Chapter 226. Teleport or Basement?

“Here, let me show you,” the skeleton said, using the letter opener not to try and stab me, but instead to pry at the corner of his desk. I had been about to order my minions to attack and had assumed that a skeleton grabbing a sharp object meant that it was going to try and do something horrible to me. Instead of attacking, the skeleton seemed to be trying to help. The corner of the desk on my side popped open, revealing a small, rolled piece of parchment.

“Wait, was that contraption about to attack me?” the skeleton asked pointing the letter opener at the mana slayer drone who had closed in on the skeleton when I had thought him hostile. The drone’s invisibility was obviously not effective against this particular undead creature.

“He’s just trying to protect me. After all, you just pulled a sharp object out of your desk and said it was the way out in an ominous voice” I argued.

“It was just a letter opener I use to help pry open that panel, is cursedly difficult to open. How did you perceive that as a threat?” the skeleton said, his voice raising in indignation.

“Well, you must admit, when you stand and mention ‘there’s always this way out’, and grab a sharp object, it comes across as a bit sketchy. No offence intended, but my experience with the undead hasn’t been all that great. Other than one that I have a contract with, every other undead has tried to kill or eat me,” I argued.

“Absolutely absurd, if I had wished you harm, I would have never engaged in this discussion,” the skeleton said, getting more worked up.

“Look, I’m sorry, I was just going off my past experiences. My name is Rico Kline, and I apologize if my actions, or the actions of my minions, have offended you in some way,” I said, trying to keep this conversation from escalating. The skeleton stood there for several long moments; with no facial features it was impossible to read what it was thinking.

“Very well, I shall accept your apology, I have no reason to question your veracity. My name is Civras, and I will try to help you leave this place if you can keep your minions back,” Civras said, his voice calming a bit.

“I would appreciate any help you can offer Civras,” I replied.

“Good, this here is a scroll of teleportation. It was assumed that several of you would come here attempting to retrieve it. It will transport only one party away, and any others would have to take a less desirable route to their next destination,” Civras said, motioning to the corner of the room where a portion of the floor lowered itself.

A horrible smell emerged from the opening, and I was pretty sure that going the teleportation route would be preferred option. To make matters worse, I could hear growling coming from the opening in the corner. Yep, that was not going to be my choice for exit. I did remember the initial instructions from the system, and those instructions included a warning to not go into the basement, which is exactly where I bet that opening led to.

“Thank you Civras, I definitely want to go the teleportation route,” I said, moving forward to take the scroll. On the wall to our right, another door suddenly appeared. It slammed open and an elderly human woman wearing a tunic and wielding a mace in one hand emerged. She took in the situation and mana began to glow around her.

“Ah, a second competitor, you two must…” Civras started to say before the woman interrupted him.

“Be cleansed abomination!” she shouted as the mana that had gathering around her burst forth in a wave of light. The force of the magic hurled me and the nearby minions back, knocking us off our feet. I saw stars as the back of my head slammed into the hardwood floor. Shaking off the disorientation, I ordered my minions to attack the woman, who strode from the doorway and made a beeline for Civras.

“Foolish woman, your petty magics are no match for me,” Civras bellowed as a swarm of glowing Magic Missile bolts flew from his hand. The missiles flared against an invisible shield the woman had in place.

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“Return the grave!” the woman shouted, pointing her mace toward Civras and triggering a beam of yellow light that struck Civras in the shoulder.

The beam cut through Civras’ shoulder, severing his arm. Being undead, Civras didn’t seem too perturbed by his lost appendage and instead hurled a small blast of flames at the woman. The flames were also deflected by her shield, but I could see the barrier flicker under the assault. I had a feeling that it wouldn’t stand up to too much more abuse.

My drone then arrived on the scene, unlike the rest of my party, he hadn’t been knocked off his feet by the woman’s magic. Appearing behind the woman, the drone’s two bladed arms crashed against the shield, and I could see cracks forming in it. Stepping closer, the two shorter arms began to pummel the barrier, causing it to shatter.

