Arthur's Knight Armor, Ready to Eat

Chapter 10: Arthur's Knight Armor = Ready-to-Eat

Not far from Arthur's remains, a complete set of metal armor lay scattered on the ground.

If Arthur hadn't perished in the initial assault, he would have re-donned this Knight Armor after the princess was captured and charged towards the Demon King's Castle once more.

Now, Arthur was dead. The Knight Armor, along with all the other fallen soldiers, should have been buried within the Demon King's Castle, lost to the Human World along with the identical armor prepared to aid future heroes. However, as Cheng Tian approached, the lifeless Knight Armor seemed to be injected with a surge of vitality and was fully activated!

It first disassembled itself by part, and then, just like in the opening animation of Saint Seiya, it precisely fitted onto Cheng Tian in the order of equipment from feet to head.

Even though the armor was originally sized for Arthur's relatively short stature, it self-extended during its flight, finally outfitting Cheng Tian into a standard medieval-style knight.

[Knight Armor: Green Excellent/Lv1, Full Body Armor, Special Equipment, Occupies 6 major equipment slots: Head, Chest, Hands, Waist, Pants, Shoes. Equipment Requirement: Arthur's Proof/Strength 12. Absolute Durability 1/1.

Knight Armor can withstand 1 instance of any damage of any intensity. After the damage is nullified, the armor will completely shatter and forcibly eject the user backward at least 3 meters, simultaneously granting the "Phase Shift" status for 3 seconds.]

If you disregard the damage nullification, the armor's effect is almost identical to Cheng Tian's current "Damage Dodge" template skill.

With expert control, this thing could even achieve "nitro acceleration," using the knockback mechanism after being hit to skip certain fixed obstacles.

However, the most troublesome and unique aspect of this armor lies in its damage mitigation.

It could block a zombie's slap, and it could also block the Star Destroyer Cannon... finding an opportunity to let it block a Star Destroyer Cannon would feel more cost-effective.

Furthermore, this thing occupied too many equipment slots. If Cheng Tian hadn't been going into battle naked, he wouldn't have worn it.

Considering the existence of the Vampire Magician from the Great Demon World Village, perhaps there were higher-level Knight Armors elsewhere that could allow one to cast magic.

"Bro... friend, that full Knight Armor of yours is pretty cool~~"

Seeing Cheng Tian return fully armed, One-Ear, who had just recovered, instinctively wanted to start with "buddy," but the experience of having an ear pierced made him instantly change his tune after uttering just one word, a classic case of "once bitten, twice shy."

"Good thing this thing has an inner lining, otherwise I couldn't wear it at all."

Cheng Tian said, tapping the armor until it clanged loudly.

He recalled trying out full-contact medieval combat clubs out of curiosity, experiencing the feeling of swinging a chain hammer while wearing a full set of armor.

He had to say, it was quite awkward, especially when wearing a helmet with a face mask full of vertical slits. The vision was more restricted than a motorcycle helmet, and the inability to see anything but the view directly ahead made Cheng Tian feel very uneasy.

Now he understood why Arthur in the game always had his face mask up... closing it made it impossible to see the road.

"Hey, you, can you still walk?"

After a brief exchange with One-Ear, Cheng Tian asked Phone Bro, whose bloodstains on his clothes had already turned blackish-red.

The young man hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.

The datafication of his body allowed him to stop bleeding rapidly after combat, and theoretically, he could still exert his body's data panel values. However, the actual reduction in health and flesh was undeniable, something that was incredibly difficult for a city kid who had rarely suffered hardship to endure.

So, while shaking his head, he harbored a faint hope that Cheng Tian, who had proactively asked the question, would offer some form of assistance.

However, the reality was...

"Oh, then good luck, I'm leaving now."

Under the young man's stunned gaze, Cheng Tian, with an indifferent expression, turned around smoothly and departed.

Cheng Tian actually had a strong sense of team spirit. He was the type who, even in games like Plague Inc., Dark Tide, or Left 4 Dead, would risk danger to save his cyber teammates, even if it didn't affect the final score. He would save them even if they were just AI bots.

But this college student, who had acted rashly and foolishly, was clearly not within Cheng Tian's definition of a cyber teammate.

As Cheng Tian passed One-Ear, he paused slightly, their eyes met for a moment, and then he continued striding forward with his long legs.

One-Ear was actually quite good. He had courage and combat ability, and he didn't falter at critical moments. But considering he clearly had a connection with the foolish younger student, Cheng Tian naturally wouldn't say anything to deliberately disrupt their unity. He would simply leave the choice to One-Ear.

Whether to follow him and attempt to push the main quest, or stay here to wait for his classmate to die.

On the principle of not wasting anything, Cheng Tian also collected all the white-board equipment that the Green Skin had previously sold off to the novice players. Since the original owners were dead, he figured he might as well take them.

A wooden club from Streets of Rage, a small demon-slaying knife from Journey to the West: The Great Sage's Fury, a straight sword from Chinese Paladin, and a two-handed hammer from SD Final Fight.

Cheng Tian stuffed all four of these weapons into his inventory.

It was worth mentioning that the inventory of a Chosen Player basically followed the hero template of Warcraft. It only had 6 slots, but unlike Diablo or Resident Evil 4, you didn't have to play Tetris in your inventory. Each slot could hold a category of items.

This also aligned with Cheng Tian's initial guess about the Green Skin only bringing out five pieces of equipment to sell.

Although they were all white-board weapons, in this current situation of being completely broke as a novice, Cheng Tian wasn't going to let go of even the smallest gains.

Moreover, for Cheng Tian, who was currently under a dual protagonist template, these white-board weapons actually had other uses.

The graveyard's area was much larger than what was displayed in the game, but finding the exit wasn't difficult.

Using the moonlight that peeked through the passing clouds, Cheng Tian could see a dense forest in the distance and the faint outline of a river. That was most likely the direction of the first gate to the Demon King's Castle.

Additionally, also in that direction, Cheng Tian spotted some Red-Eyed Crows perched on withered trees, and some Man-eating Flowers growing around the tombstones. They writhed like animals, their size almost comparable to the tombstones, and when they opened their mouths, one could see sharp teeth like those of a lamprey.

Normally, where there were monsters, that was the correct path, at least in Demon World Village.

Man-eating Flowers were killer plants mutated by magic. As soon as they detected the scent of humans, they would open their mouths and spit out black fireballs condensed from evil magic to attack their targets.

They didn't eat people; they only killed them. They were distributed like stationary turrets on the mandatory path leading to the graveyard's exit.

Since they were stationary turrets with limited attack range, they could also be avoided by taking a detour.

...But Cheng Tian refused to!

A projectile whizzed through the air, precisely stabbing into the mouth of a wide-mouthed Man-eating Flower. It was Cheng Tian's Gentleman's Cane, which he could use to cast polymorph spells.

Strangely, an identical cane was still held in Cheng Tian's hand.

At the same time, the cane that hit the Man-eating Flower exploded on the spot, and with a soft "bang," the Man-eating Flower transformed into a green monster duck with plant roots attached to its rear!