Nothing happened during the time we were sleeping. After waking up, I gathered the others and we made our way further inside the cave. After leaving the room we slept in, we entered a passageway in the opposite direction of the one we came in through, the only difference between them being that the new one was well lit by those crystals as well.
After only two minutes of slow walking, we reached a new room, this one being even bigger than the other one. We stopped right at the entrance, carefully analyzing the place. In front of us, the passageway we came through, turned into a paved path, with pillars reaching the roof on both sides. After a while, the path turned into stairs and at the upper end of the stairs there was a throne with what looked like a statue sitting on it. Crystals were placed all over the room, lighting up the whole place. It no longer felt like we were inside a cave, but the throne room of some castle.
Old man Cunt turned towards me and said: "Kid, call it my adventurer's instinct, but something does not feel right about this place. I think we should turn back."
I absentmindedly nodded my head, thinking if we should proceed or just give up and retreat. Suddenly, I felt Anna tugging on my clothes from the side. Broken out of my thoughts I turned towards her, only to see her staring intently towards one side of the room. Following her sight, I noticed a skeleton there, dressed in the same time of clothes as the ones people used to wear in the village. Before I could even react, Anna was already out of the passageway, running towards the skeleton. The moment she stepped inside the room, I saw the statue slowly raising it's head and looking straight at Anna.
"Shit!" Seeing the statue starting to stand up from the throne, I cursed out loud and dashed right at it.
[Ethan, he is from the golem race. I don't advise engaging in direct combat.]
"I have no choice."
I ignored Ai's warning and continued running towards the statue. As soon as I was close enough, I used my spear and pierced right at it's abdomen, but the statue ignored my attack, raising both hands on the sides, trying to grab me. At that moment, Ai's voice sounded again.
[Your spear won't be able to pierce it.]
Hearing her words, I crouched down to avoid it's grab but still tried to pierce it with my spear. Unfortunately, as always, Ai's was right and the shaft of my spear actually broke the moment the tip made contact with the statue. I wanted to roll to the side but the statue's speed was faster then I imagined and I was kicked straight in my chest. I was kicked across the room like a rag doll, for more the ten meters.
I barely managed to stand up, wiped the blood that appeared on the corner of my lips using the back of my hand and looked intently at the statue that was now making it's way towards me.
'Ai, what is that thing?'
[I already told you. It's a sentient golem. It's not that strong but you have no chance of killing it without a strong blunt weapon. It's skin is even harder than stone.]
Hearing Ai's words, I was ready to grab Anna and leave when old man Cunt's voice sounded from the entrance: "Kid, the way out is blocked."
Startled, I looked back and noticed that the way we came in was blocked by a huge stone door. With no way back, I yelled back at the old man: " You look for a way out, while I distract this thing". With no more time to waste, I started running circles around the statue, hoping that the old man could find a way out.". I was lucky that the statue was not that quick in changing directions, making dodging it's attacks a bit easier.
As I was dancing like a clown and old man Cunt was searching for an exit, I noticed with the corner of my eye that Anna was now running towards the throne in the middle, carrying a small star shaped stone in her hand. Too bad I was not the only one who noticed this, because the statue ignored me and started running in Anna's direction. I followed after it right away, but the statue was closer than me, making reaching Anna first impossible.
"ANNA, RUN" I yelled as loud as I could, but Anna was no fighter. She only had time to turn towards me before the statue's fist was only a meter away from her head. Exactly at the moment, I saw old man Cunt leaping forward towards Anna and pushing her out of the way of the fist. With Anna out of harm's way for the moment, old man Cunt tried to stand up but it was already too late.
The statue used one of it's legs and stepped hard on the old man's head, smashing it completely.
"Fuck." I cursed again, not expecting hit to die like this, but my feet didn't stop running. I couldn't lose Anna as well.
With old man Cunt dead, the statue turned again towards Anna, but the push from before put her right at the base of the throne. Anna used the stone in her hand and placed it inside an indentation of the same form at the base of the throne.
I watched as bright white light covered Anna's body and she disappeared right in front of my eyes. After she disappeared, the stone was thrown out of the recess, flying across the room. Enraged, the statue punched the place where Anna just disappeared and turned towards me again.
[Ethan, she seems to have been teleported somewhere. Placing the stone under the throne is probably what activates the mechanism. Try to do the same.]
