Summoner 19, page 17
part #19 of Summoner Series
However, my excitement didn’t last long, because not too far off in the distance, I spotted something else that made my stomach plummet.
Mega-sized monsters.
An entire herd of them.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
Chapter Nine
The herd of enormous monsters was smaller than the group Carth had initially sent to Mistral, but as the colossal beings marched toward us, dread spread through me like a wildfire.
I couldn’t be too shocked Carth had been waiting for us beneath the cloaking enchantment. I’d half expected as much, but it was almost easy to forget just how intimidating her plethora of giant creatures were.
“She certainly doesn’t seem to have weakened,” Phi muttered beside me, and the white-winged Archon gently bit her lower lip as she wrapped her arms around her pale frame. “Her army looks as formidable as ever.”
The last time we’d fought against the herd, we’d had the entire military support of Varle Enclave to help us against the beasts, and even then, the effort hadn’t been victorious.
Of course, this time our side had a magical advantage Carth’s did not: Xan’s resurrection ability.
When Xanrith had initially appeared at the mansion to tell me she’d abandoned her sisters’ alliance, she’d admitted to me her resurrection magic had aided Carth when her monsters succumbed to our army’s attacks.
Now that Xan was on our side, Carth and her alliance didn’t have the advantage of saving their dead creatures, and I prayed that would be enough to bring us to victory.
“Hey, we just successfully dismantled her spell,” I reminded the Archon, and the words were meant to reassure me just as much as her. “Sure, she has her monsters, but if she were really so powerful, she’d have made a stronger enchantment around her fortress, wouldn’t she?”
“I suppose that’s true enough,” Phi agreed with me, and she tapped her long white fingernails against her lips. “Now that I think of it, the spell should’ve been stronger. Her magic is powerful, but combined with the magic of Hunnah and Quilla, it should’ve been even more powerful, which leads me to wonder if they’re even here at all.”
“I suppose we’ll find out soon enough,” I sighed, though I had to admit the Archon had made a fair enough point. I wanted to consider the idea further, but the fact of the matter was a huge herd of monsters was before us, and I needed to get down to my teammates as quickly as possible.
When I looked to the ground below, I spied a hefty earthen structure that rose up to form a dome over the blackened grass, and I immediately knew it belonged to Almasy. The earth mage had created the perfect fortress to protect my team, but they needed to know the herd was imminent.
So, without another second of hesitation, I pumped my pale blue wings in the air and flew as fast as they allowed me.
I flew to the other side of the field, and the moment my feet were planted, the earthen structure fell away to reveal my armored team. Even from under the dome, it was clear they’d also assumed the defensive positions they’d held when we’d first arrived through Crystyn’s portal. Phi landed down after me, and I noticed the angelic Archon had put some distance between herself and my friends. I wondered if it was for their comfort or hers, but either way, I appreciated her discretion.
“Gryff, what’s going on?” Braden asked as he lowered his arms at his sides. “We felt the aftershock when the cloaking enchantment fell away, and suddenly the ground started to shake--”
My former roommate’s words stopped abruptly when his eyes peered out at the field, and the rest of my team followed suit.
“Fuck,” Orenn uttered.
“That’s not good,” Almasy chimed in as he ran a hand through his hair.
Amidst the excitement of flying across the field, I hadn’t even noticed the herd had stopped in their tracks. The wall of monsters was frozen in place, and my eyebrows creased together as I tried to figure out what was going on. Why had Carth ordered the monsters to stop when she could’ve very easily surged forward for an attack? I wondered if the horned Archon was waiting for me to make the first move. She certainly had a flair for the theatrics, so I wasn’t surprised she treated this fight like a game.
“Well, I suppose that answers our question from earlier,” Varleth noted dryly, and then the banisher’s dark eyebrows creased together. “Carth was certainly waiting for us. But why aren’t they moving?”
“I have no idea, but we can use it to our advantage,” I answered, and I shot the snarling herd a sideward glance. If Carth was waiting for us, that meant we had a moment to strategize, and I wasn’t about to waste the rare opportunity to plan ahead for once.
