Chapter 262: – Armor Vs Bear-Wolf.

Heavy Metal

“Awooo!”

The Bear Wolf howled and charged. Its massive paws hammered against the arena floor hard enough to shake the stone beneath them. Dust scattered behind it as the armored beast accelerated with terrifying speed.

The creature was even larger than Rusty remembered, and faster as well. Dark fur spilled between reinforced iron plates strapped across its body, while spikes lined parts of its back and neck. It was also under Bartholomew’s enhancing ability. Previously, the skill caused spikes to grow across the creature’s body, but now it simply made the existing ones thicker and more pronounced.

“Crush it!”

Bartholomew leaned low over the beast’s neck, gripping the spikes for support without needing reins. His body clung unnaturally to the massive frame, aided by the summoner rider skill.

The beast lunged forward, but Rusty did not move. The crowd held its breath as the giant construct planted his tower shield firmly into the stone floor. His metal boots slid back slightly as he prepared to take the charge without dodging.

“Is he really going to block that head on?”

“He’ll get flattened!”

“Even if it’s big, isn’t that creature just hollow armor?”

To the spectators, it made no sense. Although Rusty’s goliath form was enormous, it was still smaller than the Bear Wolf. Their weight difference should have been overwhelming. The beast was covered in armor and packed with muscle and fat, while Rusty’s frame was mostly hollow metal plates. Few believed he could stop a charging monster of that size. Even Bartholomew grinned confidently as the distance between them vanished in seconds. Then the collision came.

A thunderous crash exploded through the arena. Rusty’s shield dug into the stone floor as the Bear Wolf slammed into it with enough force to crack the tiles beneath them. The impact unleashed a violent shockwave that swept dust outward in every direction.

A protective barrier flashed around the arena to shield the students from harm, while a dense cloud of dust blocked everyone’s view. It took several moments for the dust to settle. At first, the students could only make out two blurry shapes locked together in the center of the arena. The Bear Wolf continued pushing forward with all its might. Its jaws clamped onto the massive shield while all four legs strained against the ground.

“What?”

“It can’t move him?”

Bartholomew’s confident grin vanished when Rusty refused to budge. The ground around them had cracked, and marks from scraping metal boots cut through the stone, but only for a few meters. Then, to everyone’s growing shock, Rusty started moving forward.

His boots slammed into the ground with heavy, thunderous steps, as if he weighed more than a ton. Each step cracked the arena floor, making him seem far heavier than his frame should have allowed. The Bear Wolf’s muscles tensed as it dug its claws into the stone, but after a brief struggle, it slowly began losing the contest of strength.

“The armor is overpowering the bear wolf!”

“Only the Metal Maiden could do such a thing!”

While people thought Rusty stood a chance, they believed he would win through superior tactics or by using weapons against a beast-type opponent. Instead, he was overpowering it through sheer force. With his shield still in hand, he pulled it back for a moment before stepping in and slamming it against the bear wolf’s head, forcing the creature to recoil.

“Go Rusty!”

Astrella shouted as the battle began shifting in their favor. Bartholomew clicked his tongue and struck the beast’s hardened plates.

“Don’t lose to a pile of scrap! Strengthen your defenses and use your claws!”

The bear wolf roared. Mana surged through its body as the metal plates covering its frame glowed faintly red. Its muscles swelled, and its paws dug deeper into the shattered arena floor. Cracks spread outward like spiderwebs while its claws extended, growing larger and sharper.

The creature lunged again, but this time Rusty did not simply endure the attack. He dashed sideways with surprising speed for someone of his massive size. His dash step skill could still be used in this Goliath form. Though slower than usual, it was still fast enough for him to appear at the bear wolf’s flank and ram his shield into it with all his strength.

“GUOH!”

“W-what?”

Bartholomew, along with everyone else, stared in shock. They had never seen Rusty use such a skill before. The impact from the shield bash sent ripples through the bear wolf’s armored plates and shook its internal organs through the reinforced hide.

The bear wolf staggered sideways from the blow, its massive body skidding across the arena floor. Chunks of stone flew into the air as one of its armored legs lost footing for a brief moment. The students watching from above erupted into stunned shouts.

“He sent it flying!”

“That was a direct shield bash!”

“How is that armor so heavy and still so fast!?”

