Summoner Sovereign

Along the way, we were attacked by flying monsters that inhabited the swarms. Uh, Ghoul Wyrms and Shadow Drakes, nefarious creatures that roosted among the twisted, gnarled trees that populated the gray bogs of the Black Underworld Swamp and took off to attack aircraft. Fortunately, with several of the Silver Wolves mercenaries...o...b..ard the craft, we drove them off with precise, powerful spells. I also summoned Aquila to help eliminate a couple of flying monsters that drew too close to the thickly armored hovercraft, and we managed to complete the rest of the journey in safety. It was unfortunate that the hovercraft was moving too fast to stay within a hundred meter range for me to summon Vermillion Phoenix. Ugh. In fact, I almost couldn"t summon Aquila either, and was only able to do so when the hovercraft was forced to halt and hover in midair for the Silver Wolves mercenaries to scramble out to fling spells at the annoying swarm of Shadow Drakes that buzzed around us. That short pause of two minutes was enough for me to summon the gigantic red eagle, but it was less than half of the required time (five minutes) to summon Vermillion Phoenix, so too bad.

With Aquila escorting the hovercraft, the frequency of attacks lessened and now here we were, landing near the tomb.

"Be careful," Brent warned as he strode toward the ramp in three gigantic strides. He held up a hand to stop the archaeological team. "You guys stay on the hovercraft until my team has ensured that the landing zone is secured."

"Understood," Princ.i.p.al Porter agreed, and he nodded for his colleagues and students to hang back.

Brent and the Silver Wolves then proceeded to disembark the moment the ramp dropped down, moving into positions and taking up firing stances. About three out of the ten mercenary officers were wielding rifles, two of them long hunting rifles with powerful scopes. The third was an automatic carbine that spewed out mana bullets at an incredible rate. The lower-ranked mercenaries mostly wielded rifles.

Unlike the gun-toting lower ranks, most of the officers had the standard fantasy type weapons, but even swords, axes and spears were capable of unleas.h.i.+ng long-ranged spells at foes far away, while doubling as peerless weapons in melee. Their versatility ensured that they would never be obsolete.

"Go, go, go!"

Using hand signals and urging in hushed tones, Brent directed us to make use of fire and movement. That was, half of the group provided covering fire while the other half rushed forward to take up new positions to offer support fire while the first half then made their way forward. Typical military stuff.

There were a few monsters awaiting in the Black Underworld Swamp as we advanced toward the tomb, but they didn"t pose much of a problem. At least not to the seasoned veterans of the Silver Wolves. A Blood Boar recklessly tried to charge us and was mercilessly blasted apart by a hunting rifle, the magical projectile embedding itself deeply within the poor monster"s core before detonating violently. A Bog Monkey swinging amidst the branches tried to ambush us from behind, but was knocked down by a hail of fire from the carbine before the red-haired mercenary, Redfield, finished the fallen creature off with a fire spell.

Covering the first few fifty meters, Brent then turned back and called for the archeological team to disembark and follow us.

"Stay close to us," he ordered. "Don"t stray too far or you"ll get devoured by the monsters in the swamp."

That was more than enough of a warning for them to obey. I was pretty sure that the archaeological team comprised of mages who could defend themselves with spells in a pinch, but they had focused on studying more than combat, and thus wouldn"t be all that useful in a fight against all but the weakest of monsters.

Worse, the danger of the monsters in the Black Underworld Swamp wasn"t that they were particularly strong, but that there existed many highly toxic monster living in the marshes, bearing deadly venoms – where one drop could kill a normal man in seconds.

Fortunately, I had immunity to poison because of the Holy Spring about a hundred and fifty chapters ago (what, you didn"t think I would forget about that ability, did you?), so I wasn"t afraid of poisonous creatures. Even so, I still had to be careful.

Glancing around, I grimaced at the purple mist that had permanently settled over the Black Underworld Swamp. The Silver Wolves cautiously marched through it, their eyes narrowed as they glanced around for any hidden dangers, but for the moment, other than the low-ranked monsters, we were safe.

For now.

My vigilance was rewarded when the motion tracker in the lenses of my gla.s.ses picked up movement.

"Be careful!"

I drew Hei Yue and Bai Ri and struck the moment something lunged at us from the trees, decapitating it. I blinked and vaguely registered my victim. It was a huge, black serpent with purplish venom leaking from its fangs. Blood splashed across the gray gra.s.s as the headless body and the disembodied head landed clumsily, the former writhing about desperately.

