Being a Summoner on our Evolved Earth

A pair of... (24)

The man woke up shortly after they left and looked around while being very confused. He thought for sure the monsters and psycho would kill him after using him as a test subject. As he remembered the curse he was constantly being afflicted with, he checked his body over. To his further surprise he found no trace of the curse and even his cuts from running through the forest were healed. He was dazed for a bit until his stomach growled and snapped him back to reality. He climbed up from the ground and saw the food left for him.

He grinned, "Thankfully that psycho isn't bloodthirsty! Now I can finish boss's mission about investigating the village across the river."

The next day Lucia's group made it to the foot of the mountain. Part way up was a forested area and that was what Lucia was aiming to climb up to by tonight. Vicki wasn't able to climb, so she was recalled and Arthur was summoned instead. After evolving he was now about three feet tall, but still looked adorable. 

"Today we'll be trying to climb this mountain to that forested area above. I'll be counting on your help." Lucia explained to Arthur.

"Leave it to me!" Arthur replied with a grin and thumped his fist against his chest. He ran up to the cliff side to start looking around.

"Aegis, I don't know if you'll be able to climb up." Lucia was troubled.

"If I can't then so be it. Leave me on ground level to assist if you fall." Aegis suggested.

"Alright, I'll be relying on you." Lucia smiled and moved to catch up with Arthur, while Aegis followed silently.

"I found a slope that can bring us at least a third of the way up and even Aegis can fit if he walks sideways." Arthur shouted as he came running back.

"Oh that's great, the less climbing the better." Lucia picked up Arthur and followed him to the narrow slope he pointed out.

It was uneven, covered in debris, and the widest point being almost two feet. They slowly began their ascent up the straight slope with the constant sound of Aegis armor being scratched by the rocks. He was anything but stealthy right now and it was starting to annoy the ears of the ones who could hear it. To Lucia's surprise though, the cliff path they were treading had a slightly raised area that continued up. Lucia and Arthur climbed up to the raised area without much issue, but Aegis armor made it difficult to climb.

"It looks like you won't be able to climb up, I'll recall you." Lucia said and just as she was about to she saw a cage of red light appear around Aegis.

"Look here sister, I found the source of that awful noise! It's also a foul undead, watch me purify it!" Came a voice from above them. Lucia looked up to see a pair of deer, one with spots of red and the other with spots of yellow.

'I can't recall him while he's caged in hostile mana. Red means life, yellow means light... Life element feels repulsed by death element and vise verse. However, Aegis is a soul in armor which means he can't resist their magic if the armor doesn't have resistance, which it doesn't. They can keep him trapped here forever or kill him under a brief concentrated attack!' Lucia started to panic. 'If I climb up to kill them they might kill Aegis faster than my Healing Spring can recover him.'

"Excuse me, I will have him leave, so please remove your magic from him." Lucia tried to request while gathering the mana to free him herself.

"Why should I listen to a dark creature?" The red spotted deer scoffed.

"It's not a dark creature, it's under the curse of one." Explained the yellow spotted deer. "[Dispel]"

Lucia could only look up in annoyance as the curse she'd spent all night training that snake to make was cleansed from her body slowly. She used this moment to [Dispel] the life cage around Aegis and got ready to recall him. While she was waiting for the mana to settle so she could recall, another cage of life came down on top of him. Lucia glared up at the deer and cast [Magic Missile], then prepared to dispel.

{They blocked your spell with a wall of light...} Arthur told her while she cast [Dispel] on Aegis again. Followed by a new cage of life mana coming down. Lucia was frustrated and annoyed trying to think of how to deal with these third evolution deer that were out of reach. 

{Arthur can you...? Arthur?} Lucia noticed Arthur had disappeared from her shoulder and started to look around for him. She saw him climbing the cliff up to the deer. "Arthur what are you doing?" Lucia asked him through the contract.

{I'm going to sneak up and distract them so you can free Aegis.} Arthur responded through the contract. Lucia felt this idea was a bit dangerous but she didn't know if her idea would be any better.

{Be careful and keep a distance from them.} Lucia cautioned as she could hear the deer snickering above her at her attempts to break Aegis free. [Mana Slash] Lucia cast at the deer. It pierced through the shield of light and cut the side of the deer of light's neck. The pair of deer were frightened and took a few steps back from the edge of the cliff.

"What power!" The life deer exclaimed while healing the light deer.

"My defense was broken so easily... Ow what hit me?" The light deer was shaken so when it felt something hit it's stomach it jumped in fright. The deer looked over to see a little white monkey creating balls of ice to throw at them. "Such a little thing dares to hurt me? Humph, let me show you not to mess with me!"

The deer caged Arthur in light then walked up to him haughtily. Arthur covered himself in ice as the deer kicked him over the cliff. Lucia felt panic from Arthur through the contract and looked up after dispelling the cage around Aegis. She saw the white body surrounded in broken ice being sent flying off the cliff.

"No Arthur!" Lucia wanted to recall him, but that would mean that Aegis would still be in danger when the deer turned their focus back to him. Aegis himself started to run down the slope to try to catch Arthur. Just as Aegis was about to jump off the cliff ledge to catch Arthur, the wicked snickering of the deer could be heard and a cage of red mana kept Aegis from moving. If Arthur continued his fall, there was no guarantee he would survive it. Lucia bit her lip till it bled and made the decision that was her last resort.

[Creature Fusion] "Primary soul is Aegis. Secondary soul is... Arthur..." Lucia felt a large chunk of mana leave her and wrap up her two familiars. The strong force broke the cage that trapped Aegis. They were fused together in the ball of light that then flew back and absorbed into Lucia, more specifically into their contracts. The contracts then moved together and started to fuse together. Lucia was frustrated, angry, guilty, and feeling vengeful. She immediately started to climb the cliff with her bare hands to get to the top faster. The deer were looking down curiously trying to see what happened to the undead and the monkey. After looking, they couldn't even see the human anymore either.

"Where did they all go?" The life deer asked.

The light deer shook its head, "I don't know, that light wasn't made by me."

A sudden sense of danger caused both deer to look to the right in time to be beheaded by a [Mana Slash] Lucia casted from the spot she was clinging to on the cliff. Seeing their heads falling down the cliff, Lucia reached out to put their bodies into her space. Then she used some loose tree roots to help pull herself up onto the cliff. On solid ground Lucia felt like collapsing into a slump till she sorted out her emotions, but instead she let out a long sigh instead and trudged into the forest.