The sounds of battle increased as the enemy shield wall reached the defenders in the glade. I kept an eye on it as I led the hound toward the pair of healers and the two wounded spearmen. Their injuries were healing rapidly, and both men were back on their feet, but still not quite up to charging into battle. I wasn’t sure how healing worked, but I figured that replacing a chunk of foot that had been blown off was a bit more involved than patching up a puncture wound.
Being inside the tree line, the invaders couldn’t spot us that easily, and it allowed my forces to approach until we were only twenty yards from our target. I kept my focus on the four in front of me, trying to ignore the larger battle going on inside the glade. For now, I couldn’t affect that fight, other than keeping these four from joining it.
After casting a few psionic jolts, my mana was depleted back down to three points now. There wasn’t a whole lot that I could do to the invaders with just the hound at my side, and only my wand and hammer as weapons. It was time to dip into my consumables to bolster our forces. With three mana, I summoned the Teir 1, Rank 0 forest razor wolf and the Tier 0, Rank 9 dwarven militia member. Using my last point of mana, I summoned one of the Tier 0, Rank 0 dire rats.
A pounding headache started as my mana drained completely, but it didn’t interfere with any of my summoned creatures appearing. The forest razor wolf was a wicked looking creature. It had a metallic coat with fur that ended in razor sharp points. My dwarven militia summons was armored in chainmail with a shield in one hand and a steel axe in the other. At his hip, the dwarf even had a pair of throwing axes.
The final summons, the dire rat, wasn’t nearly as impressive. He was just a big, hungry-looking rat the size of a small dog. At least his teeth looked rather formidable, and even though it wasn’t listed as a skill or ability, I had to believe that a bite from those nasty teeth would result in some kind of disease. Having all the forces I could gather; it was time to move.
I ordered the rat and dog to lead the way, hopefully drawing the enemy’s attention as my more powerful creatures closed in. From their gear, the spearmen didn’t seem to have any ranged weapons, but the healers were sure to have some offensive spells tucked away in their spell book. Just as I was about to charge out of the forest, there was a commotion in the woods across from us.
Out of the woods, a huge, corrupted plant-bear thing, along with a half-dozen of the corrupted elves charged out. Hoen was right behind the force, already transformed into his big and dangerous rabbit form. The spear bearers hefted their shields and turned to face the threat. As I suspected, the healers had some kind of offensive magic, and I could see the glow of mana as they prepared their spells.
“Go, hit them while their backs are turned,” I ordered to my small force. We charged out of the trees, moving at the pace of our slowest member, the dwarf. As we closed in, I was able to target one of the halfling healers with my magic missile wand. A ball of energy flew from the wand and slammed the healer in the back, just after she had released her own spell. The healer stumbled forward, jostling the spearman in front of her, which allowed the giant plant bear to avoid being skewered as it slammed into the man.
The healer turned to face me, shouting a warning to the others. It was too late for them, and as Hoen’s force crashed into their line, they had no way to shift and defend against my troops. The dwarf zeroed in on the other healer, hacking into her with his axe, while the dog and rat harried the healer that I’d already injured.
My razor wolf nipped at the heels of one of the spearmen, rubbing up against him almost like an affectionate pet would. Instead of soft fur, the wolf was rubbing razor-sharp metallic strands into the man, some of which wormed their way past his armor to drive deep into vulnerable flesh. The spearman turned to deal with the wolf, but that opened him up to several of the corrupted elves, who lashed out at him with their vine covered limbs.
Our enemies were swarmed over, and quickly dealt with through sheer numbers. We weren’t without casualties, and the spearmen, supported by some offensive spells by the healers, had killed half the corrupted elves. Sadly, Hoen had also been a casualty of the fight, leaving me in charge of what was left. I organized the remaining troops as I took stock of the huge fight going on in the center of the glade.
Verdigrim was down, as was one of the elf bear riders. The bear rider that had fallen was the one I had cast duplicate on, which was expected since the duplicate took increased damage from any attacks. Over half the third-floor defenders were also out of action, though Fitzfazzle and the remaining defenders were fighting with everything they had.
The attackers had only taken a few casualties, a pair of spearmen, a healer, and one of the greatsword wielders. Their leader, the man in the green robes was hurling spells like he would never run out of mana. A ball of fire engulfed the surviving third-floor champion, but not before she released another magical arrow that hammered through the helmet of one of the spearmen, dropping him in a single blow.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
Another spell, this time an ice spear, impaled the elf in return. The huge bear she rode upon roared in rage and charged the enemy shield wall, trying to break through with his enormous bulk. Things were chaotic, and the enemy hadn’t noticed the small victory that Hoen and I had just achieved.
“Charge forward, wipe them out,” I ordered to the dungeon defenders and my summoned minions. They moved at their best possible speed, and I didn’t try to keep them in any kind of formation. I kept pace with the dwarven militiaman, who would make a good bodyguard for the coming fight.