“What’s our plan of attack?” Varleth inquired, and the gypsy’s dark eyes were clear and focused. “Assuming you’ve concocted one, of course.”
“I do have a bit of a plan.” I nodded. “Though, it’s not nearly as clever or concise as I’d like for it to be. I’m going to summon the Archons and then explain further. Braden, get your summons ready. The rest of you, give me a moment. Keep an eye on the herd and call out if something changes.”
“You’ve got it,” Braden replied, and the rest of the team uttered similar words of agreement. As Braden got to work and summoned his monsters, I reached into my consciousness and issued my commands to the Archons.
“It’s time,” I instructed the goddesses. “I’d like this to end as quickly as possible, so I’m going to need all of you again, and all of the summons in your possession.”
Your wish is our command, Sera purred.
Let’s finally end Carth once and for all! Miralea proclaimed.
Yesssss, please, Veopa drawled.
I’ve been waiting for this for too long, Utuni chuckled.
You can do this, Gryff, Xan assured me.
My entire body tingled as I released the Archons, and the air around me filled with wisps of multicolored mist as the monster goddesses manifested out in the field.
I heard a sharp inhale behind me, and I turned around to see a trembling Mur. The moose shapeshifter’s lower lip quivered as his enormous dark eyes studied the Archons. It wasn’t the first time he’d witnessed them all, but it was probably the first time he’d been in such close proximity to the monster goddesses, and the poor kid looked uncomfortable.
“Mur, you good?” I asked the boy, and the moment I did, Mur shook his head and straightened his back like nothing had ever been wrong to begin with.
“Everything is fine,” he insisted in terse Mistral. “I am ready to fight, Gryff.”
“Glad to hear it.” I said, and I offered him a look of encouragement.
Mur gave me a nod, and then he turned back to Orenn. The moose shapeshifter seemed to have marked the metallogue as a man to emulate, and I couldn’t be prouder of him. Orenn was a great mage and a powerful warrior. Mur couldn’t have chosen a better mentor.
Now that the shapeshifter was handled, I spun around to face the Archons again, and the gorgeous goddesses were all quick at work.
As they called forth their monsters, I studied Xanrith carefully. I’d yet to see what creatures the dark-skinned goddess had as her personal minions, and I was curious to know what they were.
The azure flame-winged goddess held her arms out in front of her, and a burst of blue mist swirled around her body like a contained tornado. I was transfixed by the strange beauty of it for a moment, and once it disappeared, three monsters stood before the umber-skinned Archon.
The first was one of the most dazzling creatures I’d ever seen. It was a four-legged creature that resembled a horse, and its pale hide glittered and shimmered as if it were made of pure starlight. From its back rose two shimmering wings with an impressive span of twenty feet, and an opalescent horn that ended in a deadly point protruded from its forehead.
“Is that… a unicorn?” I asked as my jaw nearly fell to the ground. Unicorns were one of the rarest monsters, so much so that I’d never seen one in all of my years of travel. They were the kind of creatures discussed around a campfire, or name-dropped by travelling merchants who claimed to have one amongst their wares only for the customer to discover they’d been sold an empty crystal later.
“Even better,” Xan noted with a proud smile. “It’s a lunachorn. Distant cousin of the unicorn, but with much deadlier attacks.”
The lunachorn exhaled sharply, and I tilted my head to the side. The beast was one of the most beautiful monsters I’d ever seen, and while that horn looked like it could inflict some damage, it was hard to imagine such a pretty monster fighting against Carth’s nightmarish herd.
Beside the lunachorn were two other monsters, and each was equally impressive as the first. To the right of the unicorn was a large crow-like creature that bore a human woman’s face much like my arachness. Unlike the lovely appearance of my summons, however, the face of the bird woman was fierce, with beady, orange, thin-pupiled eyes that darted in all directions, a thin-lipped mouth that spread unnervingly from ear to ear, and a strong, beaky nose. It wasn’t an unpleasant sight exactly, but it wasn’t what I would call beautiful. Lastly, from the top of the creature’s womanly head flowed what at first looked like a mane of hair, but it was actually a collection of blue-black feathers.
