The God-Level Scavenger

Driving the Wedge

Amina was running for her life because she chose to protect my home.

The weight of Jalo’s words pressed flat against my chest as I stood in the smoking courtyard. She had fooled an A-rank commander using nothing but a stolen radio and a massive gamble. The high-ranking guilds in the inner city did not tolerate liars, especially not a light magic user kept as a prisoner for her power. If Tariq caught her with that stolen master key, he would not just lock her in a cage anymore. He would drain her completely.

"Kofi, leave me," Jalo said, his voice dropping to a rough scraping sound. He pushed my shoulder with his weak hand. "The neighbors are returning to put out the fires. The guards are gone. If you stay here, you waste the time she bought for you."

I squeezed his hand once, picking up my dragon-scale blade from the dirt. "Take care of yourself, old man. I will bring her back."

I turned toward the main road and ran.

My agility stat was working at its peak, making the ruined buildings of Sector 4 pass by like blurry shapes. To reach the inner city, I had to cross the Great Divide. The world was split by a massive stone wall sixty feet high, separating the rich high-guild families from the scrap collectors who lived in the mud. The only way through was the North Gate, which was heavily guarded by automated laser turrets and automated scanners.

As I approached the outer perimeter of the wall, my system screen suddenly blinked green.

[Warning: High-energy signature detected ahead.]

[Target: Sector 4 North Gate Checkpoint.]

[Status: Lockdown active. High-grade security forces moving to intercept.]

I slowed my pace, sliding behind a pile of broken metal containers. Two hundred meters away, the great iron gates were sliding shut. A group of five guild soldiers stood in front of the control booth, checking the identification chips of anyone trying to pass.

But they were not looking at the incoming crowd. They were looking at a sleek white sports car that had crashed directly into the iron gate's security pillar.

The driver's door was kicked open from the inside.

Amina stepped out of the vehicle, her long white dress torn at the hem and stained with black engine grease. She held a silver crystalline tablet close to her chest, the master key she had stolen from the Elder Council. Even with her hair messy and her clothes ruined, she stood tall, her eyes bright with a dangerous anger.

"Step away from the vehicle, Lady Amina," the lead guard at the gate said, raising his heavy stun rifle. "Young Master Tariq has ordered your immediate return to the central estate. You are charged with high theft."

Amina didn't flinch. She held the silver tablet high, her light magic flaring from her fingertips into the device. "Touch me, and I format this entire drive. The council's structural codes for the city walls are on this chip. If I erase them, the automated defenses will shut down for forty-eight hours."

The guards froze. The inner city was protected from the outer wild beast lands by these automated defense grids. If the grid dropped, the high-ranking families would be vulnerable to the S-rank monsters roaming the dark forests outside. Amina knew the exact leverage to use. She was manipulating their fear to buy herself inches of space.

"You are playing a dangerous game," a voice boomed from behind the guards.

The soldiers quickly parted, bowing their heads as a young man walked forward. It was Tariq. He wore a dark silk coat, and small sparks of orange fire danced across his knuckles every time he clenched his fists. His face was twisted with absolute fury.

"I gave you everything, Amina," Tariq said, his voice shaking with anger. "I brought you out of the dirt. I gave you a place at my table. And you use my own guild radio to save that trash scrapper?

"You didn't give me a place, Tariq," Amina said, her voice completely steady despite the five rifles pointed at her. "You built a prison and called it a home. You wanted my light magic to boost your pathetic fire skills because you are too weak to rank up on your own."

Tariq hissed, his face turning bright red. He lifted his hand, and a ball of concentrated orange fire gathered in his palm, throwing a harsh heat across the stone gateway. "Your light magic cannot protect you if I burn your legs off. Give me the key."

"Come and take it," Amina said, stepping back toward the edge of the wall platform.

I couldn't wait any longer. She was pushing him to the limit, but Tariq was unstable. If he threw that fire, her light magic barrier wouldn't be strong enough to absorb a direct hit from a B-rank fire user.

I leaped out from behind the metal containers, activating my core skill.

Iron Skin.

My body turned that dull gray color as I sprinted across the open asphalt. The guards at the gate noticed the motion, spinning their rifles toward me.

"It's the scrapper!" one shouted.

Three stun rounds flew through the air, striking my chest with a loud crackle of blue electricity. The current washed over my skin, but the D-rank defense absorbed the shock completely, reducing the pain to a simple itch. I didn't slow down. I swung my heavy dragon scale blade in a wide circle, slamming the flat side of the metal into the closest two guards. They flew sideways, crashing into the security booth.

Tariq spun around, his eyes widening as he saw me. "Kofi? You are still alive?"

"I told you I was coming for everything you own," I said, my boots skidding to a halt between him and Amina.

Amina looked at my back, her breath catching. "Kofi... I told you to run."

"I don't run from people who burn my home," I said, keeping my eyes locked on Tariq.

Tariq laughed, the fire in his hand growing larger and brighter until the heat made the air look wavy. "Perfect. I can kill you both right here and tell the council it was an accident."

He threw his hand forward, sending a massive stream of orange fire directly at my face.

I raised my sword to block, but before the flame could touch me, the silver tablet in Amina’s hand emitted a high-pitched beep. A red light flashed on the gate's main pillar, and a giant mechanical arm from the automated defense system swung down from the ceiling, grabbing Tariq by his torso and slamming him flat onto the stone floor.

The master key had taken control of the gate's security systems.

"Run!" Amina shouted, grabbing my arm.

We sprinted through the closing gap of the iron gate, crossing into the dark neutral zone between the walls. But before we could celebrate, a loud mechanical click echoed from the forest paths ahead. A massive black iron wolf with glowing red eyes stepped out from the trees, its metallic jaws dripping with green acid.