8 The Summoned Vs. The Repeater! (Part 1)

Annastasia POV

The usual jovial mood of the group flips as they leave the safety of the castle walls, a few nervous ticks appearing on some of the students such as fidgeting and eye twitching, some even murmur to themselves in order to calm their rapidly beating hearts. Although they are relatively new to our world, the fifteen summoned heroes have gone through several life and death battles over the past four months, helping them reach an average level of 50 in their group of fighters; enough to be enlisted as a Beginner knight in a well-off kingdom.

Seeing as their rate of growth is stable, the main purpose for this excursion—other than searching for leads for their missing classmate—is to promote the strength and morality of our kingdoms summoned heroes. By completing tasks ranging from helping exterminate magical beasts troubling a village all the way to hunting down roadside bandits, from these small requests we not only gain reputation but also give these greenhorns experience.

Soon they'll hit their first Class selection at level 60. Hopefully, by then, some of their talents for magic awaken so we can finally get some magicians into their party of 15. So far we have Seven melee classes led by the one with dyed blond hair, Dean. The quiet boy named Edgar leads the five long-range fighters, some specializing in bows the others specialize in the dwarven made rifles, and the three remaining students don't have any talents that stand out but are good at covering what their teammates lack; a jack of all trades sort of group. The three-man squad is led by the entire group's leading figure, their class representative called Kyung-Mi, she's called a few nicknames by those close to her though she prefers being called class rep, or simply captain.

For the past two days, we've stayed in this small village waiting for the local bandits to collect their 'protection fees'. The village chief asked for our help as we were passing by and the class rep happily agreed. Just as we were about to change shifts for the perimeter patrol the signal for incoming bandits rang out, a knight positioned near the exit of the forest holding a gong kept repeatedly hitting it to alarm us of the incoming trouble as he ran back to safety behind the village walls.

As everyone gets into position, the bandit group slowly comes into view. All riding sturdy looking horses, most of the bandits wear the typical bandit attire: dirty, damaged, and made of animal hide. There is only one exception; she seems to be wearing unusual scale armor, her fiery red hair is tied to a ponytail as she rides towards the village, and she rides with a confident grin plastered on her face.

As soon as they passed the open village gates, we all went into action. Wooden spikes suddenly rose from the ground in front of them, halting the charge of their horses as the melee fighter squad along with the knights quickly surrounded every possible escape route. The archers and riflemen, on the other hand, prepared to fire in case the bandits didn't follow their instructions.

As the de facto leader of the operation, I quickly hop down from a nearby tree, staff in hand as I prepare a spell—aimed at the bandit leader.

"Lay down your weapons and surrender!"

The red-haired bandit leader quickly dismounts her horse, whilst skillfully drawing her blade as she lands on the forest floor.

"And what's a child doing here..?" She pauses. "Not a child? A repeater maybe?"

Repeater... that's a phrase summoned use to call my kind... maybe she's...? Her words put me on high alert as I signal the others to prepare for battle; only to be interrupted by the female bandit leader.

"Don't even try it, kid. You've barely settled in that body and you already want to fight someone like me? Hah," with a short chuckle, a thin layer of mana quickly covers her entire body as she casts a support type spell.

"Buff: Warsong!"

The chant is too short for me to interrupt. An equally thin layer of mana covers her bandit allies and boosts their abilities to fall well above those of someone of their level.

Since I couldn't interrupt her chant, I decide to attack instead; casting my own spell towards their group to signal the attack.

"Arcana: Fireball II"

As I finish casting my spell a volleyball-sized fireball quickly flew towards the redhead bandit, the students and knights engaging with the rest of the bandits. It seems that I'm left with a 1 on 1 on my hands...

"Buff: Iron Skin II"

With another glimmer of light covering her body, she further strengthened herself before dashing towards me, sword raised upwards prepared to strike me down.

I quickly cast my own buff magic to strengthen my relatively weak, childish, body.

"Buff: Ogre Strength I"

With a quick coating of mana around my body, my strength was enough to parry her attack, raising my staff to deflect her incoming swing. After taking a step back from the clash I'd twirl my staff around before holding it with both hands, pointing it towards the red-haired bandit.

"A Warmage huh..? That's rare" She'd say with a smirk before charging forward once more, casting a quick spell as she drew closer.

"Martial Move: Illusionary Strike!"

Her horizontal swing quickly split up into three different attacks, coming from above, as well as both my sides. I quickly hold onto one of the rings on my fingers, a flash of light coming from the ring before a circular layer of mana surrounded my body, receiving the attack for me similar to a magical shield.

The pain caused by the collision seemed to be enough for the female bandit to quickly back away, giving me enough room to prepare for my next spell.

Her previous cocky demeanor seems to have disappeared as she took on a more serious stance, her free hand doing a few magical gestures before a bright magic circle appeared above it, forming a glowing magical roundshield covered in magical inscriptions.

"Enough games child. Either you step down, and leave this place now or I kill you and your little group of greenhorns"

I simply stared at her in silence as I formed spell structures in my head. My eyes darting about, taking greater precaution so that nothing unexpected like her previous attack would happen again.

"So be it."

With these last remarks, the glowing magical shield suddenly glowed even stronger, several streaks of light coming out of the round shield and hitting the bandits she was with. With a few pained groans, you could see the bandits rapidly age and turn into mummified corpses. This sudden turn of events shocked not only me but the students as well, not only does this woman have levels in warrior, she also has levels in a support class as well as dark magic!

"This is the last time you underestimate a summoned, you brat!" (Bandit leader)