Duo Leveling LITRPG | Post Apocalyptic | SYSTEM-Chapter 183 - 229+230 - The Blacksmith of Destruction

Jhin held his breath, focused entirely on the noisy footsteps of the soldiers.

Explosions rumbled. Screams echoed faintly in the distance.

The chaos within the castle was the perfect cover for someone trying to stay hidden.

"One unit remains behind—the rest, move to reinforce. Damn it, looks like those damn Shadows caught on."

"Everyone, follow me!"

With most of the search squads pulling out to respond to the commotion, the surrounding building fell quiet like an abandoned mansion.

Only the first squad kept up their sweep, but even a full platoon wouldn't find anything if there was nothing to find.

Lucky me.

He didn't know what exactly was going on out there, but whatever it was, it was working in his favor.

In a situation where discovery meant death, having someone else draw the aggro was a blessing.

Jhin squeezed his dwarf body out from the drawer where he had crammed himself.

The soldiers' footsteps faded.

Good. Now let's move.

He crept through the dark hallway, sticking to the shadows as he searched the manor.

The soldiers assumed the dwarf had escaped and widened their search radius to the outer perimeter—but Jhin hadn't left the building at all.

Because this place is the destination.

He had eavesdropped on the soldiers' chatter earlier. They mentioned that somewhere in this mansion was the secret hideout of the vampires.

And he had already caught where they were storing the black iron suit.

There was no need to wander aimlessly.

"Bit noisy outside, huh?"

"You didn't hear? Some dwarf escaped, apparently."

Inside a small room, he found two unfamiliar humans. Not knights—judging by their tone, they were smiths of some kind.

"Why's the whole knight order after one dwarf? Is he really that gifted?"

"The opposite."

"What?"

"They say he's so untalented that he's essential. Apparently, he's got an S-rank Destruction skill."

Jhin's brow furrowed.

They were definitely talking about Rof.

No wonder so many soldiers had been deployed just to catch one dwarf. They needed that skill.

But why?

The mustached one answered as if on cue.

"The holy relic."

"No way…"

"Yeah. That blacksmith might be the only one who can destroy it completely."

It was the first he'd heard of it.

A relic?

Jhin ran the idea through his mind—and then a message appeared before his eyes.

[You have acquired key quest information.]

[Quest details updated.]

You are 'Rof, the Blacksmith of Destruction'. Your cursed hands can shatter anything—including the seal of the sacred relic.

A relic.

Everything clicked into place.

Honestly, he'd found it absurd at first to be cast as a blacksmith upon entering the dungeon.

But now he realized: he wasn't some minor background character.

He was the protagonist.

The endpoint of this scenario was to break the seal on the relic and use it to destroy the vampires.

Jhin exhaled in awe at his own theory, then lifted his gaze—

Only to find the two men stuffing a familiar object into the forge on the far end of the storage room.

No way… what the hell are they doing?!

The black iron suit.

They were tossing it into the flames, piling in extra logs and pumping air to intensify the burn.

They meant to melt it down completely.

Not happening.

"Wh—what the?!"

BOOM!

The blacksmiths spun in shock as Jhin stormed in.

They looked alarmed, sure—but no one seemed frightened by a dwarf charging at them with his short legs.

"The runaway dwarf's in here?"

But that overconfidence would cost them.

With narrowed eyes and a confident grin, Jhin lunged at the man reaching for him.

He didn't even try to dodge.

[Activating special skill of 'Black Iron Gauntlet': Brute Strength.]

The very same force that had crumpled a knight like paper now launched into motion.

The man's outstretched fingers bent grotesquely backward, and the force flung him across the room.

The second smith grabbed a hammer in horror.

"You rat bastard—!"

But hitting someone who's already prepared is no easy feat.

Lacking raw physical stats, Jhin compensated with precision and speed. He read the opponent's move a second early—and countered.

"Hyah!"

The second smith collapsed foaming at the mouth.

Jhin gasped, his breath ragged.

"Huff… huff… I seriously almost died."

It had only been a brief scuffle, but his health had dropped by half.

Ironically, it was because of the black iron gauntlet.

No matter how high-grade the equipment was, if the user's body couldn't support it, all the recoil had to be endured by the wearer.

This body was beyond inconvenient.

"No time to complain."

He rushed to the forge and yanked the black iron suit from the fire.

It was blackened and coated in soot, but he had to see if it was still intact.

"…Whew. Thank god for black iron."

Black iron was, after all, slag iron—metal formed in the aftermath of other equipment being incinerated. Its base properties included high fire resistance.

It was barely scorched, and being black by nature, the soot barely showed.

Without delay, Jhin slipped into the suit. He secured the helm last and finally let out a breath of relief.

Now we're talking.

[Equipped item: 'Black Iron Suit'.]

The suit was a magical artifact.

A full-body armor engraved inside and out with intricate formulas—a unique item that used power to substitute for strength and endurance.

Only problem: being a prototype, it's unstable and drains a ridiculous amount of power…

But that didn't matter.

Because Rof—Jhin's current role—had a ludicrous 495 power.

In other words, this armor was tailor-made for him. A custom-built power suit.

"Who goes there?!"

Perhaps the earlier fight had been louder than expected.

