Chapter 73: Summoner

The roof was inclined for rainwater flow though the slope was gentle enough. We confronted the second Phantom, paying careful attention to our footing.

I was honestly surprised to find out that the other Phantom was a woman. Her arms and legs were long and slender, her face on the slim side. She was of average height, and had long, black hair that went all the way down to her thighs. Her looks were pretty average, but her eyes were terrifying, like they were glaring.

「You guys sure are persistent.」she said, unfazed, with the right corner of her mouth lifted.

「I heard you only steal from nobles, but why are you taking Emma?」

「Why, indeed? I’m just as clueless as you. You saw the other guy, right? He apparently fell in love at first sight after seeing her walking down the streets.」

「So he stalked her and found out she was the daughter of a baron. And since he can’t hit on girls, he snatched her away. That’s rather pathetic, if you ask me.」

I was irate, so I got quite provocative, but she just burst out in laughter like it was not her problem.

「You might be right. Contrary to his appearance, that guy can be unexpectedly shy. So, now what? You’ll become a knight who’ll take back his lover that was taken from him?」

I kept my eyes on her and examined her with my【Appraisal】. She didn’t have【Concealment】on so I could see her stats and other details.

Name: Phan Berthold
Age: 28
Species: Human
Level: 190
Occupation: Salesperson Thief
Skills: Dagger A Summoning B Throwing B Ukemi Lightning Attribute Weakness A

Yep, she’s quite strong. The level gap between us was about a hundred, but I’ve defeated high-level monsters before so maybe it’ll work out somehow. I had Layla-san and Amr-san with me too.

The skill I’m most worried about is the【Summoning】one. Elna-sensei taught about this skill in Hero School and warned us to avoid opponents who’s proficient it. They can summon monsters they had a pact with. With high rank Summoning skill, you could apparently even summon Spirits.

「Layla-san, Amr-san, be careful. She has a Summoning skill.」

「Appraisal? That’s impressive, Noir-kun.」

「Thanks for the heads up. But that puts us in a tough spot.」

Amr-san’s expression was grim, pondering about how troublesome the skill was. Phan was a bit surprised that I saw through her stats, but quickly pulled herself together.

「Since you know, there’s no point in hiding it. It’s tough carrying this girl around anyway.」

She put her palms together and magic circles appeared from both sides, and from them emerged a monster and a beast. The latter was a cheetah, not something you’d see in this area. Phan placed the unconscious Emma on its back.

「Stay at a distance. If by any chance that they beat me, you take the girl and escape.」

It seemed to understand what she said as it scampered to the back of the roof. She probably wanted her close in case Emma wakes up. That works in our favour too, though. The problem now was the monster that was summoned.

「That’s a Cerberus, right?」

Layla-san gulped down her saliva. I could tell she was nervous. It was only natural. I was struck with fear myself. In front of us was a large, jet-black dog but strangely enough it had three heads.

Apart from its normal head, two other protruded at the top of its forelegs, around the shoulder blades. Its ears were standing up, its fangs sharply honed. However, it was only “large” relative to normal dogs. Its body wasn’t exactly humongous.

Name: Cerberus
Level: 112
Skill: Fire Breath Wind Breath Cold Breath

Three types of breath attack, huh? One type for each head, most likely.

「All right, then. I’d like to be done here by the time my partner gets the Mermaid’s Tear…. Go get ‘em.」

「Grroawrr!」

Do I really look like someone who gets killed instantly? Without any hesitation the Cerberus charged straight at me. It leaped to the air, about to sink its teeth into me, when I took out my sword and wedged it in its mouth. But what I really needed to look out for was its other two heads.

「Hyooooo…」

Oh, crap. I knew it. The other head was making a weird sound and breathing in deeply. There’s clearly a breath attack incoming!

I tried to get away quickly, but my sword was completely stuck in its mouth and won’t budge. It was Layla-san that saved me.

