cloak to show the injury.

"Do you need any help tending your wounds?" Nickoli asked her.

"Yeah, sure, come over here and help me," she said as she motioned for him to come closer.

Well, whatever, we really need to think of a plan to escape. That Tibus guy really wants us dead, though luckily the captain or whoever they mentioned saved us indirectly. Not sure about the whole situation he mentioned with the higher-ups, but that's unimportant for now, at least.

I'm also surprised at how lightly I'm taking the fact that all the people here seem to resemble animals of some sort. I expected Nickoli to react at least, but nope, not a peep from him, surprisingly.

Okay, enough of letting my mind wander. We really have to think of something. While I think theoretically we can just destroy the door with Nickoli's tankette cannon, that would mean the guard would just attack us, so that won't work. Speaking of which, shouldn't that have done something to hurt the guards?

"Hey Nickoli, was your cannon not enough to hurt the guards?"

"No, all it did was just slow them down for a second. After they got close, there wasn't much I could do to stop them," he responded while trying to haphazardly bandage Faith.

"I assume it was the same story for you too, Faith, right?"

She nodded her head slowly, confirming my suspicions.

"I see. This really does not answer the question of whether we were too weak or they were too strong. Anything you guys noticed that might indicate which?" I asked them.

"Not really, though one did not really fight us per se. He observed more. Not sure if he was just scared to or if he just didn't want to bother," Nickoli inquired.

"Interesting... What about you, Faith?"

"Same as Nickoli. One dude seemed fishy, but other than that, we just got beat," she said with a sigh.

It seemed she was bandaged up now as the bleeding seemed to have mostly stopped.

Wait a minute, I just realized we're heroes. I probably should have mentioned that first thing. Maybe then they would have received us differently. I mean, our purpose is to save the world, so there is no reason for the guards to hold us here.

I walked up to the door and banged on it.

"Hey, let us out! We are the heroes!"

"Heroes? Ha! Don't make bigger fools out of yourselves. The heroes are nowhere near us currently. They are probably in some castle having a feast," I assumed a guard responded, with a tone of amusement.

"But we are! I'm the Ranged Weapons hero, and the other two are the Plane and Tank heroes!" I responded.

"You guys are not heroes. If you were, you would have probably leveled this whole town, and I know for sure the mythic heroes don't use those weapons you have," the guard continued as he chuckled to himself.

Mythic Heroes, are there more heroes than us? Are there just multiple classes of heroes or something? I'm getting more confused by the second, though I guess pushing the issue won't really get me answers.

"Well, I'm out of ideas. We have no choice but to stay here for now, I guess," I said with a defeated sigh as I sat on the hard rocky floor.

The other two seemed in the same boat as they also got comfortable sitting down on the bed. I would sit with them, though it was just large enough for the two of them. It was more of a large seat if I'm being completely honest.

Still, though, this is dumb. Summoned or more like kidnapped to another world as a hero. I expected to be welcomed and praised, but no. Instead, we are locked in an old-looking, run-down jail, waiting for who knows what.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the outside door creaking open. I heard a few footsteps entering inside. I assumed another guard started talking to the one guarding our cell.

"Me, Jark, and Leo are going to Klut Town to give the report on what happened today. We won't be back for two days, so be sure to stay on alert. We also told Eal already, so no need for you to—"

"Got it, take care now."

"Don't worry, if anything, you should. We don't want those prisoners to escape, now do we?"

"Don't worry about it. These idiots can't do anything, to begin with. One of them shot me with a small rifle earlier, only for it to do nothing!"

"I see. Well, be sure to just keep an eye out. I and the others are heading out now. Bye."

I heard a few footsteps again, then a door creaking open and then close.

Now, thinking about it, I only saw five guards show up whenever we were being attacked. More should have definitely appeared, unless there are only five, well, six counting the captain that they supposedly had. If they are sending out three to a nearby town, then that only leaves three guards for this village.

Then again, this village is pretty small, so I guess three is enough to guard the perimeter, though it's two now due to one being here with us. Whatever, though, I just know we have two days to think of an escape before, I assume, the three guards that left will bring someone to deal with us.

That does beg the question of where we would even run to. We could run back to the hourglass, though we would need to run through the forest and also make sure we are not being chased by the guards. Though judging from their run speed earlier when they were approaching us, they seem to run around average or even below average.

Still, no point in underestimating. They might have a trick up their sleeve or they might have even been holding back. I mean, I won't be surprised considering they were fighting like they knew what they were doing.