One of the knights patrolling nearby stepped into the storage room. With Jhin fully suited in the black iron armor, the knight couldn't recognize his face.

"Identify yourself!"

"If I do, will you let me live?"

Jhin didn't run. Instead, he charged head-on.

A thrill rushed through him from the sheer speed—something he hadn't felt in this body until now.

He grinned.

"I was hoping for a test run anyway."

"W-What?"

"Shut up and take it."

Without hesitation, Jhin rushed in, closing the distance between them with the confidence of someone who had been in more battles than he cared to count.

He didn't have his Soft skills, but that didn't erase the experience carved into his muscles.

He read the knight's motion before it fully unfurled, disrupted the trajectory of his sword, and delivered a flurry of blows: to the gut, shoulder, then head.

The pain must have been intense.

"GRAAAAH!!"

The knight bared his fangs, his form twisting—transforming into a vampire.

Now that he thought about it, none of the enemies he'd fought so far had turned mid-fight.

Likely, they'd all been taken down by the brute force of the black iron gauntlet before they had the chance.

But that kind of output won't last long.

The gauntlet only required power in a single concentrated area. The black iron suit, however, needed power distributed across the entire body.

Which meant it drained energy much faster.

If he didn't master power control quickly, it would turn into a disadvantage.

But with a few exchanges, Jhin began to get the hang of it.

CRACK!

Dodging the final sword strike, he leapt and drove his knee straight into the vampire's skull.

Minimal power used. Maximum damage delivered.

"Whew…"

There was still tuning to do, but for now, it was enough. He took a moment to breathe and checked his remaining power.

Outside, another commotion was brewing.

Quantity over quality, huh? No breaks today.

He ducked into cover, listening closely to the pounding footsteps. There were a lot of them.

When they emerged into the hallway, Jhin identified them immediately.

…The king?

A battered man wearing a regal crown. Three knights. One tall, handsome man. And a woman in a flowing dress.

Were they vampires too?

Hard to say. The knights had been the ones who told the dwarves to rest—and then struck from behind.

"Wait."

The handsome man stopped in his tracks and turned sharply, a new intensity in his gaze. His movement was smooth and deadly.

In one breath, he slashed at Jhin.

CLANG!

The strike crashed against the outer layer of the black iron suit. Jhin deflected the blow and responded with a spinning kick.

The man dodged by a hair's breadth.

They both retreated.

"You're human."

"…You don't exactly look normal yourself—but you're not a vampire either."

Jhin nodded slowly.

Sure, he was human on the inside, but his current form was far from it.

Still—not a vampire.

That was enough for mutual acknowledgment.

The black iron suit didn't react.

After all, the suit had built-in detection for vampires. Anyone within range would trigger its response if they weren't human.

Then—the king recognized him.

"You… Dwarf. You must be from the Kobre Workshop."

"Unfortunately, Your Majesty… Master Kobre has already been taken."

"What?"

Jhin lifted his helm and revealed his face, giving a brief self-introduction.

A system message had reminded him.

There's supposed to be an 'ally' in this quest.

Those resisting the vampires alongside the king. These had to be the scenario's key NPCs.

Essentially, they were the equivalent of "Horn Tribe warriors" in a different dungeon.

"I'm Rof, blacksmith of the Kobre Workshop. I oversaw the production of the workshop's latest creation."

Technically, the design and leadership had come from the master. But Jhin had been the one to initiate and contribute to every part of its creation.

It wasn't a lie.

"…I see."

There wasn't time for much more.

"They're here! The fugitives went this way!"

"Don't let them escape!"

Meeting the king's eyes, Jhin said calmly,

"We need to move."

No one disagreed.

He fell in line with the king's party and followed them down a hidden staircase deep inside the building.

The underground passage was dim.

Lanterns placed at regular intervals lit the way, but barely.

As he descended deeper into the dark, grimy corridor, Jhin's mind turned to something else.

Millie must be among them.

If he knew her, she would've already progressed to the heart of the scenario.

So—where would she be?

Next to the king, obviously.

He scanned the group and spotted her.

A woman too refined for her surroundings, walking barefoot across the filthy stone steps without hesitation.

That NPC was a fake.

The princess, wasn't it?

He was almost certain she was Millie.

Next, he turned his attention to the others.

Count Camriel.

His close-quarters skill was impressive. Definitely not a novice.

If he was a player, he might very well be Tempah.

As for Lutz…

Jhin's eyes shifted to the trio of knights.

They were filthy, half-mad looking, yet kept tight formation and moved with deliberate caution.

If that was acting—

He should be in dramas, not dungeons.

Of course, he couldn't assume every teammate had made it here.

This was a C-rank dungeon. Big, sprawling, unforgiving.

Even if someone had entered the same scenario, it was rare to reach the same spot.

Millie—maybe. Lutz or Tempah? Less certain.

Experience made a difference in these kinds of quests.

Only one way to find out.

The black iron suit had begun pulsing—sensing nearby vampires. The deeper they went, the stronger the reaction.

If he was going to fight again, it would help to know who he could trust.

Jhin stopped walking and turned to face the others.

Truthfully, there was a simple way to find out who his teammates were.

The "nationalistic clap beat."

Time to give it a try.

Alright, here we go…

Clap! Clapatap! Clap!

And then—three people responded in perfect rhythm.