Dark Fantasy Guide for the Summoner - Chapter 6

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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 6.
Express Circular Train Armand VI
In PoP, allies are both indispensable and thoroughly aggravating.
Why? The reasons are too numerous to count.
First, given the game’s nature, managing even a single character is hardly simple.
‘Disease, injuries, hunger, thirst……’
You had to tend to your player character’s body and mind as if they were flesh and blood in the real world—
and even if you managed all of it perfectly, a Stress stat that spiraled out of control could trigger depression, slapping you with crippling Debuffs.
‘And the end result was always suicide.’
The real problem was that in this game, finding trustworthy allies was like plucking stars from the sky.
[Ares: I can’t, I can’t do this anymore……! I’m getting out of here!]
[Rotten: Kheh-kheh. Why look at me that way? You didn’t know I’d stab you in the back?]
[Haytan: Here you are. Breakfast. What’s it made from, you ask? Ha-ha. Sometimes ignorance is a blessing.]
Those NPCs had bodies and minds that needed maintaining too.
You had to chat with them regularly, check on their health, even bring them gifts from time to time—all to keep them satisfied.
And even after doing all that, you still couldn’t unconditionally trust an ally NPC.
[You have died.]
[Your soul is bound to the Forest of Eternity, where you will suffer for all eternity…….]
[Do you wish to start anew?]
Focused so much on relationships that your character growth lagged, and you’d end up with a Game Over before you knew it.
“What a drag.”
This wasn’t a relationship simulation game, and the whole thing felt backwards somehow.
But trustworthy allies were a necessity, and so the conclusion was simple.
“Create allies that can’t betray you.”
Allies didn’t have to be NPCs.
There were jobs that let you command forces entirely on your own.
And so I became a Spirit Summoner, an Alchemist, and a Necromancer.
‘Each had its strengths and weaknesses, though.’
There was no perfect job in PoP.
From direct experience, the Necromancer suited my preferences best, but you never knew.
There might be some other summoning job lurking somewhere that fit me even better.
Like I’ve said a dozen times—PoP was a game whose volume was wastefully enormous.
* * *
As I approached the Beast cage, the mage who’d finished retching looked up and asked.
“What, what are you trying to do?”
“Fighting Poison with Poison.”
“Pardon?”
Did it not make sense in a fantasy context?
“I’m going to make these creatures and the monster chasing us fight each other.”
Once I spelled out the plan, the mage swallowed hard.
“Is, is that even possible……?”
“I’m not sure…….”
In the game, I’d definitely seen Beasts and Shadows clashing.
But now that it was reality, who could say?
‘Still, according to the lore, Shadows are hostile to all lifeforms except their own kind.’
That meant it seemed unlikely that creature would ignore the Beasts charging at it just to prioritize us.
“But these Beasts are locked in the cage—how are you planning to……?”
Instead of answering, I drew a key from my pocket and held it up.
Iron Cage Key
A key needed to unlock any cage’s lock.
One of the items I’d picked up while rifling through the corpses.
I’d grabbed it just in case.
Though a problem remained.
If I just opened the lock outright, the Beasts might attack us first instead of the Shadow.
Here I turned to my younger sister and spoke.
“You said your contracted Spirit was Sylph?”
The Spirit Summoner who’d been observing the Beasts nodded slowly.
“Ah, yes…….”
“Can you have the Spirit manipulate this key?”
The Spirit Summoner stared at the key for a moment, then spoke in a trembling voice.
“I, I think it might be possible.”
“When I give the signal, use this key to unlock that cage. Can you do it?”
“…All right.”
“Good. Everyone hide now.”
Thump, bang……
The presence of the Shadow drew closer still.
Was it in the next car over now?
If we’d been hiding in car thirteen, we’d have been crushed to death without a doubt.
‘Damn thing.’
Come on, then. Try it.
As I held my breath and waited, my gaze drifted to the cage in the far corner.
‘…Was that there before?’
I didn’t remember seeing it earlier.
Now that I looked at it more carefully, I could understand why I’d missed it.
It was tucked into the darkest corner of the car, and it wasn’t really large enough to call a cage.
At most, it was the size of a birdcage……
And what was actually inside was a bird.
‘An owl?’
A pair of jet-black eyes fixed on me from where it sat calmly on its perch.
