Free Web NovelChapter 15: Face-Slapping the Gargoyle and the Citadel’s Forge
The ten-foot-tall Gargoyle Elite roared, the sound waves vibrating the shattered remains of the penthouse glass. Its stone muscles bulged as it flexed its leathery wings. It ignored Yoo Ji-a’s humming spear and Han Chae-won’s defensive stance. Its single-minded focus was on Han Seo-yoon, the platinum-blonde heiress kneeling on the floor.
’Swoosh.!’
The beast lunged forward, its obsidian claws tearing through the air with enough physical force to rend a tank’s hull.
"Min-jae!" Seo-yoon cried out, her large sapphire eyes wide with instinctual terror. She tried to reach for her golden bow, but her limbs were frozen from exhaustion.
Min-jae didn’t pull his blade. He simply took half a step forward, sliding his body directly between the lunging monster and the trembling heiress. He stood with his chest completely exposed, a cold, mocking smirk on his lips.
’Crash.!’
The Gargoyle’s razor-sharp claws struck Min-jae squarely in the center of his chest. The kinetic impact generated a sharp shockwave that blew the plush rugs backward.
But the stone claws didn’t pierce his skin. The moment they made contact, a blinding, blood-red and golden ripple erupted from Min-jae’s flesh. The SSS-Rank passive Vajra Retribution - Absolute Counter triggered instantly.
[Received 1,200 points of Calamity-Rank Physical Damage.]
[SSS-Rank Talent Active: ’Eternal Vajra Deity Body’ — Damage negated completely.]
[SSS-Rank Passive Active: ’Vajra Retribution’ triggers 150% True Damage reflection!]
[Reflecting 1,800 points of True Damage to the Gargoyle Elite!]
Boomm.!
A horrific, invisible counter-force exploded outward from Min-jae’s chest. It didn’t strike the Gargoyle’s exterior stone hide; instead, the 1,800 points of True Damage materialized directly inside the monster’s internal organs and skeletal structure.
The Gargoyle Elite didn’t even have time to register confusion.
With a sickening crunch of fracturing stone, its entire upper torso disintegrated from the inside out. Shards of gray stone, dark corrupted blood, and chunks of marrow exploded backward, peppering the marble floors of the penthouse. Its massive wings snapped off, its lower legs collapsing forward into a pile of dissolving gray ash.
[You have eliminated the Level 10 Gargoyle Elite!]
[Gained 900 EXP! You have leveled up! You are now Level 6!]
[Gained 10 Free Attribute Points.]
The penthouse fell into a dead, suffocating silence.
Seo-yoon sat frozen, her lips parted slightly as she stared at the pile of ash resting exactly two inches away from Min-jae’s boots. Her mind completely short-circuited. She had watched her family’s entire elite security squad— men armed with heavy mana rifles— get torn to shreds by this very beast. Yet, the handsome young man standing before her hadn’t even raised a hand. He had simply let the monster strike him, and the monster had literally committed suicide by touching him.
[Subordinate ’Han Seo-yoon’s Trust/Loyalty Metric has exploded to 85%!]
[Target’s soul signature is completely captivated by your invincible presence.]
"T-This is impossible..." Seo-yoon whispered, her voluptuous chest heaving as she looked up at Min-jae with a gaze filled with deep reverence. "You... you didn’t even move."
"I told you," Min-jae said, turning around slowly. He reached down, his strong grip wrapping around her slender waist as he effortlessly pulled her up to her feet. The shredded silk of her designer dress shifted, brushing against his leg. "In my presence, nothing can harm you. Clean yourself up, princess. We have work to do."
Seo-yoon’s face flushed a brilliant crimson, her sapphire eyes locked onto his chest, which didn’t even have a single rip in the fabric. "Yes... Min-jae."
Ji-a stepped forward, sheathing her crescent spear with a sharp click. She scanned Seo-yoon’s voluptuous curves with a slight, territorial narrow of her violet eyes, but seeing the absolute submission in the heiress’s face, she let out a soft huff. "She’s loyal now. That’s all that matters. Min-jae, what about the Sovereign Command Core?"
"Chae-won, deploy the core," Min-jae commande.
"Right away!" Chae-won ran to the center of the lounge, pulling the silver-and-black cube from her infinite void. She placed it onto the central glass table.
