Chapter 268: – He Protects. |
“Hey, what’s wrong with his eye? It wasn’t like that before…”
“You know how boys are. They probably got into a fight or something.”
Rusty rested in Gwen’s arms while looking at the youth called Eldric. One of his eyes was covered by an eyepatch that radiated healing energy. Not long ago, it had been poked by Rusty’s halberd when he caught the young man trying to peek into the girls’ washroom. To Rusty, the whole situation made no sense.
‘Was he trying to gather information about the weaknesses of the other summoners? Could he be some sort of spy?’
There was no Alexander here to explain the situation, but Rusty did not think the young man was an adversary, so there had to be another reason. Fortunately for Eldric, Rusty’s weapon was not particularly sharp in its smaller form, allowing him to keep his eye intact. It had only swollen slightly, and the eyepatch would help it heal more quickly.
Several other boys gathered around him while glancing toward the girls, who were already dressed. There was a strange atmosphere among them, and Rusty was certain that more people had been involved in the incident.
“Just leave them be. They’re probably being stupid as always.”
Astrella commented while looking at the group of young men. Rusty turned toward the only person he really knew, Syber. When the young man’s catlike eyes met his own, Rusty saw him grinning and giving a small nod, as if thanking him for something. Rusty nodded back without truly understanding the gesture.
“Let’s go to sleep. I’m starting to get tired.”
“Agreed.”
Aranea replied softly from behind her fan, and then they parted ways. Since the hotel had been rented out for the entire school, everyone received their own room. Gwen carried Rusty to a private room near the end of the third floor.
The room was about the same size as the dorm room she shared with the other girls, though it was designed for a single person. It contained most of the things humanoids seemed to want: a window overlooking the city, a large bed that had already been made with soft cushions, and even a desk stocked with books to read.
“Wow…”
Although Gwen was a noble, she came from a house that had lost most of its wealth, something Rusty already knew. He was not sure what her life had been like before attending the academy, but it was clear that she was not accustomed to this level of luxury.
“This is nicer than my room at home... I wish I could show this to Grandma and my parents.”
Rusty looked around the room as Gwen set him down, allowing him to jump from her arms. Others might have asked about the history of her noble house and how it had fallen into decline, but Rusty had more important concerns. He was worried about intruders.
He could feel the restrictions on his body beginning to weaken, which meant he needed to stay alert for any summoned creatures that might try to invade.
“Don't worry, Gwen. I'll guard you through the night, so just go to sleep and rest.”
“Haha, I can always count on you, Rusty.”
She replied with a smile, then whispered a few words, thinking he could not hear her.
“If only you could stay with me forever…”
He did not respond. He knew that was not really possible due to how his summoning system worked. Perhaps in the future, once he gathered enough coins, he could unlock something that would create a direct link between them. Maybe there would even be a way for him to enter this place not as a summon, but as a true monster. Until then, he would simply do what he always did: protect her and fulfill his mission.
Rusty marched toward the windowsill and climbed onto it with some effort. The glass overlooked the waystation below, where hundreds of lanterns illuminated the streets like stars. Travelers still moved between the buildings despite the late hour. Wagons rolled through the streets, merchants shouted their final offers, and armored adventurers wandered between taverns and inns.
The place looked busy, but it was also heavily guarded. Magical creatures accompanied many of the patrols, making it a well-defended location. However, it was also the sort of place where enemies could slip in unnoticed, so he remained vigilant.
His watch began as soon as Gwen closed her eyes. It did not take her long to fall asleep, and Rusty knew waking her would be difficult as she was a heavy sleeper.
Time passed, reminding him of the silent and uneventful nights he had spent in the dormitory, where nothing ever happened. Just as this night seemed destined to be no different, something finally caught his attention. There was no sound outside, but he noticed shadows moving through the well-lit corridor.
‘Silencing magic again?’
He immediately turned his attention to the door. It was made of reinforced wood and looked quite sturdy. Breaking it down would not be easy, but it did have one weakness. A large gap ran along the bottom, wide enough for small creatures to squeeze through. A moment later, he saw something slithering underneath it.
