As much as Reidar wanted to keep his attention on the monsters, there was a limit to how much and for how long he could do it. Not because he didn't have the mana, but because he needed to fight too.

The main purpose of getting out wasn't simply to spy on the Church and the War Hounds. It was to level up.

The sight of Aaron dispatching high-level monsters caused Reidar's apprehension to surge.

The gap between them wasn't just about levels. It was about a mastery of mana, of which Reidar had basically no access since he wasn't learning how to use mana, but rather the single spells that skills offered him.

Aaron moved without the System, and his every action needed learning, which made him far better suited than him at killing since he had free rein about what he wanted and how he wanted to do it.

The safety of his parents, Lena, and Jake all depended on his ability to grow stronger, faster. He couldn't afford to be a spectator in his own war.

He didn't have to wait long for monsters to appear.

Three shapes came out from a side street. They moved like eels through water, but there was no water around, only dust and rubble.

—[Void-Wing Serpent—Level 278]—

—[Void-Wing Serpent—Level 281]—

—[Void-Wing Serpent—Level 280]—

Each creature seemed to be around thirty meters from head to tail.

Their bodies were covered in matte-black scales. Vast, tattered, and membranous wings stretched from their bodies, although they were already on the ground when they appeared.

Reidar was already surrounded by his deployed summons. There was no way he was going to roam around a monster-infested town with no kind of protection.

The Twin Boulderbacks stood on either side of him, while the Spectral Legion advanced in serrated ranks. Again, Reidar chose to summon the spectral swordsmen, who were acting as captains for the Skeletal Warriors, who formed a perimeter and were currently shifting to create a frontline. On the rear, a cluster of Elite Rift-Sprites were already preparing their elemental attacks.

The first serpent struck as soon as it saw Reidar, diving toward him like an arrow.

The nearest Boulderback moved to intercept, raising its stone fists and bringing them down with seismic force.

However, the serpent twisted mid-dive, and the Boulderback's fists met only empty air as the creature slithered around the attack and opened its jaw, unleashing a stream of corrosive mana.

This Void-Spit struck the Boulderback's shoulder, causing the stone to hiss and bubble on contact. The massive construct stumbled, but it wasn't enough to kill it, and its regenerative powers were already mending the wound.

Meanwhile, the second serpent targeted the Spectral Legion, releasing a high-frequency Shriek that was meant to scramble the senses of nearby enemies, causing disorientation and blurred vision.

The shriek rippled outward, causing the spectral swordsmen to waver. Half of the Legion fell back, disoriented, but the skeletons remained indifferent. There were no senses to target.

The serpent dove through their formation, coiling around three knights, but the beast ignored the other summons. The skeletal warriors started hacking and whacking at the beast, which started getting more and more injuries.

The third serpent went for Reidar. Its eyes locked onto him as it surged ahead, its wings beating faster as the distance between them closed in seconds.

The summoner raised his hand and cast Mark of Frailty. It wasn't just that, but there was another Twin Boulderback Behemoths among his ranks, which acted.

The curse latched onto the serpents. Their resistance plummeted. Physical defenses decreased by forty-five percent. The creatures didn't slow their rampage.

The second Boulderback met the monster and crashed into the serpent's abdomen with the force of an avalanche. Scales cracked. The creature shrieked and coiled around the Boulderback, constricting with enough force to crack stone.

The Elite Rift-Sprites didn't stay idle. Their attacks converged on the marked serpent. Fire, ice, and lightning struck its scales.

The creature faltered as damage accumulated faster than its body could compensate, especially because of how powerful Mark of Frailty was. The skill was working on the other creatures too, so they were getting a lot of damage.

Reidar didn't even feel the need to summon other creatures, because the ones he already deployed were doing their job remarkably well, especially because, thanks to Chitinous Carapace, his summons were far more resilient to damage, and lastly because, each time they died, Corrosive Demise turned them into exploding corpses.

Upon explosion, they released a burst of acidic mana that seeped into the wounds of the monsters, decreasing their scales' resistance and, coupled with the Mark of Frailty, made the monsters even weaker to following attacks. It wasn't just that, but each summon came with its own skills, and many of the perks Reidar had increased the damage dealt by his creatures if they targeted the same monsters.

And he had many more skills to use.

Still, this didn't mean that the gap in levels was magically erased. No. The level difference was still high, and his creatures were still dying, but Reidar gave to the Rift-Sprites the Summon Feral Pack skill through his Skill sharing trait.

The first serpent recovered from its assault on the Boulderback. It circled, seeking another opening. The Skeletal Warriors intercepted it.

Its tail whipped around, catching three warriors and smashing them into rubble.

Reidar cast Universal Panacea, and a wave of cleansing energy washed over his forces, and the Spectral Legion malus disappeared.

"Reform," Reidar said.

The Spectral Legion obeyed, spreading out to surround the first serpent from multiple angles.

The focused strike found and exploited weak points between the scales, at the wing joints, and where the jaw connected to the skull.

The monster twisted and coiled, trying to shake off its attackers, and released another stream of Corrosive spit. The energy melted through 5 spectral swordsmen before the others could scatter.

Nearby, the second serpent struggled against the first Boulderback Behemoth.

It was because the creature, despite being slowly crushed, was unrelenting. As the Boulderback held the creature fast, the Elite Rift-Sprites continued their rain of elements.

The third serpent was still locked in a wrestling match with the second Twin Boulderback Behemoth. The serpent twisted and lunged, while the construct countered with blows, trying to kill the agile creature.

It was working.

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