A minute later, he walked out into the grassy field.

  “Heads down,” Kang reminded them. “We’re hoping that the primary effect is visual.”

  They stood patiently at the entrance, with Tom standing five metres in front of the others to attract the attention of any monster that noticed them. This time, he spotted the rippling in the grass when it was almost two hundred metres away from where he stood. A few seconds later, time slowed down as the creature focused on him specifically.

  Clinically, he watched as it charged him, but discovered nothing new.

  His Lightning Javelin was already formed, and, just like last time, the enemy stampeded at him until it was five metres away, then flared up to show its underbelly and impressive size. Tom had a clear view of the brightly-coloured shifting patterns, and he felt the slight pressure on his mind, which was easy enough to ignore. With a single thought, Intangible Power Strike covered the magical weapon, and a single point of precognition mana was invested to activate the shield breaking sideway evolution. With everything prepared, he launched it at the monster. Even with its attributes making it three times faster than him, there was no way it could react to the speed of an attack that flew a couple of magnitudes faster than he could physically throw a javelin. It wasn’t ten times faster, even - it was at least a hundred times so.

  The missile struck the “carpet” right in the centre and, quicker than thought, the magical defences flared into action to protect it. This time, it did not negate the attack, because the steady blue glow that infused the spear grew almost white. The opposing shield shattered; his weapon, effectively unimpeded, smashed into the creature, and, after tearing through the skin, converted into a lingering lightning strike.

  Electricity crackled across its skin, and Tom leapt forward, even as behind him Kang, of all people, toppled over. If he didn’t have a monster to butcher, he would have rolled his eyes at the outcome. The creature had collapsed, pooling in a disorganised mess, like a discarded blanket. He immediately started hacking into it. Yellow blood bubbled toward the sky as sections larger than Tom himself were hacked off.

  The number of dancing electrical sparks racing from spot to spot within it was going down, and so, without hesitation, he used Electricity Explosion, fusing the origination point to the middle of its body. The spell sparked and crackled, exploding arcs of energy bursting out in all directions. Every one of those landed upon the dying monster.

  Its severe vulnerability to lightning was on display, as, from that central location, the errant currents went through all of it. It was completely helpless as Tom continued to hack away at it with the hatchet he had bought for this job. He kept going until it was in so many pieces that it was not going to reform.

  He glanced back at the others. “You can look up now.”

  They did and stared at the hacked-up rug like monster.

  “That’s what knocked us out.” Eloise asked curiously as she came forward and used her spear to poke at the remains. He noticed she was flipping pieces over to see the underside that had done the damage. “Those claws are so long and sharp.”

  “They are.”

  “What happened to Kang?” Briana asked. She had held back slightly and hadn’t approached the dismembered, weird creature. He appreciated the caution.

  Tom frowned at the other boy in annoyance. “He peeked. We’ll wait here until he wakes up and then push deeper.”

  They waited.

  He spotted another ripple in the grass. “Eyes down, girls.”

  They responded and scrambled back, and Tom was thrilled when he felt time slow down.

  He stood patiently. It being, relatively speaking, a low-ranked monster, it followed an identical pattern to the previous two. It approached at speed, and then reared up to use its visual based mind attack… and was greeted by a Lightning Javelin that crashed through its defences, impaled it, and then made it crumble, stunned to the ground.

  Over six minutes had passed since the last fight, and he used exactly the same technique to butcher the creature before it could recover.

  Fighting these creatures was cleaner than most monster battles. The yellow blood evaporated away, floating into the sky in streams of different sized bubbles, so there was no mess to contend with.

  When he stepped back, he looked critically at what he had done. “I think, in the future, once it’s down we’ll get you girls to jump in and help.” He told them.

  “You want us to cut it?” Eloise asked alarmed, taking a step backward toward the door.

  Tom stood and tried to look stern with his face expression. He was not sure it helped, since he was the same height as them. “Is that a problem?”

  “No.”

  “Maybe.”

  “And why might it be a problem, Eloise?”

