"What's wrong with him?"
Seeing Skott's movements suddenly slow down, accompanied by the strange sound of a timer coming from his body, Clara asked with some surprise.
Welt thought for a moment: "I once saw a similar setup in my hometown. That kind of creature requires an enormous amount of energy to operate, so each transformation has a time limit of three minutes. I think... not only is this guy's cornerstone a knockoff, but even his setup is plagiarized."
"What nonsense are you spouting?!"
Skott snapped angrily: "This is the setup from the Light Armor! Things like 'requiring massive amounts of energy' should be more fitting for armor, shouldn't they?"
Welt: "So, you're about to come out of it? From that shell?"
Skott let out a cold snort: "Hmph, don't think it's over just like that. I'm not afraid to tell you, in the plot of Light Armor, the protagonist always saves their ultimate move for the last moment—right now!"
With that, Skott crossed his arms, a faint glow emanating from them—
Whoosh—
Clara darted in front of Skott, grabbing his claw, which was several times thicker than her waist, and slammed it hard onto the ground!
Boom!
"An ultimate move is just an ultimate move, but with such a long wind-up."
"If it's not instantaneous, don't get too excited next time!"
Skott's massive frame was treated like a punching bag by Clara, slammed around with a series of "whack, whack, whack" sounds.
After about a minute or so, the red glow on Skott's body flickered at its peak frequency before finally dimming, returning him to his original form...
"No, don't."
With the cornerstone failing, Skott's face turned ashen, utterly despairing.
Ohhh—Yahoo! Aaaah— (voiced by Teacher Tom)
A few minutes later, Clara stepped on Skott with a look of disdain and said, "Tch, tch, tch, this frail little body just can't handle it. I wasn't even done having fun, and he's already passed out... Oh well, at least I got to vent."
Welt shook his head with some regret: "What a pity. I don't know what kind of charm this Mr. Skott has. I recall our original plan was to build favorability with him..."
"Hiss—how did it end up escalating to a fight? Logically, I shouldn't have lost my temper like that..."
"Now it's really a case of feeling good for a moment but panicking afterward... What about the debt?!"
Buzz buzz—
Just as Welt was worrying whether their actions would make Belobog's debt situation even worse, Stelle called:
—"Hello? Uncle Yang? Good news! We ran into Miss Numby, and the debt contract and everything have been sorted out!"
Welt raised an eyebrow: "What? How did you resolve it? Mr. Skott is over here with me!"
—"Skott? Oh, oh, oh, he's just a disposable glove, don't worry about him. Here's what happened..."
Stelle briefly recounted what happened after they met Numby. After listening, Welt couldn't help but sigh: "You young folks are so lucky. Unlike me, wasting half a day here. Wait for me, I'll head back to you guys right now!"
"Oh, by the way, Clara's here with me too. She helped me out a lot just now, so make sure to save an extra spot."
...
In fact, Skott had been pretending to be unconscious earlier, biding his time and enduring humiliation to wait for a chance to escape.
Taking advantage of Welt making a call and Clara letting her guard down, he used his stealth technique to quietly slip away, swearing that no matter what, he would settle this score!
As the saying goes, as long as the green hills remain, there's no fear of running out of firewood. One failure doesn't mean anything...
Buzz buzz—
The phone in his pocket vibrated. Skott glanced at the caller ID, and his expression and tone involuntarily turned obsequious: "Boss? You're looking for me?"
Boss: "Mm, I have one piece of good news and one piece of bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
A sense of foreboding crept into Skott's heart: "F-First, the good news."
Boss: "The good news is, you've been very fortunate to be selected for the company's 'Love Overtime' program. Next month, you'll be heading to the [Land of Dreams], the [Star of Festivities], Penacony, alongside Director Aventurine."
Boss: "Oh, of course, this is part of the Love Overtime program, so there's no overtime pay."
Boss: "But the chance to go on a mission with a p45-level director doesn't come often. You'd better seize the opportunity to learn well."
Skott: ...
A p45-level director? The mascot in charge of this mission?
What kind of strength does that girl have? Isn't it just that she's a bit luckier, has a few more credits, and a wider network?
First, it was Numby, and now Aventurine... Is he the only employee in the whole company? Or did he do something wrong to be set up by these capitalists?
And Penacony—that place he'd heard of. The most infamous money pit in the galaxy, where the wealth gap was almost as wide as that between a certain principal and their students. Even company employees would shed tears at the thought of it. Who would willingly go to a place like that?!
This is your so-called good news?!
Skott suddenly panicked because he knew the company's leaders were all bloodsuckers. If even they called something bad news, it must be an undeniable fact.
"W-What's the bad news then?"
The boss cleared their throat: "Ahem, I'm here to notify you about the results of this off-site mission."
Skott: ?
What results?
Boss: "I guess you can probably understand. After all, Miss Numby has some serious connections. Several p46-level leaders are backing her..."
Skott's heart tightened: "Boss, what do you mean by that?"
Boss: "Oh, nothing much. Just letting you know—you've been demoted."
Skott: ...
Boss: "Mm... If there's nothing else, I'll hang up now. It's a bit cold in the office. I'm going to grab a down jacket... Hey, you! Hurry up and bring my hot pot machine in..."
Beep beep beep...
Thud.
The phone fell to the ground, but Skott remained motionless because one sentence kept echoing in his mind—
He'd been demoted.
He'd been demoted!
HE'D BEEN DEMOTED!!!
He came to this backwater ghost town, first dealing with a deadbeat who kept dodging him, then encountering a downright perverse little loli, followed by being tormented by two lunatics claiming to be Nameless, and then getting beaten up...
After all that effort, what was the result? A random disaster dropped on his head—demotion!
What did demotion mean? Lower salary, worse treatment, fewer resources, reduced benefits...
Skott looked up at the sky and roared: "Aaaah—damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!! Is there anything else that could make me more miserable?! Huh?!"
Just as he finished shouting, a head with dragon horns poked out from the street corner ahead. Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae form waved at Skott: "Hello, Mr. Skott. I'm back to save you."