The Summoner of ■■ (37)

Yin energy does not simply gather because the atmosphere nearby feels gloomy.

It is the culmination of feng shui, dragon veins, and every other unscientific occult principle, further blessed by the anomalous force known as mana, that forges a singularity.

The inevitable result is a kind of space where anomalies throng—what people call a mystery spot, a supernatural locus.

That is why undead-type monsters appear in this dungeon. And it is not unique to this place; it is the same reason undead arise naturally across the entire world.

The damage caused by those naturally occurring undead is no small matter.

From purifying the undead that spawn on their own to cleansing the impurities that flock to them, the authority of the Church of the Radiant Sun—specialists in exactly that work—is anything but coincidental.

The digression aside, the conclusion is this.

If this dungeon had formed purely through natural occurrence, why would this energy refuse to disperse and instead keep pooling here? Simply because it is a place where refuse collects? Because the site itself is inauspicious?

No. The answer is that someone deliberately twisted the power of this place.

Having watched for a moment before that reason, I snorted.

“Creepy bastards, every last one of them.”

At the heart of the Machine Graveyard yawned a vast pit that strongly recalled an antlion’s trap.

Dead center of the pit stood a stone structure radiating an eerie purple aura, and arrayed around it as if standing guard was a host of living armors.

The reason yin energy ran rampant here was that stele, no doubt.

It was the place where the especially powerful source of yin energy Comet had reported now sat—and at the same time the very origin of that energy.

In short, it was convenient to think of it as the dungeon boss and the nest it had claimed.

“The energy’s stronger than I expected…?”

Beside me, the ponytail-haired woman Na Yuna frowned as she took in the same sight.

“Right? What was this dungeon’s boss again?”

“They said a Cold Knight shows up.”

“No wonder it’s so cold. You holding up, Sinwoo?”

Harusaki Kaoru rubbed her arms and asked me. I answered by thickening the shadow that formed my clothes a little more.

“Whoa… that’s amazing.”

Apparently fascinated by my shadow, she closed the distance and began poking the hem of the garment with a fingertip. The proximity was closer than I liked, so I edged away; she looked a little embarrassed and offered a wry smile.

“Ahem. Really useful skill…”

“Yeah, honestly I’d kill to have it.”

“You wanted it so badly you just had to touch it, didn’t you?”

Emilia Berkheim and Fujii Mako giggled as they teased her. Harusaki Kaoru, who had been trying to play it cool, flushed under their exaggerated antics.

“That’s enough teasing Kaoru, both of you. We’re not finished yet.”

““Yes~””

At Na Yuna’s words the light atmosphere snapped into focus at once. Proof that she was properly fulfilling her role as party leader.

On the way here I had gotten a rough sense of the party’s overall mood and combat style from Growl and Echidna, and nothing seemed particularly bad.

They would probably keep working together even after graduating from the Academy. Even if not, they would adapt easily wherever they went.

Unless someone like me moved from the start on the premise of going solo, the common sense of this world was that dungeons were challenged in groups.

People who only realized that later and tried to mesh with others often found the fit poor, leading to petty disputes and constant discord. Being with someone is harder than most people think.

I was doing this precisely to eliminate those bothersome complications in advance.

“…So before the fight, what are you going to do, junior?”

Receiving that question from the leader of this group was only natural. After all, until now they had been working with Echidna and Growl, not me.

My sudden insertion had thrown their formation off. Understanding that fully, I spoke with a calm expression.

“Have you seniors met your quotas?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah. Thanks to your summons we gathered the assigned mana stones faster than expected.”

“And with the holy power we purified soul-type undead and got ‘Shattered Spirit Fragments’ too.”

“They’re catalysts for alchemy, so they trade for pretty high prices. Strictly speaking, today might be the best haul of the week.”

I nodded at their successive comments, then gathered mana into my hand.

“Then I’ll handle the rest myself. Seniors, just watch.”

The real reason I had bothered joining them and coming this far was to clear the dungeon even a little faster. Creatures of this level were well within Kallion’s solo capability.

“What? W-wait—”

Ignoring their startled attempts to stop me, I strode ahead of them.

My target was the stone object in the center.

“It won’t take long.”

I glanced back, delivering a silent warning not to interfere, then pulled the shadow mask over my face as if flipping a switch in my consciousness.

From this moment I would go all out. This was a preliminary drill for what had happened earlier. And the situation was perfect for a chaotic melee.

With every step the mana wrapping my body intensified. The shadows I wore responded, their edges rippling like heat haze.

Growl and Echidna took position behind me.

Naturally I shaped the shadows on my arms into gauntlets, then forged a shadow halberd and handed it to Echidna. For Growl I reinforced the magic armor he had already deployed with additional shadow.

“Caw!!”

““Caaaaaw!!!!””

Whoooooosh!!!

