While fighting the kobolds, Peter kicked them back, but it didn't amount to much. None of his skills could repel them. Not with his current stats. Even though he gained levels, which provided stat points to invest in his physical attributes, the effects weren't immediate. Stats took time to settle. Sometimes days, weeks, even.
An area of effect skill would have been nice, He thought, deeply regretted not developing some offensive, magical skill.
Peter felt his hands tremble and his blood run cold. Fear consumed his bones. Flooding more mana into his body, he tried to bridge the stat gap through sheer mana reinforcement. But a mortal body could endure only so much. It had a limit.
After killing another mutt, Peter briefly considered luring the kobolds away, using himself as bait. That thought vanished as soon as it came. He couldn't afford to let his mother leave the range of his Mana Sense.
'What if some kobolds decided to check the house while I was gone?' he thought. Her safety wasn't something he could gamble, not like that. The risk was too high.
Moving his limbs with utmost precision, Peter kept fighting a losing battle. His gaze remained on the stairs, praying the kobolds would not split up and charge. Each minute was pushing him further from the staircase.
Peter had already killed thirty enemies when he could no longer hold the staircase. None of them cared to spare a single glance at the stairs. The monsters remained oblivious to her presence for now. Peter exhaled, lungs contracting while his heartbeat slowly steadied.
The gruelling battle continued for some more time before Peter's world collapsed. Footsteps approached, heads turned, and Peter screamed.
…
Mariah lay on the floor, shivering. Her fingers pressed tightly against her ears, desperate to drown out the sound of the clash coming from below. Her son was down there somewhere, fighting with everything he had to protect her.
Her tears would not stop. The shivering was one thing… but the shame? The shame in her chest felt heavier than any fear. She should be protecting him. As his mother, it was her role, her duty.
Her mind echoed his words before he left. "I promise. No harm will come to you. And nothing will harm me." She wanted to believe him. She did. But how could a ten-year-old child succeed where the entire village had failed?
Despite the tremble in her legs, she forced herself to stand. She refused to be a mother who died after her son.
I'll create a path for him to escape, she thought. Her life could be forfeited, but her son must live. That was her duty.
With renewed determination, she reached for the door handle and twisted it open.
…
Peter's eyes widened in horror, his body turning stone still as he heard the door creaking from upstairs. Every single kobold snapped their face upstairs, realising he was not alone.
"No!" He roared, witnessing some kobolds make a split-second decision, grin before surging upwards.
"Stop!" he shouted, "I said stop!" Blood rushed into his temples, making his vision foggy. Desperation unleashed an untapped well of power.
The pathways linking his soul to his mortal body snapped wide. For the first time, the might of his soul descended upon reality. Everyone but Peter froze, bound in their places under his will. The kobolds shivered, bearing the crushing weight of Peter's mighty soul.
They were weak, barely above level 20. Their souls were not even a spark compared to Peter's.
His soul was vast, a boulder on their shoulders, forcing them into kneeling positions. They didn't just stop, but crawled out of the house entirely. Their trembling gaze never left Peter, souls surging with a primal fear. Hair standing fully, they stopped at ten meters from the house.
The standoff lasted for only a few moments before the trembling stopped, fangs once again bared at Peter. They weren't fools. Peter's soul still looked grand and imposing… but if he was truly as powerful as his soul made them believe, he would have killed them in seconds.
Peter had proven himself a skilled fighter, battling fiercely against the kobolds. Despite the lives claimed by his blade, he had been unable to drive them back. The kobolds knew that. He was not all-powerful.
Unable to decide on what to do, Kobolds reacted on instinct by turning their heads upwards. Their saliva-filled mouths parted open to let out a far-reaching howl. A call to their brethren.
If we couldn't kill him by ourselves, surely greater numbers would accomplish that, they decided.
A grim expression came over Peter's face. His fists clenched hard in hatred for these monsters, wishing death for all of them. The howl was loud in clear, causing more kobolds to gather around the house from various places in the village.
As tribal creatures, kobolds felt a growth in their confidence with growing numbers. Slowly but steadily with tiny steps, they advanced closer to the house, narrowing their encirclement.
Staring at them, Peter called upon his summoning skill. He poured a total of 1900 mana points into the skill, three-fourths of his remaining mana. He called upon the world to answer his hatred and his desire to protect.
The System immediately responded to his request by opening up a blue transparent window in front of him, and a series of notifications followed.
System…
[
Skill's request to act as enforcer for the summoning contract acknowledged.
Accessing requirements for the contract establishment….
Assessment completed….
Searching for suitable entities that fit the first set of requirements….
A total of 8004372 entities found….
Sorting out all the entities based on strength and potential parameters….
Removing all the entities that could overpower the user due to higher strength…
A total of 34543 entities remaining…
Assessing additional dynamic requirements….
Acknowledged the user's requirement for the summon to have a certain desirable level of power…
Assessment completed…
Sorting out all the entities that do not meet the desirable level of power….
A total of 1023 entities remaining…
Sending out a request to form a summoning contract….
Awaiting response….
]