I Became the Weakest Summon of the Genius Summoner

Chapter 7. Meeting the Regressor.

"Thanks to you, I even fulfilled one of the conditions for my 【Goblin Slayer】 achievement!"

Her eyes still wet with tears, she suddenly raised her voice a tone higher and spread her arms wide as she spoke.

'What was the condition for the Goblin Slayer achievement...'

Being a non-combatant from the start, it was a difficult condition for me to achieve, so I had simply dismissed it.

I couldn't remember it precisely.

As I tilted my head in confusion, she smiled brightly and sat me on the floor, continuing her story.

"The conditions are simple! It's about how many goblins you've defeated alone, the total number of goblins killed, and collecting all the runes the goblins drop. That's the three."

The runes that goblins drop are one type of Rune of Vigor, but they come in two grades: lowest-rank rune and low-rank rune.

Naturally, the low-rank rune has a higher Stamina increase value than the lowest-rank rune.

"I just achieved the first condition by defeating five of them. Hehe."

'Defeating five goblins alone meets the first condition, achieving a total of one hundred goblins killed, and obtaining a lowest-rank rune. That's the first condition.'

Her words brought back my memory. Having achieved the first condition, she would have slightly increased her attack and defense against goblins.

'It seems she'll advance faster than her past self.'

Before I died, she had suffered a severe injury to her face during this dungeon exploration and couldn't enter a dungeon for a while.

By changing that future, I at least gained a few weeks.

'The final condition follows a similar pattern.'

Slaying ten goblins simultaneously, achieving a total of one thousand kills, and finally acquiring a low-rank rune would grant a higher reward upon achievement.

"I'm planning to complete the second condition too and aim for the achievement. Initially, I thought of warming up with you a couple of times and then heading to the next dungeon."

Her face, slightly flushed with confidence, as she sat demurely in front of me, betrayed nothing of what she had been through while I was gone.

'Sigh... It seems nothing terrible happened after I left.'

Her flawless, porcelain skin soothed the anxiety in my heart.

She looked adorably cute with her full cheeks puffed and her hands clenched firmly.

'Step by step, let's proceed. I must at least avoid her being manipulated by that guy...'

Thinking about the guy who killed me made my anger boil up to my skull, but truth be told, defeating him wouldn't be easy.

No... it would almost be impossible.

Growing enough to make him think it would be troublesome to mess with me would be the most realistic goal.

Because the one who killed me, 'Cho Giman', is a monster who has experienced six regressions and is living his seventh and final life...

That bastard spoke so much nonsense while playing with me, revealing himself as the 'Avatar of the Seven-Headed Dragon'.

'I must grow stronger without catching his eyes as much as possible.'

If I stand out too much, he might notice the difference from previous loops and end my life.

Lost in such thoughts for a moment.

- Ding-dong!

"Heek! Who, who could it be?"

Startled as if hearing a doorbell for the first time, she anxiously looked towards the door, flustered.

'Two people... strong ones. Especially one of them is immeasurable.'

Quickly retracting my senses, I held Lee Yeon-hee's hand tightly.

"Huh? Should we run now?"

'Ah... right. We agreed to that as a sign.'

Shaking my head slightly, I tapped my chest with my fist.

'I might not be of much help, but trust me. You are not alone.'

"Clack-clack-clack-!"

"... Mmm!"

Although I wasn't sure if she understood what I meant, she started walking towards the door with a much more assured expression than before.

As she opened it, a man and a woman greeted her, asking if they could come in for a moment.

'This voice... No way?'

Even though I had been locked in that dim space for so long, could I have forgotten even for a moment?

'Cho Giman!! Why is that bastard here?'

What kind of twist of fate was it, meeting him immediately after deciding to avoid him until I grew stronger?

However, the boiling fury quickly subsided with the effect of my trait 【Calm】, and I began to gauge the situation.

Considering Lee Yeon-hee's stable tone and the way the woman spoke politely to her.

'Had she already received a guild proposal? I remember the contract was around spring...'

"May we come in for a moment..."

In the end, Cho Giman and an unfamiliar woman entered.

Cho Giman, with villain-like eyes resembling a venomous snake, and a woman over 170 cm tall with small eyes.

Once inside, they immediately, almost simultaneously, drew weapons from their inventories upon seeing me.

"Aah-! Th-that's my summoned creature!"

"Huh? That's a summoned creature? That looks like a monster..."

"..."

