Grrrrrr.
The summon, holding Sa-yoon in its mouth, let out a sharp cry and jerked its head back. Following that motion, Sa-yoon floated up before managing to mount the white wolf with Jae-hee’s help as he grabbed his wrist.
If you were going to give me a ride anyway, you could’ve come sooner. Made me run around on two feet for nothing. Clicking his tongue while adjusting his position, Sa-yoon lifted his head to survey his surroundings. The white summon was so massive that even with two grown men on its back, there was still plenty of space left.
Really makes me envious.
There was nothing better for riding around in gates. He briefly considered whether he could tame someone else’s summon before remembering that summoners and summons were bound by a soul contract, and quickly gave up. Expressing his disappointment with a click of his tongue, Sa-yoon pulled a potion from his inventory and poured it over his bloodied wounds. His eyebrows kept twitching from the stinging pain.
“Are you alright?”
“Do I look alright?”
“Not particularly. Want a potion?”
“Don’t bother. I have plenty. More importantly, why was your support so late? I was waiting and when you didn’t come for ages, I thought you were dead. You’re so damn slow.”
He’d expected support by then, but Jae-hee’s actions were slower than anticipated. After criticizing him for spacing out despite likely having plenty of gate experience as an S-rank hunter, Jae-hee checked Sa-yoon’s condition and smirked.
“Looking at how you were running around alone, you didn’t seem to be waiting for my support at all.”
“If I said I was waiting, I was waiting.”
Responding flatly, he wrapped bandages around his pierced shoulder. Though he’d applied the potion, wounds from higher-ranked monsters than his current grade wouldn’t heal quickly with low-grade potions. But he couldn’t waste high-grade potions on such minor injuries, so he had no choice but to use moderate potions and keep the wounds bandaged until they healed.
What a trash body, really.
As he clicked his tongue, determined to restore his rank as soon as possible, Jae-hee retied the slightly loose bandage that Sa-yoon had struggled to fasten alone, then stroked the white summon’s fur. It was a gentle, careful touch full of affection for his summon.
Though they said summoners and summons were bound by contract, they clearly had an attachment relationship—seeing this made that statement feel real.
“I’m going to increase speed, so hold on tight. With your current rank, falling off Rai would mean instant death.”
“Yeah, right.”
Instant death, my ass.
He’d never seen an Awakened die from falling off a summon. He almost blurted out that if that were true, he would’ve died hundreds of times in the field already, but instead kept quiet and gripped the wolf summon called Rai tightly. Jae-hee, who had been gently stroking Rai from head to neck, lowered his upper body.
“Rai.”
Woof!
“Think you can join up with Shiro and Maru?”
Woof!
“Good boy. Then…”
Run at full speed.
After stroking its fur once, the man lowered his upper body close and whispered. Rai, the white summon, raised its tail and neck straight up, howled, and kicked off the ground. At that moment, Sa-yoon understood why Jae-hee had warned him to hold on tight.
Holy shit.
It was literally insane speed. Despite the considerable distance, Rai reached the two summons Sa-yoon had thrown in the blink of an eye. Amazed by the extraordinary speed, Sa-yoon noticed his own hands gripping Rai’s body were trembling ever so slightly. The earlier speed had been too much for a C-rank body to handle.
If Sa-yoon had never been S-rank before, he would’ve definitely fallen off. As his lips twitched, he tried using Genius Eyes on Rai, wondering if it would work on a summon.
<Checking status window of Fenrir ‘Rai’.>
It worked.
No, wait—Fenrir?
Sa-yoon took another look at the summon he’d definitely thought was just a wolf. Fenrir? Did they mean that Fenrir?
If summons had ranks, Fenrir would be at the pinnacle of all summons. If this were really a game, it would be rare enough to earn a legendary title, and just as exceptional. With so few specimens and being notoriously difficult to handle, plus being a species that chose its own summoner, it was a summon you couldn’t get even for a hundred billion. Shocked at where he could have possibly picked up something like this, Sa-yoon examined Jae-hee with astonished eyes before checking the status window he’d been curious about.
<Fenrir ‘Rai’s Status Window>
- Name: Rai Age: 3 years
- Species: Fenrir
- Sex: Male
- Rank: SS-grade (Growth Potential)
- Summoner: Currently soul-bound to current summoner ‘Lee Jae-hee’
- Skills: Fenrir’s Fear (SSS), Lightning Speed (S), Bite (AA), Shadow Illusion (SS+), Digging (A), Escape (S)
- Current Status: ‘There are so many monsters it’s scary, but with Master, we can overcome anything!’
“Holy fuck.”
“Pardon?”
