Chapter 72- Insta Kill.
Leo slipped his feet into the new boots and fastened the last clasp of the armor.
The metal settled over his frame with a quiet familiarity.
Instead of the drag of steel and padding, the armor rested against his body with no more burden than a thick winter sweater.
Every joint moved freely. Every breath came easy. He rolled his shoulders once, testing the flexibility, then nodded to himself in satisfaction.
Hugh stood beside him, arms crossed, his eyes scanning the armor Leo had just donned and taking in every shift of the plates and threads.
"This is really good armor," Hugh said with admiration.
"Yeah." Leo’s smile was small but genuine.
He turned a full circle, feeling the friction of the boots against the floor. The sensation was addictive—each step lighter than the last, as if the ground itself cooperated.
After checking that everything was in place with the armor and boots, Leo shifted his attention to the ruins outside the forge dimension.
His eyes sharpened when he saw the bunch waiting outside.
"Now shall I take care of some guests who are waiting for us?" He cracked his neck, the sound sharp in the quiet space.
"Hugh, wait here for me."
"Okay. I’ll be going through all the scrolls you gave me. Don’t die, brat."
Leo gave a short nod and stepped out.
...
Outside....
Dusk had already settled over the clearing.
Low fires burned near the circle of stone runes, casting restless orange light across eight figures. Shadows stretched long and thin between the trees. The air carried the damp scent of jungle earth mixed with woodsmoke.
The female archer leaned against a cracked pillar, bow resting across her knees, gaze locked on the dark line of trees and stones where the trail simply ended. She had not moved in nearly an hour.
Kang Tae-oh sat apart from the others, back against a fallen log, arms folded, eyes closed. His breathing was slow, measured.
The shield warrior dozed against a broad stone, mouth slightly open, breathing deep and even.
The archer’s patience had worn thin.
"How much longer are we supposed to wait?" Her voice cut through the quiet like a snapped bowstring.
Kang answered without opening his eyes. "Until he shows himself. Don’t worry. My instincts say he’ll appear soon, and my instincts have never been wrong."
A warrior spoke carefully, as if afraid the words themselves might summon trouble. "It’s already been more than two days. Maybe he already left."
Just then the large stone the shield warrior leaned against began to glow.
Everyone except the sleeping man snapped into combat-ready stances, taking their respective positions. The sudden movement and voices jolted the shield warrior awake.
He opened his eyes and froze. The entire group was pointing their weapons at him.
"Guys... what are you doing? I didn’t do anything. I might have eaten some rations without telling anyone, but you can’t attack me for that."
The others stared at him in collective disbelief.
The archer shouted, "Look behind you, idiot!"
He turned.
The stone pulsed with bright light, veins of white-blue radiance racing across its surface. A figure stepped out of the glow, sword already in hand.
Before the shield warrior could fully register the threat, the blade punched cleanly through his chest. The impact was precise, almost surgical.
He collapsed to the ground without a sound, eyes wide with horror, never having expected the end to arrive so quietly and quickly.
"Tsk. Idiot." The archer gritted her teeth, already drawing an arrow.
The newcomer wore strange armor. A large skull with horns was inscribed across the chest plate, the lines deep and deliberate. The moment the kill registered, the black tattoo began to fill with a soft, glowing red, like liquid rising inside a transparent vessel.
[Ding!]
[Devil’s energy increased by 2]
So I have to kill to gain devil energy, Leo thought. Simple enough.
His full figure finally emerged from the stone.
Recognition hit the archer first. She had died to him once already and still carried the memory of that helplessness—the way his movements had seemed to anticipate hers, the cold efficiency of the final strike.
"You really showed up," she growled.
Leo winked at her.
For a single heartbeat no one moved.
All the players awaited Kang Tae-oh’s order, but Kang Tae-oh himself remained silent.
Nobody knew it, but Kang Tae-oh possessed a unique set of eyes granted by his class. He had already seen everything Leo was wearing—the epic-rank boots, the epic-rank armor, and the rare-rank sword. He couldn’t make out the specific stats, yet the ranks alone had shocked him into silence.
He could not read exact stats, only ranks, yet that was enough to stun him.
They had been chasing a talented blacksmith. How did that blacksmith now wear epic-rank gear?
He looked at the archer. "Was he wearing the same armor the last time you fought him?"
She shook her head, surprised. "No. He didn’t have any armor on before."
Kang’s thoughts raced....
Talented Blacksmith..... Trail that ended in the middle of the jungle....
...
...No armor when he vanished... The world-first epic-rank forge announcement.0.....
...And now he returns wearing epic-rank armor.....
Don’t tell me the world announcement was caused by this guy...
His eyes widened.
"Circle him."
The group moved at once. Kang added, "Try to capture him rather than kill him."
Surprise rippled through the ranks. Capturing someone this dangerous felt even more difficult than killing him, yet they obeyed.
The archer loosed an arrow. The warrior and assassin charged.
Leo dodged everything with almost casual ease.
The arrow streaked toward his head. He watched it until the last instant, then tilted his head a fraction. The shaft hissed past his cheek, close enough that he felt the wind of its passage.
