NOVEL NEXT Chapter 176: Blackie
[Ranked Summon - Elite Grade]
[Please grant the summon a name]
Damien raised his brow in pleasant surprise.
"Ranked summon? So all the summons before weren't strong enough to be ranked, not even the S ranked beasts? Not even the S ranked beasts?"
Damien rubbed his nose as his mind raced. "This power of mine… This system is definitely not of this world. The dragons are already at the very top of this new mana awakened food chain. And for it to be revived in its strongest form AND still only be ranked as Elite… Incredible."
Hmmmmrrrrraaahh!
The Black Dragon rumbled lightly before him.
Damien could sense its excitement at being revived and its endless desire to please and to obey him. And within his mindspace, he could also clearly sense its strength and skills.
"His name is… Blackie. Summarize his stats and skills for me." Damien ordered the system.
HMMRAAAHHH!!! RAHH!!
Blackie rumbled even more excitedly than before.
"I have a name! I am Blackie!" It seemed to say.
But alas, it had no tongue, and was unable to say anything.
[Elite Summon Status]
Name: Blackie
Elemental Alignment: Darkness (Level 10), Time (Level 2)
Combat Role: Attack / Support
[Core Stats]
HP: 5200 / 5200
MP: 25,000 / 25,000
Strength: 52
Agility: 52
Vitality: 52
Intelligence: 250
Sense: 7
Passive Skills
Abyssal Presence
Generates an oppressive aura within a 20-meter radius. Reduces enemy perception and reaction speed. Light-based attacks weaken significantly. May induce hallucinations or whispers in weaker foes.
Shadow Regeneration
Recovers HP steadily while within areas of low light. Regeneration rate doubles during night or underground environments.
Temporal Echo (Time Affinity)
Occasionally replays a split-second of motion. Grants preemptive dodges or counters when under pressure. Chance of activation scales with Intelligence.
Active Skills
Human Transformation
Transforms into a humanoid form of its choosing. While transformed, it retains all passive skills and limited access to active abilities, with aura suppression for subtle infiltration.
Reaping Step
Instantly teleports to a shadow within 40 meters. Executes a blade strike upon reappearance. If it results in a kill, this ability's cooldown resets.
Umbral Chains
Summons ethereal black chains to bind up to three enemies. Duration and strength increase each second. If a bound enemy dies, their shadow becomes an anchor, slowing all enemies within range.
Black Vortex
Generates a swirling field of anti-light that blocks projectiles, muffles sound, and blinds foes. Allies act unaffected inside. Lasts for 8 seconds.
Time-Infused Skills
Temporal Laceration (Hybrid Skill)
Delivers a blow that stores inflicted damage for 5 seconds before violently detonating. The delayed detonation releases a time ripple, damaging nearby enemies.
Flicker Assault
Briefly phases out of the timeline for 1.2 seconds. Becomes untouchable and passes through enemies before striking from behind with enhanced lethality.
Temporal Domain (Ultimate – Locked until Lv. 15)
Creates a localized time distortion field. All enemy actions are slowed while the summon's speed and attack cadence increase. Spells stutter, movement lags. Duration: 10 seconds. High mana cost.
Damien almost whistled in admiration as he read through Blackie's skill list.
"Ten powerful skills, with three fusion skills. Excellent." He smiled widely, the kind of satisfied grin only a necromancer with a new apex weapon could wear.
He hadn't even fed it yet. No upgrades, no modifications, no soul-etching rituals. This was its base state. Just freshly revived and already stronger than most living generals he'd seen.
A summon with an intelligence stat of 250.
A mana pool of 25,000.
And fusion skills that bent time and death.
He could feel it, too. The ripple Blackie left behind as it hovered silently above the battlefield. The shadows bent toward it. Mana curled around its form like it was owed a debt.
Damien glanced at the beast, watching its sleek form glimmer in the dark, a crown of twisting, runed horns forming above its head, wings half-folded like curtains of night. Its presence was absolute, quiet, and terrifying.
"I wonder how the world's going to react when it realizes this is just an Elite," he muttered. "Just wait till I get a higher ranked one."
A pulse of death mana flared from his palm. He raised his hand again, now half-tempted to test the upper limit. Could he mark a second Ranked Summon? Could he revive a full platoon of them?
Blackie turned its head slightly toward him, its new eyes, swirling with layered clockwork runes, watching, waiting.
It didn't speak, but he could feel its loyalty.
"Turn into a human being and follow me. You're now my butler," Damien said, already turning to walk away.
A ripple of mana flickered behind him. Damien paused, sensing the transformation complete. He turned back…
And froze.
Standing behind him was a massive, burly black woman, easily seven feet tall, wrapped in flowing black robes that barely contained her absurdly broad shoulders.
Her jaw was square, her arms were thick enough to wrestle giants, and her smile stretched unsettlingly wide under massive lizard eyes that glowed faintly red.
"…What the hell," Damien muttered, stepping back. "You're a female?!"
The towering woman gave a regal nod.
Damien rubbed his temple slowly. "Okay… fine, you're a girl. But why the hell are you so ugly?! Change into something prettier!"
Mana rippled again.
A second transformation followed with a puff of black smoke. When it cleared, the new figure was shorter, only six feet now, but still very much a black woman, still robed in black… and somehow even uglier.
Damien squinted. "What… is that a beard? Is that a beard on one side of your face?"
Blackie adjusted the asymmetric hood proudly.
Damien stared, horrified. "You look like a melted statue of a war goddess that got left in the sun."
Blackie beamed.
He groaned. "No. Get smaller. No facial hair. Human eyes, not lizard eyes."
Blackie tilted her head, then raised both hands in a dramatic flourish as mana pulsed outward. Smoke billowed.
When it cleared, the massive burly woman in black robes stood tall again. Glowing eyes, wide grin, muscles like she bench-pressed mountains for fun.