Re-Awakened :I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner - Chapter 487

487: Reality sinking in 487: Reality sinking in “Knight’s Grace!” Noah shouted.

[KNIGHT’S GRACE ACTIVATED] [EQUIPPING…] The armor materialized around him in sections.

Chest plate forming first, void-infused metal wrapping around his torso.

Gauntlets covering his hands and forearms.

Greaves protecting his legs.

Shoulder guards completing the set.

The whole process took maybe two seconds, but the infected were thrown back by the sudden expansion of solid material where Noah’s body had been.

[VOID SHELL ACTIVE – 30% DAMAGE ABSORPTION] [ENHANCED VOID ENERGY REGENERATION ACTIVE] The tendrils hit the armor and recoiled like they’d touched fire.

They searched desperately for gaps, for exposed skin, but the Knight’s Grace coverage was complete.

Where the tendrils touched the void-infused metal, small sparks of purple energy erupted, the armor actively rejecting the parasitic intrusion.

Noah grabbed the woman’s arm with his now-gauntleted hand, broke her grip with strength enhanced by the armor, and threw her into the apprentice.

They crashed together, tumbled across the ground, the tendrils retracting back into her throat.

‘The armor’s rejecting the infection.

It can’t get through the void energy.’ The blacksmith charged, his enhanced speed making him faster than his bulk suggested.

His fist connected with Noah’s armored chest plate.

[-5 HP] The Void Shell rippled with energy, absorbing thirty percent of the impact.

What would have cracked ribs before just jarred Noah back a step.

He countered with a chi-enhanced fist to the blacksmith’s jaw, the armored gauntlet adding force to the blow.

The larger man’s head snapped back, blood spraying from his mouth.

[HEALTH: 3,443/3,520] ‘Better.

Much better.

I can work with this.’ The speedster came at him again, her enhanced movement blurring her form.

Her fist caught his armored side with tremendous force.

[-6 HP] The armor absorbed most of it.

Noah caught her follow-up punch with his gauntleted hand, twisted her arm, drove his armored knee into her midsection.

She folded over the impact, gasped-maybe the first sound of real pain he’d heard from any of them.

He threw her into a vendor stall, the wood splintering from the impact.

[HEALTH: 3,437/3,520] The stone-skinned man came at him, his defensive awakening making him nearly impervious to normal strikes.

Noah channeled dark chi through his armored fist and drove it into the man’s chest.

The combination of armor, chi, and void energy shattered the stone layer completely.

The man flew backward, crashed into a wall hard enough to crater the stone.

An infected with fire-based awakening tried his luck, flames engulfing Noah’s armored form.

The Knight’s Grace absorbed most of the heat, the Void Shell rippling as it dissipated the fire damage.

[-7 HP] Noah turned, released a burst of white chi that extinguished the flames and sent the fire-user stumbling.

He closed the distance, grabbed the man by the collar with his gauntleted hand, and threw him into a group of approaching infected.

Bodies scattered from the impact.

[HEALTH: 3,430/3,520] ‘The armor’s changing the fight.

I’m taking hits but the damage is manageable now.’ The electric-awakened tried again, arcs of current leaping toward Noah’s armored body.

The electricity danced across the void-infused metal, most of it dissipating harmlessly.

Some still got through the gaps, making his muscles spasm, but it was nothing like before.

[-4 HP] Noah grabbed the man’s wrist with his gauntleted hand, channeled dark chi to disrupt the electrical field, then drove his armored knee into the man’s ribs.

He felt them crack.

The electric-awakened dropped, his power flickering out.

[HEALTH: 3,426/3,520] More infected pressed in, but Noah was moving differently now.

The armor gave him confidence, let him take risks he couldn’t before.

He blinked into the center of a group, took their hits on his armored body while delivering chi-enhanced strikes that dropped them one by one.

[-8 HP] [-6 HP] [-5 HP] Each impact was absorbed partially by the Void Shell, the damage reduced enough that his regeneration could keep pace.

