My Summons Are Mythical Beasts

As he focused his ears, Lucas realized a frightening thing.

The sound of battle was drawing near!

'What is going on?' A bewildered look appeared on his face.

He had already moved far away from the battle. The sound of it had already even grown faint a few minutes earlier.

However, not only had the sound disappeared, they had even grown intense and loud, indicating that they were drawing near his current location.

As he thought about it, Lucas could not help but entertain a certain thought.

'Could it be that they are intentionally following me while battling each other?'

However, out of the two, Lucas knew that only one was capable of knowing and implementing such tricks.

Although the beast seemed intelligent, Lucas knew that it was not intelligent enough to plot something like this. In its mind, it would have wanted to finish its current battle as soon as possible so that it could pursue the escaping prey.

The hateful face of Asher naturally came to mind as he thought of the one responsible for this.

"Damn that guy!"

Lucas cursed out loud as he stood up from his seat.

Not having the luxury of time to stay in one area any longer, Lucas proceeded forward with even more haste.

"Ready your Unhindered Stealth and use it as soon as you feel the presence of any beast," Lucas ordered the Mirage Worm. His face was pale and his brows scrutinized as he realized that the sound of battle was actually keeping up with his face.

'Damn it! Aren't you busy enough fighting with each other? Why do you still have the time to chase after me while you're at it?'

Not wanting them to catch up, Lucas hurried even more. At one time, he even decided to turn in another direction, wanting to mislead the two battling enemies.

The direction he was going was toward the peak of the mountain. He knew that there were still countless strong beasts hiding there. If it were any normal day, Lucas would have chosen to avoid that place without any question.

However, it was precisely because there were many beasts in there that he decided to go.

With the Mirage Worm's Unhindered Stealth, the two of them should be able to maneuver in that area.

However, the same thing could not be said toward the two that were pursuing him.

He wanted them to fight all the way to the mountain and attract the attention of those beasts. If an even bigger fight broke out, Lucas would have succeeded in his plan and goal for traversing such a dangerous area.

As he made the turn, though, the fat Mirage Worm clearly showed its protest in going there. From the looks of it, the Mirage Worm was very afraid of that place. Lucas could not blame the worm either. Even he himself was afraid of traversing that place.

However, he had no other choice. He knew that he could not simply run and hope that the winner of the battle from behind would not catch up to him.

What he needed was even more chaos.

Through such chaos, perhaps he still has a chance to escape.

The Mirage Worm was reluctant to follow his order at first. Since it thought that its master was leading them to its doom, it expressed a strong desire not to follow his order.

Having no other choice, Lucas could only threaten it so that it became obedient.

"If you don't follow me, then it's better if I cancel the contract and leave you here," was what Lucas said to calm the nerves of the Mirage Worm.

After weighing its options, the Mirage Worm reluctantly agreed.

Although the path ahead was dangerous, it knew that it would not be able to survive on its own given that they were being pursued by their enemies. Its recent rank-up and new skill were also related to this new master. It knew that it would receive endless benefits as long as it followed the master.

However, the thought of going deeper to the mountain still filled its tiny mind with dread.

In truth, Lucas' assumption toward its nature was mostly correct.

Among its entire brood, it was the only one who was still alive.

It was just an Unranked Grade Stray Worm back then.

Its entire brood was ransacked by a huge bird. Even though they had the camouflage skill, none of them escaped the piercing eyes of that hateful bird.

However, due to a stroke of luck, it fell from the leaves and narrowly escaped death.

Its next evolutionary path was supposed to be an Unranked Grade, Iron Star 1 Stray Moth.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

However, when it fell from that tree back then, its desire to not be noticed by the hateful bird allowed it to learn the Silk Mirage skill. Through that skill, it created a mirage made out of its own silk, allowing it to finally escape the bird's eyes, and when it came to it, it had already evolved into the current Mirage Worm.

After that, its life was always fraught with dangers that it always managed to escape through its usage of the Silk Mirage.

Not knowing what the evolution would do to its future, the Mirage Worm could only focus on the present and rely on its camouflage and Silk Mirage skill to escape beasts of prey. Fortunately, it only consumes leaves, so it does not have to wander around too much, only moving every few weeks or so, avoiding dangers a great deal. It also learned to migrate during the night as well, realizing that it was safer due to the darkness of the night.

Those that found their way towards its current location would also be misled by its Silk Mirage, allowing it to avoid danger.

Its whole life just revolved around such a setting. Escape, move to a different area, hide, escape, and then more to a different area. It was monotonous, but the Mirage Worm did not bother about it. Its intelligence had grown, but it was not enough for it to think of its actions, only thinking that it was the right thing to do to survive.

However, everything changed when the Mirage Worm tried to migrate to another location last night.

The sound of battle frightened it too much, making it not dare continue venturing any further. The sound of battle continued for a few hours; the Mirage Worm could only curl and hide itself under the leaves, afraid of its life.

Due to the sound of the battle, it was also unable to sleep, making the experience even more harrowing for it.

And when it fell asleep, it was once again awoken by the sound of battle. This time, it was extremely near. Inside its leaf roll, the Mirage Worm does not dare to poke its head out, afraid of endangering its life.

However, its worldview spun when the tree it was perching on shook a great deal. It felt that the entire branch of the leaf it was hiding on came crashing down with a great force.

As it smashed to the ground, the Mirage Worm bore the impact and was greatly injured.

When it came out of its leaf roll, the Mirage Worm was already on its dying breath.

However, at the next moment, a refreshing sensation filled its tiny mind. Although it did not know what it was, the Mirage Worm could vaguely tell that it would be able to save it. Without more hesitation, the Mirage Worm accepted the contract and was made into a contracted beast.

***

Seeing the Mirage Worm that had grown silent after being reluctantly 'convinced', Lucas could not help but shake his head.

The Mirage Worm, although still considered a low-grade beast, seemed to have a set of intelligence that was greater than others.

He already knew of this when he realized that it has a timid and cautious nature, but experiencing it firsthand was still a bit surprising to Lucas.

Now that it had become his summon, though, Lucas could only grit his teeth and make do with it.

Even though he threatened it to absolve the contract earlier, Lucas would actually not do it.

If he cancels a contract toward the beast, not only would it damage his mental state, it would also result in the loss of the grimoire page. Both were risks he was not willing to take.

Fortunately, the Mirage Worm reluctantly agreed, afraid of getting left behind.

A few minutes later, the area where he saw the gathering of beasts from before was already in sight.

However, that area was now empty, with no beast in sight.

A relieved expression surfaced on his face.

However, he did not lower his guard down and even instructed the Mirage Worm to be ready.

In truth, Lucas does not have to instruct the Mirage Worm at all.

The moment they neared the area, it had already turned to its most alert state. It was constantly monitoring its surroundings through its own method.

It has survived in the wilderness due to its cautious and timid nature; this time, it wanted to use its experience and its newly gained ability to traverse and escape the mountain safely.

Lucas' mind was also alert. The sound of battle was still following behind them like a tail.

From the looks of it, they still managed to follow behind his trail even though he had deliberately made a turn.

However, it works better for him.

Now, they only need to locate the beasts that dwelled here and let them join the battle for more chaos.

However, as he walked a few more minutes along the creek, Lucas could not help but frown once more.

"The beasts... Just where are they?"