I Only Summon Villainesses

The stone man staggered back, his head completely on fire. He held his head and shook it wildly, trying to do something to the flames — anything. But it was futile.

The white flames took a searing hold of his head, and not even his hardened skin could save him.

’Hm… I guess bloodline users are as weak as they say…’

It was just that Levi was an extremely unique case.

And speaking of that unique case, I turned on the castle wall where I stood and looked toward the harbor.

There, amidst the chaos of white flames and running men clad in robes and wielding swords, Levi poured out like a tide.

He came out of every corner of the harbor, jumping out of burning ships. Every one of him was as brutal as the one before or at least looked so.

The warriors of the Crystal Deep Clan shivered for a moment before rushing forward with shouts. They clashed with Levi’s clones in an uproar, and the next moment they knew pain.

Each one of those Levis was not as easy to kill as they would have expected. Perhaps the ones that were easier to beat had already been beaten by Levi himself, and the clones that poured out now were unfairly strong versions of him.

Their strikes thundered against the bodies of those warriors, breaking bones. Their swords were slow before his eyes—or multiple pairs of eyes, if I was to say. He easily caught their hands, snapped them, head-butted them, and smashed them to the ground with a kick.

The most brutal thing about him was the flawless teamwork he had. It was easy to forget that they were fighting just a single person. Where one warrior faced one Levi, another Levi would not miss the chance to enter the fray if an opening appeared.

The warriors of the Crystal Deep Clan were quickly being overwhelmed by Levi, and many of them were being beaten down despite their swords and skill.

I studied the disturbing sight of several Levis beating the hell out of different people and couldn’t help but bitterly think about how macabre a fighter Levi was.

’His ability is very… resourceful.’

Then I noticed something about the warriors of the Crystal Deep Clan. Immediately, my eyes narrowed.

’Why… why are there no summoners?’

Indeed, there were no summoners among the warriors of the clan. But that was not entirely out of place, I wanted to presume. After all, this was a part of Crystalis that contained a group of people who prided themselves on their skills and techniques.

Still, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy — like we were missing something or overlooking something.

The next moment, though, I shrugged.

’Oh well… all we need is for Tristan to sweep in, get what we need, and sweep out.’

I stayed on the wall and held the fort there. The stone man I was fighting was down just like that. I didn’t know if he was dead since I didn’t get any notifications—I suspected he wasn’t.

But then again, I was made to wonder.

’Have I ever gotten a notification for killing a human?’

I remembered the recent Night Battle of the Night Auction… I was able to absorb a portion of essence from the summons, but the summoners themselves, the other humans that died at my hand. None of them… I got a notification for none of them.

’Hmm, how come I never noticed this?’

For some reason, the Lodestar does not register when I kill humans?

’Eh… don’t tell me you’re getting all soft on me now.’

Kassie had moved across the wall and sliced all the turrets with her sword. Their cleaved surfaces were still glowing with intense heat when she landed on the parapet of the battlement, looking down at the flood of Levis that only continued to increase.

“He’s truly a fearsome foe, just like I thought…”

Kassie’s helmet vanished and revealed her face.

I stared down and observed for a few moments before nodding.

“I couldn’t agree more.”

Kassie stood straight on the wall, her crimson hair flowing backward in the wind like a flag. She folded her arms and looked down.

“Even now, he’s barely trying… lazily pushing through the crowd, not revealing a shred of his strength and therefore not giving anyone a chance to deduce his weakness.”

I took a second look at the Levi(s) based on what Kassie had said.

“Hmm… but all I see is a magnificent display of strength right now. This is the best I’ve seen Levi fight, and I can’t lie, it’s freaking awesome and disturbing, but very awesome!”

Kassie’s gaze was grim and cold.

“You’re naive… this man is intentionally hiding his strength… doesn’t that bother you?”

Staring down and thinking about the question for a moment, I shook my head with conviction.

“Why should it? It’s not like he’s hiding his power intentionally. Using his ability causes him great pain, so he’d rather not use it if there are other ways to handle things. But I’ve also never seen him hesitate to use it when he needs to.”

Kassie glanced down at her side. A discontent glare fell on me, and I suddenly felt like I had offended my violent wife with my words.

“Hmm…”

I worriedly looked at her from behind.

’Why is she always so uptight about everyone…’

Then again, Kassie had lived her life like this, surrounded by enemies or potential enemies. She had had to judge everyone around her, over and over again.

’I guess this is her default… I did have to go under such scrutiny too.’

I couldn’t even confidently say I was out of it.

I heaved a great sigh.

“By the way… how far is this place we need to retrieve something from? Do we even know what we’re working with here? Shouldn’t Tristan be on his way out?”

Instead of replying to me, Kassie went silent. She stood above the wall with her arms folded, and her gaze slowly scanned the sky.

I hesitantly called out.

“Umm… Kassie? Is everything okay up there?”

The air around her suddenly grew sharp and heavy, and she spoke in a flat tone.

“Something is coming.”

Following her words, the sky thundered immensely.