Chapter 194. Party Dispute.
Entering the dungeon felt familiar. I’d done so several times already, both to help defend, and to destroy. This dungeon was an unknown, and being harnessed to a summoner, I wasn’t at liberty to try and communicate with the dungeon or the rest of the summoned beings. From what I could tell, these kids were playing some kind of game, like a real-life Dungeons and Dragons using us for their characters.
The other members of my party, the orc berserker, the human armsman, and even the creepy spider were standing ready. We were underground, in an extension of the ruins above. The dungeon had dropped us at the dead end of a wide, curving tunnel that was carved from the stone around. A series of stone pillars placed every twenty yards or so helped support the tunnel. Each pillar also held a lantern that gave a soft glow that was more than enough for us to see by. Everything looked sturdy and well-constructed.
Since the kids hadn’t given us any direct orders, we were left to our own devices for now. While I wanted for a command, I began to summon my team. Out first was Grulnok who I hit with Empower Minion before duplicating him. Lillia and Rupert followed, who would also get Empower Minion cast on them when I had the mana available. What I could do was hand Mind Render, my new magical dagger, to Rupert.
Behind us, the portal activated and the children, followed by the elderly mage, emerged. The kids looked around in wonder, taking in the dungeon and the beings they had summoned to play their game.
“Ha, look at that everyone, my character has some minions to command,” my summoner, Lakra boasted.
“Nice, but it’s still not as powerful as my orc,” the chubby kid, Ilkas, said, though from the frown now plastered on his face, I was pretty sure he didn’t believe his own claim.
“Settle down, everyone. This is as far as I can allow you to go, but the enhanced link I’ve created with your summoned beings should allow you to issue them any commands you wish, as well as see and experience what they do. This dungeon is rated between tier 1, rank 5, and tier 2, rank 5. You may begin when you’re ready, and I hope you have a fun time with your adventure,” the elderly mage told the group.
Your enhanced summoner link has been activated and your summoner may now issue you direct commands and use your voice to speak with the others in his party.
“Okay, let’s go already,” I blurted out as my summoner said the same. It was a disturbing feeling, in this situation I really was like a game character, with the player using my voice to speak to the others.
“Send those summoned creatures first, that way our characters won’t get killed too fast,” Ilkas said through his orc berserker.
The Spigon warrior merely clacked its mandibles, but I also heard the young girl, Elniss’ voice in my mind, agreeing with Ilkas’ suggestion.
“Fine, get out there and hunt down monsters, I was forced to command my minions. It was a wasteful and inefficient use of them, but I couldn’t contradict my summoner, or even offer him any tactical suggestions.
“I’m an Armsman, but I only got two of them, your spider should be called an Armsman because it has eight,” Yonto said, making his summoned creature shake his arms as he tried, and failed, to be funny.
“Shut up, Yonto, you’re wasting our game time,” my summoner whined.
They had us proceed down the tunnel in a clump, not a tactical formation at all. I could see it in the eyes of the orc and human armsman, they also knew we were being poorly led. In the spider’s myriad of eyes, I saw only hunger, and a desire to attack.
The sounds of combat were heard in the distance as my minions tangled with something. We were ordered to sprint forward, heedless of the danger as each of the kids wanted to get their character into the action as quickly as possible. Rounding the corner, I could see my minions were engaged with, and handily defeating a small group of goblins. The orc blood berserker shouted in rage as muscles in his body swelled and he began to froth at the mouth.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Leaping forward, the orc tried to hack the last goblin in half, but Lillia was already spearing it through the side of the head. When his axe crashed down into the pool of mana vapor where the goblin had been, the orc shouted out in an impossibly loud voice.
You have been affected by Intimidating Shout and are stunned for the next 6 seconds.
“Ilkas, you’re an idiot. You can’t activate a berserk effect when the enemy is almost dead, now your orc is going to go after our characters,” Elniss complained. Her complaint was mirrored by the other players.
