Dark Fantasy Guide for the Summoner - Chapter 27

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 27.
Wood Revenge VIII
Strength drained from my entire body.
A strange lassitude, a buoyancy, and with it the pain in my arms seemed to drain away somewhere beyond reach.
My head, which had been muddled as if a spike were driven through it, finally reclaimed its proper function.
‘Am I mistaken?’
It didn’t seem so.
The pain was genuinely vanishing.
At the same time, I realized my body was undergoing some kind of transformation.
Whoooosh—
I looked down at both arms.
The armor and underclothes had burned away long ago, leaving my bare arms exposed, and the burns that had been on the verge of charring and fusing to my skin suddenly restored themselves to their original state in an instant.
But the problem was…….
“…….”
The world had changed.
Everything in my field of vision was tinted in ashen gray, yet only the moon hanging in the sky remained vivid and clear.
“The Ashen Moon…….”
The moment the word surfaced in my mind, I spoke it aloud.
[You have received recognition from the Ashen Moon.]
[Henceforth, the Blessing of the Ashen Moon will always accompany you on your journey.]
Blessing of the Ashen Moon Lv. 1
Type: Buff
Cooldown: 1 day | Application Range: Self
Cast Time: Instant | Duration: 60 seconds
Restores 50% of your health. All stats increase for a set duration, and critical hit chance rises significantly.
Recognition, and blessing.
I watched the Ashen Flame Lizard intently.
Its size remained unchanged, but the color of its scales had become far more vivid.
Its ventral scales rose and fell as if its breathing had stabilized.
‘I did tame it, but…….’
Was it actually still in a state where it could fight?
For a moment earlier, I’d thought our eyes met, but with everything so chaotic, I wasn’t even sure if I’d really seen it clearly.
“Aaaahhh!”
At that moment, a harrowing scream erupted from below.
I watched Seigrena get struck by something and sent flying, her body impaled on a Black Tree.
Thud!
The tree shuddered as Seigrena lost consciousness on impact.
‘Damn.’
So Seigrena was the first to fall.
All that’s left is the ferret, but that creature won’t last long either.
There’s no time to hesitate.
For reasons I don’t understand, my physical condition isn’t bad at all. It’s not that strength is surging through me, but emotionally I feel strangely calm.
Like…….
Like the moon reflected on the surface of a lake.
[You cast the skill Wild Force.]
A skill that allows you to borrow the stats and abilities of a designated magical beast.
Of course, the beast I’m designating now isn’t Wizeli.
[You designate the Ashen Flame Lizard.]
My physical abilities rose in a way I could tangibly feel.
Looking at it now, the Ashen Flame Lizard’s level was a full forty.
Just from the stat boost alone from this creature, I’d become two or three times stronger than I was originally.
‘But that’s not the key.’
What skills does this lizard actually possess?
[Based on your Trust Level with the current beast, you can obtain one skill.]
Well, that makes sense. It’s lower than with the ferret.
[You borrow the skill Final Ashen Flame.]
Final Ashen Flame Lv. 1
Type: Buff
Cast Time: Instant | Application Range: Self
Duration: 60 seconds | Cooldown: 1 day
For a set duration, all your attacks change to the Ashen Flame attribute. Ashen Flame attacks deal additional damage, with effects maximized against certain enemies.
A buff skill, then? The duration’s short and the cooldown’s brutal, but it’s worth the cost.
That “certain enemies” mentioned in the description—I know what it means.
‘The Woodman.’
I threw myself down onto the battlefield sprawling beneath the tree.
* * *
Despite jumping from dozens of meters high, I landed with perfect stability.
My body really is light.
So much so that even the pain and exhaustion I’d felt moments before seemed like a distant dream.
I descended toward the battle swept up in a strange sense of liberation.
“Switch.”
Wizeli understood my intent and vanished backward in an instant.
Godrak reacted fast. He spun backward and swung his wooden sword at me in the same motion.
Clang!
With the scythe, I blocked it properly this time.
Just facing him sent a chill down my spine, and the impact still reverberated through my grip with crushing force.
‘But I can hold.’
Still, far better than our first exchange.
I pressed Godrak hard while maintaining favorable distance.
Thanks to the Final Ashen Flame skill, the scythe’s edge trailed a faint ashen glow.
After trading blows a few times, I realized Godrak was desperately wary of that flame touching his body.
‘Clumsy.’
It’s way too obvious that one hit spells disaster for him.
