I Only Summon Villainesses

I wasn’t sure for how long. But I knew the sleep had been a long one. I enjoyed it. Maybe a little too much, in fact.

And I’d agree it was long overdue. I didn’t even want to think about the brutality I’d survived to get here. All I wanted to let sink in was the fact that I was here. I was not dead.

The Archmage did not end me. Even though I honestly thought it would.

And likewise... this Precipice was not going to end me either.

’I will come out of this...’

It was the thought that resurfaced as I opened my eyes. My body was filled with a deep soreness, the kind that settled into the joints and refused to leave, and the cold of the stone bit into my bones. My mouth was dry and tasted faintly of copper.

And yet, against all of that, I thought of nothing but coming out of the Precipice.

’I have come too far... too far to let it all end in this measly place. Alone too. That’s so pathetic, who even wants to do that.’

I chuckled lightly as I pushed myself up from the ground.

Which was a herculean task in and of itself. I tried not to think about that, though. What I had to do was drag myself to the mouth of the cave, palms flat against the cold rock, shoving myself forward an inch at a time, like some old hermit with death closer than ever.

Perhaps that was sort of the truth. After all, I was insanely wounded, and the only way for me to heal myself...

A tired sigh escaped my lips.

’You do know, I can’t keep running after these villainesses and asking them to fuck me so I can heal a limb, right? At some point, I start sounding like a creep.’

I squeezed my brows.

’Wait. Don’t tell me... that was your plan all along?!’

Damn Lodestar. I underestimated the bastard.

Not that I would have refused if I’d known this was the arrangement from the beginning. I think the old me would have jumped at any opportunity to not go to school. And honestly, I at least appreciated his honesty.

I believe I’d come a long way from who that guy was.

’That doesn’t sound like so much of a good thing, Cade.’

I tiredly lowered myself to one knee at the edge of the once-violent river, cupping my hands to drink. The water was cold enough to ache against my teeth. After that I stayed there, watching the water and what might lie beyond it.

There was nothing out there. My gaze stayed fixed on it for a couple of seconds, I believe. I didn’t want to stand up... I believe. Or was it that there was something about that horizon drawing me closer.

I shook my head instantly, and hard. After the horror of those Lost Mouths and the Archmage, the last thing I needed was something beckoning to me.

But I was sure there was something there.

’Yeah, let it rest, Cade.’

I pushed myself back up and dragged myself to the inner chamber of the cave. I was not ready to venture forward. All I wanted was to lie there and live like a Neet until I decided this dark world was lucky enough to be graced with my presence again.

Which I was damn sure wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.

That was, if it even beat the time it’d take me to die.

’Shut your trap.’

I settled back within the cave and sat, knees drawn up, back against a wall that never once warmed. For a few minutes, and soon hours, there was nothing but the deafening silence of the dark, broken only by my own breathing and the far-off drip of water somewhere in the stone. And honestly, as unreasonable as this sounds, I was almost beginning to miss the Archmage and the river.

At least with them, I didn’t have to be alone.

Wren seemed to have exhausted a lot of her mental power to tear through the river and reach me. I was, in fact, shocked she’d managed at all. So it was better to just let her rest and recover whatever she needed to survive this treacherous dark land.

’I guess that goes for me too.’

I lay back and slowly closed my eyes again. And drifted off into sleep.

***

When my eyes opened, it was still dark. I wasn’t surprised anymore. I wasn’t expecting anything different.

Another thing I was already getting familiar with was the silence in the cave.

Which, the next moment, shattered.

A vicious screech, like a high-pitched voice being forcibly ripped from the embrace of the clouds, rolled across the dark skies and sent a chilling terror into the heart of anything that I believed existed.

My heart, for example, shook despite every buff I carried against fear.

’What in the world...’

It woke you up too?

Wren took a deep breath.

That thing sounds very mad. Like a mother whose child got stolen.

I thought about her analysis. For some reason, it fit the screech so well.

’Noted. I am definitely not going to be crossing paths with that thing.’

I nodded, confident in my affirmation this time. Because I was just going to sit here, and as long as I sat here, there was no way that thing would suddenly appear out of nowhere and come crashing down on the cave I was sitting in.

I chuckled briefly at the thought of it.

’Right, no way...’

After that, everything died back down to the familiar silence. I knew it was torturous at first, but the truth was, it got bearable. And now, the silence was my friend.

Especially after that last noise I heard. Yeah, I loved this silence.

Amidst that, though, the periphery of my vision caught something pale, streaking across the dark sky. I didn’t mind it at first, but it seemed to be moving very fast. And was flying across the horizon.

And was getting closer.

At first I thought it was flying. But the closer it got, the more clearly I realized the thing had no control over its flight at all. It tumbled, end over end, falling out of the dark.

It wasn’t up to a breath later that the enormous, unidentified, pale, flying object crashed into my cave.