CHAPTER 4: POWER OF A SUMMONER AND HIS FAMILIARS

Lucas looked around him, everyone was frozen stiff with fear. They had just witnessed a complete one-sided obliteration at the hands of the Boar King.

The hope he had inspired was lost again.

As he was focusing he saw the others logging out including Darkstar and his group leaving Lucas and a few others.

He hummed to himself.

It seems like many were afraid of losing their barely significant progress.

A chuckle escaped his lips as the thought of logging out crossed his mind; run away from the first adversity he witnesses, that's what he thought.

"Yok, Ryuk, Ryuji come here. We are going down fighting."

His familiars nodded and got to his side as they prepared to fight the Boar king again. This time he had to make it count because if he couldn't, he risked getting his progress reset.

"Sorry! Can I help?"

A soft voice caught his attention prompting Lucas to turn around and look at the person.

She stood behind him, her blond hair covering a portion of her face leaving her eye. She wore a black cloak that was buttoned up to her neck, making her attire hidden. She had a pair of striking emerald eyes, that stared at him.

"And you are?" Lucas raised an eye questioningly.

"I'm a support, I can recover your familiars HP for you and I know some basic spells. My name is Iris." Iris said now at Lucas's side.

Lucas nodded acknowledging the woman beside him. A support was what he needed, for prolonged fights even if the progress of defeating the Boar king was going to be difficult.

"I'm Shikigami."

"Ryuji, Yok it's time."

The two familiars nodded and positioned themselves before Lucas and Iris.

[Yok regained 6,800 HP]

[Yok gained 50% attack power]

[Ryuk gained 50% attack power]

[Ryuji gained 50% attack power]

Lucas looked at Iris and smiled as he saw the buffs the woman was providing his familiars.

"Ryuji Earth control"

"Yok prepare to pounce."

The Yok howled in agreement and started running across the floor heading to the Boar king.

The Boar seeing the approaching threat swung its Cleaver in an attempt to deter Yok but to its shock, the cloud from Ryuk blocked its hand stopping it from moving again.

"Good job Ryuk. Now Ryuji!"

Ryuji hearing her master's command nodded and her eyes glowed the same pigment like earlier and the ground started to peel away; the tiles became sharp projectiles that bombarded the Boar king while Yok sent slash after slash leaving claw marks on the Boar.

[Boar King lost 3,000 HP]

[Boar King lost 3,000 HP]

[Boar King lost 2,000 HP]

With less than 10,000 HP left, the Boar King smashed the cleaves on the ground sending a shockwave that destroyed most of the pillars in the room blasting Lucas and the others away including Yok and Ryuji.

Its eyes glowed crimson as it started to roar rather loudly; with its body stationary due to the low HP and the ability it had it making it unable to move anymore.

Lucas looked at Iris. "Can you hold the buff Area?"

Iris nodded and her green aura covered Lucas and his familiars.

With the buff in place, Lucas felt strong he looked at his hands and grinned.

He got off his cloud and held the Umbrella tightly, he did not know what he could do with the Umbrella but he was willing to try in order for everyone with him to survive.

Surviving the first floor and progressing that's what mattered.

"Ryuk create a thundercloud and constant focus on the beast to restrict its movement. Ryuji cover it with earth to conduct the electricity and then burn it. Yok be prepared." He commanded his familiars as he got on Yok's back.

Roaring as usual in agreement, the three familiars and their summoner along with the support began their counteractive measure.

Ryuk inhaled and blew out a humongous cloud that was obsidian in pigment. The cloud surrounded the Boar King, obscuring his vision. As it was paying attention to the cloud, a follow-up to the cloud cover followed as lightning struck the Boar.

[Boar King lost 1,500 HP]

[Temporal paralysis induced]

Seeing this, Lucas nodded and whistled slightly for Yok to start moving.

Yok howled and ran across the floor, he sank his teeth into the Boar tugging on its skin inflicting damage to it which was increasing from Yok's incredible bite force.

[Boar King Lost 1,500 HP]

[Critical strike]

[Boar King Lost 1,500 HP]

[Boar King Immobilized]

"Here goes nothing!" Lucas said to himself as he placed the Umbrella on the snout of the Boar. From the tip of the Umbrella, a blue flame exploded burning the Boar's face, breaking one of its tusks from the explosive force.

[Boar King Lost 1,500HP]

[Boar King immobilization wore off]

The Boar king roared getting its mobility back and swung its hand pushing away Yok and Lucas as it roared in pain from the attacks Yok and Lucas dealt to it.

[You lost 2,500 HP]

[Yok Lost 3,400 HP]

Lucas gritted his teeth trying to numb the pain from being hit by the shockwave and the Boar's muscles. He had to end the fight before any more players could perish in the fight.

"Ryuji now!"

Ryuji nodded and her body started to shine unlike earlier when only her eyes glowed. The tiles began to levitate and stick to the Boar and they continued to pile on the Boar creating a mausoleum around it. Inside the mausoleum, the fire ignited and with a huge blast. The whole thing condensed on itself before exploding violently sending shockwaves and debris everywhere.

[Boar King lost 23,000HP]

[Boar King defeated]

[Ryuk gained 14,000 EXP]

[Ryuji gained 15,000 EXP]

[Yok gained 15,000 EXP]

[You gained 30,000 EXP]

Lucas huffed and sat down watching the debris settled down.

[Boar King available to be tamed Yes / No]

He clicked on the yes and watched as another status window opened.

