One could almost touch the tension in the air. Everyone was rapidly looking back and forth from one person to the other. Jacob had started battle simulations the day before, and no one had liked the results. So first, even though they were all much stronger than when they began, Jacob had mopped the floor with their asses. Then, he had simulated the movements of Cockroach realm Charybdes and started poking them with his sword.

He would scream ‘YOU ARE DEAD’ every time he touched them with his weapon or another part of his body. Today, at the crack of dawn, he was going to drill every single motion in their bodies.

“So,” said Jacob with a stern face, “we are going to face the nastiest monsters on Earth. They are poisonous, Magic-resistant, armored, parasitic, can produce acidic saliva to melt bones and enter your body in five seconds after latching onto it. If they touch you, you can be considered dead. If we had more time, I would drill you for weeks on how to react in case it happened. But our best choice here is not to let them touch you. Everyone but Helena is going to use a weapon or magic. She has a Martial Technique that does not require direct touch, though.”

Juliet was violently scratching her neck at the fought of such vile creatures trying to enter her skin as it happened in horror movies. Everyone else looked equally queasy about their fight.

“I’ll simulate the attack pattern of the Charybdes. Remember, no deflection, no half-assing. Only dodging and killing are allowed. You have to strike true, hard and fast every time. If you think there is even the slightest chance for the little bastards to get on top of you, back off. I’ll take complete care of the smaller ones, the one the size of two fists. As soon as you pin down a bigger one, strike hard and fast.”

Jacob gestured to Juliet to come against him first. And she started conjuring the Spell he had taught her.

Phoenix’s Fire

Her arms were now engulfed in red flames up to the elbow.

She could only wield the lowest level, but it was more than enough to fry a Charybdis to death. The flames of a Phoenix also carried some purifying properties the Charybdes did not have a counter for. So, it was not a weakness but simply something the monsters didn’t seem to account for. So, it could be called sort of a weakness.

Juliet moved in quickly. Thanks to the Alchemic Tagliatelle, she had reached the 7th level in both Qi and Mana. Also, her Body Technique had jumped to the second level, making her flesh and bones as hard as steel.

Jacob had finally entirely healed from all the injuries, and the Alchemic Tagliatelle was doing wonders for his Crohn’s Disease. But he was still at the 3rd level in both Qi and Mana.

He saw Juliet’s muscle move and cheated by using the Ancestral Bond to read her intentions better. He sidestepped and thrust the sword toward her side while she tried to punch him. Juliet immediately disengaged and threw fire toward Jacob as she had taught him.

Our guy cut the fire in two like it was nothing, with a simple flick of his wrist.

Juliet kept attacking and dodging, constantly releasing the Phoenix’s Fire whenever she couldn’t land a direct hit on Jacob without being touched by the sword.

After five minutes, Jacob had barely moved. Juliet was stronger and faster, but she had to avoid being touched by his sword at all costs. That put an insane amount of pressure on her – an amateur at fighting.

“You are not using your Martial Style. And now, you are dead,” Jacob declared and gestured to Helena to come next.

He readied himself for what was going to come.

In fact, Helena sprinted the second he had said her name and sent a Heaven’s Palm toward him. The Martial Technique created a tremendous spiritual pressure, and a gigantic palm appeared three meters above Jacob.

Well, can’t beat them all, he mused.

Accelerate

He used his signature Martial Technique. It was a mix of a Martial Technique and a Spell in its essence; the basic version was just meant to make legs move faster, but the advanced one would give him a Haste buff. Unfortunately, Jacob could barely grasp the Magic part of the technique at the moment.

He dodged the palm by an inch and started running toward Helena. Contrary to Juliet, she was ruthless. And not just ruthless, she was the strongest. She had reached the 9th level in both Qi and Mana, always thanks to his Alchemic Tagliatelle. So far, the concoction did not show any side effects or impurity accumulation, thanks to it being digested and expelled naturally. The impurities, in fact, turned into… well, you know biology.

As soon as Jacob evaded the second Heaven’s Palm, Helena backed off and simply generated five of those together.

“You win!” Jacob shouted, panting.

Helena canceled the attacks and showed a smug grin toward Juliet.

“See, that’s how you do it,” she told her.

“Fred!” Jacob was still coughing from the exertion, but he downed a drink made from some herbs and kept going.

He asked all the people who would fight directly to use their Martial Styles instead of simply swinging their weapons around. Juliet was the only one allowed to use her fists, given her body was nigh indestructible at their level and that her flames would kill everything in their path.

Jacob relented around noon, telling everyone to go get some rest. They would depart in the middle of the night and arrive at Fort Mountain at dawn.

“So, the plan’s essentially we go in, try to kill everything, and don’t get killed?” Joseph asked with a worried face.

“We will be on the move all the time. The Charybdes can feel when one of them dies. If we go inside, we will be swarmed. We will whittle them down as much as we can without getting the horde out. If they come out in force, Helena, Frederick, and I will kill them all on the spot. We practiced together a crowd attack.”

“They told me that you can’t do that without hurting yourself,” Joseph pointed out.

“Joe, don’t worry. The Charybdes is the main problem if I need to stay bedridden for a couple of days – hell, even weeks! – after a battle with those monsters, I’ll take it swimmingly.”

Joseph gave his courageous teammate another worried look but nodded along.