The woman seemed truly shocked, as if she wasn't aware a summoned creature could resemble a monster, while Cho Giman was more nonchalant yet a bit amazed for a different reason.

'Is this the first time he's encountering such a situation in this loop? Assuming he didn't approach Lee Yeon-hee during this period in the previous six loops, this reaction is...'

The unexpected reaction to my presence had me pondering deeply.

"Uh... well, I'll just keep it temporarily."

'What? I can't go back now!'

Lee Yeon-hee struggled to unsummon me for a while, but it obviously failed since I refused.

"No worries. No need to exert yourself."

"S-Sorry."

"Haha, truly, it's fine. Right after the Second Awakening, things like that can happen. It happened to me too."

The woman, her small eyes suspiciously elongated, with light brown hair, reassured Lee Yeon-hee.

'Was there a woman like that in the guild? There are only a few female hunters who had experienced the Second Awakening in the guild...'

Then suddenly, a particular woman crossed my mind, so I imagined obscuring her eyes with my finger bones and just looking at her lower face.

'Wow... it's Kang Yeon-su? She really overhauled her face.'

Since my guild membership was a year and three months from now, she must have completely revamped her face during this time.

'I thought it was just a double-eyelid surgery or something...'

Having Kang Yeon-su, the notorious mad dog, around was somewhat reassuring after all.

Despite her fiery temper, she harbored a sense of justice in contrast to Cho Giman.

"That's big."

Suddenly, Cho Giman spoke up.

"Yes?"

"The skeletal soldier is huge. I have never seen such a large skeletal soldier..."

'Damn... starting to mess up from the get-go. Is that why he was initially surprised?'

It seems there's a significant difference compared to the skeletal soldiers he saw in the previous loops.

'In dungeons of D-rank or higher, you could find ones larger than I am now, but from Cho Giman's perspective, it might seem implausible at this point in time. This is a problem.'

"What nonsense are you talking about? Even in dungeons like Nargul, large skeletal types are found in droves."

"True, but it looked unusual from outside. Don't worry about it, miss Lee Yeon-hee."

'This crazy bastard calling her 'Miss Lee Yeon-hee' is just absurd.'

Knowing his true nature, listening to his nauseating tone was almost unbearable.

It was fortunate I was a skeleton. Had I been human, my face would have burned bright red with embarrassment.

"Okay..."

Lee Yeon-hee had been clasping her hands like a sinner and only staring at the ground.

"But more importantly, about today's interview, miss Lee Yeon-hee."

"Oh, yes."

"You don't have to answer everything meticulously. I've been thinking it might be better to go with a mysterious image as the first Summoner-class. Besides, it might suit your personality better. What do you think?"

"I'm fine with whatever... I'd really appreciate it if you could reduce the interviews as much as possible..."

While listening to the conversation between Kang Yeon-su and Lee Yeon-hee, my gaze remained on Cho Giman.

Cho Giman was staring intently at Lee Yeon-hee, as if trying to figure out what might have changed.

'This bastard is overly suspicious... Just think of it as a peculiarity that comes with regression. It's what you always mouthed off about.'

As a guide, I had earned recognition for my abilities, spending a considerable amount of time with Cho Giman in the same guild, and he had a strange habit of muttering to himself suddenly.

Among the words he often mumbled, the term 'peculiarity' was quite frequent.

Now in retrospect, he must have encountered inexplicable situations during his regressions, so if he found nothing notable about Lee Yeon-hee, he might just gloss over it.

'Please... Just go away.'

"But was everything alright during the dungeon raid yesterday, miss Lee Yeon-hee?"

'Yesterday? So she summoned me after a day had passed.'

Perhaps there's a cooldown period for re-summoning a summoned creature. More importantly, why was that snake-like bastard so interested in Lee Yeon-hee's dungeon exploration?

"Pardon? Oh, no, nothing significant happened..."

"Even minor details are fine. Just verifying if there hasn't been any inconvenience for you, like, perhaps unexpectedly being attacked by a monster..."

'Ah, it's because of Lee Yeon-hee's face... She was originally supposed to be in the hospital at this time, yet here she was, perfectly fine.'

Seeing how subtly Cho Giman was trying to pry, another memory about him surfaced.

Despite being forgetful and careless in general, he was unusually meticulous when it came to Lee Yeon-hee, showing a tendency like obsession.

"Ah, come to think of it...?"

"Yes, tell me."

TL's Corner:
Damn, a regressor as the villain. Also, Seven-Headed Dragon, does that mean Tiamat?