Chapter 7 - The Savior

'Like a barrier. No, a teleportation gate? How strange.'

'Why would anyone create this? The space it connects to is... far. The mana that is needed to do this..' Aria pursed her lips.

Even she would have problems creating a gate like that.

'The holding magic is very powerful.' Aria clicked her tongue.

She wouldn't be able to mess with something like this in her current condition.

'Who's the owner?'

This gate should connect to a foreign location. Judging from the traces, it was abnormally summoned.

'There's no restrictions.

Aria rummaged around to find no blockages. She could go through the thing without anything preventing her.

Aria thought for a while and decided to risk it.

No matter how weak she was, the memory she retained was undoubtedly that of the former best Summoner in the world.

Not only did she excel in the arts of summoning, her close combat capabilities were also not bad, leading to a deadly combo of versatility in both close and ranged fighting in addition to her summons that provided support.

Earlier, she saw her status. It had numbers, detailing her five ability classification. She could already roughly guess their uses, but didn't know the scale of the numbers.

An instinct told her that she was reset, placed back at the beginning to crawl and climb back the grueling journey she once went through in the past.

Aria shrugged once.

Whatever laid behind here would mark her first action in this world.

She took a deep breath in and passed through the gate.

"Hyung! Hyung!!" Il-hoon, Jun-su's younger brother held the weakened body of his elder sibling.

He looked at the pack of golden-eyed wolves ready to pounce at them.

After narrowly escaping from a strike from the monsters, Jun-su had charged into the horde once again, telling the other two to prepare for escape.

One victim was better than four victims.

Since he was the one who made the decision to enter this dungeon, naturally he had to take responsibility and be the sacrifice.

He didn't even know if he was enough to stall the pack.

At the very least, his companions had to escape.

Il-hoon and Seong-jin knew that their chances of surviving as a four was slimmer than ever.

The trio had made countless promises over the time, one of them being to run whenever they had a chance if the situation couldn't be handled anymore.

No matter how many people escaped, it was fine. As long as one of them got out of the hellish life-risking scenarios they had to enter as a profession.

However, when Jun-su was taken down in less than ten seconds, the two naturally faltered. They hadn't even gotten the chance to turn around. Their brother was already on the ground, struggling to ward off the maddened wolf on top of him.

On an impulsive, fear-based decision, Seong-jin shot three arrows in total, successfully taking down one wolf.

With the collapse of that one creature, the others growled and burst in anger.

Their target changed.

They launched themselves to the man, taking a large bite at Seong-Jin.

Soon, they were in a situation where Il-hoon who had limited mana was the only one with the ability to fight.

Jun-su and Seong-Jin were already in the brink of death.

"..Please," Il-hoon shed tears. "Please.. anything, anybody, save us.."

Of course, no one would respond. 

He slumped down in terror, ready to face his death.

The only one who didn't fight was Yoo Jin. He had been watching from the backline all this time.

Now, he pursed his lips at the turmoil with a grave look in his eyes.

"Enemies? Or your friends?" A voice spoke.

Yoo Jin, who had already given up turned to the voice in shock.

A fully naked woman who seemed to have come out of the movies appeared in front of him.

The beauty was rare, her features did not seem like they came from an Asian birthplace. In a secluded place like this, Yoo Jin wondered how such a person came forward.

Despite Aria's powerful presence, she felt unwell internally.

The hunger and thirst she possessed affected her. She asked once more.

"Enemies, or friends?" Aria cursed the boy. She was thirsty like never before, her words were more precious than gold! 

Hurry and answer the question!

"They're.. friends. Can you.. save them?"

Although her appearance seemed a bit strange, she was unfazed even at the scene before her.

She must have some sort of way to get them out of this, right?

"Do you have food? Water?"

"No.. but those guys should have some."

"Perfect." Aria walked towards the stunned trio, picking up Jun-su's fallen sword while at it.

'My first fight since.. How long has it been again? Touching a sword and all.'

The sword she held couldn't compare to the legendary weapons she once obtained after countless fights and battles, but what other choice could she possess?

"Surely..." Preparing to put all of her strength into a single blow, Aria closed her eyes and concentrated. Letting out a heavy sigh, she began to channel the 10 MP she had recovered.

She was sure that her figure as the best Summoner still laid deep inside her soul.

'10 MP. Strengthen the sword, nothing more.'

The Systems now prohibited her from using skills that she didn't acquire through the interface. Her mana was also depleted from her trying to use teleport earlier.

It had barely replenished itself back to 12 points.

There were certain rules that she grasped to the highest level. A loophole she could take advantage of.

She knew magic like the back of her hand.

In magic, there existed spells called enchantments.

If you master it enough, the energy you wanted to supply to the enchantments could be arranged to your liking.

As such, she would be able to manage the mana output perfectly, and fortify her assets accordingly.

She knew how to connect traditional enchantments, and was in fact one of the best for that field.

That was precisely what she was doing right now.

'My skills wouldn't have vanished altogether.' Aria sucked in a sharp breath, propelling her entire body forward with a short dash.