Heavy Metal: Chapter 62 – A Body Within. (Patreon)

An iron-armored head popped out of a hole in the wall. The head turned in all directions as if it wasn’t connected to anything, before disappearing back into the passage it came from. Soon after, an armored monster walked out, both hands pushing the helmet back down onto his neck.

"I guess they retreated?"

Rusty adjusted the helmet and took a moment to survey his surroundings. He was now inside the boss's chamber, which had been destroyed even more than before. The adventurers he expected to encounter were not here anymore, replaced instead by a lot of rubble. During his confrontation with the dungeon heart, several big tremors had probably caused this. He could only assume that his pursuers had retreated, but it was possible they were still inside this giant castle.

While looking around, he noticed broken walls and several large boulders on the ground. He had no tracking skills, but the whole castle was eerily silent. Rusty moved cautiously through the boss chamber, his senses on high alert for any sign of the adventurers. He peeked out again to see if he could hear anything, but besides some cracking noises from the structures, he couldn’t sense anything.

Congratulations Basic Mana Sense skill has reached level 4. 

His reconnaissance attempt was interrupted by a system message informing him about his newest skill leveling up. He had been constantly using this passive skill during his battle against the dungeon core and continued using it up to this very moment. This whole dungeon was built from mana, which was quickly affecting the level of his skill. It seemed that the concentration of mana mattered, and perhaps before long, he might achieve a breakthrough.

It was a beautiful sight to behold. Rusty could see in real-time how small orbs of mana light evaporated from the rubble. They were slowly being transferred to the broken holes, which were starting to mend themselves. The process was quite sluggish and unnoticeable unless observed for several long minutes. Rusty realized that this was how the dungeon was restoring itself, by transferring its parts through some kind of process involving mana.

"If those guys are gone, then I probably have nothing to worry about... but they might have set a trap somewhere..."

Rusty knew that all the dungeon levels had one exit where those adventurers could be waiting. He wasn’t sure how they operated, but if they weren’t in this castle, he could ask someone who might know. After he was sure no one was inside this large castle, he called over one of his guides, Alexander.

"Rusty? Was there something more that you wanted help with?"

"I’m not sure yet. Do you think I could use something from here?"

Alexander arrived and looked at the destruction on this tenth floor before explaining.

"You might want to look through the treasure room then. You might need some coins for what’s ahead."

"Coins? Oh, you mean those round metal objects made from copper and silver?"

"Yes, those."

Rusty had taken some money pouches from adventurer corpses before. Previously, he wanted to use the copper coins for crafting bronze ingots but decided otherwise. If he understood it correctly, he would be able to trade those coins for something inside the adventurer society.

"Let’s go then!"

"Are you following Aburdon’s advice?"

The orb of light followed the suit of armor as they returned to the boss's chamber. Normally, Alexander would have been returned to the Soul Forge by now. Rusty had been given advice to level up his skill further before heading up, as the two guides might need to become permanent entities in his life. He knew nothing of the outside world, and without them, the chances of him getting caught were high.

The treasure room was hidden under a large throne that had been sent flying to the side. Luckily, the collapsed ceiling only covered half of the entrance so he could still climb down. Once there, Rusty found himself disappointed with the lack of anything shiny. There were no copper, silver, or gold coins anywhere and the chest that was at the end had already been opened.

Everything was dark but Alexander’s light lit up the small room. Amidst the dusty remains, he noticed a few stray coins glinting faintly under the dim light. They weren’t many, but he quickly gathered them into his inventory.

“Looks like those adventurers beat us to it, those types are surprisingly good at gathering treasure.”

Alexander remarked, floating closer to inspect the empty chest. However, once there, he noticed that something made from leather was sticking out.

“I suppose they didn’t care much about this one, hey Rusty you might want to take this.”

“Oh? What is it?”

Rusty pushed away from fallen stones and arrived at the chest. Once there he pulled out the long leather strap that turned out to be a belt of some kind. To this belt there was a satchell attached and once opened it revealed itself to be a small spatial bag.

