John walked slowly forward, eyes fixed on the yellow-souled rock golem awaiting him at the end of the absurdly large bus.

Behind it was an opening about the size of a regular bus, and a swarm of blues and greens seemed to be constantly pouring out of it. He ignored them. The others—humans and birds—were dealing with them with their magics and projectiles and brutal attacks, and the monsters were almost entirely enthralled by Chester's Spell anyway. They were trusting in him to deal with the boss, and in turn he was trusting them to deal with the adds.

The arena was as wide as five buses and perhaps taller. There were no chairs, windows, or any kind of decorations, only that dreary grey colour that could be found on so many of the older double-decker buses that served the people of London, leaving plenty of room for monsters and humans and animals alike to run amok. In seconds, the place had descended into utter carnage as his allies worked to clear a path for him to his enemy.

He could have done it himself, but he felt slowly strolling forward with an unconcerned gait like this looked much cooler. Indeed, his Aura ticked up every time he gave no reaction to a monster getting close to him, not even flinching when an arrow or laser or superspeed punch blew it apart before it could attack him. He had Accelerate on a mental hair-trigger anyway, just in case.

The rock golem wasn't reacting either. Its arms remained crossed. Its head faced forward, unmoving. The monsters fighting and dying around it appeared to be beneath its notice. If not for Soul Vision telling him the truth of the matter, he might have thought he was approaching a statue. Evidently, it was a guardian, but not of its fellow monsters. Considering how it was standing right in front of the only exit, John had a pretty good guess what its primary concern here was.

Trepidation flowed through him, but he did his best to squash it. This was the best way forward. A conclusive proof of his superior strength.

Undeniable evidence that he didn't need to be part of the team.

The fighting was cacophonous. Chunks of debris flew all over the place, and dust began to choke the air, as if the walls of this false bus were made of concrete rather than… whatever the fuck real buses were made of. It started to sting his eyes. They watered a little bit, and he tried to blink it away as subtly as he could, concerned that he's lose his cool factor if it looks like he was on the verge of tears. A moment later, he gave it up as a lost cause and fished out his stolen sunglasses, trying to look unhurried in the motion.

+400 Aura

Strategies spun through his mind. He recalled there had been another monster similar to this one, back in the mansion when he first met Lily, Jade, and Chester. It had ignored his soul arrow, but then again he'd only landed a handful of shots on it, which was hardly conclusive data.

However, it has also been unaffected by Chester's Spell, and Lily's crossbow bolts, and that was a much weaker example of this monster. He took some solace in the fact the smaller version of his upcoming enemy had also been slow, and hoped trait would transfer over. Regardless, he suspected he'd end up relying on more flashy Spells.

All this and much more rushed through brain in an instant, a spiralling vortex of worries that kept dragging his thought down and down under the power of Level 6 Mind's enhanced cognition. Frankly, he could have done without the extra ability to process all these thoughts.

Luckily, he soon found he had time for no more of them. He came to a stop about ten metres away from his opponent. The monsters continued to flow around him, those few that came too close picked off by his comrades—almost all of them were pouring towards Chester, at this point. It perhaps said something about the rock golem that it hadn't been ensnared by the radiant light Spell.

John stared at the monster for a long moment, just taking it in. It had to be four metres tall, minimum. Its grey arms were made up of segmented chunks of rock held together by a dark chain, and each were the size of a motorcycle, sharp and uneven and chaotic like they'd been ripped out of the ground by a giant hand. Its face was a tall slab, rounded at the top like it was wearing a rock visor. Its torso was bigger than a car. There was no way it weighed less than ten tonnes.

And John threw a Fireball at it.

The flames splashed against its torso like a wave against rock and rolled over its upper body, leaving black scorch marks but no more. In response, the rock golem came to life. It moved slow, ponderous, its head looking around as if searching for the fool who'd dared to challenge it.

And it found John, standing defiant among a chaotic battle. He'd quickly crossed his arms after throwing the Fireball, and he lifted his chin in challenge.

"That's right, big guy," he said. "I'll be your opponent today."

In response, the monster took a single step forward. The ground trembled as its foot came down. It pivoted its upper body to one side, and John knew immediately what it was going to do. He was already in Accelerate before it lurched its body back the other way, throwing out the arm it had shifted behind itself like a flail.

With time dilated, dodging the attack was simple. All he had to do was take a few steps to one side. But even with his enhanced speed it still appeared alarmingly fast, the great chunk of stone smashing through the air he'd just been occupying in a single heartbeat. The displaced air of its passing buffeted him. There was a distorted, slow-motion sonic boom.