No point in overthinking it, I suppose. The sun is about to set, due to the light of the sky dimming now. I can probably catch a small nap. It never hurts to get some energy back.

"Hey Faith, Nickoli, I'll be taking a quick nap. Wake me up if anything happens, alright?"

"Sure, I'll be sure to wake you, don't worry," Nickoli responded reassuringly.

I can think of more stuff later; my head still hurts, and the cut on my chest still aches. Though it seems to be nothing major, as barely any blood is coming out. Now to just close my eyes and try to drift off to sleep…

…

I woke suddenly to the ground shaking a little. I looked around in panic, the sunlight that came through the window was now gone, with the cell almost pitch black. I noticed Faith and Nickoli both sound asleep on the bed, sitting upright. Great to know they were ready to wake me at a moment's notice.

I decided to check the wave timer at the top to get a rough idea of how much time has passed.

[Willowing Fields - 24:15:42:27]

"I guess I overslept my nap by over a few hours," I chuckled to myself.

I heard mumbling outside the door, which sounded like the same guard from before.

"Hey, what the hell is going on?" I asked, a bit panicked.

"Like hell, if I know, I'm just as confused as you are!" he exclaimed back.

His outburst seemed to wake up the other two, as I could hear movement behind me.

"What's happening...?" I heard Nickoli ask in a groggy voice.

"Not sure, Mr. Guard here doesn't know either," I responded while pointing back to the door.

Faith looked like she was about to say something, but she was cut off by a loud hiss from a distance away.

"What the hell was that!?" Faith yelled out in a panic.

"Don't tell me... There is no way one of those vipers is here," I heard the guard stammer out.

"What is here?" I asked in a panic.

"Ore Vipers. There are multiple kinds, but usually, they appear in large groups. However, on rare occasions, they can grow larger."

"How large?" Nickoli asked, worriedly.

"Multiple buildings high at the maximum extent, I'm pretty sure, and that hiss can only be from a large one. I don't know why one is even over here since they usually reside around mountains," he stammered out in a panic.

"I wonder what could have made it move over here..." Faith said to herself.

I could hear the clatter of movement as I assumed the guard was getting his things ready for battle.

"Are you really going out to fight that thing? If it's multiple buildings high, I don't think you three dudes will be enough to stop it."

"Still, I have a job to protect people. Even if I can buy time for reinforcements to arrive, then I'll do it."

Wait a minute. I can use this to my advantage…

"Hey listen, you should let us out,"

"What?" Both Faith and Nickoli along with the Guard all responded.
"Listen, while we may be weak we can also help. We are heroes whether you want to believe it or not. While we may not be able to dish out damage we can just act as damage sponges if needed," I continued to explain.

The guard finally came into view, as he was sitting around the corner. Judging from his features he also seemed to be a wolfman, a werewolf? I don't know. Anyways he seemed different than Tibus from before, he looked younger almost, not sure how to describe it.

It seemed my reasoning seems to have caught his attention, time to continue.

"Listen how about this, we will help you in your battle, as long as we get the medical help we initially asked for afterward. How about that?"

I have to make it seem like a deal since he would probably be suspicious if prisoners offered to help with nothing in return. So making it seem like both parties gain something makes it seem like we have genuine intentions. Though in reality, I'm just going to use this opportunity to escape.

There was a brief moment of silence what I assumed was him thinking of what to do. I mean putting myself in his shoes, if he got caught by the higher-ups doing this he would most likely get in big trouble. Though hopefully, his sense of justice and protecting others will overcome it.

"Fine, ill unlock the door for you. You should already know the direction of the village as it's right here nearby. I trust you will come to help," he said as he unlocked the door and then ran off quickly out of the building.

All three of us quickly opened the door and got out of the building as well. I looked into the town to see a few smoke pillars coming out of the east side of it.

"Alright let us get out of here!" Faith exclaimed.

"Wait, we are not going to help them?" Nickoli chimed in confused.

"What do you mean? Alex did this so we could get the opportunity to escape," Faith responded confused as well.

"But what about the people? The villagers? The Guards?"

"They can die for all I care, they locked us up, to begin with," Faith said nonchalantly.

"But we are heroes! We should be held to a higher standard!" Nickoli exclaimed now a bit angry.

Faith furrowed her brow then responded, "I don't care if we are heroes, we come first. We help them then what? We get put back in jail, we may not get another opportunity to escape!"
"But still… There are innocent people that did nothing wrong, that viper or whatever will just kill them!"

"Not my problem," Faith said emotionless.

"Well, I'm staying to help!"