“I don’t think that I need this though. I have my own inventory.”

He was confused as to why Alexander wanted him to take this. Rusty had no use for spatial bags as his unique system provided him with all the storage he needed.

“Sure but you won’t be able to use it once you are in the city, it’ll be better if you keep some necessities in this, you’ll avoid suspicion from the people in the cities. Plus, this will go well with that adventurer armor variant you’ve made, it will fit perfectly.”

“I see…”

This wasn’t the first spatial bag that he found but the belt would go nicely around his waistline. Alexander was right as it would probably be suspicious if he started pulling things out of thin air. Instead, he could put things like coins, potions, and his adventurer card into this small bag of holdings he found. Even if he was searched, it wouldn’t raise any eyebrows.

After placing the leather belt into his stash tab, Rusty turned his attention to the task at hand. He needed to make his way to the adventurer's body he had found earlier, so he could possess it and attempt to leave the dungeon unnoticed. The path back to the location of the adventurer’s corpse wasn’t that treacherous as his battle left the place deserted.

The journey through the dungeon was eerily quiet, the usual ambient noise of the dungeon replaced by an unsettling silence. Every now and then, the faint sound of shifting rubble or distant echoes would break the stillness, but there was no sign of the adventurers. Rusty and Alexander assumed that they had eventually retreated as pursuing a suit of armor was not worth their lives. These adventurers didn’t always have to finish their jobs precisely and perhaps they have concluded that this had been enough to get paid.

Finally, he arrived at the chasm where the adventurer’s body lay. The place was devoid of most dungeon monsters but these arachnids were not part of them. He needed to climb back to the hole he found the adventurer card as it was better if the body fit the description. Rusty cautiously approached the chasm, the path was familiar but he was still a bad climber. Luckily, his new agility-focused form allowed him to move with haste and reach the ledge where he found the mummified body.

“I see some spiders, but they seem to be avoiding me?”

He had seen some red eyes peeking out but none of them decided to attack him. His level was much higher now and perhaps the monsters had some type of danger sense. Once inside, he quickly noticed the mummified body still ensnared in a web. The corpse looked thin and the face was still there but he didn’t really know if it was good enough. To get some advice, Aburdon was now summoned instead of Alexander.

Congratulations Call Guide skill has reached level 5 

Aburdon’s arrival was accompanied by a burst of dark energy and a system message of the guide skill increasing again. With Rusty’s heightened level he could have his guides out for much longer than before. Soon enough he hoped that his mana regeneration would become equal to the skills usage for a permanent solution.

“Ah, finally! A change of scenery.”

Aburdon said, his voice dripping with amusement.

“So, what do you wish from this demon lord?”

Rusty pointed to the mummified body still trapped in the webbing.

“What do you think? Is this body suitable for possession?”

“Oh? Let me see~”

Aburdon floated closer, scrutinizing the corpse from various directions before answering.

“Hmm, it’s certainly not the most ideal, but it should suffice for your needs. The fact that the lower body is mummified could work to your advantage as the weight will be significantly reduced. The face on the other hand managed to retain most of its moisture and the teeth and tongue seem to be in place.”

“Good, then… how do I possess it?”

Rusty was glad that this body was sufficient enough for his disguise but he wasn’t sure of how to proceed.

“Easy enough, first cut him loose and get rid of the net, and then just put that armor you previously prepared on him. Once that’s done, just place your helmet over it and use the skill.”

“Hmm, okay!”

Rusty was a living armor monster which meant that his possession target needed to be fully encased within his body. Luckily, he didn’t need to use the parts that he was using now but instead the ones that had been previously prepared for this occasion.

“Now be careful, that body is very delicate so try not to damage it.”

He approached the mummified body cautiously, carefully cutting away the spider's webbing that had ensnared it. The old strands gave way easily, revealing the corpse more fully. The body was indeed in a sorry state, with skin that had turned to a dry, leathery texture, but it was still largely intact, and the armor he had prepared would fit reasonably well.

