Online Game: Starting With SSS-Ranked Summons

Chapter 216: Superior Rank Summon, Formicia

Jasmine brushed her hair back, breathing hard but smiling. "That's five, Lupin! Five on my own!"

Lupin's ears perked up, acknowledging her achievement with a soft growl of approval.

"Well done."

They both turned at Arthur's voice.

Jasmine's eyes widened. "Fateless! I—I did what you told me to do. No more hiding behind Lupin."

Arthur stepped into the clearing. "I can see that."

Lupin trotted over, brushing against Arthur in greeting before sitting at attention.

Arthur nodded, studying the girl more carefully.

Her stance was stronger, her eyes sharper. Progress—real progress.

"Your form has improved," he said, nodding at the wolf corpses scattered around the clearing. "And your aim."

Jasmine beamed at the praise. "I've been practicing that knee drop for three days! Did you see how I didn't even have to look behind me?"

"I saw." Arthur picked up one of her arrows, examining the fletching. "Level 10 now?"

"Just hit it." She tapped her bow. "I got a new skill, so I'm even stronger."

Arthur nodded, not pressuring her for details.

"I might have a proposition for you," Arthur said with a serious expression on his face. "The village is forming an elite squad. Ten players with the highest potential, trained personally."

Jasmine's eyes widened. "You're offering me a spot?"

"I'm considering it." Arthur crossed his arms. "But it won't be easy. After your brutal training, you will be doing dangerous missions."

Jasmine's eyes flashed with uncertainty. Her fingers toyed with the bowstring as she weighed her options.

Arthur read her hesitation instantly.

"Smart girl,"

She was calculating risk versus reward. With her healing talent, she could easily build a comfortable life in the village.

Seeing her hesitation, arthur decided to play his trump card.

"You will keep Lupin with you. For the entirety of training and including some of your missions."

Lupin's head snapped up, eyes narrowing at his master.

"What?" Jasmine's voice hitched.

"And you'll be paid monthly. During training and missions."

Jasmine's eyebrow arched. Lupin was supposed to leave after she hit level 10—that had been the arrangement. But now...there was a chance she could stay with Lupin.

"I accept," she said quickly, crouching beside the wolf. "As long as Lupin is with me." She wrapped her arms around the massive beast, burying her face in his thick fur.

Lupin shot Arthur a betrayed look that clearly said.

Seriously?

Arthur suppressed a smile. Despite his wolf's apparent annoyance, he could tell Lupin had grown attached to the healer. The way his tail gave a single reluctant wag said everything.

"It's settled then," Arthur said. "Report to the village chief's office tomorrow at dawn. Look for Charles, the mayor and tell him that someone called the protector had directed you."

Jasmine's lips quirked upward. "The Protector? Is that what you call yourself?" She chuckled at the name choice.

Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Okay, Lupin, let's go. We got work to do." He turned, Lupin following him.

"No, no, no!" Jasmine scrambled up, nearly tripping over her bow. "I'm sorry! Forgive me, Prot—I mean Fateless!"

She lunged forward, grabbing Lupin's fur as if Arthur might truly take him away. The wolf looked back and forth between them, clearly confused by the sudden drama.

"I didn't mean anything by it!" Her eyes were comically wide. "It's a great name! Very... protective! Super intimidating!"

Arthur tried maintaining his stern expression, but the corner of his mouth twitched. "Are you done?"

Jasmine nodded rapidly, still clutching Lupin. "Completely done. Totally serious now."

"The Protector. Very cool name. I love it."

"Village chief," Arthur reminded her, letting the act drop. "Don't be late."

"I won't be!" Jasmine released her death grip on Lupin's fur, patting it back into place.

After securing Jasmine for his village-clearing team, Arthur gave Lupin's fur one final ruffle.

"Take care of her," he instructed, pulling out a city teleportation scroll.

Without fanfare or explanation, he activated it. Blue light engulfed him, and he vanished before Jasmine and Lupin's eyes.

The forest of Caldera materialized around him.

Arthur quickly switched to his Azarel identity, adjusting his mask.

A notification popped up.

[You have slain Level 17 Spider Queen (Superior-Rank Boss).]

Arthur froze. "What?"

"I should let her hunt a bit longer before summoning her," he mused. "Who knows what else she'll bring down."

More notifications followed.

[You have slain Level 14 Commander Spider(Epic-Rank Boss)]

[You have slain Level 13 Worker Spider (Elite-Rank Boss)]

[You have slain Level 13 Premature Spider (Pseudo-Rank Boss)]

The buzzing continued—fifteen notifications in total.

Arthur's shock gave way to excitement. "Neko, you beautiful disaster."

Only one of his summons could accomplish this.

