Fighting as a Summoner

"SCREEEEEECHHHHH!"

The beast that had descended into this circular area screamed loudly and spread its wings wide in intimidation.

It was an albaheron.

This was the same bird that would fly northward every year in fall. The same bird that signaled the passing of the seasons for everyone in this world. The same bird that Rodin had named Allen after, hoping for his son to one day live just as freely.

"SCREEEEEECHHHHH!" That very bird shrieked once again. There was little doubt that it had descended in reaction to Insect G's Ability.

It was in an extremely enraged state. In other words, a provoked state.

The length of the creature, from head to toe, was roughly double Allen's height at two meters, and it boasted a wingspan of four meters. Most of its body was covered in white plumage, but this gradually gave way to an increasingly darker shade of blue toward its wingtips.

Allen crouched low within the grass, carefully studying his shrieking opponent.

'I was only trying to catch a random wild bird, but an albaheron came down instead!'

Although the development had indeed caught Allen by surprise, he did not need to scramble to think of what to do next. Of course, he could just stay in hiding, hoping that the albaheron eventually calmed down and flew away.

However, the faces of his family members sprang to mind. And at the same time, his blood as a gamer boiled in the face of what seemed like the promise of a challenge. As such, there was only one thing to be done.

Allen picked up one of the softball-sized rocks on the ground. While the albaheron snapped at the second Hopper and was occupied with the sight of it disappearing into light bubbles, the boy threw the stone with every ounce of strength he could muster.

Thanks to the buffs from his cards and the support from his Throwing skill, the stone zeroed in on the monster's face with a speed several times faster than normal.

Squash!

"KIEEEEEEHHHHH!" The albaheron screamed, both from the pain of losing its right eye and in surprise at the unexpected attack.

Allen immediately picked up another stone and threw that too.

This time, it hit the bird's long neck and caused it to bend at an extreme angle, giving the bird's neck a violent jerk. This second attack left the monster stumbling.

'Looks like that was really effective! All right, you're mine! My first monster kill is in the bag!'

Allen charged forward, wooden sword in hand, to deliver what he thought would be the final blow. He closed the distance in the blink of an eye, then leaped up to bring his weapon down on the creature's neck, throwing his full weight behind the strike.

Once again, the neck bent greatly. Allen decided to press his advantage and finish this quickly.

However, although the albaheron had indeed taken damage, it was nowhere near the verge of death. It braced its neck, sending Allen flying from the rebound of his own attack.

As it turned out, it still had plenty of fighting strength.

"What?!"

The unexpected development threw Allen into a small panic as he rolled through the dried weeds.

'Shit, shit, shit, shit! Pochis, back me up!'

Fifteen Strengthened Beast F cards flew out of the grimoire all at once.

The cards all shone brightly, then turned into dogs the size of Akitas with light brown fur. Their barks filled the air as they surrounded the albaheron.

'Pochis, use Chomp!'

Upon receiving the order to use their Ability, the dogs lunged forward and closed their jaws around the bird's feet, wings, and neck.

"KIEEEEEEEHHHHH!!!" The albaheron cried loudly in response.

However, none of the attacks proved fatal. It unleashed kicks using its reptilian feet in retaliation.

Although it did not have much agility here on the ground, it still had its full strength. A dog got kicked out of the open area and crashed into the weeds beyond.

'Shit! The longer this goes on, the worse it becomes for me!'

One after another, the Summons were crushed by the monster's beak, stomped by its feet, and sliced to ribbons by its razor-sharp claws.

Every time a Pochi was reduced to bubbles of light, Allen felt his buffs decreasing. He hurriedly Created more cards, then Strengthened and Summoned them.

The entire process cost 20 MP for each card, but he only had 47 MP at his disposal. His MP ran out after the second one.

'Dammit, Rank D is just way too strong. Is it really too strong for me at Lvl. 1?'

Just as Allen was about to give up, the albaheron thrust one of its large legs at him. He instinctively brought his wooden sword up. Although he managed to block the attack, the force still sent him flying backwards.

That was not the end of it. As Allen rolled about on the bed of crushed weeds, the monster once again brought its foot down, pressing the boy into the ground.

When it pecked down, he hurriedly held his sword up horizontally, barely managing to save himself from being torn to pieces.

'Oh, man, I'm so dead!'

For the first time ever, Allen felt the presence of death. The albaheron was still being bitten by several Pochis, but it paid them no mind, seemingly caring only about digging its teeth into Allen.

The monster was stronger than he was, and slowly but surely its beak drew closer and closer to his face.

