Ank

It was time for a re-match, and I stood, alone, before the magic user’s tower, waiting.

I needed to reach civilization, and level up quite a lot if I wanted to have any chance against the [Gods], and that tower stood between both of these objectives, after all.

The only thing different with me since the last time I stood there, were those 5 points that I earned before; I invest them on [Summon: Fake Gauntlets], [Summon: Fake Greaves], and [Summon: Fake Back Armor], which unlocked [Summon: Fake Armor Set], and I also put a point in it. The final new spell, I used to unlock [Summon: Bald Eagle], the flying summons having more than proved their usefulness in places where the skies are unobstructed.

“Tap, tap, tap”, I heard steps approaching from behind, until they completely stopped just a few meters behind me.

I walked away from the wall which I was standing with my back against, and faced the undead creature. Compared to the first time I killed it, it was looking quite pissed off, was it because I was holding its rusty long axe?

Whatever, the other five mummies would reach that place in no time, coming back from their patrol, I should take the chance to focus on a single enemy while I could.

And so I did:

“[Summon: Bald Eagle, Chenoo, Fake Set, Fake Spear, Fake Shield]”, I called fourth three of my strongest humanoid summons, the guys with really nasty-looking teeth, and instantly equipped them with translucent armor, weapons and shield, while I wore the summoned armor and shield, but kept the looted long axe. This plus the spear I had summoned before depleted my [Magic] quite a lot, but I still was good to fight.

The mummy retread a step, looking just a little concerned, but I really had no reason to hold back.

“Let’s end him quickly… Just try to be silent about it”, I ordered, and jumped forward alongside all of my summons.

The mummy managed to avoid each and every one of the attacks we threw at it with relative ease, but unarmed, even the over-leveled monster failed to pay back in its own terms; the [Chenoos, Level: 20] were considerably slower and weaker than the undead, and even I fell quite a lot behind in physical terms to the creature, but we covered each other’s weaknesses with our numbers, and middle ranged weapons, our enemy not even able to get arm’s reach to us. Still, if we kept that for much longer, not only 5 more mummies would show up, but we all could very well finish our [Stamina] reserves.

Fortunately, we didn’t need to keep that for much longer, for the [Proto-Human] seemed to forget that I had also summoned a bird after my humanoid summons and I bothered it so much, and the [Bald Eagle] was more than glad to finally be able to come in for the party, diving against the eyes of the undead with a slash of its huge talons.

As soon as the monster stopped moving for just a second, three spears impaled its unprotected body, and not long after, I drove my long axe blade against my opponent’s neck once, twice, thrice, beheading it and finally finishing its long-ass [Health Points] bar.

Already panting a little, I turned back after a chirp from my summoned bird, just in time to see the remaining mummies dashing towards me and my summons.

Things had only just started, hadn’t they?

“Okay, you better don’t fucking die”, I pointed to one of the summoned [Chenoos], and conjured: “[Make: Boss]”, with that, my previous summons, and the spear I created before the fight started, I could only re-summon 1 more [Chenoo].

The unit I choose huffed, as it grew considerably taller and stronger than the others. The thing grumbled something unintelligible, pointing its spear towards the quickly incoming mummies, and the other two [Chenoos] entered in position alongside their [Boss], lifting their small shields and long spears in a line of three just as the remaining enemies were about to reach them.

The mummies, surprised with the considerable increase in coordination my summons received when compared to our last encounter, were forced to jump above the small line of spears, slide under it, or stop completely.

I, who stood just behind the small line of summons, focused on the dual dagger wielder, as it jumped over my group, and attacked him with my long axe.

Still falling, the monster couldn’t possibly dodge, forced to block the attack with its daggers, but, even if clearly possessing more [Strength] than me, I had ground to anchor on, a heavier weapon, and wasn’t necessarily weak either: I bashed his weapons skywards and out of my opponent’s reach. And when it turned its head to follow its flying daggers, my [Bald Eagle] scratched its face off, just like with the previous opponent, dealing critical damage and inflicting blindness.

This first contact, however, didn’t come with no drawbacks, and the (previously) dagger-wielding mummy managed to punch my bird while it was getting scratched, breaking one of the eagle’s leg, almost killing it; just like it happened with one of the [Chenoos]. As a… shovel-wielding mummy dashed in between the legs of the small summoned creatures line, with a single move of its “weapon”, it cut straight through one of the legs of one of the [Chenoos].

“I can’t spend the [Magic] to re-summon one of you so soon: make it work and hold them back”, I ordered, letting the shovel-wielding mummy and company to my summons, while I dashed for the unarmed enemy.

My opponent, on the other hand, lowered its instance, and closed its hands into fists. Even if unable to see, the monster must have had high [Perception] status to make up for it, for it moved its hands precisely as soon as I reached striking range, blocking the incoming axe by stopping the falling shaft.

Then, the mummy pulled the weapon from me with its superior strength.

