Chapter 77: Toxic to the Core (2/2)

Marni could only sigh again.

“Well, you brought this upon yourselves.” As though refusing to defend himself, he laid down both hands. Then he whispered, “I’m Iron Man.”

Next instant, red and gold armor plating flew in out of nowhere, assembling themselves upon Marni’s body with resounding clangs, forming a full-body suit of metal armor!

This startling development left the attackers stunned. Even the one commanding them, not far away, was gaping in shock. Then, he was looking upon Marni’s armor with undisguised greed.

“Jarvis!” Marni called out, and his spirit wreathed the armor in an ethereal blue glow, the light shining from the seams between the armor plates.

This was something amusing that Marni had discovered through experimentation: If a Spirit Swordsman progressed down the Evil Blade skill tree, their spirit would attach itself to their weapon, enhancing the damage done with their skills.

And yet, here and there were Swordsman skills which involved foregoing the blade to attack enemies bare-handed. One key example was ‘Shoulder Throw’, which was available at Level 3.

If no sword was equipped, what would that spirit enhancement technique do? The answer was that it would be applied upon one’s armor, if that could somehow be perceived as a ‘weapon’! This greatly augmented the properties of the armor—and when using Brawling skills such as Shoulder Throw, the damage would be greatly increased as well!

This was the personal configuration which Marni had arrived at through his own initiative. It might also be worth mentioning that when he first formed a pact with his spirit, ‘Jarvis’ was a name suggested by the system, and since he thought it sounded alright, he’d kept it.

“Iron Palm! Meteor Slam! Dragon’s Fang! Ora-ora-ora-ora-ora! You’re already dead!”

With frightening speed, the red-and-gold armored figure unleashed a series of attacks upon the hobos leading the charge. Their leader only saw Marni’s fists as a blur, a storm of shadows, and then the men closing in around Marni exploded in a shower of blood!

Marni was one of many players who had come from a similarly humble background as their adversaries. It was precisely because of that, that they understood how precious their new lives were. They wouldn’t let anyone take it from them just for the sake of a bit of pity, and struck down the oncoming vagrants without hesitation.

Both sides had barely made contact for a moment, and the enemy forces had already suffered grievous losses.

Not even the bodyguards, for all their fancy equipment, were any match for the players. One could tell that they’d been well-trained, but they little experience with real combat. The players, hardened by actual life-or-death battles, made short work of them.

“Wait, you can’t kill me… I can give you money…” The leader of the pursuers had finally realized the gravity of his situation. Seeing that his pleas were falling upon deaf ears, he turned to flee, but Marni easily pinned him down.

Knowing there was no escape for him now, he roared furiously at Marni. “Just you wait… my father will avenge my death!” With these words, his body expanded rapidly, like a balloon.

Sensing danger, Marni tried to get away, but when the man’s body exploded, if not for the full-face mask he was wearing, he’d be splattered all over with black blood.

“Well I’ll be… I didn’t judge him capable of such viciousness,” Marni muttered soberly.

Having mopped up the last of their opponents, Ivan walked over and took a look at Marni. “Eh, why is your health falling?” he wondered aloud.

“What? Holy crap! When did I get poisoned? Ahh… that guy was toxic to the core! Damn it, I’m dead again…”

Before he could finish that last thought, Marni keeled over to the ground.