Chapter 21: The Second SR-Rank

#1

For a mage, connections mattered just as much as skill.

Jina had visited countless Mage Towers, attending all sorts of gatherings and meeting all sorts of people as the [Archmage’s Apprentice].

Saxen had been one of them.

But that was all.

She remembered only his name and appearance. What sort of person he had been, why he had been excommunicated—none of it came to mind.

As she pondered that, Hwanung asked,

“You know this guy?”

“I know he’s a mage, I suppose? I remember his face and name.”

“Hmm.”

The boss of the Farming Tower, officially known as the [Forest Tower], changed every time.

It was completely random, so there was no set strategy for clearing it.

This boss was another type he had never seen before.

They would have to rely entirely on their skills and ability to analyze it on the fly.

“Die!”

“Aaagh! What is this!?”

“This bastard summons mobs too!?”

Why “this bastard too”?

Hwanung frowned at the Climbers fighting Saxen ahead of them.

That hit a little close to home.

Meanwhile, his summons concentrated on analyzing Saxen’s attack patterns.

“The power to summon unholy beings, and black magic.”

“A typical dark mage, but a powerful one. He mainly summons durable undead, too.”

“Especially that Abomination…”

An Abomination.

One of the toughest undead tanks, made by stitching corpses together.

Since the mage himself dealt the damage, he seemed to be churning out summons whose sole purpose was to buy him time.

Did he have something like Summon Invulnerability, too?

‘Hard to say.’

If so, they would have to fight their way through.

Fortunately, watching the battle suggested otherwise.

The mage called Saxen fought from a position that kept him well out of harm’s way.

Though that alone made him a real nuisance.

“Eyas will have to find a way through.”

“Leave it to me, my lord.”

“Hmm. But I’d like Jina to do as much as possible in this fight.”

“Why? We have Dame Eyas.”

With Eyas here, who was so much better than she was, Jina wondered why he was putting the pressure on her.

She still had a long way to go.

Of course, she might become much better with time.

Hwanung kindly answered her question.

“Using magic might help you remember something.”

“Hmm… I’m not convinced, but if it’s your order, Master.”

For now, Jina nodded.

If he said jump, she had to jump.

While they watched to work out their strategy, the crew was wiped out.

One of the Climbers waiting beside them spoke.

“You’re Lord 93, right? Go ahead.”

“Thank you.”

“I don’t think we can handle this one. Mind if we watch?”

“Of course.”

They didn’t think they could get through anyway, so they wanted to watch, at least.

Most Climbers would have given it a try, but they seemed curious about how his summons fought.

Hwanung accepted the offer and entered the boss area.

In towers like this, only a set number of people could challenge the boss at once. If they failed, its health regenerated completely.

In other words, the next challengers had to start from scratch.

Some people even deliberately waited to challenge it because of that.

Hwanung and his summons had learned its patterns well enough, too. They should be able to handle it without much trouble.

‘And now I only need one more.’

Enough time had passed that just one more N-rank summon would give him ten R-rank summons, excluding Jina.

What would he get this time?

His numbers would drop drastically, but their effectiveness would surely rise beyond anything he could imagine.

‘Still… losing Lucas feels like a waste.’

Lucas, who had always led the charge.

He, too, was destined to disappear as a sacrifice for the evolution.

Hwanung couldn’t help regretting that Lucas wasn’t a summon capable of growth.

“Master, every dark mage in this world must be eradicated. Every last one.”

Lucas’s eyes seemed to burn blue.

What story did he have?

But if he couldn’t grow, Hwanung would never get to hear it now, would he?

‘It’s the only way to be efficient. I need as many SR-rank summons as I can get, as quickly as possible.’

So this was what made growing attached so frightening.

With a quiet sigh, Hwanung faced the boss, Saxen.

Apparently reset, Saxen stood still with his eyes closed.

The undead that had fought so fiercely were gone, too, as though they had all returned to their own world.

“Phew… Why am I so nervous?”

Jina had always been so confident.

A fellow mage, and one far senior to her.

On top of that, her Master’s expectations.

With all of that combined, it was only natural to feel the weight on her shoulders.

Hwanung gave her shoulder an encouraging pat.

Meanwhile, Saxen opened his eyes.

His gaze swept over Hwanung and his summons.

Then, as it reached Jina and Lucas, he smirked.

“Well, now. Such distinguished guests.”

“Lord Saxen, how did you come to this?”

Jina spoke as though in a trance.

Even if someone asked why those words had slipped out, she couldn’t have answered.

“Lady Jina, was it? The circumstances are beyond the understanding of the Archmage’s Apprentice.”

“You talk too much for a dark mage.”

This time, it was Lucas who snapped back.

Hwanung watched the whole exchange closely.

It was just like Serban.

A boss that had fought Climbers mechanically was now speaking with a mind of its own.

“Dark mage, your reasons do not matter. There must have been another way. There can be no excuse for setting foot on that path.”

“Heh heh… What a load of bullshit, Sir Knight. What was that? Another way? Do you have any idea… how insulting those words are?”

“I have no need or desire to know. Dark mage. You are nothing but filth that has steeped itself in corruption.”

“Ha… There’s no talking to you knight bastards. F*cking morons. That’s why… Gah!”

Before he could finish, Saxen coughed up blood and doubled over.

When he raised his head again, every trace of emotion had vanished from his eyes.

Hwanung sensed it instinctively.

Something had intervened.