[Boar King Yokai - Unaccessible to be summoned]

Lucas understood why, he just relaxed and laid on the floor huffing and puffing; his heartbeat dropping to normal levels, he looked at his stomach and winced seeing the bruise from the attack.

Everyone present could not believe their eyes, just with three summonings, and a support, a summoner could perform such a feat.

Iris dropped the healing and stumbled toward Lucas who was unmoving, worry written on her face. She thought he had died in the aftermath of the blast.

"Are you OK, Shikigami?"

Lucas opened his eyes and looked at the girl above him, OK? He was more than ok. He was happy, he nodded and balanced himself on Yok as he got to his feet.

"Yup I'm OK, thank you for the buffs and heal."

"It's my pleasu—"

Iris and Lucas turned to look at the skeleton which had its eyes radiantly glowing. The all-familiar game administrator, the Shadow King's colossal body appeared.

[CONGRATULATIONS SHIKIGAMI ON CLEARING THE FIRST FLOOR.]

a status window appeared just as the game administrator said his opening words.

[Sub class unlocked]

[Mage subclass]

[Mastery:-]

[Rewards for clearing the first floor]

[Hysteria secret scroll x1]

[Tusk of the Boar King x1]

[Necklace of mana x1]

[Lightning thread scroll x1]

[Healing stone x2]

[Sapphires x500]

[Diamonds x350]

[Ruby x600]

[14,600 gold]

[Special privilege: a meeting with the administrators]

Lucas looked at the status window briefly then returned his attention to the game administrator before them.

"Why did we have to face a high-level boss on the first floor!?"

Shadow King chuckled, the boy was perceptive. He looked underneath the underneath it would seem. Seeing as he was the victor in the floor change, humoring him was the least he could do.

[TO WEED OUT THE COMPETITION]

Weed out the competition? It did not make sense, what competition if it was just a game?

Everyone including Lucas was confused.

[AS PER MY WORDS, SHIKIGAMI YOU ARE GRANTED THE PRIVILEGE OF HOSTING A SUMMIT WITH THE ADMINISTRATORS. YOU'LL KNOW WHAT TO DO, UNTIL THEN!!]

The skeleton's eyes dimmed as the Shadow King vanished.

Lucas looked at the 20 remaining players and shook his head. They barely did anything to help, and he was the one with the weakest class.

Ironic.

"Return," He said to his familiars and they all dispersed into particles that returned to his umbrella.

He slowly made his way to the exit, to go to another floor when something tugged on the sleeve of his blazer.

Lucas turned around and looked at Iris who was holding his blazer with a raised eyebrow. "Is something wrong?"

Iris looked at her feet. She had impulsively reached out to the man before her without a concrete idea of what she was going to say to him after. She felt dumb for that gesture alone and swallowed her nervousness.

"Do you... Do you mind if I travel with you?"

Lucas narrowed his eyes; the earlier event with Darkstar and his team made him question the legitimacy of anyone in the game. But from how she was talking, deep down Lucas had a hunch that she was not like the others.

"Ok," he replied briefly.

The nervous look washed away from Iris's face, replaced by a beaming smile. Her eyes twinkled with a familiar gleam and she picked up her pace to walk alongside Lucas who was already walking ahead.

"Shikigami, is it OK if I call you Shiki?"

Lucas looked at the woman beside him and shrugged. She had the freedom to call him anything she wanted.

"Sure thing."

"Great! How are you so strong for a summoner? Your summoning wasn't the usual summonings."

"Before I came here, I fought a couple of wolves. It made my leveling up better."

"That's awesome."

The small talk ended and the duo walked in silence.

They reached the door leading to the second floor. They were greeted by another sight to behold.

The town before them was one built like medieval times, with carriages, and lamps lining the streets and the NPCS flooded the town's square.

"This is the town of fortune, it's so pretty," Iris said, her eyes and mouth wide open.

Lucas looked around, he had time before the next tower opens as the others had to make it there for the tower to officially open.

His eyes landed on a magic shop and he made his way to it; Iris followed behind him having seen him walk away.

"Is there anything specific you are looking for here? Perhaps a summoner's guide?"

Lucas shook his head negatively, he was not there for a summoner's guide. He was there for the mage guide since he had a subclass under his main class of being a summoner. Learning magical spells would prove good for him because he could support his familiars instead of allowing them to do all the work.

He opened the door and was greeted by a fresh scent of potions and elixirs being brewed in the shop.

"Welcome to Harvest Magic Shop," The NPC behind the counter said welcoming Iris and Lucas just as they entered.

Lucas surveyed the potions before making his way to the counter. "Do you have a magical scroll for lightning?"

The NPC turned his back on Lucas and Iris. He pillaged the shelf behind him for a brief moment.

Turning around the NPC had a scroll in his hand, the scroll had a lightning-shaped ribbon holding it shut. "That would be 5,000 gold pieces"

Lucas nodded and opened his inventory, the gold he gained from the first-floor reward manifested in his hand and he placed it on the table.

His other hand retrieved the scroll, and it disappeared into particles immediately after he held it successfully indicating that the scroll was in his inventory.

He looked at Iris who was silent. "Is there something you want?"

Iris snapped out of her daze and looked at Lucas. She sheepishly smiled and shook her head.

"Well here, I'm sure you got the rewards for helping me but as a token of my gratitude you helping me." Lucas extended his hand and 100 rubies fell on his extended palm.

Iris' eyes widened seeing the rubies. "I can't!"

"Take them!"

Seeing it was futile to sway Lucas, Iris took the rubies and murmured a thank you.

"I have to log out. You can add me so that we can go level up together"

"Alright, take care Shiki!"

"You too."