Without a single command, the Hive and its shadow crows burst from the darkness and blackened the sky in an instant. The roar of wings sounded like the harbinger of a typhoon—ominous.

I prepared to flick my fingers as if brushing away the scattering black feathers.

I did not designate specific targets. After all, those absent from this place outnumbered those present.

Behind us Comet had modified the machines from her makeshift workshop to seal the surroundings at speed, while Haze split and reattached fragments of space to scramble the terrain in support.

Shiz continued to drift about, absorbing spiritual bodies.

From her came only the thought of how to devour the stone structure in the center without pain.

She must have instinctively realized that the structure would lead to her own reinforcement.

The reason she did not rush out immediately was surely the giant armor clad in frost that stood guard over it.

Seeing her practice both basic hostility toward a clearly stronger foe and self-restraint, I confirmed once more that my education had not been wrong.

“Come forth.”

Snap!!

The clear sound of my fingers snapping rode the mana and rang through the air. Triggered by it, the space beside me tore open and the massive form of a dragon thrust its head through.

At my feet white bones punched up through the ground and staggered upright; behind me the great dragon unfurled its wings, flaunting radiant scales.

“Guuuuuuuooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The overwhelming roar of mana made the already heavy atmosphere shudder. The sensation I felt from Kallion was pure joy.

Probably because his recent opportunities to shine had dwindled and he needed to blow off steam.

It could not be helped. Dragon magic was versatile to the point of near-omnipotence—already proven—but that very competence made me reluctant to use it for trivial tasks.

Kallion’s form was simply too conspicuous.

How to put it? Like using a chainsaw for a job that only needed scissors.

So overwhelmingly beyond the original purpose that even the result ended up a mess.

There was a reason the phrase “right tool for the right job” existed. Still, I was letting him cut loose in dungeons where he could be used, so I hoped he would put up with it.

I patted his leg to calm the overexcited creature.

I understood the feeling and had allowed it, but he had been so lively that even allies were affected; restraint was necessary. This place was far too compatible with Kallion.

“…Grrn!”

He exhaled a snort like a sigh and finally reined in the mana that had spilled around him.

That alone brought the creaking of numerous undead—including Keres and Shiz—to my ears. Thanks to that, the enemy’s alert level started at maximum from the outset.

See? The boss monster that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had been standing so arrogantly, eyes only on Echidna, finally moved and drew its weapon.

Around it ice statues rose and began to move as if alive. Summoning minions already—it must have been that desperate.

Which meant Kallion had registered as that much of a threat.

I fed mana to Kallion while ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sneering at the growing ice army.

“Kill exactly half.”

The rest had to be used for gathering real combat data. Kallion, who had perfectly understood even the words I swallowed through the Link, bared his rough teeth in a grin. Then he gathered mana.

[…!!]

Startled by the milky-white energy collecting in his maw, the boss Cold Knight swung its sword in a hurry, directing the ice knights toward Kallion. But that was nowhere near enough.

If you meant to stop Kallion’s movement, you should have moved yourself instead of sending minions. With that mockery curling my lips, I pointed my index finger at the enemy like a gun.

“Fire.”

Piiiiiiing!!!

As I mimed the shot, a milky-white laser blasted from Kallion’s mouth. It was a remodeled version of the Corona Buster I had seen before, heavily infused with Kallion’s traits and preferences.

The real surprise came next. The milky laser did not simply travel straight; it forked and split in every direction like lightning.

Boom! Babababoom!!!

Without a single error the milky trajectories, aimed precisely at half the enemies, ravaged the battlefield.

“…!!”

“…?”

Some shrieked as they were annihilated by an attack whose cause they never grasped; others vanished quietly without even a death cry, never realizing they were dying.

Ssssshhh

The sight of half the field cleaned in an instant, carbonizing into motes of light, was rather beautiful. If only the pervasive gloomy energy had been absent, it would have been even better.

“Kallion, rear support. The rest come with me.”

I forged a shadow sword, gripped it hard enough to crush, and charged.

Echidna and Growl raced at my side in support, while behind us Keres clicked her jaw and summoned a bow, drawing the string taut.

Timing it with Growl’s advance, I crossed paths with Echidna and swung my blade.

Shrieeeek!

Receiving the full effect of Subjugator and reinforced by mana, the sword instantly surpassed the speed of sound. With Haze’s blessing nearly nullifying resistance, even the ice-clad knight’s sturdy neck was sliced clean through and sent flying.

I poured mana into the blade. Then I cut. Repeating the process without pause, the time required to charge mana and the follow-through after each cut began to shrink.

With no need to spare attention for the surroundings, I devoted myself entirely to disposing of the enemies before me.

The enemies were not entirely mindless; they busied themselves trying to eliminate me, the center of the situation. They aimed for blind spots or simply charged in numbers to overwhelm.

None of it worked on me.

