Nightmare Realm Summoner

“What?” Aaron exclaimed, his gaze snapping up to follow Claire’s gaze. “They can do that? But our last fight just ended! That’s not fair! We haven’t even had time to loot!”

“I don’t know if the Cracked Steps cares too much for the concept of fair or not.” Alex’s lips pressed thin. There was no way he was going to just leave the Baveroth and its precious fur behind. “So long as we’re here, I’m pretty sure participation is mandatory.”

“So we have to fight again, huh? Well, I’ve still got my coin. Could be worse.” Aaron’s eyes traced the approaching path of roots.

It wasn’t too far away. No matter what their decision was, it was going to have to be fast.

It’s not like we can’t take a fight. I’ve got magical energy left. Most of my monsters are still around and haven’t used Encore yet. Honestly, we’re in pretty good shape overall. That said, we have a giant bear corpse that I have no plans of leaving behind… and the monster I’m missing is Glint.

This fight is a risk. And I’m not sure it’s one I necessarily want to take. Our payout for actually fighting here isn’t that great, and it comes at the cost of potentially losing the bear.

“We don’t have to do anything,” Claire replied. “What are you thinking here, Alex? I’m not sure this fight is the best call. Glint is down and we can’t store the Baveroth safely. And we don’t know how strong our opponents are, either.”

“Yeah. I better secure this before we figure anything else out,” Alex said. He crouched by the Baveroth’s side and put his hand on the dead monster’s fur, trying to draw it into his Spatial Ring.

Nothing happened.

He frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Claire asked.

“The Baveroth won’t go into my Spatial Ring,” Alex said with an annoyed click of his tongue. “Something is stopping me from drawing it in. I’m pretty sure it should fit, so there’s something else screwing it up. Maybe it has some kind of vague magic resistance that this ring isn’t strong enough to surpass?”

“Don’t think we’ve got time to figure out what the issue is.” Claire’s eyes returned to the advancing wall of roots. “I can’t catch sight of whoever is on that root path. They’re keeping themselves hidden. It’s likely on purpose.”

“How do you know?” Aaron asked. “They could just be slow.”

“Because you should always assume that anything your opponents do is intentional. The safest thing to do is always assume that you’re up against someone intelligent. If they aren’t they’ll make sure you figure that out soon enough. But there’s nothing more dangerous than assuming a smart enemy is stupid.”

“Even assuming a really stupid enemy is smart?”

There was a short pause.

“Why do I feel like you’re both looking at me?” Alex asked, still crouched beside the Baveroth and trying to make his ring activate to no luck whatsoever. Annoyance played across his features.

“I didn’t say anything,” Claire said. She cleared her throat. “But we’re almost out of time here. Should we—”

Alex rose back to his feet, drawing on his magic.

The ground at his feet turned black. Bubbles roiled across it as Princess huge, clawed hand rose up from the depths of the murky liquid. She pulled herself free of the darkness and rose to stand before Alex. He sent her a command with a thought.

Princess scooped up the Baveroth’s huge body, slinging it over her sludgy shoulder with no little amount of effort. The huge bear monster landed with a splattering thud, sending droplets of sludge flying everywhere.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author’s work.

He banished the bear’s magical fang into his ring. This time, the magic worked just fine. Maybe it was because the bear itself had some kind of anti-magic properties or the like. They’d have time to figure that out later. He wasn’t going to sit around twiddling his thumbs while someone showed up to steal their hard work.

“We’re not fighting,” Alex said. “We’re leaving.”

“Leaving?” Aaron asked, blinking in surprise. “Why?”

“Because we have loot,” Alex said. “And I have no idea what’s coming for us. But I’m going to be pissed if it’s strong enough to take our shit away from us. Being greedy is great. But the risks here are way bigger than the rewards. I can’t fit the Baveroth in my ring. What if someone knocks it off the edge of the platform again or something?”

