"How did you get this strong so fast?" Helga couldn't stop herself from asking. "What changed?"

"Reidar," Seraphine said. "He's been power-leveling us for most of the day. Hunting monsters far above our level and letting us tag them for the C.L.A.S.P. points."

Aldric's eyes widened. "The summoner? Why didn't he do that during the raid quest?"

"Because his own quest asked otherwise." Seraphine paused. She then explained what Reidar had told him about his situation in the valley, and they all understood.

"His parents are here too. That's why he is staying, but not forever," Seraphine said.

Helga's grin split her face. She hefted her warhammer onto her shoulder. "Then where is he? If he's hunting high-level monsters, I want to join. I can't wait to get a bunch of levels."

"He's fighting right now," Seraphine said. Her tone became more serious. "But you can't join him. Not this time."

"Why not?" Helga asked. "I didn't come all this way just to sit around."

"Because the person he's fighting is level 297," Seraphine said. "An unbound human working with the Church of Unbinding. Reidar held him off while we retreated. If you go there now, you'll just be another liability he has to protect."

Helga's grin faded. Aldric's face went pale.

"Level 297?" Aldric said. "That's not possible. No human should be that strong; even Reidar isn't that strong."

"That man is not bound by the System anymore," Matthias said. He'd been silent until that point, but he didn't actually like his son being treated as a sort of money machine. "This means they are like monsters."

Everyone knew what that meant.

Helga stared toward the city, where smoke rose in dark columns. "And Reidar's fighting one of them alone?"

"He has his summons. But yes, he's the only human there aside from the church's people."

Silence fell within the group.

…

…

…

The barrier held firm. Reidar's summons hammered it with relentless fury, but the dome wouldn't crack.

The Twin Boulderbacks battered the barrier, shaking the ground, while the Cinderheart Efreeti unleashed white-hot fire lasers. The Spectral Legion and Skeletal Warriors were doing their best too, but none of it mattered.

Aaron's voice rose beyond the barrier, composed and mocking. "Still trying, Reidar? How long do you think you can keep this up? My mana reserves are deeper than yours. I can maintain this barrier for days if I need to."

Reidar stood outside the ring of his summons and watched the assault continue. His jaw tightened.

<He's right. This is really useless. I guess I underestimated him and his mana pool.>

The level gap was too wide. Aaron was level 297, and even with all of Reidar's power, all his summons, and all his tactics, he couldn't break through someone that strong who chose to defend rather than attack. The barrier would hold as long as Aaron wanted it to.

<I'm wasting time.>

Reidar's mind moved to other thoughts, other ideas. He couldn't kill Aaron. Not here. Not now. However, he didn't need to kill his opponent to win this match. He just needed information and to attack when the moment was right.

Aaron couldn't see outside the barrier. The constant barrage of attacks—the press of thousands of creatures, the fire and stone and spectral blades—created a wall that blocked his sight. He was trapped inside his own defenses, blind to anything beyond the dome.

Reidar smiled.

He raised his hand and cast Summon Vorathid Foragers. The skill activated, and mana flowed from him in a steady stream. Thousands of Vorathid Foragers materialized around him.

They spread across the battlefield, moving between the larger summons without interfering with their assault.

The Foragers were Level 222, forty levels below Reidar's current strength. They were too weak to harm Aaron, but they didn't need to threaten him, and they were enough to kill the War hounds. But that was not the point now. They just needed to follow them.

<Shrink down, hide, and track every War Hound that leaves this place; find their base, locate the Church's hiding spot.>

The mental command ran through the summoned creatures. The Foragers' bodies shrank right away, going from the size of enormous dogs to rodents, then mice, and eventually bugs that were as little as beetles. A silent wave of thousands of tiny spies spread out, disappearing into the ruins and darkness until they were impossible to tell apart from the battlefield's debris.

Reidar turned and summoned one of his Feral Packs, all crows. The massive birds descended and landed beside him. He climbed onto one of them and looked at the barrier one last time.

His summons would continue their assault. The Twin Boulderbacks would keep hammering the barrier. The Cinderheart Efreeti would keep burning it. The barrier would hold, and Aaron would think Reidar was still out there, directing the attack.

But Reidar wouldn't be there at all. The thought of pissing Aaron off made him giddy.

The crow launched skyward, and wind rushed past as Creamont spread out below him. Behind him, the sounds of battle continued: stone striking energy, fire roaring, and thousands of creatures maintaining their siege.

Reidar's summons had duration limits even with his perks extending their existence, but they'd last long enough to at least screw Aaron's day. Long enough to make Aaron think he'd won. Long enough for the Foragers to disappear into the city and begin their real work.

Reidar grinned.

<When the summons fades away, Aaron will realize I left hours earlier. He will be angry.> He paused. <Maybe I should just stay to watch the show.>

After Aaron's rage burst, the Vorathid Foragers would follow the War Hounds back to their base. They'd track Aaron's movements.

They'd find where the Church was hiding. Aaron was at the War Hounds' base with a 100% chance since he was likely taking care of them and acting as a bridge between them and the Church, but the Church itself had to have another base, somewhere nearby. Somewhere they could operate without drawing attention.

<Let's see how smug you are when you realize you've been had, Aaron.>

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