If that had hit me, it would have turned me to pulp.

The rocky fist didn't even have a chance to hit the ground before the chain went taut, arresting its momentum and pulling it back. Its retraction wasn't half as fast as throwing it had been, and it was helpless as John darted back in close to test Mana Blade.

Putting all his strength into an overhead slash at the taut chain only produced a shower of sparks and a mighty clang, and John clicked his tongue as he moved away once more.

Not a moment too soon, it turned out. The monster rotated its upper body, and both the chain and the craggy rocky at its end swept to the side.

Accelerate made him more than fast enough to duck beneath it, but the monsters still streaming past to get to Chester didn't have it so easy. The chain tore through them, spraying black blood, and the rock absolutely fucking deleted them. There was nothing left of them but a red mist. They didn't even drop loot.

Having had a front row seat to what would more than likely happen to him if he let himself get hit by one of the golem's attacks, John was more motivated than ever to ensure that did not happen. He ran diagonally in the other direction, moving towards the monster and away from its chained rock arm at the same time.

It started rotating its body again, but had to contend with the massive momentum of the rock it had thrown; arresting the rock's forward impetus and sideways force were completely different matters.

That gave John enough time to test things.

First, he tried Ice Breath. Figuring there was a change it might have the same effect here as it'd had on the turtles earlier on, he darted in close as he dared, sucking in the biggest breath he could on the way, before exhaling a huge cloud of super-cooled steam with all the power his lungs could muster.

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A layer of white frost covered half the golem's leg in an instant, but it didn't react. He supposed he'd have to wait until Accelerate was over and he could see the golem's movement in real time to gauge whether the Spell had done decent damage.

Ten heartbeats remained, by his count, and it was just starting to regain control over the limb it had swung at him—it'd be coming back the other way in no time.

An Elemental Bullet right to the rock monster's already-scorched torso afflicted it with an impressive variety of effects; another layer of frost spread over its chest, radiating out from the bullet's impact, accompanied by sparks of electricity arcing through its chains, joined shortly after by wind-propelled white-hot embers that scorched pockmarks into its chest and face.

He wasn't sure how much damage that would amount to, but it was cool to look at. Only the Light Burst had no effect, but he'd expected that, having seen a smaller version of the golem ignore Chester's version of the Spell.

By that point, its outstretched arm was swinging back towards him. John didn't dare simply duck below it, fearing that the monster would be wise to that move.

Instead, he leaped up and over it with Air Step, then Flash Stepped down to the ground on the other side, avoiding it completely. This time, the golem didn't appear to go for the same trick, instead retracting its arm back towards itself.

Heat Vision was next on the agenda, but it did little more than score a black line across the golem's face.

Wind Shear merely scored deep lines in the stone, and sent sparks flying from the chains.

Reaching out with Soul Drain felt like…Well, it felt like trying to squeeze blood from a stone. The monster evidently retained too much Vitality for that to work. He hadn't really expected it to, if he was honest with himself.

Soul Arrow, on the other hand, did manage to briefly stick into its stones, gauging maybe a couple of inches deep. That was promising.

Five heartbeats, and then Accelerate would be over.

Force Push and Force Pull knocked it a little off balance, but time was too dilated to see how great the effect would be; right now, it was reacting to his attacks in slow motion, so he couldn't properly tell how much he was hurting it.

Nothing else in his repertoire seemed likely to work, in his estimation. He threw a Shadow Stream at it anyway, just for the sake of trying to figure out how the thing interacted with the world. For all he knew, it had some kind of sonar echolocation thing going on. It certainly had no eyes.

The stream of darkness struck it dead in the face, and it seemed to stumble back. The outstretched arm slackened slightly, and even the arm that had remained at its side seemed to fall a little looser. It swayed on its feet like a boxer who'd just gotten up after a knockdown.

John's eyes widened. Was this his chance? Did the monster work through some kind of telepathic connection, and his shadows were disrupting it? He directed an extra stream to the golem's face, seeking to completely cover it up, and it noticeably swayed even more. It appeared to be trying to lift both of its arms, but their chains weren't

Only two heartbeats left. Enough time for one more attack before he'd need to spend several seconds being far more cautious.

But there was nothing in his current loadout that seemed likely to win the day. John delved into his menus, barely even glancing at the actual details and just shoving Aura at the options he remembered being there, relying on ideas he'd already mulled over in the handful of calm moments they'd had since he unlocked Combine.

