Nightmare Realm Summoner

Golden words shimmered in the air before Aaron as blood pounded in his ears. He could barely believe what he was reading, but it didn't seem like the System cared. The words remained all the same.

Winner: The Gambler

Result: 1 minute of the defeated combatant's speed is transferred to The Gambler.

Cheating actually worked?

Power slammed into Aaron in a wave. His feet blurred. Air slammed into the back of his throat as he suddenly felt himself shift gears and accelerate to a speed that shouldn't have even been possible for a normal human.

Golden light exploded around the bird monster diving at May's back. Glistening, translucent chains wound around the monster and slammed taut. It opened its mouth in a slow scream that sounded more like air escaping from a very angry balloon.

The monster's very existence seemed to have slowed down. Even the wind passing through its feathers had gotten the memo and ground to a slithering halt. And every ounce of momentum that the bird had lost, Aaron had gained.

He stumbled, but his feet moved faster than his brain could even process. They moved so quickly that he didn't even have time to fall back. All he could do was accelerate.

The Lumbear that had been chasing him let out a roar as it swiped at him with a wooden paw. Aaron barely even noticed. By the time the monster's strike had grown anywhere near him, he was already gone.

He bounded toward May and the slow-moving bird, arms windmilling in a desperate attempt to keep his balance. His conscious mind wasn't in control anymore. All that remained was instinct. The entire world had shrunk down to two figures.

All that mattered was May and the bird diving at her in slow-motion. Aaron's jaw clenched. And, even as the world flashed past him in a near-indecipherable haze, his eyes focused on the monster diving at his sister.

I won't lose the last member of my family.

His fist blurred through the air. He'd somehow arrived between May and the monster. He didn't know when that had happened, but he didn't care.

And before he'd even finished processing that he was throwing a punch, his knuckles connected with the monster's face. Hollow bones crumpled. The bird's face collapsed like it had charged face-first into a brick wall. Aaron could have sworn he heard them shattering in half-speed.

The golden light binding the monster shattered. At the same time, the entire world snapped back to its normal speed. Pain exploded through Aaron's hand as his body was suddenly reminded that he'd just punched a crunchy piece of shit in the face whilst moving at an indeterminate speed.

"Shit!" Aaron yelled, grabbing his arm and shaking it off with a slew of curses. The bird monster splattered to the ground before him, its body twisted and shattered in a mangled, bloody heap. Cool energy flooded into his body in a wave.

"You did it!" May exclaimed in delight. "Aaron, you did it!"

"You almost died!" Aaron screamed, spinning to her and clutching his throbbing hand. "You can't take risks like that, May! You need to pay attention? What am I going to do if you —"

His words died on his lips. May didn't look scared. She didn't even look slightly worried — and neither did Orchid, who stood behind her, staff at the ready and the faintest of smirks pulling at her lips.

Why doesn't she sound scared?

"Not bad," Orchid said. "Cute. I am a little offended you thought I was so incompetent I couldn't kill an egotistical chicken."

Aaron gaped at her. He looked from Orchid to May, whose expression had gone sheepish.

"You tricked me?"

"Motivation," May said with a thumbs-up. "Orchid said you needed a push and I've already gotten a bunch of practice, so I wanted to help you."

Aaron's mouth worked. He couldn't tell if he was pissed off or impressed. His emotions were such a jumble that all he could do was stare in disbelief.

Unfortunately, that surprise didn't extend to the Lumbear that was still chasing after him. A roar echoed through the Mirrorlands. Aaron spun toward it, his face going pale, as the huge wooden monster bore down on all of them, far too close for him to react.

Shit!

A massive black hand slammed down on the Lumbear's back, driving it into the ground with a resounding crash. The monster's roar turned to a pained whimper as sludge bubbled up behind it, revealing Alex's enormous sludge monster.

With a single, casual motion, the monster hoisted the Lumbear up. It grabbed the bear with its other hand. Then, with a sharp tug, it ripped the creature clean in two. Loud cracks echoed through the air.

The Lumbear's agonized agonized scream was cut short along with its life.

