Spear Throwers and the Lesson in Lightning
The conversation about No Hayun's message had been going in circles. "But she wants a reply as fast as possible. Says it's because she misses us and can't wait to see us."
"...That's... pretty strange. Since when have we been close enough for her to miss us?"
"Right? Maybe all the promotion prep has driven her crazy? But with her abilities, she'd pass without breaking a sweat..."
"Hmm..."
We spent the next ten minutes or so analyzing No Hayun's intentions while we moved. Then—
A savage roar unique to orcs tore through the forest. Arrogant, utterly rude, and packed with challenge. It wasn't far off.
Four hundred fifteen meters... Forty of them.
If we kept walking straight, we'd run into them soon. For an ordinary four-person party, forty orcs might have warranted some serious debate about whether to engage. But with Yeonhee on our side, it felt more like a light warm-up.
Still, this orc detachment had one clear difference from the group we'd faced in the Lizardman Swamp.
They've got spear throwers?
A cluster of them stood at the very rear of the formation. Unlike the orc spearman I'd fought one-on-one before, these creatures carried bundles of thin, razor-sharp iron spears on their backs and supported the frontline warriors with long-range throws.
When I spread my senses over them, I noticed one arm on each spear thrower was abnormally swollen with muscle. Their rate of fire and range were inferior, but the spears they hurled carried destructive power that dwarfed anything an orc archer could produce.
The only summons capable of continuing a fight after taking one of those monstrous throws were me and the Spectre.
Not that I have any intention of getting hit.
"Whoa, what a way to kick things off... And it's not even one type. Two different groups with completely distinct strides. Variants?"
"From the very first battle... I don't even know how the world works anymore. Honestly, I'm not even surprised. Arin, how many are we looking at?"
"Thirty to forty total. The ones with the weird stride make up about ten of them?"
My sensory range had expanded, meaning I now detected enemies later than before, but Arin's hearing remained astonishing every single time. Unless the path became unusually complex, I could safely leave the guiding to her.
Arin suddenly whipped her head toward me, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly as she spoke.
"Good. Ilwol, let's hit their rear together. This is the first time your master is imparting a lesson, so I'll specially demonstrate Lightning Step for you."
Her voice carried a hint of excitement. She puffed air through her nose and flicked her ears vigorously. Her cheeks looked faintly flushed—she still seemed embarrassed about calling herself my master.
I wasn't sure why teaching a skeleton excited her so much, but seeing her old vitality return was a welcome sight for the team. Come to think of it, she'd only used Lightning Step a handful of times across our three dungeon runs. I needed to focus and memorize every detail.
"Lizardmen, orcs, Spectre. Charge!"
As Arin and I circled toward the rear, Yeonhee's command rang out powerfully from behind us. The moment her order ended, roughly twenty summons surged forward as one toward the orc warriors.
She hadn't summoned everything she had, likely judging this number sufficient. It seemed the harsh lesson from the abandoned school had pushed her to train her mana control in earnest.
Even while moving into the enemy's rear, I found myself deeply curious about how the summons would fare against the orcs. Could our forces really hold an advantage over low-ranking orc warriors evaluated as exceeding mid D-grade?
"Nya! Watch closely! Don't you dare look away!"
"Clack clack!"
It was as if she had eyes in the back of her head. Arin noticed my attention drifting and immediately called me out. Of course she'd be annoyed—here she was about to reveal her signature technique, and her disciple was distracted. My mistake.
Crackle—crack!
She stomped several times, drawing in energy that resembled lightning. Truthfully, her Lightning Step still fell far short of truly carrying the lightning attribute. The distortion and noise—like small bolts colliding—were closer to an optical illusion created by compressing the process of finely splitting and detonating mana. But none of that mattered.
Once I learned the technique, I could figure out how to add the attribute later. Lightning-attribute skills were rare by nature and looked incredibly cool. I wanted it no matter what.
Crack—craaaackle—
Her footwork began in earnest. I hadn't noticed before, but looking closely, she wasn't releasing mana only when her feet touched the ground.
Insane... that's actually possible.
Arin repeatedly cut off and released mana mid-air—from her hands, from her toes. Each time, her body's wavering balance instantly corrected itself, launching her forward in the exact direction she wanted. The sight made me curse out loud.
Even during yesterday's fight on the cliff, Arin's sense of balance had been peerless. That kind of talent seemed innate—difficult to imitate.
When will I be able to move that freely...?
As the thought crossed my mind, another question followed.
Now that I think about it, could the other members of the Ilseom Guild actually use Lightning Step properly?
I'd subdued them so quickly during the mimic event that I'd brushed it off, but recalling their behavior, it was unlikely any of them had mastered it like Arin. At best, they'd only skimmed the surface.
