“I wasn’t expecting any help…”
Rusty watched as the giant spider reared back, its many eyes gleaming in the reflection of the burning forest. Aranea did not say anything, but the spider carried out her will through the rider bond they shared. It spat streams of purplish poison from its fangs, launching them like mana arrows. Whenever they struck their targets, sharp impacts echoed across the clearing as the venom splashed against fur and bone. The corrosive poison ate through hides and left smoking wounds behind.
Aranea's giant spider did not stop after a single volley. More streams of poison shot from its fangs, coating the battlefield with deadly traps. Any monster that stepped into the puddles immediately began to struggle. The spider remained above them, dancing just out of reach of the Ashrams, whose only method of attack was charging in straight lines, or so they thought.
The stronger variant opened its bony maw, and flames erupted toward them. The blast scorched the section of mountainside where the spider had been standing, forcing it to descend, but the girls managed to stay safe. Then, just as the monster prepared to unleash another breath attack, a powerful blow struck its head and sent it reeling backward.
“Your opponent is me!”
Syber shouted as raw power surged through his feline claws. His fused tiger and humanoid form was larger than before, with greater muscle mass and bright orange fur. His speed was equally impressive as he gracefully avoided the lesser Ashrams while they attempted to trample him.
The larger variant shook its head, the flames within its skull burning brighter with rage as it locked its gaze onto Syber. It snorted a cloud of sparks and charged, its hooves tearing through the frozen earth. Syber did not try to stop it head-on as Rusty had. Instead, he waited until the last possible moment, leaped into the air, and flipped over the beast. As he descended, his claws carved deep gashes into its flank, drawing more of that thick, dark demonic blood.
Meanwhile, Astrella slid down from the giant spider's back and hurried toward the small ledge where Gwen was huddled.
“Gwen! Are you hurt?”
Astrella called out, her eyes scanning her friend for injuries.
“I’m fine, just out of mana.”
Gwen replied, her voice trembling slightly but filled with relief. Astrella quickly pulled a mana recovery potion from her belt and handed it over. Rusty took it and passed it to his summoner. After a few hurried gulps, color began returning to Gwen’s face as her mana slowly recovered.
“You two stay here. I’ll take care of the rest.”
Rusty nodded and lifted Astrella onto the elevated ledge before moving forward to assist Syber and Aranea. Although their surprise attack had been successful, the number of flaming rams continued to grow.
“The noise is drawing them in…”
Rusty said as he plunged his halberd into one of the Ashrams.
Astrella immediately nodded and began chanting.
“Leave it to me and the fairies. I’ll block out the sound and strengthen your abilities, so go wild!”
The air warped as Astrella finished her incantation. A soft, shimmering barrier of pale green light rippled outward from the ledge, expanding until it formed a dome over the clearing. The moment the spell settled into place, the thunderous noise of the battle vanished, trapped within the magical barrier. Wisps of wind spiraled around Rusty, Syber, and Aranea, lifting the weight from their limbs and filling them with renewed strength.
Even though Rusty was in his Goliath form, the increase in agility helped him greatly during the battle. He endured as many hits as he could, using his provocation skill to keep the monsters focused on him. His shield was enough to block most of their attacks and gave Syber, who had managed to finish off the stronger variant, an opportunity to land a critical strike.
Yet the monsters kept coming in numbers no one had imagined possible. Even other creatures, such as hobgoblins that were probably native to these parts, could be seen peeking out from the trees. Fortunately, they were not alone.
“W-why is it getting so cold...?”
Gwen asked while shivering. Astrella responded by pointing toward the sky.
“Look!”
There, their teacher Quinten and his ice elemental had arrived. Not just one, but three ice elementals descended from above while Quinten stood on a strange icy platform that slowly lowered through the air. Without even raising a wand, he directed his summoned creatures. They immediately began launching spears of ice at the rampaging horde below.
The frozen projectiles rained down like a crystalline barrage, piercing through the thick hides of the Ashrams and shattering the fiery skulls with ease. Wherever the ice struck, frost spread rapidly across the ground, sealing the beasts' wounds and freezing them solid within seconds. Even the burning trees that threatened to ignite the forest were quickly extinguished beneath the sudden blizzard.
