Chapter 11 - Forest Battle and Rescue

The wind whipped through my hair as my Rathalos flew through the sky. I had ordered him to fly just over half of his maximum speed which was still really fast and It had been a bit jarring and frightening at first, but I quickly realized that Rathalos really were experts flyers. Flying was really freeing and I knew that could easily get addicted to the feeling. Leone for her part had laughed and whooped in joy for a full 5 minutes after we had taken off. I honestly hadn't expected her to enjoy flying so much, but the look on her face made me happy I had let her. We had left behind the wide-open grassy plains and were now flying over a large forest. I wasn't able to see much from our altitude, but I did occasionally spot a bit of wildlife.

"I think we should name him," Leone said over the sound of the wind. "I think Rathalos is a bit of mouthful."

My gaze left the forest and I considered that for a second. I hadn't named Gible because the chances of getting another Gible were extremely low, and the same logic could be applied to Rathalos, but there isn't really any harm in naming him, I guess.

"Sure," I replied. "We can name him, but it has to be short and simple. I don't want to give him a long or exaggerated name."

"Ok," she said cheerfully, rubbing her chin. "How about Rath. It's short for Rathalos and its simple. It's not exactly unique or creative, but I think its a good name."

Rath. It wasn't a bad name but wasn't it a bit too simple? In any case, I should probably ask Rathalos. I leaned closer to his head, "What do you think boy, you like the name, Rath?" Rath let out an approving roar.

"Well that's that then," I said. "From now on he is Rath." Things went back to silence after that and my thoughts were on my summons. Things had been going well so far and all my summons were strong and useful in one way or another. All my summons had fighting capabilities and I hoped that all my future summons did, but I knew it was only a matter of time until I got my first non-combatant. It wouldn't be a bad thing, and their immediate usefulness would depend on who I got. That got me thinking about secretaries, and how cool it would be to have one. Another thing I had thought a lot about was the morality of my summons. All my current summons could technically be considered good guys or non-bad guys, but I knew eventually I'd get a villain or an evil character. I wasn't really worried about that because all my summons were completely loyal to me, and would do anything I said, but It was still odd to think about. Although nowadays all my thoughts could be considered odd. Me, someone who completed a quiz and was sent to a fantasy world. I held back the urge to laugh. It sounded completely ridiculous when I thought about it, but here I was... living it. I still thought about if it was really random or not. That damn questionnaire. I mean it had been sent to my email, but perhaps other people got the same email and were experiencing the same thing I was, but in other worlds. And if it wasn't random then why me? I'm no one special?

I was broken out of my self-deprecating thoughts when I felt Leone's grip on my sides tighten a bit and I curiously looked back at her.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" She asked in a serious voice.

"What sort of personal question?" I replied, feeling slightly confused.

"I just," she said and hesitated. "Are you ok?"

"Ok?" I replied in a confused voice. Where had this come from?

"I just want you to know that I'm here if you wanna talk and that you don't have to hide anything from me. It's ok to let it out," she said in a gentle voice and she had a concerned look on her face. Seeing the usually cheerful and upbeat Leone act like this was very odd and disconcerting. Why was she asking me this? and why now of all times?

"Leone, why are you asking me this?" I said, raising a questioning eyebrow at her.

"Because I think your hiding and bottling up something you shouldn't," she answered. Hiding? what was she talking about? And what could I possibly be bottling up? I went to reply but was stopped as I heard the sound of distant rumbling and I turned to see dark clouds in this distance. That wasn't good. If it ended up turning into a storm we might have to land and find a place to wait it out.

"I think it might rain soon," I said, turning back to Leone. "And what do think I'm bottling up exactly?" I was flattered and happy that she cared about me, but I had no idea what she thought was wrong.

She opened her mouth but was cut off as Rath let out a loud roar. We both looked and saw Rath lower his altitude slightly and turn his head to the ground. We followed his gaze and saw a group of figures in this distance next to what looked like a cave opening. That wasn't what attracted most of my attention though. They were surrounded by four-legged creatures and were slowly being herded to the mouth of the cave. There looked to be about 2 dozens of the creatures and I couldn't pick much detail from this distance.

"Should we help them?" asked Leone, and I could see an annoyed look on her face, probably at being interrupted.

"I think so," I replied. The cave looked big enough to stay in and a great place to rest if it started raining. Me and summons also had a chance to level up when we killed the creatures and even if we didn't I wasn't one to simply leave people in need when I could clearly help them.

"Ok, I've decided we'll help them," I said and sent a mental command to Rath. Rath let out a roar and me and Leone held on tight as Rath increased his speed and dived down. Leone let out a shout of joy as we neared the figures and I couldn't stop the smile that spread across my face, flying really was fun as hell. As we got closer I couldn't help but think back to a similar situation that had taken place a few days ago when I saved Lory and Lemma. I shook the pointless thought away and focused back on our approach.

Rath let out a loud roar and spread his wings out to land, and the heads of the creatures and people snapped to us. I didn't have time to examine them or take in the looks of shock on their faces, as one of the four-legged creatures immediately charged Rath. The creature looked like a cross between a badger and a wolf, its coat of fur was black and grey and it sported large claws and sharp teeth. Spittel flew out of the mouth of the charging creature and the spiked bristles on its back started shaking, making a sound similar to a rattlesnakes tail. I simultaneously let my summons out and gave them the command to attack, as Rath opened his mouth and shot a great fireball at the creature. The fireball struck the creature and its pained howl echoed throughout the forest.

