“Get to cover,” Sharnlynn whispered.

“Did they spot us?” I asked as we both slid behind the crumbled wall of a ruined building.

“Not likely, ettins have horrible long-distance sight. If anything, it smelled the blood from the orcs we killed. If we’re lucky, they’ll take the corpses and leave. Now, be quiet, ettin’s also have exceptional hearing,” Sharnlynn replied.

As the two-headed giant approached, I could feel the ground shake with each footstep. The monster was about twenty feet tall, but it was thick and muscular. With that much mass it probably weighed as much as a big rig truck.

The two heads of the ettin started muttering to each other as they surveyed the battle scene. Their talking was interspersed with disturbing ripping and crunching noises as they feasted on the dead orcs. My Linguistic Adaptation Interface kicked in after a bit, and I began to understand what they were saying.

“Not orcs killed orcs. We find, we feast,” one of the ettin heads muttered to the other.

“Feast on orc here, then go, too dangerous to remain near blood spill scent for too long,” the other head replied. Despite the language interface thingy, their speech patterns were still a bit difficult to understand given their obvious lack of intelligence. The ettin’s second suggestion was the one they followed, to my delight, and after enjoying their meal, the monster stomped off into the ruins.

“That was close, one of the heads wanted to hunt us down, but the other was worried about something tracking the blood here. Are there things in the ruins that even an ettin is afraid of?” I asked.

“There are many horrible things here, and it’s best if we keep moving after we search the area. Give it a few more minutes before you move. ettin’s aren’t that intelligent, but they are cunning hunters. It could be lying down just out of sight, waiting for us to reveal ourselves,” Sharnlynn advised.

I gave my summoner a closer look as we waited. She looked exhausted and given the damage to her leather armor, she had been out here for a while. The armor was a bit unusual; she wore a leather armor breastplate and a matching armored skirt.

At her waist was belted a curved sword, I think they were called scimitars or something like that. Many of the summoners I had worked for wore traditional wizard robes, but Sharnlynn seemed to prefer real armor and weapons, a decision I heartily agreed with. If armor wasn’t restricted for a spell caster as it was in many video games, I’d be sure to armor up as much as possible if I ever got a chance to buy some.

Sharnlynn seemed about my age, despite the grey streaks in her hair. I might have been a fashion choice here, or maybe the humans in this world had naturally different hair. I approved of the look; it was different without giving off any old lady vibes.

Her face was set with the same determined look I remembered from the first time I had been summoned by her. She was attractive, but maybe it was the link that bound us together talking. Thinking back on that first summoning brought up a new question.

“What happened with the orc?” I asked.

“What orc?” Sharnlynn replied.

“The one when you first summoned me. I tried to punch him, and he cut me in half,” I said.

“That’s right, I remember you now, your odd style of dress stuck in my memory. Your world has much different clothing norms,” Sharnlynn said, looking at my current ensemble which consisted of a pair of cargo shorts and a plain, olive-green t-shirt. An old and rather battered pair of sneakers rounded out my look.

Stolen story; please report.

“I was wearing business casual back then, but yeah, kind of standard stuff in my world. So, what happened to the orc?” I asked.

“The same as happened to these, a fireball, followed up by a volley of magic missiles. Thank you, your efforts bought me the time I needed to cast,” Sharnlynn replied.

“Glad I could help, getting cut in half is no picnic, but hey, it’s all part of the job,” I said, trying to shake it off and maybe, just maybe, make myself look a bit tough and rugged in front of Sharnlynn.

“You should see a weapons trainer and improve your skills. Do you have such things on your world?” Sharnlynn asked.

“Yeah, it’s kind of old-fashioned, but there are a few places that still train with swords, daggers, bows, and the like,” I said.

“Is there no conflict in your realm?” Sharnlynn asked with growing curiosity.

“Oh, no, we’ve got more than our share of conflict. It’s just that we’ve developed much more efficient weapons to deal with it. I should add that we don’t have magic, so I suppose technology has taken up the role that magic does here. Our machines do pretty much the same things a lot of spells would do,” I explained.

“Odd, a world without magic, and strange inventions have taken the place of spells. Really, your world is one I’d love to hear more about, but I believe the Ettin is no longer a threat. They may be cunning hunters, but they aren’t known for their patience, and I doubt it’s still lurking around waiting for us to show ourselves,” Sharnlynn said.

I didn’t want to cut the conversation short with Sharnlynn, I really enjoyed talking with someone while being summoned. The fact that she was very attractive didn’t hurt either, but I didn’t think cross-world dating was a thing, at least not yet. She was a goldmine of information about the worlds I visited, and I would be foolish not to try and glean as much as I could during our time together.

With our conversation over, we scoured the area for an underground entrance. Sharnlynn had a crudely drawn map of the ruins with several potential entrances marked around the area we were currently in. The first two locations were a bust, but we had luck on the third. It was a larger ruined building with a stairwell in what was once a basement.

Unlike the first two locations we inspected, which were too clogged with rubble, this one had been recently cleared of debris. That was both a good and a bad sign. It meant that someone had beaten us here, but we wouldn’t face the long and laborious process of clearing away chunks of stone with our bare hands.

“This is dangerous, but it’s our best option,” Sharnlynn confirmed.

“Who might have cleared this stairwell out, friends of yours?” I asked.

“Not likely, many are drawn to these ruins. It was once a powerful civilization that seemingly disappeared overnight. Adventurers, treasure seekers, bandits, and beasts are all drawn to this place,” Sharnlynn warned.

“Why come here alone? Don’t adventurers usually have a party with them?” I asked. Sharnlynn paused and a sad look crossed her face.

“I don’t trust others very much, too many bad experiences in the past,” she offered.

“Yeah, I get that, but don’t worry, just summon me up when you need some help,” I said with a goofy smile plastered on my face as I tried to cheer her up.

“Ha, that would be nice, but it appears I only get to see you when my spell has a critical success, a rather rare occurrence, I’m sorry to say. It is nice to have you stick around for so long, our connection hasn’t faded all that much despite the time you’ve been here,” she said.

Looking at the mana link between us, I could see it was true. Normally, the link faded rather quickly, but while it had dimmed some from when I first arrived, my summoning wasn’t even half over yet. That might even bode well for my rewards, if some piece of it was tied to how long I stayed in the summoned world.

“Before the connection goes away completely, we should get on with things. Let me lead the way, if something happens to me, I just disappear,” I said, looking down the dark stairwell. Minerva’s warning hit me right then, it wasn’t a guarantee that I would survive each summoning.

With some trepidation, I started down the stairwell. Sharnlynn had a light spell that she cast on her hand that allowed us to navigate in the dark. She could also dim the light when needed so we wouldn’t announce our presence by shining a spotlight down the passageway. The stairwell led into a dark, but empty basement. A single doorway, the door itself long rotted away, opened to a downward sloping stone tunnel with just enough room to stand up straight.

Following the narrow tunnel didn’t allow us to walk side by side, so Sharnlynn positioned herself behind me, ready to dim the light or cast a spell when needed. We walked for what seemed like a long time before the passageway started to widen. The passage wasn’t exactly straight, so we couldn’t see too far into the distance. Before we could see them, we heard voices in the distance. Sharnlynn immediately dimmed the light, lowering it toward the floor where it would give just enough of a glow, so I didn’t stumble into the wall as we approached.

A few more steps and I could make out the voices. These weren’t human voices, it was more orcs, and from the argument going on ahead of us, it was a lot of orcs.