The Primal Hunter's
The Bitter End

Caroline could not even shout anymore as the metal spread from her heart until all that was left was an iron mannequin. The low vitality and toughness of a healer became apparent, as he did not even have time to struggle before his death.

On the other hand, Richard was dumbfounded along with the over 30 elites around him. What the hell's going on?

"Always healer first," said William, his voice cold, "And then you do the addition, followed by the big boss."

With those words, the metal slid upwards and covered his face, not even leaving a hole for the air to seep through.

His spear was still stuck in Caroline's iron body as the two warriors closest to her moved.

The first swung the heavy greatsword, leading to the hand that held the spear. William did not even bother to dodge when the man hit his lower arm.

To everyone's surprise except William, his arm didn't even move. Instead, the soldier felt the impact echoing in his arms, causing him to snort in pain. The ground beneath William was indeed slightly sunk, but on the contrary, he did not feel the blow too much.

Denying the power of using metal manipulation on his armor was simplicity itself, while the charm Herrmann placed on the armor negated much of its impact. Simultaneously, William did not judge the man too highly.

The other soldier just stabbed into William's back, his sword did not find any purchase as it was met with impenetrable armor.

"Dull," a distorted voice sounded from within the body like a golem.

Taking his spear in a much faster movement than any warrior could afford, he swung it to one side, slicing the chest of one of the heavy swords, he said, while the four blades seemed to emerge from the armor as they pierced through it.

Instantly two soldiers fell down when Richard began to realize the seriousness of the situation.

"DEFENCE!" he shouted as they all ignored their groggy state and all retreated from the metal casters.

The casters on Richard's side began to condense spells, as the two remaining archers began to each channel Powershot.

It was not that William planned to let them fire him, as more weapons emerged from his armor.

William has no spatial storage but uses Herrmann Schmidt's Inheritance to summon his arsenal. It was similar to spatial storage in some ways, but in other ways, it was not. The weapons did not exist physically but were made in real-time by skill as he used them.

It allowed William to summon the creation of the late blacksmith. Swords, axes, spears, daggers, all sorts of weapons, and some armor. Although the young caster did not need any part of that ability, as he was more than fine in terms of his defense.

It did require mana to make these weapons, but it was nothing compared to using his other metal-making skills.

These weapons were now flying out one by one from his body as he focused his mind on controlling them. When he first obtained the Metal Manipulation skill, he could only arrange a few daggers. It expanded rapidly from three to four to five, and so on and so on.

Now, over twenty weapons that were much larger than daggers flew around him with erratic movements. Like hordes of fish, they bombarded the unfortunate warriors, who could only shout and run as nearly two dozen weapons chased after them with pointed ends first.

Seeing that this could not continue, Richard charged towards William as he unleashed a surge of power. While the young caster armor gave him incredible defense, it did have a limit as he was thrown backwards, for a moment losing control over some flying weapons.

However, he quickly stabilized himself as he raised his spear and met Richard's sword that shone with it. The intense clash between the castors and the soldiers ended as expected, with William pushed back, forced back as a red beam began to envelop Richard.

His punch became even faster, as William was forced to retreat as he began to feel a little dizzy from the impact. It seemed like he was trapped inside a giant bell as the man struck him with his sword. Without a spell, William, without a doubt, would spew blood from the deep wound right now.

As he retreated by sliding backwards, he wasn't too far away when Powershot hit his chest, making him almost fall from the impact. The arrow naturally shattered when it hit the armor, but it left a slight dent and scratch on the affected spot.

The archer himself was not in much better condition as his arm looked decrepit and weak. He was seen in an even worse condition after more than twenty swords clamped his body to the ground after he was too weak to dodge.

William, without wasting any time, slid forward as he simply manipulated his body to crash into Richard, who did not manage to lift his shield in time. The spear fell again and again but reflected off every moment.

The spear he used, of course, was the epic rarity skill Spear of Ferroras. It increased his physical stats significantly while using them, and the powerful curses placed on him only made the weapon even more deadly.

But while it could turn anyone it struck into metal, it only worked on living things, meaning William had to pierce through flesh to activate it. Something Richard was currently not allowing him to do, as he avoided or blocked every blow.

