Chapter Twelve: The Hatching of the Summoned Beast

I had just plummeted heavily from the sky to the ground when suddenly a massive gray shadow flashed across the heavens. Something crashed down, and with a scream, I spat blood, feeling the weight of the Lizard King stomping down hard on me.

As I had hit the ground, the Lizard King had leaped into the air and then crashed down squarely onto me. My blood and life force instantly dropped by 130 points.

Thousands of pounds pressed relentlessly on my body. Opening its bloody maw, the Lizard King bit down on me, intent on tearing me apart. I screamed and struggled in agony.

Not far away, the Fire Phoenix managed to stand, raised her fiery bow, and loosed arrow after arrow. But the Lizard King was determined to finish me off first, treating her arrows as nothing more than an itch. Clearly, the Fire Phoenix’s attacks couldn’t break its defense.

Half of my body was clenched between its jaws, the other half pinned under its forepaw as it yanked and tore, intent on ripping me in two. Fortunately, as long as I had any life force left, my body would hold together. If this were a real body in the real world, I’d have been reduced to nothing by now.

Still, my life force was plummeting rapidly with every savage pull. Once it hit zero, my death would be inevitable.

“Damn it!” I spat blood, watching as my life force dropped below 200. With all my remaining strength, I struggled beneath the Lizard King, fighting back with desperate howls. Suddenly, its jagged fangs tore away my right arm along with a chunk of my chest muscle.

Blood sprayed everywhere as I howled in agony. The Lizard King’s maw came down again, biting into my waist and tearing upwards, spilling my intestines.

The pain was unbearable—anyone else would have fainted, but I was unable even to lose consciousness.

Despairing, I let out a roar. Every ounce of my remaining strength exploded outward, and from my chest burst a surge of blue light. The suddenness startled the Lizard King, making it reflexively lift its head and retreat several steps.

“Ding~! Summoned beast hatch complete. Summoning permitted.”

I felt a power that had long slumbered deep inside me finally awaken. I roared, “Come forth, summoned beast! I call you in the name of the Summoner!” Through my pain, I howled. A strange, half-meter-tall egg appeared, covered in fine cracks, as if it were about to hatch.

The Lizard King howled at the egg. Seeing no reaction, it lunged, jaws wide, and bit into the egg.

A crisp cracking sound rang out. The fine cracks deepened into fissures. The Lizard King’s bite had accelerated the birth of whatever creature slumbered within.

I heard the crack and, despite my suffering, looked up. At long last, my summoned beast was about to be born.

What would it be? My heart surged with anticipation, almost enough to make me forget the pain.

The Lizard King sensed something was wrong. Just as it tried to spit out the egg, shards of shell burst outward, and from within rose a swirl of black light.

The black light erupted from the Lizard King’s gaping maw in a blast of unimaginable energy, instantly blasting its jaws into a pulp like a smashed watermelon.

It howled in agony, blood spraying as it staggered back, its crocodile-like snout completely destroyed, leaving it wailing in pain.

In that instant, thousands of points of its health were wiped out, and its life bar was nearly depleted.

I was down an arm, my legs nearly crippled, unable even to move, with no strength left to fight the still-living Lizard King. My only hope now lay with my newly born summoned beast.

As the black light faded, I saw a small, black-furred animal, about the size of a cat, crawl out. It barked at me, wagging its tail as it trotted to my side, licking my wounds and whining with a look of dependence.

At the same time, its attributes popped up:

Name: Little Black Dog
Type: Animal
Race: Beast (corrected to animal-type, not special-type)
Quality: Advanced
Evolvable: Yes
Life: 50 points
Attack: 1 point
Defense: 1 point
Skills: Care, Bark, Howl
Description: Little Black Dog is a cute creature. Born with the Care skill, it can soothe its master’s wounds with its saliva. Bark and Howl can intimidate enemies when encountered.

I stared dumbfounded at the little black dog, no bigger than a cat, speechless. Scare off enemies with a bark? Seriously? With that tiny body, who could it possibly scare? It was practically useless—only one point each in attack and defense.

Frustrated, I watched as the little black dog fetched my severed arm, placed it at my shoulder, and began licking the wound. A faint white glow appeared as it started to mend the injury, though the healing was agonizingly slow.

As I was stewing in my despair, a thunderous crash rang out.

Startled, I looked up to see that the sound came from the Lizard King’s massive body collapsing, its mouth destroyed.

The Fire Phoenix, still standing, loosed arrow after arrow into the Lizard King. Already mortally wounded, it finally toppled over after a minute, crashing to the ground with a resounding boom.

The Lizard King was finally dead. The Fire Phoenix slumped to the ground, utterly exhausted.

Though the Lizard King’s mouth had been blown apart and its health nearly gone, I was unable to move, and the black dog was useless in combat. The Fire Phoenix had been the one to finish it off, shooting arrow after arrow until it was dead. Now, drenched in cold sweat, she sat on the ground, spent.

When the Lizard King fell, it dropped a dazzling trove of loot: three or four pieces of equipment and a pile of potions and coins. With its death, we gained a huge amount of experience. I instantly leveled up twice, and the system notified me that the little black dog also gained experience. My injuries healed completely as I leveled, and I sprang to my feet, watching as Fire Phoenix joyfully gathered up equipment and coins.

Fire Phoenix came over and said, “Let’s see what we got.” She shared the equipment stats.

Scaly Light Armor
Quality: Pure White
Defense +20
Required Level: 10

I didn’t want it. Even though it was much better than my Wolfbone Armor, I already had a total of 50 defense points. Fire Phoenix didn’t have as much, so I gave it to her.

Crimson Flame Gauntlets
Quality: Pure White
Defense +16
Required Level: 15

Lizard Scale Boots
Quality: Pale Blue
Defense +22
Strength Mastery +4
Required Level: 15

Blue-grade boots, decent but no match for my purple Ninja Tabi.

Lastly, there was a pair of knuckle dusters.

Bronze Knuckle
Quality: Crimson Red
Attack +100
Strength Mastery +1
3% chance to knock back opponent and deal an extra 10 damage per attack
Required Level: 15

There was also a book: [EMP Shock Attack] (Skill Book): Gather magical energy from the air to unleash an electromagnetic pulse. On hit, drains at least 100, up to all, of the target’s mana. Against bosses, the mana isn’t completely drained. Hitting invisible units reveals them temporarily. Required Level: 25. Usable by all classes.

This… this skill is ridiculously powerful. If it hits someone, they’re doomed. If it lands on a mage and drains all their mana, that mage is as good as dead—no mana means they’re just target practice.

I said, “I’ll take the knuckle dusters and the skill book. The rest is yours, okay?”

Fire Phoenix replied, “Sure, most of the boss was your doing—I just got lucky at the end. I picked up a pile of coins, too, so I’m already coming out ahead.”

After chatting for a bit, we continued forward.

I led the way, with Fire Phoenix following, bow at the ready. In fact, it was safer to lead from the front—the monsters ahead were easier to spot, while a sneak attack from behind could be fatal. Luckily, if danger approached from the rear, my little black dog would alert us.

A man, a woman, and a dog—after walking for only a short while, we soon sensed trouble ahead.