  The little girl paused. “It looks icky.”

  “It isn’t.” Tom spun around on the spot. “See, my armour is still spotless.”

  She looked doubtful.

  “It’s important, Eloise.” He assured her. “You might even get a bonus if there is a percentage contribution overlay.”

  Adam had implied there wasn’t, and that success was just a tick or cross and everyone got the same reward, but, given how Existentia worked. Tom couldn’t quite get his head around the concept that contribution calculations weren’t going to apply. In case they did, then eking out even a small advantage for the girls by getting them to cut up a stunned, helpless creature was worth the effort. Plus, if they could contribute to killing paralysed monsters, that gave him more freedom if an overwhelming force assaulted them. With their help, he might be able to contend with three or four creatures at once instead of just the one. His biggest issue was doing sufficient physical damage in a timely fashion. Each monster was taking him ten to twenty seconds to kill, and if there were four of them, that was too long.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “We’ll do it,” Briana said authoritatively.

  Eloise nodded her agreement, and he struggled not to smile at the puffy helmet she was wearing. He must have been successful, because she didn’t comment any further. Tom went back to watching for enemies and, a couple of minutes later, Kang woke up.

  He was disorientated, but he wasn’t stupid. One look at the girl’s smug expressions, and he grimaced in self-recrimination. “So, it’s a visual effect?”

  “Yes.” Tom took a moment from his vigil to peer at him. “Care to explain? It’s not like you to lack discipline.”

  “I was trying to catch a glimpse of it before it flared. It did so quicker than I’ve expected.”

  “Ah,” Tom nodded. “Makes sense. You were too slow.”

  Kang rested his head in his palms, a picture of embarrassment. “Yes. I’ll do better going forward, I promise. Please, let’s not talk about this again.”

  Tom believed him. That was not a mistake someone as experienced as the other reincarnator was going to make again.

  Slowly, they pushed forward and moved deeper into the valley. The situation was similar to the previous floors, as the monsters kept coming, so they weren’t required to search around in order to locate them. They could have reduced the risk by staying right next to the door, but Tom wanted to explore far enough to find what other creatures they were going to be facing, in case there was some skill or ability he desperately needed to obtain.

  There was a flicker of movement coming at him. “Heads down,” he ordered. The monster approached at its usual breakneck speed, and it flared up. Contemptuously, he stunned it. The fights were easy now. “It’s down.” He told the others.

  Kang and the girls rushed forward and hacked it apart. Tom stood in over, watch and in moments it was over.

  The girls were grinning. They were enjoying being useful.

  Once more, they moved forward.

  For over an hour, they made steady progress, with a brutal fight occurring every four minutes on average.

  Danger Sense spiked.

  Tom tensed and searched the area it was indicating. He figured this was probably a new type of monster.

  Then he saw that, instead of one moving patch, there were a few of them now. “Multiple incoming!” He yelled at the others.

  He assessed what was coming. There were three enemies, and they were clearly working as a single pack. Quickly, he added another javelin to the one he had pre-prepared and wished he had the levels and mental fortitude to increase it to three at once.

  He waited and hoped they followed the normal pattern, but, given the way Danger Sense was carrying on, he knew he wasn’t going to be that lucky.

  When they reached him, only one flared up to do its mental attack.

  The other two, instead, switched to their swifter, more condensed form and rushed at him. His mind could feel the pressure of the attack, and he was glad that he had prepared his spells in advance and that he had a trait that sped his perception of time and allowed him to track the fast-moving monsters.

  Power Strike with precognition mana wrapped effortlessly around the crackling spears, and, when the enemies crossed the five-metre line from him, he launched the attacks.

  His blows hit home, and the electricity that ran through them stunned them instantly, but only that. There was nothing to cancel their momentum or slow them down. Airborne, they hurtled at the spot where he was standing.

  Tom dove into a forward roll to avoid them.