Without even trying to hide it, Godrak soon abandoned his offense entirely and focused on defense.
He was stalling on purpose.
‘Does this bastard know Final Ashen Flame has a duration?’
The duration was only sixty seconds.
It was me who needed a quick victory. But if I grew reckless, I’d trip myself up.
Godrak’s strategy was simple.
Wait out the defense, then bare his teeth at the decisive moment. But precisely because it was simple, I had no real countermeasure to speak of.
‘Then…….’
I tightened my grip on the scythe.
My target wasn’t Godrak himself.
‘Focus.’
The weapon he held so dear—
I’d sever that wooden sword, his core means of attack and defense.
Screech!
A scythe is a cutting weapon, after all.
The moment the wooden sword split diagonally in two, Godrak’s movements froze.
I swept his rigid frame with a kick to the chest, then brought the scythe down on his shoulder.
Whoosh!
Flames erupted from where the scythe made contact. As if everything compressed and forced down until now had suddenly detonated and burst forth.
The ashen fire that ignited consumed Godrak’s entire body in an instant.
-Aaaaaagh―!
The wooden armor burned away, and the core beneath it finally revealed itself.
A human shape carved from rotten wood. Far more human in form than an Avenger.
‘No…….’
Is this actually a person?
The moment that thought crossed my mind, Godrak lunged.
I tried to dodge, abandoning all defense, but Godrak closed the gap in a heartbeat and raked his claws at me point-blank.
Rip-shred!
My chest tore open and blood sprayed out.
‘Damn……!’
The searing pain jolted me fully awake. Now that I thought about it, the Ashen Moon and Frost Sun had incompatible natures. His attacks were equally fatal to me.
In that moment of reeling, a memory flashed through my mind—from the train.
‘Back then.’
That one-eyed creature, Derek, who’d ambushed me from behind. When I’d flinched from his vile stench, his claws had raked across my ribs.
‘That moment……!’
I’d sworn then that I’d never show such pathetic hesitation or doubt again when facing absolute necessity.
I gritted my teeth.
I clenched my teeth. Defense was pointless now. I felt certain that once I dropped into a crouch, there’d be no straightening my back again.
I hurled myself into the downpour.
Crack!
[The Mantis Scythe is destroyed.]
The scythe shattered into pieces under Godrak’s driving fist.
I wasn’t surprised this time.
‘Held up well enough.’
I discarded the broken scythe without hesitation.
[Final Ashen Flame]
[Remaining duration: 20 seconds]
……Besides, the Ashen Flame property applies to every attack anyway. No weapon needed—it clings to my fists alone.
The moment I balled both hands, I felt ashen flames coiling around them.
Smash!
My punch drove into Godrak’s jaw. Then his chest, his solar plexus, his shoulder—wild haymaker after haymaker drumming against his body.
Thud!
Of course, my own face snapped to the side from his counter.
‘Damn.’
So he knew too. The end wasn’t far off.
Now Godrak, abandoning all defense, let out something like a roar.
‘Good.’
Let’s see what we’ve got.
A slugfest that doesn’t end until one of us dies.
Pound-pound-pound-thud!
With every swing of my fists, blood sprayed, his wooden armor crumbled, and flesh tore free.
Each time I took a hit, my senses would flicker out for a moment, then snap back the instant my knuckles flew again—a strange, disorienting rhythm.
[Warning. Health critically low.]
[Probability of incurring various debuffs increased.]
[Entering Madness state.]
[Entering Recklessness state.]
[Stress value rising.]
Shut up.
Debuffs or whatever—none of it matters right now.
[Lesser Protection Ring uses reduced by 1.]
……That one actually means something.
My precious rare-grade ring’s remaining uses were draining fast. Well, when else would I burn them if not now?
[Lesser Protection Ring uses reduced by 1.]
That was two near-deaths I’d just avoided.
Fitting enough. I could feel my punches losing power.
Though to be fair, I’m not the only one.
[Final Ashen Flame]
[Remaining duration: 10 seconds]
Only ten seconds left now.
A bitter laugh escaped me, and in that moment of lost focus, his fist caught me square in the eye. My right vision plunged to black in an instant.
‘Blindness?’
Not good.
Even as my sight spun, I threw another punch, but Godrak dodged easily and drove his foot into my body.
Boom!
This must be what it feels like to be hit by a dump truck.
I flew backward, crashing and tumbling across the ground.
I staggered to my feet.
“That person—he’s human……!”
A urgent cry cut through the rain.
“That one—he said he was human before, a prosecutor……!”
