Chapter 208 Alpha Red Salamander

??? Days Ago

As the roof of the cave, well, caved in, and a glowing red eye peered through the hole, the others started running in all directions, clamoring for safety— safety that they've never gotten.

The glowing red eye fired off a deadly laser beam that turned the cave into smithereens. The people who were left behind were killed as well, reduced to atoms before the beast gave off a monstrous shriek.

And yes, the glowing red eyes that could cover the massive hole of the caved-in cave belonged to a beast, specifically, an Alpha Red Salamander, known to only exist in the legends.

"We're going to be safe." A middle-aged lady called out, holding out her hand and handing a teenage girl some sort of device. "You have to go."

"But mom!"

"You have to go, otherwise all of us will die. Find him! Find the Legendary Summoner. He's the only one who could save us."

"You go, our dear Emma, I promise, I'll keep your mom and your siblings safe."

You're the only one who could do this, the only one blessed with teleportation that could cross through dimensions."

"I promise I'll keep mom and dad safe, don't worry Emma-nee," Ray sniffled as he rubbed his nose and eyes at the same time.

"That doesn't sound convincing, Ray," Norman muttered. "We'll be waiting, Emma-nee,"

With all the energy she could muster, Emma let out an exhale as adrenaline coursed through her veins. She was mildly panicking. 'What if I ended up in another world? Mom did say that this other dimension is deeply connected to our world so I can't miss it but how does she know? Also, how am I supposed to feel it?'

Whenever Emma feels as if she was in a bind, her dad would always tell her to calmly panic... this was different from panicking because calmly panicking is letting everything loose while still in the right state of mind. Panicking is different, and the state of calmness is on the opposite side of the spectrum. There's a fine line between calm and panic and that's where Emma needed to be.

On that note, Emma released everything she has, making the portal as large as it could be and peering into the other end as far as she could. She strained every muscle, every nerve, and every bone in her body, all the while consuming so much energy she never thought in her life was possible.

And in the end, she managed to create the largest portal she could ever manifest. Unfortunately, the portal was created solely for her, not that there were complications with traveling with multiple people, but because her parents specifically told her that she needed every ounce of her energy to make it to the other side. "It is impossible to bring all of us with you, you'll die." Those were the words of her mother the night prior.

"I swear I'm going to return. I swear on my life I'll bring the Legendary Summoner here and save everyone!" She vowed, pounding on her chest before she stepped into the portal, disappearing for good.

.....

Back to the present,

'Is he really the Legendary Summoner? No, I doubt it, he's just a kid.' Emma muttered to herself as she stared at Satoshi who had been peering out of the cave, fascinated by the scenery of the presumed other world as per Emma's words.

As Emma thought deeper, she finally remembered one of the words that her mother told her, telling her that traveling through the dimensions messes up with time dilations a lot. That's another reason why Emma was the only one who could travel through dimensions, and that's because her portals never messed with the time. It was an extremely valuable skill that every portal user dreamt to have because it would most certainly give them the freedom to travel to even farther dimensions. If they were to risk traveling without that skill, they might find themselves in another dimension hundreds of years from now, and then return to their own dimension in the past without the hope of going back to the present.

And there are a lot more intricacies when it comes to traveling through dimensions, not just that. However, Emma didn't have to worry about that because of her unique trait.

That's also the reason why she was convinced that Satoshi could never be the Legendary Summoner. If her portals don't mess with time, then Satoshi is supposed to be a middle-aged man with an army of a hundred triple-S rank familiars. But no, the person in front of her was a teenager, a friend.

"Emma! Emma! What are you spacing out for?! I've been calling out to you for ages. Are you all right? Are you tired?" Satoshi grabbed Emma by the shoulders and shook her back to her senses.

p "Oh uh, yeah? What is it?"

"What are we doing here exactly, why did you bring me here?"

"Oh... that? Umm... " Emma wasn't exactly sure why she risked bringing Satoshi to their world but she did so nonetheless, not because she needed him... but because she wanted to return the favor that Satoshi gave her.

Well, returning the favor isn't exactly what one would call it.

With a guilt-stricken expression on her face, Emma pursed her lips as she pointed far ahead, averting her gaze from Satoshi as she did so. She fidgeted, then hiccuped— it was obvious that she was getting anxious.

"Where are y— whoa~! What is that?" Satoshi's jaws dropped once again as his eyes sparkled at the sight of the beast.

The beast was at least seven meters in height and twenty meters in length with a nice shade of red-orange and scarlet. Smoke came out of its body, as well as fumes of flames. At its front, it had a cute appearance, with its googly eyes and wide gaping jaws. If it were to be compared to a creature exclusive to Earth, it was more like an axolotl, except its as big as two buses and it had flames over its body.

"That's the Alpha Red Salamander... the same Alpha Red Salamander that destroyed our shelter and forced me to go to your world to ask for help." Emma narrated.

"I'm giving it to you, Satoshi."