Jacob and the others rested for two hours, taking a quick nap or cultivating to replenish their energies.

He provided them with some Alchemic Tagliatelle and some other tonics he brewed on the spot.

“Remember, use your Cultivation Technique as soon as you ingest this,” he passed something to his Aunt Linda.

“Tsk, tsk,” she snorted toward him.

He didn’t have time for his aunt’s antics and went to sit down.

Jacob was as tired as anyone else, even though he had barely used any Qi.

He started surveying his own cultivation and found something interesting. The battle had shaken up his Meridians and made them and the rest of his body slightly stronger.

Jacob knew better than letting such a stroke of luck go wasted.

“Juliet, guard me. I think I’m breaking through to the 4th level in both Qi and Mana.”

It was unusual but not unheard of, especially in the Cockroach realm. He put three mouthfuls of Alchemic Tagliatelle – the peak of Alchemy and Italian cuisine – and channeled all that energy in his Meridians as quickly as possible.

Normally, the Alchemic Tagliatelle released their energy slowly – and it was the best thing. However, Jacob needed one big push and used his Time Domination Cultivation Technique to process the Alchemic Tagliatelle in a few moments.

He felt the strain of the excess energy circulating now inside his body, threatening to wreak havoc inside of it.

But millennia of experience were not for show. So he put on a leash on the energy and started slowly using it to break through the next level.

After half an hour, Jacob exhaled, coughing up some impurities.

He felt stronger and more powerful. However, he could still feel that his body needed some care, especially because he had still to heal from Crohn’s Disease.

Jacob checked that everything was right and nodded. Breaking through to the 4th stage of the Cockroach realm had replenished all his resources and made him more durable.

“Listen, people. We have killed off around 30% of the bastards. We are doing great compared to our schedule. If you can have a breakthrough, please do. I’ll go arrange a Devilish Essence Distortion Formation.”

He hadn’t had the time yet. But given the number of monsters still fuming, it would be almost impossible for the other Charybdes to have already sensed it. Moreover, the energy distortions that Jacob could perceive were still high. He would have done it sooner if he had had any energy left.

Jacob was now left, hoping that Helena and Frederick could have another breakthrough. If Helena managed to reach…

Helena appeared beside him.

“Ah,” Jacob said, surprised, “Hi?”

“Juliet told me to keep you company,” she said, clearly a bit confused.

Is Juliet playing match-maker?

Juliet had undergone a rapid transformation that even he had not foreseen. Now that she understood his love for Helena, it seemed she had decided to help him. Or at least that’s what it looked like.

“You are not trying to cultivate?” Jacob said.

“I already did. My tank is full again, but I’m still far from the Mantis realm. Might as well be your bodyguard,” she smiled.

“It can’t hurt, for sure.”

They started walking with a bit of shyness going on around them.

Old geezer, don’t be a creep. Say something!

“So, how’s… school?”

She looked at him with a confused expression.

Great. Several millennia without her, and that’s what you say to be nice.

“It was a joke?” Jacob hesitated.

“Don’t worry. We are all nervous. Those creatures give me the shivers. I think I will never sleep again without thinking about those things crawling under my skin.”

“If you are sleeping, they usually wake you up before burrowing in your mouth,” Jacob offered.

“Great, now I can have nightmares even though I’m not asleep.

They both laughed it off and went on to finish the work.

…

Puny creatures always underestimated great darkness.

The center of the city was pulsating with energy. Every sign of inferior life had been eliminated, however. Only superior beings were brewing up in the ground under the houses.

A great one, the greatest of his close family, was smiling. Yes, smiling. It was one of the highest functions the humans were capable of, a laugh. However, it took years for a human to consciously develop the faculty to smile and experience unfettered joy.

And the creature was greater than any common bag of flesh and bones. It could experience joy since the first time it had landed its fangs on one of the soft creatures who made such a wonderful symphony when they suffered. And there, right there, it had learned how to experience joy.

Pain, suffering, torture.

Hunger and spawning a new family wasn’t his true goal. Its actual goal was to enjoy its life, to bite and tear in order to hear that wonderful symphony of screams and begging again. It couldn’t wait to grow again, to challenge other lowly creatures that would cry even more; it would relish in their incredulous gaze before it bled them dry.

No one had expected him to grow so much. Not even his own family. The concept of talent was foreign to most of its kins, to most of the babies who could barely think about enjoying their meals and prolonging the sufferings of their prey.

This one, instead, it had talent. Oh, what great talent it bore in its twisted body. It had outdone itself, growing and growing, breaking through barriers that stopped lowly races; it barged forward and absorbed the essence of the ground and the Earth itself, another lowly being that one day would end up on his dining table.

Why, would something ask.

Well, because it could.

Because it was Evil.