The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

Chapter 60: Death Cluster

Aside from Yan's wrath, the rest of the team had mixed emotions.

Elgin's gaze turned serious, and you could tell that he was preparing to take action in case something serious really did happen. Reina's brows were creased, and she fidgeted multiple times when she saw the scene unfold.

Aria wanted to stay clear of emotions. This was a matter of life and death, and she couldn't wager too much risks.

Ha-young was originally already delirious and movement impaired from her previous wound. This time, the wound that she got was much more serious than the previous one. How would she be able to survive?

In fact, now that half of her body was gone, even if she did survive it'd still be extremely traumatizing and hard for her to continue living.

It was better to let her matters go. No matter how frustrating it is to lose another human being's life to the monsters, it was a necessity.

Fighting was always like this. A matter of give and take. Just like how one Hunter would kill hundreds upon thousands of monsters in their entire career, they had to be prepared for their potential doom in missions too.

Sadly, Ha-young's young life was taken out early.

If Ha-young's death couldn't be avoided, Aria wanted to maximize the usage of it.

Internally, she made an apology towards the girl. She wasn't strong enough to save her.

"Rallaka, you know what that is, yeah?" Aria communicated with her Earth spirit silently.

Rallaka was a being that was just like her. He had vast knowledge of the past occurrences before he was sealed and put into the dungeon.

Aria already figured out what the monster's identity was, so Rallaka should've done the same.

"..Yes," Rallaka replied, his eyes fixed onto the monster's figure.

To be precise, the enemy wasn't 'a' monster. It was a compilation of several monsters. A fusion that could only be made possible using undead monsters. It suited the theme of the dungeon, but Aria never expected this thing to show up here.

<Death Clusters> could vary around different types, sizes, powers, attributes- anything. The elements depended on the undead creatures that made up the entity.

No one has been able to explain how this phenomenon came to be. A cluster of sinister monsters, no one could explain what triggered the change.

If put into perspective, a similar monster that had the abilities to perform the same transformation was slimes. Slimes could bind together to form a bigger mass, but they required to be of the same element and type. Essentially, they would be creating a larger sized version of themselves by forcibly conjoining their individual masses.

However, <Death Clusters> were different. They could be mixed up from several different undead types, making identification extremely hard to pull off with the astounding amount of characteristic and abilities one cluster could possess.

The cluster could be weak if it was a compilation of several weaker monsters. However, when it is the combination of high-ranked, powerful monsters, then you can only imagine how terrifying the monster would be.

Therefore, Aria was currently observing the cluster's movements, wanting to spot its abilities. Trying to pinpoint just what types of undead made up this humongous object of nightmare.

"Rallaka, help me note down the monsters that got sucked inside that damned thing," Aria said, her eyes narrowing on the monster.

The Earth spirit hummed in agreement, focusing on the gruesome scene of Ha-young being devoured slowly.

She was already dead, but her body getting crushed brutally like that still made your stomach churn.

They began listing the monsters. From the characteristics, it seemed like there wasn't an extreme monster that was out of their leagues.

However, they both came to spot one particular monster that posed a huge threat.

"...Somehow, I think a <Flesh Hound> got mixed into it," Rallaka reported.

"I think so too. This.. isn't a good scenario for us," Aria bit her lips.

What were <Flesh Hounds>? To describe it briefly, it would be giant canines that were attracted to flesh on a genetical level. These murderous creatures could think of nothing but flesh. Raw flesh of all types.

They are hungry creatures. They were born hungry. Upon having breathed their first supply of air from the world, they will not be able to peel their minds off flesh.

Hunger. Desire to have more. Greed.

Like mindless creatures, their bodies are programmed to seek flesh at all times. To hunt for the flesh of the living, and to eat those who were dead. It didn't matter to them what the target was. Upon locating a living being, its instincts would activate, propelling it to attack in order to successfully obtain the flesh.

Going by the traits, the team had to be wary of all dangers. The hounds' instincts must've overtaken the others, judging by how the cluster moved around Ha-young's flesh and not trying to spread its attention elsewhere.

This was the perfect time for them to analyze what their next plans had to be.

"Do you sense any other dangerous creature apart from the <Flesh Hound>?" Aria asked.

"I don't think I do... the rest are just normal types of undead. The hound, however.. Is something we have to watch out for,"

"I know," Aria responded.

She waited as the monster continued on chewing Ha-young fragile body, enjoying every bite of it.

Soon, Ha-young's body was already nowhere to be seen. The only thing that could be accepted as her remnants were the excessive amounts of blood dripping out of the monster's mouth, eventually falling down to the water and dispersing into it.

It was such a short time. They used up the time Ha-young graced them with to analyze the monster, but they couldn't manage to formulate a plan to defeat it.

"Hey, this doesn't look good for us,"

"I know!" Aria replied, gritting her teeth as she braced for any surprises.

Aria stepped backwards, awaiting the monster's next movements. She knew that the monster already noticed them ever since it took Ha-young into its own clamp of death. It just had to devour Ha-young completely before going off to do other actions because its instincts made it act that way.

"Everyone, be careful. Don't get injured," Aria said to the rest, clenching her fists as she felt the cluster start to aim at their current spot.

The point of the <Flesh Hound>'s instincts was to sharpen every senses they had to locate flesh. If they got injured, the cluster would definitely aim at the most injured person. Because the more blood they spurted out, the more their flesh was exposed, all of it meant that the person was the most vulnerable.

Yan's body trembled as he heard Aria's continuous relaxed commands. Aria was used to these situations, where one couldn't break their calm if they wanted to survive the ordeal.

However, Yan was a compassionate person behind his showcase at other people. He couldn't quickly recover after Ha-young's death. He couldn't forget her death and the fact that he was right behind the girl when she was snatched by the tentacle and eaten alive.

"I'm joining too," Elgin realized the seriousness of the matter and the anomaly. If this wasn't even the boss, then there was something wrong with this dungeon.

Although Elgin had never seen a monster like the cluster, he could tell that it was out of the ordinary. He had been inside B-ranked dungeons before, and this monster was not like the other ones he saw in those trips.

"M-me too," Reina stuttered, raising up her hand to prepare for casting her own magic.

Aria had never seen Elgin in action, but she was able to tell that he was a strong personnel. White Fox, whom she wasn't able to beat, was defeated by this man. Reina, too, had a similar past.

Those two would be great assets, the key to victory.

Aria's current power wouldn't suffice for taking down the monster. However, she possessed knowledge about the monster.

On the opposite side, Elgin and Reina seemed confused at what the cluster was. Their powers, however, should be sufficient for taking down this monster if they played their cards right.

There needed to be a cooperation. An understanding between the two sides.

In order to achieve victory.

"Great. I need you all to follow my lead. I don't have a reason on why you should trust me, but please, for this moment, bet on me," Aria said.

"You seem to know something about this monster, yeah? Why don't you tell us about what this disgusting creature is," Elgin asked.

"..Indeed I do. Whether you are willing to trust what I say, however, is a completely different matter," Aria looked at the man with a pair of determined and confident eyes.

"Trust? There are no trust that can be formed within such a short time," Elgin chuckled. "But believing someone is a completely different matter. I'll believe you for this once. Take charge, young one,"

The battle was on.

They had one less member, but they could do nothing but continue on. The gates had been opened, and there was no turning back.

It was either defeating this monster of perishing inside the dungeon, never to be seen by the outside world anymore.

They had to pick up their weapons and stand tall, in hopes of taking down this monster.