Chapter 48. Rank 6 — Part Two

As I got closer, I saw Rem dodging and even landing counterattacks, though at first glance they didn’t seem to have any noticeable effect.

Damn… no, there were effects—just minor ones. Even so, Rem was losing. There were barely any of her golems left. I needed to help her, and fast.

At that moment, I saw a flash of light—the same kind as the one before the big explosion.

Damn it, it could hit Rem too!

I tried to speed up, but realized I wouldn’t make it in time.

Damn… the explosion went off. Not like before—much weaker. It only disoriented the creature, giving Rem a chance to pull back. And yeah, it was Sherial firing. That meant she would never risk harming Rem. She was just trying to help her retreat.

And it looked like Rem really was trying to withdraw, but the creature kept pursuing her. She increased the distance, but it didn’t fall behind.

More flashes of light, short explosions—ranged attacks. But the creature barely reacted, continuing to chase Rem.

At the same time, Rem wasn’t retreating at full speed. She was backing away while striking back, never turning her back to the monster.

Rem dodged its tentacle strikes—huge tentacles. One had been destroyed earlier, but now a new one was starting to grow beside it, smaller in size, apparently replacing the lost one.

I was close now.

—Rem! I can help! Just give me your hand!—I shouted as I approached.

—Retreat! We can’t do anything against that creature! Run!—she replied.

—Just give me your hand. I can teleport us out of here,—I said.

—Fine,—Rem answered curtly.

She lunged toward me and grabbed my hand.

The next moment, I teleported us into the training room.

Now we were safe.

—Where are we?—Rem asked.

—I told you I have the training room skill. We’re there now,—I said.

—I thought you’d gained some new skill to carry us farther away from that monster. That would have helped us escape,—Rem said.

—No,—I answered.

—Alright. We’ll rest a little and then we’ll have to go back fast. If I don’t return, that idiot Sherial might do something risky,—Rem said.

—I think you don’t need to worry about time and can rest as long as you want. Well… not too long,—I said.

—What do you mean?—she asked, wary.

—Nothing bad,—I said quickly. —It’s just that time moves nine hundred sixty times faster in this room. Even if you rest here for sixteen hours, only about a minute will pass outside. So you don’t have to rush.

For a while, Rem just stared at me in silence. I stayed silent too—I simply didn’t know what to say.

—Alright. Then we’ll rest a bit,—she finally said.

I looked around and cursed to myself. I didn’t even have anywhere decent to offer her a seat and rest. There was only a bed of dry grass where I usually slept, and a pile of useless stuff in the corner. Magic stones from dungeons, mushrooms, some other finds… Basically, junk.

If I’d known a girl would come here, I would have cleaned up at least a little. Though… I couldn’t even imagine a scenario like that. I never thought anyone besides me would ever be here. And now I felt a bit awkward in front of her.

Rem simply sat down right on the stone floor, closed her eyes, and went still, like she was meditating. I didn’t dare disturb her. I just sat down beside her and… did nothing. Just sat there, not getting in the way of her rest.

Five or six hours passed. How could she sit like that—eyes closed, not moving? I didn’t understand it at all.

—Are you okay?—I asked. I was genuinely worried: she’d been sitting without moving for too long.

—I’m fine. I rested normally,—Rem replied calmly.

—Well, that’s good… I would offer you something to eat or drink, but… sorry, I don’t have anything here,—I said.

—Don’t worry. Now isn’t the time for that,—she said evenly. —We need to come up with a strategy to defeat that monster.

She looked at me more closely.

—I want to know more about your skill. Can you teleport us farther away from the monster, or are you forced to return exactly to the place you left when you entered this room?—she asked.

I thought for a second.

—I can shift to the side, but only up to forty meters,—I answered.

—Good. That’s better than nothing,—Rem nodded. —Now explain in more detail: how does your skill work? What are its limits?

