I Only Summon Villainesses

As Kassie grabbed my hand and lunged into the air with me, my heart lurched despite my readiness. The wind tore at my face, salt spray stinging my eyes.

In one moment, we were on the ship. In the next, a powerful gale of wind carried us both — though the gale was Kassie herself, the raw generation of her own force, lifting us through the chaos of spray and storm.

’Too far!’

But it wasn’t enough. There was no way we were going to close the distance between the two entwined beasts and the ship with a single leap. The gap yawned beneath us, churning water and writhing flesh.

’There’s no way she wouldn’t have thought of that…’

I tried to calm my mind. In the same breath, something sparked beneath us — a whirlwind formed, swirled once, and vanished. Both of us dropped onto Cindy instead of plunging straight into the churning water.

The powerful destrier neighed and shook her head, adjusting to our sudden weight. I was in front, Kassie positioned behind me, her grip firm on the horse’s mane. In the moment Kassie steadied herself, I glanced up and saw the massive body of the leviathan eel hurtling toward us — a wall of glistening scales and raw muscle bearing down like a collapsing building.

“Kassie, incoming!”

My scream came too late. Kassie didn’t move — just held tight.

It was Cindy that did the work.

Her eyes blazed with fire. Her hooves ignited, heat rolling off them in waves. She exploded forward, becoming a comet that trailed toward the sky — and collided with the incoming wall of flesh.

The impact tore a shockwave across the sky. The air itself seemed to crack.

Following the shockwave came the leviathan eel’s screech, a sound that threatened to rend the ocean itself. My ears rang from the force of it.

The hammerhead fish saw only opportunity.

The eel had been lashing at it, pushing it away with its massive body while dodging those wicked maws. The moment Cindy collided with it — causing it to snap in pain and unfold its coiled body — the eel lashed out powerfully through the water. The storm picked up in response. Everywhere darkened, charged with stronger winds that whipped the sea into frenzy.

What this did to the super-focused hammerhead fish, the one resolved to kill the eel, was make the bastard fervently wicked and confident in its teeth.

The creature was already falling back into the waters when the eel screamed. The moment it did, the hammerhead whipped its whale-like tail, changed trajectory, and dove head-first toward the unfolding skin.

The bastard clenched its enormous teeth — long needles the size of pillars — and wickedly severed a chunk of the eel’s flesh. Meat and scale tore away in a spray of violet.

Another round of pained cries. This one lasted longer than the first, echoing across the darkened sky.

Purple blood spilled everywhere. The water’s surface was changing color, spreading like ink in wine.

“Cindy cannot run on air for long, especially after using that ability. We need to grab onto something…” Kassie’s eyes were already scanning even as she spoke, assessing the chaos below.

She pulled the horse’s mane. Cindy neighed. Her hooves tore apart and reformed into claws as she fell from the air, landing on a section of the eel’s body and carving into its flesh to find balance. The horse’s weight drove the claws deep, anchoring us to the thrashing beast.

The leviathan eel was clearly in agony, lowering itself toward the water. The hammerhead had just splashed back into the depths, generating another flood that threatened to drown the ship.

Cindy rode on the body that was now retreating toward the churning surface. And me? I was seated on the horse, gripping tight, watching titans tear each other apart from a distance that felt like madness.

’We’re actually riding this thing.’

“Don’t relax yet…” Kassie’s voice came, but it was her no-nonsense tone that passed the message even more clearly.

“Right, we still have to deal with the hammerhead.”

Kassie leaned forward. It was probably not the best time to think such, but it didn’t change the fact that her chest was pressing against my back without restraint.

“Have you seen its head? The Serpent.”

My brows furrowed as I considered her question. And then I understood.

’That’s true, I haven’t… but what’s that got to do with anything?’

“No, I haven’t… why are you—”

“That simply means that both of us… and the big fish over there… are not worthy adversaries. At least not yet.”

Hearing that was surprising.

“But the fish took out a chunk of its flesh.”

The body we stood on with Cindy was already reaching the water’s surface. I could feel the eel’s muscles shifting beneath us, the creature’s desperate retreat pulling us down.

Kassie looked down and her helmet covered her face. She removed a portion of the material of her armor and formed a nose mask for me. At this point, we were already sinking into the water.

As we entered, everything got darker. The cold hit first, then the pressure against my ears. But I didn’t allow the darkness to persist — I quickly enhanced my sight with essence. I remembered the breath and began to apply it instantly.

’Inhale… hold… exhale… hold.’

The ocean opened before me. The breath technique was working — my vision sharper now than it had been a second ago, essence threading through my eyes and pushing back the murk.

Everything still had that underwater quality, the world draped in blue like looking through colored glass. Shapes shifted behind that veil, silhouettes coiling in the deep.

But point was — I could see enough.

I could see the full body of the creature.

And seeing it, I finally understood why Kassie had said it wasn’t even taking us seriously.

The creature — the eel — looked like a Chinese calligraphy character that just kept intertwining with itself, coiled beneath the ocean in loops I couldn’t count. Its body stretched around the mass of the ship underwater, dwarfing it. The hammerhead fish was swimming toward it with the speed of a jet ski. Faster, maybe.

It collided into the leviathan eel’s mass. Because they were just silhouettes through the blue, I couldn’t confirm whether it managed to tear flesh or failed entirely.

But what I knew was…

The next moment, a section of the eel’s elongated body rose and split open to reveal a head like a sharpened needle.

The needle ripped apart. Kept ripping — a vertical maw lined with teeth like moving grinders, each one rotating. The mouth gaped wide enough to chomp down a section of the ship.

Those jaws closed on the hammerhead instead.

Bit it clean in two.

Blood gushed from the severed halves, misting the depths purple.

Then the head sealed shut. Curled back into the coils and then turned towards the ship.

’Oh no…’

My heart plummeted.

Because of the nose mask preventing water from flooding my lungs, I couldn’t speak. So instead I released an overwhelming amount of [Emperor’s Presence].

’Please work.’

The beast lunged toward the base of the ship — then halted. The water trembled with sharp shockwaves. A red predatory light ignited in its eyes as it shifted toward us.

’Ahh, thank goodness!’

A moment passed.

’Wait. Hell no, fuck me.’