Utopian System

Arguo emerged, its transformed form vibrating with indignation at such disrespect to its power.

But what it found above froze even its watery blood.

Dozens of high-level soldiers formed a perfect circle around the crater.

The monster still retained enough mana to generate an impressive amount of water, more than Arterro at his time.

But thoughts about their disrespect vanished, this was a trap, and it would have to stop thinking about its pride as an artromus to worry about its primary responsibility.

Perhaps it could still break the encirclement and escape, but bad news were still coming, something was wrong.

Control over its element began slipping through its claws.

It was impossible, inconceivable.

In its transformed form, its dominion over water should be absolute. Far superior to any parasite.

But reality hit like an icy wave: each soldier exercised minor control, yes, but the sum of their wills surpassed even its enhanced power.

The space between the water barrier and the monster opened for the main group like a curtain revealing the final act.

The attacks from the 8 group members without emblems, reduced to 40 damage points by its magical defense improved to 200, were barely an annoyance.

But Elio's sword, born from his fallen brothers' essence, and Aria's elephant salamander's devastating trunk, plus Aria's magical attacks... those blows pierced its defenses with 280 damage despite the increase.

Desperation began seeping into its mind while the coordinated mob continued its relentless assault.

Only one option remained: frenzy.

If it's situation as a sentinel for the artromus city couldn't warn it about this ambush, at least being an artromus gave him a final gift of power… That might give it a chance.

At 14990 resistance left…

Its body began glowing with that characteristic radiance while frenzy activated.

But had he gotten any warning from the spirits of Arterro or Aranto... it would have realized earlier that not even that was enough to escape.

♢♢♢♢

The main group had been waiting for this moment, conserving most of their mana precisely for this critical instant.

The frenzy's crimson glow was answered by more than a dozen pairs of glowing eyes.

The assault's intensity multiplied. Even Milo's group, who had reached level 10 during the preparation months, joined the coordinated attack. The air itself seemed to vibrate with power concentration while each warrior pushed their limits to the maximum.

But Elio had been saving more than simple mana.

During the last months of experimentation, he had discovered that combined summons could also reach a state similar to the artromus's metamorphosis.

It was basically the same as normal summons in big forms.

But it was extremely difficult to extract.

The mana cost was also high but the power it released...

The winged salamander began glowing with supernatural intensity. Where the artromus had their transformation to reach new power levels, Elio had learned to force this evolution in his combined summon.

Summons' transformation had proved to be a more complex art than anyone initially imagined. A normal summon consumed one mana point per minute in its enhanced state, something manageable but generally not so useful.

Rarely was it worth investing the point.

The second generation, from the 6th to 10th summon, raised the cost to two points and added a considerable difficulty level in control and...

It didn't give a significant increase in power either, though element control increased.

But combinations... that's where things became truly interesting.

Mei had been the first to try combining the two most powerful summons. The 10th and 9th.

The result, an unsettling toxic turtle, consumed eight mana points in its transformation. However, the effect vanished almost instantly, as if the creature was too unstable to maintain that form.

Mei still wasn't capable of maintaining it.

Lucien combined the 2nd and 9th...

He had managed to maintain his transformed frog for three seconds, at the cost of six mana points. It was impressive, but practically useless in a real battle, the concentration effort required left him vulnerable.

Aria the 1st and 5th, two of the basics and with a cheaper energy cost.

She, with her transformation of 4 points cost, equal to Elio's combination, could sustain the transformation for ten seconds.

The problem was that she remained completely immobile during the process, as if all her energy channeled into maintaining her elephant salamander in that state.

So it was still not good in battle.

But Elio... something in the combination of his "economical" creatures, or perhaps his constant practice to exhaustion, had resulted in something unique.

Four mana points like Aria, yes, but he could maintain the transformation indefinitely while he had mana available.

More importantly: he could fight while doing it.

The difference became evident now, as his winged salamander began its metamorphosis before the astonished artromus.

Ember-Gust's wings, whom Elio now affectionately called EmberG, began unifying.

Previously clearly defined between bird and salamander, they started merging into something new. Both creatures' distinctive traits intertwined in an evolutionary dance: feathers flattened and hardened until they resembled brilliant scales, claws inherited from Ember became more lethal, and the face sharpened into something more pointed, more powerful.

Was it right to call it a dragon? Perhaps not completely, the transformation seemed to be at an intermediate point. But the resemblance was undeniable.

The transformation's power flowed through the bond between summoner and summon. Elio felt fire and wind merge in his veins, catapulting his speed beyond limits that even forcing the limit at level 10 would consider impossible.

Elio left his almost 50 remaining mana points in his summon's hands, for it to increase its speed with fire and wind impulses.

The moment of truth had arrived. There would be no second chances, no time for the artromus to gain advantage. It was all or nothing.

The sword born from fallen artromus responded to this unleashed power, flames dancing along its blade while cutting the air. A dozen flashes, each faster than the previous, each backed by his companions' coordinated assault.

The artromus, caught in Elio's even more frenzied attack, didn't even have time to understand what was happening.

Elio couldn't sever the artromus's neck with a single strike, it was impossible for his attacks to cut deeply against the monster's immense resistance. So they had to kill it using the system's damage.

However, if he struck the exact same spot multiple times...

Elio took advantage of his newfound speed to claim his enemy's head once again.

Arguo's life extinguished in a cascade of devastating blows, without opportunity to deploy the counteroffensive it had been waiting for.

The third deposit had fallen.

Only one remained.