「Ha!」

She landed a powerful uppercut on the middle head, opening its mouth. I tried to use the opening to disrupt the other head that was about to unleash a breath attack, but it wasn’t necessary. With a smooth and swift motion, Layla landed a backhand blow, sending the Cerberus flying. It rolled off the roof all the way down. I doubt it was fatally wounded, but it should’ve received substantial damage.

「Thanks for saving me. That monster can use three breath attacks.」

「Let’s work together to beat it.」

「Okay. What about her?」

I eyed Amr-san and Phan who were already in the midst of a heated battle. Amr was like a fierce god, swinging his battle axe around while letting out a battle roar.

「Let’s leave her to Amr. We’ll just get in the way.」

「Yeah, he wouldn’t have to worry about hitting us with his axe. Let’s go.」

We jumped off the roof. I felt my feet go numb when we landed, but I just had to suck it up. With better footing, fighting should be a lot easier.

Incidentally, the Cerberus was still alive and kicking, drooling while trying to intimidate us.

「I packed a lot of power into that punch. This thing’s tough.」

「Ah, breath attack incoming!」

Unlike the last one, it didn’t take a lot of time for it to unleash its breath attack. It came from the head in the middle. Strong winds assaulted us like a storm, freezing us in place. Still, this was nothing more than a powerful breeze. There was a bigger problem, however. Just like last time, the other head started inhaling deeply and white particles seemed to hang in the air around its mouth. Could it be… it’s trying to combine its Cold Breath with the wind? That looked to be the case.

「Noir-kun, raise your arms to guard yourself.」

「Okay.」

She sounded like she had a plan so I did as she said. Then she kicked me upward, sending me flying towards the sky, leaving me floating in the air. Why’d she do that?
The answer was obvious. To get me out of range of the breath attack.

She, on the other hand, got hit head-on. When the white stream of breath subsided, Layla-san’s clothes and hair were completely frozen.

「Yikes, that’s cold.」

She could still speak which was a relief, but she was still not out of danger. The Cerberus was charging straight at her.

「Oh no, you don’t!」

I dashed forward, sheathed my sword, and took out my Hatchet of Divine Retribution from my Different Dimension Storage. It’s spoils I got from the dungeon’s Ogre Hag; a rare item acquired by granting the skill【Wolf Slayer A】to a【Strong Edge】. It’s widely accepted that dogs and wolves were pretty much the same species. A popular theory even says that wolves are dogs’ ancestors.

My guess was that the【Wolf Slayer A】skill would be just as effective and I was right. I swung the hatchet recklessly and hit the dashing Cerberus square on the head, crushing it. It was quite the grotesque scene with bones and blood flying about.

But it was clearly effective. I wasn’t even taking a proper stance, nor did I put that much strength into it. Yet, the result was astounding.

Now that I knew to hit its head, victory was as good as mine. Its ferocious roar changed to that of a whimper as it collapsed in a pool of blood.

「Layla-san, are you okay?」

「I-I-I-I-Incredible. Y-Y-You saved me.」

She couldn’t speak straight with her teeth clattering from the cold. Fortunately, the breath didn’t have any serious effect on her body.

「You should rest. Just leave the rest to me.」

「I can’t do that. Just wait a bit.」

She performed a few straight punches and squats to heat herself up. It was very effective. In just under a minute, she had almost completely recovered. Incredible.

「My hair’s still frozen, but nothing we can do about that. By the way, that’s quite the powerful hatchet you got there. You surprised me.」

「It’s imbued with the skill “Wolf Slayer”. Its name is Hatchet of Divine Retribution.」

「So you brought down divine retribution to the Cerberus. I guess one could say that you’re a god at the moment.」

「No way.」I said, chuckling.

I looked up at the roof to see the cheetah still staying put in its position. From the angle, I couldn’t see Phan and Amr-san. Is he winning?

Worried, I was about to go back up, when suddenly something fell off the roof, scaring us out of our wits.