Man Of Systems

Chapter 6: Long Nails

“Damn!” Rael scowled, gazing at the ground below to see the recruit bleeding from his head, dead. Immediately, a bunch of creatures swarmed him, devouring him in a couple of seconds before vanishing.

“Oh, shit…” As he was about to scream in shock, Rael closed his mouth in a hurry, understanding that any sound that he produced would alert them.

He hurriedly inspected his tactical suit, wondering if he had any weapons to defend himself, worrying immediately upon seeing that there was only a medical kit rolled into the back pocket on his hip.

And within it, there was only gauze, a painkiller, and some antiseptic, nothing else.

As he felt around the tactical suit, he noticed a rectangular thingy within one of the pockets, taking it out to see that it was a rectangular screen, spanning a breadth of five centimetres and a length of four centimetres.

It was a transparent screen, made from a material resembling glass in texture, immediately displaying a row of words that read:

[Mission 1: Survive for 24 Union Hours in the abandoned facility. Exiting the facility in the duration of mission results in failure]

[Mission 2: Kill three Arhkars]

[Mission 3: …]

A Union Hour was the time of an hour on Earth, same for everything that started with ‘Union’. It was because every planet had different rotation speeds and time taken to complete a rotation, same for the differences in gravity, etc.

A day in Strombus Nebula—The planet Rael hailed from—was vastly different from that on Earth. So, to have a consistent record, everything within the military followed the military paraments, which were what was followed on Earth.

So, Union Day was a day on earth.

As Rael gazed at the mission details, he frowned, seeing that the details for the third mission weren’t yet displayed. ‘I have to kill three of such creatures?’

He was worried, because if they weren’t such troublesome creatures, that recruit wouldn’t have jumped out of the building. He had intended to leave the building so that he could fail the mission.

But here was the catch. There was no guarantee of a rescue here. After all, the moment he jumped out of the window, he failed the test. But, even though it only spanned a few seconds, no rescue had arrived in that short window.

Beyond that, he died from the fall. Even otherwise, he would have been eaten up by the Arhkars. ‘So, failure is not an option. I’ll die before any rescue could arrive.’

Even though his thoughts were somewhat calmer, his body wasn’t, trembling in fear as he slumped on one corner, hearing screeching sounds from time to time.

Without any weapon, his survival would be difficult. As he hid in a corner, hearing the sounds of his heartbeats, he gradually calmed down. After all, nothing else happened after the first incident.

There were some sounds from time to time, but nothing too alarming, allowing him to gather his bearings.

Rael looked around, noticing that there were only some books and shelves in his surroundings, as if it was a mini library. The miscellaneous items on the ground consisted of torn pages, pens, etc. He sorted through the mess, finding a paper cutter.

Though, it was rusted, mostly broken. But, as it was better than nothing, he pocketed it. The door to the room was locked, but Rael had no intensions to open it, worried that the sound of the door opening would alert the Arhkars.

Besides, only a fool would risk their life. As long as he remained silent, he could survive, ‘Though, the second mission needs me to kill three of such monsters.’

He sighed, deciding that he would get accustomed to the place first before thinking of a plan to hunt them. After all, he had 24 hours. And, the moment he took action, he would alert the enemies. Surviving for the rest of the duration after that was impossible for him.

‘So, I’ll have to prepare and only take action in the end.’ Sighing, he flipped open the nearest book, intending to see what it was about.

‘This is a collection of poems…’ He muttered, flipping to the end casually before placing it back, taking out the second book. The transparent display gave him enough light to read the books, so he used it to scan through the contents.

‘Wait, this is…?’ Suddenly, he was surprised when he opened a book, noticing a large section of the pages had been cut. And in the place, a box had been inserted.

Rael opened the box, noticing there were 20 bullets in it. Surprised, he pocketed it, hurriedly opening all the books, intending to find anything else of use, ‘Maybe this is how the military hid the weapons. We’ll have to find them first. Maybe that’s the real hint for giving us so much time.’

Even though he was excited, he didn’t hurry, understanding very well to control himself and curb his excitement. He silently moved, ensuring to not make any sounds, opening one book after another.

Suddenly, the cover of a book caught his attention. On it was the picture of the Arhkar, the same creature that he saw before.

Rael flipped through the pages, seeing that it consisted of a detailed account of the Arhkars, their body structure, habits, traits, behavioural patterns, etc.

Everything about them was detailed in the book that Rael pocketed, intending to read it after this. Soon, he finished going through all the books, having also checked for anything else that could be hidden, whether within the shelves, creases in the wall, etc.

Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t find a gun. But, he did find some useful items. There was a flashlight, rope hook, a couple of painkillers, and a floorplan of the building.

All items were compact, small enough to hide within the books. Rael pocketed them all before sitting at a corner, taking out the book about the Arhkars to begin reading.

The Arhkar was one of the lifeforms inhabiting the Outpost Planet codenamed Long Nails. the Outpost was codenamed as such thanks to the characteristic long nails of the Arhkars, the dominant species on the planet.