‘A snake!?’
He raised his halberd and moved forward.
In his current form, he was rather small. Even an ordinary snake would seem like a giant serpent to him. There was no indication of why this creature was here, but he could tell one thing immediately. It was not a normal living snake. It was a summon.
‘How did this thing get in here? Is it a weakened summon like me? No, it doesn't look like it...’
Creatures affected by the Summon Creature Reduction skill always looked different. Their features appeared less threatening and somehow softer, as though the summoning magic intentionally made them seem harmless. This snake possessed none of those traits. Fortunately, it looked weak, not even qualifying as a proper F-Rank creature.
‘Did someone summon a weak creature to harm Gwen because the professor is restricting summoning magic?’
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
That was Rusty's best guess. The monster before him was rather feeble. At full strength, he could have crushed it beneath his boot. If it tried to bite his metal body, it would probably break its fangs. However, in his current weakened state and with the weapon he carried, dealing with it would not be as easy.
“Gwen, wake up. There's a snake in here!”
“Mmmm…”
He called out to his summoner, but she was fast asleep. Unless he splashed water on her face, she probably would not wake up. Thus, it was up to him to protect her from this unexpected danger.
“Hey, ugly, come here. I'll be your opponent!”
In this form, he was rather weak, and his body was malformed. His limbs were shorter, his head unnecessarily large, and the shield and halberd he carried were the size of a tea saucer and a wooden fork. Yet this would have to do. As he smacked his halberd against the small shield, it produced a loud enough sound to keep the snake's eyes fixed on him.
“Sssss…”
The snake lowered its head and coiled itself tightly. Its eyes reflected the light seeping beneath the door. It waited for a chance to pounce as it slowly moved forward. He had fought creatures like this before and had read about them in the bestiary housed within his soul forge library.
Some reptilian species reacted to movement, others to body heat or sound, and some responded to all three. When it first entered the room, it had moved toward Gwen, perhaps reacting to her body heat or breathing.
The snake finally struck. It launched itself from the floor with surprising speed, its body blurring as it shot toward Rusty.
“Too slow!”
To Rusty, who had seen the mercenary leader Varkas use Dash Step, this was nothing. Or at least it should have been. Unfortunately, his body was quite difficult to move. Even though he could see the entire lunge and predict where it was heading, he could not react properly.
“Damn!”
Barely, he managed to raise his tiny shield in time. The impact sent him sliding backward due to his light weight and inability to use his Weight Increase skill. The snake's jaws closed around the entire shield, exposing its fangs. A strange purplish liquid dripped from them, and when it touched the metal, it sizzled slightly.
‘If this thing bites Gwen...’
Instantly, he knew the snake was dangerous. It was not particularly strong, but its venom was potent. Whoever had let it inside was surely counting on it biting Gwen while she slept, something he could not allow to happen. If she died, his mission would be over.
“Stupid snake. Even in this form, I can still fight!”
Rusty shouted as he swung his tiny arm forward. His halberd struck the creature on the nose, but instead of drawing blood, it only scraped a few scales.
“Blasted dull weapon...”
To his dismay, his current weapon had become so blunt that it would struggle to cut through a loaf of bread, let alone the scales of a living creature. The snake hissed and pulled back, clearly annoyed and ready to strike again.
“Don't look down on me!”
Rusty charged forward instead. Rather than aiming for the creature's body, he targeted its eyes. His weapon had managed to injure a much larger humanoid before, so the same should be possible here. The serpent immediately recoiled, twisting its head away. It was a simple reaction, but it confirmed his suspicion.
“Hsss!”
“You’re not getting away. Give me your other eye!”
Rusty chased after the snake, his large helmet wobbling awkwardly on his body. The monster refused to give up. It charged forward and latched onto his metal head, which popped off almost instantly. As it tried to bite down on the helmet, he seized the opportunity and drove his halberd into its other eye, drawing blood this time.
