“⎾⏧☊⎎⎾☊🜅 ⏧⍲☊ ℚ⍴⌾ℇ⏎⎎⍲ ℚ⏙⍴⌾ ”
Strange chants echoed from a distant corridor, their rhythm interrupted by the clank of tal footsteps. Rusty was on the move, his tallic fra tensing as he shoved a few corpses out of his path and arrived in the middle of a dead-end corridor. Before him lay a row of closed cells, each apparently requiring a key to open. Inside, he could make out battered people - so chained to the walls, others curled up on the cold floor.
“We don’t have much ti, Rusty, If you’re going to decide, it has to be now, but in my lordly opinion, we should leave.”
Rusty hesitated, unsure how to proceed. Aburdon had always prioritized their survival above all else - a view Rusty largely agreed with. Yet he couldn’t help but wonder if giving these people a chance might be the better option. He had no clear escape plan from this place, nor any idea how many cultists lay in wait below. Releasing the prisoners would certainly create a diversion, but it would be impossible without the keys. The bars, though rusty, were forged from an unfamiliar tal that resisted his attempts to store or manipulate it.
He was a monster forged from tal, with the peculiar ability to store it. However, there were limits; one was that he couldn’t store alloys or tals above his own grade. Since arriving in the city, he’d explored various smithies and shops selling all kinds of equipnt. He had seen weapons made from strange materials, and after so research, he realized that tals, like monsters and adventurers, also had their own rankings.
The bronze that ford his initial body was on the lower end, around F-rank. Iron and even steel were a step above, at E-rank. But there were tals with far superior properties, much like his own Twilight Iron, which was edging into D-rank classification. As an E-rank monster, he was unable to store any tals ranked above his own level, aning that this rusty tal had to be at least D-rank. Breaking it with his own strength or weapons would be challenging. To open those cells, he would need the keys - and he already knew where to find them.
“One of those cultists had a keychain on them. I could probably snatch it while they’re chanting, but sneaking up on them would be best…”
“ („• ֊ •„)੭ “
“Oh, you can help sneak up on them?”
“ (૭ ｡•̀ ᵕ •́｡ )૭ “
“You’ve learned a silencing spell that will help ? Why that’s great Gleam!”
“ (,,>﹏
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