The quickest of my forces turned out to be the razor wolf, followed closely by the dire rat. Both creatures homed in on the enemy leader, who was conducting the battle from behind the enemy forces. Just before the wolf reached him, the enemy leader detected the threat. He spun on his heels and held his hand out in front of him. A cone of fire spewed forth from his hands, covering both the rat and wolf.
My dire rat was only a Tier 0, Rank 2 minion after the buffs from my class and the necklace were taken into consideration. He burnt to a crisp before my eyes. The wolf was quite a bit stronger, and endured flames long enough to reach the enemy leader. Like it had done before, the wolf tried to bite the man, then rub its now red-hot, sharp metallic fur onto the unarmored man.
The flash of red mana appeared in a globe around the enemy leader as some personal shield spell took effect, keeping the wolf at bay. I was now in range, and sent a magic missile toward the leader, while the dwarf at my side hurled one of his throwing axes. Both attacks hit, my magic missile was also absorbed by the shield, but I could see the glowing shield crack when the axe hit it.
Several conjured daggers appeared around the enemy leader as he cast another spell. One after the other, the daggers flew toward my minions. Two slammed into the razor wolf, taking him out, while another hit the poor hound who had almost reached his target. The final daggers impaled two of the corrupted elves.
I could see on the enemy’s face that he was spent. He was panting hard and shouting for the others to help him. Next to arrive and join the fight was the corrupted plant-bear. A swipe of its tentacle like vines shattered the shield and the monster then latched its mouth onto the enemy leader’s shoulder, shaking him like a dog would a toy.
Screaming in pain, the enemy leader was hurled toward the surviving corrupted elves, who swarmed over the foe. I waved the bear on, ordering him to attack the remaining healers while the elves dealt with the enemy leader. The dwarf and I finally caught up, and he joined the elves in tearing apart the surprisingly resilient enemy caster. Back at the main fight, things were looking grim.
The shield wall had killed the final champion bear and were pushing through the last of the third-floor defenders. They hadn’t come out unscathed, though, and only five of them were left. A single healer, guarded by the last enemy greatsword wielder turned to fight my forces as the others cut down the final defenders and charged on Fitzfazzle.
“I got this, Rico,” Fitzfazzle shouted as he caught the concerned look on my face. My gnomish friend slapped his hands on the two boxes next to him, which made creaking noises as they transformed into a pair of small, wood and metal automatons with daggers for hands.
Fitzfazzle stepped back and fired his crossbow one last time before casting aside the empty weapon. I shifted focus to fire a magic missile at the final healer, not sure how many shots my wand had left. The plant bear was out of the fight, hacked apart by the invader with the greatsword. My dwarven ally had thrown his final axe at the healer, dropping her before turning his attention toward the man with the greatsword.
I drew my hammer and moved to assist. The greatsword sliced through one of the corrupted elves, but they had already achieved their goal of killing the enemy leader. Spinning his blade, the swordsman activated a skill, allowing his greatsword to strike three times instantly, killing off all but one of the elves. I fired another magic missile as the dwarf and the final corrupted elf attacked.
My dwarf blocked the greatsword with his shield, but the shield was shattered by the blow. Tossing the battered remnant of the shield at the swordsman, the dwarf caused him to flinch, allowing the corrupted elf to close and wrap the man in vines that tried to burrow into any exposed skin. The dwarf laid into him with his axe, and I pumped another magic missile into the man.
He fell after a few more moments, but not before running the dwarf through with his blade. It was just me and the last corrupted elf. My wand was almost empty, and the elf had taken a beating. At least my mana had regenerated a point, but it wasn’t enough for a Psionic Jolt. Across the battlefield, the five spearmen had destroyed the automatons and had Fitzfazzle surrounded.
“See you around, Rico,” Fitzfazzle shouted before cackling and pulling off a button on his leather overcoat. As he pulled, the coat, apparently his vestments of departure, exploded into a ball of flame that temporarily blinded me. When my sight returned to normal, I could see that the last enemies had been completely immolated, along with poor Fitzfazzle.
“I suppose that one needs a bit of work still,” I said to myself about the vestments of departure. It sure was one way to make an exit, but Fitzfazzle had more work to do if he wanted the wearer to survive the experience. Thankfully, he’d be just fine, and buck naked, back in his home. I’m sure I’d see my friend again before too long, but his figurine now had a considerable cooldown before he could be summoned again.
“Thank you, Rico, I would not have survived this without your assistance,” Glenda said.
“I’m glad I could help, please tell Hoen I said goodbye when he respawns. The system is about to send me away,” I replied as the expected system prompt appeared.
You have successfully fulfilled your obligation as a dungeon floor champion. Your summoning is now complete.
Your performance rating is calculated as Excellent.
Your rewards will reflect your summoning of tier 1, rank 0, and your performance rating of Excellent.
You have earned 13 experience points.
Congratulations, you have reached Tier 1, Rank 2.
You have earned 9 summoning points.
With the new rank, you have gained 1 point of presence.
A new template is available for your Foe Summoner class.