In the same moment the warrior thrust a spear at his stomach. Leo sidestepped; the tip passed within inches of his body, the wood of the shaft brushing the edge of his new breastplate.
An assassin materialized behind him, dagger flashing toward his neck. Leo dropped low. The blade cut empty air above his hair.
None of the attacks touched him.
He glanced over his shoulder at the assassin. "Not bad."
The assassin’s eyes narrowed.
He vanished again and struck from a blind spot. Leo twisted aside. The dagger’s momentum carried the attacker’s arm forward. Leo caught the wrist as it passed by, held it for a heartbeat while the two locked eyes, then twisted.
The assassin’s body followed involuntarily. Leo released him. The man stumbled straight into the charging warrior. They crashed together in a tangle of limbs and curses.
"Watch where you’re going!" the assassin muttered.
"You’re the one who got in my way," the warrior snapped back.
Leo chuckled. "You guys have amazing coordination. I’m impressed."
Their faces flushed. They recovered and attacked again. The warrior lunged. Leo slipped past the spear shaft, stepped inside its reach, and tapped the man’s helmet lightly with the flat of his sword.
Dong!
"Too slow," Leo said, still smiling.
A vein pulsed on the warrior’s forehead.
Leo’s agility was simply too high. They could not touch him. After a while the pure evasion began to bore him, so he deliberately let an assassin’s dagger strike his chest.
[-1 Dmg]
The assassin froze.
"...What?"
Leo looked down at the blade, then back up. "That tickled."
Silence fell across the clearing...
Even Kang Tae-oh narrowed his eyes.
Then Kang moved....
He activated invisibility and vanished.
Though classified as an assassin, he fought with a sword rather than daggers. The blade tore through the space where Leo’s chest had been a fraction of a second earlier.
Leo twisted away at the last possible moment. Kang only became visible when the edge of the sword nearly reached its target.
That was close, Leo realized. Without the extra agility and movement speed from the boots, that strike would have been fatal. A cold chill ran down his spine.
He decided to answer in kind.
Dark shadow flickered around him and he disappeared.
Kang’s eyes widened. Instinct screamed danger; he swung blindly behind himself. Steel met steel. Both men looked startled—one by the teleport-like movement, the other by the fact that the shadow lunge had been detected at all.
This guy is not to be taken lightly, Leo thought. I should keep an eye on him and avoid direct clashes for now.
He put distance between himself and Kang then returned to weaving through the rest of the group.
He still refused to land lethal blows. He was waiting for the rest of their reinforcements. Arrows, spears, and daggers continued to rain in.
Most missed.
Those that connected registered only single points of damage.
Frustration and horror grew on every face.
"Fuck, is this guy really a blacksmith?" the female archer demanded, loosing another arrow that Leo simply leaned away from.
"What kind of blacksmith is faster than an assassin and swings a sword that hard?" the assassin added, breathing hard.
Mana reserves were running low.
Everyone was already winded.
Kang Tae-oh watched his people struggle and finally sighed....
"Idiots. He’s wearing epic armor. He wasn’t wearing it before he disappeared. He’s also wearing epic-rank boots. And we were told he is a talented blacksmith."
He let the words settle. The group stared at him in silence.
"You still can’t connect the dots?" Kang’s disappointment was plain.
"The world announcement. The blacksmith every guild is looking for. It’s him."
Shock rippled through the clearing. They looked from Kang to Leo and back again. Even Leo looked momentarily stunned.
"Hey, what are you talking about? It’s not me. Haha... you seem to have some weird misconception. If I were that famous blacksmith, why would I still be out here?"
The more he tried to explain, the more suspicious he appeared to the others. With every word Leo spoke, the players surrounding him grew more certain that he was the one from the announcement—and that it was likely the truth.
At that exact moment the reinforcements arrived. Nearly thirty players now ringed the clearing.
Footsteps and shouted orders filled the air. The circle tightened.
New faces glared at Leo with a mixture of greed and hostility.
Some already had weapons drawn. Others were still activating skills, their bodies flickering with half-formed auras.
"Tsk. Hey Kang, you being an epic-class is just a scam. Why the hell is this guy still alive?"
"Trash epic class. Tsk." One of the newcomers spat the words into the dirt.
Anger flared in Kang’s chest, but he kept silent.
His eyes never left Leo.
The calculation behind them had already shifted from capture to containment. Too many variables. Too much unknown power.
The enlarged group began its assault. Leo’s expression shifted into a satisfied, almost villainous smile.
"Since all of you are here, you should receive my welcome gift."
He had already activated Primordial Trinity the moment the banter began.
For the full thirty seconds he had poured every scrap of mana into Gungnir, charging it to its absolute limit while the others argued and postured.
The energy had built inside him like a storm held behind glass—pressure rising, lightning gathering, the weight of something ancient and merciless coiling in his core.
Leo’s smile widened.
I wonder how many devil-energy points I’m about to gain. Hehe.
"Go die, motherfuckers! Hahahaha!"
"Gungnir’s Descent!"
The sky above the clearing went dim.
.....