A Summoner's Duty

Chapter 8: Giants, Occult Girls and My Town's Fate

"Can I throw him off, Sara? Please?" Our eyes locked, and we stared deep into each other's souls. I saw a hurt, disgusted soul in Galleon, and I don't know what he saw in me, but I just hope it's a glimpse of my life with Frigate. For a second, we bonded over our disgust over Frigate, in silent understanding of each other's problems and we became better friends over it.

Either that or I just stared at him like an idiot.

All I know is that I had to tell him that no, we couldn't throw him off, because even though he's drunk 90% of the time, when he actually makes a logical decision once in a while, it was probably the main deciding factors of whether we won or not.

"This is literally the coolest thing ever!" Yeonhong whooped, pumping her fist into the air. Her and Chasun's braids were billowing out behind each other.

"Damn right it is! Ain't every day you get to fly up in the sky unless you're an archangel!" The grin on Yeonhong's face dissolved all of a sudden. I realized why – it was Lushen who said that.

"On second thought, nevermind. Lushen's next to me."

"Oh, for the love of god, that was over two months ago! Besides, you know that Chasun was the one who broke up with him, not the other way around!" Yeonhong was nowhere close to forgiving Lushen. The grudge had not yet subsided, and she hated everything about him.

"What happened, Sara?" Tanuki looked up. His little staff's bell jingled as he asked; a sign of curiosity.

"Too long; didn't read: Chasun dated Lushen for a bit, broke up with him because Verdehile contacted her, he moved on to Charlotte and things happened and now Yeon hates him and Charlotte." Artamiel probably shook his head. I know Charlotte looked away, her typical shyness kicking in.

Grogen landed all of a sudden, and I came to the conclusion we had arrived at my town. To say things looked bad was an understatement. The clouds swirled around, and a lightning bolt flashed. The giant was in the distance, and a crowd of people and monsters had gathered around. Some had their electronic devices in their hand, and others were just staring and pointing in pure shock. It took a second for the archangels to land, but when they did they quickly saw the situation unfolding before their eyes.

"I don't know what to expect, so I can't say to prepare yourselves for –"

WHUMP.

At least, that's my best description of whatever noise rang out. The double doors in front of me (that I hadn't noticed until that minute) slammed open. A long, daunting hallway showed itself. The stones were an almost pure white, and it seemed to be collapsing in on itself. A pillar crumbled, the fragments landing on the pathway. I knew, just from looking at it, that that was the portal to the Giant, the only way we'd be able to get to him and fight him off enough to close up an anomaly.

"No time to waste! Let's go!" With that, the three of us, our monsters and a couple of other Summoners rushed in. The doors shut behind us, effectively trapping everyone until we won or died. Spider web-like cracks were forming all over the walls. A stone fell from the wall next to me and shattered into a million shards. I jumped, naturally and tightened my grip on my tablet.

Within the first five minutes upon encountering the first wave of golems and crystals, three monsters died. None of them were ours, though, and surprisingly, I was doing steady. My team had invincibility, an increase of defense, immunity, and all members were at fairly high HP. That was when the ruckus started.

"I can't revive my monsters!"

"Me neither!"

"Was there a Raki anywhere?"