When the OP people next to you start to dress in heavy armor, that was the way you know shit was about to go down, and that was exactly how Alina felt when Ilya wore the plate armor she put on those pelican containers on the back of the truck.

The dark blue plate armor was similar to the regular medieval armor, it was thick, with its chest piece as thick as Alina's palm vertically. The helmet was also thick as hell, with its slit glowing in blue. It was some piece of work if Alina had to say. She also wore her tactical webbing on top of the armor.

"Alright, all set," Ilya secured the last strap of her armor.

"Looks... heavy," Alina tried to picture her concern about these 'Stalkers.' 

"A 100-kilogram titanium-mithril Aether armor is always heavy, don't you think?" Ilya added, giving further details about the armor that she wore. If it was as heavy as it sounded, then no wonder it was called magical armor. 

No way someone like Ilya could wear it had magic didn't exist. It only made Alina more curious about the stalkers, or why they were called 'stalkers' in the first place. Even with her Darkvision, she hadn't seen anything in this forest but Alina's black pickup truck.

Ilya then gave two bottles of red potions to Alina. 

"That's a greater healing potion, strong stuff, it will cure the internal injury. You only need one sip for it to work. Try to rely on your speed to survive, these guys are dangerous, especially Earth stalkers," Ilya explained. 

"Why?" Alina asked, even more worried that her saber wouldn't do anything to them. 

"Earth stalkers are experienced in ranged combat, while Terra stalkers are experienced in melee and magic combat, both are equally dangerous, we're facing husks of their former selves," Ilya explained further. 

Walking further away from the gravel road, they arrived at the designated hunting spot in that forest, and Alina could see what she meant by that. A bunch of soldiers were scattered left and right, undead soldiers, their uniforms were tattered and dirtied by dirt and rotten blood. Some still had flesh attached to their skeletons, while others were simply skeletons without any skin left. 

Alina recognized some of them, they were modern-day soldiers, using assault rifles and combat armor while wearing a faded UN patch on their clothing. She saw multiple flags, US, Germany, France, PRC, Russia, and the UK. 

Several of those stalkers were also wearing some unrecognizable outfit; mage robes, plate armor, thick leather armor, while carrying large melee weapons or magical weapons. It didn't take too long for Alina to know they were soldiers from Terra. 

Their armors were dented by bullets, and their bodies were also riddled with bullets. 

Their allegiance seemed to matter little to them, they were not walking in patterns based on their allegiance, in fact, Earth and Terra soldiers were simply roaming around without a care in the world. 

"Are these...?" 

Ilya cut the question short, "Yeah, soldiers from the last war. It's a shame they become nothing more than regular pests that are hard to be exterminated. Maybe a priest will sprinkle some holy water on this land, but eventually, they'll come back." 

She felt something was wrong with all of this, but she couldn't know what was it. Maybe the sight of living dead bodies disturbed her, but personally speaking, she was scared of being shot by those bullets, magical spells, or both. 

Curious about the stalkers, Alina zoomed her vision and focused it on one single soldier until a wall of text analyzing the creature appeared. 

[Earth Stalker - Lvl.5]

We fought with and against these people, and the cost was immense. In the lack of magic, they covered it with their amount of people and bullets. It didn't matter if you could kill fifty of them at once and their puny bullets meant nothing to an average vampire when the guy with the radio called an airstrike on top of you. 

Tread carefully, Alina. :) 

"Are vampires resistant to bullets?" Alina queried, trying to understand her own strengths.

"I think so, to an extent," Ilya responded thoughtfully. "I mean, my own bullet resistance comes from my vitality, but I wouldn't willingly take a shot. That's one reason I gear up like a modern-day knight."

Alina, still curious, pressed further, "So, what happens if a bullet hits you?"

"It's painful, for sure," Ilya explained with a hint of grimace. "You need to remove the bullet quickly, then apply a healing potion to aid recovery. Bone breaks from rifle bullets are stupidly rare, but they require professional healing attention."

Alina, puzzled, asked, "So bullets here aren't as fatal as I'm used to?"

"Right," Ilya confirmed, noting Alina's astonishment. "Magic and technology advancements have beefed up our defenses. While bullets can still cause harm, they are less likely to be instantly lethal unless the shot is critical."

Understanding dawned on Alina's face as she grasped the implications. "Then, in this world, bullets are pretty much less harmful?"

"That's correct," Ilya said. "Our resilience has improved, so survival is more probable. Of course, a powerful shot from an anti-aircraft gun or a targeted one can still kill."

Alina considered this, appreciating the tactical aspect of combat in this new reality. "So combat strategy here is as much about durability and tactics as it is about the kill."

"Exactly," Ilya agreed, smiling at Alina's quick grasp of the concept. "And you're not the first Earthling to be taken aback by this. Those who fought against Terra's forces in the Interworld War had to adjust to this reality swiftly."

"Damn..." 

"Now that you know a puny 5.56 won't kill you, let's get this started, shall we?" Ilya aimed her rifle at one of the earth stalkers and she fired a red beam at it. The stalker turned into dust before falling to the ground completely. 

All of a sudden, all of the stalkers in the area looked at her. Their eyes glowed in an eerie green color and all turned into Ilya's direction. With her wits to stay alive, Alina immediately blitzed to the nearby bush. As she teleported, a bunch of bullets and magical spells flew in Ilya's direction. 

