A Summoner?-Chapter 73: Huh, Easy Mode?

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Chapter 73: Huh, Easy Mode? by Harem-Fan

And until we made it to the killing fields, I enjoyed my fiance's warm body, as she melted and also melted my heart...

One of the things she told me about her Royal family was that only Daniella and she were the daughters of Domino, and the 2nd and 4th princesses are from different Mothers.

Daniella with her Earth Element more resembles their Father, while she with her Fire Element more resembles their Mother Domino.

And lastly, she told me about her Summons Gabriel the Phoenix, and how her Summons wanted to meet me.

It seems even among creatures from other Plains, a male Summoner is still interesting.

-

At noon, we all arrived at the staging grounds for the exam, a place called... Lifeless Pass.

This is the place that is considered 1 of 3 main bottlenecks to enter the Southern Kingdom, and we are in the central point.

One group of 400 students went to the west-pass, and another went to the east-pass. And our mission is to make incursions to collect merit for pushing back the growing forces.

This tall mountain range spanning from the Ocean of Neptune and dividing the Western and Southern Kingdoms is the tail-end of the Infinite Canyon Mountains.

This has made a natural barrier to split the Living and the Dead for hundreds of years.

Each of these 3 passes are as wide and open as the Grand Canyon of my last world's Earth.

(A/N The Grand Canyon varies in width, with its narrowest point at Marble Canyon measuring about 600 feet across, while its widest point near the South Rim reaches up to 18 miles. On average, the canyon is about 10 miles wide.)

Lifeless Pass stretches for about 50 miles, and the height of the mountain walls bordering the pass, stands at an impressive 1 mile high.

Earth Mages from the Southern Kingdom over many years, have smoothed the walls of the pass, to assure that only flying monsters can survive a fall from the mountain peaks above the pass. Even Undead that cannot fly will fall to their "deaths" here if they try to cut off forces in the pass.

One student asked a good question before... Why not block off the 3 passes to the Undead Lands?

This strategy was employed a few times in the past, but the consequences after doing it were devastating for Humans.

The reason to allow the passes to stay open, is to keep the population of Undead down. When you block the pass, their forces grow unstopped, and when they bring down the blockade, you have a massive flood of Undead that can even overwhelm a 9th Circle Mage. So the losses outweigh the gains.

Another feature of the Undead Lands starting at this Lifeless Pass southward is the excessive ambient Death Element here.

And what this means is that you will find only small weeds, large bushes, and scattered vegetation able to grow here.

The land is dry, and resembles a parched land, one might think of Western Cowboy Movies from Earth, with many boulders, and flat rocky plains. This is due to Life Element being suppressed, so energy for plant life is difficult, but only for the most hardy plants.

Humans cannot easily live here, because the water sources on the other-side of the pass are tainted with Death Energy, so long time drinking of that water can slowly corrode your body and soul. There is a 50% chance of dying and becoming one of the Undead after 2 weeks of drinking water from the Undead Lands.

So the way Humans who battle here deal with it, is to bring Water Element or Ice Element Mages to bring drinkable water.

Now this flaw also affects creatures like Vampires. Their food, "us", needs to drink, so they either have to provide clean water and food for their "cattle", or starve.

This is why Vampires are not as abundant as other Undead. A parasite at the top of the food-chain only hurts themselves by having too many Vampires around. So natural selection affects these Half-Alive Undead.

Even the air and earth on the Undead Lands side is tainted with excessive Death Energy, so Humans always feel uneasy camping or sleeping in the hazy mist, fog, gloom of the Undead Lands.

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About 1 mile away from the entrance of the pass, I thought of all the things I have learned about this place.

Then the 3 teachers stopped our group and gave instructions.

The Life Knight yelled to us all and said with warning in his tone.

"This will be our Camping location, with Teacher Amy Holt guarding this base-camp, and she can also give healing aid to you kids that get unlucky. Even though none of you should die, bring the bodies back if you can, because we do not want you to join the enemy legion after you are gone."

He then pointed to Lifeless Pass's entrance and said.

"Your exam rules are simple... First, you and your assigned partner must stay together when you enter the pass and beyond. If you cannot stay with your assigned Knight or Mage, then you will fail this exam..."

"Second... You will enter and fight within the Pass only for now. We will clear the forces of wandering and patrolling Undead in the pass for the first week. When the pass is clear, in the final few days, we will push into the actual Undead Lands for more of a challenge."

"Third... You must return to this camp at sunset, because the Undead are much stronger at night, and you will encounter much stronger versions like the Wraith and Vampire after sunset. Now with the sun not showing in parts of the pass, you may still encounter those creatures, so just run if you can, or signal with an [Elemental Bolt] magic up in the sky for our help."

"Lastly... You may go solo with your paired partner, or you may travel in a larger group. We as teachers are not worried about how you finish your tasks, either as a pair or even up to a group of 20 students. We only care that you enter the pass everyday for experience. Now go..."

After that, he rode his horse to the pass entrance to guard it and watch the students enter and leave...

-

Kayo rode to our group and said to me,

"Sam, I will not accompany you during this exam, but will find you in a few days to feed. I will be staying in the Teacher's tent during this time to protect the camp at night, and I will fly over the Lifeless Pass to protect at a distance... Be safe Sam..."

