Nightmare Realm Summoner

Alex’s heart pounded in his chest as he looked down at the massive boss monster on the stadium floor below. He could barely even hear his own thoughts over the blood rushing through his ears. Adrenaline urged him forward, prodding him to fling himself into the fight.

Unfortunately for him, the Expert stage monster wasn’t just sitting around in front of him. There were well over 50 feet between the bottom of the stands and the base of the arena. That was quite the drop. He was pretty sure his body would be more than capable of surviving it, but there was no way he’d land without the crab noticing him.

Giving it a moment to attack while he was recovering his balance from a jump that would have killed him prior to the System’s arrival didn’t seem like the best idea. At the very least, he didn’t want to be standing around right in front of the crab when he landed.

They were going to need some sort of distraction.

Alex glanced back at the others. He still didn’t want to say anything. They’d done a great job remaining quiet this whole time. Ruining it now by speaking and potentially alerting the Corrupted Scuttler to their presence would be a massive waste.

Should we go back into the stadium and try to find the player entrance? See if we can get out onto the field in a way that doesn’t involve a giant drop?

It was only about then that Alex noticed that one of their number was missing. Both Claire and Orchid were still present… but Derek was nowhere to be seen.

He blinked.

Both of the women sent confused glances at him. He gestured over their shoulders, and they turned. Then Claire glanced back at him, looking just as confused as he felt. Orchid did the same. Then her eyes widened. She pointed over Alex’s shoulder.

Alex looked in the direction she’d indicated.

He was just in time to see Derek approaching the railing.

What? When — how did he get there? He slipped right past me and I didn’t even notice!

Claire and Orchid clearly hadn’t noticed either. But, somehow, Derek had already pulled himself up onto the rails. He looked over his shoulder at them.

Alex waved him back. Derek was apparently a hell of a lot sneakier than he’d initially thought. He’d have to ask the large man how in the world he’d managed to slip past all of them after they finished fighting the crab.

Derek waved back to him.

Alex shook his head. Then he pointed over his shoulder, at the path they’d come through to get into the stands. Then he pointed at it again, shaking his head firmly once more to make sure Derek got the message.

Derek gave him a thumbs up.

Then he jumped off the railing, dropping over the edge and plummeting out of sight toward the stadium ground below.

Alex stared in disbelief for a split instant.

Did he just…

There was a distant crunch. If Alex had to guess, it was the sound of crystal breaking beneath Derek as he landed on the ground. He held back a curse.

The Corrupted Scuttler’s eyestalks swung around. A rattling click rolled through the air and a rumble shook the ground. The huge crab’s shell shifted as it started to turn. It seemed they didn’t have much of a choice anymore. There was no time to go any way but forward.

Goddamn it, Derek.

“Go!” Alex hissed, sprinting toward the railing. There wasn’t any point remaining silent anymore. The rumbling that had filled the stadium was more than loud enough to drown out any sound they might have made.

Claire accelerated past Alex and reached the edge before he did, her black wings already tearing out from her back as she leapt into the air. He was just moments behind her. His magic hissed through his veins and poured out from his fingertips as he started summoning Glint and Princess even as wind whipped past his face and he plummeted toward the crystal-ridden ground.

Alex braced himself as best he could. Then he hit the ground with a crunch. Some part of his brain had been planning on dropping into a roll to try and distribute the force of the impact — but that didn’t quite happen. A violent tremor rolled up his legs and passed through his entire body the moment he hit the ground. Sharp pain tore through his legs and he tripped, falling face-first on the ground with a groan and a curse.

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To his vague surprise, he was able to push himself back up to his feet just a few moments later. Even though there was still some residual pain in his legs, it wasn’t nearly anywhere as bad as he’d thought. It didn’t even seem like his bones had fractured.

Body Tempering is fucking insane. I really have to go back and do more of it.

Loud cracks echoed through the stadium as the Corrupted Scuttler’s legs drove down into the crystal-ridden ground. Its eyestalks swung down to stare right at Derek, who had landed several feet in front of Alex and had already drawn two large swords free from himself to hold in each hand.

Orchid floated down to land beside Alex, coils of wind twisting around her dissipating as her feet touched down on the ground. She pointed her large staff at the huge monster, power crackling along the length of the twisted white wood weapon.

A grating hiss coiled out from the crab’s mouth and carved through the stadium. It sounded like nails against a chalkboard, but a thousand times louder. Alex gritted his teeth as the horrible noise drove into his skull, nearly loud enough to cause physical pain.

