– Fwaaaaaargh─
The Drake’s mouth exhaled black smoke, enhancing its dark appearance, and the creature, moving on all fours, cautiously crawled towards Yeon-hee, soon lowering its head to the ground.
‘Is that a gesture of submission?’
With the dubious adjective ‘corrupted’ attached, I worried it might not listen to Yeon-hee’s commands, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
“Wow… Can I touch you?”
“······.”
‘What a quiet guy.’
Except for when she summoned Zombies 1 and 2, Yeon-hee had always approached her summoned creatures first, yet she couldn’t easily get close to this one, needing to ask for consent instead.
‘It’s on the smaller side for a Drake, but is it still a jackpot?’
Of course, I had to see its abilities, but just the overwhelming presence it emitted was already half the battle won.
I was also glad to see the Orcs behind it watching with caution.
Yeon-hee carefully brought her hand to the creature’s face, and the moment she touched it, the Drake shuddered slightly but quickly adapted to her touch.
Its tail swaying back and forth looked like it was quite pleased.
‘Its appearance is really impressive. Most monsters wouldn’t even come close. Now—’
I approached for a closer look.
Swiisssh──
Paaang-!
‘What the hell?!’
The creature’s tail swung sharply in front of my face, clearly signaling me to stay back.
“Whoa? No, Sword Dragon. We’re friends. We can’t fight. Got it? Be nice.”
Yeon-hee, startled, urgently tried to persuade the creature she had already named Sword Dragon, but the Drake shook its head and glared at me.
‘What’s with that look? You wanna throw down?’
Its gaze clearly conveyed that meaning. Did it think it could challenge the strongest amongst the summoned creatures right after seeing the outside world? Or did it want to monopolize Yeon-hee’s affection?
Whatever it was, it was unacceptable.
‘Haa— This guy needs some training.’
Of course, it was presumed to be at the top of the B rank, so it might not be an easy fight, but it was a battle I couldn’t afford to lose.
‘Is the high commander not operational?’
– [This entity cannot be controlled by the High Commander.]
‘Haha, seriously. Unbelievable.’
“Kyah- Haaah-! Il-wol, look at this!”
Yeon-hee had settled on the creature’s nape, striking a pose as if she were a dragon knight.
The Drake was classified as a subspecies of Dragon, yet the only time a true Dragon had been sighted was during the ‘First Wave’. Thus, this creature was effectively treated as a dragon.
‘Hmm— I’ll sort out ranks later. There’s no doubt it’s a jackpot.’
Drip drip—
As Yeon-hee looked down from the Sword Dragon’s neck, she slid off like a slippery slide and exclaimed.
“Wow— But my magic is depleting super fast. Even though my magic has increased recently, I can’t keep up.”
‘That makes sense. Maintaining something of that caliber must be tough.’
Yeon-hee’s magic levels were certainly far above mine. If she was struggling, that showed just how intense the mana consumption was.
“Phew— Let’s put Sword Dragon back in for now.”
“······.”
The Shadow Drake bowed its head slightly to Yeon-hee and vanished, leaving behind a lingering black smoke.
It didn’t forget to glare at me one last time. Such a sassy little brat.
I felt wronged for being disliked without doing anything, but Yeon-hee had already unfolded the summoning scroll again, so I turned my attention back to her.
“I hope another one like Sword Dragon shows up…!”
But despite Yeon-hee’s earnest wish, there wasn’t another jackpot like before.
Flap—
“Wha?! Another Sword Dragon?”
As black feathers swirled from the portal, Yeon-hee cheered, but what appeared was a Were Raven.
A human-type monster resembling a crow was one of the most common creatures found in C-rank dungeons alongside the crocodile-like Were Croc.
‘Not bad. This one might be better than the other Were variants.’
It had a skill that created a ‘black vortex’ to confuse opponents, with flight capabilities rivaling that of Harpies and a skill to release wings from a distance.
With a crow’s face and wings but a human body, the creature exuded a rather bizarre atmosphere, promptly rushing towards Yeon-hee, kneeling, and bowing its head.
It had completely different vibes from that ‘Sword Dragon’ earlier.
“Wow— They say there are many Were variants in C-rank. You’re my first Were summon. Nice to meet you!”
“Horororor-!”
Basically intelligent and inherently sly, it could be bothersome as an enemy, but as an ally, it should be quite dependable.
‘Not bad at all.’
“Yay! The fourth!”
The next fourth summon was a Harpy.
‘Are we going for a flying creature theme today?’
We already had a Neos Harpy, but this evolved form of Harpy was clearly a beauty, with a well-developed chest like a human’s.
‘Oooh— It’s refreshing to see after so long.’
Harpies are said to allure men and lead them to cliffs, but standing next to Yeon-hee, even their beauty seemed outclassed.
‘It seems there truly is no being that surpasses Yeon-hee.’
