To be more precise, it only looked like everything had come to a standstill.
Creating a magic item that could actually control time was completely impossible for Noah with his current skills.
This was simply acceleration.
Inside the armor right now, Noah's entire body was under the effects of an acceleration spell.
Yes, his entire being.
The spell, which he had modified using his Spell-Weaver skill, even sped up his molecular movements and how fast he could think.
From his point of view, the movement of everything outside had slowed down to a crawl.
This sudden mismatch in his senses created the illusion that time had suddenly stopped.
Noah did not waste a single second.
This acceleration spell only lasted for a very short time and was incredibly draining on his mind.
Even though he had acted tough, taking on five Level 2 opponents and three Level 3 opponents all by himself as a Level 2 was impossible.
No one could pull that off normally.
Furthermore, these enemies were careful.
Unlike the foolish toad woman, these Amazons acted arrogant but were actually keeping their guard up.
If he let this drag into a long fight, he would end up on the defensive and eventually get beaten down.
He had no intention of letting that happen.
So, his plan was to take out all of his opponents in one single strike.
Anyone with a power like this had to figure out how to best use a "first-encounter knockout."
Using the focused strike technique from his Annihilator system, he stacked the acceleration spell to make it five times stronger than normal.
If it were not for the special traits of the slime material, neither the armor nor his own body could have survived the side effects of moving this fast.
Two and a half seconds.
His body could handle the physical strain, but his brain might fry from thinking so fast.
Because of that, he could only keep the spell going for exactly 2.5 seconds.
"Clock Up."
To the people watching, it happened in the blink of an eye.
They only saw a flash of silver-white light dart between the eight Amazons.
Then, all eight of the Ishtar Familia combat prostitutes were hit by invisible strikes at the exact same time.
Some had their heads smashed into the dirt.
Others had their bodies twisted as they were sent flying backward, while a few were sent spinning high into the air.
It felt like everyone watching had blinked and missed the whole fight.
In just a split second, all five Level 2 and three Level 3 members of the Ishtar Familia had their eyes rolled back in their heads, badly injured and knocked out cold.
Noah was still standing in a normal walking pose.
However, instead of facing the Amazons, he was now standing behind them.
One of his fists was raised, though no one had seen him throw a punch.
The card suddenly popped out of his belt and Noah caught it with one hand.
Then, the suit of armor pulled back like a receding tide, folding itself neatly into the black rings on his arms and legs.
The armor had not just appeared out of thin air.
While spatial magic or summoning spells could do that, Noah was currently only using the slime's special traits: shape-shifting and hardening.
This armor system was made of five parts.
First was the armor itself—those black rings.
They were not just decorations, and they were not naturally black, either. The slime-based metal was squeezed together so tightly that light could barely pass through it, making it look like black rings.
This was actually the entire suit of armor in its folded, compressed form.
There were two for his arms, two for his legs, and the belt—five parts in total.
Because of how it worked, the armor could automatically adjust to fit the wearer's body size, as long as they were not absurdly huge.
Next was the most important part: the "driver," or the key.
The card was the key to unlocking it.
Inside the card was a magic circle that Noah had carefully woven using his Spell-Weaver abilities.
The same was true for the belt. When the spell formula in the card matched up with the one in the belt, the armor would activate.
As for shouting "Henshin," that was really just for Noah's own personal enjoyment since it sounded really cool.
This method of shaping and hardening slime materials did have its flaws.
The biggest problem was the weight.
It was not just regular slime; it was heavy metal mixed with slime traits.
The main materials used to make this armor were magic-resistant metal, sub-dragon leather, and high-grade ores like adamantite.
Compressing the armor did not make it any lighter.
Having to carry all that heavy metal on his arms and legs, even when he was not fighting, was currently the armor's biggest weakness.
Taking off the armor just now was not his choice; he had simply hit his limit.
The armor's power depended on the stats of the person wearing it.
If someone with high Strength and Endurance wore it, the suit would focus on heavy hits and high defense.
If a fast fighter wore it, it would boost their Agility and attack speed.
Whenever the armor sensed that the wearer's body was pushed past its limits, it would automatically turn off and cast a healing spell to fix their injuries.
A faint green light glowed around Noah's body, and he felt his strength slowly coming back.
This only made him want Airmid's magic even more.
If he could use his Truth Seeker skill to study her Dia Fratel magic, he might be able to copy it using Spell-Weaver.
It would not be easy, but it would definitely be worth the effort.
"Are you okay, Haruhime?" Noah asked.
His forehead was covered in sweat, and he was breathing a bit heavily.
