Heavy Metal

"This place reminds me of my lair before I fixed it..."

Rusty had just arrived at the place where his new summoner was staying. It was an old, abandoned bandit camp that had been hidden behind a clever mechanism and sealed away from the outside world.

Even so, it looked quite shabby. The environment was not meant for humanoids to live in. The stone walls were damp, and the smell of smoke from the cooking pit mixed with the scent of old wood and moss. The place was barely functional, yet the elves somehow persevered. It was one thing Rusty had noticed about humanoids. They had a strong survival instinct, though it was nothing compared to his own.

Elves filled the cavern, moving around in small groups. Some were tending to the wounded that Teral had brought back. Others were preparing food or checking the weapons scavenged from the slavers. Despite the poor conditions, there was an undeniable energy in the air. It was the quiet resolve of people who had survived something terrible and were not ready to give up.

"They're organized... but not very efficiently."

Many of the elves were clearly inexperienced. Some struggled to handle the human-made swords they had taken from the slavers. Others looked as if they had never worn armor before in their lives. A few younger ones nervously watched the living armors that stood along the cavern walls like silent guardians.

Their eyes often drifted back to Rusty. Unlike the other summoned armors, he moved freely. He inspected things, walked around without waiting for orders, and occasionally adjusted items with his hands. It was clear to everyone that he was different.

"Look, that spirit is walking again."

"Is it inspecting the place?"

"Are spirits supposed to behave like that?"

The whispers followed him wherever he went. Rusty ignored them and instead focused on something far more important.

"This place does not have much space left. Are you planning to bring more people here?"

Rusty turned toward his summoner, who was speaking with three others. Two of them were Eldrin, the old elf elder, and his granddaughter Lethira. The third was the skinny elf who had welcomed them earlier, the second-in-command named Vulen.

The leadership structure of the group seemed to place Teral at the top because of his combat ability. Most of these elves were pacifists. Many of them did not even eat meat or hunt deer. Lethira was a minority among them, and perhaps that was one of the reasons the humans had chosen to attack this area.

These people lacked experience in fighting. Some had proper classes that could be used for combat, but they remained at extremely low levels. It seemed that none of them used monsters or battles to level up. Even the so-called huntress was not that strong. She was only an E rank and had probably gained her levels slowly through hunting deer and boars.

"Is the spirit talking to you again? That is fascinating. I knew you were special, but this is a surprise. What is he asking about?"

Vulen noticed that Rusty was heading their way. Teral also could not help turning his head whenever Rusty spoke.

"The great spirit wishes to know if we are going to take in more of our people."

"Of course we are."

Vulen answered without hesitation. The man was a carpenter and the one who had set up the trap inside the tunnel. He was also responsible for furnishing the refuge with basic utensils and simple furniture.

"We will make space if we must. Our people are still out there being hunted like animals. If we abandon them, then what kind of elves are we?"

It was clear that Vulen wanted to help more people, and Teral felt the same way. The other two new arrivals seemed to agree as well.

"That is a noble goal, but it is also dangerous, young ones."

Eldrin leaned on his wooden staff as he spoke. His old eyes swept across the cavern while the flickering firelight reflected in them, revealing both wisdom and concern.

"This refuge is hidden, yes, but it is not limitless. Every person you bring here increases the chance that the humans will discover it."

Vulen frowned slightly but did not look away.

"So we should just leave them out there to die?"

"That is not what I said."

The elder slowly shook his head.

"Saving our people is admirable, but survival requires caution. If the humans find this place, everyone here will perish."

Silence settled over the small group as they considered the problem. Rusty had moved closer and now stood some distance away, listening to their discussion. In his opinion, the hideout would eventually be discovered anyway. He knew that tracking skills existed. If the elves continued killing humans and freeing slaves, a larger force would eventually arrive. Still, that did not mean it would be the end. There were ways for the elves to survive.

"Why not just become stronger and kill the humans yourselves? You already have many people here. Help them level up, and they will be able to defend themselves."