“Oh. Yeah,” Aaron said. “That would suck. I just didn’t think you’d ever turn down a fight.”

“It’s not like this is some rare, limited fight where we’ve only got one shot to take down a boss for a powerful reward,” Alex said through a snort of laughter. “This is just some random chump that’s also on the Cracked Steps. This place will be here forever. Our loot, however, will not be.”

“I see what you’re saying,” Aaron allowed. “Losing the Baveroth would be a pretty big waste. Mite would do some horrible things to get his hands on whatever this bear is made out of.”

Alex nodded, turning back toward the path leading toward the portal they’d taken to get into the Cracked Steps. “Which is why it would be prudent for us to get moving. It’s a good thing there aren’t any rules about having to stay here when there’s a fight coming. I guess that’s the benefit of not really having much in the way of rules at all. Nothing stopping us from just legging it.”

The three of them darted off, Princess taking up the flank with the heavy corpse of the Baveroth bouncing against her shoulder with every lumbering step she took. Alex didn’t bother throwing any glances over his shoulder. He’d seen how fast the roots were coming. There was definitely enough time for them to escape. They scaled down the wall of roots and reached their original platform, quickly leaving Princess behind.

“Aren’t we going too fast?” Aaron asked as they strode for the portal. “We’ve left Princess behind. What if they catch up and kill her before...”

A shadow passed over their backs. Aaron glanced up. His eyes went wide. Then a huge black form sailed through the air, crashing down before them with a wet, splattering crunch. Sludge splattered in every direction in a wide circle. The Baveroth’s body bounced across the ground, limbs flailing in a somewhat amusing display before it rolled to a stop a foot away.

Princess bubbled. Then she rose back up to her normal height, the damage her body had taken from the fall repairing itself immediately. She grabbed the Baveroth, dragging it across the ground before slinging it back over her shoulder.

“Ah,” Aaron said meekly. “Right. Guess it’s a lot easier to get around when both you and the thing you’re trying to protect are basically indestructible.”

“It certainly has its benefits,” Alex agreed as the three of them drew up to the portal. He threw one last glance over his shoulder. The roots had just about made it to their platform, but it was too late. Unfortunately for whoever had been hoping for a fight, they were already long gone.

Sorry guys. No hard feelings, but I’m not giving up my loot.

“Let’s go,” Claire said. “This was a good run. Nothing to complain about. We’ll come back again once we’ve gotten even stronger to see how much farther we can get.”

Alex nodded. Then, as one, the three of them stepped through the portal.

***

The world shifted. Alex’s foot landed on solid ground, finishing the step he’d started, and he emerged from the hollowed out trunk that the portal to the Cracked Steps resided within. Claire and Aaron stepped alongside him — and the three of them all ground to a halt at the exact same time.

“What the fuck?” Aaron whispered.

Alex didn’t blame him. Standing before them was a mountain of a man that rose more than double their height. Thick metal rods ran throughout his body, impaling his flesh and connecting him to the warped metal armor that covered his entire form. Patches of his body had melted into the metal itself, making it impossible to tell where man ended and armor began.

The man’s face was clean-shaven, the remains of stitching that had once sewn his mouth shut hanging in tatters around his mouth. Two brilliant purple suns burned where his eyes should have been as he stared straight at them, expression unreadable.

Alex’s eyes went wide in disbelief.

No way. You can’t be serious.

The last time he’d seen this poor, wretched abomination of a man had been when he and Claire had been stealing the energy core from the Great Tide’s Disruptor. He’d emerged from within the Disruptor as its very effective final line of defense.

Alex and Claire been forced to run to keep him from absolutely slaughtering them.

He’s still alive? And he’s still fucking hunting us?

The System shimmered above the huge man’s head, as if to mock Alex with its entirely useless arrival.

Vaxon, Living Revenant (Adept 5)

“You… came back,” Vaxon growled, every word grating like nails against a chalkboard. His fingers tightened around the hilt of his massive sword. “That was a mistake.”