Ilya stood her ground, her armor absorbing the barrage of attacks. Each impact against her armor lit up the night, sparks flying as if she were the center of a violent firework. Despite the onslaught, she remained unyielded, methodically returning fire with precise, deadly shots from her rifle, each beam finding its target and reducing the attacker to ash.

"Christ, talking about armor," Alina could only observe as none of the bullets or spells made any dent in her thick armor. No wonder it weighed 100 kilograms. 

In the heat of the moment, Alina quickly counted the amount of targets in that area. With a quick count, she found seven Earth stalkers and five Terran stalkers. As long as she acted quick enough, she could kill them quickly. Alina pulled out her saber out her Blood Inventory. 

While Alina continued to absorb all of the damage, Alina did what she could do, she blitzed to the nearby enemy and with all of her might, slashed her heavy saber against the stalker's body. The slash from her sword alone, without any power-up, was enough to sever the body from its torso. 

The helmeted head fell off to the ground, followed by a loud thud coming from the soldier's body that just lost its head. His M4 fell to the ground, and it stopped shooting its bullet. 

That was rather anti-climactic. 

That thought was shrugged off immediately as a fireball sphere flew into her torso. The fireball's sheer heat burned Alina's neck as her clothing protected her from the damage. She felt the pain from the burning fireball as her neck was blotched with second-degree burns. 

Regeneration. 

Alina blitzed away from her previous place and applied the regeneration spell on her neck. Her clothing protected her torso somehow. Moving from harm's way, Alina then swung her saber in the direction of the mage throwing fireballs at her. 

The arc flew across the forest, cutting any small branches and grass in its path, but the mage then erected a magical wall to protect himself, shattering the bloody arc in one go. Alina then swung her saber again two times toward the mage.

The previously erected magical wall shattered against the first arc and the second bloody arc cut the body of the mage in two, killing him instantly with its guts spilled all over the floor. From the body, an orb arose from its torso and it flew in Alina's direction. 

Sensing the incoming danger, Alina blitzed out of harm's way. However, the orb continued to fly in her direction, even though she blitzed away out of harm's way. She then blitzed away continuously until she was far enough from the orb. 

Despite her efforts, she didn't realize the orb ambushing her from behind. The orb turned into a spear and impaled Alina from behind, she then felt the sharp pain of something piercing her abdomen for the second time in a row. The spear then retracted itself and impaled Alina's chest. 

Alina blitzed again and with her full strength, she swung her saber against the orb, breaking the sphere into small pieces and it exploded. The explosion threw Alina off the ground and into a tree, with her wounded torso and abdomen leaking blood out of nowhere. 

The stalkers relentlessly pressed their attack, and suddenly, an acid ball detonated mere inches from Alina's face. Instinctively, she shut her eyes, grimacing as the searing pain amplified. In desperation, she invoked Pausa Doloris, a spell to numb the excruciating agony, her mind racing to find a solution amidst the chaos.

Realizing her dire situation, Alina reached for the health potion Ilya had given her from her pocket. With each swallow, the intense pain within her began to go away, the potion's magic mending the damage wrought by the acid. 

Gathering her courage, Alina slowly opened her eyes, her vision clearing to reveal three ominous figures, their forms outlined by an eerie glow, advancing toward her, with their hands holding down an assault rifle. 

Shit. 

The Earth stalkers released a barrage of bullets in her direction, Alina teleported out of their line of sight, into their back. She then used her bloody swing against the three soldiers, instantly severing their bodies. 

"Man, they're harder than I thought," Alina mused, looking at her almost destroyed clothing that melted from the acid alongside the char on top of her torso from the acid damage. If not for Pausa Doloris, she would have passed out from pain. 

She then ran as fast as she could from that position. Ilya was still busy shooting at the remaining stalkers with precise aim from her magical rifle while tanking every single damaging attack thrown at her. 

Alina used regeneration on top of her chest, mending the charred wound created by the acid. However, the acid stuck to her body, interrupting the healing process, she needed to wash it out with something. 

Abruptly, a force akin to a sledgehammer struck Alina from behind, hurling her to the ground with brutal intensity. A sharp, piercing pain erupted in her torso, followed by the warm sensation of blood oozing from her back. Almost immediately, another stabbing agony lanced through her arm, heightening her confusion and fear.

"What the hell is happening?" Alina muttered, scanning the area for her assailants. Only Earth stalkers were in sight. With swift action, she harnessed her Blitz ability, teleporting away from her vulnerable location to the relative safety behind a large rock.

As bullets from the Earth soldiers' guns pelted the rock, sending shards flying, Alina examined the source of her pain. A bullet wound was evident in her arm, clean through but thankfully devoid of any bone damage.

Without hesitation, she cast Regeneration, focusing on the wound, feeling the torn flesh begin to knit together as the spell worked its healing magic. She then took another drink from the potion, mending the internal wound. 

Alina then peeked out of the stone, looking at those three stalkers now gone, their bodies turned into nothing but darkened ash, courtesy of Ilya's laser rifle. She then shifted her gaze toward Ilya. There was no living stalker left. 

Ilya shouted, "Yo, Alina, I'm all done here! Come here!" 

[BP +2,000]