The arrow exploded from the bow. Ronan was knocked a step back, surprised by the power of the rare bow. The arrow tore through the air and pierced the Grathen's head, blowing an apple-sized hole in it.

You have killed [Gagir 93 - Grathen Technician Lv.58]!

+13 Bronze Credits

+592 Copper Credits

+6 [Bow] Mastery

+1 [Mana IV] Mastery

Blood and bits of the dead technician's flesh sprayed against the floor and the wall behind it. Ronan immediately sent more mana into the bow and a second arrow started to form between his fingers as he grabbed and drew the string back.

Every single alien in the room turned to look in his direction. They saw their colleague with a hole in its head as its body fell against the metal railing beside it and slumped over. They saw Ronan, and he saw confusion run through most of their expressions.

Before they realised he wasn't actually a soldier and was an impostor, he needed to whittle their numbers down. He was standing above them on a raised balcony that looked over the control room, giving him a great vantage point. He loosed the second arrow at the closest technician, killing it instantly.

"Restrain the intruder immediately! Protect the sanctity of Kayir!" The leader standing by the screens roared at the top of its lungs, before pulling out a long and thin metal object that Ronan recognised immediately. It was one of the guns the soldiers back at the compound had wielded, albeit a smaller model.

The third arrow he formed, he fired right at the leader. He didn't want a ranged combatant firing at him while he tried to take down the others. However, the alien was far faster than Ronan expected, dodging to the side the moment the arrow began to fly.

It still struck the leader, but only a grazing blow against its right arm. Ronan was forced to turn his attention to the technicians rushing up the stairs on both sides of the balcony towards him. He was close to getting caught in a pincer attack.

He managed to get two more arrows off, taking out two more technicians, before he was forced to put it back in his inventory. Ronan conjured a shortsword in both hands and started swinging.

With the swords in hand he was far more deadly than with the bow. The technicians weren't fazed by the deaths of their colleagues and kept charging at him. Most were unarmed but a few had knives on them. None of them even managed to scratch Ronan.

He felt a warmth rushing through him once, and knew he'd gained at least one level. As he cut down another technician and started pushing his way down the stairs towards the main floor of the control room, he heard a high-pitched whine cut through the chaotic noise.

His right eye's vision went white and he felt a burning pain in his right temple. A notification blinked in his vision, but he couldn't open it as another technician had leapt from the balcony to ambush him from behind. With a pained swing, he carved the blue-uniformed grathen in two.

He reached up to his face and his hand came away stained with blood. He looked towards the head technician, knowing that it had to be the strange gun that had struck him. The white-uniformed bastard was pushing something into the side of the long metal object. Reloading, most likely.

Ronan couldn't afford to get hit with another shot, so he redoubled his efforts to cut down the aliens around him. He managed to break free from the crushing melee after slaughtering four more, and immediately made a beeline towards the leader.

He was forced to leap over glowing screens and machinery strewn across the room. When he was halfway towards the leader, it raised the gun to its face and pointed it directly at Ronan. He saw the barrel start to glow white, recognising the strange energy from the device the lieutenant had used back at the military compound. It was about to fire.

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Knowing how far he was likely to go in this iteration, Ronan knew that any wealth he had right now was irrelevant. The moment the gun blasted a white-hot beam towards his chest, he activated magic money, not caring for the cost of blocking the shot.

The beam struck the translucent barrier, getting stopped and pushed back as Ronan continued to charge the leader of the grathen technicians. "What! How is that possible?" The technician cursed and hurriedly tried to reload the weapon as Ronan closed the distance between them.

A glance at his status told him that blocking that shot had cost him 28 bronze credits. That was the single most expensive defensive move he'd ever taken. He didn't regret it one bit.

The technician started running backwards while reloading the gun, but Ronan was hot on his tail. It started raising the weapon towards his chest, but it was too late. With a grunt, he lunged the last bit of distance between them and sliced the weapon in half. The world flashed white as it exploded in a shower of sparks that knocked Ronan a few steps back.

He quickly recovered and pushed back, reaching his enemy, who hadn't fared as well after the blast. The lead technician's hands had been blown off as the gun exploded and it was making strange noises while crawling away from Ronan.

"Who the grurk are you!? Why are you doing this? You won't escape justice." It yelled and waved a charred stump at him.

Ronan stood over the technician and glanced back over his shoulder. There were seven technicians still alive in the room. Six were rushing towards him over the equipment banks, but one seemed to be making a break for the elevator.

He pulled the bow back out of his inventory. This time it slipped into the correct grip with ease. He pushed some mana into it and formed an arrow in just a few seconds, before letting it fly towards the technician. Right as the white-uniformed coward reached the door and it started to roll open, the arrow struck it in the back of the chest and blew a fist-sized hole in it. The grathen fell to the ground and Ronan heard the chime of victory in his mind.

He gave the lead technician a hefty kick in the chest as it had tried to crawl away while he was focusing on his archery. The grathen grunted and slumped to the ground, wheezing.

The first of the other technicians reached him by that point and Ronan conjured another pair of shortswords while putting the bow back in his inventory. He rushed forwards to meet the alien in battle, but it wasn't much of a challenge.

The technicians had started grabbing whatever they could to use as weapons—bits of metal, broken railings, and knives from their dead colleagues. None of it made a difference. Ronan carved them apart with as much difficulty as spreading butter on toast.

The last grathen technician fell to his blade and he received another surge of warmth through his body when its corpse hit the ground. If his maths was right, that meant he'd hit level 70. Not bad for a brief clash with some tech workers.

With all of his foes dead, except for the head technician, Ronan returned to the only survivor of his attack. The head technician had crawled upright into a sitting position and was trying to stand up using the wall as leverage. At one point it slipped and one of its stumps hit the ground, causing it to yell in pain.

It was a sorry sight.

"Stop struggling. I have some questions for you. I'll let you live and even give you a healing potion if you answer them to the best of your knowledge and agree to help me afterwards. What do you say?" Ronan took one of the healing potions he'd received as a gift out of his inventory and waved it in front of the technician's face.

The technician spat on the ground, saliva mixed with blood splashing against the grey material of the floor. "Help you? Never! Glory to the Federation!" The technician suddenly leapt forwards and tried to smash its head into the ground.

Ronan was quicker. He grabbed the alien by the back of its neck and hauled it up to its feet. "Fucking idiot. That's not going to happen. Either you answer my questions or I show you what pain really means. Make your choice."

The technician struggled in his grip, attempting to throw him off. It was futile. Ronan's stats far outclassed it and his vice-like grip around its neck didn't shift a millimetre no matter how much it tried to escape. It started kicking at him, so Ronan slammed it into the wall and slashed with his conjured blade, taking off both legs at the knee.

The technician yelled in pain as its remaining limbs were severed. Ronan used sorcery to heal the bleeding stumps, ensuring it wouldn't die until he had the information he wanted. "Now, talk or I'll find out which parts you really don't want to lose."

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