  One of them landed centimetres from Kang and skidded to a halt a couple of metres beyond him. It was the one that Danger Sense had warned him to get out of the way of explicitly. Even with its claws not attacking him actively, if he had done nothing, they would have impaled him with enough force to punch straight through his armour, skin, and bone.

  Tom didn’t have time to concern himself with the ones he had already stunned. The one that had flared was rolling into its condensed form to kill him. That meant that the dangerous underside was no longer active.

  “It’s down,” he yelled to get the others to react, and then the third monster was upon him.

  It was fast, devastatingly so, and, while his trait allowed him to see it, his own movements were such as though he was pushing through treacle. His body was unable to respond to his orders fast enough. He twisted desperately away while tracking the incoming strike, and knew it was not enough. While the mind and soul were willing, the body lacked the power to execute the manoeuvre.

  Screw it, he thought and manually triggered Fateful Repositioning to turbocharge his movements and allow himself to avoid the flashing claws. He wasn’t sure his body shifted very far, but the claws missed him. Then his Lightning Javelin spell finished; at his command, it launched itself across the inches separating them and stabbed deep into the monster’s flesh.

  For the barest of instances, while helpless in the air, he had mental capacity to focus on the wider battle. His pseudo-sensing spell showed him that the girls were still picking themselves off the floor, but Kang had leapt over to attack the creature near him, and was now swinging his axe like a woodchopper. It was glowing blue, and a single blow went through an entire roll to thud into the ground.

  There were three enemies, and he quickly went through the mental calculations. He had spent twenty of his personal mana and only a single free cast spell. Within reason, he had magic to spare.

  Tom used Spark on the monster he was fighting to keep it subdued while hacking away at it with his hatchet. Each blow cut through six or seven layers of the rolled-up creature. It was some progress, but nothing like Kang’s single strike, which must have gone through forty at once.

  While doing that, he sent an Electricity Explosion to stun the ones that the girls were dealing with, then a Bolt to subdue Kang’s enemy.

  Breathing heavily from his frantic physical hacking, Tom cut it completely in half, and the upward rain of blood ceased. He sighed in relief. He had been worried that he won’t be able to take it down in time. With that concern addressed, he switched his attention back to the wider battle. Kang had finished his own almost ten seconds ago, and had crossed to help the other two.

  They, too, were finishing up. All three of the monsters were dead.

  “No injuries,” Kang observed, impressed.

  “But I’ve stressed my skill too much.” Tom told him. “We’re going to have to hold here for a while until I recover.”

  “You’re in charge,” Kang said simply.

  “Tom?”

  “Yes, Briana?” he asked, turning to her. He had a feel for the cadence of the floor. They had a few minutes before they would be attacked again, and if they were… well, Kang was on watch. Failing that, Danger Sense would keep them safe.

  “How do you cast spells so quickly? You were launching three a second. It takes me almost four seconds just to use Razor Water.”

  He was tempted to claim that was what it meant to be a reincarnator, but decided the joke would backfire. At her age, she would take it too literally, and this was an opportunity to encourage her talent. A joke risked the opposite and could crush her enthusiasm for all things magical. “Lots of practice. Besides, my trait does some heavy lifting as well,” Tom answered her simply. “The trait boosts my casting speed by three times when I’m fighting opponents this powerful.”

  “I want something like that.”

  Tom laughed. “It only helps when fighting things much stronger than you. Our job is to do the opposite. We should always be battling stuff weaker than us.” He frowned and looked up to the sky in an accusing manner. “Unless, of course, you’re dropped into a bloody darkhole trial. In here, it’s a lifesaver, I’ll admit that. Outside, though, I hoped to never have to use it. The only reason I was given this trait was because, to most people, it would be useless.” And he wasn’t lying. It had never been intended to be used in life-or-death struggles. It had been about giving him a chance in the Divine Champions’ trial. And, now that he had his Lightning Javelin and Intangible Power Strike combination, the trait was going to let him do what it was intended for. He was going to start winning matches on his own terms, and he could barely wait for that to happen. Once he got out of here, the coins were going to start flowing freely.