Not having time to worry about everything else, I ran straight at the stone and picked it up. The statue seemed quite smart, because instead of chasing after me, it just sat there and guarded the place where I was supposed to put the stone.
I walked towards the old man's body while thinking about a solution. As I reached what was left of old man Cunt, I crouched down and said with tear threatening to fall down any moment:
"Thank you for saving her old friend."
"I wish you a better life after reincarnation and I'm sorry that you didn't get to pass away in peace at home like you wanted to." After saying that, I picked up the spear that was tied to his back and sat up again.
'Ai, any idea how to move that block of stone away from the throne? Anna might still be in danger.'
[You can only try to create an opening yourself. Try attacking it's joints but be careful and adjust your strength to not break the shaft again.]
I took a deep breath to calm my mind and made my way slowly towards the statue. It was blocking the place I had to place the stone into with one of it's legs. As I reached in range, I started attacking using the shaft of the spear, trying to hit it's joints. My attacks kept landing easily as it tried to grab the spear but was too slow to get even close. After attacking for more than ten minutes and seeing to difference, I took a step back and said.
'This doesn't seem to be working. Any other idea?'
[…]
Hearing no answer, I started looking around the room for another exit. After searching for half an hour or so and finding no other way out, I sat down near the entrance of the room.
'Ai, can you simulate a fight with that golem inside my soul space?'
[I can but the data I have will probably not make it 100% accurate. You will need to fight it more.]
'Good. Fighting it there would be safe for me and I can try more dangerous ideas.'
Thinking up to here, I stood back up and started fighting the golem again. After fighting for three hour or so, when I was retreating my spear from a successful attack I was surprised by the golem leaping from the place he stood, trying to grab it.
'Good, I didn't find any weakness but at least I managed to annoy him enough to create an opening.'
Seeing the chance, I let go of the spear, letting the golem grab it, and dashed at the indentation. I managed to place the stone inside, but I immediately felt a sharp pain coming from the back. When I was enveloped by the teleportation light, the golem managed to pierce my lower left back with the spear and the troubles didn't end there as Ai's voice sounded in my mind.
[Ethan, the teleportation device was damaged by the golem earlier. I will try to stabilize the spacial fluctuations to avoid you being shredded by the teleportation but the destination will be completely random. It will depend..]
Too bad that this was all I could hear before passing out. After darkness engulfed my vision, I woke up inside my soul space and Ai's spirit form appeared near me right after.
"What happened?" I asked her as soon as she appeared.
"Your avatar is in critical condition, with five hp left."
I nodded in understanding and asked again: "What about the teleportation? Where am I?"
"As your avatar was drifting through the void, I detected a few summoning circles nearby. Worried that you were going to be teleported inside the ground or in the air, I guided your body towards the strongest summoning circle. In should take a few more minutes for the summoning to be completed."
"Do you mean to say that someone will summon me? How does that work?"
"Summoning is a type of magic. Summoners can call forth all kind of creatures from other words and form a contract with them to help in battle. From the fluctuations I felt this seems to be a contract beast summoning."
"So, will I be forced to help whoever summoned me?"
"Don't worry, both parties need to agree to the contract so you won't be forced or anything."
I sighed a sigh of relief and asked again: "But, is it normal to summon a human instead of a beast ?"
"No, humans are only summoned in hero summoning rituals but this one was just a contracted beast summon that I hijacked. You will have to think of an explanation to give."
"Will I be able to wake up after being summoned?"
"You are still very injured, and need to be healed right away. That is the reason I picked the strongest circle. I hoped that the magician on the other side is strong enough to heal you."
"I see, thank you."
It was a bit annoying to keep relying on other people but had no other choice. I was too weak. After waiting for a few more minutes, Ai said again.
"Looks like you are lucky this time. I'll send you out."
I was still confused what exactly did she mean, but before I could ask anything I was back in my own body. Opening my eyes, the first thing I saw was a woman in her late twenties. She was tall and beautiful, more beautiful than any other woman I think I saw in both of my lives, with skin as white as snow. Her long straight hair reached down to her back and was as white as her skin. She looked intensely at me with her black-purple eyes and frowned her thinly plucked eyebrows before asking: "What are you?"
I was still a bit dazed by her beauty and just mumbled like an idiot "beautiful".
She frowned harder, looked down at the book on the ground and used both her hands to put her hair behind her ears.
