9 Summons (1/2)

Li had to admit he was surprised at what he had done.

Firstly, there was the matter of getting rid of the weaker bandits. Li snapped his fingers and the ground beside him broke apart. The head of a gargantuan ant emerged, almost as big as a fully-grown man on its own. It was a wonder to think how massive the rest of the ant's body was beneath the ground.

This was a Trapjaw Myrmeke, part of a race of giant ants called the Myrmeke and known for massive jaws that curled out from the sides of its head like hairy pincers. They clicked together rapidly, mimicking a purring sound. Li pet the myrmeke's head and its compound eyes closed in satisfaction.

This particular summon was based off the real-life antlion which consumed its prey by dragging them underground.

It was level 60 and not much use offensively but was incredibly useful for potentially rooting an enemy in place for a few valuable seconds. However, when set loose on bandits that were barely level fifteen, it became a vicious engine of destruction, instantly dragging down the helpless bandits at breakneck speeds before they even knew what had hit them.

This was the first time Li had summoned an actual creature. He knew when he summoned plants that after a certain time, they seemed to wither away into nothingness unless he cast a spell like [Wild Growth] on them. However, sentient creatures seemed to be a permanent existence.

Li patted the myrmeke's head one last time and said, ”Go on now, be free. You did great.”

The myrmeke clicked its jaws and looked down. And another interesting thing. This summons were no longer just artificial constructs. By virtue of being alive, they could express their thoughts and feelings that they communicated to Li through a special, telepathic summoning bond.

”You want to stay with me?” said Li.

The myrmeke nodded its massive head up and down.

”You'll draw way too much attention,” said Li. ”I can't have you around the farm either, as much as I would like it. You'd cause a city-wide panic.”

The myrmeke shook its head from side to side.

”You promise you won't make a fuss?” Li thought about it for a bit. The ant was quite persistent. ”Well, how about we make a compromise. You stay out here in the forest, okay? But every so often, I'll come visit you.”

Pleased, the ant nodded before submerging underground.

And now there was the matter of how Li had dealt with the bandit leader. He looked across his handiwork.

Before him, the [Fist of Ymir] had carved a crater into the land. It really was as if a meteor had landed. The ground was scorched, crisscrossed with red hot patterns of molten rock. Embers sparked in the air and smoke smelling heavily of burned vegetation traveled with the wind.

The entire clearing – 40 meters across, give or take – and far more had been annihilated. Li knew that [Fist of Ymir], an A+ ranked spell requiring a druid at a minimum of level 80, was a highly destructive area of effect spell that dealt massive crushing damage in a 100-unit radius. What was most interesting was that in the game, what an unit meant was unclear. It was a video game unit of distance measurement, after all, but now it was clear that judging from the crater that the spell had made that one unit was roughly equal to one meter.

Li nodded as he saw water begin to well up from the base of the crater. The [Fist of Ymir], like many druidic spells, was both offensive and defensive. Any area affected by the crater would spawn a spring of healing waters, making it incredibly useful for dungeons where mass healing was a precious resource.

The water level rose rapidly, filling up the entire within a minute. Even in the dark, Li felt awestruck at the water. It sparkled under the moonlight in shades of sapphire and emerald. It looked more beautiful and precious than any gemstone that he had bought in his previous life.

The water's edge began to shimmer. A black mass emerged from the water, breaking the sheen of gemstone wonder with its ugly darkness. It collapsed on the forest floor.

Li walked up to it and got a good look at it. It was the demon that had been empowering the bandit. He knew that parasitic creatures and demons could survive their hosts being killed in the game at the cost of being weakened, and so it seemed the same had occurred here.

The demon had shrunk down to the size and shape of a large but normal dog. It panted in exhaustion as it cast a beady yellow eye to Li.

”To think that a mere human has brought me, Zagan, the devourer of souls, so low,” muttered the demon. ”But mark my words, mortal, this is the mere beginning. The Burning One has awoken and his demonic legions rise at his beckon. Your lives will be forfeit soon enough.”