Aaron took a step back and swallowed. A chill ran down his back as he stared at the emotionless ceramic mask on the monster's face. Alex's monster dropped the two halves of the dead monster to the ground and turned away, sinking back into the ground to transform into a puddle of sludge.

A glance in Orchid's direction revealed a flicker of fear in her own features, and it only made Aaron's chest tighten further. If someone as strong as her was also scared of Alex…

He's a monster. How is he so strong?

"Don't stand around," Alex called as he walked over to them. "You're all making progress, but not nearly enough for us to sit and waste time. Good job with the fights so far — but they aren't going to get any easier until you meditate. And that's exactly what we want. Take advantage of this. Get as much power as possible now. You're going to need it."

Aaron's jaw set.

Alex was right. Even if they managed to survive this, they had to find a way to beat a Region Boss. He still didn't have great context as to just how strong that monster would be, but if it was stronger than the Field Boss…

We're nowhere near as strong as we need to be.

***

"They're not doing bad," Claire said, drawing up alongside Alex as they watched the members of the campsite square off against the monsters of the Mirrorlands.

Alex nodded. It had been several hours since they'd arrived in the Mirrorlands, and not one of the people from the camp had so much as asked for a break. They'd fought relentlessly, throwing themselves against every enemy that rose in their path.

There had been a number of close calls. Far too many of them. But, somehow, nobody was dead — and they were getting better. Even though none of them had been given a chance to meditate yet, the fights were getting easier.

Aaron had started to figure out the scraps of how his magic worked. He was definitely having the roughest time of things. His class was fascinating — and completely fucking weird. Sometimes, he killed monsters that should have given him a ridiculous amount of trouble with ease.

And other times—

A crunch echoed out as Princess pancaked a Lumbear moments before it ripped Aaron's head off.

Other times he gets completely fucking rocked. From what he's said, Gambler seems like a really powerful class. It's just a real finnicky one. Seems like it'll be a fun one if he can get a good handle of how it works. I'd definitely have taken that class if I'd been offered it. Hopefully he gets some more control over it after he meditates.

Alex's eyes drifted to May.

It was still obvious she was young. Her decision making wasn't the best and her reaction speed could have been a lot better. Orchid was spending a lot of effort keeping the kid alive — but May was learning at an incredible rate.

He wouldn't have called her a genius, but she was definitely a dedicated student. It wouldn't be long before she was an incredibly formidable opponent if she kept improving at this rate.

With two or three more days of this… we might actually have the slightest chance against the Region Boss. Growth is so much faster at lower levels. I think we should be able to get them to high Novice and a maxed out Mind Palace if they fight monsters in the Mirrorlands nonstop. The question is just if they'll actually be able to do that.

"What are you thinking?" Claire asked.

"More hoping than thinking," Alex replied. "I wish I knew exactly how long we had before the Region Boss showed up."

"I take it you can't tell?"

He shook his head. "Not really, and not at all while we're in the Mirrorlands. When we're back on 274-50, I feel a bit. Not enough to give an exact answer."

"If we can get a few days…"

"Yeah. We might have a shot at this. I'm hoping the boss is in the low to mid Adept area."

"Seems like a safe bet," Claire said. She turned to watch as May ran in circles around a Lumbear, peppering it with thin bolts of lightning while staying out of range of the monster's large paws. "But we can't just sit training them around either. We also have to get stronger."

"Yeah. I think after everyone has cashed in the power they got from this, we'll have to babysitting a bit less to seek out fights ourselves. It'll make things more dangerous, but they'll grow even faster assuming they survive."

"They'll have a better chance than most. But if we're going to have any shot at actually beating something in the mid-Adept levels, I think we're almost certainly going to need to unlock Partial Domains."

"Yeah. I gathered as much myself. Every level means more and more the higher up we get. The good news is that, if we survive this, the gap between us and the other Outworlders will close even more. Most of them don't even have Partial Domains yet."

"All we have to do is beat the first Region Boss on 274-50."

"Yeah. Simple."

Claire rolled her eyes. "As simple as can be."

"Look at the bright side. No matter what happens, this will be an interesting fight. I can think of worse ways to go out. At least it'll be fun."

Claire squinted at him. Then a small smile pulled at the corners of her lips.

"Yeah. You can say that again."