The woman chanted and a green glow appeared over her skin as the drone began to hack into her. Almost as fast as the drone was damaging her, the wounds healed. Whatever class this woman had, it made her very hard to kill. The drone didn’t give up, continuing to rain blows upon her. In response the woman hit back with her mace, the head of which glowed with power as it crunched into the drone’s armor.

With her shield down, Civras fired off another volley of magic missiles, and Glurk started launching arrows from his longbow. Glamb charged forward with his spear leveled and ready to skewer the woman. I recovered enough of my senses to drop a Health Bloom over the drone, where the edge of the spell would also cover Glamb once he arrived at the fight.

After the Health Bloom, I pulled on my mana to cast Duplicate on the drone. It had a much shorter duration now, but doubling our melee damage output was worth the mana cost. Light began to glow around the woman’s body once more, and I pulled Elida behind Civras’ desk for cover.

The expected explosion of magic never occurred, and a peek around the desk confirmed the woman was down, her body already turning into mana vapor. Sadly, my mana slayer drone had also been destroyed and the duplicate was only going to stick around for a short while.

“That was rather exciting. She seemed a bit less restrained than you have been since you entered my abode. At least you didn’t just attack me outright, you merely had your minion sneak up on me. Thank you for your assistance in the fight. Here, Rico Kline, you may use the teleportation scroll with my blessing,” Civras said as I stood up from behind the desk.

I took the scroll but paused a minute before using it. My mana had taken a dip from the spells I’d cast, and I wanted to see how close my destroyed minions were to being resummoned.

As I focused on my first casualty, Blieek, the system granted me an image of the goblin standing in front of me. I could see his body, all the up to his shoulders, but beyond that, he had no neck or head. A system prompt appeared, explaining what I was seeing.

Your Foe Commander class may resummon fallen minions after some time has passed. The amount of time needed for a minion to respawn is based on several factors including their Tier, Rank, and available ambient mana. If a resummoned minion is quickly killed after returning, the delay before its next respawn will be increased.

It was nice to now have a visual representation of how long I had to wait, but it would have been better if the system had provided a timer rather than just an image in my head. Khurr was a bit over halfway there, reforming to just above his waist. Glem was a bit behind him, reformed just to the upper thighs. The mana slayer drone only had the tiniest portion of his clawed feet appear.

Given the tier and rank of the drone, he was going to take a while, but I should have Blieek and Khurr back before too long. A shorter return delay would help to keep the lower-tiered minions viable in a longer summoning. They might not be as strong, but I could keep bringing them back over and over. When they finally finished upgrading their gear, and reached veteran status, their value would increase even further.

“Thanks for the scroll, Civras, are you going to okay here?” I asked, feeling a bit sorry for the undead guy given that he had just lost an arm.

“I shall be fine. It will take some time, but I can regenerate any lost appendages. Safe travels, Rico,” Civras said. After confirming my surviving minions were at full health, and my mana pool had enough juice to cast a couple of spells, I pushed a point of mana into the teleportation scroll to activate it. A swirling grey portal opened and with some reservation, I stepped through.

There was a momentary feeling of nothingness, then I stepped out of the portal and into a moonlit garden just outside the mansion. Another attendant, this time a young human man, stood there waiting patiently for me to gather my bearings.

“Congratulations, you have completed the challenge and I believe you are the only surviving competitor. My master thanks you for your participation and…” the man started to say when I was pulled into another portal and a system prompt appeared.

You have successfully completed the requirements set forth by your summoner. Your summoning session is now considered complete.

Your performance rating is calculated as Excellent.

Your rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 2, rank 1, and your performance rating of Excellent.

You have earned 21 experience points.

You have earned 19 summoning points.

Congratulations! You have reached Tier 2, Rank 2.

You have gained 1 point in Mind.

You will now be returned to your personal space.