He donned the armor piece by piece, securing the fake leather and true metal plates around the body. The custom adventurer's gear was a bit oversized for the emaciated form, but this was all according to plan. With a lighter body inside, he would be able to move much easier. Finally, he placed his helmet over the corpse’s head, aligning it to match the armor’s neck plate. Aburdon floated above, giving a nod of approval.

“Looks like you’re almost set. Now first, transfer yourself to the new armor and then, activate the possession skill, you should know how to do it if you follow your monster instincts.”

After his helmet was placed on the custom-made adventurer armor, he controlled it. The old body that he was wearing, crumbled down to the ground as he switched out. Once the body was switched, he started to stand up with the mummified body still inside of him. The weight was quite bearable and soon he was standing upright. Then soon after, he gave the possession skill a try.

The skill was activated and it produced a strange green glow. This light enveloped his metallic body along with the mummified corpse inside. A pulsating aura between the two started to form and continued to flicker around. Rusty could feel the energy transfer, a peculiar sensation that felt similar to the time that he had merged with his two guides.

The remains within him shifted slightly as the consciousness of the mummified body began to meld with Rusty's essence. The transition was going by smoothly and he could feel it twitching within him. It was a very strange feeling, it felt like he was controlling some sort of flesh puppet within himself but also being hit with some information.

“This body has a name … Albert?”

“Oh, you’re a natural Rusty, you’ve already been able to feel the body's memories. Perhaps due to merging with me and the idiot hero, you’ve grown an affinity for dead spirits?”

Aburdon wondered while the process continued. Soon the eyes of the possessed body popped open along with its mouth. The sounds were incomprehensible at first but soon became clearer as Rusty adjusted to the new sensations.

“T…h..i..Sss iS… S…t…r.n..ge…”

The body he was using still had its vocal cords intact, along with its mouth. Through the possession skill, he was able to control its speech and make it say what he was thinking. It was quite an odd experience, but the more he used it, the better he became at it.

“Mah…n-name is… Alburt… S-somethin like dis?”

“Well, almost got it, keep practicing, you’re doing great for the first possession Rusty!”

Aburdon was surprised that Rusty was getting the hang of everything so fast. He could only assume that some of his past knowledge was integrated with the living armor and he was somehow using it.

“After you level your skill, it’s going to feel like an extension of yourself… or perhaps like an internal organ? Hm… also don’t forget to dig into the memories, if this body has a chaotic past it might become a probl…”

Aburdon wasn’t allowed to finish his sentence as he was forced to return to the Soul Forge. Rusty who was using the possession skill was running low on mana. He needed to use up a whole hundred MP to make this work but luckily, the effect was persistent.

‘This Albert person, I can see some of his memories.’

While Aburdon was away, Rusty knew exactly what to search for. Dead bodies often retain lingering thoughts and memories from their previous lives. One such memory was the deceased's gruesome death. He had fallen into a pit while hunting monsters and was subsequently captured by a spider. The monster injected him with poison, which quickly led to his death. Fortunately, the same poison had also somewhat preserved his body in its current state.

The most important part was the head was almost perfectly intact. Its only defect was the pale coloring and the slight dehydration that had set in. However, once the skill was active the man’s face regained a little bit of color. Now he just needed to learn how to produce sounds without sounding like a zombie.

‘Can I recall something different? This body might have memories of the outside world!’

Rusty tried to focus, the spirit within this body had long vanished and the brain started to decompose but with the skill active, the process had been stopped. He was able to dig through some of the memories of this adventurer. He saw quite the sight of a bustling city and many people within it.

The place seemed to be some kind of marketplace where this man used his coins to buy cheap food. This memory was quite vague and he couldn’t really recognise any faces. Soon it shifted to a large building with many people everywhere and a board with many strange papers. He wasn’t sure if that was it but it sure looked like his next destination, the place called, the adventurers guild.