Ruler Of Iron And Flesh

Inian was standing on the deck, exhausted. He glanced over at Marc and saw his eyes occasionally drooping. It took them a total of 22 hours to clean absolutely everything, and they were not given a moment to rest. Oliver and Una were looking them up and down.

Una began, "I see you two have finally completed your cleaning, it took you long enough. Now listen to the Captain's orders." She nodded towards Oliver.

Oliver nodded back, "today is your true initiation into the crew of the Wing Demons. When I was interviewing candidates, I know that you two have already been taught how to fight. But today you will be taught how to fight low-tier monsters. The levels of dangerous monsters go like this: low-tier, mid-tier, high-tier, titan level, and finally behemoth level. Luckily only two behemoth level beasts have been sited, and they are not interested in humanity at all."

Oliver smiled and waved his hand at a couple of suits. They appeared to be another set of bones set in a human structure. "These are exoskeletons," said Oliver, "they will give you the strength and speed you need to fight against these monsters hand to hand. We can usually use the Glastro cannons, but this is for some training in case we need to fight away from the ship. So suit up!"

Marc was wide awake for the whole explanation of the exoskeletons and quickly hastened over to put his suit on. Inian followed his actions. Beast was helping them both attach all of the straps and mechanical parts to their bodies. Inian looked down and saw that his hands were shaking. He clenched his teeth and waited for further instructions.

The ship was flying over a vast desert-like area. Below the ship, they could see a few monsters. There were four of them, and they had a lizard-like appearance. They each were the size of an average horse and had six legs with a long scaly tail.

Oliver spoke over the wind as Inian and Marc were sitting on the side, ready to jump off, "We just entered the western part of the Kotus empire's territory. So hunting monsters here is much easier than hunting them in the open and unclaimed Monster lands. On your backs are Tiger swords. They are heavy weapons that are powered by a tiny monster core. They will be able to cut through these monsters pretty easily. Once you kill them, they disintegrate for an unknown reason, but they leave their Cores behind. That's what we use to power most of our equipment. All you need to do is kill them any way you can. Now, on my mark, you drop." Oliver waited for a moment before slicing his hand downwards, "drop now!"

Marc was the first one to go, and Inian was second. He could feel the wind whistling in his ears as he reached behind him to grab the Tiger sword. It was a sizeable thick blade that was nearly as tall as he was. He was trying to fall right on top of one of the monsters. The monster noticed him and dashed in the opposite direction. The other three beasts slowed themselves and prepared to face their new foes. Marc slammed on the ground hard next to Inian. Inian bumped Marc with his elbow, "Is this what you had in mind after being in a mercenary crew for only a couple of days?" Marc shook his head, "no, it's even better!"

Marc yelled and charged at one beast. The beast propelled itself quickly with its six legs and spun around, using its tail to knock Marc back into the ground. He hit the earth hard and gasped from the blow. The beast closed in on Marc to finish him off with a quick snap of its jaw, but Inian rushed forward quickly using the energy of the exoskeleton and chopped downwards on the beast's neck. The beast's head flew off and promptly disintegrated. The rest of the body collapsed and faded into the air as well, leaving behind a glowing blue gem.

Marc cheered, "Nice, Inian!" He got back up and shook himself out. The other three beasts were hesitant and began circling Marc and Inian.

Marc pulled out his heavy pistol, and Inian said, "Hey dude, you can't kill them with that." Marc then winked, "I know, but I can hurt them." Marc fired his pistol, and the shot went straight into the eye of the beast on the far left. The creature flailed in panic, hitting one of its allies and knocking them over. Inian and Marc both charged at the beast on the far right. The beast saw the coming and swiped its tail at them.

Marc jumped over this time by using the power of his exoskeleton and stabbed down through the beast's back. The beast shivered and disintegrated, leaving another gem behind. The last two beasts were recovering from their initial panic and injury. "You take the one with the injured eye, and I've got the other one," Marc said. Inian nodded, and they placed themselves directly in front of their opponents.

Marc directly charged towards the uninjured beast, and the beast charged right back. Inian eyed the beast in front of him, but the beast showed no hostility. It appeared to be sad, with a questioning look in its eyes as it shied away from Inian. Inian was confused, but couldn't afford to hesitate, so he quickly charged forward and decapitated the beast. It fell, leaving a monster core, and Marc defeated the other one at nearly the same moment.

Inian looked over and smiled at Marc, "We did it!"

Marc was breathing heavily, "yeah, man." Marc took a knee from the exhaustion he was feeling.

The ship that was flying overhead lowered itself to the ground and dropped its legs so it could land. "Well done, you two!" said Oliver as he hopped out. "I will now officially announce that you two are truly apart of the crew of the Wing Demons! Welcome, my friends!" He shook each of their hands. Blyke, Beast, and Una all shook their hands as well.

Once the initial congratulations were over, they collected the monster cores. Oliver smiled, "according to the hiring contract, each low-tier core will give us ten gold coins. A mid-tier one will give us 50!" He pocketed the cores and hopped back on board.

Marc and Inian took off their exoskeletons once they were on board and patted each other's backs. Their family will be well off if they send home this kind of money. Inian spoke to Marc, "you know, I was scared to join a mercenary crew after you joined, but with you, I feel like I can survive and be good at it."

Marc nodded in agreeance, "ya know, that's funny because I feel the same way."