It wasn"t the only one. Three more black serpents darted out of the trees, hissing ferociously as they lashed out at the group.

Working in tandem with me, Anastasia was the next to react. She rushed forward, her daggers sliding into her hands and slas.h.i.+ng at them. Like the first, one of the snakes was decapitated instantly. The other two withdrew, hissing furiously as blood trickled down from cuts on their necks.

Several seconds later, they convulsed violently and fell over, frothing at their jaws. Quite clearly, they had been poisoned to death.

Seeing Anastasia"s smirk, I was reminded that she was a former Veneneum Sect a.s.sa.s.sin who specialized in the use of poisons. The Black Underworld Swamp must feel like home to her, in a manner of speaking (obviously she wouldn"t want to live in here permanently).

"Black Underworld Snakes!" Brent shouted out a warning as he raised his ma.s.sive staff and jabbed it at another monstrous serpent. "Everybody, be careful!"

With a single swing, he obliterated the Black Underworld Snake, turning it into little more than b.l.o.o.d.y paste.

Holy f…! He could reduce something of that size (they were about twelve meters long and their heads were almost the size of an adult man) to nothing with just a single swing of his staff?!

The other Silver Wolves mercenaries were now engaging the swarm in combat. The guys with the guns weren"t able to get shots off at the serpentine shapes of the coiling creatures, but what bullets they fired did reduce their heads to b.l.o.o.d.y messes and dropped them. The rest of the mercenaries sliced and diced them with their swords and spears, while the lower-ranked soldiers fired a barrage of shots from their carbines, taking care not to get bitten by the Black Underworld Snakes. Their potent venom could incapacitate even a fairly powerful mage pretty quickly, despite them only being ranked E or D.

This was why ranks were deceptive. There was no bulls.h.i.+t like "rank D monsters will never be able to defeat rank C monsters and above or their equivalents of human mages." The venom of a rank D Black Underworld Snake was enough to kill a rank C or even rank B monster. It could even incapacitate a rank A monster if the latter was weakened or not careful.

There were no absolutes in reality, however much xianxia and cultivation stories would have you believe with their nonsensical realms and ranks. Like in the real world, a cobra could still kill an elephant several times its ma.s.s and size with a single bite.

"Stand strong!" Brent bellowed. "Keep them off the archaeological team!"

"Captain!" Redfield shouted when he incinerated a swathe of serpents with his fire spells. A few mercenaries provided covering fire for him with their guns. "There"s another fifty or so of them advancing toward our position! It"s like we"ve stumbled into a viper"s nest!"

"f.u.c.k!" Brent swore. "Hold your ground, Silver Wolves! Do not yield!"

"Yes, sir!" everyone chorused, slas.h.i.+ng and striking at the Black Underworld Snakes relentlessly. The serpents had gotten a little smarter and were pulling back, staying out of range of the melee weapons. That didn"t stop them from being bombarded by long-ranged spells or magical bullets, but they minimized their casualties as much as possible.

I was about to charge into battle with my swords to help the mercenaries, but Anastasia flung out a hand to stop me.

"Richard, you should do what you"re best at."

I immediately understood what she meant. Pus.h.i.+ng my gla.s.ses up, I hung back and tried to complete my spell as quickly as possible. With so many Black Underworld Snakes, even after five minutes of furious combat, their number seemed undiminished.

Fortunately, five minutes was just the amount of time I needed to complete my summoning spell.

"Vermillion Phoenix!"

The majestic Celestial Guardian burst into life, spreading his wings as he soared into the air. Fiery feathers materialized around him as he hovered above the clearing.

"Everyone, be careful!" I shouted. "Fall back!"

They didn"t need telling twice. Everyone immediately complied, broke off from combat and withdrew to a safe distance. I didn"t require a further invitation and immediately mentally directed Vermillion Phoenix to sterilize the area. The fiery feathers slammed into the writhing swarm of Black Underworld Snakes before enveloping the entire area in a h.e.l.lish inferno.

"Holy f…!"

Even the mercenaries shrank back at the fearsome firepower that my Vermillion Phoenix had unleashed when his job was done, there was little more that remained of the clearing but scorched craters and ash.

"This boy really reminds me of my granddaughter and her h.e.l.lfire Bear," Princ.i.p.al Porter said ruefully. "They would have made a great match."

Screw you, old man. I ain"t interested in Lilith. And she wasn"t romantically interested in me either. She had much better candidates for love orbiting around her. Why would she choose a random stranger like me? Just because I helped her out in the Spiritual Road? As if romantic relations.h.i.+ps were so easily contrived.

