The Knight That Fled

"Wow, what was that? Battle aura?"

"Heavens, such a huge sword!"

"There was even sword qi! Was that real? Is that sword real? There were even sounds from it!"

"So realistic! Awesome! How wonderful!"

"That huge man was lifted off. So powerful. He was able to jump so far away like it was real. But he won't be hurt, right?"

As a supreme hardcore anime fan, Gu Lu had always been a well-known person in the domestic animation industry. This time, the organizer invited him to be one of the judges of the cosplay competition of this animation conference. However, his heart was thumping away at 180 miles per minute. His tongue stumbled upon itself as he muttered, "This armor, this sword are high-grade imitations. At this level, can they still be considered imitations? No, no, no, they should be real. But how can they be real? How heavy are they?! How many domestic workshops can make such exquisite products? Oh no, they're definitely the work of a master craftsman. They're definitely handmade, and that sword beam doesn't seem to be a special effect. This is a live event, not a digital special effects editing room!!!"

When that crescent moon sword beam appeared on the stage, he stood up involuntarily. He wanted to rush up onto the stage and grab the knight to answer the many questions in his heart.

The other judges, who were joking around, immediately shut up as well and stood up, forgetting themselves. How was this cosplay? They could not discern if it was a performance or a real sword fight. They noticed that the stage seemed to be bearing a tremendous amount of weight the moment the black-armored knight stepped on it. It was probably not as simple as a beautiful and realistic prop.

The other judges were also well-respected animation veterans, and some were even previous champions, but they were all shocked now.

The reaction of these people below the stage completely exceeded the expectations of the God of War Group.

All sorts of excitement, praises, doubts, and exclamations filled the ears of the black-armored knight. No matter how stupid he might be, he could understand the messages he pieced together. What the hell was going on here?!

Wielding a fake weapon and pretending to fight in public? This can actually attract praise? An arena unlike an arena and a stage unlike a stage. Is the sacred duel between warriors so ridiculous in this place?

"Lin Mo! Have you gone mad? Come back here!'' The magical girl was the first to regain her composure. She did not care if it was on stage or offstage any longer, and she sprinted toward the black-armored knight. "What's the matter with you? Do you want to commit murder? This is a stage, not a battlefield! You actually want to kill someone with this real getup?" She finally understood that the huge sword in the black-armored knight's hand was not a plastic prop or hollow metal sheet, but made of real metal. She really did not know where this fellow got these things from.

The girl only saw the chaos around her. She failed to think about how much strength would be needed to wear the heavy armor and wield this huge sword to generate such immense power.

He had no good feelings for mages in the first place, and this blue-robed magical girl, whose level he could not discern, was shouting angrily at him and waving her staff. This made him activate his battle aura subconsciously.

After he activated what little remaining battle aura was in his body, the runes on the surface of the Dark Steel Mystic Armor emitted faint yellow light one after another, and the tattered scarlet cloak fluttered without wind. Although doing so would consume the reserve energy in the magic crystals embedded on the mystic armor, who knew if this magical girl who brought him to such a ghastly place would attack him with a fierce high-level spell?

As soon as he activated the battle aura, he could feel his whole body twitching, and a feeble feeling permeated throughout him. What was supporting him now was the pure physical strength from the power of his muscles that he had trained previously. The lackluster state made him feel extremely insecure.

I have to leave this wretched place as soon as possible. The only thing on the black-armored knight's mind was this thought. He had seen too many unknown things and people today. He just wanted to find a quiet place to digest everything that had happened to him.

"Hmph!" The black-armored knight gave the magical girl a knock on the back of her head. His wrist flicked, and the huge sword flipped in the air and fell into its scabbard with precision. He flung his cloak handsomely and walked to the side of the stage.

"Lin Mo! Stop right there. What are you doing, you bastard?! Come back!" The magical girl stood behind the black-armored knight angrily. First, he was late, then he was dazed before going on stage. Finally, when he got on stage, he knocked Ding Tuo and Xi Mingshan off the stage. What was with this idiot today? Why was he making things difficult for her?

The black-armored knight jumped noisily off the stage that was more than one meter from the ground under the watchful eyes of the audience. The entire frame of the stage shook slightly and moaned as though it would collapse at any time. The audience nearest to the stage fell unsteadily to the ground.

An extremely heavy body fell onto the ground, causing rumblings resembling a small-scale earthquake. It also perfectly presented the physical phenomenon of the conversion of potential energy. Deep footprints two inches thick actually appeared beneath his feet.

Cling clang cling clang. Only the sound of friction between the mystic armor filled the silent air as the black-armored knight walked.

Even the dumbest person could see that this person was not an ordinary cosplayer. He probably had a full set of pure metal heavy armor on. How would its weight be so shocking otherwise? He had really good physical strength to be able to walk around casually while wearing it.

"Wahhhh! It's real!" Some idiot courting death actually touched the black armor quietly. It was cold and hard with detailed rune patterns. It had the touch of true metal.

"Could he have transmigrated?" Someone guessing randomly in the crowd actually almost hit the mark.

The heavy armor was not only gorgeous and eye-catching, but it also effortlessly made a path for him through the crowd. With the forward potential energy generated by a few hundred pounds, no defenseless human could stop his progress.

The black-armored knight chose to ignore these civilians with no combat power and left.

…

An hour and a half later, the absent-minded God of War Group returned to the stage with one member missing. They seemed to be in a dreamy state as they were handed the championship trophy and the 100,000 yuan cheque.

Qi Fei, the beautiful magical girl and the elder sister of the God of War Group, had been about to give up on the competition after Lin Mo left after causing so much trouble. She had mustered all her power to continue following the original script and battled the dwarf alone. Then they ended the performance hurriedly and left the stage discouraged.

She cursed Lin Mo countless times in her heart without listening to the scores given by the judges.

When it was announced that the champion was the 'God of War Group' after all the performances ended, Ding Tuo, Qian Jie, Xi Mingshan, Chen Ying, and she were all dumbfounded.

Qi Fei's brain was still fuzzy when they were receiving the reward. She did not return to her senses for quite some time. The reward that should not have come to them actually fell into their hands. No one could wrap their heads around it. The other members were only smiling foolishly.

The huge sword marks left on the stage and the chaos on one side seemed to bear witness to the top-level cosplayer that had appeared. He showed up in actual full gear with a stunning sword. No one thought that cosplay could reach such a level, and they could no longer describe it as realistic. No other performance before or after it was as captivating as his. His escape was actually ignored by everyone with great generosity.

The perpetrator of the 'Fleeing Knight Cosplayer Incident' was currently outside the urban areas by the bank of the famous Qiantang River, staring straight into it. After squeezing out of the crowd, he walked aimlessly along the road, attracting strong reactions by the public. Countless people pointed at him, but it did not bother him in the least.

The black-armored knight's thoughts gradually straightened out with the night wind.

Lin Mo, Molin, the two names that sounded familiar when flipped around overlapped in an instant.

He only remembered losing consciousness after being devoured by the spatial fissure along with his Metal-Attribute Giant Dragon Gold Coin.

Lin Mo's remaining memory started coming to him wisp by wisp.