The Alpha's roar made Reidar's ribs shake. The tight space didn't help in that regard. Panic wasn't an option. Survival was all about making the right moves, and Reidar had one up his sleeve he was sure would make all the difference.

In the weeks of travel from Three Lakes, he hadn't just walked. He had experimented. He had pushed the boundaries of his most ambiguous asset: the Skill Sharing trait.

The System's description was simple. The trait allowed him to share skills with willing allies. But 'allies' was a broad term. Reidar had a theory, and he tested it. The trait worked on his summons.

He'd already checked: to share a skill, he needed at least 50% proficiency, just like the System said. And he'd passed that mark in every summoning skill he had.

However, there were limitations. Not all summons could get all skills. Those that were leaning on melee fights, like his bone militia, mindless skeletons animated by whatever kind of energy that sustained them, could not get magic-related skills such as the summoning ones.

They had no mana pool to fuel them, no spark of consciousness to direct them. They were blunt instruments, nothing more.

Reidar also had to take into account that some of his skills summoned monsters certain levels lower than him and that if he gave the same skill to them, the monsters would get progressively weaker.

But his Rift-Sprites… they were different. They were elemental beings, creatures of pure mana given form, apparently. They were mages. And most importantly, they were summoned at his level.

There was no degradation, no weakening through a generational chain. A Rift-Sprite gifted with the 'Summon Rift-Sprite Squad' skill would summon creatures just as powerful as its own. Which meant, as Reidar.

He hadn't used that ability since arriving in Havenwood—not that he'd had the chance—but he would've done it sooner if the place didn't feel so off. Sure, things were bad there, and he'd planned to keep it hidden. But now things had gotten worse, and he figured it was worth the risk.

There was something weird going on in Havenwood, and showing all his cards was a terrible idea. While the group would undoubtedly ask him questions after he defeated the boss monster, which he was certain about, he would not be forced to share this with them.

<This might lead to complications, though.>

His gaze never left the advancing behemoth as his mind called up the System interface. He had a new army to raise.

The air shimmered with five simultaneous bursts of mana. Five Rift-Sprites stepped through portals around Reidar. At least one of each element. The Alpha Geode-Back Mauler paused its advance as it assessed this new development.

Reidar's focus narrowed. He reached out with his Skill Sharing trait. Ten mana per sprite. Fifty total. A trivial cost.

The five sprites twitched. One by one, they began their casting. Five more sprites appeared around each of them. Twenty-five new rift-sprites of various elements appeared inside the cavern.

The Mauler took a step back, a low, grinding rumble echoing from its chest, because it knew what was happening was dangerous. The glittering purple geodes along its spine pulsed with a wary light.

Reidar didn't stop. He pushed the trait again, a second wave of knowledge flowing from him to the new twenty-five. Another two hundred and fifty mana vanished.

The cavern filled with a sudden, shimmering army. In a heartbeat, over a hundred Rift-Sprites stood between him and the beast.

The Alpha's head lowered; its eyes scanned the impossible army materializing before it. The grinding rumble grew louder, tinged with something that sounded like confusion.

The process went on until 1140 rift-sprites appeared. Reidar smiled and gave the mental command.

A storm of elemental fury erupted. Fireballs shot through the area, water orbs slammed into hide, stone shards bounced off stone-like armor, and wind blades carved deep gashes into the rock around the beast. The cavern lit up like a thunderstorm; the sheer number of attacks looked like a starry sky.

But the smile faded from Reidar's lips as quickly as it appeared. The elemental barrage was a spectacle, but the results were… underwhelming.

Each individual attack was not that powerful against the monster's immense health and resistances.

The Alpha shook off the assault with a furious roar, its shell deflecting most of the damage. Most, not all of it. The damage was still getting accrued. The monster got burned, sliced, and concussed.

It curled into a ball and slammed into the front ranks of sprites, crushing a dozen into dust in an instant.

The bear-like creature uncurled and swiped a massive paw, claws shearing through another score of creatures. They died as easily as they had been summoned.

The Alpha was a butcher in a shop. For every minute of bombardment from the sprites, it erased a minute's worth of summons with a single motion. The cavern floor was soon littered with the glittering remains of shattered porcelain.

Reidar watched, calculating the exchange rate between summoning new creatures and losing even more. The sprites' attacks were a constant rain, but the Alpha was a landslide.

The math was simple. A Rift-Sprite wasn't that strong. It was actually weaker than any person at the same level. Their strength came from numbers and elements, not raw power.

They were strong when enemies were weak against their elements. But against a high-level creature, one that wasn't vulnerable, whose hide shrugged off their attacks, they weren't nearly as overpowered as they'd been against other sprites. This difference got even worse considering their opponent was many levels higher, almost 20.

But the attacks were still there. Slowly, they were chipping at the monster's health.

The Alpha staggered under the endless barrage. A thousand tiny cuts were slowly bleeding it out. Each hit alone didn't do much, but the sheer number was just too much for its healing to keep up with.

A fireball blackened its side, a wind blade carved a deep line across its shoulder, and a wave of stone bullets hammered its geode-covered back, sending fresh cracks through the purple crystals.

The beast roared. Not just in anger, but in pain. It tried to roll up into its defensive ball, but a focused blast of water from a hundred Aqua Sprites slammed into its belly, making it stumble and break form.

Its movements got heavier, its swipes less fierce as its strength drained away. The fight wasn't turning on one big hit—it was grinding down, bit by bit, under the weight of numbers.

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