"Fine by me"

Shit, both of them bring up good points. While I do hate these people now, I also can't bear to watch innocents die. But if we help, we run the risk of being captured again and imprisoned. This moral dilemma is not fun.

Plus, we might not even be able to do anything against this viper. It could be like the fight with the guards, and we'll just get our asses handed to us. However, this time, I don't think we can just surrender.

But I need to think of something. We need to stick together, and I'm 100% sure Nickoli will probably die if he goes on his own. And Faith can barely fight with her arms still injured, so if she goes by herself back to the hourglass, she'll probably get further injured or die.

"Okay, how about this? Let's compromise. We'll go help the guards fight the viper or whatever. But if they try to capture us again or if the battle seems to be turning against us, we're running. Does that work for both of you?" I asked them both.

If they don't agree to this, then I'm not sure what we can do instead, other than go our separate ways. And as stated before, that will end pretty badly.

"Fine," they both responded at the same time.

I swear these guys act like kids half the time.

"That settles it. Once we defeat it, we're leaving. Let's get down to business. Hey Nickoli, Faith and I will run ahead to the battle. Just retrace the path we took and follow the smoke to us, okay?" I told Nickoli in a hurry.

"Got it," he responded.

Faith and I began to run back to the village. It only took a few seconds to reach, unlike before when we were walking. We arrived at the shopping area only to see people panicking and running away from the apparent danger. Most ignored us as we ran through, unlike earlier today.

We took a right turn from where our initial encounter was with the guards, which I assumed was the village center. Down the street, we saw it—a massive viper, but not as large as what the guard before had said. It had rocky skin and seemed to be only around one story high. Though considering how much it had already destroyed, I didn't doubt its strength.

I also saw the guard from before standing behind two others. One was wearing slightly different armor, with a golden hint on its shoulder. I ran up behind them, and they were slowly backing up as the viper approached.

"We have arrived," I announced.

"Great! I doubted you were going to show up, to be completely honest," the cell guard said.

I did not recognize the guard with the different armor, but I recognized Tibus as he turned around to face me with a look of anger and shock.

"You weren't kidding. You're lucky the captain is so merciful. If I were captain, I would have had your head!" Tibus chimed in angrily.

"Yeah, whatever. Let's just deal with this thing and get it over with!" Faith exclaimed right behind me.

I swear this girl will destroy my eardrums with how loud she yells near me.

"Right, we can put our differences aside for now and accept your help," the person in the special armor said.

Suddenly, a pop-up appeared in my view.

[Tibus has invited you to a party]

"What the..." I heard Faith exclaim behind me.

"You going to accept it or what?" Tibus asked annoyed.

I clicked on the "yes" button below it. Nothing seemed to change for the most part, the only thing I noticed was-

"Are we fighting or not?!" Tibus remarked angrily.

"Alright, sheesh, can't even think in peace," I angrily responded.

I unholstered my gun and aimed it at the viper. I decided to take the opportunity to focus on it as well.

Large Ore Viper

I assumed the viper noticed this and pounced at me. It was moving fast, maybe fast enough for me not to dodge.

"Shit!"

Luckily, the special armor dude slammed down with what I assumed to be a hammer, launching the viper to the ground. However, unfazed, it moved backward, preparing for a second attack.

The special armor person then said, "I forgot to mention, these things are fast. I've only fought a few during my service in the military, but they can easily take out an unsuspecting person. Especially now that this one seems to be a grown version."

"Good to know," I responded with a nervous chuckle.

Now looking at him, he seemed to be a bear-like person, considering his larger stature compared to me and the others.

Back to the main issue, we really need to be careful. If we're not smart about it, we can possibly die.

"How do you take this thing down?" Faith asked the guards.

"While normally the smaller ones will have an ore at the top of their heads, there should be an ore near the back of its head. It's practically its core. Damage it enough, and it will die. Hitting it anywhere else will do minimal damage," Tibus responded.

Squinting a little, I could see a faint glimmer coming from the back of its head. I assume that is where the weak spot is.

"I'll draw its attacks, you guys attack it!" the Bear guard said as he moved forward to attack.

The Viper responded by coiling up and pouncing. The bear guard swiftly moved to the side to dodge and lead it away. The viper turned its head to face him, but it left its ore exposed to us.

I aimed and fired a volley at it. Once the bullet hit the viper, it shook for a second before turning its attention back to us. It opened its mouth, and I saw something appear in it.

Then suddenly, large darts of rock shot out from its mouth and were launched toward me. I barely managed to dodge. So this thing can also use magic. Why am I not surprised?