—Well…—I hesitated, not sure where to start. —I think I can explain. You already know about it, like my other skill… but it’s probably better to tell you everything in order.

I took a deep breath and began explaining how the skill worked—and how exactly I used it.

It didn’t take that long to explain in detail how the Training Room skill functioned. I had told Rem about it before… but apparently not this thoroughly. And since then, I myself had learned much more about it.

When I finished telling her everything I knew, Rem was silent for a while.

—Alright. Then can you teleport us back?—she said. —Farther from that monster, like you said.

—Okay,—I said and walked toward one of the training room walls so I could teleport us farther away from the monster.

We approached the wall.

—Ready?—I asked.

—Yes. But the moment I say so, we return immediately,—Rem said.

—Got it.

She took my hand.

I teleported us back to the outside world.

The monster was about fifty meters away and wasn’t looking in our direction—it seemed to be searching for us. In that same instant, around a hundred summoning circles appeared around us. The moment that happened, the monster snapped its head toward us.

—Okay. Bring us back,—Rem said.

I immediately teleported us back into the training room.

A potion vial appeared in Rem’s hand, and she drank it. We waited about twenty seconds.

—I’m ready,—she said. —Let’s do it again.

I couldn’t teleport us out right away. We were back in the center of the training room, so we had to walk to the wall again. Only from there could I shift us farther away.

Yeah, from the outside it probably looks like a cool teleportation ability, but in reality it’s just a side effect of the training room skill. This clearly isn’t the time to think about how impressive it looks.

We reached the wall, and I teleported Rem and myself back into the outside world. Most of the golems she’d summoned earlier were still there. That was expected—very little time had passed outside.

Rem summoned more golems again. Right after that, I teleported us back into the training room.

—I think that number of golems should be enough to keep the monster distracted for long enough,—Rem said.

—Yeah, I think so too,—I agreed, though in truth I wasn’t sure.

So, we walked to the wall again. I teleported us back into the outside world, and just as we agreed, we immediately ran toward the forest at maximum speed while the monster was distracted by the golems.

I was very fast, but Rem was faster. Pretty soon I started falling behind her. But I had an advantage.

I began using the training room: I teleported there, ran forward about thirty-five meters—not forty, so I wouldn’t smash into the wall and lose momentum—and immediately returned. That let me keep up with Rem.

We reached the forest fairly quickly. Once we vanished among the trees, we started moving diagonally so the monster wouldn’t memorize our direction and start chasing. After running another four hundred or five hundred meters, we finally stopped. Or rather, Rem stopped, and I followed.

Moving diagonally was Rem’s idea. It wouldn’t even have occurred to me. Honestly, my plan was much simpler—just run straight and as far as possible. Considering how strong that monster was, I didn’t see even a single chance for us to defeat it.

But apparently Rem didn’t think so. Judging by her behavior, she already had some plan to deal with the monster. I couldn’t even imagine what it was, especially since even she could barely deal noticeable damage to it. The only attack that truly wounded it was Sherial’s. Maybe she had some special skill or ability.

Suddenly, the noise I’d been hearing earlier—crushing stone and the heavy steps of something enormous—shifted to the sound of breaking trees. Rem was right: the monster was heading exactly in the direction we ran. Damn it.

The sound of falling trees came from very close, and that genuinely scared me. And then I saw a small devourer caterpillar.

…No. Not small.

It was about ten meters long. It only seemed almost tiny compared to that monster.

Damn it, I completely forgot about them. With how many of those caterpillars are here, they turned into background noise next to that huge monster.

I was about to finish it, but suddenly its head exploded.

I looked at Rem. No, it didn’t look like her. But judging by the fact that she didn’t even react in surprise, I think it was Sherial. She’s somewhere here. Yeah, she has to be nearby. If she were far away, it would be hard to hit a devourer caterpillar so precisely through the trees.

I heard something move in the treetops, and then something fell down right in front of us.

More precisely—someone.

It was Sherial, of course.