The Terrifying Summoned Beast

Sains sighed. He had initially thought he could accomplish this at minimal cost, but in hindsight, that had been somewhat naive. Earlier, he had worried the bait wouldn't be substantial enough—that a big fish might swallow it whole without getting hooked. Now, it was he, the fisherman holding the rod, who could no longer reel it in. Sains raised a hand. Anpang bowed immediately. "Yes, my lord." He stepped forward, preparing to rally his squad and launch an attack. But Sains merely lowered his hand slowly. Having changed his mind, he said, "Forget it. No need to waste time on pointless struggles." Anpang breathed a silent sigh of relief, though he put on a look of confusion and anxiety. "My lord, are we giving up just like that?" Sains shook his head. "Not giving up. Just saving time, without senseless waste." "My lord?" "Blessing of the Moon—Radiance." Anpang looked down in shock. A firefly-like glow was flickering against his chest—the moth he had swallowed earlier had now awakened. At the same time, light broke out across the chests of the priests under Anpang's command. Not only that, the same transformation occurred on the corpses lying slain on the ground. In the next instant, everyone realized with terror that their life force was being drained at a rapid pace. "My lord... no... you can't..." Anpang wanted to question him, wanted to resist, but his hair was rapidly turning white and his skin was shriveling at terrifying speed. His body withered to skin and bones before degenerating directly into a desiccated corpse. Below, the exact same thing was happening to every living person and corpse alike. Mummified husks emerged one after another. Once the hosts were drained of all vitality and died completely, larger moths fluttered out of their bodies. Sains waved his arm, conjuring a streak of yellow flame before him. As if answering a summons, the moths threw themselves into the fire, their bodies swiftly incinerating and dissolving in the blaze. Gradually, golden liquid began to drip down, coalescing into a golden mantis. Standing three meters tall, its pair of scythes remained motionless, yet their keen edge seemed to slice through the very air around them. When it had fully materialized, red light flared in its compound eyes. It let out a shrill screech, and a suffocating, trembling aura slowly leaked forth. It first turned its head toward Sains, as if gripped by a bloodthirsty urge. Red light flared in Sains's eyes as well, and the giant mantis bowed its head. — "Moon Guardian Beast—Kulisha!" Ashley immediately recognized the summoned beast's identity, though she was bewildered. "That shouldn't be possible! It's one of the guardian divine beasts serving the Moon Goddess. The spell to summon it must be at the forbidden curse level. Even though this man paired it with a sacrifice of lives, what he used was just an ordinary summoning spell." Richard asked in confusion, "Couldn't he have just summoned a beggar's edition of Kulisha?" Memphis spoke up, "Unless you're only summoning a horn or an arm, as long as it's summoned in its entirety, you must possess the corresponding tier. No matter how weakened it is—even if its power is merely a hundredth or a thousandth of normal—as long as it appears whole, the summoning spell's tier must correspond." "What do you mean by tier?" Richard still didn't understand. "It's like certain noble gatherings that require a high enough title to attend. A ragged marquis can walk in, while an impeccably dressed wealthy merchant would be turned away." Karen chimed in, "Like the [Black Prison Castle] we learned. It requires authorized access." Richard replied, "Uh, I haven't learned [Black Prison Castle]." "Oh, that wasn't directed at you." Richard: "..." What had originally been a mob of enemies had now turned into a single adversary paired with a summoned beast, yet the sense of oppression was even stronger. Karen cautioned, "Stay sharp, everyone. I suspect this guy might be like instructor Mavaglio from our training—the inheritor of some big shot." To cast what should have been a forbidden curse-level spell with such ease proved he possessed superior credentials—higher authorization. Yet he hadn't displayed overwhelming raw personal strength; otherwise, the summoned Kulisha wouldn't be only three meters tall. The impression was genuinely just like Mavaglio—an aura of mystery and rank that didn't match his own actual power. In truth, there was one thing Karen had never quite figured out: according to Madame Gandiro, this tomb had been remodeled jointly by her husband and the Congers family, but why were there so many Moon Goddess Church elements inside? Madame Gandiro herself might not have known this, as she had already died back then and was only "Awakened" in the tomb by her husband. She was Mr. Gandiro's wife, but she hadn't been his research assistant. Her husband had utilized the Congers clan's faith characteristics to trigger and study enchantment effects, while she could only use them as an audience for her performances to relieve her loneliness. Now, the presence of people from the Moon Goddess Church here clearly meant they possessed extensive intelligence on the tomb's situation—and even on the research conducted inside. The most plausible explanation was likely that Mr. Gandiro had helpers when conducting this research—perhaps more than one—and one of those helpers had to be someone from the Moon Goddess Church. But why was the timing so