The Devil Summoner in Shadow

Chapter 13: Curse and Demons

Damn it.

While talking with Mei to hammer out a plan, I realized something unpleasant-she didn't actually know much. Aside from the fact that the curse here was targeting young men, she was basically operating blind.

Great.

At least we'd confirmed one thing: the vision-blocking spell only seemed to affect guys. That explained why she could see and I couldn't. Still, the fact she hadn't bothered to learn what kind of demon she'd be facing before walking into its den? I hoped that wasn't standard protocol for Devil Summoners.

I glanced at my COMP and pulled up her parameters. I needed to know what I was working with.

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Name: Mei
Race: Summoner
MP: 700/700

Resistances: [Electricity]
Weakness: None

Strength: E
Endurance: E
Magic: E+
Agility: E+
Luck: E+

Skills: [Zio][Dream Needle][Poisma][Dia][Patra][Tarunda]

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Most of her stats were lower than mine-even after she said she'd improved them just before entering the Vortex World.

Well, at least she had a decent support skill spread. Healing, status recovery, a debuff, and some basic offense. If we ran into something like an Oni again, I'd just have to pray her magic could keep up.
I clenched my fist involuntarily at the memory. That loss still stung.

Still... judging by the curse, this demon leaned into magic, not brute strength. So we probably weren't dealing with something that could smash a town with a punch.

Probably.

But magic could destroy just as easily-if not more so.

As for the plan... we didn't get very far. We agreed on our combat roles-she'd stay back and provide magical support, and I'd handle close-range when necessary. But beyond that? Nothing. Hard to plan when we didn't even know what we were up against.

That said, I had learned something useful.

Turns out I was luckier than I thought.

According to Mei, most Summoners-especially newer ones like her-start with almost everything at E-, and maybe a single E grade stat. She said she'd been a Summoner for a year now, and she was apparently progressing faster than most of her peers.

Some rare cases-like direct descendants of the legendary Kuzunoha clan-start with all stats at peak E+. Basically, the upper limit before real growth begins.

And yet, I'd been summoned in with C- chance ranking. Mei had a mini meltdown over it, claiming it was "unfair" or "cheating" or something. I didn't really listen to the rest of her tantrum. Not that I blamed her.

But that raised the question-why?

Why did I start with such high potential?

Was it dumb luck? Or something else entirely?

I didn't have time to ponder it.

A sound echoed through the tunnel-a shuffle, a scrape, the unmistakable wet drag of something not quite human approaching.

Mei let out a small laugh. "Hoo boy, we got a zombie on our hands. Guess it peeped you and thought you were family."

...Really?