While I was gawking at her like an idiot, Ai's voice sounded in my mind.
[You should compose yourself and give her an explanation before she decides to cancel her summoning and send you back into the void. I can always send you to another circle but this might be a good opportunity to learn more of the situation in the world.]
Ai's words brought a bit of clarity to my mind. I shook my head and said to her.
"Excuse me, miss."
She just lifted one hand in a gesture for me to shut up and kept reading through her book. She looked so beautiful when she was focused that I just continued to admire the picture while waiting for her to finish reading. I never imagined there will come a day when I will be completely smitten by someone.
'Ai, how strong is she?'
[Very. I don't know her exact level but her intelligence parameter should be above 20.]
'You said something about canceling the summoning, how does that work?'
[To complete the summoning, a sort of contract has to be established. After the contact is formed, the circle will become inactive and you will be fully materialized in this space.]
'How does one form a contract?'
[Depends on the contract. Usually the summon will have to consume a drop of blood from the summoner, but in your case she will also have to consume one as yours as it's a contract between beings of the same level.]
'So we have to drink blood? That sounds gross.'
While I was talking with Ai, the magician girl lifted her head from the book and said in a flat tone.
"Are you a human?"
"Yes."
"That makes no sense" she mumbled under her breath before saying to me again "Something seems to have gone wrong with my spell. Give me a moment and I'll send you back."
"Please wait a moment. Can you please allow me to stay?"
She raised one of her eyebrows and said: "Why should I? I already healed your wound and I'm under no obligation to help you any further. Also, I don't know anything about creating a contract with a human."
"Is there anything you need? Maybe I can help you."
She looked me up and down before responding: "With your meager strength? To create this summoning circle I used a lot of precious materials and I would rather try to summon something again than to waste them by completing the contract with you."
'Ai, what materials?'
[I am not exactly sure either as summoning also differs slightly between each world. From her words it appears that here, in this world, to summon something you need an offering towards the world will, which is lost after signing a contract.]
Hearing Ai's answer I decided to just tell her a bit about my situation and hope she is kind hearted enough to let me stay: "Sigh.. You are probably right but I am really in trouble now and could use the help. Is there anything I can do for you to reconsider?"
"Can you explain your situation? It might also help to know why my summoning went wrong."
"Sigh.." I started explaining her everything that happened inside the cave and how I activated a teleportation mechanism, waking up here. I avoided telling her about Ai hijacking her summon.
She pondered for a moment before sighing and saying: "Fine. One more ally is one less potential enemy. I'll complete your summon and can consider it as you owing me a favor. Do you agree to this contract?"
"I do." I replied and she proceeded to make a small cut on one of her fingers and moving her hand above my head. I opened my mouth and swallowed the drop of blood before trying to take the knife from her hand to cut my own finger.
She retracted the dagger and looked at me with a questioning look. I was also confused by her reaction before Ai said.
[She said that she knew nothing about contracting with a human and probably doesn't know that she need to drink your blood as well to form a contract with you. The usual method is just for the summon to consume the summoner blood, but that won't work for a contract between two beings of the same race.]
"You will also need to consume a drop of my blood for the contract to form between us."
She hesitated for a moment but still passed me the dagger in the end. After I cut my finger, she opened her pink lips and allowed a drop of my blood to fall on her small tongue. After she swallowed the drop of blood, the magic circle under me shined brighter for a moment before disappearing altogether.
[Don't forget that now that the contract is formed between you two she will be able to summon you at her side once, also the summoning will happen in an instant so you will need to try and always be prepared for it,]
After looking at the disappearing circle for a moment with a pained look, she turned towards me and motioned for me to give her the dagger back. After she took the dagger, she looked at me seriously and asked:
"How did you know that I also needed to drink your blood for the contract to work? Are you also a magician?"
'Fuck.' Now it occurred to me that I should have not known that. After thinking for a moment before saying.
"There was a friend who liked to collect old books I used to know when I was younger and I just happened to read about it in some book at his place."
[You don't know how to read the common language.] Ai added inside my head.
'I forgot about that. I'll find a way to deal with that later.'
She didn't seem to fully believe my story, but before she continued pressing for more information I interrupted her by bowing and saying:
"My name is Ethan Knott. Thank you for saving my life, miss…"
"Anise Cloven."