The pain was sharp, but momentary. Adrenaline coursed through his body, making his mind clear for just that much longer.

  The infection hadn't visibly spread beyond the fingertip, but it was better safe than sorry, so Ashton removed his finger all the way to the base. It hurt, but it was manageable.

  Ashton spit the finger out immediately so that he didn't accidentally swallow some infected blood pouring out it, but caught it again and clutched it tightly. As annoying as it was, now that he had summoned the Spawn of Akrazoth, something like this was more valuable than gold. One of the summoner's fingers was worth as much as an entire boss monster. If Ashton were more powerful, it would be worth even more, but for now that was all he was at.

  He quickly held his arm out and watched as the Backpacker's hand appeared from the shadows, quickly taking the finger to deposit it in the storage. For something small like this, the Backpacker didn't need to come out fully anymore, and could just handle it all within Ashton's vessel. It cost more mana, but whatever.

  Ashton swung his right arm around, making his blood splatter around the room and onto the rats. Having an open wound right here was too risky, so he hadn't done this before, but now that he had access to his own blood this was pretty effective. The rats were small, and their bodies rotted fast. It was still dark in here, too, so they must be mostly relying on hearing and smell. And for the smell, the scent of his blood was exactly what these guys must be hungry for right now.

  The moment that his blood covered the rats, they started attacking each other, tearing their fellow zombies apart. Not lethally, but they were still destroying their bodies until it was functionally impossible for them to move. Or at the very least, harder.

  Ashton sped up. He pushed himself even more, and he knew that he didn't have to worry about interference, due to the private chat with the Executor of the End. He seriously had to thank them later.

  One by one, slowly but surely, the rest of the rats were taken out. And in the end, Ashton was there, squatting on a table. He looked down at the puddle of rotten guts and blood on the ground.

  Ashton held his hand forward and clicked his finger. The salamander was called back into the lantern, feeding on the rest of the briquette that was in there, and Ashton stared spreading a flame around the room. The infected blood had covered everything in here by now, so nothing could be salvaged.

  He started burning down the furniture and boxes, trying to get the fire to properly get started. At the same time, he also sealed up all potential holes in the walls again, and stepped out of the room to seal the door up.

  This place would run out of oxygen soon, and at that point, Ashton would just provide the fire with his mana to use as a fuel instead so that everything in there could be burnt to a crisp. He made sure to channel the salamander to view the flames in the adjacent room and make sure they weren't somehow spreading in ways that he didn't want.

  Either way, this would still take a while. Long enough for him to take a break and a breather. But most importantly, he looked at the message that had popped up a minute ago.

  [You have completed the [Bonus Quest - Save Drakewood Primary School - Continued]! You have been awarded 1000 Coins!]

  "Hm... Guess the quest reward went up a bit..." Ashton said quietly. The only reason why he wanted this quest originally was so that he could properly track the zombies that were left in the school. The coin reward was nice, but unnecessary. Ashton had agreed to being given the minimum reward by the Guardian, but since the quest's targets kept increasing, the reward had to be adjusted accordingly.

  "Backpacker. Give me the potion of rapid healing," he said, looking down at his hand, at the place where his finger once was. The spirit appeared, staring at the bloodied mess attached to their summoner's limb. They weren't the only one that came out, either. Poppy jumped out of Ashton's vessel, with teary eyes, and stared down at the wound. She immediately went and hugged Ashton's face, happy that he was okay.

  He smiled and slowly had her stand on his other hand. "It doesn't hurt, don't worry. This next part is going to be a bit more bothersome, though."

  Together with the potion, Ashton had the backpacker give him some gauzes and bandages, as well as a regular healing potion.

  Slowly, after cleaning himself up at least a bit, Ashton took the rapid healing potion and let a few drops drip onto his wound. He drank some of it before, since he needed the healing effect in his whole body, but here it was more effective to focus on just one small area.

  The instant the potion touched his wound, a red mist flowed from it. For an instant, it looked like blood was gushing out, to the point where both Poppy, the Backpacker, and the elementals were startled to see it, but Ashton calmed them down.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Of course, it was an unimaginable pain. It was like someone took a hot iron and prodded it directly into the wound. Compared to this, biting off his finger was like a papercut.

  Ashton grimaced as the mist came to a stop. The wound had turned into an ugly scar, but it was healed, for the most part. Ashton still applied some bandages with a regular healing potion to his hand, just to keep irritation and swelling down after this. He didn't need to risk getting his hand messed up even more than this.

