"No, No, No, No, No!" The girl screams. "I don't need a stupid Spirit that only uses a shield!"
Ah yes, nice to meet you too. My name is Rin.
So much for introductions.
Normally, most guys in my situation would be happy to awaken in a new world with a beautiful girl right in front of them, but the circumstances were different for me. She instantly discarded me within a couple of seconds of my summoning, and she had the audacity to call me stupid?
I looked back at the girl. I couldn’t really make out most of her features as she was wearing a hooded robe over herself, but her displeasure at my appearance was clear to anyone.
"Well, I didn't ask for you to be my Summoner." I scoff, matching the displeasure written all over her face.
"Well, I didn't ask for you to be my Spirit!"
Shit, that was a good reply. Straight to the point and a perfect counter.
While the girl began rambling and complaining to herself, I looked around the room where I was "summoned".
From what I could deduce, it wasn't a room. To me, it looked more like a bar with a summoning circle on a stage that was built in the middle of the bar. There were people of all shapes and sizes drinking and eating, and I could’ve sworn I saw a child drink from a beer bottle.
Was it beer? Never mind that, I had to deal with the girl in front of me.
"Well," I force a smile with my arm outstretched, "Why don't we just get along? There's nothing we can do about it right?"
She turned and looked at me with a murderous gleam in her eyes and a knife in her hand. I take a step back at the sudden introduction of the knife, and she begins advancing towards me with heavy steps.
"Oh, there is definitely something I can do about it" She angrily says.
"I-I have a shield!" I panic as I hold my shield up.
Crap, how did we get into this situation?
I was literally just thrust into this world, and I’m immediately fighting for my life from a crazed girl with a knife in her hand. My new life is off to a terrible start.
Never mind that, I need to deal with this girl!
I readied my shield and prepared myself for her attack.
She raised her knife and pointed it at me.
"Go, Spearman!" The girl shouted.
From behind her, a flash of purple came straight towards me.
I instinctively raised my shield and felt something collide with the loud noise of metal against metal. I hear people screaming and scrambling around the stage as the fight begins in the center of the bar.
I looked up from my shield to find that there was a short girl wearing a hot pink dress with long sleeves and the hem extending a bit outwards almost like a tutu. I also noticed that her purple dress had designs of multiple black dragons circling around the hem of the skirt, and she wore a pendant around her neck which shone blue. She was cute in a younger sister type of way, but nothing was cute about her long Glaive spear that would have pierced my chest if it wasn't for my shield.
For a short girl, I could tell she was extremely powerful. I struggled to hold her Glaive spear back as she begins to continuously thrust her spear towards me. After some time and scrambling from the crowd around us, I concluded that the area around us was empty.
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I brought my right leg in between the short girl’s legs and pushed my shield onto her, causing her to trip on my heel and fall onto the ground. I smiled in victory over her as the adrenaline begins pumping through my veins.
I can’t believe that worked!
"Knight, finish him!"
A flash of blue whistles behind me and comes to a stop. I freeze in terror as I turn around to see a knight in full blue armor with a long golden Arming sword in position to slice my head off cleanly.
I raised my shield to defend myself, but I knew it would be too late.
My shield was too small, I was too slow, and the blue knight was too quick.
If only I had a Scutum-shaped shield.
I closed my eyes and anticipated another death, but suddenly, I heard the sound of metal clashing with each other again. Surprisingly, I was able to open my eyes to find that my shield had changed its shape completely.
It was in the familiar rectangular shape of a Scutum shield.
"My shield can change shape?" I asked myself.
"You tell me." The blue armored man said.
"I didn't mean to say it out loud!"
With the help of some quick thinking, I swept for the feet of the knight above me with the bottom end of my rectangular shield. Unfortunately, he read the move and jumped back quickly.
I stood up and readied my shield for another attack from either one of the Spirits who were my supposed teammates. I looked around the room to see if I could find any exits where I could escape. My summoner was in front of the main entrance, the knight stood directly in front of me, and the spear girl was standing across what I assumed was an emergency exit.
Suddenly, during the midst of my thoughts, I felt a sharp, burning pain in my left leg.
"Shit!" I cursed as I looked down.
A sort of bear trap had clung onto my leg.
When did that even get there?
I noticed that the bear trap had been attached to some chains and followed the chains with my eyes to find another girl wearing a white cape behind her back and tight black clothing which revealed that she had a rather slender and flat body. Her coffee brown hair, which reached down to her neck, was held back by a hairpin, and her light blue eyes shone cheerfully at me.
The bear trap girl smiled sweetly at me, and I would have fallen for her if she wasn't about to murder me.
She pulled on the chain and I was swept from under my feet. My leg felt like it was melting as I landed heavily on it and I felt the air escape my lungs while I stayed down in pain. I looked up and around the bar to find that we had completely trashed the place. Thankfully, no one else seems to have been involved in our fight.
Why were we even fighting again? Weren't these "Spirits" supposed to be my teammates? What on Earth is this cruel world?
The girl who summoned me walked over to me.
"You're a waste of magical energy."
I would have responded to her but I was already too tired.
To be completely honest, I wasn't tired from the battle, I still felt like I had a bunch of energy raring to escape my body.
Instead, I was tired of this new world I had been summoned into.
I didn't ask to be equipped with only a shield, I didn't ask to be with a Summoner who hates me, and I definitely didn’t ask to be partnered with other Spirits who would gladly kill me.
I looked up at my "Summoner" for what would be my final time.
It’s a shame, she looked slightly younger than me, maybe we could’ve gotten along well. All those thoughts were quickly thrown out the window as she hovered her fist above my face and began chanting something under her breath. Her fist began to shine red from the inside.
From my experiences with MMO games, she was surely chanting a spell that would kill me. You have no idea how many times Lisa has accidentally killed my character with an explosion spell when she tried out MMO gaming for the first time. Glowing red lights from the palm was an international sign of danger for any gamer.
Sure, I was tired of this world, but I didn't want to die again.
"I won't let you kill me that easily," I muse as I raised my Scutum shaped shield over my body.
The girl ignored me and continued chanting while her fist glowed brighter and brighter.
I realized I didn't have much time left to make a final move. I looked around the room once more to find an opening for me to escape but as I’ve concluded before, all exits were blocked by a Spirit.
I could sweep the Summoner’s feet.
I prepared to make a move when the flat of a golden sword was planted on my neck. I looked out of the corner of my eye to find the blue armored man standing directly above me. I noticed that long white hair was flowing out from behind his helmet.
"No sudden movements from you, or else you won't be dying from my Summoner, but from me instead."
I realized I had no way out.
Should I give the gods a smack in the head? I doubt I could even reach their heads, to be honest.
Whatever, I had given up on struggling in this world and just accepted being killed.
It was a not-so-fun couple of minutes in this world. I closed my eyes and rested my body.
"This is no place to die." a voice suddenly blooms in my head.
My vision darkened, and I felt my body float in a dark abyss.