You are Summoned

Chapter 236. Knight Pursuit.

I ran down the passageway toward the first room in the dungeon. Behind me, I could hear Sir Medford giving chase as his heavily armored footsteps slowly gained on me. With the stat increases I received as a summoned being, I was no slouch when it came to running, but the knight must have had some kind of ability to give him a temporary sprint that was outpacing my Olympic level running.

Reaching for a summoning figurine, I needed to find something to slow down the knight, even if it cost me a consumable to do it. I’d taken most of my best figurines back home, which made sense given my life was at stake there, but I still had a few decent choices. Making my choice, I fed mana into the figurine, and targeted it to appear right behind me.

Unable to turn around without losing more speed, I used the dungeon vision to watch what happened next. I’d chosen a tier two, rank zero figurine, the rat swarm. Behind me, mana glowed on the floor, and just as the knight was about to reach the area, rats began to appear. These weren’t dire rats or anything super powerful, they were just normal rats, but large ones, like the biggest and best fed rats that you’d find from Earth.

While a single rat might not be that powerful, a horde of them was deadly. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered that a group of rats was called a mischief. The name mischief seemed inadequate for a swarm of rats that were climbing up the legs of the knight and gnawing anywhere they could.

To his credit, the knight hardly missed a step, swatting at the rats with his sword as he ran. After a couple seconds, the flow of rats stopped coming, but by now, there had to be at least a hundred of the things running about. Only maybe forty or so had gotten ahold of the knight, the rest were left in the dust as their little legs couldn’t keep up with Sir Medford’s pace.

Cursing, the knight redoubled his efforts at prying the rats off him with his sword. One must have found a weak point in the armor, or maybe under his helmet which covered his whole face. Maybe the rats could get at him under the chin, where only a strip of leather protected him. However they were hurting him, it was doing what I needed them to do, it was slowing him down and shifting his focus.

Up ahead, I could see the room. It appeared empty, but I knew that I had prepared another surprise in here for the enemy. A half dozen dungeon melee goblins were hidden along the wall near the doorway, covered in what looked like rubble. Another pair of archers were positioned at the far wall where the exit to the room lay.

In addition to the dungeon goblins, I also had my mana slayer drone standing near the entrance. Once I made it inside, he flickered out of view, activating his Stealth Field Generator. I handed him a vial containing the Salve of the Flame Mage, ordering him to apply it to his armor. I’d almost forgotten about the salve, and I was betting it would work on an armored minion the same as it would a flesh and blood version.

My initial plan was for the mana slayer drone to ignore the other threats and ambush the wizard when he walked past at the back of the formation. Now, it looked like I would need his assistance to deal with the knight. As I headed for the room’s exit at the far wall, I also activated another of my figurines, the animated armor. Behind me a suit of plate armor came into being. The animated armor held a two handed warhammer and looked ready to take on even the powerful knight.

The animated armor was also a tier two, rank zero minion, so it should stand up to the knight for at least a little while. Hot on my heels, the rat covered knight charged in. He skidded to a stop as he saw the armored figure in front of him. Rats still kept up their attack on him, but the knight ignored them and prepared himself for the greater threat.

“Rats, leave the knight and head back down the passageway, attacking any other intruders you find,” I shouted. The rats jumped from Sir Medford, joining the ones that were now just catching up before the whole swarm turned, and charged back the way they came. Hopefully, they’d buy us time and delay the other invaders until we could deal with the knight.

Just in case Medford had some kind of gap closing ability, I used my last shield scroll to give me a bit more survivability. After the shield flickered into place, I also drank my Elixir of Life. If I somehow got insta-killed by any of the powerful foes I was facing, I would pop back to life and have a second chance at helping the dungeon.

I was burning through consumables at a frantic pace, but many of these I had held onto for a long time, and now seemed a good time to clear out my pack. The dungeon was just trying to survive, and Avius just wanted to kill it for nothing more than greed, seeking the remnants of the core for his experiments. It seemed like a good enough cause to warrant spending some consumables on.

“Foul mockery of a knight, move aside so I can claim the life of your master,” Sir Medford said as he lunged at the animated armor. His sword struck the armor in the chest, the blades magical enchantments easily piercing through the steel of the armor. I could see mana leak from the hole in the armor, and once the mana animating it was gone, the armor would collapse.

Undeterred by Medford’s strike, the armor swung its hammer, which the knight deflected with his shield. Energy crackled on the shied as the hammer struck, but the heavy weapon seemed to do no damage other than push Medford back a step. The knight activated an ability and his sword blurred for a moment, the impossibly fast blade opening several more rents in the animated armor.

The animated armor kept up the attack, but even though it was a tier two minion, it was obviously outclassed by the well trained and armed knight. Medford lunged forward for another attack when his back erupted in a shower of light as the magical barrier protecting him was shattered.

The mana slayer drone appeared behind the knight, its first sneak attack had shattered the knight’s magical protections and now the clawed hands were gouging deep into the steel plate armor that Sir Medford wore. Responding almost instantly, Medford twirled and activated an ability, slashing in a wide arc with this blade. Just before the strike hit my drone, I could see the drone’s armor flow and reinforce the targeted area.

Despite the reinforced armor, my drone had several of its armored plates knocked from its body. As the strike hit, the Salve of the Flame Mage activated, sending a burst of fire at the knight, who instinctively stepped back from the flames. The step back was a bad choice as it placed him right into range for the next hammer swing from the animated armor.

The heavy hammer slammed into the helm of Sir Medford. Striking the knight in the head. Sir Medford’s steel helmet was crushed like a tin can, and a sickening crunch was heard as the skull beneath shattered. The knight looked like he was out of the fight, but just before he fell, a golden light encased him, and Medford ripped off his damaged helmet to reveal a weathered, middle-aged face that seemed undamaged from the hammer’s strike.

“No such foul blow will stop a knight of the realm!” Sir Medford shouted as he slashed the animated armor once more, this time, his blade glowed white with heat, and it melted right through the armor when it hit. The armor disappeared into mana vapor as my drone attacked again.

Instead of attacking with its clawed hands, my drone instead used the small launcher that was now installed over its right shoulder after its latest weapons upgrade. The weapon coughed out three grenades in quick succession, each targeted at the knight’s now unprotected face. Sir Medford tried to raise his shield, but it seemed he had no more abilities to activate and no more trick up his sleeve.

One after another, the grenades struck, exploding directly in the face of the knight. It might not have been fully upgraded yet, but even the three lower-powered grenades were enough to blow the knight’s head clean off his body. As the armored figure of my opponent clanged to the floor, my drone suddenly was staggered by several blows to his back as magical wind, sharp as axe blades, hacked into his armored form.

“Kill that mechanical nightmare, it has slain Sir Medford!” Avius shouted from the doorway as the militia and the late knight’s retinue charged inside the room. Mana glowed in the mage’s hand as he prepared another spell. It was time for me to make my exit from this room. I had eliminated one of the main threats facing us, but it had cost me my most powerful minion and a slew of consumables to do it.

Was there enough left to fight off Avius and the remaining soldiers?