“I can’t control it now, sorry,” was all that Ilkas said as his orc shifted the focus of his attack to Lillia. I wanted to command her to step back or at least defend herself, but the enhanced link didn’t let me have much control over my own minions without my summoner’s permission. Lillia disappeared into mana vapor, quickly followed by the duplicate Grulnok.
“Stop killing my stuff!” my summoner demanded.
“I can’t help it, the berserk thing has to go for at least sixty seconds,” Ilkas advised.
“Forget it, then, I’m ordering my character to attack the berserker,” Yonto said. His armsman raised his shield, leveled his spear, and charged the orc berserker.
“Your weak character has no chance,” Ilkas boasted as the berserker began to rain blows down on the armsman. The orc berserker was two ranks higher than the armsman, and his blows were powerful enough to shatter the man’s shield in only a few hits. Despite the advantage, the armsman was skilled with his weapon and managed a trio of quick thrusts that pierced into the gut of the orc.
Ignoring the injury, the orc pressed the attack, his axe glowing orange as an ability was activated. His axe became a blur, and a second later, the head of the armsman dropped to the ground just before he returned to mana vapor. Now the orc turned on the spider, his entire body still glowing as he charged forward faster than a top Olympic sprinter.
“Get away from him,” the girl ordered her spider, which tried to scurry up the wall. Unfortunately for the creepy arachnid, the orc was a bit faster, and another swipe of his axe cleaved through two of the spider’s legs, causing it to stumble.
“Fine, if that’s what you want, eat him up my Spigon Warrior. Lakra, are you just going to stand there?” Elniss said.
“Sure I’ll help, there’s no way we’re going to clear this dungeon anyway after Ilkas’ dumb move,” my summoner said, commanding me to attack the orc. Thankfully, his orders weren’t too specific, so I could handle the fight how I wanted. First, I ordered my two remaining minions, Grulnok and Rupert to assist the spider, while I drew my sword and looked for an opening.
The spider took another axe hit, this time, the blow crunched through part of the carapace over its abdomen. While the orc was distracted with the spider, Grulnok unleashed a flurry of blows with his axe and mace. Rupert also stepped up and stabbed deep into the orc’s side with the magic dagger. Ignoring the spider, the orc berserker shifted to target my minions.
He easily overpowered Rupert, but Grulnok was putting up more of a fight. Using the distraction, the spider crawled over to where I was standing, and I prepared to cast a Health Bloom on it. My summoner must have somehow seen what I was doing and spoke up.
“Elniss, my character is casting a healing spell, stay still.”
Instead of staying still, the spider moved right next to me. The next thing I knew, it had buried its fangs into my side. Pain shot through my body as the fangs punched through my magic armor, and I felt some kind of venom pour into me. I had minor toxin resistance, but the huge spider had probably dropped at least a pint of venom into me, far too much for my resistance to deal with.
“What are you doing, Elniss?” my summoner shouted.
“Come on, we’ve already wiped, might as well have some fun,” Elniss said, and all the other players started chuckling. They might have been enjoying themselves, but I sure wasn’t having fun.
“Kill the spider too,” my summoner ordered.
While my strength was fading fast from the bite, and my Health Bloom spell had fizzled, I still had a magic sword that I put to good use. With the spider still attached to me, alternating between feeding, and pushing in more venom, its head was in the perfect position. A quick stab with the blade cracked through the thin chitin that encased the head, and I pushed the sword all the way to the hilt. The blade broke though the other side of the spider’s head and the monster went limp.
As it fell, the still-attached fangs dragged me along with it. I tried to fumble for a healing potion, but the orc berserker had finished off Grulnok and was already stomping toward me. Things hadn’t gone all his way, though, and the orc bled from multiple wounds.
“I win!” Ilkas shouted as the orc’s axe descended to decapitate me.
“If you are all done with the game, I believe it’s time for you to return home,” the old mage said as my vision faded.
You have been decapitated by a Blood Berserker of Gub. This summoning session is now complete.
Your performance rating is calculated as Average.
Your rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 1, rank 9, and your performance rating of Average.
You have earned 8 experience points.
You have earned 5 summoning points.
You will now be returned to your personal space.