"Two level ups? I will take it!"

Ethan instantly dumped all of his stat points into intelligence and wisdom which gave him a small mana bump. This was enough to summon the new minion Razorclaw Berserker to pop up as his meat shield.

While the demon plunged its claws into the Razorclaw its eyes widening in surprise, Grug and Snarl jumped on it from the back and managed to land two good hits.

This was enough time for the other minions who were fighting alongside the spiders to come to the new target and within a matter of seconds, the demon dropped dead to the ground.

[Ding! Your summon has killed a higher demon Twin-horn Nightfiend]

[Ding! You have gained experience points]

[Ding! Skill failure]

[Ding! The entity Twin-horn Nightfiend cannot be added to your summoning list]

[Ding! Level up!]

[Lvl 18 > Lvl 19]

[Ding! You have gained five stat points]

[Ding! Your summoning capacity has been upgraded]

[Ding! Grug has leveled up]

[Ding! Snarl has leveled up]

[Ding! Wolf 10 has leveled up]

[Ding! Zither Wing 5 has leveled up]

…

…

…

Notifications started rolling one after the other. Ethan panted taking in everything. One second he was on death bed and the next second almost everyone had snagged a huge level upgrade.

It was too bad he couldn't add this demon to his summoning list but at least every kill was giving plenty of experience points. He would take what he was getting.

But the battle was not over yet. Three down and two more to go and from the looks of it this was going to be their toughest battle.

Ethan watched as the wolves and the insectoids continued to struggle against the two demons and it did not take long for him to arrive at a conclusion. It was running time.

Four of his insectoids were already dead. Three wolves and two spiders were also dead. Among his goblins, there weren't any casualties but one was so severely injured that it could die anytime now.

There was no point in continuing this fight anymore. He had gained some and now he needed to strategically leave, even if that meant sacrificing more of his minions. He grabbed Lia who was standing a few feet away, shivering and trembling, and made a run for it.

"Tweety, scout ahead!" He called the bird out and started running as fast as he could. Lia did not question him and followed his order. The two of them did not exactly know where they were headed and blindly ran. The minions followed behind them.

It was too mana expensive to dismiss and summon everyone again, something that Ethan couldn't afford at the moment. So the minions scrambled through the forests alongside the two of them.

If he had the time Ethan would worry about how exactly this would look like but this was life or death and getting caught with his ability was not at the top of his mind.

Ethan's heart pounded as he sprinted through the dense forest, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Ahead, Tweety let out a sharp trill, circling above a clearing.

Ethan slowed. The forest thinned, revealing a gaping black hole in the ground—a mine entrance. Scattered tools, overturned carts, and broken lanterns littered the area, and the faint metallic scent of blood hung heavy in the air.

Just the sight made his gut churn. "What the hell happened here?" he muttered. His eyes scanned the clearing, and that's when he saw them—two demons standing guard at the mine's entrance.

One was tall and sinewy, with claws dripping dark ichor, while the other was short and stocky, its grotesque form bristling with spikes. There were also two Red Tails roaming about in the vicinity.

Corpses lay strewn around the entrance, their uniforms marking them as miners or guards. The ground was stained dark with their blood, and their weapons lay discarded as if they had been overwhelmed too quickly to mount a proper defense.

Ethan turned to see that his own Red Tail had caught up to him. "Hey! Do you know if these demons are lesser demons?" He wheezed out.

The red tail stared at the two demons for a while before nodding. Ethan tightened his grip on his dagger. "Two lesser demons," he said under his breath, his mind already calculating. "We can handle this." His summons regrouped behind him, battered but ready.

It was risky but if he took care of these two lesser demons then he would be two levels higher and much closer to stepping into the next rank. But he needed to make sure first that this was not a suicide. There could be more demons lying in wait inside.

He looked at his red tail again and clenched his fist. It was time to gather some information first. "Go there and see how many demons are roaming around." He gave the command.