The bird woman stepped forward on taloned feet and flapped her wings at me.
“What do you call her?” I asked Xan.
“She’s a harpy,” the Archon answered with a glint in her amethyst eyes. “She might look a little off-putting, but rest assured, she can be quite enticing.”
“What do you mean by that?” I wondered as I watched the bird woman jut her head around in a hyperactive manner. There were many words I could use to describe the strange monster, but enticing was not one of them.
“You’ll just have to wait and see.” Xan grinned at me, and I debated pressing further, but the Archon’s smile told me she wasn’t going to reveal anything.
“Fair enough.” I shrugged, and then I turned to the last monster.
Xan’s final summons was a floating copper-furred fox with twelve plush tails that fanned out behind it and wavered in the air. The creature was about the size of my maripor, and it wore an adorably mischievous grin on its face. It twisted around until its fluffy white belly was in the air and then let out a sound that almost sounded like a laugh as it waited for orders from its mistress.
“Vulperine,” Xanrith explained. “She’s a little bit of a trickster, but she’s got some useful abilities.”
Suddenly, the vulperine vanished in midair and then reappeared at another point about twenty feet away. It kept up the effort and teleported throughout the field as if to demonstrate its ability, and then it returned to its place near Xan.
“That does seem useful,” I agreed with her.
The vulperine’s tails abruptly spanned out and began to swirl in a circle. As the plush tails spun faster and faster, a breeze kicked up around me, and my lips curled up into a grin.
“It has air magic,” I deduced, and the vulperine let out an excited laugh before it flipped back over and offered me a fanged grin. I had no doubt the fox monster’s wind attacks would be helpful later, and I began to brainstorm ways I could utilize its magic in combination with my other monsters.
“They’re all yours to command,” Xan declared. “My sisters like to give me grief about my monsters, but they’re all excellent companions who are ready to serve the Beastmaker.”
“Thanks, Xan, I appreciate it.” I nodded at the flame-winged Archon, and then I looked over my shoulder to check on the others. The chorus of grunts and snarls from the herd suddenly crescendoed, and I had a feeling Carth’s patience was thinning by the second.
The Archons had their monsters summoned, from Miralea’s hissenae, to Sera’s snapdarner, and Veopa’s bat-like narmonger, and the goddesses all wore bloodthirsty smiles as they peered out at the herd off in the distance.
“We’re ready when you are, master,” Sera cooed as she stroked the back of her insectoid monster, and the dragonfly-like snapdarner let out a trill in response.
“Good.” I nodded at the Archon. “Hold tight for just a moment longer.”
I reached into my bandolier and threw out my essence crystals in rapid succession: my roosa, baroquer, kalgori, and my sprucebore. If this battle got too intense, I would summon some of my more powerful monsters, like the sun giant, belial, and quartzriel, but I didn’t want to risk mana depletion quite yet when I was already utilizing all of the Archons and my monsters. For now, I needed to use my wits.
Smoke filled the air as my monsters manifested out in the fields, and as each of my creatures appeared, I turned to Veopa.
“Veopa, I’m going to need some of your shapeshifting magic,” I addressed the succubus Archon. “I want you to do as you did with the fight against the quartzriel. I need both my monsters and Braden’s the same size as the rest of Carth’s herd.”
“Finally time I got to have some fun,” the goddess purred as she tucked a lock of sterling hair behind her ear. “Are there any other augmentations you’d prefer aside from size?”
“Could you armor them?” I wondered.
“Excellent suggestion,” Veopa complimented me, and her fangs poked out in a devious grin. “Yes, that will do nicely.”
“Thanks,” I laughed lightly. If I could even the playing field even just a little, this battle might not span as long as the others, which suited me just fine.
