They were at their 7th battle, and Geneva had finally understood what Jacob had meant with his words after the 2nd encounter.

She started feeling her focus slip, even with her crazy battle senses. Finally, she took a step wrong and slipped on the ground. The Charybdis at the 4th stage of the Cockroach realm that she had been fighting immediately jumped on top of her.

At that moment, everyone Jacob had taught them came to her rescue. She instantly rolled and used her spear to hit the ground and propel herself backward. She instantly left the weapon on the ground and shouted.

“Lost weapon!”

The next second, a huge purple Fireball came and hit the Charybdis that had barely registered what happened.

Jacob had taught them that keeping the weapons in their hand could be fatal. So if they thought they would be encumbered, they had to leave it on the ground and step back immediately.

They were attacking multiple compounds altogether. There were five of them, three bigger ones and two smaller ones. They had been the last ones to be somewhat distanced from the city.

Jacob was walking the battlefield without acting himself. He would cut away the smaller Charybdes that tried to ambush him, but nothing more. He was saving himself from the nightmares that had yet to come. And everyone wondered what kind of battles they were going to face if the current ones should be considered the ‘easier’ ones.

“Geneva! Get back your spear, and you and your mage take ten steps back.”

Jacob was obsessed with positioning. But he had his reasons. When Marcus had tried to get back to his original position after stepping back without reason, he had almost been killed on the spot by a jumping Charybdis. Only Jacob’s sharp eyes had saved him; their leader had jumped so fast to slash and kill the Charybdis that everyone had been left breathless.

First of all, they did not know how Jacob, the weakest of the group, could propel himself so fast. Second, there had been barely half a second window to save Marcus before the monster latched and burrowed inside his flesh.

But, what was not comforting was that Jacob had been clearly taxed after that simple sprint. He had needed fifteen minutes before stabilizing his own breathing.

Juliet was also getting tired. It was true that using the Phoenix’s Fire did not consume much of her reserves, but she had been acting as a flamethrower since they started working the compound. And they were twenty minutes in the battle, with the end not yet in sight.

Jacob was surgical in his intervention, only acting in the most crucial moments. But Geneva knew that without him, some would have already died by now.

Even Helena was getting tired of sending one Heaven's Palm after another. They had met multiple Charybdes over the 4th level. And, if Jacob was right, even more, were still hiding in the compounds.

“Remember, this is one of the densest in numbers! If you get over this one, we are basically done!” Jacob was shouting to infuse morale.

Geneva had the impression that this was barely the start and that they would need to win much more than a simple battle like this before screaming victory.

Another five minutes, and they were basically surrounded by buildings on fire and burnt corpses, still fighting for dear life. Now, the smoke made it hard to see and made their eyes water. Or it would have if they had not brought some goggles that everyone had found ridiculous when Jacob had proposed them.

Donning their goggles, the fight was still on. They were backing up at every fight, now actually a bit far from the compound.

Right when the last building collapsed, and everyone sighed in relief, the strongest and most nightmarish scream so far rattled them. This one carried some sort of strength with it and left their ears ringing.

“There is one at the 7th level!” Jacob shouted. “Fred, you are up! Aim for the head and the chest.”

Some of the smaller debris exploded and shot up in the air. A creature as long as a human came out and screeched again.

Jacob started running around the field, cleaning out the hidden Charybdes to make space for Fred.

…

Holy fu**ing sh*t, Jacob. F*ck you and your monsters.

Frederick looked at the big monster. The Charybdis had many more eyes than usual all over its body, some of them were black and some red, but they were all pulsating rhythmically. Also, the tail was huge compared to the previous ones.

This Charybdis was, in fact, over in the final Grand Stage of the Cockroach realm. However, being at the 7th stage of the Cockroach realm meant that it had passed a major evolutionary stepstone of its kind and could now display some of the features that made them so feared.

The stinger was much bigger, almost the size of Frederick’s head, and the tail moved with much more swiftness.

“Come on, Fred!” Jacob shouted, breaking him out of his shock.

Frederick swore under his breath, cursing the Heavens for putting him in that position, but still refused to run away.

Something in the back of his head was telling him that this battle was too risky, that he could very well lose his life right here and right now. But his heart said something different. Having so many friends relying on him, including Jacob, the person who had made him so strong so fast and had saved his life two times…

Frederick took a deep breath, and his body started pumping adrenaline like crazy.

The Void Overlord Martial Style, Twin Spears Wielding.

Frederick conjured a second spear in his left hand, copying the kata that Jacob had taught him.

When Jacob had told everyone that fighting in close quarters with Charybdes was to be avoided, he hadn’t meant that as a universal rule. In fact, while Frederick was running toward the scariest confrontation of his entire life, he remembered his friend’s words.

The greatest heroes of humanities will have to face the scariest monsters from up close, Fred, to avoid letting the others die in their place.

Frederick jumped in mid-air, ready to strike with both spears on the Charybdis’s head.

Sometimes, heroes were not born out of their soul purity, but just out of the people who surrounded them, out of the necessity humanity had for them.