coincidental? Madame Gandiro had been lying here for over a century. Why had the Moon Goddess Church waited until now to retrieve something instead of coming earlier? Surely an orthodox church like the Moon Goddess Church wasn't so poor that they couldn't afford travel expenses and had to hitch a ride with a visiting delegation just to fetch something? Karen broke off his train of thought. Right now, he needed to focus his attention on the man and beast before them. Sains drifted forward, and Kulisha, like a giant mantis, trailed alongside him toward Karen's squad. "Prepare for defense!" Karen was cautious by nature, particularly when facing the unknown; he preferred a conservative approach to feel out and understand the enemy first. Ashley had already dismissed Mombas, unable to sustain the beast's presence alone for long. However, she maintained Sandy, letting him circle overhead since sustaining Sandy consumed minimal energy. Most importantly, Ashley needed a monster beast phantom around to give herself a sense of purpose! "Go," Sains said. Kulisha broke into a run, turning into a streak of yellow light. Muri barked, "Ventura, go! Bart and I will form layered blocks! Philomena, watch that one!" Karen commanded the big picture, while Muri directed the frontline melee on the outer perimeter; their commands didn't conflict. In his giant form, Ventura was no shorter than Kulisha, but their speeds weren't even remotely comparable. Even though Ventura was ready to intercept Kulisha first, Kulisha flashed past at the instant of impact. Skirting Ventura, its scythes slashed crosswise in rapid succession, shockingly stalling the defensive arrays nearby. Immediately afterward, its form twisted, attempting to pierce right through the outer perimeter and the array defenses into the core area. When Karen's team established a defensive system centered on arrays, it meant an attacker had to breach it layer by layer from outside in. Muri seemed to have anticipated this. The advantage of layered defense was that the enemy couldn't bypass everyone at once. Charging out from an angle, he slashed his blade onto Kulisha's back. But Kulisha's body was extraordinarily slick; the solid strike simply slid off without dealing any damage. Instead, Muri's own momentum went unchecked, nearly throwing him off balance. Yet at the instant he was about to slip past, the round shield in Muri's hand pressed flat against Kulisha's back, adhering firmly to it. Once stabilized, Muri planted his feet on the ground, his muscles bulging as he forcibly hauled back on Kulisha's body. That single moment of delay was all Memphis needed to instantly repair the array. The pressure of the sixfold defensive array bore directly down on Kulisha, slowing it even further as if it had stepped into a quagmire. At the same time, various debuffs stacked accurately onto Kulisha, rolling over it like a colossal millstone. Ventura turned and ran back. Instead of grabbing Kulisha, he wrapped his arms around Muri, anchoring him like a spike to pull back on Kulisha. Bart advanced with his sword. Rather than slashing or stabbing, he looped behind Kulisha's neck, hooking the blade around it. Bone spurs on both of his arms locked onto either end of the longsword, and he pulled outward with tremendous force. Kulisha's carapace was slippery, but Bart used a sawing motion to slice into its neck. Philomena didn't join that clash, instead keeping her eyes fixed on the approaching Sains. Sains tilted his neck. Instantly bathed in moonlight, an exquisite, gentle suit of Moon Guardian Armor formed over his body. The next moment, he flashed forward into the outer area. Philomena moved as well, instantly closing the distance between them. Sains swept his wand toward her. Bang! Philomena was deflected, but she surged forward again immediately, thrusting from another angle. Sains swept his wand once more, repelling her again. Philomena didn't give up, relentlessly pressing her attacks on Sains. Her goal was merely to impede his advance and buy time for the others behind her to deal with the summoned beast. Yet Philomena could clearly sense that her opponent wasn't in any hurry either. Sains said, "You know, I really dislike this style of fighting. Rigid, dogmatic, clichéd, and utterly devoid of creativity. But then again, that's the habit of your Church of Order—no, it's your tradition. After all these years, you haven't changed a bit." Philomena had no interest in chatting. She launched another sudden assault, but this time, he didn't parry. Instead, he pulled back cleanly to a safe distance, looked at her, and smiled faintly. "Come out and fight?" Philomena ignored his "invitation." Remaining within the array's coverage, she glared at him, standing perfectly still. Behind her, tiny fissures finally began spreading across Kulisha's unimaginably slick carapace. The beast's defense was truly alarming! Richard said doubtfully, "Why is this thing so clumsy? I've got a bad feeling about this." Karen glanced at Richard. He trusted his cousin's intuition, and more importantly, he also felt Kulisha's performance was overly rigid. Had the weakened version degraded its intelligence as well? Any normal combatant would have recognized that the initial ambush had failed and retreated immediately to look for another opening, rather than behaving like an enraged bull fixated on a single direction—because doing so would inevitably lead to being worn down to death. "Alfred, Succubus Eye!" "Yes, Young