Tibus took the opportunity to sneak behind it and deliver a hard hit with his long blade. The viper was sent flying as it slammed against a wall. However, quickly after, multiple darts of rock shot out from the dust, and a few hit Tibus's armor. He quickly backed away afterward to get some distance.

"Tibus, are you alright?" the bear guard asked while grabbing Tibus's shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm okay. A few of them pierced my armor, but I'm alright," Tibus groaned in pain.

"Rest for a bit, Tibus. Alak cast support magic on me!"

"On it!" Alak responded.

"Make sure those darts are not able to pierce me!"

"Delta Armor!" Alak yelled out. Afterward, an orange glowing light appeared and was launched at the special armor person.

Orange light enveloped him, and he seemed tougher, almost as if buffed by the magic. So that's magic. I assume there are offensive capabilities as well, not just buffs.

More darts shot out from the now clearing dust. However, when they hit the bear person's armor, they simply bounced off.

The Viper, now realizing that ranged attacks were ineffective, coiled up and launched itself again. The bear armor man prepared to dodge again, but the viper did something unexpected.

It hit the ground early to change direction, dodging the slam from the bear man's hammer. The viper then coiled up and headbutted him in the face, knocking him backward. The bear man, stunned, tried to recover his senses but did not see the viper preparing for a second attack.

Suddenly, a barrage of pellets shot at the viper's side, drawing its attention. Those pellets came from Faith's little biplane. The viper again changed direction and was prepared to pounce on Faith instead with its fangs barred.

However, a small explosion happened right in its face, stunning it temporarily. I turned to see Nickoli on his tankette behind Faith. He gave me a thumbs-up before I faced the viper again.

This gave me the perfect opportunity to jump on its exposed back.

I did not expect it to begin flailing around like a bull trying to get a rider off.

"Holy shit, what the hell!"

I could hear the others yelling stuff, but my mind was focused on holding on for dear life to this viper. I aimed my gun barrel with one hand and held on with the other. I began to fire over and over at its ore, and the viper became more frantic the more I did it. It started moving away at high speeds, almost like a panicked car.

I hit my head a couple of times on its body when being launched up and down. I could feel my vision becoming a little blurry, and a warm trickle of what I assumed was blood flowing down my face from where some of the impacts were.

I just had to keep holding on. If I let go, I knew for a fact it would kill me right then and there. I continued to fire my gun into its weak spot with everything I had, and after a certain point, I didn't feel the blows anymore. I wasn't sure if it was due to adrenaline or me being on the verge of passing out.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, the viper started to slow down its movements. I was able to let go with my hand and fully focus on just shooting the one on the back of its head. It continued to struggle with some resistance until eventually it slammed into the ground and split into different pieces.

EXP +200

I saw the bar indicating my EXP rapidly fill up and get depleted multiple times, along with the number showing my level above it also increasing. Eventually, I reached level 9 from 3, all from one monster. I never knew it gave that much EXP, to be completely honest.

"Is this what bull riders have to go through every day? What the hell, my body feels like garbage now," I said to myself while standing up from the shattered remains of the viper. I decided to take the opportunity to absorb parts of it to unlock some new weapon forms.

Just like with the hourglass sand, they both seemed to unlock weapon forms in the tech tree, yet I couldn't use them. It was pretty annoying, especially considering the hassle I went through to defeat this thing. However, one of them, "Ore Viper Sub Machine Gun," was pretty close to unlocking, only needing me to be level 10. I guess I have one thing to look forward to, at least.

While I was doing so, I heard a noise behind me. I turned around to see Nickoli and Faith on the tankette heading my way. They stopped near where the tail of the ore viper used to be.

"What was that, and how did it work?" Faith asked me, seemingly genuinely surprised.

I gave a sly smile. "I just took a little lesson from bull riding, well, viper riding in this case."

Nickoli looked puzzled, along with Faith.

"I'll explain it later. Where are the guards?"

"They are still over there, trying to put out the fires. Nickoli wanted to help, but I had to remind him how we only agreed to defeat the monster and then leave," Faith said as she glared at Nickoli.

"Enough fighting. We don't have time for this. Absorb the remains of the viper, and let's dip. We've got places to be, and this isn't one of them," I barked at them.

They both started to scoop fragments of the ore viper into the gems on their weapons.

"The weapon forms are locked as always, so don't worry. We just need to get away from here as fast as possible."

"Where do we go?" Nickoli asked me.

"Just head to the hourglass. Hopefully, these guys don't know about it. Take Faith with you, especially considering how she is now injured even worse than before," I told him.