The snake started thrashing wildly. It did not know that he could still move his body even when his head had been knocked from his shoulders. A living armor's weakness was its core, which was located on the inside of his helmet.
"Die!"
He shouted as he tried to push his weapon deeper into the creature's eye socket, but his enemy would not go down so easily. It whipped its body around in a strange motion, knocking him away. He stumbled backward and slammed into the edge of a nearby desk. One of his hands popped right off from the impact.
"SSSsss!?"
The snake's eye was bleeding, but it still had the other one. It charged again, though not at him. Instead, it lunged at the detached hand lying on the floor and swallowed it whole.
"What are you doing, you stupid snake? Give me back my arm!"
The snake paid him no attention as it gulped down the small metallic appendage. However, as soon as it turned back toward him, it began acting strangely. Something was wrong. It started writhing and twisting, its mouth opening and closing as if it were about to vomit.
"Hah, you didn't know that I could still control my limbs separately even in this form!"
Rusty shouted as he charged forward and slammed his shield into the snake's head. The hand it had swallowed was moving around inside its body, clawing and scraping as it tried to force its way back out.
"Mmm... No, Astrella, don't eat that..."
As Gwen shifted in her bed, the floor beside it had become a battlefield. The monster was choking on Rusty's arm while being battered by the rest of him. The blood flowing from its wounds was already beginning to dissolve into mana particles.
"Just a little more..."
He was pushed back, bitten, and coiled around, but he refused to give up. His remaining hand smashed into the monster's chin while the one trapped inside continued causing it pain. Eventually, the detached arm blocked its throat completely. Even though the creature was only a summon, it still needed air to breathe, a weakness shared by almost all living beings.
The thrashing continued. The monster's tail slammed into the desk again and again until several books tumbled free. They crashed down onto both Rusty and the snake. However, it turned out to be the lucky break he needed. One of the falling books struck his halberd and drove it deeper into the creature's eye socket, finishing it off.
"Hah... I did it... but..."
Finally, it was over. The monster's body dissolved into wisps of light and began disintegrating before him. Yet, to his dismay, he now found himself trapped beneath a pile of books. Both of his feet had fallen off, along with his remaining arm, and were scattered some distance away.
“They have fallen too far away… I can’t pull them back…”
While the arm inside the snake could still move, his other limbs had fallen too far away for him to retrieve them. He was now stuck in this place, and Gwen was still sleeping soundly. For a while, he worried that more snakes would appear, but even after nearly half an hour had passed, nothing happened.
“Did the perpetrator run away… or is he among the students?”
There were many students in B1, including one in particular who used higher-level snake summons. However, this specific monster was something any of them could have conjured. It was also a venomous creature with low battle power, perfect for an assassination attempt. If Gwen had been bitten, he had no way of knowing whether she would have survived.
“Who could it have been… I must find out…”
He strained his mind, trying to figure out who could have done this. Aranea and the two youths were possibilities, but only because he knew so little about them. From what he had seen, none of them seemed malicious enough to attempt poisoning another student, although the way they had been looking at the girls in the washing room made them suspicious. Astrella and Syber were completely trustworthy, leaving him with little clue as to who the perpetrator might be.
“Could it be a ploy by Katherine Grandwell or that Bartholomew Woodward? Neither of them seems to like Gwen, and they both lost duels to me…”
They were both potential suspects. Each was considered among the best in their respective class and could have held a grudge against Gwen. However, just as he had been summoned a second time, another student might have acted in hopes of currying favor with powerful nobles or influential figures.
“... This might be a more treacherous trip than I thought.”
Gwen continued to mumble in her sleep while he remained buried beneath the heavy tomes. He had expected the wagon to be attacked by monsters at most, not for his summoner to become the target of an assassination plot. Now he had to watch for both threats.
“I don’t like the schemes of humanoids… just let me fight regular monsters!”
He tried calling back one of his arms, but it remained trapped beneath the weight of the books. It seemed he would need Gwen’s help to get out of this predicament.