Being a Summoner on our Evolved Earth

Wave battle (4)

Once Lucia calmed down, they proceeded down the hall to the next room. As her soldier entered this room though, a lattice gate shut down between them, causing them to become separated. Lucia froze from shock for a moment as she then tried to lift the metal gate. The sound of metal gates raising could be heard, but it wasn't the one Lucia was trying to lift. Lucia glanced at the arena like room that her soldier was trapped in. There was sand covering the floor and the walls were made of a more well maintained stone brick than the rest of the dungeon so far. There were two gates that had raised on the opposite side of the room. A pair of skeletal soldiers walked out and charged at her soldier.

'Should I recall my soldier?' Lucia thought for a brief moment, then shook her head. 'I'll only do that if he's losing.' 

"Stand your ground my soldier. Either aim for their neck or break their weapon arm." She quickly gave her instructions. Her soldier entered a battle stance with his back facing Lucia.

The opposing soldiers reached swiftly and the battle commenced with both of their overhead swings being blocked by Lucia's soldier's shield. He followed up with a horizontal slash aiming to break their raised arms. He managed to break the arm bone of one soldier thanks to the buffs he received from Lucia. The other soldier was aiming at this moment though when his sword arm was out stretched to try and break his arm. Lucia who saw this raised her staff into one of the openings in the lattice and shoved her staff through and knocked the second enemy soldier in the head, her strength caused the soldier to stumble backwards. Lucia quickly pulled her staff out of the lattice and continued to observe the fight. Her soldier took this opening to charge past the disarmed skeletal soldier and attack the neck of the stumbling soldier. A crack was heard as it's sword crushed the skeleton's spine and it crumbled to the ground. While it was still recovering from the attack it just made, the disarmed soldier knocked into Lucia's soldier and knocked it down. It struggled a bit to roll onto its back and raised its shield to block the disarmed soldier that was trying to jump on it and use its heavy armor to break its spine. Lucia's soldier managed to shove the disarmed soldier to the side and swung its sword from the ground at the falling skeleton's unprotected lower back. A resounding crack was heard as the spine of that skeleton broke in half and it crumpled to the ground.

Lucia finally let out a breath of relief when she saw her soldier win, only for the sound of metal gates rising again to cause her to snap to attention. This time a pair of wolves walked out of the two open gates.

"Grab the crystals from those fallen soldiers to absorb and defend yourself." Lucia half shouted with her voice full of urgency. Her soldier climbed to its feet and grabbed one crystal from the soldier next to it. Seeing the soldier bending over, the two wolves that had been prowling began their charge. "Forget the other crystal, prepare for battle!" Lucia changed her order. Her soldier ate the crystal it picked up and then entered a battle stance.

One wolf leapt toward it while the other aimed for his ankle. The soldier raised its sword to hack at the wolf jumping at it. The wolf aiming for its ankle arrived first though and tried to trip the soldier, but thanks to its great strength, the wolf failed and its partner was killed in the single strike. The soldier then aimed at the wolf on its ankle. That wolf released its bite and ran a short distance away while growling. Lucia soon noticed that two more wolves walked out of the open gates before they shut. Lucia soon also noticed that these wolves weren't living, but undead as she didn't see any blood from the first one her soldier slew. The wolves quickly moved to block three different sides of her soldier. Each side seemed to be waiting for an opening. Lucia who was originally tense, slowly grew bored as they just continued to stare at each other. So she knocked her staff against the lattice gate. Immediately, the wolves changed their attention to Lucia. The soldier took advantage of the distraction to charge at the nearest wolf and use a downward slash. The wolf heard the soldier's footsteps, but was just a moment too slow when it tried to retreat. While the soldier's back was turned to them, the other two wolves charged at the back of the soldier's unprotected knees.

"Jump!" Lucia shouted. Her soldier did as she commanded and managed to dodge the wolves who slid to a stop in front of it as they tried to spin around. The soldier's sword came down on one of the wolves, completely shattering its skull. The remaining wolf seemed to go crazy as it lunged and bit the soldier's sword arm. The soldier smashed the wolf hanging from its arm into the ground without mercy. With that, the second wave was defeated.

"Grab the crystals from their skulls quickly." Lucia rushed the command this time. As long as this lattice gate didn't rise, it meant her soldier still had to fight. Her soldier was able to retrieve all five of the crystals this time before the gates opened again. This time out of the gates came a fully armored skeletal knight alone. Lucia instantly wanted that armor for the sake of evolving her soldier. Then she started to think about if her soldier could even defeat the knight. She bit her lip as she pulled the chest piece and helmet from her backpack. She had a rushed plan to implement. Very quickly her soldier collected the crystals and arrived next to the gate that separated them.

"[Item fusion]" Lucia tried to cast a spell to empower her soldier with the breastplate and helmet in front of her, however as the spell started to light up, it fizzled. "Oh no!" Lucia started to worry as she tried to use a weak "[Healing Spring]" on the soldier instead. The spell fizzled as well. Lucia glanced at the skeletal knight across the room, it seemed to be waiting patiently for them. Only then did Lucia relax a little, "Pass me the crystals you collected." 

The soldier slowly passed one crystal through the lattice gate at a time. Soon Lucia had received one of the thumb sized crystal cores, and four small crystal slivers. The reason Lucia made this decision is because summoned creatures can't keep items that aren't fused to them when they are recalled. 

"[Recall]" After receiving the crystals, even before trying to put them away she tried recalling her skeletal soldier.