Miracle Summoner

"Roar!"

"Roar!"

Across the vast wilderness, waves of magical beasts let out thunderous howls as they charged relentlessly in one direction.

There were many types of magical beasts—besides the Uridimmu, there were also Mushussu, Musmahhu, and Usumgallu. Four types in total, all barreling forward at varying speeds but equally aggressive in their advance.

And naturally, the target of these magical beasts was the group of living beings who had just departed from Uruk, crossed the northern wall, and were headed toward the Cedar Forest—namely, Rozen and his party.

"Order!"

Rozen grabbed a handful of talismans and scattered them into the air, chanting a short incantation to release their power. One by one, the runes began to glow brightly.

In the next moment, spiritual energies of various elements—fire, water, metal, wood, and earth—were awakened. Even wind and lightning began to manifest.

The result was a dazzling display of elemental chaos: flames raged, whirlwinds tore through the land, mud and water surged, blades of energy shot outward, lightning rained from above, and thick vines burst from the ground, whipping about violently. The scene was spectacular.

The oncoming magical beasts were swept into this elemental storm. Some were set ablaze, others blown away by the wind. Many were scattered by floods or buried in landslides, pierced by flying blades, electrocuted by thunderbolts, or lashed by vines into the air—trapped in dire straits and howling in agony.

Of course, a few magical beasts managed to break through the storm and lunged straight at Rozen.

Unfortunately for them, Rozen's pitch-black haori fluttered in the wind, and from beside him, two figures shot forward.

"Hah!"

With a shout, Mash raised her hand. A massive shield materialized in a flash of spiritual light, which she lifted high and rammed into an incoming magical beast.

"Hah!"

Anna also threw aside her black robe, her slender hand gripping a massive, reaper-like scythe, cleaving toward the enemy.

One girl charged like a tank, bashing back every beast that lunged at them and forcing them to a halt. The other struck like violet lightning, reaping the lives of the beasts without mercy. Each swing of her scythe sent fountains of blood spraying into the air, painting the ground red and launching severed limbs and leader-class monsters into the sky.

The magical beasts were thus slain one after another by the two girls, their movements surprisingly coordinated and efficient.

As for Merlin, he remained next to Rozen, making no move to fight.

"Ah, as expected of those two. Ordinary magical beasts are no match at all. Impressive, impressive," Merlin said cheerfully, stroking his chin while calmly commenting on the battle.

Before Rozen could even retort, Roman from Chaldea had already spoken up to complain.

"Get in there already! You're leaving all the fighting to the girls—aren't you ashamed!?"

Apparently, Roman couldn't bear to watch any longer.

"Is this really someone with the qualifications for Grand Caster?"

Even Da Vinci chimed in with a jab.

"You're supposed to be a top-tier Servant. At least support them, would you?"

Olga Marie was even more outraged at his laziness.

But Merlin remained unbothered.

"Between a smelly man like me and a pair of beautiful young girls, I'm sure our Master would much rather watch the latter fight, right?"

Merlin declared with excitement.

"Look—Mash's are really bouncing, see? She's only eighteen, and already like that. Incredible potential. As for Anna, though she's a bit unfortunate now, I—Merlin, the great Magus of Flowers who can foresee even King Arthur's end—can declare here and now that that child will grow into an astonishing beauty. She'll blow people's minds in the future... Uwah!"

Before he could finish his nonsense, a barbed chain shot forward like a spear, aimed straight for Merlin's head. He let out a wretched scream and dove to the ground just in time to dodge the deadly strike.

The chain swiftly retracted, disappearing back into Anna's robe.

"Next time, I'll kill you."

Anna gritted her teeth and resumed swinging her scythe. Her movements grew even more brutal, as if venting her fury, causing even more screams from the beasts.

Mash said nothing. But her flushed face had long since turned beet red.

Unlike Anna, she didn't become more ferocious; instead, she grew visibly flustered, her movements hesitant and restrained—clearly afraid that any excessive motion would overly emphasize her, ahem, upper-body presence.

Rozen's mouth twitched at the sight.

Hovering above the battlefield, riding Maanna, Ishtar was speechless.

"This is just straight-up harassment, isn't it?"

This Magus from Britain was clearly more trouble than help.

"Are you really here to assist us?"

Roman couldn't help but complain again.

"Fou! Fou!"

Fou jumped on top of Merlin's head, clawing at his face in protest—perhaps scolding him, perhaps avenging Mash and Anna.

"Ow ow ow! Not my face! My beautiful face!"

Merlin frantically tried to fend off Fou, scrambling back to his feet as he cried out, "Did I say anything wrong!? Right, Rozen? You definitely found it pleasing to the eye too, didn't you?"

Merlin threw Rozen under the bus.

"Don't ask me."

Rozen replied with a deadpan glare.

…Though truthfully, he did find it quite pleasing.

But obviously, that wasn't something he was going to admit.

At this point, it had been about three hours since the party left Uruk.

Traveling north to the Cedar Forest from Uruk would normally take only half a day with proper transportation. If flying, it would take just an hour or two.

But in this era, transportation was mostly limited to donkeys—and even those were scarce. Rozen and his team had no time to prepare, and only Rozen and Ishtar had the ability to fly. So, they were forced to proceed on foot.

Rozen did summon low-tier familiars to serve as mounts, since the mana cost wasn't significant enough to strain his Magic Circuits, but even so, the journey would take about half a day.

Thus, along the way, the party inevitably encountered magical beasts.

Even with Rozen's Heaven's Eye scouting ahead, constant scans from Chaldea for life signatures, and Ishtar observing from above, it was impossible to avoid all magical beasts.

They chose a path with relatively fewer encounters, but still had to enter battle occasionally.

Now, the group was dealing with one such ambush, taking a bit of time to clear out the threat.

Throughout this journey, Ishtar showed no interest in fighting—content to float above on Maanna—and Merlin had been slacking off the whole time, to everyone's frustration.

But Rozen didn't criticize him.

There was no need.

"Seems like you're not in top form either, Merlin."

Rozen remarked casually, prompting Merlin to smile bitterly.

"You truly have a keen eye."

Merlin admitted with a wry grin.