After she finished her talk, she kissed me and rode off to the Pass as well...

-

Back with my team, I heard Rando tell our friend group.

"I think if we all travel together, it might be too easy, so perhaps, we should go in pairs of 2-3 and change up everyday, for different experiences. Sam over there should only pair up with one group everyday because his Summons are too strong, what do you guys think?"

Nevin suggested.

"For today, I say that I, and Chuck take our partners, then Zeke and Rando team up, while Frank with Sam goes alone for today? This splits up the Summoners evenly..."

The breakdown would be...

I nodded to Nevin, because he is not doing this for friendships or for favors, but taking in the dangers we might face. This team divide on our first day is really well thought out for our group dynamics. I said...

"I agree with Nevin on this. After we go in, it will only be a half day to just take a look. And tomorrow we can swap it out. We will leave our mounts behind for today, and use them tomorrow onward."

Dream gave me a pout, because she wanted to team up with me right on the first day, so I whispered.

"This is a half day, and I will ride with you tomorrow for a full day, okay?"

Dream, who was not really upset, smiled because her play got my promise, so she said.

"Okay, then I will wait to show you my new Summons tomorrow, haha."

So with everyone parking our mounts, and setting up our tents ahead of time, we all left for the entrance of the Undead Lands...

-

As Frank, Zoe, Freya, and I walked as a group, Freya on my left arm said...

"I have been here a few times before, and it is not dangerous. So Zoe and I will just hang back, and let you and Frank fight on your own. We will only assist if needed, and protect you from Human intrigues."

Zoe on my right, pushed her light blonde hair behind her pointed ear and added.

"Sister Freya is right, my Master. Zoe will just cheer for you at a distance, and if Zoe is in danger, you can come and protect me from the stinky Undead."

Frank nodded and agreed.

"Yeah Sam, with you being a 5th Circle Swift Knight, and me being a 4th Circle Strong Knight, we can just blow through this stuff, no need to be a Summoner today, let's just go crazy with our blades, haha."

Frank was gently swinging his magic Greatsword in front of himself while looking happy. So I just agreed with them all.

-

As I entered the pass with Frank on my right, I pulled out my Elven Curved Blade, Windstorm, so I can use its Strong Knight abilities in battle, and I just let the King's Sword stay sheathed on my side.

The shadows from the mile high canyon walls still blanketed half the pass in darkness, and the air seemed very cold, due to the Death Energy being stronger.

Crunch Crunch! Frank's and my boots crunched old bones and rocks under our feet, as we cautiously made our way into the pass.

And then Frank pointed to our left flank and said in surprise...

"Look Sam, way over there, I see in the sky a red giant bird with fire... That should be Dream's Summons, right? And look over there, is that a massive Giant? I have never seen a Giant that tall before?!"

As I saw in the distance, a Phoenix flying around, spitting out magical Fireballs on large groups of Undead, I nodded. But off further away, I saw a creature almost as tall as a 4-5 story building, stepping on foes?!

"No doubt it is a Phoenix, but I do not know what that giant stone man is? What, no I know who that belongs to!"

Then I noticed next to it, a 15 foot tall Hill Giant, and was shocked to know who that big ass stone man belonged to.

"That must be Dial Canberra's new summons, but I do not know what it is?"

Zoe, much further back with Freya, saw it and was surprised, because Dial never lived to see 4th Circle, and she said to us up front...

"Master, that is an 8th Circle Elemental Titan from the Plane of Earth. It is a cross between Elementals and Giants. It is as strong as the Phoenix and True Dragons... Oh, And Sister Freya, haha."

And off to the other-side, I saw a tall woman flying low with white-wings, swinging a Broadsword on the heads of Undead, and I blurted while pointing.

"Frank, look... I think that is an Angel!"

Well, with my Earth memories, that is indeed the logical guess, but Freya with better eyesight corrects me.

"Darling, that is not a 7th Circle Angel, but an 8th Circle Archangel."

Yeah, for a while now, Freya has started calling me 'Darling', but I love it... My curiosity peaked, so I asked her.

"What is the difference between the two?"

"Angels are like Light Strong and Vanguard Knights, while Archangels are counted as an 8th Circle Light Mage for magic powers. But despite this, the Archangel is a strong Martial Knight like the normal Angel."

Frank watching the woman flying and laying waste to foes, said with some awe.

"Damn Sam, too bad you did not contract with that, hehe."

Only for a split second did I even think of it, but when I heard Freya's voice, my thoughts abandoned it.

"Zoe, if I kill Frank a few times, can you just keep using [Breath of Life] to bring him back?"

"No problem, anything for you Sister Freya, haha."

Frank, hearing the two talk, said to me a bit more loudly.

"But with my beautiful Aunt Freya, a stinky Archangel is nothing, am I right Uncle-in-law?!"

I gave Frank a thumbs up in my heart, for knowing when to retreat.

But before I could say anything, from behind a large group of rocks a large Demonic Beast Skeleton climbed out from the dirt...

About 50 feet ahead of us, a Skeleton with the body of a Giant Lizard loomed over us at 20 feet tall, its glowing red pinpoint eyes locked onto us...

".............!" It made a silent roar, as no sounds could be made without a voice-box.

Thud Thud Thud! And it swiftly lunged towards us, and soon, our first fight began...

-

To be continued...

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