The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

Chapter 92: Withstanding the Trials

The process was repeated over and over again, and the two was able to gain a decent amount of EXP as the monsters were all D - ranked to C- ranked and could be beaten down without giving them any serious complications.

However, the problem was not that they couldn't kill the monsters. It was that the insects wouldn't stop coming. They came in large hordes, and each time they defeated one pack, more creatures would come and swarm them. They weren't given a chance to rest as they constantly had to run, dodge, and attack at the same time.

At this rate, they would be doomed.

"Big sister! My mana.." Alena began to complain about feeling lightheaded. Although her mana consumption was decreased due to the Sliver Slime being a puppet and not a summon, it was still taxing to constantly use her ability.

Her natural status was low, and her physical abilities were also not exceptional. Added on to her child physique, she felt like her muscles were dying out after fighting for this long.

"I know," Aria was also having problems.

[Level C Bee Swarm <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Level C Bee Swarm <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Level D Wasp Swarm <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Level C...]

[Two damage dealers detected. Splitting the EXP accordingly.]

[Experience points increased by 20170.]

Perhaps it was because the insect monster swarms were supposed to be hard to deal with if done without a solid strategy like Aria and Alena's, the EXP gained was large in numbers.

"How much time do you think you can last up to?" Aria gained a level and got her mana replenished back.

"In around 10000 EXP, I'll level up. The problem is.." Alena responded, worriedly looking at her own data.

"Your time is running out, huh?" Aria clicked her tongue, disgruntled at the unending swarms charging towards them.

"Yes.." With a sullen face and a frown, Alena took care of another swarm and gained enough EXP to level up. "I don't think I can last until the next level up. Even if I do, my physical state is far off from ideal,"

Puppet masters had the lowest average mana consumption within the Control-type Mains such as summoning, possessing, and mind control, but it had a limitation.

The puppets could only be deployed for a certain amount of time that scaled along with the puppet's power and the puppeteer's stats.

The stronger and more experienced the controller was, the better the condition got.

However, Alena was relatively new to fighting on the front lines, so she couldn't handle it for too long.

This brought Aria to a moment of confusion. At first, she thought that Alena refused to fight because she was scared, but looking at how well Alena was doing against the insects, that shouldn't be the case.

If so, then what was her condition? What it is that made her not want to fight and is unable to go inside on her own? Looking at Alena's prowess, she felt like it should be perfectly fine for her to enter a lower-ranked dungeon accompanied with some subordinates and slowly make her way up the ranks.

"It's fine. Don't worry," Aria, knowing that the situation was not looking great, wanted to think up of another solution.

Something that would work before they get completely exhausted and cornered by these folks.

She originally wanted to use the monsters as an EXP farm, but insects were tough to deal with using melee weapons, so she had to speed things up.

In the case that the boss also needed assistance from the Silver Slime, Aria needed to keep Alena's 'time' up.

If so, then she had to use the aid of her spirits.

"Alena, retreat," Aria ordered. The girl did as she was told to, storing back the slime and taking a few steps back.

"Rallaka, Dianthe, show yourself," Aria commanded.

She felt the contracted spirits' bond activate and flicker.

The water spirit then arose from nothingness. She blankly stared at Aria, curious as to what her orders will be.

The Earthen spirit looked at her area with curious eyes, throwing a stray rock towards a nearby enemy and hitting the target perfectly. His strength had been steadily increasing over the course of time, and he was extremely glad to see the results.

"Find out the source of the swarm and search for any anomalies. Be as quick as possible," Aria ordered.

Two spirits were better than one. Both of them could communicate with her internally, and she currently didn't need the spirits' help excessively. She could wield [Halvargg] and take them down.

"This dungeon.. Leaves a bad taste on my mouth," Rallaka voiced out his complaints before turning around. "I will cover the left side, the water lady can take the right. Be right back,"

After saying that, he left for the path he mentioned.

Although no words came out of Dianthe's mouth, she nodded in response. Turning around to carry out Aria's order, it soon disappeared within the thick forests.

The two spirits were on their way, but they still had to fight the insects with all their might if they wanted to buy time until they discovered something.

"...Alena, do you trust me?" Aria asked. She had a spare plan, but it would be disastrous if it failed.

"I do," Alena answered, nodding her head. Although they hadn't gotten acquainted for long, she had a decent amount of trust in the older woman.

Aria was knowledgeable and could mentored her in a lot of aspects. Many theories were born inside her head as to why Aria possessed the strange set of information yet acted like she was not someone born in the same era as her, but she respected her and didn't ask.

"Thank you for that," Aria gave the child a subtle smile before closing her eyes to focus. "Alena, shield off the enemies for a bit," she said.

The child complied, her eyes wavering with worry and exhaustion.

Aria channeled her mana and prepared to execute her spells.

"[Reinforce]," Simple enchantment spells was still possible for Aria to maintain with her current abilities.

'I hope this isn't a mistake.' She said as she pushed through her boundaries and kept increasing the mana she channeled across her body.

"[Speed]. [Elusiveness]," Two more spells were cast. Aria's mana dropped and continued draining after the casting.

Enchantment spells took more mana the longer you applied it. Aria calculated the total mana she lost and set a fixed amount of time she was able to both mobilize Dianthe and Rallaka, evade the swarm without fighting back at the same time, and let her body tire out by running away through this complicated forest terrain.

She lowered her body down to carry Alena. The girl complied with her actions and shrieked as Aria took off and ran with her highest speed possible.

The insects readily chased after them, their buzzing sounds thundering all over as they flew towards their targets.

Injuries sprouted on Aria's skin. The woman was trying to protect Alena from any harm, but complete evasion couldn't be done unless she made some uncomfortable maneuvers. If Alena wasn't in her embrace, then running away would be much easier since she would have access to a lot more complicated movements. With a child on hand, she had troubles.

'A few more.. Dianthe, please hurry.' Aria frequently checked up on the spirit's condition, but received no reply as the other was frantic to search for the 'anomaly'.

She kept checking up on her state, and it wasn't looking as pretty as it needed to be.

After a long period of hard dodging the attacks of the monster swarms, Aria's feet began to cramp up. The enchantments still took a toll on her body, even though she had the [Tempered Body] skill.

At her current physique, she wasn't able to fully utilize said skill. If she made just one wrong movement right now, she would be doomed. Thus, her heart was basically jumping out of her chest as she escaped dangerous situations again and again.

Her danger senses began to tingle, conveying the severity of the situation to her. Her body was screaming at her, telling her to stop this absurd activity that was killing her.

Just then, she suddenly felt her connection with Dianthe end.

Her heart dropped, wondering if that was a positive or negative omen. The end of a connection with a spirit could mean several things. It could mean that the spirit exhausted themselves completely and went inside the summoning space to recover, or that they had encountered a sealing spell that blocked them out of their connection with their Summoner.

'Dianthe?' Worried that something bad might have happened, she asked. However, she got no answers back, and her presence was very faint, but it still laid within the forest.

She checked her summoning space and found out that Dianthe was indeed starting to return to the space, bit by bit. Her spirit was weak, and she looked pained.

Although Dianthe didn't reply, a certain natural occurrence led Aria to believe that Dianthe hadn't failed her mission, but instead tried to fulfill it by sacrificing her usability.

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