Others Summon, I Forge Beast Armor

Somewhere else in the city...

It was late morning at the Blackstones’ castle.

The sun outside shone over the spires, arrow slits, and battlements, bathing the castle in the light of the new day. The light made the walls look less dark than they do at night, but the castle still had that cold and forgotten feeling it always had.

The castle was also surrounded by thick trees and covered by a layer of Aeon often mistaken for fog.

At the end of the day, it looked like an abandoned garrison from a forgotten war than a place where people lived.

Outside, an SUV idled, waiting for its passenger.

That passenger was Lucy, who could be seen walking out of the castle. The sunlight hit her pale skin like she was a vampire trying to avoid the sun. Her dark hair also caught the sunrays, making it shine as she walked to the vehicle.

Lucy got to the car, opened a door, and climbed inside. The SUV went down the road as soon as she sat down.

Across from Lucy sat her father, Loki Blackstone. He also had dark hair, but his royal stature and majestic presence were things that belonged only to him. Lucy knew her father was sitting across from her, but she minded her own business and said nothing. For now, she preferred little attention to his presence.

She opened her phone and checked for any new updates before starting her day.

While doing that, her eyes traced the text she got from Vivian.

The message was already open, which meant Lucy had read it but was yet to reply

This is because the news stunned her so much that she had nothing to say.

”Adrian Kingsley is back,” Lucy whispered to herself as her thoughts moved from one problem to another.

Adrian’s return meant trouble for the whole academy, but his threat was also personal. He may come for her next. After all, she was the one who stopped him from killing Luke in the library when he had the chance. By getting in his way that day, Lucy had made it clear where she stood. Adrian knew that, and now there was a target on her back.

Lucy squeezed her eyes shut, feeling a civil war in her.

Why had she stepped in that day to save Luke? She tried to explain it to herself by saying it had nothing to do with having a crush on Luke. Any decent person would have stepped in to stop someone from being murdered in the middle of school. Murder was wrong, simple as that. It didn’t mean she had romantic feelings for him.

But then there was the second time, when she pulled strings to help get Luke out of the Bureau’s custody.

The second time did not have the excuse of a life-or-death emergency. Nobody was about to be killed. Lucy just went out of her way to help Luke because she wanted to.

After a while, Lucy sighed and stopped arguing with herself.

Fine. She liked Luke Kingsley, she thought. She also wanted them to end up together, but that didn’t mean she should keep throwing herself at him for free. From now on, she must think carefully before doing him favors. With a psychopath like Adrian roaming the academy again, the last thing she needed was him hunting her.

”What worries you, my dear?” Mr. Blackstone asked as he looked at his daughter’s face.

Lucy looked away at the trees passing by outside, waiting for him to ask more questions if he was really concerned about her.

In that case, Loki had to start a tangible conversation.

He cleared his throat and began with the usual family talk, like asking how she had been sleeping, how the estate had been feeling lately, and whether she needed any new supplies for her room.

Lucy answered politely and was happy with the conversation until it slowly got to the topic she hoped he would avoid.

”How is your progress with your beast, Lucy?” Loki asked. ”Have you made any breakthroughs with the Malefic Spider?”

Lucy’s shoulders dropped, and a bitter look was on her face as she shook her head.

No progress. That was her answer.

Loki closed his eyes because all hope was lost, but he was also thinking of at least one way that could help his daughter force an evolution. Just one way.

Alas, the Blackstones felt like this problem required a spark that they couldn’t provide even with all the wealth and power they had.

The SUV finally decelerated and came to a stop at a T-junction.

”We’re here,” Loki said, his voice becoming composed again.

Lucy nodded and got out of the SUV. This T-junction was where she would meet up with her party.

There was a cabin. Standing around this cabin was the party in question. Mizuki, Ayn, and Derek.

As Lucy walked to them, Mizuki waved at her, but Ayn and Derek crossed their arms as if they were annoyed with her.

”Finally decided to show up, my lady?” Ayn said. ”You’ve been invisible during these Trials. You ditch us for two days, show up three hours late today, and expect us not to care? Do you even care about getting stronger, or do you expect your family name to lift our rank on its own?”

”We’re running out of time to push our scores, Lucy. As a Blackstone, I expected more from you,” Derek said, too.

Lucy felt guilty, but she didn’t want to break down or apologize because they have no clue what she was doing.

She wasn’t just ”taking a break”. Lucy spent days alone, isolated, enduring the worst training, and putting her body through hell to try and trigger the Malefic Spider’s evolution.

But it was all a waste because it yielded no results.

But even though it didn’t go the way she wanted, she must acknowledge her efforts.

”I’m ready for today,” Lucy said. ”I’ll make up for the lost time.”

”That’s good to hear, Lucy, but Ayn and I have done enough grinding for the morning,” Mizuki said. ”We’re taking a break off until this evening to check out the Hunter Carnival downtown. They have rare merchandise on sale today, and we definitely won’t miss out”

Everybody seemed to be going to the carnival to have a good time, so Lucy wasn’t going to stop them. It was a very big event in New Florence, which many summoners attend. Seeing how excited her teammates were, Lucy didn’t want to be the buzzkill, considering they had put in the hours while she was gone.

”Are you not going with them?” she asked Derek after finding out he was staying behind.

”No,” Derek replied, with a determined look in his eyes. ”I don’t have time to waste on festivals. I’m going to kill monsters.”

It was easy to see what was on his mind. The leaderboard.

Luke had #1 spot in his pocket, so the rest of the school thought catching him was impossible. But Derek wouldn’t give up. He was close to Scarlett’s 370,000 points, so he knew he was within reach, and he could bridge the gap with Luke.

As Mizuki and Ayn left for the carnival, Lucy was stuck with Derek.

She wasn’t looking forward to dealing with his brazen personality all day, but she skipped two days, so she couldn’t afford to lose more points.

”Let’s go,” Derek said, walking away. ”We’re taking the Bunker Monster Zone nearby.”

The path to the Bunker Monster Zone looked very different from the forest. The green trees suddenly ended, and the ground became cracked dirt covered with old iron plates, concrete blocks, and big metal doors built into the hills.

The whole place looked like an old military base that had been abandoned for years. There were thick concrete buildings half-buried in the ground. Small air vents stuck out of the dirt, while old metal doors were built into the strong walls.

This zone was known for its tough monsters. Most of the beasts that lived here had strong bodies and thick shells that made them look like walking bunkers.

One of them was crawling through the dirt between the old buildings. Its heavy body dragged across the concrete, making a loud scraping sound. Its body was thick and hard, with layers of shell covering its head and legs. There were other monsters just like it moving around the area.

When they reached the center of the zone, the system appeared:

〖Beware! You have discovered a Yellow-Rank Monster Zone: Iron Trench〗

This was a Yellow-ranked Monster Zone, so Lucy and Derek had to be careful.

Lucy brought out her scythe, ready to fight, while Derek had already been carrying his sword the whole time.

While Lucy wasn’t looking, Derek looked her over from head to toe.

He was starting to notice the weakness Ayn had talked about.

Lucy didn’t look as strong as she was when they were freshmen.

Also, it’s as if something is eating at her confidence from the inside.

”Good thing it’s just the two of us,” he thought. ”Here, I’ll see if you are weak.”