Frederick was slightly painting after having summoned his main tool of attack. Jacob had told him that this Spell was extremely powerful but also costly. However, considering the monsters they would face, it only made sense to learn the heavy guns.

Void Spear

Even though he was at the 8th level in both Qi and Mana, he could barely conjure a faded version of a true Void Spear. However, he could conjure smaller and bigger versions of it. Since his affinity for Void Magic was so high, he could also wield it as a weapon.

Void Magic was capable of consuming everything, at least in theory. However, in reality, his magic could only consume things with a ‘lower energy density.’ Jacob had explained that while facing higher-level opponents, the Void Spear wouldn’t eat away at their flesh or equipment as expected. His friend also went on and on with the explanation of the why, but Frederick got lost during the lesson.

What was important was that he had a two meters spear in his hand at the moment, and he had a Martial Style to match it. He had barely learned how to conjure one so big in time for their expedition, though. Void Spear was meant to be learned much later on and not at the Cockroach realm – at least that was what Jacob said.

Frederick did not take his eyes away from the rubble in front of him. The orders had been extremely clear.

Do not move. Do not look away.

The Charybdes were evil creatures, masters at ambushes.

Jacob was moving back and forth, and after a few minutes of him manipulating whatever weird magic he could use, he made a sign, and everyone relaxed.

“Not bad for a first blood,” Jacob commented.

Frederick looked over at the most beautiful girl he knew and saw her eyes fixed on Jacob. A little jealousy flared in his heart. Since the apocalypse, Jacob had upstaged him in everything and every single time. Of course, Frederick knew better than being jealous of the person who had taught him literal magic, but he couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable.

Frederick was used to be the top dog whenever he went. Even when he met Olympics Skiers, they had looked at him in awe, knowing that one day he would overthrow them. But now, he was looking at a sleeping volcano; such a creature was short and nondescript but could also erupt with unimaginable power whenever it wanted. In this example, if Jacob was a volcano, Frederick thought of himself like a mountain, towering and majestic, but with no magma to show.

“Let’s move, people,” Jacob made a signal. They could see the rest of Fort Mountain because the city was tiny by every standard. Even in a mountainous region, it was nothing much.

Two hundred meters ahead of them, Jacob could see another building that looked like a rundown warehouse.

“Jake, what if the Charybdes decide to rally up?” Frederick was honestly quite scared of the nightmarish monsters and wouldn’t want to face an entire horde of them.

“It’s possible but extremely unlikely. We have measures in place if it happens, but it would be one of the worst possible outcomes. Remember, these monsters are smart but also evil. They care for their slaughtered kins only if the threat is big enough to take all the rest down. So until these monsters start thinking that we could be killing all of them, they won’t move en masse.”

“So, will they attack when they are around half the population?” Frederick was worried.

“They should,” Jacob gave him an eery smile.

“What do you mean?”

Jacob did not answer but went toward the half-charred corpses of the Charybdes and started fidgeting with a few of them.

More than one person felt like gagging and emptying their stomach while seeing Jacob nonchalantly take apart the insectile parts of the monsters.

“You know, among the things I get to know thanks to my special ability, Fred, there is this one thing that I like. Apparently, someone really, really, really hated these bastards and developed a set of Formation, Techniques, and Spells to hunt them.”

Frederick could not possibly imagine someone hunting those hellish creatures. If the ones they just faced were at the bottom of their evolutionary ladder, what would a true hunter of Charybdes deal with?

Jacob started using the same blood of the Charybdes to mark their corpses, some of which were still twitching.

“Their biology is fascinating, albeit quite disgusting. They have displaced all the most important functions, even the nervous system, in independent loci. This means that their kin does not know of their death yet. Now, what happens if a real hunter of Charybdes were to use a Formation to mimic their bodily functions and mess with their perception?”

Jacob's smile was almost as creepy as the multitude of carcasses he rapidly inscribed with his bloodied fingers.

“Isn’t that blood poisonous?” Frederick asked.

“Oh, sure. But not for me,” Jacob said mysteriously.

“What do you mean?”

Man, he hated when Jacob played even more mysterious than usual. Frederick had learned just to accept the vast knowledge of the guy but sometimes couldn’t go past the guy’s sense of humor.

Frederick would swear sometimes he felt like Jacob was part of a huge conspiracy; however, he would dispel such thoughts right after. He didn’t want to become the next conspiracy nut of their group since there was already a good company in that regard.

Jacob took around five minutes to arrange everything, and Frederick’s eyes bulged.

“Jake, did you just draw a fu**ing pentagram with their corpses?”

Insectile limbs, maws, eyes, and other unidentifiable body parts were aligned and connected by a thick trail of blood that seemed to pulse and corrupt the very nature of the Earth.

Jacob gave him an innocent smile and a wink.

“Well, you know, symbols do have power now. So when you want to fight these monsters, might as well ally with Devils.”

Well, it makes kind of sense, I guess, Frederick thought before immediately freezing. But, wait for a second, did he just say Devils? As in actual Devils? Are there Devils now?!