None of them focused on agility in any way, but their speed remained impressive even for most of the light warriors just because of the stats the two men had.

But while they seem equally harmonious at first, one must consider the whole situation. Richard had indeed managed to deal with him in close combat, but this was all while William simultaneously focused on the many flying weapons as he suppressed all the other elites around him.

He also had to track down all the long-range attacks and the soldiers who managed to get close to him. Although he could ignore most of the attacks, some of them were truly troublesome - the most troublesome ones to come.

A burst of flames burst out from the side as William dodged backwards in panic. Another flood soon followed as a castor who seemed to be on fire approached him.

William recognized the type of skill the man used. The sacrificial spell was no different from what Herrmann had done to complete his armor. In return for consuming your source of life, skills allow you to display strength well above your usual.

The man was a candle twinkling in the wind, as he shouted, shooting out a burst of flames behind him, pushing towards William. Frightened, the metal manipulator tries to escape but is confronted by Richard, who has once again raised his shield and erected a giant blue barrier to block it.

With an explosion, the burning caster detonated himself like a living bomb, with William only managing to summon the trusty Iron Wall in front of him to take the worst of the blow.

The heat washed over him as he cooked inside his armor. While the armor provided tremendous defense against physical attacks, it was far from good against elemental ones. The pain was unbearable as he felt his arms and chest heat up and blister as he blocked the burst of flames as the man slowly burned.

Finally, every last energy spread out from the man as the flames extinguished. There was no trace of castors left, except a large area of forest that burned in the form of a crescent moon as one side had been blocked entirely by Richard.

The smoky armor did not move as Richard retracted his shield with a deep breath. His stamina became extremely low after the fight with Desmond, as well as the blow he had just blocked.

The flying blades had fallen to the ground as they slowly began to switch to where once again as they dispersed. The spear of Feroras was also not found anywhere, as it had also been removed. A total of eight people and one immobile armor remained in the open place of the ashes.

Only an archer, two castors, and five warriors remained. None of them were unscathed, the injuries they had sustained after fighting with Desmond were getting worse. One of the soldiers even lost an arm because William managed to cut him off with one of his flying swords.

Despite the slight reprieve, none of them were relaxed. No notification was received which meant that the monster that dwelled inside the smoky armor was still alive.

Suddenly everything felt like something was wrong. So wrong. Caster was the first to notice as he exclaimed: “Awas! He did something with mana!”

Richard groaned as he felt a thin blade piercing through him from behind, but he managed to twist his body and avoid being hit right at the heart. With the same movement, he turned around and, with a quick slash, beheaded the soldier holding the rapier.

That was when William's last attack arrived.

"The Steel Round."

Distorted sounds rang out from within the armor as the ground began to tremble. Small fragments of unprocessed metal began to slowly rise from the earth and gather toward William. Followed by all the other metals around it.

People should remember exactly where they are. On the battlefield with dozens of bodies were all within a range of several hundred meters. Everything with the equipment they were wearing was still there. The equipment that is not claimed as its owner is now dead.

The armor, still with the corpse inside, started flying towards the eyes of the vortex - weapons, arrows, everything. This was soon followed by other tools and metal items. Every remaining piece in the former Hayden and Desmond headquarters was now sucked towards the young man as the surrounding metal concentration only increased.

Even the hinges from the wind-blown gate found their way towards him. An unlucky warrior also begins to get sucked in when he is hit by an object, followed by others, some of whom are attached to him.

Richard could only gape with his mouth wide open as a whirlwind appeared before him.

"Dissolve," The voice sounded once again.

The metal bursts out of the twister as it begins to expand in scale. It carved its way through the forest, cutting and even cutting down some smaller trees. Metal storms and corpses all struck the survivors as they were blown up.

One of them was hit by a nail in his eye, but before he could react, half an arrow hit the unprotected side of his body. He only managed to let out a single scream before the torso that was once a heavy fighter collided with his head at the speed of a speeding car, knocking him down instantly. More and more random things slowly tore him apart until he also joined the vortex as another object to hit his former comrades.

