Ank

To fight a single one of those [Proto-Humans] mummies was hard. To fight five at the same time was nightmarish.

“[Summon: Chenoo, Fake Breastplate, Fake Helmet, Fake Spear]”, conjured, filling up the void left by the previously fallen summon, my [Magic] pool quickly depleting.

To concentrate all of our strength on a single target was impossible, we had to barricade ourselves inside one of the old stone houses, and I had no choice but to call half a dozen birds of prey, plus my strongest humanoid summons and empower them with my summoned items to keep the [Proto-Humans] from bursting through the door, and immediately crush my sister and I.

“This won’t do”, Hunah said over all the noise, having just thrown her flail through the window against one of the mummies, who was using a pair of daggers. “Or we crush them at once, or we need to get the fuck out of here, and I don’t have any tricks left.”

After bashing the mace of one of the monsters away with my translucent green shield; the summoned item flickering, already about to break; and answering the hit with my own long axe slash, and the help of one of my humanoid summons, I replied:

“We can try the same strategy from the fight with the first mummy, but I’ll have to un-summon all of my creatures, and I won’t be able to use any more spells after this”, having lost half of my energy already, it was my last bet.

“What? That sloth of yours is strong, but even that thing can’t burst through a solid stone wall”, Hunah pointed, ducking under a hurled dagger, which dug itself deeply in the stone past my sister. After we exchanged a glance, however, she agreed: “…I’ll cover you, so, do your thing, and if it doesn’t work, at least try to make us an escape route.”

I nodded, Hunah answered with her own nod, and we both dashed from the windows we were keeping, to the very center of the house. Halfway through, I turned around, back to the front of the house, and while I continued to slip away, I saw two mummies already jumping in from the unguarded windows, and raised my palm, conjuring:

“[Summon: Megatherium]”, as soon as I called for my strongest beast, all the other summons were automatically un-made, vanishing in green clouds of magical particles, and three more mummies dashed through the door.

As if the time had slowed, in the following few seconds, I noticed the mummies splitting into two groups, ignoring my summoning, bypassing it, and coming straight for us, twins. Hunah threw her flail against the monsters coming by our right, pushing them away, but those approaching by the left were unimpeded, and almost reaching us. Until, that is, the spiked ball from Hunah’s weapon, continuing its circular trajectory up to a 180-degree spin, reached the dagger stuck in the wall behind her, and shot the blade against the pair of incoming mummies to our left, retarding them just enough so I could complete my conjuring:

“[Make: Boss]”

One of the spells I learned inside the [Megabivore Dungeon]; its effects were: give chosen any summoned thing control of up to 100 summoned creatures (summon needs a high level of sapience for this effect), and increase its [Level] and associated [Attributes] by 25% (the [Levels] gained by this buff can make he summon’s [Level] surpass the summoner [Level] itself).

And, about the [Make: General] spell? It worked the same way, but allowed the [General] to control 500 summoned units, and increased the power of my summons by 50%… and I didn’t even bother investing a point in it yet, for it coasted 5000 [MP], and it took me around 50 [Levels] to reach 1000 [MP].

In any case, a [Level: 62 (Boss)] giant beast; the [Megatherium] even more enlarged by the buff; which main [Attribute] was its strength had more than enough power to burst through the ceiling and push away the tiny interior walls of the old stone house we then hid in; and so it did.

My sister and I quickly dashed to the underside of my summon, and hugged the creature’s belly, as it demolished the house in its escape. Outside, both of us moved to the back of my monster, mounting it and observing the ruined building. We didn’t need to wait for the curtain of dust to settle down, however:

[You leveled up!]

[You leveled up!]

[You leveled up!]

[...]

Smiling, we looked at each other, and lifted our thumbs up, in a silent commemoration.

As I was about to dash for the corpses and try to learn how to summon those mummies, however, I felt a change in the air.

“Aura”, Hunah said exactly what I was thinking; for I could sense something dense and cold enveloping my body, sending chills down my spine.

From the description of the generic skill, only beings with high levels of sapience were capable of using it, but we should be too far away from the protected road, and Taffy’s aura. I focused on detecting where the presence was coming from, and turned my head to the top of the ruined tower. From the tallest window, a solitary figure appeared. It wasn’t much different, in appearance, from the other mummies, from the little “flash” it had exposed, but this one in particular displayed long purple robes, and a copper mask.

[Species: Proto-Human, Level: 88, Class: Thunder Idolater]

Locking its shiny green eyes on us, the monster slowly raised both its hands, as sparkles of electricity flew away from its body.

“Protect us”, I could only order my summoned beast, before the incredibly powerful blast came forward.

From the tip of the fingers of the [Thunder Idolater], an irregular bridge of lightning arched all those meters towards us, blindly, producing loud cracking sounds. My summoned beast threw us away from its back just an instant prior, however, when getting up on just its hinder legs.

Once I hit the hard ground beneath, and my vision re-adjusted from the sudden attack, the first thing I saw was the huge standing [Megatherium], immobile, as its furry body caught on fire. Not long after, the huge body started to quickly vanish in a big curtain of green magical particles.

“Grooooow…”, I heard from my immediate right, and noticed the mummies' corpses raising from the wreckage I made of the old house. All of them, at once, as some kind of magical bridge connected them to the magic-user at the top of the tower.

We ran away while my summon still hide our presence with its quickly dissolving body.