[Temporary Summon: Over]
'It's already gone…? I only swung it three times!' He thought.
A disheartening development in the heat of battle, however, the man who had become accustomed to misfortune his entire life was able to find the silver lining.
'No–this is fine! That big brute is half-dead! It seems the shock waves really did a number on him…He's not even trying to rush me now; he's keeping his distance and being cautious. I can do this…Let's give this a shot!' He decided.
Once more, he drew copper from his pocket, which the orc seemed to now recognize as a dangerous action taken by his human foe.
It rushed him with speed that caught him off-guard for its wounded state, though it seemed to be hurting itself as blood squirted from its bludgeoned wounds.
'It was waiting for me to do this–?!' He realized.
He was only able to jump back right at the last second, evading the majority of the bloodied orc's wild swing, though he wasn't completely home free: it dragged across his chest, leaving a length evisceration that ripped through his jacket and shirt below.
"Agh!"
Knocked back and rolling across the ground, he winced as crimson fluid dripped from the open wound on his chest. It wasn't pretty; the gash on his chest filled with a troubling warmth as he could hear a puddle forming beneath him.
'This is bad. This is bad. This is bad!' He panicked.
As much as he wanted to lay there as his body was overcome with pain, he was forced to roll to the side at the last second as the orc stomped down, attempting to crush his skull.
"Ngh–!"
Picking himself up to his feet, he stumbled backward, finding himself accidentally falling onto the grotesque throne of bones that sat at the end of the chamber.
He considered using [Lesser Bolt], but in the state his body was in, and the chance that it would likely fail to be what puts the orc down, it was a surefire route to death. The frosted dagger was an option, though the effective range of it was also practically a guaranteed route to the afterlife when considering his opponent.
This led to only one choice.
"One more temporary summon…This time, give me a familiar!" He yelled out.
[Temporary Summon Initiated!]
–At that moment, something spectacular happened.
A stroke of luck that straddled the line of possibility and impossibility; an occurrence that seemed more like a glitch in the system than a natural occurrence.
Manifesting with an intense throttle of vibrations, a pillar of darkness intercepted the ruthless orc's path to him; it produced continuous tremors through the cavern, only vanishing before all of the torches in the cavern were snuffed out in an instant.
Standing there was a figure dressed in pitch-black armor, wearing a hood that hid all features behind shadows with a slowly swaying, sable cape descending from its shoulders. In one hand, the ominous figure wielded a sword that appeared to be darkness itself personified into a weapon.
[New Familiar Temporarily Obtained! | (LR) He Who Brings Death | Special Traits: Death.]
[ATK: 9999 | DEF: 9999 | MAG: 9999]
For the man who was one stuck in a life of misfortune, what he achieved was nothing short of hitting a life-changing lottery; a roll of the dice that was simply inconceivable.
"What…?" He finally managed to speak in a whisper, clinging to the throne of bones.
'Something like this? I summoned something like that…?' He questioned.
Even though it was an entity he summoned as his own familiar, the aura of dread it emitted naturally caused him to stay seated, only watching as his blood ran cold in his veins.
All the nebulous [LR] ranking entity did was slowly raise its shadow-forged blade, pointing it in the direction of the orc before the brute collapsed onto its knees, dropping both of its war-axes.
"Huh…?" Jett witnessed.
In that moment, only being on the receiving end of He Who Brings Death's gaze, all life seemed to be siphoned from the Blood Orc's body; its muscle mass withered away, all complexion turning gray before its flesh turned to ash, leaving nothing but a pile of bones to fall over.
[EXP: +30]
[Level Up!]
[Level 4] [8/80]
Just like that, the all-black, silent warrior turned to him, kneeling down before disappearing into the shadows. At the same time the mysterious summon left, the small flames reemerged on the wall-hung torches, returning light to the cavern.
[Temporary Summon: Over]
"An 'LR'...What're the chances of that? I thought I could only summon rare-class results at my level…?" He questioned, picking himself up from his seat.
[ANSWER: An [LR] (Legendary Rare) is an exception to rules. [LR] rank summons are only able to be achieved through [Temporary Summon] with a chance of: 0.01%.]
A one-in-ten-thousand occurrence; that's what he was told. As unbelievable as it was, after the lingering fear left by the terrifying familiar was gone, he found himself thankful for it.
'It certainly saved my ass…I shouldn't expect that to happen again anytime soon though,' he thought.
As the orc was finished, he moved closer to the blockade, which had been heavily damaged by the shock wave and the heavy orc having been slammed into it previously.
"I dealt with it! Let's knock this down!" He called out.
From the other side, the deep, but cheery tone of the booze-drinking warrior responded, "You won?! Ga-ha-ha! That's my Master!"
"Indeed. Good job, Master," Edith added.
Working together from both sides, they managed to knock a hole into the sturdy, stone blockade, reuniting as Jett found a bundle of goblin corpses from his familiars' handywork. After the battle ended, the adrenaline in his body vanished, leaving the pain of the gash on his chest to soar before Edith diligently used her healing miracle on him.
Though the silver-haired spellblade's recovery was limited, leaving him with a temporary scar etched across his torso.
'Huh…I didn't see any EXP pop up from these kills. I wonder…is it proximity based? Or do repeated killings of the same creatures from my own familiars wear off? I'll worry about this later for now–I just want out of here,' he decided.
Leaving Northborrow cave completely cleared of the pointy-eared pests, he led the way back into town. After some debate, it was decided who won their competition:
'Of course she did,' Jett thought.
'It ain't fair,' Gunter thought.
The silver-haired girl had a small, pink tint to her cheeks with a smug smile as she finished with a goblin tally of seventeen.
"Baked goods…Pie, sweet bread…" Edith imagined, almost drooling.
First stop before the bakery, however, was the Merdlum Guild; if there was one thing the exhausted man could move forward for, it was sweet, sweet copper and recognition. It wasn't a long walk, though the sun had already begun setting as they returned to the small town of beginnings.