To Rusty, the solution seemed obvious. If the humans were hunting and enslaving them, they needed to learn how to protect themselves. He would not always be there, and bringing in more noncombatants would only make things harder when the humans eventually came to reclaim them.

"I… I cannot expect this from the great spirit."

"I told you to call me Rusty…"

Rusty replied to Teral, who clearly disliked the suggestion. The other elves immediately looked at him, waiting for the translation.

"T-the spirit said that to protect ourselves from the humans, we should have everyone… fight them."

Another silence fell over the room as the small group heard Rusty's plan. He was still a monster who solved most of his problems through violence and evolution. To him, this was the simplest way to deal with the situation. If the humans came, they would defeat them and survive. As long as they continued to grow stronger, their freedom would eventually come. It was a very simple way of thinking, but some in the group seemed to agree.

"The great spirit is right. We cannot rely on them and Teral forever. We must learn to protect ourselves, and if that means killing humans…"

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"Lethira, we must not lower ourselves to such things."

Eldrin's voice was calm, but there was weight behind it. The old elf straightened slightly on his cane as he looked at his granddaughter.

"We are not like them. The moment we embrace slaughter as our path, we risk becoming the very monsters we despise. Beasts in elven form, like in the days of old. We must not repeat that age."

Lethira's fingers tightened around the grip of her bow. For a moment, Rusty thought she might argue, but she simply exhaled slowly.

"With respect, grandfather… I think it is already too late. Blood has been shed, and look."

She pointed to the other elves gathered nearby. All of them were listening to the conversation, and when the idea of fighting was mentioned, their eyes lit with anger.

"I will fight!"

"M-me too! They killed my parents!"

The voices of the others began to rise as she continued.

"They burned our homes. They chained us like beasts. They sell our people in cages."

Her voice remained controlled, but anger simmered beneath it.

"Whatever we were before… that world is already gone."

Nearby elves continued to listen. A few nodded in agreement with Lethira, while others lowered their heads, clearly uncomfortable. Rusty watched the exchange like someone observing a strange cultural shift.

'Ah, it is one of those moral debates I have heard of.'

He had seen this type of discussion among humanoids before. From his perspective, the answer was simple. If someone tried to kill you, you would kill them first. That was how monsters survived. In a world of levels and experience, any creature that did not strive to grow stronger would eventually become prey. That was something he could neither accept nor understand.

"Even if we wished to fight, most of us cannot."

Vulen spoke next, interrupting the discussion. He gestured toward the cavern.

"Look at them."

A young elf struggled to wrap cloth around another's injured arm. Nearby, two older women tried to sharpen a sword but clearly had no idea what they were doing. A pair of children watched nervously from behind a stack of crates.

"These people were mostly farmers, scholars, or artisans. They are not warriors."

"Some of them could become warriors."

Rusty had no reservations about using the people here as additional support. While he planned to defeat anyone and anything that came their way, it was best to prepare. His summoner's chances of survival would be greater if more people were capable of fighting.

"If you had more people capable of fighting, you could save more from slavery and maybe even take your villages back one day. Then, once the elves become strong enough, no one will be able to enslave you anymore."

"Take back our villages? End the enslavement…"

Teral repeated Rusty's words while the other elves argued among themselves. He did not seem completely opposed to the idea.

"Would that even be possible… Many could die…"

"Probably, but many will die if you do nothing. How many people can you really save on your own? I will not always be here. And you can become stronger too."

"I can?"

"Sure. Do you humanoids not change your classes at temples to grow stronger? Your level has been increasing as well, right? Are you not close to the limit?"

"Classes at temples? No, we elves do not do that."

"Oh? Then how do you become stronger? Do you evolve like monsters?"

"No… our elders perform a ritual…"

Just as he was about to continue, the others finally turned their attention to him.

"Ah… sorry."

"It is fine. You are the only one who can speak to this wise spirit."

