Eren decided that no further talk was necessary.
He began transforming in front of Goro. The latter started looking at him with wide eyes as Eren's presence started changing along with his appearance. His hair turned white and his eyes turned icy blue.
Eren started giving off completely different vibes than before. It was as if he had switched from his close combat expert class in a fraction of a second.
"You… you are THAT summoner? How… the fuck…"
Goro was tongue-tied after witnessing Eren's transformation. He couldn't wrap his head around the idea that a ranker could change his class mid-battle.
Eren looked at Goro with amusement. He then raised his free hand and brought his summons to life.
First to get summoned were Wind-Fire flying snakes. These creatures were born into existence after Eren had mastered his elemental fusion. The mana bodies of the boa snakes were formed first before they were given wings made of wind and fire. They took flight as soon as they were summoned, showing their fiery fangs at Goro and his undead summons.
The second type of summons was a herd of red bulls. These bulls were empowered with spell integrations, which granted them powers over various lightning-element spells mastered by Eren.
The third type of Eren's summons caused Goro to tremble. He watched with a grim expression as the woodland creatures were summoned by Eren.
These woodland creatures were the same type as what Rey Remus used to control using his summoning spells. Furthermore, Eren's woodland summons felt like they were the same ones summoned by Rey. It was almost like Eren had the same form of elemental attainment and mastery over his summoning spells as Rey.
"How can you summon these woodland creatures? What the fuck did you do Rey?"
Eren smirked at Rey. "You talk when I can just show you?"
Eren's summoned creatures had gathered all around him. Some stayed with him while others launched a joint campaign against Goro's creations.
The flying snakes started breathing fire down on the undead as they flew over them. Lightning-clad bulls attacked the undead head-on. The woodland creatures started using their wood-element spells on their enemies before destroying them.
Goro started taking hold of his summons only after he slapped himself and got over the shock he was feeling at the time. Most of his summons were confused by Goro's shocked state of mind. As a result, they couldn't properly defend themselves.
The undead would have been killed instantly if Goro was of an Adept rank. Eren's summoning spells and his skills as a summoner couldn't be taken lightly anymore. Goro gulped empty air as he took control of his undead.
He had come to realize that Eren had managed to bridge the ranking status gap between them using his elemental fusion, aspect fusion, and diversity in summoning spells.
Both summoners continued to summon more summons as the existing ones were destroyed. They both entered a stalemate when their summoned creatures couldn't register a definitive victory over each other.
Both summoners needed to personally get involved in the fight. Goro took out his chained sword and started imbuing it with his unique death-element mana. His sword started looking like it had been corroded by the test of time all of a sudden.
He pulled out his two blades, Rigor Mortis and Anduril. He imbued them with lightning and fire-element mana before casting his movement spell.
Clang!
The two summoners clashed with each other in the middle of the battlefield. The summoned creatures parted ways and left the two summoners alone. Both rankers had come to a silent agreement that they would fight each other mano-e-mano.
Eren parried Goro's attacks with some difficulty. The latter's body stats were way higher than his because of his Expert rank. As a result, Eren couldn't make use of his close combat skills to their fullest extent.
Goro's natural defense barely weakened every time the butcher's attack landed right. As Goro's body was able to quickly recover from the light injuries he suffered due to Eren's attacks, the foreign mana invasion he experienced was not difficult to deal with.
Eren's situation was becoming completely the opposite of this. The attacks that landed on his body were able to hurt Eren more deeply. And Goro's C-Rank mana became difficult for Eren to tackle.
Eren's elemental fusion-based attacks were still able to hurt the summoner though. Plus, his undead creatures were losing ground against fire-element birds and woodland creatures over time. It appeared that he was just getting started.
***
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The more Goro fought with Eren, the more he realized that Eren was better than him in every other field other than ranking status. Eren's weapon handling was so precise and lethal that nobody would mistake him for a summoner. And his summoned creatures had gotten so powerful over time that nobody would take him for a close combat expert.
Eren's very existence was an enigma to the rankers of Anfang. Goro watched as his own body started getting injured by an Adept ranker's attacks. And even after getting injured in the process himself, Eren kept on increasing the intensity of his offense by a notch with each passing moment.
The woodland creatures started dominating the battlefield when Eren injected them with wrath mana. They tore through the undead and destroyed their bodies to the extent that they would not dare to be turned into undead any longer.
Scree!
The undead kept screaming. But the woodland creatures' sharp noises overshadowed their screams and destroyed the army of the undead to a large extent.
Goro felt like he had been taught wrong about the limitations the rankers had on themselves. He watched with low-key panic setting inside his head as Eren's woodland creatures soon took care of all of his summoned creatures.
All this while, Goro couldn't sense any reinforcements heading his way. It meant Eren's side had effectively managed to take care of Rehaal's team and Nico Chains.
'This guy was waiting for someone like me. He's influencing House Remus into sending more summoners his way. So that he can claim their powers for his.'
