"Tsk! Another lowly lizardman,"
Arthur muttered as he shot the summon dead himself.
Initially, Claire had been handling the failed summons, but after four unsuccessful attempts, Arthur's frustration grew to the point that to vent it, he took matters into his own hands.
Quietly, Claire dragged over the last two bodies, placing them just before him without a word.
Arthur frowned, his voice low with frustration. "If this fails, we'll have to hunt down more," he grumbled.
He then casted a weary glance at the hovering blue screen and, with a flick, selected the [Demihuman] option once more. Again the corpse began to glow, the light gradually forming a figure that resembled a hyena standing on two legs.
As the glow faded, Arthur's eyes widened in surprise.
Claire, her face as stoic as ever, offered a small clap. "Congratulations, Master."
It was a gnoll, the very summon Arthur had been hoping for, and proof that his theory had been right.
A smile of excitement crept across his face as he studied the gnoll.
"So, it really worked."
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[ Summon Status ]
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Name: None!
Gender: Male
Race: Gnoll
Racial Classification: Demihuman
Loyalty Status: 🟢 (Fully Loyal)
Note: Loyalty status may shift due to certain effects or external factors.
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[ Attributes ]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Grade: G ★
Path: Martial
Anima: 10 / 50
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[ Special Traits & Talents ]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
None!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ Skills ]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
- Savage strike (Lv: 3)
- Fear inducement: (Lv: 1)
- Enhanced sense (Lv 2)
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"Enhanced senses, perfect!"
Arthur muttered with satisfaction as he observed the gnoll, who stood watching them with thick saliva dripping from his lips.
Without wasting time, Arthur held the blood-stained cloth in front of the gnoll's nose. "Sniff it," he ordered.
The gnoll inhaled deeply, *sniff!!* and let out a low, rumbling growl. Grahhhhhh!! After a few moments, his expression sharpened in focus, an encouraging contrast to the clueless look the goblin had given before.
"Now track it," Arthur commanded.
The gnoll grunted in acknowledgement, Grahhh!! before darting out of the alleyway.
Arthur and Claire followed closely, slipping through corners and alleyways as they moved. They eventually reached a fork in the path, where the gnoll momentarily hesitated, sniffing both routes.
This made Arthur tense for a moment, but soon the gnoll chose the second route and continued again confidently.
'Maybe John went through both paths but settled on this one,' Arthur mused as he followed.
After several more minutes, they arrived at the entrance to a dense forest. "So, this is the forest. Now what?" Arthur asked, but the gnoll, not stopping, rushed ahead, leading them into a winding, diagonal path through the woods.
Finally, they stopped before a small, rundown hut nestled in the forest's depths.
"Found you, John," Arthur muttered, a smirk of amusement forming on his lips. Without taking his eyes off the hut, he ordered, "Claire, bring him out here."
"Yes!" Claire nodded, preparing to move, but before she could, suddenly, the hut's door swung open.
"Bounty hunters, huh?"
A man stepped out, dressed in a worn but formal suit, complete with a tie and glasses. His stance was tense, his hand steady as he levelled a gun at Arthur.
"Your John?" Arthur asked, his gaze steady, unfazed.
John's eyes darted between Arthur and the gnoll, then to Claire, his grip tightening on the gun. "Who sent you? Noel Tech, huh? I should've known they'd send someone eventually. Listen, how much are they paying you? I'll double it,"
"It's not just about money,"
"I can get you connections, too."
Arthur shook his head firmly, his refusal unwavering. John's face twisted with frustration as he was about to press the trigger, but before he could fire, Claire appeared behind him, swift as a shadow, and delivered a precise strike to the back of his head.
And John dropped to the ground, dead.
"Nice work again, Claire," Arthur remarked as he approached the body. He crouched down, eyeing John's suit. "Finally, a decent set of clothes," he muttered, reaching to pull the shirt off.
But before he could—
Grahhhh!!
Arthur looked up, startled. "Now what's his problem?"
The gnoll charged forward with a frenzied growl, grabbing Arthur and throwing him back with incredible force. Sensing something amiss, Claire darted to Arthur's side just as the body exploded, taking the gnoll with it in a blinding blast.
Arthur lay dazed, his eyes wide in shock.
"Motherfucker!" he cursed, pain throbbing through his injured body as he struggled to stand.
"Who the hell did this?"
At that moment, a bullet whizzed toward his head, but just in time, Claire deflected it with a swift, aura-hardened fist.
Making Arthur flinch a little, but just then a figure emerged from the smoke, casually puffing a cigarette and holding a pistol. "That's why summoners are such a pain," the man said with a grin.
Arthur's gaze narrowed. "Who the hell are you?"
The man exhaled a cloud of smoke, unfazed. "I'm John. The real one. That guy was just my colleague."
"Perfect," Arthur said with a bitter smile. He turned to Claire, his voice cold. "Kill him."
Without a moment's hesitation, Claire appeared before John, her Aura-coated fist ready to strike. He staggered backwards, hands raised in surrender. "Whoa! Wait, please, just hear me out!"
Claire paused, glancing at Arthur for approval. After exchanging a brief look with her, Arthur turned his cold gaze to John.
"Trying to buy yourself some time?"
"No, not at all!" John panted, his hands trembling slightly. "Listen, we could work something out. You leave me alive, say the job's done, and I'll give you enough proof to make it believable. You get the bounty, and I disappear quietly, no trouble for anyone."
Arthur stared at him in silence, weighing the words. Finally, he spoke, his voice laced with disdain.
"So, what exactly can you offer? A set of clean clothes, perhaps?"
"Claire, kill him." Arthur's voice was devoid of mercy. Before John could process further, Claire struck, her blow ending his life in a heartbeat.
"Tsk! Now I have to settle for these blood-stained clothes."
He knelt to strip John's body of the suit, not wasting any more time. After a quick change, he straightened the tie, his eyes drifting to Claire, who stood a step away, calm as ever.
A faint smirk crossed Arthur's lips. "Well? How do I look?"
Claire's gaze flicked over him. "You look more presentable now, master."
☘︎☘︎☘︎☘︎☘︎☘︎☘︎☘︎☘︎
{A/N}
So how was the chapter, you like it?
Well, comment regardless.
Peace out!!