Using that armor as a Level 2 adventurer was still too exhausting.
Seeing the boy look so weak, Haruhime rushed over to help hold him up.
"I am so sorry, Noah-sama, I... ah—"
Before Haruhime could finish her tearful apology, Noah lightly chopped her on top of the head with the side of his hand.
"Starting today, you are banned from saying 'I'm sorry' for a whole week."
"..."
Noah crouched down to fix her dropped grocery basket.
He picked up the vegetables that had fallen into the dirt and stuffed them, one by one, into the mouths of the knocked-out Amazons.
Of course, he would charge them for the food later.
He was not about to treat them to a free meal!
"From now on, I will go shopping with you every day. If there is anything else you want to buy, or anywhere you want to go, just tell me."
Even though Haruhime was adorable, she was not a pet.
Even pets had their own thoughts and feelings—she was not some caged bird.
Noah never wanted to lock her away just to look at her.
"Come on, let's go home."
"Mm."
Just as they held hands, a cheerful voice called out from the crowd.
An Amazon girl jumped out, waving her arm high in the air.
"Wahhh, I can finally speak! Noah, listen to me, you were amazing just now!"
Noah looked at the energetic girl in surprise. "Tiona?"
"Not just me!"
Tiona playfully hopped to the side, showing her older sister, Tione and the werewolf Bete, standing right behind her.
Bete was trying to look cool, but his eyes looked incredibly excited.
Even though he kept his arms crossed, his gaze kept darting down to the belt around Noah's waist.
"You really surprised us, Noah. Suddenly turning into full-body armor and taking down Ishtar's people in the blink of an eye," Tione said.
She was usually much calmer than her sister, and she always seemed very mature as long as she kept her temper under control.
In truth, the Amazon sisters were only a year older than Haruhime and Bete looked to be about three years older than Noah.
Who would have thought these young people were already Level 4 adventurers?
"Are you still scared, Haruhime? I am sorry about that. I wanted to jump in and help earlier, but that idiot Bete stopped me," Tiona said to the little fox girl.
Bete curled his lip in annoyance. "Tch. That was a fight between two other Familias. What good would it do if you jumped in?"
Just as Bete was pretending to be cold and uncaring, Tione mercilessly exposed his true feelings.
She looked at Noah and Haruhime and said, "Do not let this werewolf fool you. Before you showed up, he was the first one getting ready to jump in and save her. He only held Tiona back after he saw you arrive."
Tione was basically saying that Bete completely trusted Noah.
He knew Noah could handle those Amazons all by himself.
Being able to translate the feelings of a tsundere werewolf perfectly—Tione definitely had some special skills!
Noah smiled and thanked the three of them.
He knew that if things had truly gotten dangerous, they never would have just stood by and watched.
"Actually, we came here looking for you Noah, and then we saw the fight," Tiona explained. "Not to rush you or anything! We just wanted to hang out."
"I told you, bothering him is only going to slow down him making our weapons, you idiot!" Bete scolded Tiona.
This was probably his "tsun" mode talking.
If he was speaking his true feelings, he probably meant: 'Going to see him now will only distract him from his work.'
'Do not cause him unnecessary trouble.'
Yes, that was definitely it.
Noah smiled and pointed his thumb back toward his workshop.
"No, your timing is perfect. I actually finished them not too long ago. Your custom-made weapons are ready."
"Eh?!"
"Really?!"
Even Bete's wolf ears twitched in excitement.
"Of course. I just finished the final tune-ups. Even if you had not come by, I would have sent you a message soon."
"Yay!"
"Hurry, hurry! I cannot wait any longer!"
Noah led the group back to his workshop, leaving the unconscious Amazons asleep in the dirt.
Even if this had not been a fight between Familias, it was normal to see adventurers passed out on the side of the road until morning after drinking too much and getting into street brawls.
The life of an adventurer was not just about fighting monsters in the Dungeon—it was also heavily tied to alcohol and women, which were the two easiest ways to start a fight.
...
Back at the workshop, Noah unlocked the back door.
This was the first time he had ever let anyone from outside his Familia into the private area behind his forge.
Stepping through the doorway, the three Loki Familia members saw a huge courtyard filled with all sorts of training targets.
Right in the middle, a massive block of pure adamantite had the most damage, covered in seven or eight deep sword gashes.
Some of the practice targets were made of raw monster materials, others were standard testing dummies, and there were even a few shaped like monsters and humans.
Noah walked out of the workshop carrying two dark gray weapon cases and set them down in front of the Amazon sisters.
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