Online Game: Starting With SSS-Ranked Summons-Chapter 403: Arthur is gathering Awakeners.

Some rifts proved more difficult than others.

The human champions were proving more resilient than the initial assessments suggested.

Perhaps this assignment isn’t entirely worthless.

A smile played across Malthorn’s features as understanding dawned. If Earth proved more challenging than expected, successful conquest would demonstrate rewards that even Bael’zarok couldn’t ignore.

I can turn exile into an opportunity.

The communication crystals chimed with reports from field commanders. Epic-rank forces requesting additional support, they were encountering unexpected resistance.

"Perhaps. This primitive world will provide more entertainment than I initially anticipated." Malthorn whispered to the empty chamber.

...

Skyla’s keen eyes tracked movement across Lansing’s devastated skyline, her enhanced vision cataloguing threats. Beside her, Hank’s darker feathers ruffled in winds that carried the scent of blood and destruction.

Below them, seventeen awakened humans clustered together. These survivors had been saved by them from defective demon attacks minutes earlier, their gratitude transforming into dependency as larger threats emerged.

"There! Epic-rank signatures approaching from the northeast portal." Skyla’s sharp cry pierced the air.

Two small, lesser demons emerged from the dimensional tear, their burning eyes fixed on human prey. Epic-rank demons, far beyond anything the survivors could handle alone.

Hank dove first, his razor-sharp talons extended for maximum damage. The lead demon looked up just as claws raked across its skull, drawing black ichor that steamed in the cold air.

"SHRIEK!"

The demon’s roar of pain echoed across the city as Hank banked away from its retaliatory swipe.

Hank didn’t want to kill the demon; he had done enough damage to avoid outright killing it, but sufficient to mark the target for human forces.

"Now!" Hank called to the awakened survivors. "They’re wounded and partially blinded! Use this opportunity to kill them."

The survivors had already gotten used to the talking hawk. Whilst it was still unbelievable that such a hawk exists, neither were all the demons around them.

Skyla followed her partner’s lead, her smaller frame allowing for more precise strikes. Her talons found the second demon’s face, shredding the demon’s face and vision while staying clear of its grasping arms.

The humans surged forward with weapons they’d scavenged from lucky drops, or so they thought.

Blades and armour that glowed with protective energy.

"Focus fire on the left one!"

SLICE!

Coordinated attacks from seventeen awakened individuals overwhelmed the injured demon’s defences. Energy blasts and enchanted steel found vital organs while the creature struggled with damaged vision.

[You have killed a Level 3 Lesser Demon]

[Level Up! You are now Level 3.]

"Keep it distracted!" an awakened shouted, bringing down a warhammer that had dropped from the hawk’s kills.

Skyla and Hank maintained their aerial harassment, talons striking whenever the demon’s attention focused on ground targets. Their scouting abilities allowed perfect timing, strike and let the humans do the job.

They killed some demons occasionally to drop a few items that the other humans could use.

CRASH!

Marcus’s final blow caved in the demon’s skull, black ichor spraying across shattered pavement.

"Incredible," one breathed, staring at her enhanced abilities. "We’re actually getting stronger."

During their earlier introductions, the survivors had asked about their aerial protectors’ origin. Hank’s response had been simple and direct.

"Arthur Fate sent us. We are sent to protect everyone we find."

The name carried weight that made military intervention irrelevant. Even if conventional forces appeared, what would they do to these demons?

In their eyes, the current military was useless. Even one man was more useful than the entire operation. It’s been so long, yet still, the military was nowhere to be seen around.

The awakeners couldn’t care less whether the military was busy protecting others. They care about their own safety, not others.

"Those demons are from the rift in the south," Skyla reported, her scouting abilities detecting the rift.

"We need to head there and take control of the rift."

The survivors gathered their weapons, confidence building with each successful engagement. The dropped equipment and the Hawks’ tactical support had transformed frightened civilians into capable fighters.

Hank spread his wings wide, preparing for the next engagement.

"Follow our lead. Stay together. And you shall stay alive."

...

The same scene could be seen across Michigan as Arthur’s other summons established their territories of protection.

The three beetles moved through abandoned factories. Their chitinous shells gleamed with energy as they shepherded twelve awakened survivors through demon-infested ruins.

"Stay within formation," One of the beetles clicked his mandibles. "Demons approach from all kinds of places."

The survivors—a mix of factory workers and office personnel—clutched weapons that had appeared from seemingly nowhere. Each beetle kill produced equipment drops that defied logical explanation.

CRASH!

A level 3 lesser demon burst through deteriorating ceiling tiles, its claws extended toward a terrified accountant who was directly in front of it. freēnovelkiss.com

One of the beetles intercepted with blur-fast movement, his armoured carapace deflecting demonic strikes that could shred steel. The impact sent reverberations through the concrete floor.

Perfect timing. Flawless execution.

SIZZLE! SLICE!

The beetle’s mandiples found the demon immediately, killing it before it could pose more danger to the humans behind it.

[You have killed Level 3 Lesser Demon (Epic-Rank)]

The beetle’s multifaceted eyes tracked additional threats.

The beetles formed protective triangulation around their human charges, their coordination speaking to hive-mind efficiency.

..

Sunless’s appearance had initially terrified the fifteen survivors he’d encountered. The undead knight’s white-bone look and hollow eye sockets screamed "demon" to people who’d spent hours fleeing corrupted entities.

"Please don’t hurt us!" A mother clutched her teenage daughter, both of them trembling before Sunless’s imposing form.

"I am Arthur Fate’s knight, you are under my protection," Sunless spoke, his voice cold despite his good intentions.

Despite being confused, the mother had no option but to listen to the undead knight.

The survivors, mostly families from suburban neighbourhoods, had watched Sunless systematically dismantle demon threats with speed and accuracy that spoke of his combat experience.

His blade, an epic weapon that sang with energy, carved through demonic ranks like a scythe through wheat.

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