Cannon Fodder

Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince): "Watch your attitude, human! I am Azathoth, the Water Elemental Prince, a descendant of the God of Elements. Speak, why have you summoned me here?"

(Holy crap, I actually summoned a Water Elemental Prince! What incredible luck! Am I some kind of legendary novel protagonist?) The elementalist called 'Xiaozi Shoujiao' thought in a daze. Damn, I should have summoned him during the battle. Now I've wasted such a good opportunity.

Wait a minute, let's take advantage of this before the summoning time ends.

He scurried up to the guild leader's throne, only to find it occupied by a level 27 human Warrior. "Hey, guild leader, you said before that whoever could defeat you would become the guild leader, right?"

The Warrior called Professor B nodded. "That's true. What, do you want to give it a try?" The Warrior asked half-jokingly. The reason he was so dismissive was because he was a level 27 Warrior who had already become a Warrior. His combat power was extraordinary. How could a mere level 16 mage possibly be his match?

"That's right, I'm going to give it a try. I'm determined to be the president today."

After saying that, he planted the duel flag directly in the ground.

"Wow, they've got some nerve," Professor B thought to himself.

However, the guild leader of such a small guild didn't have much authority, so he thought, "I'll play along." Compared to the complete newbie Xiaozi Shoujiao, this Warrior had some gaming experience. He glanced at him...

The Water Elemental behind him thought to himself, "This guy probably wants to beat me with the Water Elemental's crowd control abilities. But you're too naive. Don't you know that Warrior's Blood Enrage makes them immune to crowd control skills?"

He immediately accepted the duel, then went into Blood Enrage and Charge!

Then--

Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince): "Witness the Power of Pure Water! Super Frost Nova."

It froze instantly into an ice sculpture.

"How... how is this possible!"

Professor B, frozen in the ice, was utterly furious. This was utterly illogical.

Little did he know that Xiao Yu's skill was a BOSS skill, and the system's assessment of its level was far higher than that of an adventurer's skill.

"Haha, you're dumbfounded now!" The Xiaozi Shoujiao, as he fired Fire Bolt at the boy.

-65! A red number popped up.

Frostfire Bolt! -263! A larger red number appeared.

"Xiaozi Shoujiao suddenly felt a bit inferior to his summoned creature.

In five seconds, the Warrior took over a thousand damage and was reduced to zero health.

As soon as it thawed, it lay down on the ground.

However, he didn't die. During the duel, the system protects him, forcibly leaving him with only one drop of blood.

"Damn it, I'm not having it! What's going on?" Professor B roared in frustration.

"A bet's a bet, president, don't renege on your debt!" A young girl who had witnessed her boyfriend's heroic demeanor started to egg him on.

Professor B nodded dejectedly. "Fine, so what if I let you be the president?" He thought to himself, "You only won because of this weird Water Elemental. Wait until your Water Elemental disappears and I'll win it back."

This Xiaozi Shoujiao, though not stupid, immediately turned around and started clinging to Xiao Yu's leg. "Boss, sign a contract with me!"

Xiao Yu thought to himself, "Give me a break! You're not some beautiful heroine. What future is there in signing a contract with you?"

Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince): "Get out of my way, you ignorant inferior creature! Your pathetic magic is utterly inadequate to withstand my great power!"

Seeing that the summoning time was up, Xiao Yu chose to leave. With a whoosh, the red Water Elemental disappeared from the spot, leaving only a wisp of water vapor.

"Hey, hey, don't go!" The Xiaozi Shoujiao, could only sigh in vain.

Back in the Water Elemental Plane, Xiao Yu was somewhat frustrated. It seemed that responding to the summons of ordinary adventurers was pointless and a complete waste of time. No, this time he would respond to the summons of a hero.

He continued killing monsters while keeping an eye on the summoning channel.

They ignored the ordinary summoning messages until a red message appeared before their eyes.

System notification: Archmage A'dal sacrificed a magical crystal to summon a high-level Water Elemental to fight for him.

Archmages are hero classes, so this A'dal is definitely a hero, no doubt. Besides, arcane crystals cost over 300 each at the auction house. He probably wouldn't use them unless it's a critical situation. That's what makes a summoning response interesting.

With that in mind, Xiao Yu immediately responded to the summons.

Answer the call!

The next second, the surrounding space distorted, and he found himself inside an enormous cave.

"Quickly move out of the way! Quickly move out of the way!"

"Protect the hero! We can't let the hero die!"

"Does anyone have the skill to revive two of those lying on the ground?"