Using information relayed from the Hive watching overhead, I sometimes checked with shadow thorns, then switched the dulled sword to a knuckle and pulverized ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the foe in the opening.

Attacks I could not handle alone were dealt with by Haze tearing space, or by Echidna and Growl creating openings. When those two were occupied, the Hive’s shadow crows bought time or Keres’s arrows pierced enemies and burned them soul and all.

Throughout, magic constantly bound the enemies’ feet and strengthened us.

[…!!! …!!]

The boss did not stay idle either. When the ice knights and living armors it had created fell helplessly, it tried something using spiritual bodies that physical force could not touch.

In an instant it packed a mass of spirits into ice orbs and hurled them at us. Confirming it, I immediately turned my head, smashed a nearby living armor away with a mace, and called,

“Shiz.”

“Kyuit!”

Crunch! Crunch-crunch…!

Shiz flew in at once, swallowed the ice orb whole, and chewed.

[…?!]

Shiz’s existence must have been a variable among variables to the boss. Without her, the attack would certainly have succeeded.

No, is that even true?

In truth, anyone present here could be a variable to the boss. If my summons had gone all-out from the start, there would have been no time for variables—Kallion’s magic would have erased everything long before.

The only one fighting at full power here was me. Only I needed to grow accustomed to this style of combat.

As long as I remained intact, the rest could handle everything. That certainty obligated me to cultivate at least the minimum ability to hold out.

This was my private one-man show and training ground at once.

Once I grew used to the melee, it became a one-sided slaughter.

I cut down enemies indiscriminately. The effort of switching weapons to raise proficiency evenly paid off; the moment Sword reached level 5, a derived skill called Bladed Weapon appeared.

I had no idea of the activation conditions. It just popped up, so thank you and move on.

A quick sidelong glance told me the skill granted major bonuses to edged weapons whose cutting power essentially equaled damage.

When I reshaped the Western longsword I had been using into something closer to an Eastern hwando or katana, the effects of both Sword and Bladed Weapon stacked.

Slash! Clang! Clang-clang-clang!!!

With the weightless shadow growing stronger and Haze’s power added, my speed more than doubled what I had previously managed, letting me carve through enemies even faster.

That was when the subjugation pace truly accelerated. So absorbed was I in testing the new skill that spear and shield never even leveled.

I would have to reflect on that. Still, the sight of necks and torsos coming apart with every swing felt like a sudden release of long-bottled stress.

Riding the momentum, I finished the remaining enemies quickly, then rested the shadow sword on my shoulder and looked at the boss. Is that all? Try a little harder. I deliberately directed a gaze laced with mockery and scorn.

[…!]

Sensing it, the boss roared in fury and tried to summon ice knights once more—but the wish went unfulfilled.

“You shouldn’t take your eyes off the battlefield.”

“Kyuut!”

The instant its gaze, which had been warily fixed on Shiz, locked onto me, Shiz—already swollen—slapped onto its back like a liquid slime.

Crunch, grind-grind!

That alone cracked and warped the frost-covered armor.

Shiz had intended to pin it with Telekinesis so it could not flee, but her stats, boosted by Subjugator, were enough to casually overpower most C-rank threats. Naturally this was the result.

A force somewhat inappropriate for a mere D-rank boss to endure.

Realizing it, Shiz adjusted the telekinetic power and, without killing the boss, began sucking its yin energy like a straw.

The boss flailed its sword wildly, straining to tear her off, but the more it struggled the deeper its body was drawn into Shiz.

Like someone sinking into a bottomless swamp.

[…]

At last, fully absorbed into Shiz’s body, the boss clutched its face and screamed as though its very soul were being ripped out, then melted away and vanished.

“Kyuet~”

As if she had eaten something delicious, Shiz patted her belly, spat out the warped armor fragments, then drifted to the stone structure and likewise enveloped it, slurping up only the yin energy. Once the energy was gone the object crumbled to dust.

“Kyuu~ Kyuuu~”

Only then did she seem satisfied; she shrank and began drifting leisurely through the air, soft and pliant.

“…Haa.”

Confirming the clear alarm, I exhaled and shoved the cascading system windows aside.

“Good work, everyone.”

My summons each offered their own distinctive replies. I dismissed the large or noisy ones and sent the rest back to their usual positions.

The Hive returned to the shadows, Haze slipped into her private space, and Comet and Echidna stood ready at my sides.

Only now did it feel finished. Having tidied everything neatly, I looked back. Toward those whose expressions had gone beyond shock into something like awe, I spoke calmly.

“Thank you for your hard work. Take care.”

With that farewell I conveyed that I was done here.

“…Junior… you were a pretty amazing person, weren’t you?”

In the quiet silence Harusaki Kaoru finally spoke. I shrugged and declared the clear.

Ignoring the stares that lingered on my back until the very end was a bonus. Trouble was something I refused.