“Fuck…”

Instead of retreating, however, I approached even more, trying to annul the advantage of the longer reach of the axe, and punched the mummy right on its face once, twice; my non-negligible power added to the hardness of my summoned gauntlets caused a surprising amount of damage, bringing the 1000+ [Health Points] of the monster down to just the upper 900s, my summoned hand protection breaking in the process, however.

The mummy answered with a backward jump, and spinning the long axe in a 360 circle around itself, which hit me right on my sides, breaking both the summoned breastplate and back armor at once, and causing even damage enough to reduce my [HP] in 1/3.

Hurled by the hit, when I finally stopped rolling on the ground and staining the stone roads with my blood, I heard my opponent stepping just beside me. The axe blade came down just a second after, but I safely rolled away, and even grabbed a large piece of rock, broken away from the road by the mummy’s hit, partially lifted myself and bashed it straight against the [Proto-Human]’s knee, breaking its bone.

As the monster fell on a single knee, I quickly moved to its back, and bashed the broken piece of the cobblestone road, this time, against the nape of the monster.

“CRACK!”

Both, the rock and the spine shattered at the same time, when I reached for the axe, and dug the blade inside the barely alive(?) monster’s cranium.

“[Summon: Chenoo]”, I spend the remaining [Magic] I had, and re-summoned my fallen creature right when the shovel-wielding mummy was about to do with me what I had just done with its partner.

The humanoid summons jumped one on the enemy’s leg, another on its arm, and stopped it for just enough time so I slashed the throat of the monster open. While the hit itself wasn’t enough to immediately kill the undead, it weakened the connection between the head and body enough so the [Bald Eagle] managed to completely yank-off the head, finishing the monster in a critical hit while the newly summoned [Chenoos] and I dashed to save the [Boss].

The empowered summon managed, even if for just a few seconds, somehow keep 3 mummies away from me before the enemies, each one using a thong as a weapon, grabbed the [Boss]’ arms and head, and plucked it off the summon with sheer strength.

That was a big loss to my team, but we were already halfway there, and losing wasn’t an option:

“Just keep me alive”, I ordered my humanoid summons, and jumped through the mist of the dissolving summon body, slashing across the chest of one of the mummies, and causing 100 points of damage to it; the few points I invested in [Strength] already paying back.

Even if my [Stamina] bar was being depleted fast, I pressed on and attacked again and again, and when the monster found a breach in my stance with its superior [Attributes], my bird appeared yet again, and disturbed the undead’s move; even if in the coast of its own [level: 5] life, the [Proto-Human] seeming very angry at the poor bird. I finished the 1st thong user with a critical hit on its head.

Then, I felt something piercing my right leg and taking away yet another 1/3 of my [HP]. Looking down, I saw one of the remaining 2 mummies piercing it with its thong tool right where my greaves showed a weak spot; my summon toppled it over for a minute with its own sacrifice. Mercilessly, I stomped the head of the mummy who was still trying to get up, fortunately inflicting [stun] debuff, and allowing me to keep kicking until my enemy’s skull opened up against the rock road beneath; though, similarly to when I punched the other opponent, breaking my greaves.

The remaining last enemy, was struggling with my last summon, which managed to attach itself on the undead’s back in a weird position, and dig its scary teeth on my opponent's neck. As I approached, the last [Proto-Human] of the original 6 gave me its back, perhaps thinking I wouldn’t attack “one of my own”. It was wrong. With a swift critical and incredibly lucky slash, I severed both their heads off with the long axe blade in a single move.

As I sat down, panting, drenched in sweat, I waited, with only 33% of my [Health Points] remaining intact; blood coming from two holes in my right leg, and my ribs throbbing and sending sharp pain outwards whenever I breathed. My [Stamina Points], on the other hand, was just a little above 0.

Then, just like last time, it finally showed up once again.

First, the 3rd layer king spread its fearsome aura, then he stepped out of its ages-old tower and proceeded to scan the area with the green glowing eyes behind its metallic mask, finally resting its vision on me. Slowly, dramatically, it raised its hands, electrical sparks coming off it. Then, my twin sister, who scaled the tower and moved as slowly and stealthy as possible so as not to be detected by the creature, jumped from the apex of the broken tower and impaled the undead magic from the neck to the bottom with the spear I summoned previously.

There it was, the grand strategy and plot twist. The body of the undead magic user fell to the ground from the top of the tower, ungracefully, and the two of us waited for the pop-ups to great us with level ups; as Hunah came down the tower, I laid on the ground, too tired to do anything else.

The pop-up never came, however, and something started to move at the base of the tower just before Hunah could have come out off it.

I lifted my head only, and saw the mother fucker 3rd layer king pushing itself up, grabbing the spear that was entering its neck, and coming off its crotch, and destroyed my summoning with an electric grip.

Hunah showed up from the tower door just in time to see the 3rd layer king producing so much electricity around its body, that its clothes burst into flames, and its metallic mask melted off, revealing an incredibly pissed-off leathery face behind it.