He was still losing health, but slowly now, sustainably.

[HEALTH: 3,407/3,520] ‘This is working.

But I still need to contain them, not just fight forever.’ His eyes swept the battlefield through his armored helm’s vision.

The blacksmith’s shop, its front wall destroyed, heavy chains visible through the wreckage.

‘Can’t kill them.

Can’t knock them out permanently.

But maybe I can restrain them.’ The apprentice charged at him.

Noah caught the young man’s arm with his armored hand, the gauntlet’s grip unbreakable.

He twisted, used momentum to spin him around, slammed him into the ground hard enough to crater stone.

[-7 HP] The blacksmith hit Noah from behind, a massive fist connecting with his armored back.

The Void Shell absorbed most of it, but the force still drove Noah forward a step.

[HEALTH: 3,400/3,520] Noah spun, caught the blacksmith’s follow-up punch in his gauntleted hand, and drove his other fist into the man’s midsection.

The armored strike, enhanced by both white and dark chi simultaneously, sent visible shockwaves through the blacksmith’s body.

He flew backward, crashed through what remained of a vendor stall.

Noah blinked to the destroyed blacksmith shop, grabbed two lengths of heavy chain.

Each one was maybe fifteen feet long, links as thick as his thumb.

He wrapped one around his armored forearm, the metal links clinking against his gauntlet.

The apprentice was already getting up, his injuries healing.

Noah was on him before he could fully stand.

He caught the young man’s arm, twisted it behind his back, then whipped the chain around his torso.

The links wrapped tight, pinning the apprentice’s arms to his sides.

Noah pulled it tighter, looped it again, secured it through itself.

The apprentice thrashed against the restraint.

The chain held.

The stone-skinned man charged, his defensive layer partially regenerated.

Noah sidestepped, grabbed more chain, caught the man’s arm as he passed.

He used the man’s momentum against him, spinning him around, wrapping chain around his torso in the same motion.

The man hit the ground, struggling against the iron links.

[-9 HP] The speedster caught Noah mid-chain work, her fist hitting his armored ribs.

The Void Shell absorbed the impact, but she was already gone, her speed making her hard to track.

[HEALTH: 3,391/3,520] Noah blinked behind her next rush, caught her in a rear hold with his armored arms.

She thrashed, her enhanced speed useless at this range.

He wrapped chain around her limbs, pulled it tight with his gauntleted hands, secured it before she could break free.

Three down.

The blacksmith was getting up again, moving faster than before despite accumulated damage.

The parasite was pushing its hosts harder, burning through their bodies to maintain combat effectiveness.

Noah grabbed more chain, fought his way through the remaining mob.

Blink, strike, wrap, secure.

His armored form made the process more efficient-he could take hits while working, could use his gauntleted strength to pull the chains tighter than before.

[-6 HP] [-8 HP] [-7 HP] An infected woman with enhanced strength grabbed his arm, her fingers finding purchase even on the armored gauntlet.

Noah broke her grip with a chi burst, dislocated her shoulder with a strike, then wrapped chain around her while she was recovering.

[HEALTH: 3,370/3,520] Six chained.

Then eight.

Ten.

The mob was thinning, the ones still mobile growing more desperate as their numbers decreased.

The blacksmith charged again, his enhanced speed and strength making him the most dangerous of the infected.

Noah met him head-on, armored gauntlets catching the larger man’s fists.

They exchanged blows, the impacts creating shockwaves, but Noah’s armor and chi gave him the edge.

He drove his fist into the blacksmith’s chest with everything he had-white chi reinforcing his body, dark chi amplifying the strike, the armor adding force and protection.

The blacksmith’s feet left the ground, his body flying backward to crash through the remains of a building wall.

Noah was on him before he could recover, chain already unwinding from his arm.

He wrapped it around the blacksmith’s torso, around his massive arms, around his legs.

Pulled it tight with his armored strength, looped it through itself multiple times.

