The Summoner's Domain
“...Finally quieted down a bit.”
Wrapping her in darkness and ordering Haze to cut off all sound was the only way I managed to shut that noisy mouth of hers.
The reason I kept her alive was simple: that form of hers could still serve as a fine tool for crushing enemy morale, and more importantly, I needed the dungeon to remain open. That was why I had deliberately used Shiz’s Hell Path just to keep her breathing.
The trait Hell Path. Its effect was straightforward. It guided the dead of hell.
Shiz—or rather, the Will-o’-wisp—was originally a lost soul that could never reach any destination, forced to wander the nine heavens. It felt less like she had chosen this path and more like a tangle of circumstances had coincidentally made her a leader of ghosts.
Hell Path was the power that took that concept of the Will-o’-wisp and made it real. The road she walked became the road of the dead; the path she left behind became the road to hell.
Thus Hell Path was a road for ghosts. If anyone who was not a ghost stood upon it, what would happen needed no explanation.
In simple terms, it was like laying down a zone that dealt continuous damage to both body and mind. The drawbacks were that it only worked on those who could “perceive” ghosts, and that only the path Shiz had already walked became the domain of the Hell Road.
An ordinary person would probably have their life force drained the moment they faced a ghost, struggling just to stay conscious. In this case, it was only possible because that woman’s vitality was absurdly high.
On top of that, this area was already thick with the vengeful spirits of those she had killed, so the moment the zone was laid they swarmed her like flies. If this place had held no connection to her at all, those same spirits would have come after me as well.
As I said before, the gathering of wraiths was not something the Will-o’-wisp desired. It was as natural as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. That was why Shiz possessed the power to devour and store wraiths, but none to control them.
Yet the ghosts never attacked her. Instinctively they knew that without Shiz they could not even exist like this.
That was why I was wearing Shiz like a cloak. A little trick to prevent that “what if” scenario.
“Eat every last one of those later.”
“Hoooo...”
“Clack-clack!”
Shiz and Keres answered at the same time. Their eyes met, and flames flickered between them. The emotion I felt was pure rivalry—each insisting that this was her job. I let out a small sigh.
For efficiency’s sake, Keres should only take one of each race and leave the rest to Shiz. Why were they competing over it?
...They’d figure it out on their own.
I didn’t bother stopping their little contest. Those autonomous habits would pile up one by one until they became the perfect summon army I wanted.
“Keep it in check. This isn’t over yet.”
There was no verbal reply, but through the Link I felt their acknowledgment. Confirmed, I headed for the rooftop of the building. Haze had just reported detecting an anomaly.
Thanks to Subjugator, Haze’s spatial detection range now easily covered the entire city. Any change would reach me instantly.
The moment I stepped onto the roof I understood exactly what Haze meant. Countless dots were flying in from the far side, steadily closing in on us.
A swarm so vast that counting them was meaningless. Every single one of them was a vampire. My gut said these were the knight order that pretentious Blumer guy had been bragging about. Or maybe some of the reinforcements Valencia had called were mixed in.
Every time that woman contacted someone through her crystal, my vision had been flooded with the same warning text.
Boss [Valencia de Noira] is requesting reinforcements.
In their haste, some of those who answered the call might have gotten tangled up and come along for the ride.
“Hive.”
Flutter!
At my call the creature swooped in and settled on my shoulder, rubbing its beak against my cheek. Don’t worry, it seemed to say. Fine by me. We’d do everything we could.
“Comet, support Hive. Keres, lure as many of them to the ground as possible. Growl and Echidna will intercept whoever comes down.”
Shiz was still roaming the castle interior gathering souls, so she was out. Haze and Kallion had separate work starting now.
“Give it everything you’ve got.”
Not a single one was to escape. Wipe them all out. That was the quiet weight I put into the order.
Twitch!
Every summon froze for an instant. At the same time a subtle emotion began to flow through the Link.
My heart started pounding of its own accord, yet the feeling was soft and warm. Battle was about to begin, yet they were filled with a quiet pride and confidence I hadn’t expected.
What was with these kids? First things first—get to work.
“...Haze. You got it?”
