Others Summon, I Forge Beast Armor

〖Strength: 50,000% | Agility: 200%〗

Luke hadn’t experienced anything like this before. He was confident he could crush someone’s bones. Also, he thought wearing armor would weigh him down, but it was the opposite.

Seeing the display, the three trolls stared at him in confusion. In this world, everyone fought with beasts. If you didn’t have a beast, you were just a human, and humans were squishy and easy to break. From the perspective of the trolls, Luke looked like he had a mental problem. Where’s his dragon? Where’s his wolf?

”That saves you, you think?” the middle Troll grunted as it raised its bone club, its shaft covered in dried mud and old blood. ”We crush metal. We eat the human inside!”

”Go ahead and try,” Luke said. Unbeknownst to him, the armor’s power was fueling him with confidence. It felt like the spirits of the Hell Ape and the Molten Triceratops were looming right behind him, shoving him toward the danger.

The first Troll didn’t wait. It lunged with a speed that Luke didn’t expect from something so massive, its giant bone club whistling through the air as it aimed for his head.

Normally, Luke would’ve been too slow to react, but with the slight agility boost, he tracked the club and ducked. The wind from the swing ruffled his hair before the bone smashed into the floor. CRACK!

Luke stayed on the defensive for a moment, hopping back to gauge their movements. The second Troll swung horizontally, trying to cut him in half at the waist, but Luke just vaulted over it.

”I can see their weak points with the mask, too,” he pointed out. ”They’re strong, but they’re clumsy. They rely on their size. But I have the power of Ancient Beasts.”

After futile attempts, the first Troll grew frustrated. It growled, saliva dripping from its tusks as it raised its club for a massive overhead strike.

But in doing so, it left its entire torso wide open.

”There you are,” Luke whispered.

As the club started to descend, Luke moved in, slid across the sand, and got right under the Troll’s guard. He pulled his right fist back, and the Hell Ape Gauntlet began hissing with steam, the red light intensifying until it looked like he was holding a small sun.

Luke punched with everything he had.

BOOM!

It felt like time stopped for a second. In slow motion, Luke saw his metallic fist sink into the Troll’s leathery stomach. Red ripples of energy exploded from the point of impact, cracking through the Troll’s skin like it was made of glass.

The Troll wheezed as the force of the punch traveled all the way through its body. Half a second later, the monster’s entire form shattered, leaving no corpse, as it blasted away into a cloud of glowing red dust.

However, the dust didn’t fall to the ground. It swirled in the air like a tornado and flowed directly into Luke’s chest, seeping into his skin.

〖Flame +15.0〗

〖You have defeated a Troll!〗

Luke stood there, his fist still extended, his breath ragged as he stared at the empty space where a ten-foot monster had just been standing. Looking at the other two Trolls, Luke noticed they had stopped moving. Their clubs were lowered, and they looked terrified.

”One punch?” Luke thought. ”I did that with one punch? Am I the caped baldy from that old manga?”

He looked down at the Hell Ape Gauntlet as he realized why. These Trolls were just common monsters, probably Primal-grade. Meanwhile, his armor was forged from the drafts of Ancient Beasts. A Molten Triceratops and a Hell Ape were legendary creatures from a different era.

If he could wear their skin and use their strength, then what were mere Trolls to him?

Meanwhile...

Behind the food court, there was a movie theater. Inside, it was difficult to breathe. But smoke and dust weren’t the only reasons. The atmosphere was altered by the presence of the Gamma gate, increasing the air pressure. As a result, all the doors and windows were glued shut.

A group of about twenty teenagers were trapped inside the movie theater. They were students from Montclair School who had come to the mall after a hectic day. Among them were Jax, Leo, and Mark—the same guys who had been laughing at Luke just hours ago.

”Get this door open! Now!” Jax screamed. He wasn’t acting like a tough guy anymore. His face was slick with sweat, and his hands were trembling.

He summoned his beast, a Spiky Coyote. ”Break the glass! Do it!”

The Spiky Coyote lunged at the theater’s glass doors, but when its body hit the surface, a wave of purple energy rippled across the glass. It sounded like a Thrummm. The beast was tossed back across the carpet, whimpering. Meanwhile, the door didn’t even have a scratch.

”It’s no use,” Leo whined, sitting on the floor with his head in his hands. ”The gate’s pressure has locked us in. If the monsters come through that wall before the Bureau breaks the seal, we’re the first ones on the menu. We’re doomed.”

The teenagers looked at each other forlornly. Even though they went to a prestigious school with the best training, they had only come here to watch a movie. They weren’t ready for a Gamma-class dungeon to swallow them whole.

Suddenly, a girl named Chloe gasped. She was standing near the small viewing window of the lobby door.

”Look! Someone is out there!” she pointed.

Everyone rushed to the glass. Through the smoke and the flickering lights of the food court, they saw a humanoid figure walking with unwavering confidence toward the whirlpool.

The figure was wearing a dark-red mask shaped like the head of a rhino. The most distinct thing about him.

”Is that a hunter?” Mark asked.

”No, look at him,” Jax whispered. ”He doesn’t have a beast with him. And he’s walking right into the gate. It must be a Humanoid-type summon! Some hunter must have sent their warrior to save us!”

The teenagers watched, mesmerized, as the ”summon” reached the edge of the gate and leapt inside without hesitation.

”We’re saved!” one of the girls cried out. ”The Bureau sent a hero!”

None of them had any idea that the ”hero” was the same Luke Kingsley they had mocked as a ”disgrace” and a ”blacksmith’s apprentice” just hours before.

Identity alteration was one of the passives of the Molten Triceratops Mask. Even close friends and family will not recognize the user while wearing the mask.

Thanks to it, Luke was somehow not a failure anymore in their eyes. He was a mysterious, powerful warrior according to them.

Feeling hope, Jax gripped the door. ”Keep watching! If that summon clears the entrance, the pressure might drop!”

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A/N: Thanks for reading!