The Guardian System: The strongest Summoner's quest to save his family

Lena drove her blade through the worker ant's segmented head, twisting the steel until ichor sprayed across the cavern floor. The creature's mandibles snapped once, then went slack as its legs buckled.

[Soldier Vorathid Ant defeated.]

[You have gained 630 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]

[You have earned 189 Survival Points.]

Reidar's Void Javelin pierced another ant's thorax from across the chamber, the dark energy unraveling its insides. The beast collapsed in a heap of twitching limbs.

[Worker Vorathid Ant defeated.]

[You have gained 687 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]

[You have earned 206 Survival Points.]

Reidar watched Lena yank her blade free; the worker ant collapsed on the ground as a result. His bone militia and spectral knights pushed deeper into the nest.

Sweat beaded on Lena's brow. She spun toward the next cluster of ants swarming from the tunnel mouth. Reidar caught her arm mid-swing, pulling her behind a spectral knight's shield as acid spit was launched from nearby.

"Don't overdo it."

She wrenched free, eyes locked on the horde. "I'm fine."

Her gaze burned with a fury that almost took real form. Embers that refused to die.

He couldn't blame her.

After the situation in Havenwood, they had buried Martin themselves in a grave at the ranger station's edge. Reidar shoveled the earth without ceremony. He pitied the man, a flicker of sorrow for the end Martin met, for the loss of human life, but no deeper grief stirred.

He was a prick, after all.

Martin's deceptions had brought him that result. Lies that turned allies to enemies and that painted Reidar as a villain, while he was the only one who could have helped them.

Lena lingered near the grave longer than him, kneeling by the mound until the soil settled. She rose with dirt-streaked hands and joined him without words. Trust bound her to Reidar now, and he was the only one who might have a chance to give her the revenge she sought.

Jorik was first on the list. Then Mara, Aaron, and lastly Silas. But she needed strength, something only Reidar could give her.

Reidar partnered with Lena reluctantly, tied by their common foes and the terror of Silas's might. It wasn't just that, but Lena also told him she would just follow him wherever he wanted, knowing that he was bound to meet the Church of Unbinding again, and that was because Silas said so to his face.

They would meet again, for whatever reason the church had.

They traveled in perpetual caution until they had to stop to rest. Reidar's summons made a perimeter around their camps. The Spectral Knights patrolled the treelines, the bone militia surrounded the camp, and the primal pack rested near them for easy fleeing.

Lena wanted to stay around Reidar for two reasons. The first was that she hoped to find the church's base so that she could have her revenge; the second was that she wanted more power, and she knew exactly where to find it in this area, which led her and Reidar back to the Vorathid Ants' nest.

Reidar agreed because after learning the Progenitor had converted an entire settlement with nothing but words and raw power, she needed something simple. Something that made sense.

Killing monsters made sense.

The man watched Lena flash through another soldier ant, severing its leg. He gripped his wand tighter, channeling a root grasp to snare the beast before it could attack her.

"You sure about this?"

Lena wiped ichor from her cheek as she heard Reidar's question. "We can still go back. There are several levels between us and the queen."

She didn't answer immediately.

The Vorathid Queen had nearly crushed them before. She was at level ninety-one, surrounded by hundreds of guardians.

But that was when they were both around level 60. Now they were around level 79, with refined skills and increased attributes, and most importantly, with thousands of Rift-Sprites and Spectral Knights at Reidar's beck and call, it might be possible for them to do it.

"I'm sure."

Reidar nodded.

"As you wish then. I owe these bastards for the last retreat, anyway."

The entrance yawned wide before them, a dark mouth cut into the cave floor. From the shadows below came a steady, clicking rhythm, chitinous legs scraping stone. Thousands of eyes glinted in the darkness, all fixed on the two humans who'd come too close.

Reidar dismounted his wolf. Lena didn't.

"Are you ready?" Reidar raised his Shepherd's Crook, mana already coiling through its tip.

Lena's eyes swept the chamber entrance, calculating distances and angles. "Born ready."

The queen waited inside. Reidar pictured her swollen form, mandibles clacking, and the endless tide of defenders between them to give them orders.

The last time he and Lena had been there, they had been forced to flee. The last time, he'd been weaker. This time, things were going to be different.

He channeled mana into his trait. The familiar rush of knowledge transfer pulsed outward from his core. His Rift-Sprite Contubernium, already summoned, received multiple summoning skills.

Mana drained from him in a controlled burn as they got Summon Spectral Knights, Summon Bone Militia, Summon Primal Pack, Summon Rift-Sprite contubernium, and so on.

One by one, more and more creatures appeared. Of course, Reidar didn't just stop at that. The Spectral Knights themselves received various skills, not only summoning ones but even Mending touch. They could use it, and since they were going to fight melee, that was the best skill he could give them.

"Here we go."

Ten became a hundred. A hundred became a thousand. The area got filled with spectral knights, skeletal warriors, and prowling beasts, followed by hovering spectral entities that siphoned mana from the surroundings.

The air itself grew thick with the press of summoned bodies; the temperature in the cave increased because of the number of monsters, each one answering to Reidar's will through the chain of command he'd built.

Lena's breath caught. "How many—"

"Enough." Reidar shared Mending Touch with her. "I know there is no way you are going to use summons; it wouldn't make a difference nonetheless, but at least use mending touch to heal yourself when you need to. Don't wait for me to notice, especially because I need to focus on my creatures, and Hive mind echo doesn't ease the pressure enough yet."

She nodded, sliding off the wolf. Her blades materialized in her hands, reflecting the ghostly light of the spectral knights.

"Let's finish what we started."