Others Summon, I Forge Beast Armor

"I’m sorry for the death of your teammate, but how does that oblige us to hand over the master core?" Luke asked.

"You expect me to return empty-handed, one man down, and carrying news of the world’s destruction? Give me the master core, children. I have greater use for it than you do. Monster cores should be enough for hunters of your level."

"We never got any master core. We only fought a prehistoric beast. The core was what revived it."

Scarlett was shaking her fist.

Fatigue often thinned her patience to the point of being as thin as a piece of paper. But it didn’t affect the sublime lie that left her lips.

"Why do you want it so badly anyway?" she asked.

Lucius stayed silent, studying the teenagers with his crimson eyes.

He had underestimated them the first time. They were just rookies still in their second year in the academy, and managed to survive a Sigma manifestation.

What else did he expect from the President’s heir?

But even though they were prodigies, Lucius didn’t think either possessed a soul dense enough to absorb a master core as concentrated as this one in question. Either they were hiding it, or they never obtained it as they claimed.

Unbeknown to the vampire, he was underestimating them again.

Luke’s soul absorbed the core without struggle, where many would die from the load. It also leveled up his soul to C-rank. Now, he could absorb stronger concentrations than the last.

Luke’s party and Count Lucius were too focused on the master core that they didn’t notice Lucy’s party arrive.

"What core are you guys talking about?" one of them asked, drawing everyone’s attention to them.

Luke and the others were surprised to see them. The party still consisted of the same students, but they looked tired and worn out after a long day.

Derek appeared tall and inerrant with three capable students next to him. The party looked strong, but it also gave the feeling that they didn’t trust one another and only worked together because the Trial required it.

Count Lucius wasn’t happy to see more people arrive because more eyes usually meant more problems.

"Great... more children. Are you lost, or do you just make a habit of intruding?"

"We’re not the ones intruding. We’re students participating in our Trial. You look like the intruder."

Count Lucius narrowed his eyes. He recognized the boy. Derek Cole. His family wasn’t one of the great noble families, but they still held landed status.

The girl beside him interested him more. Unlike Scarlett Trump’s companions, she wasn’t wearing a mask, so there was no mistaking who she was. Lucy Blackstone.

Count Lucius served a guild under the Obsidian Order. Of all the students he could have encountered today, these were among the last he wanted to meet.

"Vivian, are you guys alright? Was he trying to rob you? Is he threatening to kill you?" Lucy asked. Now, she was glad her party had come over. If they hadn’t, they would’ve never known this man was harassing Luke’s group.

Her eyes scanned Luke and Scarlett. Luke looked calm while Scarlett looked exhausted, but they didn’t look like they feared for their lives.

Vivian was happy that Lucy asked. Maybe exposing the vampire’s intentions would embarrass him enough to leave.

"No, he isn’t trying to kill us. But yes, he’s trying to rob us. We cleared our zone, and now he wants to take the core."

"Thief!" Ayn sneered. "Aren’t you ashamed? A grown man preying on academy students."

"Watch your mouth. Don’t speak to Count Lucius that way," the woman with the bear growled, protecting her leader from the verbal onslaught.

Meanwhile, two things were happening at the same time: Count Lucius was silent, taking it in, while Prince Derek was analysing him.

As an argument arose, Prince Derek silenced it, saying, "This is not a man... he’s a summon."

The surprise on everyone’s face had the same magnitude as Count Lucius’s anger.

Derek, of all people, was able to find out because he had the devour instincts of his slime. Around humans? He would feel no instincts to devour. Around summons? He would.

It also made sense because Count Lucius was a vampire.

There were no human vampires anymore after the Blackstone family destroyed the Blackhearts decades ago when they wanted to take over the Obsidian Order.

Whoever the master of Count Lucius was had deliberately set him up so everyone would mistake him for a human.

"I knew something was wrong from the moment we saw him!"

"No wonder my Crimson Hellhound kept growling at him..."

"What a creep..."

"I wonder who his master is."

The last person to think about it was Luke.

Professor Mary’s lesson about tethers came back to him again. For Count Lucius to travel this far away from his master and still fight effectively, the tether between them had to be very strong.

Count Lucius wasn’t pleased that his identity had been exposed. He had gone through the trouble of blending in as a human, only for a student to ruin it.

"You’ve all been fighting for quite some time. That means, in your current condition, I could leave every one of you with injuries that would take months to recover from."

His words immediately put everyone on guard. Nobody relaxed just because there were more people present. They prepared to fight with whatever strength they still had left.

But Luke was the exception because his stamina was excellent, so if the vampire wanted to fight, he didn’t mind continuing.

However, the sound of vehicles echoed through Skeleton Town before anyone could make a move. More engines followed, then helicopters.

Count Lucius looked around with a frown. Whatever was arriving wasn’t something he wanted to deal with, so he spun around and disappeared with the woman and her bear.

Whereas the teenagers soon found themselves surrounded from every direction.

Vehicles crowded the ruins of the collapsed building while helicopters hovered above Skeleton Town.

Luke’s first guess was the Bureau had arrived, but something didn’t match. There was no Bureau insignia among them. This wasn’t government enforcement. It was a private force assembled by presidential order!

Scarlett had been missing for an extra hour after curfew, so the President had dispatched a search party to find his daughter and heir.

Whether they tracked her through her vehicle or by some magical method, nobody knew.

Hunters began coming out of the vehicles while others descended from the helicopters with aura beneath their feet.

Expensive alloy for armor, flowing capes, the best gorgets, and powerful summons immediately set them apart from ordinary hunters!

Some beasts walked beside their masters while others rested on their shoulders. This was the pinnacle of hunters!

One of them approached Scarlett before kneeling briefly.

"My lady, we have been sent by your father. Come with us."

He held out a hand while every other hunter remained silent, waiting for Scarlett to either accept it or refuse.

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