"Is anyone hurt?" Brent demanded, turning back to his forces and a.s.sessing their condition. He tried to ensure that everyone had been accounted for "Sound off!"

"Sir!"

Barely had the first person began to voice out when I spotted a dark shadow slithering out of the trees and darting toward our leader. The movement was so subtle that I almost didn"t catch it – it was only thanks to the fine-tuned sensors on my gla.s.ses that I was able to see it at all.

"Watch out, sir!" I shouted.

"!!!"

Brent spun around and was almost knocked off his feet by a gigantic cobra that was several times bulkier than the huge Black Underworld Snakes we had just faced. He twirled his staff around and deflected its jaws to the side, barely escaping getting bitten by its extremely venomous fangs. Huffing, he dove to the side just as it bit at him again, its forked tongue snaking out dangerously.

"A Nine-eyed Giant Cobra?" I muttered, recognizing its distinctive look. With a single huge yellow eye in the center of its forehead, four beady eyes blinked on either side of it. It hissed ferociously and lunged toward us once more. "As if I"ll let you! Vermillion Phoenix!"

Soaring high up, my Celestial Guardian unleashed another meteor shower of fire once more, bombarding the Nine-eyed Giant Cobra and engulfing it in flames. The monstrous serpent hissed ferociously and dispelled the h.e.l.lish inferno with brute force, purplish mana s.h.i.+mmering around its scale body.

"Whoa, that thing"s pretty tough," I remarked. Despite Vermilion Phoenix"s powerful spell, all he managed to do was burn the Nine-eyed Giant Cobra a little. There were a few black spots on its serpentine body, but not enough to subdue it. I hoped the slight injuries were enough to drive it off, otherwise I would have to start bringing out my big guns.

"The Nine-eyed Giant Cobra is a rank B monster," Brent warned. "It"s not going to go down so easily. Protect the archaeological team!"

"Roger that, Captain!"

While the mercenaries formed a wall between the Giant Cobra and the university professors and students, I continued to bombard the Nine-eyed Giant Cobra with Vermillion Phoenix"s flames. Moving up to support my Celestial Guardian, I summoned a chibi Green Dragon and had him aid me in sending a storm of flower petals to flay the scales off the gigantic monster. The Nine-eyed Giant Cobra lunged at me, but I twisted my body to the side before countering with slashes from both my swords. Despite my best attempts, I failed to decapitate it.

The Nine-eyed Giant Cobra tried to coil around me in an attempt to suffocate and crush my body, but I vanished amidst a storm of flowers. Skidding backward, I sent another maelstrom of razor-sharp petals at its face, almost blinding it. However, I did nothing more than leave several cuts on its head.

As much as I hated to admit it, I was still far from being able to defeat a rank B monster by myself.

Fortunately, I wasn"t by myself.

Behind me, Anastasia made her move. While I was distracting the Nine-eyed Giant Cobra with my wood spells and Vermillion Phoenix, she had snuck around and reached behind the rank B monster. The Fiend continued to snarl and bear down on my position, but failed to hurt me. Just like this we were locked in a stalemate. An amusing thought occurred to me – the Nine-eyed Giant Cobra must have found me just as annoyingly st.u.r.dy as I perceived it to be.

And then Anastasia threw her poisoned dagger, which sliced through the armored scales and penetrated deeply into the monster"s hide. The Nine-eyed Giant Cobra wailed and thrashed wildly, spinning around to hiss vengefully at Anastasia, who was now retreating.

"Your opponent is me," I informed it coldly before casting another storm of razor-sharp petals that sliced off a good chunk of its scales and flesh. The Nine-eyed Giant Cobra screeched and twisted to face me, only to be met by a colossal fireball from Vermillion Phoenix.

Then…it suddenly went rigid and began frothing at the mouth. Going into convulsions, it jerked and flailed about in the clearing, shrieking in agony. After a few minutes of razing the clearing, it finally fell to the ground, white foam flooding its jaws.

"That took quite a while," Anastasia remarked casually as she plucked her dagger from the Nine-eyed Giant Cobra"s corpse, cleaned it and kept it wherever she usually placed it before drawing it. She turned to the stunned Silver Wolves and smiled dazzlingly. Even Brent was speechless at how effective her poisons were on such a ma.s.sive monster. Disregarding their slack-jawed expressions, Anastasia gestured toward the tomb, which was still within plain sight. "Shall we move on?"