Zariel was a transdimensional spirit—a Seraphyll—who ruled over thunder. However, the one I had a contract with was only an inferior incarnation whom I summoned through a hidden quest back in eighth heaven.
Although I had no intention of breaching our contract, I wondered why she would say something like that and with teary eyes nonetheless.
"What do you mean I was trying to breach our contract?" I asked with a baffled expression, "I didn't do anything that would break the terms of our agreement, did I?"
"You big idiot!" she yelled, sniffing with her teary eyes as she continued, "You were about to die. That alone would've caused our contract to terminate. Don't you get it, you idiot!"
"Cut it out, will you?" I yelled back at her, "It wasn't like I was trying to get killed on purpose. They are the ones who were trying to kill me this whole time."
I deliberately pointed out the tamer who was in disbelief seeing me summoning Zariel out of nowhere. Perhaps, he didn't anticipate that I could be a Summoner. His confidence had already turned into despair.
"You're saying they are the cause why I was an inch away from getting trapped in the Astral Realm for eternity?"
'For eternity?' what did she mean by that? 'Well never mind. We can discuss over it later.'
She became annoyed by the situation where the tamer and the saber-tooth had caused me this much trouble. Pointing her puny finger—which looked cute, by the way, she continued speaking.
"You there. Are you the reason why my chances of descending upon these heavens were about to come to an end?"
Her voice clapped like thunder as small crackles of thunderlight appeared on her fingertips.
Like I said before. Although she was only an inferior incarnation, she possessed tremendous strength and could control any thunder regardless of the intensity.
"Are you deaf or something?" She screamed at them again, getting no reply to her first query. As much as the tamer was still in awe, his tamed beast was now actually like a kitty cat as though a lion had appeared before him and had dominated him with its sheer presence.
"This cannot be!" the tamer finally spoke, unaccepting the truth that unfolded before him, "There's no way you are a Summoner. You're not even strong, just another newbie who hasn't even conquered forty heavens. How in the world did you manage to summon a Seraphyll nonetheless? It's just…"
"Don't sweat over it."
As it appeared, Zariel had no intention of hearing his babblings. Of course, she wouldn't. She didn't even care for the monster when I summoned her for the first time while clearing the sub-quest in ninth heaven. She just did whatever seemed interesting to her. She didn't even give me a helping hand and kept flying around, enjoying the scriptures embedded on the walls of the 'Sacred Temple of Antron'.
She wasn't necessarily a selfish type. She just didn't pay too much attention to the things that hardly needed priority. Even in this condition, she was entirely focusing on the tamer—ignoring the thunder saber-tooth deliberately.
"The very second you decided to attack Zan, was also the moment when your fate has been decided." Small particles gathered around her tiny fingertip, swirling into a small sparkling orb. "Behold! I, Zariel the Ruler of Thunder, have descended upon this Heaven to deliver my divine judgment on you. Thunder Embrace!"
As she said that, the small particle flew towards them with the speed of sound, transforming into a massive thunder sphere that evaporated the entire place with the tamer and the saber-tooth.
She overkilled them. Their body dematerialized soon after.
[Contracted Seraphyll: Zariel, the Ruler of Thunder (Type: Inferior) has eliminated the remaining enemies]
[Congratulations! The Quest has been completed. Your rewards are being calculated]
With a cheerful smile, Zariel flew towards me. Levitating before my face, she bent and twinkled her left eye with a spark.
"Zan~ Zan~." She said, making an overdramatic gesture like she used to, "Tell me how did you like that?"
"Pretty impressive, Zariel! You've grown quite stronger than the previous time we met."
"Hump! I was always this strong." She replied, pouting exaggeratedly as she turned her head leftwards and folded her hands on her chest. "If you only could've summoned me sooner, I might have shown you my actual strength."
I smiled, seeing her drama. Well, even if I had summoned her sooner, the result would have been the same. She was too strong even being an inferior incarnation. Her attack would have decimated the whole party if I had summoned her initially. She was too overpowered after all.
"If you care for me, then don't get ever killed. You are my only key to descend upon the heavens. I'll be trapped in the Astral Realms otherwise."
"Okay, okay. I got that. Now if you're done, I'd like you to go back where you came fr—"
"Are you kidding me?" she yelled at me again. "You haven't summoned me in a while. There's no way I'll go back just yet."
"But I've got jobs to do."
"Then attend them. I won't disturb you. Let me indulge briefly in this realm. Or did you forget the terms of our agreement!?"
'I'll let you use my strength, you'll let me enjoy whenever I'll be summoned' That was what she had agreed to. Although it was too lame to be called a contract, it was reasonably helpful in a situation like this.
Of course, I was grateful. That was why I didn't bother and let her be for the time being. I was more eager to see what I received from clearing the quest.
[Received +20 Stat Points]
[Received 178,568 Arthum]
"Come on, seriously! They were PKers. They at least had over millions." I murmured exasperatedly, staring at the system as it provided me the rewards. I was quite taken aback though.
[The Eliminated players had Anti-Thievery Skills which had protected 90% of their Arthum]
I was utterly shocked. PKers had skills that protected their money from getting stolen yet the regular players didn't. That sounded unfair. But more unfair were the rewards I got. It was lame.
Of course, stat points were helpful, but I wanted something else—something that would be fair for defeating the monsters out of my league. So what if Zariel was the one who took them down? She was my summoning. Hence, her achievement were considered as my achievement too, weren't it?
[Cyndrill Dungeon Entry Permit received from the PKers Inventory]
[Description: This permit allows players to raid an event-exclusive dungeon. Rewards: Anything players obtain in the dungeon will be considered as a rewards. Difficulty: A+ or Above. Player Limit: From 6 to 20. Time Limit: None]
[Useable: Forty-Fifth Heaven: Wondrasia]
That was quite unexpected. I never imagined that I would get this random item from the PKers inventory nevertheless. Of course, the tamer told me earlier something like that.
In any case, the entry permit was almost useless as of now. It required at least six players to commence the dungeon raid. However, I mostly played solo.
"Since the dungeon is at forty-fifth heaven, I have a lot of time to match the difficulty level. I'll have to rank up a lot harder than before and I'll find a way in the meantime."
I told myself in a promising way, looking at the carefree Seraphyll who was chasing after a butterfly. Her behaviour was unique and her charms were out of the world. I wonder why she was so desperate to leave the Astral Realm. Was it not her original world from where she could support the heavens like any other Seraphyll would?
The thought suddenly occurred to me. I didn't know why, but the information felt oddly familiar—like a chunk of encrypted data had just been decrypted and uploaded straight into my consciousness.
In any case, I was baffled. I wanted to think over it but I didn't have much time to waste. I needed to reach the central city to advance to the next heaven. Of course, I could do that from the Floor Guardian Spawning area, but I needed to repair a few of my weapons in the central city.
"Zariel, are You coming with me or what?" I called out to her, "If you want to enjoy, then let's go. I'll give you a tour of Entroma Central City."
"For real! For real!" She exclaimed with joy, as she again began to float around me relentlessly. "You're the best, Zan~Zan~."
I smiled as I started walking and she followed me.