Master!" Alfred activated his Succubus Eye to inspect the surroundings. Memphis lowered his head, his left hand hidden inside his sleeve, lost in thought. Suddenly, as if realizing something, Memphis kicked Richard away and simultaneously tossed a black leaf onto Mars. Almost at that exact moment, a slightly smaller, silver Kulisha materialized behind Memphis, slashing down with a scythe! After kicking Richard, Memphis had already begun shifting position while cloaking himself in a layer of defensive black mist. When the scythe landed, it only carved a deep wound across his back. It all happened blindingly fast. Had Memphis been even a fraction of a second slower or failed to deploy his defenses, his body and soul might have been cleaved clean in two. Even so, when Memphis crashed to the ground after being sent flying, he let out a muffled groan. A terrifying toxin was spreading rapidly from the wound. As the silver Kulisha appeared, the golden Kulisha trapped on the perimeter shriveled at once. Muri, Ventura, and Bart froze in shock—they had been wrestling with a shed carapace the entire time! After batting Memphis away with one scythe, the silver Kulisha's next slash descended on Mars. A shroud of black mist billowed around Mars just as it had around Memphis, and Alfred arrived in the nick of time, slamming into Mars to shove him aside. Splatter! A gruesome wound was carved across Mars's chest, throwing him through the air, while Kulisha's scythe impaled straight through Alfred's left arm. Karen swung the Sword of Arius at Kulisha, but upon contact, the blade slid right off—the creature's physical evasion was extraordinarily high. Though impaled by the scythe, Alfred showed not a shred of panic. Red light flared in his eyes as he intoned in a low voice: "Rage!" Kulisha let out a low growl, its emotions swayed. Raising its other scythe, it moved to hack apart the annoyance tampering with its mind. In truth, it could simply have dragged the scythe already piercing Alfred sideways, which likely would have sliced him cleanly in half. But "Rage" made it instinctively seek a more satisfying way to butcher its prey. Alfred had saved his own life through this gambit. For before Kulisha's scythe could fall, chains of Order bound it tightly. Karen threw his arms wide. Chains of Order erupted from him, wrapping Kulisha up entirely. Karen then slammed a fist into the ground, forcibly tightening the chains! Kulisha was yanked back, and Alfred slumped to the floor, his wounded arm already turned a bruised purplish-black. Just moments ago, if Uncle Aisen in their ranks hadn't anticipated the danger at the critical juncture and taken emergency measures, Memphis, Richard, and Mars would now be three corpses. Without the black leaf Memphis gave him, Mars never would have lasted until Alfred could shove him clear; he would have died on the spot. Yet even so, the team had effectively lost three array masters in an instant... if Richard counted as one. Even though they were alive, they were severely wounded, and the poison was rapidly invading their bodies. In truth, Kulisha had succeeded. With no one to manage the arrays, they stopped functioning, instantly shattering the defensive system Karen's squad relied upon. At this moment, Karen was hauling back on Kulisha alone. Muri was preparing to bring Ventura and Bart over to help, but Karen shouted: "Keep your eyes on that one! Philomena, fall back!" Muri hesitated not a moment, turning outward and leading Bart and Ventura to watch Sains, while Philomena dashed back, completing the switch. Clad in his guardian armor, Sains merely smiled without attacking. But Muri took the initiative and struck. Now that the defensive arrays were broken, continuing a standoff made no sense; with two fronts open, it was better to press for an opening here. Sains began retreating, actively opening distance. He clearly had no desire to get bogged down in a messy slugfest—he cherished his own life. Philomena appeared at the silver Kulisha's flank. "Its defenses are terrifying! Use a mental attack to pin it down!" Karen shouted. Philomena replied, "Understood." With that, Philomena sprang forward. Although Karen had bound Kulisha with chains of Order, the monster was not wrapped entirely airtight. Finding a gap, she pressed her palm against its body, closed her eyes, and uttered: "Dream Awake!" Philomena's "awakening" was in fact an "entry into dreams." In an instant, Kulisha ceased its violent thrashing and fell still, as though it too had fallen asleep. Immediately after, a smile appeared on Philomena's face as if she were having a sweet dream. In this way, the girl let Karen know that she could hold the summoned beast in check. Karen began to contemplate: what method could actually destroy this thing? Or should he disengage now to help Muri's group take down that man first? However, events gave Karen little time to deliberate. "Heh heh." Retreating swiftly, Sains chuckled and raised his wand. The black crescent at the wand's tip burst into flame. "Hey, stop dreaming. Kulisha, wake up." Flames ignited across the slumbering Kulisha. Its body trembled as though on the verge of waking, and the flames threatened to spread toward Philomena. "Go, Sandy!" At Ashley's command, Sandy swooped down above Kulisha, opened his mouth, and inhaled violently. The flames on Kulisha were drawn upward and sucked into Sandy's maw. The fire on Kulisha gradually diminished, while Sandy shook violently from the burning heat.