Chapter 128: Retribution (2)

Once again, Terrence met the floor for the second time. But this time, the crash was infinitely harsher, as he simply didn’t have enough time to brace for the heavy impact.

A crucial delay on the activation of the Iron Skin Skill Shared by Noir didn’t save him in time. Facing the ground with searing pain radiating all over his body, he found himself entirely unable to get back up on his knees.

’If only I am allowed to use my contracted beasts in public...’ he thought bitterly through his blood-soaked mouth. But then, he suddenly paused, a realization striking his mind: why on earth did he still feel compelled to follow the law this time?

Although summoning beasts indoors in a public setting without authorization was completely illegal, why should he even care anymore if he had already blatantly stolen the Peak A-Rank Beast Core right in front of everyone?

Grinning like a madman while raw pain surged all over his battered frame, he made his ultimate decision.

He rolled away violently from Irad’s trajectory and smoothly managed to plant his knees back on the shattered wooden floor. Then, slowly raising his trembling body while his pale skin took on a dark, metallic sheen, he successfully activated the Iron Skin Skill.

Ignoring all the floating notifications popping up from the system interface, he summoned Noir and Avery right on the spot.

A blinding flash of summoning light erupted inside the grand hall. Klein and Irad’s eyes widened in utter surprise as they saw that Terrence truly didn’t give a damn about summoning his beasts in a public setting.

Irad smirked a second later, cracking his neck left and right as he stretched his thick limbs, utterly stripping away any remaining facade of being a refined gentleman.

Now, the raw thrill of a life-or-death fight surged wildly within his body as he fully activated a full-body armament derived directly from his beast.

[Your enemy activated Jumbo Golden Gorilla’s Skill, Whole Body Ancient Armor.]

In an instant, Irad was fully encased in an ancient, menacing suit of heavy armor that looked as though it were pulled straight out of an old European fantasy novel.

It clearly hailed from an ancient civilization, with its design reflecting that exact brutal, majestic era.

A heavy golden helmet completely covered his entire face, leaving only a narrow, menacing horizontal gap for his eyes to see through. Every single joint was protected by flexible, intricately detailed jointed plates, while golden metallic elements materialized out of raw light. Fully protected and heavily enhanced, Irad stood like an immovable fortress.

[Using Beast Supplier Stage 3 Authority.]

[You can now determine your enemy’s Skills depending on their rarity. The rarer the Skill or Beast, the more difficult it will be to determine its details.]

Terrence’s dark eyes flickered with a strange mixture of joy and violent thrill. He instantly returned his sharp gaze back onto Irad, who was already flying straight toward him with his full body armor glowing with dangerous kinetic power.

This time, Terrence didn’t even bother to raise his forearms to brace against the incoming impact. Because why would he?

He had the absolute protection of his contracted beasts at his total disposal.

Within a tiny frame of a second, Avery opened its jaw and beamed a short, targeted burst of Dragon’s Breath. It wasn’t fully condensed into a lethal beam, acting more like a torrent of white-hot flamethrower energy. However, the sheer concussive heat was more than enough to completely break Irad’s airborne balance.

Before Irad could make physical contact with Terrence, his flying trajectory was violently altered. He went tumbling sideways, falling hard off the wooden platform and crashing straight back down into the lower seating level meant for bidders.

He hissed in fury from deep inside his golden helmet, his eyes darting through the visor slot with pure hostility toward Terrence.

[Your enemy used Gauntlet Gorilla.]

Irad pushed himself up and rushed back onto the stage with terrifying speed. But this time, he didn’t target the tamer; he aimed his heavy fist straight at one of the beasts instead.

Noir was his primary target. Just as Irad expected, Avery immediately opened her maw to send another white flame burst to cover her ally.

However, instead of letting the fire hit Irad, Noir took the spatial positioning damage as Irad executed an instantaneous dodge around the flames.

Thankfully, Noir was completely safe—just in the nick of time, the dark beast had activated its own Iron Skin, allowing the stray heat to slide harmlessly off its reinforced hide.

Terrence then launched himself straight at Irad, utilizing his own active Iron Skin as his main offensive defense. Executing a rapid Triple Slash, he sought to send Irad flying backward and inflict severe blunt trauma. Yet, to Terrence’s surprise, Irad absorbed the strikes and seemed perfectly fine behind his golden plating.

Terrence stopped his movement for a brief second, slightly confused by the absurd defense, but he refused to give up his momentum. He continued furiously hacking away while Irad simply braced his heavy shoulders against the relentless metallic slashes.

During this short period while Irad was fully occupied with Terrence’s assault, Avery seized the perfect opportunity, channeling her power to unleash the Smash Skill!

A massive, glowing light imagery of a phantom dragon’s paw slammed violently down on top of Irad, pressing him directly into the hard floor of the cemented lower level. Spider-web cracks instantly formed and spread across the concrete under the sheer, unnatural pressure.

Irad was now caught in an excruciating, double-layered bind. He was forced to continuously brace against the endless Triple Slashes Terrence launched, which seemed to come in an unlimited barrage—as if Terrence didn’t suffer from fatigue or mana exhaustion at all from overusing Skill Share.

Terrence genuinely looked as though he didn’t care about the severe physical tolls of constant Skill Share whatsoever.

At the exact same time, Irad was also struggling against the crushing heavy gravity and blunt weight of Avery’s continuous Smash Skill.

"Just... how many absurd aces do you have hidden up your sleeve?!" Irad groaned in painful complaint, his voice muffled by the metal helmet as he gathered every single bit of his remaining physical strength to break free from the overlapping Skills barraging his body.

Channeling every ounce of raw power left in his golden suit, he forcefully tore himself out of the crater, escaping the dual suppression. However, he was now visibly panting, completely lost as to how he could successfully defeat Terrence in a drawn-out battle.

Feeling desperation creep into his heart, Irad desperately looked over toward Klein’s direction, silently delivering an urgent plea for assistance.

Terrence immediately noticed the subtle head turn. Just as he had expected from the beginning, Klein was never his true friend or ally. He should have known better from the start, considering how the young man had mysteriously appeared out of nowhere just to recruit him.

Although Terrence was somewhat grateful for a few rare rewards and achievements he had unlocked with Klein’s indirect help, it was all merely part of a larger, calculated scheme he had been running.

"Klein...!" Irad barked through his helmet, calling out to the young man who was simply standing there watching the fight like a cold observer, seemingly calculating his next move.

However, Klein didn’t answer Irad’s frantic call at all. Instead, his expression remained entirely blank as he slowly turned his body around.

With a look of utter surprise and the sudden realization that his last chance at winning had just vanished, Irad shouted the name once again, his voice cracking with desperation.

"Klein!"

But Klein simply kept walking away, completely ignoring him as he disappeared through the wide exit doors.

Now, inside the ruined, quiet hall, there was no one left—only Terrence and Irad.