Others Summon, I Forge Beast Armor

"At least show us some courtesy rather than evicting us like criminals," Luke said.

Standing outside the ruins, he and Scarlett were safe. They had crossed all five floors of the pentegate tower, survived the finale, and cleared a Sigma manifestation from beginning to end.

That accomplishment might be easy off the tongue, but if you said it amongst average hunters, they’d think you were lying.

Sigma manifestations ranked only below Alpha and Omega, which showed how dangerous they were. They were never assigned to ordinary hunters because of the risk. Only experienced hunters from the Confederacy were allowed to attempt them because even they could lose their lives.

But two sophomores had done the impossible.

Some people might try to say that Scarlett prevailed because she had a Mythic summon.

But what about Luke Kingsley? Everyone thought he was a failure.

What could his armor have done against the monstrosities in a Sigma manifestation?

But Scarlett and Luke couldn’t care less whether people believed it or not. Their focus was on what they had survived, because it hadn’t been an ordinary Sigma manifestation.

Yes, it had been mutated, but there was more.

A real beast from a prehistoric era.

The vision they experienced after killing it.

And an invitation to an Origin Realm. Obviously, none of those belonged in a routine hunt.

Between Luke and Scarlett, Scarlett was more concerned because she was more educated as the President’s heir.

Luke only cared about the surface things like their survival, but Scarlett thought deeper. They were two different people who complemented each other.

"What about that vision we saw, Luke? It said the Hundred-Eye Crow is the precursor of the apocalypse sent to scout the strength of the world. Could this mean the apocalypse is returning?"

A hot breeze ran through Skeleton Town, ruffling their hair with dust.

Ruined buildings surrounded the street, and destruction stretched as far as they could see. This looked every bit an apocalypse in Luke’s eyes.

But he understood what she meant.

_The_ Apocalypse.

The real thing. The one where there would be no survivors, and nothing left of the planet.

She was asking: since the vision said the Hundred-Eye Crow was the beast who heralds the apocalypse, was the apocalypse right at their doorstep again?

"We don’t know that yet. Maybe the vision was only explaining what the Hundred-Eye Crow used to be. It said the Continuum Era, not the era of cigarettes and high rent."

"Do not joke about this, Luke. If that vision is true, then it’s our responsibility to stop it before it begins."

Huh? Luke thought about what she said. If he could remember, wasn’t that responsibility first in the Confederacy’s hands? Then guilds, before you get hunters? That’s quite the skip for him to take all that responsibility.

"My lady," Luke said with a smirk, hoping to lighten her mood, "we just cleared a place where 97% would’ve died. Wouldn’t it be wise to rest from carrying the world on our shoulders and leave the rest to the Confederacy?"

Scarlett scoffed, clicked her tongue, and unfolded her arms. She made any gesture that showed Luke’s attempt to soothe her didn’t work.

"No, we’re going to find out," she said, walking to him and holding up a parchment. It was the Invitation to the Origin Realm. "We’re accepting."

*******

After the structure housing the pentegate crashed down, two groups of people in Skeleton Town heard it.

The first was Raven and co.

They had survived their Act, solved every clue in it, and received handsome rewards, but they stayed behind because Luke and Scarlett weren’t back.

Raven and Vivian refused to leave even after Count Lucius suggested that Luke and Scarlett might have escaped by another route or died inside.

"Fine, you children. I will be leaving," Lucius said as he turned around.

He was frustrated because he had come all this way just to play Sherlock Holmes in an Act alongside two academy students and receive ordinary rewards, while the true prize, the master core, had been in Act 1.

Count Lucius intended to convince Raven and Vivian to leave, then find a way to claim the core no matter what it took.

Before he could go, the collapse of the building drew everyone’s attention. That was only possible if everything was cleared!

********

The other group to hear the collapse was Derek Cole’s party. They were at the abandoned amusement park, the nearest monster zone.

After clearing the zone, they were about to leave. Lucy was already walking ahead of the rest; meanwhile, Derek was at the back, putting his attention on the leaderboard.

「Notice!」

「Luke Kingsley is the first student to reach 250,000 pts!」

「Luke Kingsley is the first student to reach 300,000 pts!」

「Luke Kingsley is the first student to reach 400,000 pts!」

「Luke Kingsley is the first student to reach 450,000 pts!」

「Luke Kingsley has attained the title: Overlord of Trials!」

It was as if the notifications wanted to taunt him. They just kept coming, so absurd, and they pierced Derek’s ego.

He couldn’t understand how something like this was even possible. He had done his best and got just 95,000 points after clearing five monster zones and defeating three of the bosses himself.

Yet Luke Kingsley, of all people, had somehow earned almost five times as much as him?

Do you know how many monsters anyone had to kill to get that many points, and how many objectives they had to accomplish? It just wasn’t possible.

Also, last year’s winner of the trials had scored 560,000 pts after seven days. But Luke had scored 450,000 in just the first day.

Derek gnashed his teeth as another name caught his attention.

"Even you, Queen Scarlett..."

She had 370,000 points, behind Luke but still ahead of everyone else. Meanwhile, Derek was leading in 3rd with his measly 95,000 points.

Wherever Luke and Scarlett had found themselves today wasn’t ordinary.

At that moment of questioning, the sound of a building collapsing echoed across Skeleton Town, forcing Derek and his party to stop walking

CRRAAAASHHHH!

"Could that be monsters?" Mizuki asked, looking around cautiously.

"Even if it is, the day’s over," Lucy replied. "We can’t enter another zone, or we’ll be punished, so let’s keep moving."

"No. We’ll check what happened and mark the location for tomorrow."

Whenever Derek spoke, there was no room for objection, more often than not.

He was also the leader of the party.

Lucy frowned after seeing her suggestion ignored, Ayn and Mizuki following Derek without question. She wanted to stay behind, but that was even more dangerous, so she followed them.

The four of them arrived at the scene expecting to see monsters, but they saw only hunters, and some of them looked like academy students.

They were academy students who’d just cleared a zone.

"Oh my..." Lucy whispered to herself, recognising a student with black hair as dark as hers and red eyes. "It’s Luke."

Derek’s heart started to beat faster as his eyes found the very person who had taken the spotlight from him.

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