  But at least he was lucky. Losing his index finger was something he could deal with. His middle finger could effectively replace its function in every major way. Sure, his grip strength went down considerably, but he had decided to walk down the 'Path of the Magician' anyway. This was fine.

  There should ways to make up for missing fingers in hand-signs for magic and spellcasting, too.

  [[Executor of the End] asks if you are ready to end the private chat]

  Ashton smiled at the message. "Thank you for that. I don't know what would have happened if they had kept spamming me."

  [[Executor of the End] points out that this is an unbecoming death of one such as you]

  "... I guess so. But before you end the private chat, there's something I wanted to ask you. If it's not something you can answer, feel free not to, but this is a good chance."

  [[Executor of the End] curiously raises a brow]

  "I'm guessing you're a figure like the Grim Reaper, and you probably were over there as well. You don't need to act like you don't know what I'm talking about. Maybe the Daughter doesn't know, but you and the Observer definitely do."

  Ashton knew that a private chat wasn't as protective as the complete silence that the Observer gave to Ashton before. Most other constellations couldn't hear what he said directly to the constellation in question, but it was still possible to recover the information if you were powerful enough. That was the understanding that Ashton had of this system. He just didn't want to risk anything.

  [[Executor of the End] slowly nods]

  "Was... was that place fully destroyed? That whole world? Is nothing left of it?"

  [[Executor of the End] does not have an answer for you]

  Ashton sighed. So it was something the Executor couldn't tell him?

  "I see... thank you anyway. You can end the private chat now."

  However...

  [[Executor of the End] points out you misunderstood them]

  [[Executor of the End] says that they do not have the answer]

  [[Executor of the End] explains that it is more complicated than that]

  "... Huh? Wait, what do you mean?"

  [[Executor of the End] explains that Lumia was a special world that was invaded long ago]

  [[Executor of the End] says that certain information of that world is protected closely]

  Ashton stared at the messages. So Lumia was invaded long ago? He knew that there were some time shenanigans going on in the first place. That he was summoned across space and time. It was the case with a lot of summons; time passed differently when they were summoned than in their place of origin. Being brought back to the exact place and time was rare, but not unheard of, from Ashton's understanding.

  It didn't make much of a difference to Ashton in the end, but if even the incarnation of death said that things in Lumia happened so long ago, then it probably wasn't the invasion just before this one. No wonder the Observer didn't recognise him right away, though they clearly figured it out at some point.

  It wasn't that his soul wasn't recognisable, but that it was just so long that it would be unrealistic to expect him to have been in Lumia of all places, especially if there was something 'special' about that world.

  Either way, clearly, there were things that the Executor couldn't just come out and say directly. That was fine.

  Ashton didn't even know why he asked. He just had that constant lump of anxiety in his chest... what if the Summoner had somehow managed to weasel their way past death? In his head, there was no way something as powerful as the Summoner would go down without a fight just because a quest said that its punishment for failing was death.

  He hoped; no, he prayed that the Summoner was dead, but there was something about the situation that just made Ashton feel so scared that maybe they didn't thoroughly die.

  But for now... that was fine. Either way, Ashton was safe here. He couldn't be summoned again, especially now that he was a summoner himself. He was basically protected against forced contracts with that.

  [[Executor of the End] says they will end the private chat now]

  Ashton nodded. "Thank you, again."

  [[Executor of the End] shakes their head, and thanks you for protecting the sanctity of life and death]

  "... Don't worry about it."

  [The private chat with the [Executor of the End] has ended]

  [A large number of constellations are impressed by your feat]

  [A small number of constellations are furious at the Executor's intervention]

  [The [Coalition of Small Constellations] swears to not let you forget this day]

  The message felt like red hot lead in his eyes.

  "Are you fucking with me? You're the ones that invaded our world, I'm just protecting it. Why the fuck are you acting like the victims here?" Ashton stood up. There was something in the air that he felt like he couldn't see before, like some threads connected to the system window. "Each and every one of you... if you ever fuck with me like this again, I swear that I will tear down your stars and extinguish them with my bare hands."

  [The [Coalition of Small Constellations] laughs at you]

  [[Eight-Legged Queen] promises that you will cease to-]

  Ashton put his hand into the air, touching the thread connected to that message. He let his mana flow out of his fingertips, trying to interfere with the veil in that very spot. It wasn't much, just enough to snap that thin thread.

  [A large number of constellations are confused by what you just did]

  He looked around at the empty space surrounding him.

  "Shove it. I don't need even more prying eyes on me."