I Only Summon Villainesses

We pressed forward regardless of our confused sense of location. The forest had twisted every path, every corner that we both recognized.

It was a bit terrifying to think about. Thank goodness I wasn’t much of an overthinker, so why would I be thinking about it?

’Why would I be thinking about the fact that a forest is trying to get me lost in it? Pfft, I have better things to do than accommodate thoughts like this!’

That was right. It was as I said.

And at the same time, while I was counting time for Nisha, I studied my profile.

[SUMMONER STATUS]

– Name: Cade Marlowe

– Rank: F

– Spirit Essence: 430/2,100

– Active Spirits: 2/5

[MAIN ATTRIBUTES]

– Summoner’s Touch (Basic) Lv. 4

– Infinite Vitality (Basic) Lv. 20 (maxed, awaiting evolution)

– Sculptor’s Gift (Advanced) Lv. 1

[EXTRA ATTRIBUTES]

– Emperor’s Presence (Combat/Support) Lv. 10

– Strategic Apex (Utility/Combat) Lv. 6

– Conqueror’s Will (Support/Combat) Lv. 2

– Warlord’s Command (Support/Combat) Lv. 10

– Sanctified Immolation (Combat) Lv. 10

– Chains of Confession (Combat/Control) Lv. 7

– Inquisitorial Authority (Commander/Debuff) Lv. 1

– Martyr’s Endurance (Survival/Support) Lv. 2

Looking at my profile, it was pretty obvious that Nisha had been right. My essence was low. I could summon Maggie, and I think for her basic skills she wouldn’t need to sap my essence, but the signature abilities were certainly going to cost me.

’She shouldn’t need a signature ability to burn down the forest, right? After all, she’s a calamity.’

We continued deeper still. The trees stood side by side, so clustered that one would think they were trying to strangle something within them. Bark scraped against bark when the wind pushed through, producing a low groaning sound that made the canopy feel like it was closing in with every step we took.

There was no sight of the ice terrain that we had come from. Every sense of direction we had arrived with, or that we’d had to begin with, was totally lost.

It wasn’t difficult to surmise that Nisha at this point was just leading us through the woodland with absolutely no sense of direction. Whether she was even getting this right was anyone’s guess.

’I can always replenish my essence though…’

At that moment my gaze fell on Nisha’s breast pressed against my chest. My arm was draped over her shoulder and I could feel her body gently rubbing against me with each step we took. I threw my gaze to her behind, and that side wasn’t lacking either, each cheek trembling with intent.

I suddenly found myself thinking about what it would be like if I was hitting her from behind.

At that moment, flashbacks of the cave entered my head. That moment had been the wrongest of times, a moment where my heart claimed, at the very least, to be grieving, and yet my lust made a fool of my emotions. As if my body and my grief existed in two separate rooms, and my body had locked the door on the other one without asking permission.

Was it because I didn’t have so much pride to begin with, that I didn’t really consider myself a disappointment? I never held myself to any high esteem, but I also never invalidated my emotions at any moment. At least I tried not to.

Those were just the things I was aware of. Like every other human that exists today, I too was a product of trauma, and I had no idea what flaws and surface reactions my own trauma was causing in me. The stuff you can see is never the stuff that does the real damage.

’Damnit, how did I get here? All I was thinking about was sex…’

Now the very idea of it suddenly felt revolting, like a sin.

’I really am a hypocrite.’

It hadn’t been revolting to me then, but now it was.

’I was horny, I guess.’

I chuckled shamelessly. Or so it seemed. But behind that shamelessness was a lot of shame and pain that no one was ever going to see. Perhaps behind my pridelessness too was so much ego that I had shoved in and sealed shut, buried so deep I could pretend it didn’t exist.

’Ah, let’s just stop thinking! I hate overthinkers, damnit.’

That wasn’t to say I was one of them. I mean, I don’t hate myself… right?

Nisha finally stopped and looked around.

I turned to her and gave her the “I told you so after a satisfying gulp of chilled water” look.

“I still think burning the entire forest is dangerous.”

I gave her a dark glare.

“Obviously! It is, that’s why we’re doing it.” I exhaled and summoned Maggie.

A moment passed. Nothing happened.

I frowned and willed Kassie into existence, pushing harder this time. It was like shouting into a room and hearing nothing come back, not even an echo.

A few seconds passed. Then minutes. Still nothing.

Nisha gave me a suspicious look.

“What’s wrong?”

I looked at Nisha and asked in a slow, subdued tone.

“Can you summon your spirit?”

Nisha had dismissed her spirit a while ago when we started walking. She casually summoned her beast into existence. The obsidian creature appeared before me with its tentacles flaring about, and something cold settled in my stomach at the sight of it. Her summon had worked without issue.

Meanwhile, Nisha stared at me with a small worried frown.

“What are you onto?”

I was silent for a moment. My gaze drifted to the left, then to the right, up through the canopy, and down to the very ground beneath our feet.

Everything suddenly seemed lost, and for the first time, I felt helpless.

Before jumping to conclusions, I tried to enter my soul plane instead. But as I closed my eyes I felt a cold and endless barrier between me and everything that made me a summoner. It was like a sea, vast and freezing, spanning between my consciousness and my soul plane cathedral, the cathedral itself thrown impossibly far off at the horizon where it shimmered like something half-remembered. I could sense it there. I could feel its presence. But I could not reach it.

It was similar. Very similar to what I had felt when I tried to reach Kassie.

“Cade, what’s wrong?”

Nisha’s tone brought me back to reality, and I slowly raised my head.

“Uhm…” my voice shook. “Uhm, I think… I can’t summon my spirit.”