The Corrupted Scuttler was definitely very aware of their presence.

Goddamn it, Derek.

Alex’s monsters stepped into being all around him, all having completely manifested themselves by the time he’d risen to his feet. Glint cackled in delight.

“Yes. This is what I’m talking about. A fight genuinely worthy of my time,” Ein’Zahl said.

“Yeah? Just don’t go killing yourself too fast this time,” Alex said. “I’m going to need you alive for a lot longer this fight.”

The Glasmir let out a hiss. “I have been adapting to the new form. And you have refused to let me see the full extent of my powers.”

Something tells me you’ll get the chance to see just how much that body is capable of today.

“Just stay alive,” Alex said.

“What’s the plan?” Claire asked from beside him, her veins jet-black and eyes narrowed as she watched the Corrupted Scuttler warily. The huge monster was still drumming its legs against the ground and clicking its mandibles. For some reason, it hadn’t attacked yet. “I don’t think that thing has any blood for me to work with.”

“Those crystals look really tough,” Orchid said. “We should target the flesh parts. Avoid the shell too. We probably aren’t breaking through that anytime soon.”

“But what’s it waiting for?” Alex asked warily. He raised his voice slightly. “Derek! Come join—”

Another grating screech cut through the air. Alex snarled and clapped his hands over his ears to keep his eardrums from bursting. Claire and Orchid both staggered as well. His monsters — and Derek — didn’t even flinch.

Can it not move? Is it waiting for us to attack? Or…

A crack came from somewhere behind Alex.

Then there was another. And another.

And then there were a hell of a lot more of them, coming from every single direction all at once. Orchid glanced up. Then her face paled.

Alex followed her gaze into the stands, a knot forming in his stomach. He had the feeling that he already knew what he’d find. But that knowledge didn’t make seeing it any easier.

All over the stadium, the crystals were cracking. And, crawling out from within them, were tiny crabs. Hundreds of them, all carved completely out of the gem that they came from. The purple-red light of the Mirorrlands sky shimmered and danced within their semi-translucent forms. A rumble gripped the arena with increasing volume.

Even some of the crystals along the Corrupted Scuttler’s back cracked open, letting its crystalline children spill out onto its shell and the stadium floor all around it.

You’ve got to be kidding me. If every single one of the crystals we saw has a crystal monster in it…

“Shit,” Claire said, summarizing the situation very succinctly.

“We need to kill it fast.” Orchid ripped herself free from the clutches of surprise. “I’ll hold off the horde. I’m good at large scale magic. You guys focus down the big one as much as you can.”

The huge crab finally stopped hissing. Its mandibles clicked once more. Then it started to crawl toward them, dragging its massive shell through the ground behind it as if it were a plow.

“It’s slow,” Claire said. “At least we’ve got that.”

“Don’t worry!” Derek yelled. “I’ve got this, guys!”

Then he burst into a charge, holding both of his swords at his sides as he bounded toward the Corrupted Scuttler at max speed. He closed the distance between them in seconds and leapt into the air, bringing both of his blades carving toward the closest of the monster’s eyestalks.

Its huge claw flicked upward.

There was a loud crunch.

Derek rocketed off to the side. His swords spun through the air, torn free of his hands, and he slammed into the wall of the stadium with a crash. Stone and crystal rained down all around him. He dropped to the ground, falling face first with a thud on a crystalized portion of the floor.

A moment of silence passed. Even the crab seemed mildly surprised.

Derek was dead.

“I would like to amend my statement,” Claire said. “It’s not slow. The shell is just really bloody heavy.”

Derek jerked. Then, sputtering in indignation, he pushed himself upright. He grabbed two more weapons from within himself and tore them free.

“Okay. I might need a bit of help. Did we have a plan or something?” Derek asked. “I think we really should have had a plan.”

Alex suppressed a sigh. The horde of little crabs were already advancing toward them, crawling down the walls of the stadium and clicking their claws in anticipation of the meal that had delivered itself to their door. This wasn’t exactly how he’d pictured this going.

Then a grin pulled across his lips.

There was no point wasting precious time complaining.

Not when they had a monster to kill.

“Yeah. I’ve got a plan,” Alex said, sending a mental command to his monsters and lowering his stance. “We kill this thing. Then, once it’s dead, we all start studying sign language.”