The Guardian System: The strongest Summoner's quest to save his family-Chapter 372: Straight Lines in a Crooked World (4)

Reidar saw it the moment he looked up from the map.

An Ignis crouched in the shadows near the back wall of the warehouse. The creature had no legs since its lower body ended in a mass of rock-like skin that oozed some kind of liquid. The upper body was humanoid as much as the other Ignis, but twisted, far more than the other Ignis, but like the others, it had arms that ended in blade-like protrusions instead of hands.

The interface appeared.

—[Feral Ignis—Level 488]—

Then everything clicked.

<That's why Mara left the map.>

The creature must have attacked her while she was studying it, and she had to teleport before she could grab it.

<She probably barely escaped with her life given the level difference.>

The Ignis stared at Reidar. The cracks in its rocky skin flared bright orange. It made no sound, but Reidar knew that wasn't going to last long, and one of these things' screeches was loud enough to be heard miles away.

The creature launched itself forward. No legs didn't mean no movement, albeit it was weird. Though it was surely faster than Reidar expected.

He dove behind a crate as the Ignis crashed into the spot where he'd been standing. The impact shattered the floor and sent debris flying in every direction.

<Twenty-four levels higher. I can't fight this thing head-on.>

He summoned the Undying Legion. The skill had become something far more powerful than most summoners could manage—Grave Calling added twenty extra warriors to the base count, Legion Commander boosted that by another ten percent, and Boundless Legion doubled the entire result.

The math worked out to two hundred and seventy skeletal warriors materializing in the warehouse.

They weren't strong individually, at least not compared to the Ignis—Boundless Legion had originally cut their health and damage in half, though his maxed investment had negated that penalty entirely.

Legion's Fortitude then doubled their attributes since it came from a batch skill, bringing them to fifty percent above their original strength.

The skeletons charged, knowing already what Reidar wanted from them. Reidar had a strategy in mind that revolved around disposable numbers.

For that reason, he summoned a creature that could absorb punishment, trigger his defensive perks, and then create the effect he wished.

The Ignis disintegrated five skeletons with a single sweep of its blade arm through the front line; that was true, but unfortunately for it, the undead served another purpose in Reidar's strategy.

The perk Adaptive Evolution converted the fire damage they'd absorbed into resistance each time one was destroyed. This meant that the skeletons lasted longer as they got it, and then, once they were inevitably destroyed, they exploded.

[Your Summon (Dread-Shield) has been destroyed.]

…

[Your Summon (Dread-Shield) has been destroyed.]

The Feral Ignis's bestial attacks caused as many explosions as the creatures it was killing. Despite being specialized in defense, the Dread-Shields died like flies; it made no difference they were tankier before that thing.

[Your Summon (Dread-Shield) has been destroyed.]

…

[Your Summon (Dread-Shield) has been destroyed.]

[Your Summon (Dread-Shield) has been destroyed.]

Reidar then summoned some Vorathid Sky-Hunters, realizing that he needed more powerful fighters this time. The insects swarmed around the Ignis, diving at its face and clawing at the glowing cracks in its skin. The creature ignored them and focused on the skeletons, which kept pressing forward despite the casualties.

More skeletons fell as a consequence of the creature's brutal assault, since the Ignis moved through them with devastating focus, cutting them down like a harvester moving through a field of wheat, leaving nothing but broken bones in its wake.

But that was fine.

[Your Summon (Undying Legion) has been destroyed.]

[Your Summon (Undying Legion) has been destroyed.]

The skeletons exploded, and the explosions were big enough to stagger the Ignis and crack several sections of its rocky skin.

Then, moments later, another skeleton detonated in a brilliant flash of destructive energy. Following that initial explosion, three more skeletal warriors erupted in a burst of fire and mana.

The Ignis screeched. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Shit!"

[Your Summon (Dread-Shield) has been destroyed.]

[Your Summon (Dread-Shield) has been destroyed.]

…

[Your Summon (Dread-Shield) has been destroyed.]

[Your Summon (Dread-Shield) has been destroyed.]

…

[Your Summon (Dread-Shield) has been destroyed.] Reidar crouched lower behind the crates, the grit of debris dusting his shoulders as the warehouse filled with choking smoke. He didn't look away, though; he needed to see this.

The floor vibrated against his knees; the tremors escalating as more explosions rattled everything. Five explosions, then eight, and finally a cluster of twelve that rattled his teeth.

In the center of that firestorm, he watched the Ignis thrash, tearing his skeletons apart, but Reidar felt satisfaction. The system was doing its job.

He knew Pack Tactics was stacking the damage numbers high as the mob focused fire, and with Coordinated Assault triggering on his mark, every detonation hit harder than the last, resulting in a continuous cascade of destruction that seared his retinas.

"This must work…"

[Your Summon (Dread-Shield) has been destroyed.]

…

[Your Summon (Dread-Shield) has been destroyed.]

[Your Summon (Dread-Shield) has been destroyed.]

…

[Your Summon (Dread-Shield) has been destroyed.]

…

[Your Summon (Dread-Shield) has been destroyed.]

The creature's movements slowed as large chunks of its rocky skin were blown away, exposing a core that pulsed with orange light like a dying star, yet the thing was anything but dead.

Instead, the Ignis planted both blade-arms into the floor and heaved itself upward, pulling forward in one massive lunge that crashed through the remaining skeletons as it headed straight for Reidar's position.

<Shit!>

Reidar ran as the Ignis carved through the warehouse behind him, destroying everything in its path—collapsing shelves, exploding crates, and cracking the floor itself under the heat.

He summoned more Vorathid Sky-Hunters and sent them diving at the creature, noting that although nothing seemed to be working since the insects couldn't do much damage to that monstrosity, they could at least distract it long enough for him to gain some distance.

[Your Summon (Vorathid Sky-Hunter) has been destroyed.]

[Your Summon (Vorathid Sky-Hunter) has been destroyed.]

…

[Your Summon (Vorathid Sky-Hunter) has been destroyed.]

[Your Summon (Vorathid Sky-Hunter) has been destroyed.]