Chapter 23: Can We Keep Them?! Can We?! Can We?!

It was now the enemy’s turn. The suit of armor had been burning Vault alive for so many turns. He was getting sick of the smell of smoke.

His HP was down to a little less than half, but instead of just finishing him off, the creature wanted to take its time.

Its ally showing up made matters worse, but it seems that he made two new potential allies in the process. This situation was so confusing and weird. All he knew was, if they survived this then he was going home as soon as possible.

He was also gonna give the animals the best food he could make, if they did end up going back with them. The knight used its final turn to slash at Harmony. She lost half her HP and got knocked on her bottom. “Take him out, Vault!”

He gripped the Knight's arm and gave her a determined look. “I've been waiting too long for this!”

He activated his crafting skill. They both exploded into blue flames. The armor parts shot off into the air as a massive blue flame grew where it once was. The flames and the armor froze in mid air for a moment.

Everyone watched in stunned silence as the flames and armor pieces imploded. A smoke screen was left behind, followed by system notifications.

“Defeated Haunted Burning Knight!”

“You crafted Haunted Burning Knight Armor!”

“Description: A suit of old armor belonging to undead knights. It is constantly burning with the soul of an undead warrior inside it.”

The smoke cleared and exposed Vault wearing the monster as a suit of armor on his body. He wore the suit from the neck down, but had the knight’s visor part over his eyes without the helmet. Pieces of flames constantly radiated from his body. He examined the armor and smiled.

Harmony gave him an uneasy look and Eunice chimed in. “<It's possible his attempts at making new materials has actually corrupted him>”

Harmony hesitated before calling out to him. “Dude…Are you still you?”

He turned in her direction. Little bits of flames radiated from his visor. “I've joined the dark side! They have much cooler outfits!”

She chuckled. “You're still making jokes in these situations? You must be Vault.”

He suddenly got bashed in the back of the head by the remaining knight. He took a chunk of damage, but less than it normally would have been. The suit had some great durability that protected him.

He got to his feet just as the wolf’s turn started. Everyone turned their attention to the remaining knight. The wolf attacked, the bat attacked, and Harmony followed up by fusing her weapons together before striking it.

It was now on its last legs. Only a chunk of HP remained. Vault's turn timer began and he cracked his knuckles. He took out his new sword he acquired from the Burning Haunted Knight. “Hey Harmony, I'm gonna turn this guy into armor for you!”

She smiled. “Awesome!”

He charged and the knight got ready to block, preparing for an aerial attack, but he aimed low. He slashed it into pieces and the system notifications went off letting them know that the battle was over.

They had both gained exp points. Harmony went up to level 8 and Vault got to level 11.

“Acquired Burning Haunted Knight’s Sword.”

“Acquired Burning Haunted Knight’s Shield.”

The flames on the suit extinguished themselves and laid lifeless on the floor. Vault held a hand over it, and teleported it away into his inventory. He turned to Harmony and the animals.

He walked over while scratching his cheek sheepishly. “Thanks for saving me…Guess I…”

She wrapped him in a hug. “Glad you're okay.”

He hugged her back and noticed the animals watching them. The wolf was giving him a wolfish/sly grin. It was almost like it was saying “So you guys are like that?”

The bat was also giving them a mischievous look. Almost like it was making fun of him. They parted and approached the animals cautiously.

Harmony placed a hand under the wolf’s jaw. “I meant what I said. Do you want to come along with us? We're going to be fighting a lot of monsters…Especially in about a week.”

Vault folded his hands behind his head. “They're animals. Can they really understand us?”

The wolf barked happily and the bat screeched in agreement. Harmony gave him a smug look. “Sounds like a yes to me.”

Eunice switched out with her. “How you managed to tame animals especially under these circumstances is a mystery to me.”

They heard metal clanking in the distance and immediately booked it. Eunice switched out with Harmony as she took Vault's hand to avoid getting lost. Their new animal companions followed close behind.

The new party of five ran off into the night.

They had reached their cave home and Vault got to cooking immediately. Harmony watched him getting to work while still wearing the ominous armor. To an outsider it might look funny, but something felt a bit off about it.

He noticed she was staring and he started blushing. “What's up?”

She shrugged. “Nothing. It's just that suit…We're at home, so you shouldn’t get comfortable.”

He looked down at the suit for a moment before nodding. “You have a point.” His attire instantly got switched out for his rags.

He finished cooking and put some food down on plates in front of his companions as they sat on the floor. Harmony received kabobs of venison with chunks of fruit. The wolf received just venison meat on a plate and the bat got a bowl full of fruit chunks.

The bat and Vault exchanged a look. “What kind of bat are you? A fruit bat? Blood bat?”

The bat just stared at him in silence for a moment before rolling on to its back like a cat. It was most likely trying to act cute.

Harmony tickled its stomach. “Its a cute bat.”

Vault smiled at the sight. Despite their unfavorable circumstances, feeling like the world was trying to take them out, it was important to enjoy the little things in life. It made it easier to get through their days here. As they ate, he suggested they go over their plans for the golems.