"You're not gonna kill us and use our souls, right?" Ozymandias asked sarcastically, causing the entire group to fall into an awkward silence.
Tael nearly choked on his own frustration. 'Who the hell wants to kill you? You’re all too weak for me to even consider using your souls, so why make such an assumption?!' he cursed inwardly, already regretting revealing his class. Now, everyone was looking at him strangely—everyone except one person.
"That's amazing, Tael!" Iris giggled as she jumped behind him, hugging him from behind.
"I’ve read in so many books that Necromancers can control entire armies of undead monsters and conquer any kind of enemy! They’re all super strong, just like the ones I’ve read about in manhwa and manga," Iris babbled excitedly, recalling the Necromancers from her stories and eagerly reciting their names to Tael.
Tael stared at Iris, baffled, before quickly regaining his composure and letting out a small chuckle.
"Dumb girl."
Everyone burst into laughter at Iris's childish behavior. She really knew how to lighten the mood.
"Ah yes, Iris, what is your Class?" Ozymandias asked, curious about her abilities. He doubted she was a summoner since no summoner had ever been able to call forth a being not related to the eight elements.
A summoner could only summon beings from another dimension aligned with one of five elements: Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, Light, Darkness, Ice, or Plant. The strength of the summoned creature depended on the summoner's ability to form a contract with it, and there was always a risk of dying if the summon didn’t acknowledge them as its master.
"Ummm…" Iris hesitated, nervous about revealing her Class.
"Maybe I'm actually a summoner," she replied shyly, scratching her head. However, as she blinked her blue eyes rapidly, it was clear she was lying.
"Your father doesn’t want us to know, right?" Tael asked, already suspecting such secrecy from Isakawa.
Iris didn’t know how to respond, so she just nodded in agreement.
'Even if they don’t know my Class, I’ll still help them,' Iris decided, determined to contribute to the group.
"Hah, well, can you at least summon that Blood Knight?" Tael asked, noticing the determined look on Iris's face.
"Hmmm… let me see…," Iris murmured, stretching out her hand as she read the black and purple screen that appeared before her.
[In order to keep Blood Knight without losing too much MP, you can use your own blood as a sacrifice to maintain them for a period of time.]
[Would you like a tool to help?] The system prompted, and Iris quickly responded, "Yes."
[ | Weapon Section |
~{Simple weapon}
~{Classic Weapon}
The rest have not been unlocked yet.]
Iris tapped on the Classic Weapon section and browsed through the items displayed.
[~{Classic Dagger} ~{Classic Black Whip}
~{Classic Gun} ~{Classic Staff}]
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Iris was a bit confused by all the options, but she was also pleased to have such good benefits.
[Would you like to pick the Classic Dagger?]
[Yes/No]
"Yesss," Iris answered. In less than a minute, a Black Dagger appeared in her back pocket. She picked it up, staring at it with a serious expression.
"Tael… I'm supposed to use my blood to summon the Blood Knight. But I'm scared of cutting myself," Iris cried, trembling. She wanted to help, but the thought of harming herself terrified her. Only a masochist would willingly do that.
Tael approached Iris, taking the dagger from her hand. Before she could react, he pricked her finger with a quick jab. Iris, who had expected to make a larger cut, was surprised by the tiny drop of blood. Would such a small amount be enough?
As Iris activated her skill, the blood on her finger began to swirl, and the teddy bear at her waist started to react. Seeing this sudden change, Tael, Krumi, Sheila, and Ozymandias all took a step back. The blood continued to swirl and expand, growing beyond the initial drop from Iris's finger. After a minute, a Blood Knight materialized, kneeling before Iris and placing its hand on its chest in a bow.
[Greetings, Master], the Knight spoke, though only Iris seemed to hear it.
Tael scanned the Blood Knight, piecing together why the blood had interacted with Iris’s teddy bear. 'It was probably from that day I fought her. Some of her blood must have spilled and soaked into the teddy bear!' Tael concluded, nodding to himself with satisfaction. After all, someone as handsome and strong as him wasn’t just string—he was smart, too.
"Now then, let’s put our plan into motion," Ozymandias instructed, and everyone nodded in agreement.
"Oh yeah, what’s the plan?" Sheila asked with a sweet smile.
"Tael and I will take the vanguard, attacking from the front and rear. Sheila will strike from the side. Iris and Krumi will be in the center since we need to protect them—Krumi will be safer to cast her spells, and Iris will control her Blood Knight to deal with nearby monsters," Ozymandias explained, looking at the group.
"….."
"So basically, I’m bait -_-," Krumi said, looking at Ozymandias with a dispirited expression, causing him to scratch his head nervously.
"Fine, I’ll go along with the plan," Krumi mumbled, her tone slightly annoyed, but Ozymandias was relieved to hear her agreement.
"Iris, how long can you maintain the Blood Knight?" Ozymandias asked, his concern evident. The last time Iris summoned the creature, she had fainted from overuse of MP and loss of HP.
Iris glanced at the Blood Knight and the System bar above its head.
[Blood Knight: Time remaining 2 hours.]
"I guess about two hours," Iris replied, looking at the group.
Everyone was astonished. Just yesterday, Iris couldn’t maintain the Blood Knight for more than five minutes. Now, she could hold it for two hours. The group quickly recovered from their shock, reflecting, 'Well, it can’t be too surprising—she is Isakawa’s daughter.'
_____
On another side of the Rift, Ray glared at the scorching sun, his frustration mounting. Despite walking for a long time, he hadn’t seen any sign of Iris and her group. "So frustrating," Ray growled, stomping his feet in irritation. While they had caught some monsters along the way, Ray was growing bored as most of them were too weak to challenge him.
As Ray, Kamare, Nero, Heili, and Meiru continued to traverse the forest, they suddenly heard the sounds of a fierce battle.
Ray smirked and dashed toward the noise.
"Ray, wait!" Kamare yelled, but Ray was already out of earshot. Kamare sighed and chased after him, followed by the rest of their group.
When they arrived, they found Ray hiding behind a thick bush and signaling for them to stay quiet and watch the battle unfold.
"Greeeeeeeeee," a mechanical roar echoed as ten severely injured children struggled against a formidable monster. If it weren’t for the Priest and Healer on their team, they would have likely perished by now.
[You have discovered Elite Mechanical Golem]
[A being born from ancient technology, it possesses powerful physical abilities and is highly intelligent. Appearing as a floating mechanical golem without wings but capable of flight, it has six long arms that can transform into various forms of firepower, making it extremely destructive. Be cautious of its area flame burst, as it is a special D Class.]
[Name: Mechanical Golem / D+ Class
Level: 150
Class: D
HP: 150,000/200,000
Strength: 50,000
Intelligence: 200
Defense: 10,000
Agility: 2,000]
The two unfortunate groups battling the Elite Class golem were Group 2 and Group 6. Recently, Group 6 had decided to attack Group 2, and in the midst of their conflict, they had inadvertently awakened the special D Class golem, which began attacking everyone.
Despite forming a a short truce and working together, they had only managed to reduce the golem’s HP by 5,000. Normal Ability Users would struggle significantly to chip away at its health. The most frustrating part was that the golem could regenerate 10 HP every 3 seconds and was constantly hovering in the air, a major disadvantage for the close-combat Job Classes of most of the children.