Quinten hovered above the battlefield, his eyes focused as his hands moved smoothly through the air. The three ice elementals acted in perfect synchronization, raising walls of frost that cut off approaching reinforcements and funneled the remaining monsters into a narrow bottleneck.
Then, once the students had retreated to a safe distance, the barrage intensified even further. The hobgoblins never had a chance to flee. A storm of ice swept across the forest's edge and consumed everything in its path. Trees crackled as frost raced up their trunks. Snow and frozen mist surged outward in a widening wave. The unfortunate monsters caught at the edge of the battlefield were instantly encased in thick layers of ice before they could retreat into the woods.
“This is...”
Rusty did not know how to react. He had thought that becoming a D-rank monster made him somewhat powerful, but even without being the direct target of the blizzard, he knew he would be frozen solid within seconds.
“Lightning magic might not be my only weakness...”
His joints groaned as he took a few steps back from the newly formed ice wall. Returning to where Gwen and the others stood, he watched as silence settled over the battlefield. The flaming skulls mounted on the rams were gone, and the thunderous pounding they had produced was no more. The only sound that remained was the crackling of ice spreading across the landscape, extending for at least two hundred meters in a half-moon around them.
‘If I ever get caught in a massive ice attack like this, I might be done for...’
To Rusty, whose identity revolved around struggle and combat, this display of power was concerning. However, he already had an idea of how to address the problem. Heat enchantments. If he could place them throughout his body, then even if he were frozen and unable to move, he could eventually thaw himself out. Ice would not kill him directly like lightning could. It would only immobilize his metallic body.
“...”
Quinten’s platform of solid ice finally landed on the ground. Now that it was here, he could see something resembling a fence forming around its edges. A small entrance appeared as well, and moments later, the teacher stepped through it. His usually passive expression looked quite different now as he frowned deeply.
“Astrella Fjord, Syber Tygrys, and even you, Lady Aranea Venomridge. Explain your actions.”
“Well, uh…”
Astrella began mumbling something under her breath as the teacher glared at her. Syber was next. Even though he was still in his transformed form, he looked afraid to meet Quinten’s gaze through the monocle. Only Aranea faced the look directly, and she was also the one to answer.
“We could not let a fellow classmate die, Professor. Is that not what Thou hast taught us?”
She did not back down, and the others found comfort in her confidence. Her status was quite high. Even though she was only a student, she was still of noble birth and ranked above the teacher. However, Quinten did not seem pleased with her response.
“All of you will be punished later. For now, we shall return to the waypoint. Are any of you injured?”
With a simple gesture, the icy gate opened, and the teacher beckoned them inside. Rusty and the others exchanged glances before nodding without complaint. All of them knew it was better not to argue with their teacher.
Rusty’s form shrank back to its smaller size, and the same happened to the spider. Syber dismissed his transformation and returned to normal. Once Gwen and Astrella climbed down from the ledge, they all gathered on the icy platform, which carried them upward.
“...”
It was a silent trip back. The platform moved relatively slowly as it ascended the mountain. While there, none of the students dared utter a word. They did not want to further upset the teacher, who would likely be deciding their punishment later. Rusty, however, reached out to Gwen through their summoner bond.
“Is everything going to be alright?”
“I don’t know... We still have a few days before we reach the Knight Academy, so I doubt the punishment will be too harsh. But after we return to the academy...”
Gwen trailed off, concern evident in her tone. Rusty could feel her anxiety through their bond, but he doubted she would get into serious trouble. This group consisted of prestigious summoners, a rare bunch from what he had seen. Considerable resources had been invested in their safety, and their teacher was clearly quite powerful.
“I think it’ll be fine. Maybe they’ll deduct some merit points or something. Everyone managed to get out alive, and that has to count for something.”
“I hope so...”
The ice platform glided smoothly over the frozen peaks, leaving the devastated forest far behind. Up here, the wind no longer howled. Even though they were surrounded by ice elementals, the humanoids had stopped shivering.
Eventually, they arrived back at the road. It was marked by countless hoofprints left behind by the Ashram stampede, but there was something else waiting for them as well.
