Chapter 29: the second Queen

Just as Smith began to lose hope that his intended target wouldn’t arrive in time, he caught sight of the stairway at the far end of the stone corridor. Down below, the echoing reverberations of frantic footsteps were drawing closer.

​Glancing at his interface, Smith saw the countdown ticking down ruthlessly—less than two minutes remaining. Whoever was rushing toward him was running out of time.

​Right on cue, a figure burst from the stairwell and dashed wildly down the corridor. As the figure drew nearer, Smith stared in utter disbelief at her bizarre attire. The woman was wearing nothing but a bathrobe. Because of her desperate sprint, she wasn’t even wearing shoes. The loose robe flared wildly like a flag with every step, exposing her long legs. Even from a distance, Smith could see her flowing blonde hair tossing in the air as she charged toward them at breakneck speed.

​Suddenly, the unexpected happened.

​In her frantic hurry, the woman’s bare feet slipped on the slick stone floor, and she went flying forward, heading straight for a catastrophic faceplant.

​Smith stood completely dumbfounded. Beside him, Scarlet slapped a hand over her forehead in sheer embarrassment. This was one of Velvet’s legendary battle companions—a hardened veteran of countless bloody battlefields. To see a legendary combat monster lose her footing and wipe out simply from running too fast was mind-boggling. It spoke volumes about just how impulsive and rushed she was.

​Yet, just as everyone expected her to crash flat onto her face, the woman reacted with unnatural reflexes. Slapping one hand against the stone floor just before impact, she absorbed her momentum, pushed off with explosive force, flipped cleanly through the air, and landed in a sharp squat.

​Instantly springing back up, she adjusted her loose robe and resumed her sprint toward Smith.

​Smith checked his interface again: less than thirty seconds.

​Wasting no time, he retrieved the Extra Queen chess piece—one of the rewards he had earned from the Second Evaluation. According to the information Alex had provided, activating it was remarkably simple: he just had to hand it over to his intended target. The item acted as a beacon. Once Smith returned to the main world, he could initiate a summons; if the holder accepted, she would become his next Queen. If she refused or failed to respond, the item would simply dissolve into nothing.

​With ten seconds left on the timer, the woman finally skidded to a halt in front of Smith.

​Without a moment’s hesitation, Smith thrust the Extra Queen directly into her arms. "I don’t have time to explain!" he shouted over the hum of the system. "Hold onto this! When I reach the other side, I will try to summon you. You’ll instinctively know what to do!"

​The countdown hit zero. The dragging force enveloped Smith again , and he instant vanished into thin air.

​When Smith opened his eyes, he was back in the Trial Space. He immediately exited to his master bedroom in the real world and set to work without delay, initiating the summoning ritual just as he had done for Velvet.

​He established the spiritual connection. This time, the link was forged much faster.

​When Velvet was summoned, the portal had burst forth with a deep, blood-red glow that saturated the room with suffocating killing intent, turning the atmosphere into a crimson sea. But this time, the portal tore open as an abyss of pure, absolute black. It released a heavy, oppressive force—not a raw, bloody intent to kill, but an overwhelming aura that felt like a mountain pressing down upon the room.

​From within the dark portal, a figure stepped forward.

​She was clad in sleek, dark body armor adorned with streamlined patterns. A longsword rested at her waist, while a massive greatsword was strapped securely across her back. All her gear maintained a unified, dark theme. As the portal dissolved behind her, the heavy, crushing pressure in the room vanished into thin air.

​Smith immediately pulled up her status panel.

​Name: Brenda

Title: The Unmatched Duelist (Legendary)

Rank: Novice

Battle Art: Metal Arts

​Navigating the interface familiarly, Smith clicked directly on her title to view its details.

​Title: The Unmatched Duelist

Title Effect: Boosts any two of the following attributes by 200%: Speed, Attack, or Defense. Only two boosts may manifest simultaneously.

​Smith stared at the panel in awe.

​The title offered incredible versatility, allowing Brenda to dynamically configure her stats depending on the situation: Attack + Speed, Attack + Defense, or Speed + Defense. Smith recalled reading about these special adaptive titles in the records Alex gave him. They were extraordinarily rare even among high-level Queens and can be rarely found in lower titled Queen.and seeing one manifest on a Legendary Tittled Queen was practically unheard of.

​He had hit the absolute jackpot. Brenda was a universal combat unit capable of adapting to almost any tactical scenario. While she might not match Velvet’s pure, singular lethality—Velvet being a hyper-specialized assault unit focused on maximum cutting power and extreme mobility—Brenda’s full-body armor and dual-sword loadout gave her incredible durability and battlefield presence. In a structured one-on-one duel, her adaptability made her almost unkillable.

​Smith then scrolled down to examine her Battle Art skills.

​Skill 1: Armament Augmentation (Stage 1)

Increases the equipment rating/damage output of wielded blades while simultaneously bolstering the defensive rating of equipped armor.

​Skill 2: Armament Repair (Stage 1)

Consumes the user’s stamina and energy reserves to repair damaged weapons and armor in real time.

​Smith analyzed the skills carefully. On the surface, they might have seemed simple, but their practical application was immense:

​Armament Augmentation effectively elevated the tier of her equipment during clash situations. If her weapon struck an enemy weapon of equal grade, activating this skill would temporarily push her blade into a higher tier, allowing her to shatter or overpower the opponent’s gear.

​Armament Repair eliminated a massive tactical vulnerability. Normally, damaged gear had to be recalled into the spiritual space for slow restoration, leaving the person disarmed or exposed. Brenda could repair her armor and blades mid-battle, ensuring she was never forced out of the fight due to equipment failure.

​Satisfied with her stats, Smith nodded to himself. But as he closed the interface to speak with her, an unexpected scene unfolded right before his eyes.