My Summons Are Mythical Beasts

Lucas suddenly stopped in his tracks as he observed the unusually quiet surroundings. The Giant Dark Forest had always been this silent, but he just suddenly felt that something was wrong with the current one.

He had been running at a moderate pace, trying to get out of Giant Dark Forest before dusk ended, which was still at least half an hour away.

Bits of sweat trickled down his neck and his back. As one who liked to work out and train, the dripping sweat has always been the source of his encouragement, knowing that each sweat was the reward of his hard work.

However, this time around, the sweat trickling down his spine felt unusually cold.

His heart palpitated as he felt unusually nervous.

A frown appeared on his face, turning into a scowl, but his hands did not stop as he summoned the Unranked Grade Grimoire, and then Spot—whom he unsummoned earlier—with one hand, while the other slowly reached to the Armadon Tonfa stored inside his backpack.

As the summoning light illuminated the surroundings, a gust of wind suddenly assaulted Lucas back. The cold sweat became even more chilly as Lucas lunged forward in great horror, planning to avoid the thing that had assaulted his back.

However, it was already too late.

Whatever it was that assaulted his back, it had successfully struck him.

His back suddenly felt light as the Armadon Tonfa that he had yet to retrieve was smashed by something hard. The force sent Lucas stumbling forward, his face almost hitting the ground if he had not rolled forward as a last effort.

The fall was greatly diminished as a result. Lucas rolled to his feet and hurriedly turned back to see what had assaulted him.

It was then that he saw that Spot had already transformed into the Hellhound form, its eyes showing a great deal of ferocity and rage as it lunged toward that creature with his sharpened claws.

'A Shadow Lynx?' Read exclusive content at empire

Determining the creature, however, did not delight Lucas even one bit. To the contrary, it even made him feel more dread.

'Not good!'

As soon as he thought so, another gust of wind appeared on his side, coming from one of the shadows.

Lucas hurriedly met it with his Armadon Tonfa; the force from the strike reverberated through his arms. His block, however, was a little late. Still, it managed to serve its purpose, preventing the ambusher from severing his arms, or worse, his entire rib cage.

The bruises from before ached as his body was thrown a yard away from the impact. Grimacing pain, Lucas punched forward and struck the head of the Shadow Lynx with full force. The head of the Armadon Tonfa hit and connected, but it only made a dull sound. Apparently, the skull of the Shadow Lynx was quite strong.

Killing it, however, was not Lucas' purpose, as he knew that he would not be able to do so with his own hands. In fact, being able to hit and defend such creatures was already worthy enough of achievement. And achieving more was simply impossible for the current him.

Hitting the head of the Shadow Lynx made it a little bit disoriented, to say the least.

Using that opportunity, Lucas leapt away from it once more, not wanting to engage in frontal combat with the beast.

Now, all he needed to do was bid time and wait for Spot. And aside from that, there were still two more Shadow Lynx hidden and blended in the shadows, biding their time, and waiting for the opportunity to strike.

The thought of them suddenly attacking him in his most vulnerable moment filled him with dread.

It was all well and good when it was him that was hunting them down, but now that the situation had reversed...

'F*cking unpleasant!'

His thoughts were interrupted when another shadow lunged toward him. The dark visage of the Shadow Lynx did not allow him to be careless.

It was just fortunate that he had never lazed in his training before. Although he could not really contend with the beasts, he could at least respond to their movements, albeit a bit late; still, it was enough for him to avoid death, probably.

Fortunately, Spot had already finished dealing with the first one. He turned around and made his way to the second.

Meanwhile, Lucas stared at the nearest Shadow Lynx that was on the move to attack him. However, at that moment, Lucas used Gentle Gaze and made it hesitate for a bit. His Gentle Gaze, after all, was not as potent as Spot.

Speaking of Gentle Gaze, Lucas hurriedly ordered Spot to use one as well for the current Shadow Lynx that he was dealing with. Spot followed his order, and the Shadow Lynx was struck and immediately fell into the hypnotic gaze. It froze in place, allowing Spot to deliver a devastating strike toward its neck before turning around to face the third.

Lucas, on the other hand, immediately leapt away from the Shadow Lynx he had used the Gentle Gaze with. The momentary lapse provided by the skill allowed him to avoid its strike completely.

At the next moment, though, another shadow leapt from the darkness. This time, it was on point to where Lucas had leapt away.

And not only one, and not two; there were actually three of them.

'F*ck!'

Lucas cursed inwardly.

A chain consisting of five Shadow Lynx was already rare enough. And now there were six of them. They had even targeted him out of all the students that came to hunt in Giant Dark Forest.

What tough luck!

The pressing matter was still at hand.

Perhaps realizing that he was the easier prey, the three Shadow Lynx targeted and lunged toward him almost at the same time. Each of them was extremely swift; two extended their paws, while the remaining one came from below, trying to bite a chunk of his thigh.

Everything happened so quickly that Lucas was unable to react in time.