< ╰( ･ ᗜ ･ )╯ >
The space in front of me tore open and a thoroughly excited emoticon appeared. Affirmative, no doubt. The emotion radiating from Haze was pure exhilaration.
And it wasn’t just Haze. Every one of my summons felt the same.
Come to think of it, this was the first time I was truly using every single one of them at full strength. Until now I had prioritized coordination; the times they had fought with their individual full power could be counted on one hand.
I had never told them to hold back, but after Subjugator made them so suddenly strong, they never got the chance to unleash everything. The enemies simply dropped too fast.
This time was different. There was no need to go easy on these bastards. Thorough domination—violence beyond that—was what we would deliver.
In other words, they were happy.
Happy that they could finally show me everything they had, that they could prove the fruit of their own growth. It was the same look as a child desperately raising a hand during parents’ day, desperate to impress Mom and Dad.
All of it was heavily influenced by the Doctrine of Rest and the Self-Faith I had taught Echidna.
It was a little ridiculous, yet their thought process was so endearing compared to their terrifying appearances that a dry laugh slipped out.
Well, strictly speaking these kids hadn’t even been alive a full year yet. They were still in their cute phase. I’d let this much slide as charm.
The poor souls about to be sacrificed to their enthusiasm would experience a natural disaster worse than a bolt from the blue, but what did that have to do with me? They shouldn’t have picked a fight with me if they didn’t want it.
“...Enough. Kallion, get ready.”
As I spoke I looked up at the moon hanging in the sky. More precisely, at the enormous magic circle that had taken the shape of a moon.
“Grrngh!”
At my words Kallion poked only his head out through the window just below the rooftop and gazed upward. The golden vertical pupils unique to reptiles split open, and a brilliant light bloomed within them.
The sign that the skill Dragon Eyes had activated.
Dragons were a great race from birth. If an archmage was the master of magic, a dragon was the master of mana itself—mana incarnate, even. For such beings, imagination and creativity translated directly into new forms of strength, which was why the dragon race had evolved to be far more specialized in “seeing” than any other.
The skill Dragon Eyes was the crystallized form of that concept of “seeing,” refined so a dragon could satisfy its endless curiosity and thirst for knowledge in ever more colorful ways.
By grasping the essence of a target and dismantling its structure until it was fully understood, a dragon could make that thing its own as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
So Kallion looked at the sky. He looked in order to unravel the magic that had turned this entire city into perpetual night. More clearly, more firmly, he filled in his own shortcomings.
What Kallion was about to do would make any ordinary person shudder. Magic was, after all, a kind of program. Tightly woven; touch it carelessly and the whole thing collapsed—taking the one who touched it with it.
That was why mages preferred the act of “dispel”—interfering with another mage’s completed spell to erase it. Carrying the risk of self-destruction just to force an interference was far more dangerous and expensive than simply blasting it with an opposing element.
The more perfectly constructed a spell, the harder it was to find a gap; even if you forced one open, the spell would slam it shut and try to eject you. It was never easy.
Which was why what I was about to do was not a “dispel.” I had no idea what would happen if I simply erased it, and besides, this night’s darkness was advantageous for us as well.
So I would only twist its direction a little.
What truly benefited vampires was not darkness itself, but the power of the moon that rose at night. Just as werewolves drew strength from the moon, vampires—beings of yin—were reinforced by lunar energy. That was why this ritual had taken the form of a moon.
I would twist it. Erase the moon that aided them and leave only perfect darkness in its place.
The mental image was more than enough; it overflowed. All those times I had filled rooms with shadow had not been for style alone—they had been to harden the image for this exact preparation.
Because Kallion and I were connected through the Link, sharing mental images was easy. Simply experiencing it once would already help him.
Crack!
Kallion’s jaws opened wide. Within the milky-white energy that gathered there, magical characters began to construct themselves. Planes stacked into solids; solids stacked into something four-dimensional. The pure white condensation of power turned pitch black.
The black sphere, like a miniature black hole, began to warp even the surrounding space. It was so bright that that single point alone sucked in the light around it and looked unnaturally dark.