Unlocked Necrotise!

-1000 Aura

Combined [Necrotise] and [Soul Arrow]!

-5000 Aura

Unlocked Death Arrow (Level 4)!

John smirked as he loosed as many arrows as he could in the time he had. Combining his Level 6 Agility with Level 3 Marksman, he was able to put three arrows in the air in a single heartbeat, watching them speed across the distance to his foe as he darted backwards, wanting to make sure there was distance between him and the golem before the time dilation Skill came to an end. The arrow shafts maintained their ethereal blue sheen, but the arrow head itself was a menacing green-tinged black. Shadow Stream started to dissipate just as the arrows hit, and the effect of both factors was noticeable.

First, the stone around where the Soul Arrows struck fizzed and sizzled as if it had been hit by a vial of acid, then started to blacken, withering like it had aged an eon in an instant. The corruption radiated out about half a metre in every direction from the arrowhead. Two had hit its torso, and the third struck it right in the centre of its head. Black, corrupted stone sloughed away like it had been liquidised.

Next, time resumed its normal course with one last thump of John's heart. The cacophony of battle rushed back in, loud and chaotic. He could hear the others shouting to each other, Doug barking orders, Lily and Alissa calling targets, Jade simply screaming battle cries like a Celtic warrior with a crude vocabulary.

The birds were communicating, too. Polly and Zazu were parroting a variety of rude phrases their former owners had evidently taught them, accompanied by the caws of the crow and the trills of the dove.

It all blended with the sounds of countless Spells and Skills, but he didn't spare a glance for any of it, his gaze fixed on the golem, waiting to see what its next move would be now that they were on a more even playing field, speed-wise.

It didn't do what he expected. With Shadow Stream cancelled, it quickly regained its composure, and snapped its loose arms back to itself. Then, it widened its stance like a New Zealand rugby player about to do the Hakka. Holding its arms at its side, it brought them up at incredible speed.

John didn't understand what the fuck it was playing at until the arms collided together, and he saw the shockwave burst out in an omnidirectional wave from the impact.

By then it was already too late.

A sphere of force threw back all the dust that had been lingering in the air. John Flash Stepped backwards blindly, but that only delayed the inevitable by a fraction of a second. That was enough for him to prepare a belated countermeasure, but he knew this was still going to be bad. He had no choice but to brace himself.

It hit him like a brick wall. Pain erupted all over his body as he was sent hurtling back. Something in his ears popped like balloons. His insides rearranged themselves. He was sure some of his bones had been turned to dust.

But the agony was gone in the blink of an eye.

Increased Arcane Level 4 -> Level 5

-1600 Aura

Healing energy flooded his body, and he barely even noticed the increase in power in the mana sphere in his stomach. His attention was arrested by the wounds on his skin knitting themselves back together, the bruises soothing, the bones reconnecting. There was a dull pop, and sound trickled back in.

John found himself crouched down, somehow not sprawled on his back, and rose to his full height in mild bafflement. It took him a moment to realise that Catfall must have activated and let him land on his feet. A slow breath escaped him. Relief was the primary emotion suffusing him, but it was tinged by unease.

The only reason he'd had the presence of mind to do the upgrade was because the Flash Step had given him an extra instant to prepare it. Otherwise, he was sure the damage the monster had just inflicted on him would have debilitated him.

That was insane. There was no way that 'clap' thing it just did should have been able to generate that much force.

Evidently, it was a Spell of some kind. It shouldn't have come as a surprise. The only other yellow soul he'd got up close and personal with had displayed supernatural abilities—the bat monster with its absurdly powerful screech had chucked him about like nothing.

Can't let it do that again, he thought grimly, staring at the rock golem as it lowered its arms to its side once more and began stomping towards him. Each step sent a tremor through the ground. It walked with a swagger, its shoulders swaying from side to side, confident in its upcoming victory.

Accelerate still had a few more seconds of cooldown. Death Arrow had proved somewhat effective against the rock monster. He just had to hold out for a few seconds, then he'd be able to end this easily.

It was as this thought passed through his mind that he realised there were more monsters still pouring into the room. The ones that had already been present had been pulverised by the rock monster's shockwave attack, but the new ones were fresh as daisies.

And he couldn't help noticing that they were all going for him.

John's heart dropped. He knew what he was going to see when he glanced behind himself over his shoulder. The utter silence from that direction had already given it away.

Jade, Lily, Chester, Doug, and Alissa were all sprawled on the floor, unmoving, with four birds' broken bodies littered between them.

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