All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 302: The Fourth Ring Opens

Corven’s first attack branch crossed the ridge through three empty sockets, splitting toward the wounded from separate angles.

Hajin sent the Chain through the nearest line, breaking its fitted route before the ash spear reached Aegis. The other two branches turned beneath his weapon, using the circulation bank to remember their targets.

One Ring held the treatment panels above the ground while the remaining halos fed his next pull. His damaged pathways tightened under both demands, slowing the Chain before it reached the second branch.

"You will choose them again," Corven said, advancing behind seven open Shards while the cylinder worked across his back, "Dreth only needs you to keep choosing."

"You are attacking wounded soldiers to prove that," Hajin replied, drawing the links around the second route, "come closer and explain it."

The Chain cut through another ash spear, but the last branch rose beneath the outer treatment panel. Hajin widened Aegis with his left hand, catching its point below two unconscious soldiers.

Pressure entered his injured side as the panel lifted, reopening the cut beside his ribs. Blood ran beneath his armor while the mobile branch kept pushing against his palm.

Corven used that resistance to move right, keeping the circulation bank beyond the Chain’s clean return. Every step carried the third branch with him, forcing Hajin to turn instead of closing on Dreth.

Aria placed both attack lines across his sight, showing Dreth’s open command socket beside Corven’s closing route.

"Four seconds to the first patient," she warned, marking the shortest intercept through the rising panels.

Hajin pulled the Chain away from Dreth’s route before its edge finished turning.

The deputy drove two Shards into the cylinder, thickening the ash spear beneath the treatment panel until Aegis started bending. His remaining five Shards formed a shield across the bank’s outer frame.

Dreth raised another ground section behind Hajin, using the same opening to close the distance from his command socket. One attack forced him forward while the other kept his left hand beneath the wounded.

Corven had built the problem around divided attention, although his portable bank still received every branch before redirecting it.

Divine Eye followed that return path through the ash spear, finding one narrow pulse entering the cylinder whenever the point changed direction.

Hajin loosened the treatment barrier by less than a hand, allowing the spear to rise toward the empty space between two panels. Corven corrected immediately, sending another pulse into the bank before the wounded could slide.

The opening lasted half a second, but the Chain followed the returning mana before the shield recovered.

Dark-gold links crossed beneath five defensive Shards, wrapping the cylinder before their shield finished turning. Hajin closed his right hand, locking every link around the bank plus its harness.

Corven released the third branch and pulled backward, trying to tear the Chain from Hajin’s injured grip. The freed spear collapsed beneath Aegis, leaving all nineteen soldiers beyond its point.

"Cut the harness," Dreth ordered, driving his own strike closer through the ground, "the bank matters more than your back."

The deputy obeyed without looking toward the commander, severing one shoulder strap with an ash blade. He reached for the second while four Shards struck the Chain from inside its loop.

Two Rings accelerated around Hajin’s right forearm, forcing the links inward before the remaining strap broke. The first Shard split against them, followed by two more as Divine Sever entered the captured circuit.

Corven turned the last defensive Shards across his chest, abandoning the bank while its broken pattern released ash around him. That movement placed his body between the Chain and the cylinder he had carried through the entire siege.

Hajin pulled once with both Rings, bringing both targets into the same severing line.

The Chain crossed four Shards before entering Corven beneath his raised arm, cutting through his core plus the cylinder behind him. Both halves of the bank struck the ground as its mobile routes vanished across the Zone.

He remained standing for one breath, staring at the split frame without enough core left to rebuild a branch. Then his legs gave way beside the weapon he had protected throughout the siege.

[ Deputy Corven eliminated ]

[ Portable circulation bank destroyed ]

[ Hajin gained: 620,000 EXP ]

[ Ring Progress: 25,000,000 / 25,000,000 EXP ]

The reward reached the threshold exactly, completing the fourth Ring before the next requirement replaced it.

Three halos stopped around Hajin’s right forearm, holding their positions while a wider circle formed outside them. Gold closed around his wrist in one complete turn, then all four Rings began rotating together.

The new pressure entered his body without touching the open wound beneath his armor. Blood kept running, while his depleted mana remained exactly where it had fallen before the kill.

[ Ring Evolution: 3 Rings -> 4 Rings ]

[ Base Stat Multiplier: 3.0x -> 5.0x ]

[ Unassigned Stat Points gained: 5 ]

[ Health restoration: none ]

[ Mana restoration: none ]

[ Ring 5 Progress: 25,000,000 / 50,000,000 EXP ]

The fourth rotation pulled against both injured pathways before Hajin could adjust his output. One halo slipped ahead of the others, sending pain across his right shoulder as Aria opened a warning.

[ Hostile Zone interference detected ]

[ First four-Ring manifestation limited by current injuries ]

[ Safe manifestation window: 180 seconds ]

[ Unassigned points remain unused ]

Power multiplied through what little mana he had left, making every part of Aegis answer faster than his exhausted control expected. The treatment panels rose too sharply before he forced them back into place.

Dreth recovered first, driving his spear through the rebuilt command socket while Corven’s body still settled. Every connected ground section folded toward Hajin, carrying the stolen reserve into one ridge-wide strike.

Hans ordered his militia back from the fitted lines, though the attack had already crossed beneath their nearest withdrawal stakes. Flint soldiers lowered themselves behind their shields as their own Zone rose above both armies.

Hajin kept the Chain in his right hand, raising only his left toward the approaching wall.

Aegis formed across the command ridge before the ground completed its turn. The Zone struck gold with enough force to break its remaining siege panels, sending their fragments away from the treatment line.

His left arm moved backward by one finger before the new multiplier settled through the barrier.

The entire ridge-wide strike stopped against the barrier before reaching another person.

Ground continued pressing from every connected section, but Aegis held above Corven’s body plus the nineteen wounded soldiers. None of the treatment panels beneath them shifted again after the first contact.

Dreth pushed both hands onto his spear, feeding more of the stolen reserve through the socket. Four Rings turned around Hajin’s right forearm while his raised left hand remained open.

The nearest Flint company stepped away from its lowered standard when the ridge failed to move him. Hans’s shield line stopped retreating, watching a Zone attack that had driven them for days remain fixed against one barrier.

[ Active Flint siege force: 704 ]

[ Four-Ring manifestation: 176 seconds remaining ]

"The fourth rotation is slipping against the injured pathways," Aria warned, tracking the uneven halo, "I can stabilize it without stopping that clock."

Hajin tightened his right hand around the Chain as the outer halo slipped ahead again.

"Then do it while I hold this," he replied, keeping Aegis between Dreth and everyone the commander had tried to spend.