He stared directly into its mouth and at the rows of zigzagged teeth that lined its beak. Eventually, a few of the front teeth made contact with Allen's cheek. They dug in, drawing blood.

The wooden sword that he was using to hold the bird's head back was bending so much it would snap at any moment. Death had come to claim its prize.

'What can I do?! Think, me! THINK!'

Never before had Allen been more thankful for the thousands of hours that he had spent gaming in his past life. What he had gained from dedicating all that time to countless games was experience. Thanks to this massive amount of experience, he could largely figure out what a skill, technique, or spell did just by seeing its name.

Still pressed against the ground, out of time to even have a flashback, Allen shouted out in desperation, "Sucker! Come out!"

A Strengthened Insect F card flew out and materialized into a leech the size of a sea cucumber.

"SUCK ITTTTTT!"

With a cry of "Chuuu!!!" the Summon bunched up so much it looked like a volleyball, then launched itself straight at the albaheron's neck.

"SCREEEEEEECCCHHH!!!"

The bird swung its head violently, trying to shake off the leech. However, the Summon clung on tightly, sucking nonstop.

Allen somehow managed to escape from underneath the albaheron's feet in the confusion. At the same time, Insect F's body seemed to grow stronger and started blinking blue.

'I knew it, the Ability is something similar to an Energy Drain spell!'

Just like Pochi's Chomp, Suction had been another Ability that Allen had not been able to examine beforehand.

He still was not sure exactly what it was sucking up, be it HP or Attack, but clearly it was proving effective, and so he Summoned another one and directed it to attach itself to the albaheron's thigh. It, too, started blinking blue as soon as it activated its Ability.

Before the leeches could be flung off, Allen dived back into the fray with his sword. The dogs also redoubled their efforts, their jaws snapping furiously. The fight was back on.

Another kick flew toward Allen, but it was neither as sharp nor as heavy as before. He managed to properly parry it with his sword this time, sending the bird's foot shooting in another direction, before he landed another blow on the bird's neck in a counterattack.

'It's definitely weakening. I'm gonna finish you off for good this time!'

Allen clambered on top of the struggling beast and used the weight of his body to make it fall over backwards. Then he pressed his sword against its neck to choke it to death.

Several minutes later, his grimoire appeared before him, glowing faintly.

'Oh? There's a new line in the log.'

<You have defeated 1 albaheron. You have earned 100 XP.>

The silver letters on the front cover confirmed Allen's victory and informed him that he had just earned his first experience points.

"HELL YEAH! I WON! I ACTUALLY BEAT IT!"

When Allen looked at the albaheron carcass—his first ever kill—lying on the ground, the memories of when he finished his first ever RPG back in his past life, rose unbidden to his mind.

'This is an even bigger rush of achievement than I expected. Is this how all main characters feel when they kill their first monster after leaving their home village? Not that I've exactly left home.'

Allen thought back to when he was slowly gathering chump change and wandering around a game's starter town with nothing more than a stick for a weapon, slowly leveling up by fighting weak monsters and returning to the inn whenever his HP got too low.

'But one thing I learned is that even Rank D monsters are really strong. Well, it's true that I'm still Lvl. 1 and my Summons are only Rank F... Hmm, so I'm gonna need to beat ten of these to level up.'

___

XP: 100 / 1,000

___

While confirming what he had gained and analyzing the fight just now, Allen returned all his Summons to card form and retrieved all of his stones.

He then picked up his basket with one hand, returned his sword to his waist, and hoisted the albaheron onto his back.

He wanted to keep its body as unharmed as possible, but there was nothing to be done about its legs and wings dragging on the ground. As a six-year-old, Allen's body was still tiny, after all.

Allen then headed home.

***

When the front entrance of his house came into view, he spotted Krena standing in his garden.

'Huh? What's she doing here? I told her that I can't play today, though.'

"A-Allen, what happened?!" Krena jumped in surprise when she saw the various scratches all over Allen's body, including the obvious one on his face.

She then rushed into the house in a fluster to inform Theresia and Rodin.

Theresia rushed outside. "Wait, what?! A-Allen!!!" she cried, enveloping her son in a hug before patting him all over, checking for major injuries.

"I'm not hurt, mother." The boy drew his mother's attention toward the catch on his back. "I caught an albaheron."

Poor Theresia could only managed to mumble a "Huh?" in disbelief.

.....

...

.....

Thus the curtains fell on Allen's fight with the albaheron—his very first fight as a Summoner.