Being a Summoner on our Evolved Earth

Help others to pass a test part 1 (10)

In another location a young man in leather armor, with light brown short hair, and carrying a pair of short swords, arrived in an arena like room with four metal lattice gates. The floor is covered in dirt and broken stones. As he entered the room, the gate slammed shut behind him and two gates across from him raised up. Three large red ants bigger than a saint bernard dog, and covered in chitinous armor march out followed by four smaller red ants the size of german shepherd dogs. The young man could faintly feel the temperature of the room rising as the ants approached.

The young man disappeared in a cloud of shadows. The ants who lost sight of their prey made a triangular formation with the large ants on each corner defensively, and the smaller ants watching from the inside. A moment of silence passed; while the ants waved their antennae to search out their prey. One large ant stepped out a bit like following a scent trail and the young man moved forward and used a [Piercing Strike] to pierce through its eye. The pain caused the large ant to be stunned while one of the smaller ants let out a brief flame thrower that licked the young man's boots as he retreated from his successful attack. The ants moved after the assassin while maintaining their formation. In the midst of his retreat from the ants the young man heard a soft cough from behind him. He glanced back to see a woman with leather armor and a metal quarterstaff standing a short distance away. 

The man thought to himself sarcastically, 'This place just keeps getting stranger and stranger.'

Lucia raised her hand towards him and cast "[Healing Spring]" before saying, "I received a task to help you."

The assassin responded positively, "The more help the merrier."

"Please buy me some time to summon. [Summon Skeletal Soldier]" Lucia asked as a familiar magic circle rose from the ground.

The man after realizing what she said showed a look of confusion, but agreed anyways. 'Since when can a priest use summoning magic?' He back pedaled through the room while playing tag with the ants. Slowly the wounded ant pulled ahead of the group and the man took the chance to [Piercing Strike] the armored ant's other eye. 

 "[Shadow Bomb]" Then he weaved mana through his hands to form a small black grenade which he tossed in front of him. Shadows erupted in a diameter of ten feet for several seconds before they slowly faded under the torch light. The assassin used the cover to disengage and gain some distance. The wounded ant that had lost its eye sight in both eyes was unable to follow and waited for the other ants to catch up. Only after the shadows faded did they begin the pursuit again. The wounded ant calmed down as it had to rely on its antennae and brothers to move around now.

As the man was thinking about how to keep them distracted for the remaining time, Lucia shouted to him, "Look out! One circled behind." He glanced back and saw one of the smaller ants with flames building up between its mandibles just a few feet away from his side. Without further hesitation, he rolled out of the way towards Lucia. Successfully dodging the flame thrower, he jumped to his feet and dashed to the ant as it recharged. His sword swung out; cleanly connected with the ant's neck, and successfully beheaded it. He then resumed back pedaling so he could keep his distance from the other ants. At this time, the summoning finished as Lucia's skeletal soldier appeared and gave a shallow salute before turning to face the enemy.

The clattering of bones against armor could be heard, causing the backpedaling man to ask, "What's going on back there?"

"My summoning is finished, please lure them over here." Lucia responded as she cast her buff magic. "[Blessing of a Warrior] [Iron Claws] and [Aura of Beast's Might]." Successive flashes of light and mana appeared over the skeletal soldier's body as it moved to slash at the oncoming ants. Using the lack of attention, the man took cover behind the skeletal soldier and activated stealth as he prepared to attack during openings. At this time the skeletal soldier landed its first sword slash on one of the armored ants. The attack managed to cut a deep wound into the ant causing surprise to both Lucia and the assassin. Another marvel, was the ants physical attacks didn't seem to have much effect on the skeletal soldier.

"[Healing Spring]." Lucia used this spell to keep her skeletal soldier healthy under the assault. The assassin also reached the wounded armored ant in the back and used [Piercing Strike] on its neck. The attack easily pierced through that spot with the least armor, and the ant's head was separated from its body. A couple flame ants turned around to attack him. The assassin having noticed their reaction attempted to evade backwards only to fall over the still twitching armored ant's corpse. The fallen assassin was quickly covered by their flames. It felt like his skin was melting under the heat. He grit his teeth under the pain for a bit before yelling out in agony.

"[Greater Healing Spring]" Lucia moved to an angle where she could see the fallen assassin and cast her most powerful healing over time spell. The assassin suddenly felt the burning pain be replaced with warmth as his burning flesh started to mend in mere blinks of an eye. Using the chance where the pain subsided, he rolled behind the armored ant's corpse and climbed to his feet. Then proceeded to get as much distance as he could from the flame ants. The two flame ants followed after him while the remaining three ants were focused on the lone skeletal soldier. Lucia stayed on the outskirts of the battle to keep both her skeletal soldier and the assassin in line of sight so she could heal them.

Seeing that the two flame ants had separated from the group to follow him, the assassin grabbed a throwing knife from his belt. He threw it at the ant on the left while lunging at the ant on the right with [Piercing Strike] aimed at its neck. The knife was dodged by the left ant, but during that brief moment he did decapitate the other flame ant as it was about to bite him. Breathing a sigh of relief, the assassin continued the familiar strategy of backpedaling to find an opportunity to strike. At this moment Lucia cast a [Magic Missile] at the remaining flame ant that was chasing the assassin. The force of her spell didn't one shot it, but it was heavily wounded.

The assassin swiftly rushed over and stabbed the ant to make sure it was dead, then he changed targets to the remaining group. The armored ants were covered in slash wounds, while the skeletal soldier's armor had several dents in the middle of mending. The assassin entered stealth and made his way towards the last flame ant. Just as he approached, Lucia landed a [Magic Missile] which distracted it as the assassin finished it with a familiar decapitating strike. The armored ants noticed the presence of the assassin, however they were not able to turn away from the skeletal soldier either. So they desperately used their hind legs from time to time to kick at the assassin. At this point, it was just a matter of time until they are able to take down the remaining armored ants.

Lucia kindly offered a reminder, "Please reserve your mana. This arena has multiple fights."

"Good to know." The assassin accepted her advice and stuck to regular attacks. Soon all the ants are corpses on the ground and the skeletal soldier walked back to Lucia's side. The assassin finally took the time to analyze Lucia from head to toe, sensing a vague familiarity.

"So, who are you?" He asked in a confused tone.

"Don't you know it's rude to not introduce yourself first before asking someone else's name?" Lucia teased.

"Sorry it's been a stressful two days, I'm Xantos, and you are?" Xantos responded in a slightly friendlier tone.

"I was just teasing you. I'm Lucia, a support summoner from the end raid. I was one of the healers." Lucia smiled as she introduced herself.

"I see, I think I remember you being there. You pulled the boss's final attack at the very end right?" Xantos seemed to remember.

"Yes that was me. However, I don't have my old summoning contracts anymore so I have to start over with raising new contracted creatures." Lucia took the chance to complain.

"That sucks. So how many floors have you gone up since arriving here?" Xantos asked curiously.

"I'm in the trial of the first floor right now, and you?" Lucia responded innocently.

"Uh, this is my third floor. Though I haven't gone through any gauntlet that had multiple waves." Xantos responded in surprise.

"The arena was really close to the bedroom, my skeletal soldier triggered it after entering and it locked me out. So after facing a couple rounds where I couldn't help my soldier, I had to recall it and decided to leave that room for later." Lucia shrugged her shoulders.

"Must have taken a different path than you. Have you run into anyone else in here?" Xantos asked while trying to learn more. At this moment the next lattice gate rose up, interrupting the conversation.

"You are the first person I've run into." Lucia responded as she prepared for battle.