The blacksmith thrashed, his enhanced strength making the chain groan, but it held.

[-5 HP] Fifteen chained now.

The remaining infected were backing away, their unified assault breaking apart.

The electric-awakened tried one last time, desperation making him reckless.

He grabbed Noah’s armored arm, discharged everything he had.

Current arced across the Knight’s Grace, the Void Shell sparking as it absorbed and dissipated the electricity.

[-8 HP] Noah grabbed the man’s wrist, used dark chi to short out his power completely, then threw him down.

He wrapped chain around the electric-awakened quickly, efficiently, moved on to the next target.

[HEALTH: 3,357/3,520] Twenty infected chained and immobilized.

The remaining dozen or so were moving differently now.

Not attacking, not even holding defensive positions.

They were backing away, all facing the same direction, their dark eyes still fixed on Noah but their bodies retreating.

‘What are they-‘ Then they turned and ran.

All of them, simultaneously, breaking away and sprinting in a unified direction.

Not scattering randomly, not fleeing in panic, but moving together with clear purpose.

Noah watched them go, his armored form standing among the chained infected and destroyed market.

‘They’re not running away.

They’re running TO something.

All the same direction, perfectly coordinated.

They’ve been fighting as a swarm this whole time, using numbers to overwhelm.

But now that I’m actually containing them, actually removing pieces from the board…’ He looked at the chained infected struggling against their restraints.

They were all facing the same direction the others had run.

Not trying to break free to attack him anymore, but straining against the chains as if trying to follow.

‘They’re protecting something.

Whatever’s controlling them realized I’m winning, so it’s pulling back.

Consolidating.

Defending.’ Noah took off after them, his armored boots pounding against stone.

The infected ran through the settlement, past buildings, through alleys.

He kept pace easily, the armor’s enhanced capabilities letting him maintain their speed.

They led him to the settlement’s edge, to abandoned structures and cracked stone.

And in the center of it all, a well.

Old construction, maybe eight feet across, wooden cover rotten with age and disuse.

The infected stopped twenty feet from the well, forming a loose semicircle.

Their dark eyes fixed on Noah as he approached in his void-infused armor.

Then they dropped.

All of them, simultaneously, collapsing like someone had cut their strings.

The black veins faded from their skin, their eyes returned to normal colors, and they lay there breathing but unconscious.

‘The parasite abandoned them.

Used them to lead me here, then discarded them when they’d served their purpose.

It’s not trying to fight anymore.

It’s…’ Noah approached the well slowly, his armored footsteps echoing in the sudden silence.

The unconscious infected didn’t move, didn’t react.

A smell hit him when he was maybe ten feet away.

Death, rot, decay, the kind of stench that came from organic matter breaking down in water.

It was overwhelming even through his armor, made his eyes water.

He reached the well, looked over the edge.

Footwear.

Dozens of pairs, maybe more, floating on the water’s surface.

Boots, shoes, sandals, all in various stages of decomposition.

And beneath them, partially visible through the murky water, shapes that might have been bodies.

‘How many people died here?

How long has this thing been feeding?’ [HOSTILE ENTITY DETECTED] [DISTANCE: 120 FEET] [DIRECTION: BELOW] Noah stared at the system notification, then at the well’s dark water.

His armored gauntlets clenched.

One hundred twenty feet.

The well couldn’t possibly be that deep naturally.

Which meant whatever was down there had dug deeper, had created space, had been here for a long time.

‘It’s not running.

It can’t run.

It’s rooted down there, and everything else-the infected, the attacks, all of it-was just defense.

It’s been protecting itself this whole time.’ The water began to ripple, subtle movements suggesting something large shifting beneath the surface.

The floating footwear started circling slowly, a pattern that had nothing to do with natural currents.

Noah took a breath, let white chi flow through his core beneath the armor, felt dark chi gathering at his gauntleted fingertips.

Whatever was down there, he was going to have to go get it.