The Last Legendary System

"Yes," Vergil confirmed, stopping a few metres away from the gate.

"It had never appeared before."

They shared a moment of awe and silence for what was to come.

Benign continued forward.

"There’s a force field." Stun held the soldier. He peered at the huge construct. "Less than seven metres around the gate, toxic force fields are laid there."

Vergil held back Benign as well. "I can’t see it, but trust Stun’s instincts. He has survived many wars."

Benign took a step back, his respect for Stun rising another notch. He had sensed something lurking beyond the gate, but a toxic force field had been the last thing he expected.

Stun extended his steel rod and fired an arrow toward the entrance. Six meters from the gate, the arrow dissolved into nothing, confirming his warning.

"Dark Miasma. This one is invisible to unsuspecting victims. It’s a good thing it wasn’t here last time."

Vergil nodded vehemently. His curiosity about the gate would’ve ended him silently.

The question hanging in the air was what the next course of action should be.

There might be a clue to the glitches. After all, the gate appeared.

"There has to be a way to reach the gate," Benign hummed. If the gate appeared because of him, then there should be a way. If the miasma was only a defensive system, he should get past it.

Either way, he had to know what lay behind. If it could support him with weapons or attack skills, it would be highly welcomed.

[Mission Alert!]

Benign clicked his tongue. The last mission’s rewards never arrived, and there was another mission. He wondered if he could protest against the working conditions.

[Mission: Unlock the Jade Gate and retrieve the artifact buried there.]

[Rewards: Ownership of the Ancient Artifact - Blades Of Ages.]

The promise of the weapons made Benign relaxed. By those words, the location had been correct despite the glitches. Fate had taken him through the desert to the exact destination.

If he had known the artifact had been a weapon the whole time, he would have been more eager to arrive at the location. "Can you analyse what this Dark Miasma is?" he whispered.

He raised his head. The ceiling couldn’t be seen, separated by a space of more than fifty feet. "How high is it? Can Kendrick fly above it?"

[I can’t estimate how high the wall is, but the Miasma is a threat level three.]

[The gate shouldn’t be open.]

Benign sighed. The gates shouldn’t be open, yet the system gave him a mission to do exactly that. "I have an idea." He told the elves. "The Firewing—"

It clicked. Firewings couldn’t come in. The plan died instantly.

The soldier stared at the closed entrance of the cave. "Fuck. I need something else."

"It’s spreading," Stun announced. "The miasma is spreading and will probably engulf the cave in a couple of minutes."

Vergil turned pale. He snapped his head to the gate and staggered back.

"What are we... the cave locked us in on purpose!"

Benign ran a hand through his hair, grabbing a fistful. Once again, he had led the unit to a dangerous place with no backup plans. Even if he didn’t expect the cave to close itself.

The plan his brain cooked up was severely self-sacrificial, but he might take it.

With a regenerative skill and a recovering body, the plan wasn’t the best, but it wouldn’t be his first time taking such a gamble. As long as he got the rewards at the end.

If it didn’t work? He had taken a chance.

"Lego, how much HP did I lose last time?"

[HP: 282/1000] [SP: 110/120] [MP: 3920/5000]

[You lost -45 HP every minute after you were stabbed by the Desert Crane.]

[It took seven minutes for you to pass out.]

[When you passed out, the regeneration skill slowed it to -20 HP per minute.]

[The elves’ medicine boosted your recovery at the twenty-second minute.]

[Your HP was lowered by -5 HP afterward.]

[It stopped lowering at the thirty-fifth minute.]

Benign hummed. Lego was being awfully detailed when he had assumed the system had abandoned him. With how low the HP bar became, Benign questioned the plan he had in mind.

It couldn’t merely be self-sacrificial but suicidal if he took the chance. "How much HP will I lose if I trudge head-on into the miasma?"

[...]

"Answer me."

[It burns slowly, and the gas is toxic. The costs aren’t immediate, but it builds up.]

[The cost is -27 HP, given your improved attributes.]

[STR: 115] [DEX: 144] [END: 240] [LUK: 0]

Benign nodded. He looked forward at the toxic space between himself and the door.

Stun signalled that the miasma had spread again. Benign stepped back, snapping back to the situation at hand. "Okay, we are doing it. -27 HP per minute isn’t so bad if I handle it in less than a minute."

He looked at the stats again. "My endurance is at 240. My plan might not be as crazy as I thought."

His mana points had gone visibly low when he’d barely done anything. His guess would be Hell Rain and the bullets. "If I rush in at the door, I just need to reach the handle and open it, right?"

[Good luck.]

Benign frowned. That wasn’t an answer. He couldn’t depend on his unit this time, so he had to use whatever was available, and at the point, only his 282 health points and audacity could help them.

"Stay back, you two."

"Uh-uh," Vergil chipped in as if he had been waiting. "That doesn’t mean you don’t go forward."

Vergil stepped in front of him. "I’m already forging a plan. I want to help this time. We might use the hoes to break open a side of the cave, and use it to—"

"No time. The miasma is spreading." Benign interrupted and looked at Stun for confirmation. The elf nodded.

Vergil dropped his note and pen, and they disappeared. He folded his arms. "So, tell us your big plan first? How can Stun and I help you?"

"I appreciate that, but right now, I just need me," Benign replied, walking towards the miasma.

Getting closer, he felt the ominous aura moving around his body and daring him to get closer. He had to take it up on his dare.

He took one more step, and he felt a stone hit him. He snapped his head to the elves. "Ouch?"

"Get back here, sir." Vergil pointed at his right side with his index finger. "We didn’t discuss this plan!"

Benign sighed, rubbing the part bruised by the little stone. The scholar couldn’t even step forward to drag him back. No one would do this if not him.

"I am fine." Benign took the first step towards the mist.

The cave walls shrieked like rusted metal dragged across stone. He grabbed his revolver. The walls flipped open, revealing rows of mechanical crossbows.

’Are you fucking kidding me?’

’Another defensive system along with toxic miasma? Double kill.’

Click. Click. Click.