A large group of armored soldiers stood there, clearly awaiting their arrival. As soon as the platform came into view, they began waving and making room for it to land. Once they touched down, Rusty noticed rows of dead monster corpses piled along the roadside while soldiers hauled them away. It had been a true slaughter.
"Shame that I don't get experience from these things directly..."
He had to have defeated tens of these ashrams already, but Gwen was the only one gaining experience. Still, he wasn't particularly upset. If she grew stronger, she would only be able to provide more mana for his own skills.
"Ah... finally safe."
Astrella was the first to break the silence as she hopped off the frozen platform. Waiting before them was a smaller armored carriage, ready to transport them to the waypoint where the other students were gathered.
"It's all thanks to you and Professor Quinten."
Gwen smiled, trying to ease the tension, but the teacher simply looked at her and pointed toward the carriage before she could say anything more.
"Please get into the carriage."
"...Y-yes, Professor."
She nodded and lowered her head slightly. The other students looked at her with frowns but said nothing. They climbed inside and took their seats, with Syber on one side and the three girls on the other. The summons sat beside the only young man in the group. Quinten eventually climbed onto the driver's seat, and the horses, strangely coated in ice, finally started moving.
"I... I'm sorry. Because of me, all of you are going to be punished..."
Gwen finally spoke as the carriage rolled forward.
"Oh, please! Don't look like that, Gwen. We chose to go after you. Besides, seeing Syber try to look tough while Quinten stared him down was worth every lost merit point!"
Astrella was the first to wave the apology away, a bright smile returning to her face.
"What are you talking about? You clung to my leg and begged me to help save Gwen with tears in your eyes! We were just lucky that Aranea happened to overhear your pathetic sobbing and decided to lend us her spider!"
"Uh... I wasn't sobbing!"
"You were!"
The two immediately fell into another argument. Aranea, who had been sitting quietly until now, began to chuckle. The sound grew louder and louder until, as though a dam had burst, she broke into hearty laughter. It was not something anyone in the carriage had expected.
The sudden outburst stunned everyone into silence. They had all assumed she was a noble lady of few words, almost stoic in her behavior. Yet now she was laughing so hard that tears filled her eyes as she covered her face. For a few moments, nobody knew how to react. Then Gwen started laughing as well, followed by Astrella and Syber, as though her laughter had somehow become contagious.
The carriage filled with laughter for nearly twenty seconds before Aranea finally managed to compose herself.
"Ah, thou art an interesting bunch... Please forgive my outburst..."
She raised her fan to cover her mouth, but her little spider familiar continued bouncing excitedly beside Rusty, as though it too had been affected by her sudden change in mood.
"Ah... you're quite an interesting person too, Lady Aranea. And I'd also like to thank you for helping us."
Gwen smiled at the pale girl, who immediately seemed to blush.
"Uh... think nothing of it! It's what any Venomridge would have done!"
It was clear that the young noblewoman was not accustomed to speaking with children her own age. Rusty remained silent as the group continued talking around him.
‘I wonder...’
After this incident, they still did not know who the culprit was. It was also possible that the flaming goats were somehow part of the attack on Gwen. Yet he was not thinking about the identity of his enemy. Instead, his thoughts were focused on the group before him.
This was not the first time he had been summoned to this world. Through multiple missions, he had managed to help Gwen not only by winning battles but also by helping her gather like-minded companions, something humanoids usually called friends or allies.
Even when he was gone, these three people would remain by his summoner's side and help her overcome whatever obstacles lay ahead. Because of this, he began to wonder if these missions were far more significant than he had first assumed. Life continued in these worlds even after he left, and helping his summoner build strong relationships could be an important piece of a much larger puzzle.
‘I’ll have to protect these three as well. At this point, they make a great team!’
Aranea, who had once seemed like an enemy, was becoming one of their greatest allies. Her spider was powerful, and her family was influential as well. She was probably not the one targeting his summoner, as there would be little reason for her to help Gwen in this situation if she were. That meant they still needed to uncover the true culprit. This time, it would be best for all of them to put their heads together and figure out what was really going on.