Come to think of it, the Ilseom Guild had been strangely quiet. I'd expected them to come at us immediately... Were they really just letting this slide?
No chance.
Squelch—!
"Grrrk—"
Without ever taking my eyes off Arin's movements, I casually sliced through the surrounding orcs. They reacted far too late to my speed.
It's on a completely different level from the canyon fights.
I felt a spark of excitement realizing just how far my abilities had climbed. Where my dagger passed, bright arterial blood erupted from an orc's neck like a geyser, briefly veiling the sky.
Defeat enemies using daggers while in stealth. (107/10,000)
Since no one was watching me right now, I decided to focus heavily on the stealth-dagger quest. The attribute quest I had expected to be the hardest was progressing faster than anticipated, so I needed to bring the others up to speed.
"Clack clack clack!!"
"Spears!"
Although we'd struck the rear first, it was impossible to neutralize every protected spear thrower in one go. Using Skeleton Bomb would have made it easy, but growing stronger alone wasn't the goal. Besides, it was smarter to save the bombs for unexpected situations.
The spear throwers left in the rear drew their arms back fully, then snapped them forward like rubber bands. Iron spears with tips honed to vicious points tore through the air at terrifying speed toward the summons in front.
Whoooosh—!
Thudthudthud!
Four Lizardmen were skewered instantly and sent flying backward. The raw power was incredible.
Throwing techniques aren't bad at all. Maybe I should make some spears from their bones later.
The victims had been lower-numbered members of the lizard unit, but even I couldn't be certain my bone armor would completely negate that kind of impact. Sadly, while the pierced Lizardmen didn't die in a single blow, they were left combat-incapacitated. It was a pitiful sight watching them struggle to stand while gripping the spears that had run them through.
They could have dodged if they'd tried. Instead, they'd thrown themselves in the way to protect Yeonhee and Jua from the incoming projectiles.
"...You've done well."
Yeonhee acknowledged their sacrifice with a casual wave of her hand. The dying summons dissolved into gray smoke and vanished. She nodded at me as if it were nothing, then resummoned them immediately.
"Then please work hard again."
"Churrup?!"
It was clear Yeonhee was steadily gaining proficiency in commanding her summons. She still had a long way to go before matching the image burned into my memory, but every now and then I caught flashes of that overwhelming charisma from before.
"Churraaaak!!"
"Krk?!"
When the Lizardman they'd just killed stood up again as if nothing had happened and roared, the orcs visibly panicked. What made things even worse for them was the constant aggro from the provocation skill and the fist-shaped stones erupting from the ground to disrupt their footing.
The orcs charged toward Bae Jua and the Screaming Mushroom—the source of those annoying abilities—but the Spectre swooped in, creating a spectacular disturbance that completely stole their focus.
- Churrup—!
- Chahak!!
On one side, Lizard No. 1 and Tusk No. 1 were each engaged in one-on-one duels with orc warriors. After evolving, Lizard No. 1's growth had accelerated dramatically. It had begun to shine in the wolf cave, and now it refused to be easily pushed back even against orc warriors. It still couldn't defeat one alone, but simply holding the line was an enormous help.
The greatest advantage of summons, after all, was buying time for the hunters to dismantle monsters individually.
Tusk No. 1 and Tusk No. 2 took longer but ultimately subdued their low-ranking orc opponents with relative ease. In short, the captain-class members of our main force had proven they were at least mid D-grade.
Of course, only the captains performed at that level. The lower numbers were still clearly outmatched by the orc warriors, but it was still an encouraging sight.
Swish—
I noticed Yeonhee watching the summons' battle with a deeply contemplative expression.
Is she still worrying about it?
She had mentioned in the taxi that she was pondering the six summoning books that had accumulated. She seemed especially disappointed about the Spectre. Its fraudulent passive immunity to physical attacks and the energy drain that applied a pseudo-debuff had clearly won her over. She also kept saying it looked cuter the more she saw it.
Hmm... I couldn't agree on the cute part, but I shared her regret about its capabilities. Mixing orcs and spectres at a two-to-one ratio seemed ideal. The Spectre was extremely vulnerable to magic damage, yet even accounting for that weakness, it remained a highly attractive summon.
If Yeonhee wants it that badly, perhaps the ability can still manifest...
After all, she had created strange substances that shouldn't even exist. It wouldn't surprise me if she could freely manipulate probability fixation.
I never saw her use spectres in my previous life... Then again, she might not have been able to summon them back then.
She still hadn't chosen which monster to lock in with over ninety percent probability. Once the choice was made, she couldn't select another until the next grade of summoning book appeared, so caution was necessary.