If Rusty were human, he would have been grinning when the old man called him wise. Soon, Teral translated the conversation, and something new came to light.

"Elder, you could perform the Awakening Ritual?"

"Indeed, I can, if there is a great tree nearby."

Eldrin revealed that he possessed a special ability. Similar to priests in humanoid temples, he could allow other elves to choose new classes when they reached the proper level. Instead of temples, which served as holy sites, the ritual required the presence of something called a great tree.

"There was a great tree in my village… but they burned it down. Could they have done it on purpose?"

Teral mentioned this while looking at the others.

"That is possible… They burned down my village as well, where a great tree had been growing for a millennium."

Several of the other elves confirmed the same thing, and to Rusty it all started to make sense.

'If they destroy the trees, the elves cannot advance their classes. If they cannot advance their classes, they cannot level properly. That keeps them weak.'

It was a surprisingly simple strategy. Brutal, but effective. He glanced around the cavern again. Most of the elves here were level one, as if they had never even defeated a simple goblin or a monster insect. To make matters worse, more than half of them did not possess combat classes and instead had basic ones like Farmer or Villager.

Eventually, the group agreed to take a headcount. After excluding the children and those who were too old, they were left with a potential fighting force of ten people, including Teral and Lethira.

"I do not know about this. With just ten people… If only I could help you, but…"

Vulen looked disappointed as he had already been placed in the craftsman class. Even though elves were different from humans, some aspects of classes seemed to be the same. Someone who belonged to the craftsman path could not achieve a battle class, which meant the path many people took was decided at birth. However, there seemed to be a way to counter this.

"Worry not, young one. As long as we are near a great tree, we will be able to perform the ritual of rebirth. You will lose all your current levels in the process, but a new path may open."

The elder spoke while patting Vulen on the shoulder.

"It's fine, Vulen. We need your craftsmanship skills more than a warrior's."

Teral added, patting him on the other shoulder.

"If you say so…"

Interestingly, it seemed that elves were able to reset their classes. After performing a certain ritual, their class would return to level one, and it was even possible to choose a new class. However, there was a downside. The ritual required specific resources that could not be found everywhere, which made the process difficult.

With the group assembled, they only needed to equip them and begin their training. The armor taken from the slavers and the weapons they had gathered were just enough for everyone. Yet, even after they were fully equipped, none of them looked comfortable.

Most stood stiffly, as if the armor might suddenly fall off. One elf tried to raise his sword but nearly lost his balance when the weight of the breastplate shifted on his shoulders. Another woman kept adjusting the leather straps on her arm guards, tightening them too much before loosening them again.

"They need a lot of work… Do you have any goblins around here?"

"Goblins? What's a goblin?"

Teral's question made Rusty's nonexistent heart sink. Something had been bothering him ever since he entered this place. There were no monsters around. In the regular world, even forests showed signs of monsters, sometimes even large concentrations like the spider forest. Yet here there was nothing.

During their trip he had not seen claw marks on the trees or goblin totems near encampments. The only creatures living in these woods were ordinary animals. The place seemed very peaceful, which was probably why these elves were so inexperienced when it came to violence.

"They are small green monsters about the height of a human child. They are good enemies to start with, but if there are no monsters here then the only way to gain levels will be… killing some of the humans."

Teral nodded while the rest of the group remained oblivious to the conversation.

"Are there any more of these slavers around?"

"There should be, along with patrols."

"That sounds promising. Let's attack them together!"

While Rusty was ready to cause some carnage, Teral frowned slightly. He looked at the group of ragtag warriors and seemed unconvinced of their abilities. Rusty, however, already had a plan for that.

"Don't worry, they'll be safe. Look at this."

He stretched out his hand toward a young man wearing half plate armor. Suddenly, the man's body jerked and straightened, as if he had become a somewhat competent fighter. Confusion spread across his face, as though he were no longer moving of his own will. Yet for some reason, the swings of his sword grew sharper and more precise, as if he were possessed.