While Satoshi was keenly observing 'Smol', his new familiar which looked like a huge entity, he noticed that his movements suddenly became sluggish. Some of the entities managed to slip past him. While he was speedy enough to grab them and eliminate them before they get to the camp, Satoshi could tell that Smol was running low on fumes.
"You all right?" Satoshi voiced out, addressing his familiar. It was impossible for them to get exhausted since he hasn't run out of energy yet. Besides, he didn't suffer enough injury to deactivate the summon. That's why Satoshi wondered why he was more sluggish than usual.
Then again, it was somewhat explainable due to the fact that he had been fighting non-stop for a couple of hours now. He was probably getting bored due to the mundane task he had to accomplish.
"Right right." Satoshi muttered to himself, much to Lucy's surprise. The huge entity didn't utter a single sound, nor did it speak to Satoshi. However, Satoshi was nodding his head as if the two of them were holding a private conversation.
Lucy's eyes widened in disbelief as she continued her observation.
"What? You're bored?" Satoshi let out, heaving a sigh. "Well, that's expected. Don't worry, I'll summon someone else. Do you want to go back?"
Once again, the huge entity didn't voice out a single sound, nor did it do any sign language.
"All right. I'll call out the Black Winged Dragon... what? Even Gabriel wanted to come out right now? You too?" Satoshi muttered to himself. "All right, all right, everybody gets a turn." He continued as if he had just been defeated in a debate.
"Smol, you can get some rest now. I'm sure everyone's excited to meet you face-to-face. Orb Oboros." Satoshi called out as Smol was transferred to the dimension created by Orb Oboros. This was where all of Satoshi's familiars coexisted.
"Black Winged Dragon, Gabriel, come out." Satoshi continued. He totally forgot that Lucy was still there, and she witnessed every action he took.
Now that Lucy saw Satoshi talking to his familiar firsthand, she thought that she already saw everything. But it didn't take long before the mystery that enveloped Satoshi became even more hazy. The moment she concluded that nothing could surprise her anymore, she witnessed something even more bizarre.
A girl came out from Orb Oboros, and a man floating in the air, wearing a shabby robe came out with her. Lucy bolted upright from her seat while her jaws hung down to the ground. She wanted to demand an explanation from Satoshi but she decided not to— after all, she might not even comprehend what Satoshi was going to say.
"Finally! I can finally stretch my wings. Whoa~ what are those?" Ryu Ryoko called out, pointing at the entities which were rushing from all directions.
"Isn't it obvious, it's the entities master told us about. We need to get rid of them in the place of our new member." Gabriel spoke, his shabby robe fluttering against the wind. Lucy couldn't actually see Gabriel's face since he was wearing a hooded robe.
"Don't summon the phoenix, you might burn the entire forest," Satoshi advised.
"Master, my phoenix can control its flames. It can burn a target without burning anything else." Gabriel said, bowing its head.
"Really?" Satoshi exclaimed so he didn't bother limiting Gabriel anymore. As for Ryu Ryoko, she already transformed into her dragon form. Just like the huge entity, she easily took care of the entities even without using any of her powerful attacks.
"Satoshiiii~" Lucy whispered. Even though she had no idea who the people were, she could tell that they were powerful, almost as powerful as Disciples. "Who are they?" She asked, scooting closer to Satoshi.
"Ah, she's Ryu Ryoko, a Black Winged Dragon. As for him, he's Gabriel, I met him during a Gate Incident in our world." Satoshi casually said.
"Yeah, but why are they here? Are you sure you're not breaking any rules? I mean, only Disciples are allowed here, right?" Lucy continued. She was genuinely worried for Satoshi. After all, he just brought all these people out of nowhere.
"And?" Satoshi returned, clueless as to what Lucy was trying to imply.
"I mean... they aren't Disciples. You might get reprimanded for breaking the rules." Lucy whispered back.
"Yeah, they aren't. They're my tamed beasts though." Satoshi responded. His answer was so out-of-this-world but he said it so casually.
For a moment, Lucy nodded her head as if accepting Satoshi's explanation. Soon after, she bolted upright a second time when she finally internalized what Satoshi just said. "Haah?! Those two? Your tamed beasts?!"
"I prefer calling them my familiars instead of my tamed beasts... but I figured it would be easier to explain it using those words." Satoshi continued since Lucy still wore the same confused expression on her face.
"Aren't they... people?" Lucy asked. Right now she had no idea what was right or wrong anymore. She was just genuinely confused.
"Um... it's complicated..." Satoshi trailed off. "But you can ask the other Managers, they can confirm that they're my familiars."
"Oh..." Lucy also trailed off. She didn't want to ask questions since she knew it would just confuse her even more.
When the two groups who left camp returned, they noticed that there was a dragon, a floating robe, and a firebird fighting against the entities. They looked at Lucy, and when she didn't say anything, they realized that this was all Satoshi's doing.
That said, they didn't ask questions anymore. They just brought the two new groups to Satoshi so he could brief them on what was going on.
Now that everyone was gathered, well, sort of, Satoshi addressed all of them. He finally told them the plan he had in mind. "I'm going to gather as many of us as we can so we can have an easier time defending against the entities. We still have two more days to go. It's just going to get more challenging from here on out."
"Still... expecting us to work together... some Disciples might not agree to it," Lucy mumbled. She wasn't against Satoshi's plan, but she doubted its effectiveness since some Disciples could get a bit prideful.
"That's why we ask them. If they don't want to join, then they don't have to." Satoshi responded. "Still, we have to gather as many Disciples as we can... or else we don't stand a chance on the second or third day."
The two groups nodded their heads. For a moment back there, they thought that they were going to die. If Satoshi's group didn't rescue them, they might have already been eliminated.
After getting to know the additional six people of the group, they began working on improving the camp together while the two-man teams that Satoshi formed continued rescuing other Disciples. The process lasted for the next couple of hours until evening came.
It didn't take long before Satoshi's camp turned into a small community with thirty people in it. To Satoshi's relief, the plan worked so far since all of them worked together. He had no idea what their names were, but they cooperated with him and that's all he needed.
All of them shared each other's resources, built tents, and rotated cooking for each other. It became a picnic party instead of a survival test.
Nevertheless, everyone knew that this respite wouldn't last very long. When the second and third day comes, they'd have to use every ounce of their energy to defend. Right now, Satoshi could still defend the entire group alone. However, the second and third days would be different.
The other Disciples didn't hesitate to work with each other since Satoshi defended them. They were exhausted enough as it is, and now they could finally rest and recover their energy in preparation for the second and third days.
Just like the first two groups, the additional Disciples who joined the team didn't ask any questions. They had no idea why there were powerful tamed beasts guarding them. They also didn't ask who the floating hooded man was even though Satoshi would've obliged in answering their questions.
"Satoshi!" Someone suddenly called out from afar. She cheerfully waved her hand as she ran towards him.
It was none other than Mitsuka, with Nanako trailing right behind her. Satoshi was surprised that Himuro was the last member of their team.
"You guys were together?" Satoshi asked.
"Yeah, what's going on here?" Himuro asked. "Why do you have thirty people on your team?" Himuro asked, impressed that Satoshi managed to gather such a huge group.
"Did you gather all of them? Are you going to survive the second and third days together?" Nanako asked, her curiosity piqued. "If that's so, then count us in! We're going to join your group as well."
Satoshi's face lit up when he heard Nanako's offer. He knew that the three of them were reliable so having them join the group would really help them out a notch. "Really? Then welcome to the team! Don't hesitate to make yourselves at home... or something like that." Satoshi greeted, gesturing for them to go inside the camp.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