SSS-Ranked Summoner: Only I Summon All Heroes And Heroines Of Legend-Chapter 49: Phase 2: Ryka And Svenja

The forest had a way of playing tricks on you.

Ryka had noticed it about an hour into their trek—the way shadows seemed to shift when you weren’t looking directly at them. The way certain trees appeared twice, like the forest was folding in on itself.

"We’re making good time," she said, more to fill the silence than anything else.

Svenja said nothing, she just kept walking, her pale eyes fixed straight ahead, her two orbs hovering in lazy orbits around her shoulders.

Ryka was getting used to it, the silence. Svenja didn’t talk much—never had—but over the past three months of training, Ryka had learned to read her in other ways. The slight tilt of her head when she was calculating something, the subtle tilts of her fingers. The almost imperceptible shift in her posture when she’d made a decision.

Right now, Svenja looked calm and focused. Which meant everything was going according to plan.

They’d already taken two tags.

The first team had been easy—a pair of Berdanians who’d gotten cocky and tried to ambush them near a stream. Svenja’s black orb had siphoned one summon into nothingness while Ryka’s wyvern took care of the other. The whole fight lasted just a few minutes.

The second team had been smarter. They’d tried to negotiate, offering an alliance.

Svenja had declined without a word, and Ryka had just let her act. They took the tags and moved on.

Now they were cutting through the densest part of the forest, following the most direct route to the Red Tower. Svenja had checked her phone twice in the last ten minutes, verifying their path.

"How much further?" Ryka asked.

Svenja pulled out her phone, glanced at the map, and held up her index finger.

One day, maybe less if they kept this pace.

Ryka nodded. "We’re ahead of schedule then."

Svenja’s expression didn’t change, but she gave a small nod of agreement.

They continued walking.

The trees grew thicker and taller. The canopy above was so dense now that almost no sunlight broke through. Everything was cast in shades of deep green and shadow.

And then they heard it.

Screaming.

Ryka’s hand went instinctively to her summoning seal. Svenja stopped walking, her head tilting slightly as she listened.

AAARRGHH!!!

The screaming grew louder.

And a figure burst through the undergrowth ahead of them—a boy, maybe sixteen, running like his life depended on it. His uniform was torn, his face pale and slick with sweat. Blood streaked down his left arm from a wound he was clutching with his other hand.

He skidded to a stop when he saw them, his eyes were wild and terrified.

"Go back!" he shouted, his voice cracking. "Don’t go that way! Just—just turn around!"

Ryka stepped forward. "What happened?"

"Huh?," the boy gasped, still backing away.

"What HAPPENED?!’ Ryka asked more firmly .

"They’re everywhere!"

"RUNNN!"

He turned and kept running, not waiting for their reaction.

Ryka watched him disappear into the trees, then turned to Svenja. "That doesn’t sound good."

Svenja had already pulled out her phone. She studied the map for a long moment, her pale eyes scanning the screen.

Then she looked up and pointed forward. The same direction the boy had been running from.

"You’re serious?" Ryka said.

Svenja nodded once.

"What if he’s right? What if we should turn back?"

Svenja tapped her phone screen, then held it up for Ryka to see. The map showed their current position and the Red Tower’s location. There were two possible routes. The path ahead—the one the boy had warned them about—was the most direct. It would get them to the tower in a day at most.

The alternate route looped wide to the east, adding at least an extra day to their travel time.

Svenja pointed at the timer at the top of the screen.

56:12:33

They’d already lost nearly a whole day. If they took the long route, they’d be cutting it dangerously close to the seventy-two-hour deadline. And that was assuming nothing else slowed them down.

Ryka exhaled slowly. "You really think we can handle it?"

Svenja met her gaze evenly. Then she held up two fingers and gave a slight nod. Two of them. Together.

Ryka felt an air of confidence settle in her lungs. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Alright," she said. "Let’s do it."

Svenja nodded and started walking forward.

Ryka followed.

---

The trees grew even denser.

The path narrowed into a single visible trail, the undergrowth on either side so thick it looked impenetrable. The air grew colder. Damper. The kind of cold that sank into your bones and stayed there.

And then the sounds started.

Faint at first. A high-pitched chittering that echoed strangely through the trees. It came from multiple sources at random intervals, layering over itself until it resonated from everywhere.

Ryka’s hand drifted to her summoning seal again. "You hear that?"

Svenja nodded. Her orbs had stopped their lazy orbit and now floated closer to her body.

They kept walking.

The chittering grew louder.

Then the trees opened up.

They stepped into a clearing—if you could call it that. It was more like a hollow carved into the forest, a circular space about fifty feet across. The ground was littered with bones. Small ones, mostly. Birds. Rodents. But there were larger ones too. Things Ryka didn’t want to think about.

And hanging from every branch, every surface, every possible perch, were the bats.

Thousands of them.

Their bodies were small—maybe the size of a housecat each—but their wings stretched wide, leathery and dark. Their eyes glowed faintly red in the shadows, and their mouths hung open, revealing rows of needle-sharp teeth.

They chittered in unison, the sound rising and falling like a twisted chorus.

Ryka’s breath caught in her throat. "Oh, shit."

And then the bats parted.

They moved as one, creating a corridor through their mass. And at the far end of the clearing, perched on a thick branch, was the queen.

She was the size of a human. Easily five and a half feet tall, with wings that stretched at least ten feet from tip to tip. Her body was covered in sleek black fur, and her eyes glowed brighter than the others—a deep, burning crimson.

She tilted her head, studying them with an intelligence that made Ryka’s skin crawl.

Then she spoke.

"Welcome, little summoners," the queen said, her voice smooth and almost musical. "How gracious of you to deliver yourselves to my nest."

Ryka froze. "Did that thing just—"

"Oh yes," the queen interrupted, her lips pulling back in something that might have been a smile. "I can speak. Surprised? Most are."

She stretched her wings lazily, the motion sending ripples through the horde. Every single bat shifted in perfect synchronization.

"You’ve entered my domain," the queen continued. "And I’m afraid that means you’ve forfeited your right to leave."

Svenja’s expression didn’t change. She just raised one hand slightly, and her black orb drifted forward, positioning itself between them and the queen.

The queen laughed—a high, chittering sound that echoed through the clearing.

"Oh, how delightful. The silent one wants to fight." She leaned forward, her red eyes gleaming. "Very well. Let’s see how long you last."

She spread her wings wide and launched herself backward, disappearing into the canopy above.

And the horde descended.

---

It happened all at once.

One moment, the bats were hanging still. The next, they were everywhere.

The air filled with the sound of beating wings—thousands of them, creating a deafening roar that drowned out everything else. The swarm moved as a single entity, flowing through the clearing like a living tsunami.

Ryka’s summoning seal flared to life. "Elnugār iēn, Rhegalyion!" (come forth Rhegalyion)

The wyvern materialized beside her in a burst of golden light. Its scales gleamed even in the dim forest,

RRRHHAAAAAAA!!!. it let out a roar that shook the trees.

"RĪZTILĀ NOVĀ !" (Burn them all!) Ryka shouted.