"What's going on?" Xiao Yu thought to himself. He glanced around and immediately realized something was wrong.

Fire was everywhere, and adventurers were scattered and running away. There were many corpses on the ground, and someone was shooting at the sky. Next to him was an even Big Build Water Elemental, as tall as a two-story building, who was using Frostbolt to fight the red dragon in the sky.

Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince): "Hey, what's the situation?" Xiao Yu asked the giant Water Elemental next to him.

Nedros (Water Elemental Elder): "What else could it be? I've been dragged here as cannon fodder. They actually made me tank the BOSS? I'm terrified of fire, you know." As he spoke, he fired another Frostbolt into the sky.

Xiao Yu looked up and immediately cursed inwardly. There was a huge red dragon, more than thirty meters long, flying in the sky.

Kuldra (Ancient Red Dragon), a level 60 boss with two skeleton-level enemies.

Looking back again, he saw an old man with a white beard standing among a group of panicked adventurers.

A'dal (Arch/Mage), Level 60, 1-Star Hero.

He'd accidentally stumbled into a story battle, but this A'dal was clearly weak in combat. With so many adventurers as cannon fodder, he was still struggling so much; it seemed like they were going to be wiped out! Xiao Yu thought to himself, but he still fired Frostfire Bolt into the sky.

System notification: Kuldra took a deep breath.

The next second, the red dragon opened its mouth and spewed out its breath, causing a rain of fire to fall from the sky.

"Let my Water Elemental tank the monsters, you all move away and just heal me!"

The white-bearded old mage roared loudly, his voice full of energy. With a wave of his hand, he summoned another Water Elemental. The three Water Elemental lined up and unleashed a barrage of attacks on the red dragon in the sky.

This old mage had clearly mastered the advanced magic technique of multiple summoning, and actually summoned three high-level Water Elemental at the same time, immediately stabilizing the situation.

However, that red dragon was no pushover. Its dragonfire breathed on the Water Elemental, instantly taking away hundreds or even thousands of points of its health. There was no way around it; Water Elemental take 200% fire damage. Nedros was the first to succumb, letting out a miserable scream before being sent back to the Elemental Plane.

Nedros (Elder of the Water Elemental): "A'dal, you old codger, you dragged me into this as cannon fodder! I'll never answer your call again!"

Immediately afterward, another high-level Water Elemental silently turned into a cloud of water vapor. Xiao Yu was able to hold on until now not because he was particularly strong; in fact, he was weaker than the other two, since his level was too low. He was actually relying on the fact that his resistance to fire was not negative.

A'dal (Kirin Tor, Wizard): "Otherworldly beings, ancient creatures, bound by ancient covenants, heed my call!"

Another high-level Water Elemental has been summoned. Even knowing the risks, there are always summoned creatures greedy for high-level materials that come to the Prime Material Plane to become cannon fodder. Xiao Yu finally sees it: this A'dal is completely planning to use Water Elemental to wear down the red dragon in the sky. But you're too rich! A single arcane crystal costs over three hundred. This battle will probably cost at least several thousand dollars, not to mention the expenses of the adventurers.

However, he had no time to worry about that. After struggling for so long, his health had dropped to zero. In a moment of carelessness, Xiao Yu was also reduced to water vapor in a burst of dragon breath.

Holy crap! Back in the Elemental Plane, Xiao Yu's body still seemed to carry that scorching heat. Even though it was just a projection mode, the feeling of being burned alive was truly awful, especially since his body was entirely composed of water.

Moreover, this death also resulted in a significant loss of experience; the experience gained from being level 14 was reduced by more than half, dropping by two-thirds.

Although he earned a Arcane Crystal, Xiao Yu was not in a good mood. Although he knew that it was very common for summoned creatures to be used as cannon fodder, he had been cannon fodder many times when he played with fire elementals.

This experience made Xiao Yu hesitant to be summoned again. He thought to himself that he should focus on leveling up first. Anyway, he didn't lack experience now. He could think about going to the Prime Material Plane later when he was a higher level.

By evening, he had reached level fourteen.

He checked the time; it was already ten o'clock. Normally, he would be asleep by now, but he wasn't sleepy at all. This deluxe gaming pod was so comfortable! Not only did he not feel tired, but thanks to the life support system, he didn't even feel hungry.

Xiao Yu decided to forgo sleep and push through the night. Finally, at midnight, a golden light flashed around him, and Xiao Yu reached level fifteen.

System notification: You have learned a new skill. Please configure it in your skill interface.