“These beasts?” Veopa clarified as she turned to my newly-appeared summons and cocked her hip to the side. The goddess tilted her head to the right, which made her hair spill over her shoulders like molten silver.
“Yep.” I nodded as I tried not to stare at her beauty. Then I made myself snap out of it, and I gestured to where Braden had summoned his monsters. “Braden’s as well.”
My former roommate had summoned his king gryphon, his jaxare, and his ember eagle, all impressive monsters who were about to get an even better upgrade.
I opened my mouth to give the summoner a heads-up, but Veopa wasted no time. She held her hands out in front of her, and silver-blue magic streamed out from her fingertips. Suddenly, my monsters began to glow with the same light, and the magic was so bright I averted my eyes
“Gryff, what’s--” I heard Braden call out to me, but the ox-like mage’s words cut off as the light disappeared.
Once the offensive flash was completely gone, I looked up to see my entire team of monsters were of equal stature to Carth’s herd. Most of my creatures had been large before, but now they were absolutely enormous.
“Wicked,” I murmured as I admired my summons. I’d only used this trick once before, and I was amazed by the results. For the second part of my request, Veopa had manipulated their skin to give them all thick layers of natural armor, except for the kalgori, who had bladed armor all their own. Normally, I would have used the bullet bass to equip my monsters, but Veopa’s magic was faster and easier.
“Is this satisfactory, master?” Veopa inquired with an even wider fanged grin.
“It is.” I smiled back at her. “Thank you.”
“Of course,” she purred.
My monsters let out sounds of excitement as they looked around them. Then I glanced over at Braden, whose team had also grown massive, and the summoner’s eyes looked like they were going to fall right out of his skull.
“Damn,” he remarked as he looked between his king gryphon, his jaxare, and his ember eagle. “This is some seriously helpful magic. Really could have used that in the past, but wow. They’re all huge!”
“Veopa did this to my monsters in the last fight against Carth, and it kept her herd from sweeping the floor with me,” I brought up. “I’m hoping it’ll work again.”
“I don’t see how it wouldn’t,” Braden replied, and the summoner slowly shook his head back and forth at his colossal monsters.
Heyyyy, lemme out! A whine rang out inside my head, and when I reached down and opened the hip pouch at my side, I was greeted by the grumpy face of my familiar.
“Sorry, Dio,” I apologized, and I opened the pouch wide enough for the kitten-sized saber-toothed cat to shimmy out.
He leapt onto the ground, stretched out, and then tilted his head to the side as he stared out at the other monsters.
Whoa, how did they get so fuckin’ big? my cat-like summons gasped, and he whipped his head back around toward me. That’s so cool, boss!
“I’m glad to have your approval,” I laughed. “Now, I’m going to need you a little taller than the form you’re in--”
Say no more, Dio interjected. My familiar gave one more good stretch, and then he quickly grew to his normal twenty-foot form and let out an excited roar. His enormous fangs were certainly impressive, and I grinned with pride at my familiar.
“Gryff, how did you do that to your monsters?” Mur exclaimed as he and the rest of my teammates ran to me and Dio. Each of the mages stared up at my newly-enhanced monsters with awe, and I felt a swell of pride as I admired my creatures along with them.
“It was all Veopa,” I answered the moose shapeshifter, and the moment her name fell from my lips, the succubus Archon fixed her silver eyes upon the boy.
Mur averted his gaze almost immediately. “O-Oh, ah… yes, um…”
“Veopa, go join the others,” I instructed the goddess, and Mur let out a small sigh of relief as the Archon obeyed orders.
“Thank you,” he murmured in a small voice.
“You’re wel--” I began to say, but I was cut off by the thunderous sound of footsteps. I peered around my team of monsters just in time to see Carth’s herd slowly approaching. The ground quaked beneath us, and I braced myself against Dio’s side to keep from falling over.
“Holy shit,” Almasy muttered, and the renowned earth mage pointed his palms down at the ground. He briefly furrowed his brow, and then suddenly, the trembling earth beneath us stabilized.