They had a humanoid upper body and a worm’s lower body. Structure-wise, they were like centaurs in that the humanoid upper half can only remain perpendicular to the worm counterpart. They were greyish-yellow in colour, reaching a maximum height of 150 centimetres.

In place of fingers, they had long nails that reached a length of 30 centimetres, tough, sharp like blades. They had heads resembling a spider with a bigger jaw that can expand freely like a snake’s.

Speed was their game, allowing them to skittle through forked paths without trouble. They didn’t have any special power and only relied on their bodies to hunt. Moreover, they weren’t sentient, only having base intelligence like an animal.

He didn’t have the time to patiently read through everything, quickly memorising the key points, especially their behavioural patterns and weaknesses.

Bang!

Suddenly, loud thumping sounds resounded as something began to bang at his door, trying to force its way inside. The steel door seemed firm at first glance, but its hinges had long since rusted, beginning to cave in with successive hits.

Rael was flustered as he looked around, trying to find anything that might prove useful. But, he had already gone through everything, knowing very well that anything of value was already with him.

Tension welled up in him as the sounds of banging increased in might. The gears in his brain whirred into life as Rael took out the rope hook and began to wind the rope through the various shelves.

He slipped it through the gaps in the shelves, tying it in such a way that the shelves would topple with the simplest of pulls.

Taking out the flashlight, he held it ready, watching the door being slammed open as an Arhkar ran in, having already detected his presence through smell. That was why it had been banging on the door for so long.

But, the moment it entered the room, Rael switched on the flashlight, slamming the beam into its eyes, causing its mind to momentarily blank out from the intensity. As it was roaming through the dark interiors of the abandoned building, it had become accustomed to the darkness.

So, the bright source of light jammed its senses when Rael threw the hook into its mouth and yanked it with all his strength, causing it to pierce deep into the flesh walls of its mouth.

It was disoriented completely, blindly charging forth, unable to think for a moment. Rael jumped aside, watching it rush into the shelves as its head suddenly jerked backward when the rope was stretched taut.

The suddenness of the action caused it to collapse to the ground while the force at which it tugged the rope caused the shelves to tumble over it.

<Ding!>

[Conditions achieved, generating a Quest]

Suddenly, the System’s voice resounded in his ears as a screen appeared before him.

[Quest: Kill one Arhkar]

[Reward: Skill of 3D Printing]

Even though it had generated a prompt, Rael didn’t have the attention span to focus on it, quickly pushing on a shelf, causing it to fall on the Arhkar, trapping it. As it had a long body, trapping it was easy, not to mention his hook pierced into its mouth.

Before the Arhkar could cut off the rope attached to the hook, the shelves trapped it, preventing it from moving. Now that it was trapped, Rael sighed in relief, thanking the heavens that his plan had worked.

He panted, feeling the sounds of his heartbeats resounding aloud in his ear. This was his first encounter with a monster, one that tried to kill him. Taking a minute to calm himself, he approached the collapsed shelves, noticing the Arhkar glare at him from within, its gaze causing him to shudder and take a step in reverse.

“Ugh,” He grunted in anger, unwilling to leave it like that as he approached the broken steel door and barely lifted it, dragging it before pulling it over the collapsed shelves, like a top cover. He then climbed atop it when the Arhkar grunted in pain, for the increase in weight caused the shelves to pressure its body, suffocating it.

“Hmph!” He shouted before jumping once, landing on the steel door with force, using the weight of his body to slam into it.

The abrupt force forced the shelves into the Arhkar, causing its bones to creak. It tried to wriggle its way out but was unable to move the weight even the slightest.

Upon seeing that it was working, Rael jumped again, noticing the shelves approach closer to the floor, repeating the action tens of times before he was no longer able to hear growls from the Arhkar.

Just in case, he jumped some more times until he heard the sound of one of the shelves hitting the floor.

The blood on the floor was a clear indication that he had killed it. But, he was weak to such things and hence didn’t even glance at the corpse, intending to leave the room. But, no sooner did he sport such a thought when he heard scratching sounds coming his way, alerting him.

He looked around, flustered instantly, thinking that it would be better to make a run for it. But, his rational self forcefully controlled his impulse, causing him to run through the room and jump behind the collapsed shelves, piling the books and sheets of papers above himself, hiding underneath.

Thankfully, he hadn’t courted death out of impulse as another Arhkar arrived at the entrance, drawn to the place due to the sound. It peered inside, gazing at the pool of blood on the floor, noticing the corpse of its brethren that was squished underneath the shelves.

It extended its tongue out, able to detect Rael’s scent as it traced it, entering the room.

In the meantime, Rael was freaking out, for the System didn’t declare that he had completed his quest yet.

Thought a gap in the pile above him, he looked around, noticing the squished Arhkar’s eyes wide open, gazing his way.

It hadn’t died yet.