Jae-hee turned around at the sudden expletive. Sa-yoon waved his hand indicating it was just a mutter to himself and to watch ahead, then looked at the young Fenrir’s status window again.
“…”
His white hand rubbed his eyes vigorously. He stretched his cheeks and even slapped them. Jae-hee turned around again at the sounds from behind him, but Sa-yoon was so irritated just meeting his eyes that he scolded him to look forward.
Fucking hell, seriously.
His guts weren’t just twisted—his entire body’s innards felt like they were being wrung out to death. Why did both this guy and that guy have such ridiculously overpowered skills and summons?
Goddamn pay-to-win RNG bullshit game.
It was shocking enough that the summon was a Fenrir, but the status window was truly jaw-dropping. It was even more impressive than when he’d seen Jae-hee’s or Han Geon-joo’s status windows.
First of all, that rank.
Usually S-grade was considered the maximum, so how could there be an SS-grade with growth potential? Even for a Fenrir, even though summons were treated as something between monsters and items, wasn’t this just cheating? It wasn’t just SS-grade but had growth potential. That meant it could potentially reach SSS-grade if raised well. Sa-yoon almost grabbed the back of his neck in disbelief at this point, but what was even more mind-blowing was Fenrir’s skill window.
[Fenrir’s Fear (SSS)] Show the majesty of Fenrir!
- When howling, stuns all enemies within 1km radius and increases attack power of allies designated by summoner by 10%. Stun effect lasts up to 1 minute, attack power buff lasts 10 minutes, and all enemies within Fear range fall into ‘Terror’ status effect until near death, slowing their movements. (Status effect removed upon leaving range)
[Lightning Speed (S)] Even a young Fenrir can move plenty fast!
- Upon activation, increases speed by 100% for 10 minutes (Grows alongside Fenrir’s development)
[Shadow Illusion (SS+)] Sometimes brilliant white harbors darkness!
- Creates shadow illusions upon activation. Illusions possess 80% of Fenrir’s original power and last 10 minutes.
And so on.
Not just anything, but a summon’s skill window.
Feeling sick that this white Fenrir alone would be stronger than most hunters, Sa-yoon checked the other two summons just in case.
<Silver Wolf ‘Maru’s Status Window>
- Name: Maru
- Age: 4 years
- Species: Silver Wolf
- Sex: Male
- Rank: S-grade (Growth Potential)
- Summoner: Currently soul-bound to current summoner ‘Lee Jae-hee’
- Skills: Field’s Fear (SS), Adamantine Body (S), Bite (A), Den Digging (S+), Self-Recovery (A)
- Current Status: ‘Master, get away from that nasty human! That person threw me!’
<Nine-Tailed Fox ‘Shiro’s Status Window>
- Name: Shiro
- Age: 4 years
- Species: Nine-Tailed Fox (Currently Two-Tails Grade)
- Sex: Male
- Rank: A-grade (Growth Potential)
- Summoner: Currently soul-bound to current summoner ‘Lee Jae-hee’
- Skills: Paradise’s Fear (S), Charm (A), Bite (A), Tail Constriction (A), Danger Detection (A)
- Current Status: ‘Me Shiro. In my prime at four years old, is this how I die? There are too many monsters!’
“Should I kill him?”
“Pardon?”
Oops, seems his jealousy couldn’t be contained and slipped out again. Sa-yoon glared fiercely at Jae-hee as he turned around. The man threw a puzzled look at suddenly receiving such a murderous gaze, but who cares? His stomach really felt like it was going to burst.
Meanwhile, Jae-hee called his remaining two summons to his side and continued the battle. While having excellent summons was important, fundamentally the summoner needed to be skilled for the summons to demonstrate their full abilities. In that respect, Jae-hee was definitely worthy of his S-rank.
After all, the movements of the two summons called Shiro and Maru were far superior to when they’d been moving independently.
In other words, Jae-hee was talented, lucky, and even blessed with natural summons. After confirming that the other two summons were also A-rank or higher, Sa-yoon couldn’t help but clutch his stomach and groan.
He hadn’t done anything except rampage once, but as soon as Jae-hee properly took action, the monster horde was instantly reduced by half. With five summons rampaging non-stop and Jae-hee providing support at the perfect moments, he was truly performing at a one-man army level.
Strange.
This was exactly the carry he’d wanted.
He should be enjoying this sweet ride, but his stomach kept churning.
Sa-yoon swallowed the bile rising from his stomach and gripped Rai’s back. Rai jumped in surprise before settling down under Jae-hee’s touch and continuing the battle. He’d said they could overcome anything with his master, and truly, they were defeating all the monsters.
Ah, seriously.
Should’ve become a summoner myself.
For some reason, Sa-yoon frowned as he found himself missing his snakes back at the guild.