“GROOOWL!”
The simple-minded monsters immediately became distracted by the summon Sa-yoon had thrown. In other words, it drew the aggro of the monster group that had been charging at the front.
Grrrr, woof!
Just before hitting the ground, Jae-hee’s summon twisted its body to land safely and raised its tail aggressively while watching the monsters surrounding it. KIEEEK! One monster foolishly charged at the defensive summon. AWOOOO! The wolf summon began howling.
ZIIIIING
As its howling made the ground vibrate, the charging monsters hesitated. Apparently, it was a creature capable of using “Field’s Fear”—a skill used only by special-grade summons among high-rank ones.
Fucking RNG pay-to-win game.
The whiter the color, the higher ranked and rarer the summon. Yet Jae-hee’s wolf summon not only had silver fur but could also use Field’s Fear. This was the kind of summon one couldn’t obtain without extraordinary luck, which made Sa-yoon’s blood boil as he looked at the monsters whose ferocious energy had dissipated.
Field’s Fear.
It was a debuff-type summon skill that reduced enemy defense by over 10 percent within its range, lowered morale, and slowed movement speed. In other words, while Field’s Fear was active, monsters in this area were slow targets that would take 10 percent more damage when hit. Thinking the debuff came at a good timing, Sa-yoon kicked off the ground to start attacking.
Then he tilted his head.
Strange. Why did his speed feel slower too?
Even accounting for becoming C-rank, his body felt slower than usual. It was even slower than during his first gate conquest after lying around following Geon-joo’s escape. As he pondered this, the wolf summon that spotted Sa-yoon barked fiercely. Realizing the situation a beat late, Sa-yoon burst into a hollow laugh.
Apparently, that deranged mad dog had considered him an enemy too and used Fear on him.
“Come on, can’t a person throw you once without being petty about it?”
Finding himself unexpectedly debuffed along with the monsters, Sa-yoon clicked his tongue and changed course to return to Jae-hee’s side. Since the first one he threw wasn’t getting its act together, he had to send additional support—what else could he do? He’d been thinking throwing just one against 2,000 seemed too heartless anyway.
Reaching the summoning circles in an instant, Sa-yoon grabbed a fox-shaped summon. Yelp! Having witnessed the wolf’s fate earlier, the fox summon whimpered and dug its claws into the ground, resisting. It was trying everything possible not to be dragged away.
What’s with this combat summon?
“Shh, there there.”
As he gently soothed the fox while grabbing its tail, Jae-hee, who had been watching, grabbed Sa-yoon’s arm.
“You’re not planning to throw that one too, are you?”
“Ah, finally coming to your senses? I was wondering. You were just standing there even after gate saturation started—thought you’d lost it.”
“That’s not what I’m asking about…!”
“Heave-ho!”
“…”
Before Jae-hee could finish speaking, Sa-yoon threw the summon in his hand. Yip! The summon, finally thrown by Sa-yoon, howled in mid-air as if wronged.
Kegk!
Soon making a choking sound and thrashing in the air, the summon managed to flip and land safely among the monsters.
ARRRRR!
The fox summon ground its teeth and raised its tail straight up, firing off Fear just like the previous summon had done. This really was a pay-to-win RNG game. While the wolf had debuff skills, the fox was using ally buff skills.
“It knows how to use buffs at just the right moment.”
Jae-hee was definitely an S-rank Summoner through and through. Both summons were smart enough to make Sa-yoon envious.
Well, except for that wolf summon that had debuffed him.
Keoong, woof!
Awoooo!
The summons, now fully engaged in battle, instantly tore out monsters’ throats and ripped their flesh with claws. Though they’d been thrown in against their will, their hunting instincts were strong, and Sa-yoon too charged into battle excitedly.
“If you’ve come to your senses, help out too, Jae-hee! Don’t just make your summons do all the work!”
Strictly speaking, Sa-yoon was the one making them work hard, but he decided to overlook such minor details. After lightly chiding Jae-hee, who had been standing still doing nothing since the battle started, Sa-yoon moved behind the two summons and pulled out a rope from his inventory. Though it looked ordinary, it was a B-rank item called the Prisoner’s Rope. Once tied, it wouldn’t come undone except by its caster, making it perfect for situations like this.
Sa-yoon attached his dagger to the rope and swung it around like a firecracker.