"What about you, Alex?" Faith asked as she got on the back of the tankette.

"I'm getting those medical supplies. You guys head there without me. I can make it back, don't worry. I saw some in a shop when we were getting transported," I told them before running off in the direction where the shop was.

Somehow, my legs just won't give up. I guess conditioning even helps you in life or death if I probably wouldn't die without it. I continued running for a minute or so until I arrived at the shop.

The shop owner seemed to have locked his door like a smart person would. Unfortunately for him, I had a gun. I aimed at the doorknob and destroyed it with a gunshot. Then, I ran inside, jumped over the counter, and grabbed a handful of what looked like bandages, as well as some liquids in small containers.

Listen, I'm no advocate for robbing things. Hell, I feel horrible doing this. But what do you expect me to do? Let Faith remain untreated? This could be a mom-and-pop shop for all I know, but there is no other way to get these things. Still, though, how am I going to carry all these things?

"I wonder if my gem can also store stuff," I said to myself while throwing a handful of bandages into it.

The gem seemed to continue absorbing items even after a few handfuls, so I continued. After around a minute of just throwing random stuff into the gem, I decided it was high time to leave.

I ran outside only to find the three guards from before standing a few meters away. They noticed me after looking around for a bit, and we looked at each other in silence. They might let us go for helping them, though knowing Tibus, probably not.

I stood there, hand near my gun, while they stood there with their weapons ready to be drawn. It was a good old-fashioned Mexican standoff.

It was three versus one, so I did the most logical thing: I ran away, and after starting, they followed suit, chasing me. However, judging from my running speed and theirs, they weren't catching up.

That is until Alak did the same thing as before during the battle with who I assumed to be Tibus. Then Tibus sped up dramatically as he began to gain speed at a fast rate. Shit, at that rate, he will be on my tail in no time.

However, if I remember correctly, the greatest advantage humans have over animals is their energy recovery through sweat. That means if I can just wear Tibus out, he will lose speed dramatically. I also can make sure he doesn't have an easy time running.

I unholstered my gun and began to shoot at him while running. While I wasn't looking at him, hopefully, the threat of being shot will deter him a little. Still, though, if I want to lose him, it's high time I probably use my sprint burst.

If you don't know, a sprint burst is a term I use, at least whenever in a situation, either in real life or soccer, where you can break through your maximum speed for a limited time. It usually requires training to do it for longer periods, though even with amateur training, you can do a solid burst. The only downside is how afterward your body nearly shuts down from exhaustion if you overuse it.

I began my sprint burst, speeding up as fast as I could, hopefully, faster than how much Tibus was going. I eventually reached the edge of town in a few seconds, where we first came from, and I continued to sprint. I turned around for a split second to see Tibus slowing down dramatically, him being far behind.

I couldn't stop, especially considering how tired I'll be afterward once I do. I continued to sprint, now through the forest, heading in the direction where the hourglass is. I jumped past potholes and dodged under branches. I eventually saw a large yellow box thing in the distance.

I ran towards it, assuming it was Nickoli's tankette. My feet started to tire, and my vision began to blur. I eventually got close enough to see Nickoli and Faith, who were both riding in it. I came to an abrupt stop behind them as I began to cough for air.

"Oh my goodness, are you alright?!" Faith asked me with a worried tone.

"Yeah, I'm good... Let's just go to the Hourglass," I said in between hoarse coughs.

"Are you sure? You can lay on the back of the tankette if you want," Nickoli also said, sounding concerned.

"I'm good," I said, now controlling my coughs a bit better.

"Alright... Let's continue then."

We walked for a few minutes, encountering a few Ilumi which Nickoli easily killed. Eventually, we approached the clearing in the forest. However, before entering it, I noticed something off.

I motioned for Nickoli to stop the tankette, and he complied. I also motioned for him and Faith to keep quiet and hide behind some shrubbery.

"What's going on?" he whispered to me.

"How did people find the Hourglass?"

END OF CHAPTER 3

[New World Info]

[Legendary Weapon Gun Forms Bullet Properties]

Unlike normal firearms in Alex's original world, all bullets fired from a legendary weapon will have some properties adjusted. Some examples include penetration of the body, damage, and piercing. Though some forms do recover these properties, most early versions lack these.

Authors Note:
Sorry for the slightly late delay. I decided to work on this chapter a little longer than I normally do. Luckily it came out better and longer than the first iterations. I will admit the fight scenes could have been written out better, I'm still a beginner so sorry for that. I hope you guys enjoyed and be sure to come back next week for chapter 4!