SSS-Ranked Awakening: I Can Only Summon Mythical Beasts

The hunt continued, the roar of dying beasts echoing through the forest as Damien and Arielle cut through their targets with ease.

It was almost too easy.

Arielle was strong to an extent, no doubt, but Damien was on an entirely different level.

With every swing of his blade, a mana beast fell. Each movement was efficient, precise, and brutal—as if he had done this a thousand times before.

Arielle, despite her own skill, found herself playing catch-up.

The count steadily rose.

Twelve.

Fifteen.

Eighteen.

By the time they reached twenty kills, something changed.

The forest grew quieter.

The remaining Grade Four mana beasts had noticed something was wrong.

They weren’t just wandering around aimlessly anymore. They were hiding.

Arielle wiped sweat from her forehead, leaning against a tree. “Damn it,” she muttered. “They caught on.”

Damien glanced around, his sharp eyes scanning the now eerily silent surroundings.

“They’re smart,” he admitted. “They know something is hunting them.”

Arielle sighed. “That makes things harder.”

Before they could devise a new approach, movement in the distance caught their attention.

A group of over two dozen Grade Four mana beasts was moving through the forest.

At first, Damien and Arielle tensed, thinking they had been discovered—

But something was off.

The mana beasts weren’t hunting them.

They were migrating.

Arielle narrowed her eyes. “They’re not searching for us.”

Damien nodded. “They’re moving from one part of the forest to another.”

Unfortunately—

That didn’t matter anymore.

The moment the beasts laid eyes on Damien and Arielle, their instincts kicked in.

Without hesitation—they attacked.

Arielle cursed, gripping her daggers tightly.

“We don’t have time for this,” she muttered.

Damien’s eyes darkened.

They were outnumbered and in a bad position.

He needed to end this quickly.

Without wasting a second, he called out mentally—

“Summon Skylar and Luton!”

A burst of blue energy erupted from a portal that appeared close to Damien, and in an instant—

Skylar, the Shadowfang Wyvern, appeared with its dark energy engulfing its being.

And the forest went still.

Arielle froze in place, her heart slamming against her ribs.

The mana beasts stopped in their tracks, their eyes filled with pure terror.

Even the air itself felt heavier, as if the very presence of the Wyvern had swallowed all light.

The Grade Four beasts tried to run.

It was instinct.

But—

It was already too late.

Skylar opened its maw, and with a deep, rumbling breath—

Vwooooossshh!!!

Shadow Flames poured forth like a black tsunami, sweeping across the battlefield.

The flames weren’t ordinary fire.

They clung to the mana beasts, burning through flesh, through bone, through essence.

Arielle couldn’t move—she was too stunned.

The sheer power that radiated from the Wyvern was on another level.

This wasn’t something a mere mercenary could ever hope to match.

Damien barely even reacted to the devastation around him.

He merely gave his second command.

“Luton. Clean up.”

Luton, the Stellar Slime, leapt off Damien’s head without hesitation.

It expanded rapidly, its red gelatinous form absorbing the remains of the incinerated mana beasts, breaking them down with ease.

Arielle finally snapped out of her daze.

“You… You had that beast this entire time?”

Damien turned to her, his face completely calm.

“Yeah.”

Arielle just stared at him.

For a moment, she couldn’t even find the words.

Then—

She threw her hands up in frustration.

“AND YOU LET ME STRUGGLE TO KILL FOUR BEASTS?!”

Damien shrugged. “I didn’t think we’d need them.”

Arielle gaped.

“You—” She groaned, rubbing her temples. “I can’t believe you!”

Damien smirked slightly. “You said this was your mission. I was just helping.”

Arielle glared at him, but deep down…

She couldn’t deny what she just saw.

That Wyvern…

It wasn’t normal.

Neither was that Stellar Slime but she was at least fond of the Slime.

She had heard stories about ancient creatures, about mana beasts of immense power.

But this…

This was beyond anything she had ever seen before.

She looked at Damien, really looked at him.

Just who the hell is this guy?

~~~~~

With the battle over, the forest was once again silent.

Luton had cleaned up everything, extracting the cores from the devoured beasts and storing them.

Arielle crossed her arms, still watching Damien cautiously.

“I knew you were strong,” she muttered, “but that was on a completely different level.”

Damien glanced at her. “What? Did you think I was normal?”

Arielle snorted. “No. But I didn’t think you were this overpowered either.”

Damien chuckled, rolling his shoulders. “Well, now you know.”

Arielle sighed. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Let’s just go back and claim the reward.”

She turned on her heel, heading toward the path back to Westmont.

Damien followed, but his mind was elsewhere.

The way those mana beasts reacted to Skylar…

That kind of instinctive fear only came from creatures who understood true power.

They knew what Skylar was.

And Damien wasn’t sure if he liked that.

By the time Damien and Arielle returned to Westmont, the sun was dipping below the horizon, painting the sky in streaks of orange and violet.

The town buzzed with activity, merchants closing up their stalls, street vendors calling out their last sales, and travelers filling the roads after a long day of work.

Arielle stretched as they passed through the gates, cracking her neck with a sigh of relief.

“Finally,” she groaned. “That took longer than I thought.”

Damien chuckled. “Yeah, well, next time, try not to drag me out of bed for a mission without explaining first.”

Arielle grinned, nudging him with her elbow. “But where’s the fun in that?”

Damien rolled his eyes but let it slide.

Instead, his attention shifted toward their next stop—the merchant who had issued the mission in the first place.

The two of them headed straight to the merchant district, where the streets were lined with various traders and store owners closing up for the day.

Their target was an older man, one of the more successful merchants in Westmont. He was seated behind his wooden stall, counting a small pouch of gold with a satisfied expression.

The moment he saw them, his eyes widened.

“You’re back already?” he asked, voice filled with disbelief.

Arielle grinned smugly, slapping the bag of cores onto his table. “Of course.”

The merchant opened the bag and peeked inside, his hands pausing mid-count.

His expression shifted instantly.

“Hold on… This is more than what I requested.”

Damien shrugged. “We ran into a few extras.”

The merchant let out a low whistle, emptying the bag to count the cores.

He quickly realized that they had ten extra cores, bringing their total to forty Grade Four mana beast cores.

“Well, well,” the merchant chuckled, rubbing his hands together. “You two really went all out, huh?”

Arielle grinned, placing a hand on her hip. “We do our best.”

The merchant sighed, shaking his head. “I was only supposed to pay you for thirty, but…”

He reached under his stall, pulling out another hefty pouch of gold.

“Sixty-five gold coins for each extra core,” he announced, tossing the additional payment onto the counter.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!