I gazed affectionately at her, and she immediately proceeded to the fifth summon.
Finally, the last creature summoned was the ‘Dire Wolf’ from earlier.
“Ah, King’s Ear!”
‘…Looks like she already forgot the name I gave it.’
The Dire Wolf, now referred to as King’s Ear, ran towards Yeon-hee and started licking her with its thick tongue.
“Kyaahaha- That tickles. Stop-”
Even thinking of it as a shortened form of ‘King’s Return’ somewhat fits this creature’s essence.
‘Since it keeps appearing even in S-rank dungeons.’
The Dire Wolf continued to show up even as dungeon levels increased like Orcs. As it reached A-rank, it gained one horn, eventually becoming a massive, single-horned final form at S-rank.
The performances it displayed during that transformation would be worthy of the title ‘descendant of the electric god’.
Sadly, although the Werewolf and Orc didn’t appear, it was still a nearly perfect summon, scoring a solid 98 out of 100.
Yeon-hee, satisfied, seemed to regain her usual energy that had been a bit sluggish before.
After observing the states of the summoned creatures for a while, we promptly moved to the building where the trio had purchased evolved creatures.
“For the Were Raven… how about calling it ‘Heukjjo’? It means black bird, but I’ll call it cutely, ‘jjo’!”
Nodding—
With a brightened face, Yeon-hee pondered the monster’s name, looking like an innocent child, which made me smile.
Twenty minutes later.
“There it is.”
We arrived in front of the building, and I decided to go in alone.
“You’re really going alone?”
Yeon-hee looked as if she was trying hard to accompany me, but she didn’t throw a tantrum.
‘It’s too dangerous to go together. Even just from afar, I can sense strong individuals.’
Unless I could grant Yeon-hee stealth, this time it was unavoidable.
I could be lenient about many things, but when it came to Yeon-hee’s safety, I had to make a conservative decision. It was the right call for both her and me.
“Take Ran with you. Now that my abilities have increased, I can maintain the summoning distance.”
Nodding—
“If anything seems dangerous, signal me. I’m coming to help with Sword Dragon!”
Clink-clank- clink-clank-
Seeing Yeon-hee’s face look so serious made me burst into laughter for a moment.
Summoning Sword Dragon in the city without considering the aftermath? The seriousness in her voice just made her look adorable.
Noticing my shoulders shaking, Yeon-hee gave a faint smile and summoned Ran into her palm.
Although I felt uneasy leaving Yeon-hee alone again, it was a coffee shop right across from the building, so it was within my sensing range.
Fortunately, it was also within the range of the earring artifact, so I could dive into my work with some peace of mind.
I told Yeon-hee to keep her presence hidden as much as possible, just in case.
“Got it. I’ll quietly drink coffee.”
Nodding—
For reasons I couldn’t explain, seeing Yeon-hee obediently following my words stirred up cravings I found difficult to resist.
(Bring your shoulders closer.)
Now, a tiny featherless bird hopped off Yeon-hee’s palm and landed on my shoulder.
‘Why do you keep losing your feathers?’
(Cough cough— It’s a temporary tribulation on my way to become a greater being.)
Could this little one grow like Sword Dragon?
Ran had been stagnant for quite some time too. I had no idea what it was waiting for, but whatever it would become would likely significantly enhance the abilities it currently granted, like [Acceleration] and agility buffs.
I placed Ran, who was on my shoulder, into my chest pocket and slipped into the building.
As I entered, I couldn’t help but drop my jaw in astonishment.
‘Wow— They really spent a load of money here.’
The building featured dense magical barriers strung like a web starting from the first-floor lobby, and those barriers filled the elevator and stairway.
With such density and performance, it looked tough to evade even if I piled up sensations and mana in my cloak, just like when sneaking into Heo Min-sol’s building.
‘Looks like I don’t need to worry about climbing the building’s exterior.’
However, the 16th floor, where they purchased evolved creatures, was a structure blocked off from the outer wall, leaving me with no other option.
I began to slice through the barrier lines with my dagger blending sensing and mana, moving past the lobby toward the stairs.
As I carefully moved, I sneaked a glance towards the elevator.
Sensing entities reached up to the 17th floor, but the elevator only went up to the 15th.
The top two floors were likely booby-trapped to prevent access.
In a corner of the building, there was a hidden elevator that seemed to go directly to the 16th and 17th floors.
But casually riding up that elevator felt like a daunting task.
Furthermore, there wasn’t even an up button in the 1st-floor elevator.
It seemed they had a system where you had to call up from above.
Thump—
(What a mess they’ve made of this place.)
As I painstakingly disabled the barriers to ascend the stairs, even normally taciturn Ran seemed frustrated by the snail’s pace progress.
‘Definitely slow.’
Then a question suddenly struck me.
‘Wait a minute. Can I just not pass through this?’
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