“Prepare for battle. Lucas, take the front. Eyas, focus on evasive maneuvers to dodge Saxen’s magic. The rest of you handle the summoned undead. Jina, concentrate on the mage as much as possible.”

“Understood!”

The boss battle began as the summons formed up.

Saxen’s eyes glowed red as he set his mana in motion.

Thick, clinging mana engulfed the surroundings in an instant, and a portal opened into a space filled with dense darkness.

Undead emerged with a clatter.

Skeletons and assorted monsters took up formation.

Every move was devoted to protecting Saxen.

“You go fight this time, too.”

[Peep!]

The wriggling lump of flame in his hand stirred.

It was only a lesser spirit, but it would help.

“Dark mage, I shall execute you with my own hands!”

With Lucas’s furious cry, the battle began in earnest.

Whirrrrr!

Even then, the drone was hard at work doing its job.

#2

CLANG!

Blue aura scattered like sparks.

The aura that should have sliced through everything in its path vanished, having accomplished nothing at all.

Lucas gritted his teeth.

Hadn’t he declared it so boldly?

That he would never forgive the dark mages.

Yet with his current abilities, even cutting down a single undead monster in front of him was a struggle.

[Dark Spear]

And he had to dodge the dark mage’s attacks as well.

Aura could deflect magic, but only if the two were on a comparable level.

Weak aura was swallowed by powerful magic.

To his bitter frustration, Lucas was the weaker one.

He rolled clumsily across the ground, barely escaping the blast.

There was no time for relief.

The enormous mass of corpses, impervious even to his aura, came crashing toward him.

[UOOOOOH!]

Even the muscles of its vocal cords were twisted, making the Abomination’s cries grotesque.

Merely being caught beneath its massive body could be fatal.

Lucas squeezed every ounce of strength from his body to put as much distance between them as possible.

“Hmm… We’re definitely at a disadvantage here.”

Watching him, Hwanung had no choice but to make a decision.

He had already gathered the materials for an SR-rank summon some time ago.

He had simply tried to overwhelm the enemy with numbers first, just in case.

With Lucas so fired up, he hadn’t felt right immediately using him for evolution, either.

Consideration had to stop at the limits of what was realistically possible.

Letting it go any further would be neglect.

“Lucas, that’s enough.”

“Master!”

“I… I’m sorry.”

Still, it left a bad taste in his mouth.

To have to ruthlessly discard a summon he had grown attached to.

Hwanung wasn’t someone who pursued profit to the exclusion of everything else.

He was human—sometimes emotional, sometimes drawn to a romantic ideal.

Lucas gritted his teeth as he dodged the Abomination’s attack.

He knew it, too.

With his abilities, he couldn’t break through this many undead.

‘This is beyond me. In that case…’

This was no time to be stubborn.

Look at them.

They were all supporting their Master with their brilliant talents.

But he was weak.

Then it was time to set his stubbornness aside.

Even if he couldn’t be there himself, he was willing to burn up his soul if it meant those filthy dark mages could be killed.

He had made that very vow just before dying… hadn’t he?

‘What?’

At that moment, light began to spill from Lucas’s body.

Only Hwanung could see it.

‘Huh?’

The situation was desperate.

A summon could be forcibly dismissed at any moment.

Yet to Hwanung, time seemed to move more slowly than ever.

Perhaps it was because of the line that suddenly came to mind.

[Special combination recipes exist.]

His skill had definitely included those words.

Hwanung decided to trust his instincts.

He imbued his voice with his will and gave the command.

“Using [Lucas] as the base, [Longbowman], [Steel Shield Bearer], [Priest]…”

Ten R-rank summons, including Lucas.

Instead of simply mixing ten summons together, he layered them in the order they lit up.

It was a process of stacking power, layer by layer, onto the summon that formed the base.

This wasn’t random.

It was a special combination.

[You have discovered a new recipe.]
[Hidden Route: Apprentice Knight Lucas + at least three humanoid R-rank summons]
[Lucas’s true soul is drawn to the call.]

“Ohhh.”

Brilliant light burst forth.

The light that appeared, as always, with every evolution.

Time, which had slowed, sped up again.

With the opponents they had been fiercely fighting gone, the summoned undead began converging on Lucas, the closest target.

Eyas tried to stop them however she could, but one hand couldn’t block ten.

Just as she was about to strike at the summoner in desperation, a familiar voice rang out—deeper, sharper, and more impassive than before.

“Dame Eyas, I am quite all right.”

A long blade of radiant aura extended outward.

Slash!

The Abomination’s forearm, which had seemed impossible to sever, was sliced off like tofu by the elongated aura.

The light faded, revealing, astonishingly, Lucas.

[SR-rank: Lucas, Knight of Light]
[Strength: 45 Mana: 42 Stamina: 48 Agility: 39]
[Skills: ‘In the Name of the Light,’ ‘Imperial Swordsmanship,’ ‘Light Enhancement,’ ‘Indomitable Will’]
[Inherits the equipment worn by the base summon, Apprentice Knight Lucas.]
[This summon is capable of growth.]

His plain, unassuming armor had become silver plate armor.

Its striking design glowed with a soft aura, making halos seem to rise from it here and there.

His face looked as though he had been born anew after overcoming great hardship.

More handsome features, and blond hair grown wild.

His blue eyes, now clear and filled with light, shone with a deep, intense radiance.

He was no longer an apprentice knight who merely applied a coating of aura.

“I, Lucas, have answered your call, Master.”

Lucas, awakened by the power of light.

This was his true form—the soul that had yearned for a second chance.