It was Cria.
Where had she learned that? No time to ask. I moved on pure instinct, pulling the Tentacle Whip from my belt. If this thing really was human…… there was something to test.
Let out a terrible shriek—
The moment Godrak charged toward me screaming, I lashed out with the whip, cracking it against his wooden helm.
Crack……?!
The helm, already half-charred and loose, spun violently in the opposite direction.
Like he’d put the helmet on backward.
Godrak flailed like someone whose vision had gone dark in an instant. If I—with one eye gone—was half-crippled, then this creature had become utterly helpless.
‘So it’s true.’
This bastard wasn’t doing what the other Woodman did—expanding his sensory field based on touch.
[]
[Remaining duration: 5 seconds]
Five seconds left.
I pushed off the ground and closed the distance.
Four.
Even blind, Godrak managed to thrust out his right hand.
Three.
The moment his palm opened, five fingers sprouted into wooden tendrils and swept toward me.
Two.
I bent my knees and dropped low. Sliding beneath the branches like a man diving, I squeezed past them and drove straight for Godrak’s jaw.
Finally, one.
My fist clenched tight. I gathered every ounce of will, pulling the Ashen Flame scattered across both hands and concentrating it into the knuckles of my right.
Whoosh!
The Ashen Flame answered my intention.
Like blood rushing inward, I felt heat and condensed force gathering in my tight fist.
I brought that fist down against Godrak’s skull.
Crack!
Something snapped, and Godrak’s head flew from his shoulders like a helmet torn away.
“…….”
Godrak went still. The wooden tendrils that had been erupting outward ceased as well.
But the heavy silence that followed didn’t last.
Aaaaaaaaahhhhh—!
A colossal scream consumed the air around us.
It wasn’t Godrak.
‘The Black Tree?’
Human-like faces emerged across the bark surface, and they all shrieked at once.
Ooooooohhhhh—!
A gale tore through the clearing. The wind was strong enough to sweep a man away; I could barely keep my eyes open. I had no choice but to crouch down and endure.
Ugh, ahhh…….
The screams faded slowly. The fierce wind that had been tearing at the roots subsided with them.
Squinting, I saw what lay ahead: the Black Tree, withered beyond recognition, desiccated and brittle.
Crumble.
As if marking the end, the Black Tree slowly turned to ash and scattered on the wind.
“Ah…….”
Cria let out a soft exclamation. She had emerged from the pit and now watched the ash drift away.
‘So that’s what ash looks like.’
That empty stare wavered for a moment, then shifted toward me.
“……Thank you.”
“…….”
The meaning of her words reached me only after a delay.
The lore of the Eternal Forest held that if a corpse was left behind, the spirit would be bound to the forest for eternity.
[You have died.]
[Your spirit is bound to the Eternal Forest, and you will suffer for endless ages…….]
[Would you like to start anew?]
This was confirmed by the message that appeared when a player died.
In other words, the souls of those who had been in the Corpse Pit beneath the roots had suffered for at least decades, if not longer.
In that dark, murky place.
“…….”
I looked at where the Black Tree had stood.
The tree itself hadn’t been consumed by the flames, and the fire that had flickered around it had long since gone out. But…….
For the first time, it felt as though a proper cremation had been completed—a fitting farewell.
[You have defeated the .]
[The ecosystem of the is permanently altered.]
[You have made a significant contribution to the transformation of this field.]
[New life born in this land shall no longer regard you as an enemy.]
⁝
[You have liberated countless souls bound to the forest.]
⁝
[You have achieved a glorious milestone.]
[Achievements obtained: “The One Who Alters Ecosystems,” “Requiem for the Fallen.”]
[You receive 30,000 Achievement Points.]
I closed my eyes for a moment. The instant the surreal vista unfolded before me, I felt both a melancholy reverence and a creeping, practical doubt.
‘Where do you all go from here?’
Where was the final destination for souls departing the forest?
Does heaven truly exist in this world?
Or do we simply become fragments of data, cast into oblivion?
As the question lingered unanswered, wind swept through once more—carrying away even the faint traces of ash that remained.
And with it, the uncertainty I held.
Eyes still closed, I lingered in that afterimage.
⁝
[The Beast Deity, ‘▓▓▓’, is delighted.]
⁝
My eyes opened. A chill crept up the nape of my neck, and I turned to look behind me.
[Lv.9 ‘Grand Owl’]
Perched atop the tallest tree among the sprawling forest stood a single owl.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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