Swoosh!
Grabbing the rope’s end and throwing the dagger, it buried itself in the neck of an Irregular distracted by the summons. GROAK! The ambushed creature screamed before perishing. Sa-yoon pulled his arm back to retrieve the blade and threw it at the next target.
Thunk, thud!
A perfect hit every time, one-shot kills.
Monsters fell with each hit, making Sa-yoon smile with satisfaction as he wiped blood from his face. Though his rank was C, his items were still S-rank. With tanks drawing aggro, taking down one or two A-ranks was as easy as eating cold porridge.
That is, when measured per second.
“KIEEK!”
“GUK!”
“GERK!”
Spinning the rope with all his might, three monsters instantly fell with screams. At that moment, the highest DPS shifted to Sa-yoon, and the monsters began watching him instead of the summons. The aggro had transferred.
“Tch, should have brought three instead of two.”
Quickly picking off vulnerable ones from behind meant the aggro transferred faster than expected. Despite the summons being right in front of them, the monsters charged toward him in overwhelming numbers. Rolling on the ground, Sa-yoon had no time to dust off the dirt before jumping up and dashing forward. Having leaped into the middle, he was surrounded by enemies on all sides. As he gritted his teeth facing dozens of charging monsters, suddenly a sharp pain shot through his shoulder.
“Kuhak!”
Urk, Sa-yoon coughed up blood right after. Just as one monster had pierced his shoulder, another drove a sharp sickle into his abdomen.
Where the fuck did that sickle come from?
With monsters jumping out from 22 different movies, there were all sorts of creatures. Grimacing, Sa-yoon twisted his body and changed weapons. At the moment monsters were charging from all directions, Sa-yoon’s blade aimed not at their bodies but at the ground.
Thunk! After driving the blade into the ground and spitting blood, Sa-yoon chanted the activation word.
“Heris’s Repentance.”
Rumble rumble rumble.
The concrete-covered ground shook. Then, just as countless monsters were about to reach Sa-yoon—BOOM! An explosion.
The ground exploded with a thunderous roar, sending concrete shrapnel flying in all directions, embedding in the monsters’ bodies. Most of the approaching monsters were either knocked down or blown away, with few left standing. The problem was that Sa-yoon, being at the explosion’s center, wasn’t in great shape either.
When he was S-rank, he could use Heris’s Dagger all day without a scratch, but being C-rank changed things. Coughing up blood, Sa-yoon staggered as he pulled the dagger from the ground and stood up. Though he thought he’d taken out quite a few, there were still over a hundred monsters just within a 10-meter radius.
Shit, there’s a fucking ton of them.
When gate saturation began, about five hundred monsters had poured out, and they’d kept coming steadily until now there were over 2,000 monsters inside the barricade. The alarming part was that the stream hadn’t stopped yet.
After all, the Fantasy Theater gate was still open.
If they couldn’t reduce the numbers within 10 minutes, the barricade would break. Though they had prepared for contingencies, how could he face the shame of failing such a simple conquest? A guild master would have to resign after failing something this basic. Wiping away blood and pulling out the sickle embedded in his body, Sa-yoon charged at the nearest monster.
Grab!
His outstretched hand was instantly caught and stopped. Crack A chilling sound suggested his wrist might be breaking, but unfazed, Sa-yoon used the monster’s throwing force against it. As it tried to throw him, he pulled it closer instead. Thunk! The attack targeting its moment of carelessness successfully struck its vital point without the slightest error.
“GYEK!”
The monster lost strength and collapsed toward Sa-yoon. With the monster’s frame over 3 meters tall, Sa-yoon frantically tried to pull away to avoid being crushed, but it was too late.
“Fucking bastard!”
Due to the debuff, his body responded slower than expected. Just as he gritted his teeth, finding his body wouldn’t move at the timing he’d planned due to that damned movement speed reduction—
Yip!
He heard what sounded like a dog barking, then someone grabbed his nape. Dangling in mid-air, Sa-yoon turned his head to assess the situation. A massive white wolf had caught his nape in its mouth, holding him gently.
“You don’t have multiple lives, you know. How could you rampage like that in this situation? Get on.”
Then came a calm voice. Only then did Sa-yoon notice the man mounted on the white summon’s back. It was Jae-hee.