[ Activating SSS-Rank Sovereign Command Core: ’The Iron Citadel’.]
[Integrating with Lotte World Tower floors 100 through 123... Integration complete!]
’Voom.!’
A deep, low-frequency hum resonated through the very structural bones of the skyscraper. The shattered glass windows along the perimeter suddenly glowed with a faint, iridescent golden-crimson matrix before reforming into flawless, hyper-reinforced celestial glass. The internal walls shifted, the concrete rewriting itself into sleek, matte-black void alloy plates adorned with glowing geometric security runes.
At the far end of the penthouse, a massive, double-winged blast door materialized, hummed, and slid open, revealing a hidden, vast chamber bathed in intense purple and silver light.
[The Iron Citadel Facility Unlocked: ’Evolutionary Forge’ (Rank SSS).]
[Current Core Function: Allows the user to execute batch-evolutions on low-tier items or execute targeted talent mutations using system materials.]
Min-jae walked straight into the forge chamber, his heavy boots echoing on the black alloy flooring. Ji-a, Chae-won, and a wide-eyed Seo-yoon followed closely behind him. In the center of the room stood a massive, hovering anvil of liquid obsidian energy, surrounded by floating rings of cosmic fire.
"Seo-yoon, give me your bow," Min-jae ordered, turning his gaze to the platinum-blonde beauty.
"Here," she said quickly, placing the glowing golden bow into his hands. Her fingers brushed against his, a small shiver running down her spine at his touch.
Min-jae placed the bow onto the floating obsidian anvil. His hidden system cheat immediately interfaced with the Citadel’s forge mechanics.
[Detecting Rank-S Weapon: ’Artemis’s Radiant Gale’.]
[Citadel Forge Protocol Active! Scanning hidden compatibility...]
[Hidden Weapon Evolution Path]: Evolve to Rank-SSS Sub-Divine Growth Artifact: ’Stellar Void Annihilator’. Removes all physical drop constraints. Arrows fired will automatically trace target’s soul signature through physical structures. (Cost: 20,000 Mana Crystals).
"Twenty thousand crystals," Min-jae muttered. Thanks to Chae-won’s massive haul from Corporate Depot Alpha, their current pool sat well over 30,000 units. "Chae-won, dump the crystals into the forge."
"On it!" Chae-won waved her hand, releasing a massive mountain of glowing blue mana crystals straight into the cosmic fire surrounding the anvil.
Crack.!
The forge erupted in a brilliant column of silver and violet plasma. The golden bow melted, its framework absorbing the raw spatial essence of the crystals, reshaping into a sleek, terrifying longbow constructed from dark celestial silver and pulsing void crystal cores. The bowstring didn’t exist physically; instead, a taut line of pure, crackling violet cosmic energy hummed between the crescent tips.
[Evolution Success! Weapon upgraded to Rank-SSS (Sealed): ’Stellar Void Annihilator’!]
Min-jae grabbed the pristine, heavy bow from the forge and handed it back to Seo-yoon. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
The moment her fingers wrapped around the handle, a violent wave of starlight energy shot up her arms. Her voluptuous body was lifted slightly off the floor, her platinum hair flying wildly as her S-rank talent began to warp under the weapon’s secondary resonance field.
[Warning! Target ’Han Seo-yoon’ is undergoing a secondary talent evolution due to weapon synergy!]
[Evolving Talent to Rank-SSS: ’Primordial Goddess of the Stellar Hunt’!]
"Ah...!" Seo-yoon gasped, her head tilting back as her eyes flared with a brilliant, sapphire starlight. The raw power flooding her soul was immense, her baseline agility and intelligence attributes quadrupling in a matter of seconds. When she dropped back to her feet, her skin radiated an ethereal, flawless glow, her presence completely transformed from a vulnerable heiress into a lethal cosmic predator.
"Test it," Min-jae said, pointing toward the massive floor-to-ceiling celestial glass window overlooking the northern district. "See that level 10 Orc commander two miles away?"
Seo-yoon smiled, a confident, sultry expression breaking across her beautiful face. She stood tall, her voluptuous curves tightening as she raised the Stellar Void Annihilator. She pulled back the violet energy string. A massive, three-foot arrow of swirling silver starlight materialized instantly, humming with enough kinetic friction to warp the air in the room.
"Target locked," she whispered, her sapphire eyes glowing with predatory joy.
