Galactic knight: Apocalypse system Activated!-Chapter 38: Steel Monster!

[Warning! This Chapter contains strong gore and bloody combat scenes. Proceed with caution]

It felt awkward at first. Him on the ground, a once-ranting man staring at him, and a petite girl doing the same.

The man didn’t say a word. His hands went into his pockets, bringing out a pistol.

Julian raised his hands in the air. Even though he knew that bullets did him no harm, he just wanted the man to feel like he had accomplished something—accomplished something by making him raise his hands.

"I mean no harm," Julian said, trying to smile so he could assure them that he was friendly.

The man wasn’t taking it as Julian had expected, though.

Julian had expected the man to smile and be glad that he had company—a powerful-looking one at that.

He had expected the man to sigh in relief, welcome him, and then ask how he came here.

But the man was acting all weird. He held the trigger of the gun, almost pulling it, shouting at Julian.

"You can’t fool me! You think I do not know that you were sent by the steel monsters? Only you!"

Julian scoffed silently. Who was he kidding? This guy was a psychopath.

He had gone insane.

Rehul quickly came out of where she was hiding, raising her hands in the air.

"We are fellow people like you, looking for the portal that’ll send us to where we are going."

The man spat forcefully on the ground and used his leg to step on it.

Julian put his hands down—being nice was over.

What was the use of putting his hands in the air when he was clearly indestructible to bullets?

It was like a goat raising its hands up in the air for an ant when, clearly, it could stomp on the ant and kill it.

"Why are you not raising your hands!" he shouted at Julian.

Julian found the shouting a death call, because if no monster came alive, he would end this man’s life himself, as this was the most stupid being he had ever seen.

Rehul looked at the petite lady. She wasn’t saying a word. She only folded her hands and occasionally yawned.

Julian knew this was all Rehul’s fault, but then, he wouldn’t even say it, talk less of asking her.

He still had a lot of information to learn—about the tech device, about how the monster-floating planets looked, and then the sweet serenity of hearing him rant.

"Put your hands back in the air!" the man said to Julian.

Julian was far from being infuriated.

He was relatively calm and was even starting to get bored with the man’s constant shouting.

He decided to be bold and daring (not that he had anything to lose).

"And what if I don’t raise my hands in the air?" he asked the man.

The man was very well angered by that.

"I will shoot!" he shouted. "I will kill you! I will kill you!"

Julian didn’t quite get this. They came to the floating expecting to meet brutal monsters as the first thing, but then, what they saw was a very, very, extremely stupid man who was deprived of having a brain.

To Julian, this was the most dumb he had ever seen in his life.

This man was daft, and it wasn’t even close.

Julian whispered to Rehul, who was by his side.

"Get ready to run, I can sense a monster."

Rehul was a bit terrified by that, but Julian wouldn’t welcome any more questions.

He faced the ’daft’ man.

He sighed.

This would surely attract a monster.

The man’s shouting would have done so even.

Julian thought of the monster running over to their direction.

He could fly, so he would swoop Rehul off her feet and plunge her upwards.

And these nonchalant beings? He could picture them dead already.

Their duo was the weirdest he had ever seen. One was a wild, insane jerk and the other didn’t just care.

He wondered how they had survived here for two weeks. Or perhaps the man wasn’t always like this.

Was this insane jerk once a sane person with a plan and suddenly faced reality, which turned him into a daft, insane being?

Julian decided to do something. He didn’t want to risk his life and that of his sister—or girlfriend?—whatever she looked like.

"Hear me out," he said. "You don’t have to do this. We have come to help. We possess extraor—"

It was too late.

A thud. Loud. Metallic. Like a tank stomping across the land.

The steel monster appeared from nowhere. Its body clanked with every move.

It was tall, sharp, and heavy-looking, like a demon made out of rusted armor. Red lights glowed from its chest and eyes.

Its arms were long, and at the end of each were claws like spinning blades.

Julian was alarmed. He briskly swooped Rehul off her feet and plunged upwards.

The man shot at the steel monster.

It was useless.

A bullet on hard steel.

The monster was unperturbed.

The petite lady tried to run but slipped on her own anxiousness and fell.

Bad idea.

The monster held her by the head and squished it with just a press.

Blood splashed on the monster’s face, but it was unperturbed yet again.

She was surely dead.

The ’daft’ man tried to run.

Another bad idea.

The steel monster moved fast—too fast for something that size. It appeared behind him in a flash, and with one sharp thrust, drove its hand into his back. Bones snapped like dry wood. Blood shot out of his mouth. His eyes went wide. But that wasn’t the end.

The monster reached around and ripped his jaw off, just like that.

Like it was some other piece of stone. Like it was some lifeless stick.

A wave of hot blood sprayed the air, hitting the steel monster’s chest and the dirt below.

He didn’t even scream. He couldn’t.

The monster slammed him to the ground, then plunged a claw into his gut and pulled. His stomach opened like a split bag. Intestines poured out, long, wet ropes of flesh slapping the ground. The monster grabbed a chunk and tossed it aside. A kidney flew off and landed with a wet slap nearby.

Rehul gasped in the arms of Julian.

She had killed many, alright, but this was simply just too extreme and too raw.

Julian stared. This sent shivers down his spine. What if he couldn’t fly?

They would be getting their intestines ripped out and their kidneys tossed like it was nothing.

The monster raised its foot and crushed his ribs with a stomp. You could hear the bones pop, see his chest cave in. One hand reached into the broken mess and yanked out a heart that was still beating.

It crushed it.

Right there.

Blood gushed from the seams of its fingers.

And then it let go. What was left of the man was a mess of torn skin, crushed bones, and scattered organs. It wasn’t even a body anymore. Just meat. Blood soaked the dry ground like paint.

The steel monster looked up—at Julian and Rehul. It was their turn.