Owls came in many varieties with appearances to match, but this one seemed to be classified as a Jester Owl.
You know, one of those eerie-looking ones where you can’t see anything but black pupils in their eyes.
[Lv.9 ‘Jester Owl’]
Its level was by far the lowest among the beasts in this car.
In other words, not a creature worth paying attention to.
That would be the usual assessment.
‘Something’s off.’
I quickly noticed several things that seemed out of place about this owl.
For one, unlike the other beasts that had been left neglected and turned grimy, its appearance was immaculate—
and despite being caged, it showed no signs of anxiety or the severe stress one might expect.
Sitting there with its head tilted to one side, it almost seemed serene.
……Could it have low intelligence and simply not understand its situation?
‘Or perhaps.’
For this beast, the current situation didn’t seem particularly grave.
[Your keen intuition has glimpsed a fragment of the mysterious beast’s true nature.]
[Hostility from beasts decreases slightly.]
[Additional information about the ‘Jester Owl’ has been added.]
‘Additional information on the target?’
In the game, this was an effect that triggered at low probability upon encountering a new entity.
The higher your Intuition stat, the greater the activation chance.
Who’d have thought that the seemingly useless Intuition stat would prove helpful here.
‘Since the game is no longer the game, I can raise the probability based on my own reasoning ability.’
Of course, that would need verification too.
Anyway……
Jester Owl
Entertainment is the highest value of all.
What kind of riddle was that supposed to be.
I felt both puzzled and vaguely intrigued, but unfortunately I had no time to dwell on this curious matter any longer.
Thump.
The Shadow had finally reached the beast car.
Clang, shriek!
Grrrrr……
The beasts snarled, and their cages shook violently.
Some bristled their fur, others bared their fangs—reactions varied by the creature.
But then.
Crash!
The moment the iron door was crushed, most of those reactions subsided.
A natural response.
With levels barely reaching ten or twenty, they’d be utterly helpless before that Shadow.
‘Not you, though.’
Fortunately, the wolf I’d been watching simply gazed toward the door with a composed stare.
Level 30 after all.
Somewhat reassuring.
At level 30, this creature would qualify as a Named Beast even in the early regions of the forest—powerful enough to be noteworthy.
Against the Shadow bearing down on us, it wouldn’t simply crumble.
……God, it had better not.
Crack……!
“Hm.”
The moment the iron door buckled, the mage’s voice leaked out.
I shot him a look that said shut it, and he immediately clamped both hands over his mouth, head bobbing frantically.
That bastard—still unsettling, somehow.
Crunch!
In that instant, the iron door literally split apart, then flew backward and embedded itself in the wall.
Low growl……!
And finally, the mass of tentacles revealed itself.
It looked darker than before.
‘Did it level up from gorging on corpses?’
……This was no time for pointless speculation.
I caught sight of the Spirit Summoner. Realizing my gaze, they murmured something under their breath, and in the next moment, a faint breeze stirred as the key floated upward.
Click.
The key turned in the lock…….
At last, the cage that had held the wolf pup swung open.
That was the moment everything took an unexpected turn.
Snap!
The wolf pup, which had been sitting all this while, sprang to its feet in an instant, burst from the cage, and bolted straight toward me.
“What the—”
I reflexively gripped the staff.
Roar!
The wolf unleashed a cry and swung its massive foreleg in a sweeping arc.
But that strike wasn’t aimed at me.
Crunch!
The wall of the train car was shredded like paper under the claws of the Level 30 Beast.
“No…….”
I couldn’t even sigh.
Crack, crunch……!
I didn’t fully grasp what was happening until the wall was nearly in tatters.
Of course, even if I’d caught on sooner, there was nothing I could have done.
Crash―!
How could anyone anticipate this—the wolf shredding the wall into rags with its own claws, then hurling its body through the breach to escape the train entirely?
“Ah.”
The wolf hurled itself outside, and only then did I grasp the situation.
Eighty kilometers per hour.
That would certainly deliver an impact no ordinary human could survive, but a Level 30 Beast’s durability was more than sufficient to endure it.
So to summarize the current situation…….
“Goddammit.”
Fighting Poison with Poison—the poison part.
The very weapon I needed to employ just deserted the battlefield of its own accord.

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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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