My other summons had started to engage the other creatures and there were clashes happening all over. As I watched, two machetes appeared in Zombiemans hands and he started tearing through the creatures. He was struck through the chest and one of the creatures tore an arm from him, but none of it slowed him down and a moment later he was back to full health and shoving his blades into heads and stomachs. Bloody viscera and guts flew as he was torn apart and clawed, but he just took it in stride and quickly regenerated. At one point one of the creatures latched onto his right arm, and instead of trying to get the creature off he used his other machete and chopped off his arm. It grew back a moment later, but this time with a Desert Eagle in hand. The beast didn't even have time to scream before its head was blown off, and I was shocked at the sheer brutality of Zombieman and happiness at knowing he was my summon. I did feel like vomiting a bit, but I was slowly getting used to it.

Leone had activated her teigu and was fighting back to back with Lilah, who was swiftly cutting the creatures down. Her blade cut threw the air and sliced off an attacking creature's limb and when it struck with its other in retaliation, it was met with a transparent dark red shield that was coming from Lilah's left palm. The creature looked confused and Lilah used that moment of distraction to stab her blade into its head. Leone was tearing into one of the beasts and I felt a pang of worry as I noticed some claw marks and bleeding on her, but it went away when I realised they were mostly superficial and I knew for a fact that she could regenerate.

I moved my focus from them and onto Domino and let out a laugh at what I saw. The creatures couldn't even touch her and kept crashing into one another. I watched her gun down one of the creatures and she moved to the left just in time for two of beasts, that had jumped at her, to hit one another. Another one the creatures attempted to sneak up on her, but there was a sudden creak and a moment later a nearby tree fell atop it. She spotted me looking and sent me a wave and a wink.

"Gible!" My head snapped to the sound of my pokemon just in time to see it use dig and burrow into the ground to escape one of the beasts. The creature was to busy looking at the hole to see Gible shoot out of the ground from behind it. My eyes widen slightly as Gible right hand turned a metallic hue and struck the beasts back. I heard the sound of cracking bone and the creature roared in pain and looked back, but not quick enough, as Gible had already used dig again. I watched as Gible appeared from the ground and used metal claw to beat the beast. I knew Gible's didn't learn metal claw and could only get it as an egg move, so the system must have given to him or its move set was slightly randomized.

"There's only a few left!" shouted a voice to my left and I looked to see that my summons weren't the only ones fighting. The group who had been surrounded had weapon's brandished and were coordinating with each other to kill the beasts around them. One of them, A brown-haired girl shot football-sized fireballs from her palms and next to her a bronze haired boy was shooting blue transparent beams from a wooden staff. In front of them, they were being protected by a warrior covered in bulky leather and chainmail armour with a wooden tower shield in one hand and a long mallet in the other. Behind them, two others, a woman and man, wielding longswords fought back to back and the last of them was atop the branches of a nearby tree firing arrows upon the creatures. Alone they might not have been as strong as one of my summons, but together they were quickly killing the beasts around them.

The fight continued for a minute more after that and Rath killed another by swinging its tail and crushing the attacker. I got of Rath when they were no more of the beasts left and my summons returned to my side with victorious smiles on there faces. I returned their smiles as I read through the notifications that had come in during the battle.

[Congratulations! Lilah has Leveled up! Lilah is now Level 2]

[Congratulations! Leone has Leveled up! Leone is now Level 2]

[Congratulations! Gible has Leveled up! Gible is now Level 2]

[Congratulations! Domino has Leveled up! Domino is now Level 2]

[Congratulations! You have earned your first title]

[Unexcpected Helper: You will receive 15% more experience when saving somebody]

[Reward: Summoning Token]

I was a bit unhappy that Zombieman and Rathalos hadn't leveled up, but I knew they were relatively new and that the stronger the summon the longer it takes for them to level up. The title wasn't as helpful as I hoped it be, but it was better than nothing and I had gotten another summoning token, which was always a good thing. I was also surprised that I hadn't leveled up, but I guessed that I must be close.

"Great job guys," I said genuinely. "That was pretty amazing."

"It was a nice exercise," replied Zombieman as he took a cigarette and lit it. He must have gotten from his inventory, but was cigarettes considered as a form of ammunition for him? I mentally laughed at the thought and turned to Gible, "That was nice work Gible," I praised and he jumped up and down in agreement.

"Gible!"

"You gonna be ok girl?" asked Domino as she looked at Leone with a slightly concerned look.

"I'll be fine. It'll heal by itself," she answered and sent a grateful smile at Domino who smiled back. It seemed that the two were getting along and I was happy for them. I preferred it if my summons got along with each other as it made things easier for everyone.

"What was the red thing you did, Lilah?" asked Leone. "It looked odd, but not in a bad." I went to speak and tell her about a Darkwraiths dark hand, but the sound of someone clearing their throat turned my attention away from my summons. We all turned at the same time to see the group of people we had saved awkwardly standing and looking at us. Oh, we had completely forgotten about them. The person in the bulky armor stepped forward and reached up to take his helmet off. A moment later his face came into view.