The storm was brief but effective as it slowly subsided.

Only two living creatures were left within hundreds of meters of the center of the vortex: the one who called out to him and Richard. The soldier who with all his might managed to keep his life, even if only a little.

He lay on a pile of worn-out armor and weapons as he breathed heavily. Both his arms and one of his legs were completely twisted, with his shield and sword not found - a terrible wound seeping out blood from where the soldier stabbed him moments before.

A kneeling figure wrapped in armor that looked like steel slowly rose as the armor began to pull back to the chest protector.

What was revealed was a terrifying appearance, as every area of his body suffered severe burns. There was not a single strand of hair left, and most of its skin and flesh seemed to have melted away. But he's alive.

Floating, the corpse-like caster floated closer to Richard as the soldier lethargicly stared at the young man. He's too stupid. The dog was too crazy and somehow managed to become much stronger than he could believe ...

Today was supposed to be the day he solidified his position as the number one survivor in the tutorial. The day he became a legitimate leader. He had so many plans, so many ambitions. He could be so…

"…Why?" he managed to come out with a hoarse voice that seemed to be frowning at the end. Looks like one of his lungs has come out. He did not go long when he looked down and saw some sharp objects sticking out of his chest.

But he wants to know. He has offered an advantage, an illusion of partnership. What is the mistake that caused this misunderstanding? In his own arrogance, even in his last moments, he did not understand.

William replied in a voice more terrifying than Richard's.

“It. This result is always what was meant to happen. What I had planned,” William began, as he struggled to say those words. It hurts, but his self-esteem and desire to laugh and deliver his message overcame that pain.

“You were a pawn all along. I'm using you like you want to use me and others, ”William panting.

He laughed as he looked at the unmoving man, not even realizing that his eyes were already closed.

“But worst of all, you killed Herrmann! Herrmann was my friend, and you killed him! He was the one who made this armor, you know? Who made all this possible! We beat you together!"

His laughter grew louder as his voice began to break.

“We take revenge on all of you bastards! And after this, I'll go back and kill the rest of your flock! I'll pile up their bodies in homage to Herrmann, show him that we did it! That we won!

“And then I will chase after that bastard archer and take my own revenge on him too! I will be the only one left in this hole and show the system that I am indeed the best! That I am superior to all of you.”.

At this point, his voice barely came out as a whisper. Two small streams of water managed to flow from his eyes despite the burns.

Richard is dead. William knows it, but he doesn't care.

William continued to babble until his voice did not come out again. As his voice ran out of energy, so did his entire body as he collapsed on the ash-covered ground. Tears continued to flow down her cheeks as she looked towards the artificial sun shining in the fake sky. His last thoughts as he fainted were about Herrmann, and how he finally fulfilled his promise.

William did not know that this sudden wave of emotion he had never experienced was his own. Jake is probably the one who knows the system the most because of the vast library in the basement of the challenge, and if William had read it, he would have noticed it too.

Evolution is guided by your Records, by your desires, goals, and dreams. William wanted to understand emotions.wanted to understand why people like Casper would rather die than live because feelings are so strong, and how it even allows him to reach for such power.

He felt the need to understand why the war had turned so brutal. He wanted to understand emotions more than anything. What was broken was healed by his own will. The floodgates have opened to a new world of emotions.

Perhaps it was too much for the young mind to believe that he had known everything. He considers himself a superior being due to his lack of emotion, but now perhaps this emotion will lead him to more extraordinary things than before.

He didn't know any of this was going to happen.

But someone did.

A man stepped through nothingness as he, with an immortal smile, took out a small crystal. Destroying it, a tiny energy entered the body of the young caster. They do little more than make sure their health points don't reach zero. He had exceeded the limit, and in any case, he had to die. But the smiling man did not allow it.

"You don't have my permission to die yet, do you?" he spoke softly.

He can't do anything more for now. The system does not allow it. In addition, if he went too far .. he would also be involved in vain. More than he already has.

With that thought, the figure disappeared once again. Leaving the castors burning on the ground, with only a small amount of light keeping them alive.