Third Time's The Charm

Ritzy opened his hands and sent a burst of mana into the summoning circle. Ritzy felt a sense of deja vu as the circle lit up. It was his first summoning attempt, yet it still felt familiar. Weird.

But Ritzy didn't pay any attention to that, and he focused on the ground as it grew blurry and the skeleton head that began poking up. The skeleton with large feet rose until it stood on the ground, and the circle stopped shining.

Ritzy locked eyes with the ghastly blue light in the skeleton's eye sockets before he roused his mana to put the skeleton under his control. Ritzy felt a tingle of worry shoot through his spine, but he didn't let it affect him as he sent the mana into the skeleton.

Ritzy's gaze was so intense it was about to burn a hole through the skeleton's chest. He could feel how close he was to putting the skeleton under his control.

However, before he could finish, the skeleton's legs and feet flickered like light reflected on a shiny but uneven and moving surface.

Ritzy didn't even have time to react before the skeleton jetted off into the sky through the hole in the cave ceiling. He looked into the sky, mouth gaping so wide his jaw was about to find the molten skeleton slurry.

"H-hey! Fucking bastard, come back here!"

Ritzy once again roared to the sky, which made his memories of the molten skeleton resurface.

"Argh!"

Ritzy began pulling his hair out due to the tsunami of frustration that overcame him. But he stopped. Failing to summon a skeleton wasn't that weird or embarrassing, but getting so upset he became bald was. Besides, he hadn't really failed, so there was nothing to be upset about.

All necromancers encountered a strange summon now and then. There was nothing weird about it.

Ritzy ignored the fact that other necromancers didn't get skeletons that melted or flew off into the night sky as he maintained his forced composure while moving over to the third summoning circle.

"Yeah. Third time's the charm. This time I'll summon the greatest novice undead there is. Maybe I'll even go beyond that and summon a death knight or a lich!"

Ritzy used delusions of grandeur to comfort himself as he gave the third circle a final check. And then, for a third time, he clasped his hands and closed his eyes.

"Storage of Darkness, bestow upon your faithful servant an aide!"

Ritzy chanted with enough force to make the words echo through the cave as he sent his mana into the summoning circle.

Since it had already happened two times, Ritzy wasn't as excited when the circle lit up. The only way he would be happy now was if he could successfully tame the skeleton that popped out of the circle.

In the first place, he wouldn't have been so angry if his previous two attempts had failed outright. The only reason he was so displeased was that the summonings failed, but he summoned skeletons that melted or flew away.

But Ritzy wasn't going to let his past failures define him. He stared intensely at the skeleton that rose through the summoning circle.

It wasn't very different from the second skeleton. It just had a few more dark spots. Unfortunately, there was no indication of whether the skeleton was strong or weak. Its bones were just a little dirty.

Like the two previous summonings, the skeleton stood upon the completed summoning circle that had now lost the light of the mana in it.

With a wary and spiteful hand, Ritzy began moving the mana to take control of the skeleton. He couldn't feel any problems with the way he moved the mana. And there was no problem with the summoning circle. And there was no problem with the chant.

All in all, it could be considered a flawless summoning. Even if it wasn't, it should still be a successful summoning or an ordinary failure where the skeleton simply zips back into the summoning circle or attacks its summoner.

Ritzy felt a tingle up his nose. But before he could react, the skeleton's body trembled and shook like a box with a mouse on drugs trapped inside.

The most he could do was close his eyes as the skeleton's body exploded with a light shower of flames and a gust strong enough to knock Ritzy down and make him roll back a few times. Not that it was very hard since Ritzy was barely more than a skeleton himself since he was so skinny.

Ritzy sat up and faintly felt the soot covering his face, robe, and back-blown hair. But he couldn't care less about his appearance. His gaze and mind were focused on the spot where the skeleton had been. And where there was now only a small, very small crater.

There weren't even any bone fragments left.

"GRARAHGH!"

Ritzy let out a guttural something that resembled either a scream or a roar of anger. It was the third summon that had disappeared without a trace! It didn't make any sense!

Ritzy was so mad he had to bite his fingers to keep himself from digging his eyeballs out. If he didn't have any eyes, there was no way he would have been able to see something as ridiculous as a suicide-bombing skeleton, right?!

Ritzy sucked and chewed on his fingers as he felt his sanity slipping away just like the first skeleton had done!

Ritzy felt as if that thought alone was enough to make his knees explode from how hard he kicked the ground while he threw his tantrum.

And that thought reminded him of the third skeleton!

Ritzy couldn't contain it anymore and slammed his head against the ground until he passed out. Maybe the sweet blessing of unconsciousness could help him escape reality.

Ritzy's forehead and the hard, dirt-and-stone mixed ground engaged in several rounds. And Ritzy finally felt his vision darken. Unfortunately, it was just the blood and dirt entering his eyes.

Ritzy reluctantly withered his unexpectedly tasty fingers to rub his eyes clear of the dirt, blood, and soot. Having his hands in front of his face reminded Ritzy that he could strangle himself until he lost consciousness. So, that's what he did.