The crowd was stunned, but this was a fighting style Rusty had been refining for some time. It combined his weight-increasing skill with his dash step. In his current form, he weighed several tons, but while the weight enhancement was active, rapid movement became nearly impossible. To move at high speed, he needed to reduce his weight back to normal first. The weakness of the technique was obvious, but unless someone struck him in the middle of the transition, he remained relatively safe.

Rusty gave the beast no time to recover. The instant his shield connected, he followed with a sweeping strike from his halberd. The oversized blade carved through the air and slammed into the creature’s side, exposing its underbelly once more. Even after evolving, its weakness remained unchanged.

Lightning cracked along his enchanted halberd as he gave the attack everything he had. Gwen reinforced his mana reserves, and thanks to his recent upgrade, he had no trouble moving away from his summoner, even at distances greater than a hundred meters.

A violent burst of lightning exploded across the bear wolf’s exposed stomach the instant the enchanted blade connected. Blue arcs of electricity spread through the beast’s armored body, crawling over the metal plates strapped to its fur before surging through every part of it.

“AHHHh!”

Riding a summon enhanced a summoner’s abilities, but the mind merger skill also carried serious drawbacks. The moment the lightning spread through the bear wolf, Bartholomew felt the full force of it through their connection. The shock overwhelmed him, and the mind merger collapsed. The beast immediately began shrinking, its massive frame reducing in size while the spikes covering its body became far less pronounced.

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Bartholomew gasped for air as the mental connection snapped apart. Sweat poured down his face, and he nearly slipped from the bear wolf’s back. The backlash from the broken synchronization struck hard enough to leave him dizzy.

“What happened!?”

“He forced the merge apart!”

“No, the lightning did it!”

The students shouted over one another while the beast stumbled across the shattered arena floor. Smoke rose from its armored hide, and sparks danced across the metal plates fused to its body. Its movements had become sluggish and uneven.

Normally, Rusty would have pressed the attack immediately. He had learned long ago that giving an enemy time to recover was a mistake. This time, however, he held back. He wanted to test the newest skill he had acquired on his stunned opponent. He stretched out his hand and felt a massive amount of mana surge through him as he activated the skill known as Penumbra Chains.

Gray mist spread from beneath Rusty’s armored feet like liquid shadow spilling across the arena floor. At first, it looked harmless, little more than smoke drifting outward. Then chains of twilight burst from the haze without warning.

The chains moved faster than anyone expected. They slithered across the arena floor like living shadows before snapping upward around the bear wolf’s legs and torso.

“Awooo!?”

The beast roared in alarm as the dark bindings wrapped around its body with loud metallic clanks. The twilight colored chains tightened instantly, forcing the massive creature to a halt.

“What is that now!?”

“Another skill?”

“That armor keeps pulling out new abilities!”

Students leaned over the railings while the professors observing from above narrowed their eyes with interest. Even Syber, who had remained quiet throughout the match, straightened slightly from the pillar he had been leaning against.

The bear wolf struggled violently. Its claws dug into the floor while its muscles bulged beneath the armored plating. The chains trembled under the strain, but they held. Then, just as the skill description had promised, they began to glow, absorbing both vital and magical energy from their target.

“Hm…”

Rusty stood there, staring at his status window. He had taken a few points of damage from the initial clash, but not much. The skill slowly restored his health, though the mana transference was minimal. At its current level, the skill was far from cost-effective, yet both his HP and MP were still increasing.

‘I need to train it later, but for now… let’s finish this!’

The goliath frame charged forward with heavy steps that shook the arena. Before Bartholomew could regain his focus, Rusty slammed his shield into the bear wolf once more. The impact sent the beast crashing sideways and threw the rider from its back. The chains began to dissolve, but even without them, Rusty still had the advantage.

“Damn it, not again!”

Bartholomew tried to grab one of the spikes, tearing his hand open in the process as he refused to give up. Rusty paid him no attention. He activated all of his enhancement skills and unleashed a relentless barrage of slashes and thrusts into the exposed belly of the beast. Even when the summoner poured mana into healing the wounds, the damage came too quickly and with too much force. Before long, the bear wolf dissolved into streams of glowing mana.

The creature released one final pained howl before its body broke apart completely. Shimmering particles drifted upward like fireflies before vanishing against the barrier above the arena. Silence swept through the stands for a brief moment. Then the entire B1 section erupted into cheers.