The small, seemingly harmless white cat with a penchant for chaos. Aamon was guarding Adam's cell, and his other summons like Sunless lacked the power to take down a Superior-Rank boss.

"Sylvaris is also out of the picture considering that he wouldn't be able to face a whole spider nest with a superior rank boss and kill them so quickly."

Ten minutes passed with no further notifications.

"Time to check out what happened", Arthur whispered, activating his summoning ability.

"Neko, come."

A small white cat emerged from the portal before him, stretching lazily as though being disturbed from a nap.

Despite her innocent appearance, blood stained her pristine paws.

"Neko, what happened?"

She rolled her eyes, clearly not bothered to respond. But Arthur's talent kicked in automatically.

Talent Effect #5: Grants the ability to communicate with all summoned beasts, allowing you to hear their thoughts. Summoned beasts are compelled to follow your commands, regardless of their will.

Neko's thoughts filtered reluctantly into Arthur's mind.

'I was just looking for a place to take a quick nap after hunting for so long-nya.'

Arthur nodded. He'd instructed his summons to rest periodically. No point in treating them like mindless slaves, even with his talent forcing their absolute loyalty.

'As I was looking, I found a cute-looking cave,' Neko continued, licking her paw. 'So I entered. As I went deeper, I was found by those stupid spiders-nya.'

The cat's mental voice carried an unmistakable tone of annoyance.

'I tried to ignore them and sleep, but that fat queen of theirs decided not to share the cave-nya.'

Arthur suppressed a smile. Only Neko would dismiss a Superior-Rank boss as "fat."

'She tried to send her goons after me, but I didn't bother with them. I simply went for her first and killed her-nya.' Neko's tail flicked with disdain. 'Then her small spiders decided they wanted revenge and didn't run away, so I killed them too-nya.'

The cat's eyes narrowed.

'That's it. Then I tried to sleep, but you summoned me-nya.' She glared softly at Arthur, ears twitching with irritation.

"I see," Arthur nodded with a chuckle. "My apologies for interrupting your nap."

Neko's tail swished. 'You should be sorry-nya. I earned that nap.'

"You certainly did." Arthur knelt to scratch behind her ears. Despite her annoyance, she leaned into his touch. "A Superior-Rank boss is no small feat."

'It wasn't difficult-nya. She was slow and predictable.'

"Still, you did amazing."

Arthur smiled, watching the small cat lick blood from her pristine white fur.

"Do you want to find a place to nap, or should I take you back to the summoning area?"

Neko paused her grooming, considering the options. Her eyes suddenly landed on Arthur's cloak, focusing on the deep pocket near his chest.

Without warning, she sprang up, landing gracefully on his shoulder. Before Arthur could react, she'd already squirmed her way into the pocket, adjusting herself, until only her head poked out.

'I will sleep here-nya.'

Arthur raised an eyebrow as soft purring immediately began emanating from his pocket. Her tiny head was perfectly framed by the opening, eyes already closed in contentment.

'I guess this is her sleeping pod from now on,' he thought, amused.

The pocket was almost perfectly sized for the small cat.

An interesting coincidence.

"Comfortable?" he asked.

A single ear twitched in response, but the purring continued uninterrupted.

Arthur checked the notification that had been waiting:

[Ding!]

[You have levelled up to Level 18]

[All attribute points will be increased by 1]

[You have gained 1 free attribute point and 1 Skill Point]

He smiled. Neko's rampage had paid off nicely.

'Time to expand my army,' he thought, deciding to summon the Spider queen.

Superior Rank bosses weren't to be scoffed at.

They matched true demons in strength, possessing S-Rank talents with as much potential as the strongest in Caldera. C

urrently, he only had two at that rank, Aamon and Sylvaris.

Arthur activated his talent.

Talent Effect #3: You are able to summon any beast you have killed as your own summon.

His consciousness slipped from his body, transported to the familiar void space where all slain beasts waited. After a few seconds, he spotted the Spider queen and her colony floating in the darkness.

He focused on the queen and the commander.

His consciousness returned to his body, as he saw two dark portals appear in front of him, and the Spider queen and commander emerged from them.

[You have summoned 'Spider Queen'. They are now completely and utterly loyal to you. They will do as you instruct them without fail. You have the right to name them.] [Would you like to name the 'Spider Queen'?] [Yes/No]

[You have summoned 'Spider Commander'. They are now completely and utterly loyal to you. They will do as you instruct them without fail. You have the right to name them.] [Would you like to name the 'Spider Commander'?] [Yes/No]

Arthur selected [Yes] for both.

For the queen, he chose, "Formicia"

For the commander, he chose "Mandible"

[Spider Queen has been renamed to 'Formicia']

[Spider Commander has been renamed to 'Mandible']