Such a mad phenomenon was scientifically impossible, yet “mana” made it real. Looking at things like this always gave me a hard reality check. Just what the hell was mana, anyway?
Despite my idle thoughts, the magic unfolding around Kallion’s mouth grew ever more solid. The moment it ripened, I poured my own shadow-infused mana into it.
At first my image had been closer to a barrier. But Kallion told me that was wrong.
This was not merely creating a barrier. This was a declaration—a kind of boast that named this land as his own.
“I don’t like it.”
The fact that Kallion had informed me of that meant the very existence of that thing up there was a message: this land belongs to the vampires, so get lost. How laughable. And yet, how convenient.
I would test just how strong that desire to protect really was. So I would change it. This land was not theirs. From the moment I stood here, this place was my castle and my territory.
The image was a flag. Nothing was more intuitive for declaring dominion.
“Fire.”
Thoom!
The spherical magic shot upward and struck the moon dead-on. That was the exact moment the swarm charged into our airspace.
Boom!
Something burst. At the same time the brilliant moon hanging in the sky vanished in a wash of static. Absolute blackness settled in—not even a single star’s light remained.
The only lights left were the sparse lamps far below in the city.
The sudden disappearance of the moon threw them into confusion. Something was wrong. By the time they realized it, it was already too late.
I moved my mana. In perfect sync, Kallion operated his own. In this moment, this place was my domain.
So of course those who dared invade that space would suffer unfairness. Wasn’t that only natural?
Somewhere I thought I heard screams of panic, but I ignored them and moved my hand. From above to below. I slammed those flying pests who dared soar over my head straight into the ground.
I couldn’t get them all. That was why I had asked Keres beforehand to lure them down.
Still—“all” was impossible, but “some” was very possible.
I trusted Kallion. Owning a broken race like a dragon and still failing at something this basic would be a disgrace.
“Grrrrngh...!!”
Whether he had read my thoughts perfectly or not, Kallion’s mana grew even sharper. His pride had been wounded. But things like this had to be done thoroughly and then moved past.
Because I trusted and relied on him, I had to calculate even more carefully. Overlook that, and trust eventually became arrogance, reliance became negligence.
As this one’s master, that was the one thing I would never allow. If he grew complacent I would whip him harder until he grew. When he succeeded I would praise him without reservation. I would make him so strong that no one would ever dare look down on him.
Because that way, I got to live easier.
“Crush them.”
“GruaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAA!!!!”
It was not magic. Kallion’s milky-white mana, laced with the trait Holy, slammed down on the enemies. Just as I used the skill Charisma, Kallion mixed the overwhelming terror inherent to the dragon race itself into his mana.
Dragon Fear.
As if the very fact that he had to test his power against the likes of them was an insult, the savage, arrogant nature of a true dragon poured out unfiltered.
Even standing beside him, the roar filled with pure rage made my guts freeze. What effect would that fury have on those who took it head-on?
The answer was already here.
A few of the weaker ones lost consciousness from that single cry and plummeted. Most of them forced blood to the surface, trying desperately to rally themselves, but the fear that had taken root in their hearts was undeniable.
“Grrrngh...”
Kallion let out a sullen rumble, apparently displeased that he hadn’t crushed as many as he expected. To show him this was more than enough, I scratched under his chin.
“Grrrng!”
That alone was enough to erase every trace of sulkiness; he started acting as if he had never been upset at all. Even I had to admit he was a low-maintenance creature. Or maybe in this case it was low satisfaction threshold?
I was seriously worried he might get scammed someday. His intelligence had risen, so he was smarter, but the world was full of people who were only clever in the wrong ways. I’d have to teach him how to live in society later, step by step. He was capable; he would manage just fine.
“Guuung...?”
Kallion made a vaguely uneasy face, as if he had sensed something ominous. I ignored him and turned my gaze forward. My part was finished; the rest was observation.
Time to watch just how far the others could go.
In the last chaotic fight they had been forced to protect me and never got to cut loose properly. This was the perfect chance to properly gauge their limits.
I formed a chair of shadow, sat down, and leisurely began watching my summons go wild.