“SHE WON!”

“The Metal Maiden crushed him!”

“Did you see that shield bash!?”

Astrella jumped into the air while both fairies circled around her excitedly.

“I told you! Rusty is unbeatable!”

Even Syber pushed himself away from the column and gave a small nod of approval. Bartholomew dropped heavily to one knee while clutching his chest. Sweat dripped from his face onto the cracked arena floor. The disappearance of his summon had clearly drained a massive amount of mana.

Rusty slowly lowered his halberd and considered the battle. Before, this opponent had been far stronger, but now he had handled him without much trouble. The combination of his evolved body, upgraded skills, and increased mana reserves had elevated him to an entirely different level.

His new skill, Penumbra Chains, still needed work, but with Gwen lending him mana, he could probably use it to restrain other creatures as well. The activation was slow, but once the chains appeared, they moved with frightening speed. Even the massive bear wolf had been unable to break free, proving the skill was effective against powerful monsters.

His visor shifted away from his defeated opponent as he turned around. His body changed once more, returning to its regular form. Then he walked toward Gwen, the small summoner waiting at the far end of the arena. Tears were already beginning to form in her eyes again, so he did the usual thing he had seen humanoids do whenever children started crying.

“There, there.”

His metallic hand rested on Gwen’s head as he gently patted it. The moment he did, her expression shifted from sadness to surprise.

“I... I’m not a child...”

She sniffed softly, and Rusty pulled his hand away once he saw his technique had worked.

“But you act like some of the ones I know. Are you sure?”

“Hey... I’m sure!”

Gwen raised her voice at him, though her frown quickly melted into a smile. Before she could say anything else, Astrella suddenly tackled her from behind.

“Hey, don’t leave me out, you two!”

Gwen stumbled forward as Astrella wrapped both arms dramatically around her shoulders.

“You disappeared for so long! Do you know how worried we were!?”

“Astrella, I can’t breathe...”

The green-haired girl squeezed even tighter.

“It wasn’t my intention to take so long...”

“Well, you still took way too long!”

Astrella replied to Rusty without hesitation, catching him slightly off guard. In the past, he had only really been able to communicate through Gwen, which had always been frustrating.

“Oh? You can hear me, too?”

“Of course. They taught us how to communicate with other summoner spirits. You would’ve known that if you were here!”

Rusty had no idea how it worked, though he did not particularly care. At least now he would not have to rely on Gwen to speak with Astrella anymore.

“But your voice... it sounds very... Rusty. Just like I imagined it!”

“It does?”

He was not entirely sure what she meant by that. His visor shifted toward the other fairy floating around her head. Airy was green, but this one was blue. It radiated a different kind of mana, one that reminded him of the sunken mine.

“Oh, this is Biry. Say hi to Rusty, Biry.”

The water fairy smiled and fluttered forward alongside Airy. The two circled around him for a moment before returning to their master.

“Biry? Did you just replace the first letter...?”

Astrella puffed out her cheeks proudly while the tiny blue fairy crossed her arms with an offended expression.

“Biry is a perfectly good name!”

“See?”

Astrella pointed dramatically at the fairy.

“Even she agrees!”

Rusty stared at the tiny spirit floating in front of him. Then his visor shifted toward Airy. He understood the humanoid alphabet well enough to immediately see the naming pattern.

“I told her it was a stupid name.”

The final member of the trio finally stepped forward. Syber was slightly taller than before, and he seemed far less withdrawn. Rusty could never have imagined him approaching on his own and casually joining a conversation like this, but now he looked completely comfortable around Gwen and Astrella.

“If there’s a third fairy, will her name be... Ciry?”

Syber did not answer. Instead, he smirked, which instantly set Astrella off.

“What’s with that smirk? I saw it, you bastard!”

She let go of Gwen and immediately turned her attention to Syber instead. Looking furious, she tried to kick his shin, but the summoner easily stepped back, causing her to stumble forward. Before she could fall flat on her face, he caught the back of her clothes and held her upright.

The girl squirmed around in protest. Once she did, Syber finally let go, allowing her to drop, though far more gently than she probably would have previously. Rusty was finally back with his first summoner. As he watched the group bicker in front of him, he could only wonder how this quest with these oddballs was going to turn out.