In total, I summoned twelve Skeleton Soldiers. They were all practically identical—five feet seven inches tall, with metal shoulder pads, metal helmets, and bones as white as the clouds in the sky. Each of them wielded a curved saber with a rusty gold hilt.
I thought they would all thank me, but obviously the rich kid wasn't pleased.
"DUMBASS! Are you stupid, Summoner?!" exclaimed Anton Wilxes. "My father can give you anything you want if you help Sun save me."
"Shut up," I ordered, glaring at Anton. "Don't you realize the situation you're in?
Although they want to try to make it seem like it, Sun is not on our side."
"What?" asked Kyle, who was standing behind me.
"Don't talk nonsense at times like this, kid. If we divide our team even further, we won't make it out of this alive," Sun said.
"I know you killed Hawklight, Sun. I also know that you and your partner have two reasons for wanting us not to believe that. The first..." I raised my right index finger.
"Is obvious: you had a golden opportunity when you got this job as Anton Wilxes' bodyguard. I don't know if you're trying to leave this life of crime or have something bigger in mind, but I also know that you have an important contact within the Church."
"GHAHA! This kid knows how to be imaginative!" Blackpearl laughed loudly, but this time it didn't sound as natural as before. "Why do you think that?"
"Although it does make sense…" Kyle muttered, one hand on his chin. "I already thought it was strange to have two newbies with noble blood on a team, but when I saw Mr. Hawklight — may God rest his soul — I realized that he was too inexperienced with field missions to lead a team of rookies like ours. Now, with this attack, it makes sense. But... someone from the Church? God wouldn't allow that."
"Whether God allows it or not, I don't know," I said, raising a second finger.
"However, I do know that the second reason you didn't want us to believe Sun killed Hawklight was because you wanted us to think it was you, Blackpearl. You wanted us to fear you and listen to you from the beginning, as if we'd believe you were very powerful. But I know that your Blessing is only to hide like a chameleon. You can't do that while moving, so you're an ambush killer — just like you're trying to be right now."
At that moment, a long second of tension and silence settled in as Sun and Blackpearl's eyes stared at me.
When that second was over, Sun exhaled softly and relaxed her posture slightly.
"I have to admit, the boy read us very well," she said, glancing sideways at Blackpearl.
"Erh. These smart alecks are the most annoying to deal with when we make elaborate plans like this," Blackpearl said. "I told you we should've killed them all at the beginning of the forest. It wouldn't have been difficult."
"It doesn't matter to you, because you're already a wanted assassin. In my case, it would be obvious that I was involved if I were the only survivor—and I'd lose my retirement fund on top of that."
Sun looked at Anton, who widened his eyes and began to tremble.
"It didn't make any difference in the end. Let's kill them all now anyway."
Sun took another deep breath. "You're right about that. There's no way two Rank-B's can lose to one Rank-C and two Rank-D's."
"Two Rank-Ds?" I asked with a mocking smirk on my lips. "Sorry, but I think you've miscounted."
Then, all my Skeleton Soldiers took a step forward in unison.
"There are fourteen of us Rank-Ds," I said, spreading my arms wide.
For the first time, Sun let out a small smile. "Is this a joke? Everyone knows that Summoners' summons aren't as strong as they are. That's why summons are usually used more as distractions than as real fighters."
"Boy, that was a pretty bad bluff," Blackpearl said.
"You know what's worse? It wasn't a bluff. Summons — attack!"
When I gave the order, all the Skeleton Soldiers in that small forest charged toward Sun and Blackpearl. They moved together, like a perfectly coordinated troop.
I also ran forward, but instead of heading straight for the enemies, I ran toward Rosella. When she saw me approaching, she looked confused and instinctively started to raise her sword, but she soon realized I was actually reaching out my hand to her.
"Let's get out of here!"
Rosella's eyes widened, but it took her a second longer than it should have to agree with my decision.
Kyle heard what I shouted to Rosella and, fortunately, also started running toward the forest.
I knew that strategic retreats like this weren't the kind of decision characters normally made in stories, but I was human—and fully aware of my current limitations.
If I had almost died trying to defeat Boss Laufus, who was a Rank-C, then trying to fight two higher-ranked enemies would be suicide.
As we tried to run through the forest, system notifications quickly began to appear.
[Your summon named 'Ban' has been destroyed!]
[Your summon named 'Foolish' has been destroyed!]
[Summon 3 has been destroyed!]
[Summon 8 has been destroyed!]
I gritted my teeth. 'I knew you were just a smokescreen, but hold on just a little longer!'
Running through the Forest of Thorns was not easy. The forest was dense, full of bushes, uneven terrain, fallen branches, and thorns wrapping around tree trunks. Getting pricked or cut by some thorns was unavoidable while running from an even greater danger.
Seeing the notifications coming in, I made a decision and stopped suddenly.
Rosella and Kyle also stopped when they saw me stop.
"Brandon, what are you doing? We need to keep running!" Rosella shouted.
"Yes, just give me five seconds. Go ahead," I said as I held out both hands in front of me.
Magic circles appeared on the ground, making it clear that I was summoning more creatures.
"What? You can do more?" Kyle exclaimed, his eyebrows raised.
"Go! You need to run! Especially you, Rosella."
She gulped when she saw the look I gave her over my shoulder and nodded. Immediately, she started running again, and Kyle followed her as she passed him.
At the same time, three Ghost Wizards appeared in front of me. Somehow, I could already distinguish some of them, so I looked at the Ghost Wizard in the middle and said,
"Morgath, stay close to me and throw as many fireballs as you can at the leaves on the trees."
The Ghost Wizard in the middle nodded and floated to my rear.
"Now you two, split up. One to the left, one to the right—cause as much destruction as possible in this forest. I want to see everything burning."
My mana wasn't infinite, even if I kept using Soul Fragments to reset my level. So, I couldn't rely on Skeleton Soldiers to stall Blackpearl and Sun forever. The best plan was to create total chaos in this area—and use it to escape.
Fortunately, my summons followed my orders to the letter, and the Ghost Wizards quickly split up.
As I started running—now with a bit more difficulty due to my low mana—I glanced back and saw Fireballs beginning to burn the Thorny Trees.
The Forest of Thorns was a dense tropical jungle.
Logically, this meant that most of it was damp and not as easy to burn as a typical forest, but fire spells were far more powerful than any small campfire that might accidentally start a blaze.
Because of that, with so many Fireballs, it didn't take long for the flames to start spreading—especially across the treetops.
That made me feel confident—almost arrogant—that there was no way Blackpearl or Sun could catch up to us.
But when I looked up again, smiling as I watched the fire, I saw that I was running straight toward a massive shadow with a wide grin.
There was no mistaking it — it was Blackpearl.
I was about to shout for Morgath to throw a Fireball at him, but Blackpearl vanished in an instant and reappeared in front of me.
His fist looked ten times bigger than it should have as it came crashing toward me.
Miraculously, I managed to raise my left arm to cover my face. That was what his powerful punch struck.
Still, the raw strength of a Rank-B was terrifying. I felt the bone in my forearm snap immediately, and the blow hurled me several meters to the right.
"Son of a..." I muttered from the ground, just before someone grabbed me and lifted me by the neck.
"Hey, hey! Don't insult my dear mother... She's the one who taught me how to punch like this," said Blackpearl, grinning like a maniac as he crushed my throat.