While Adrian cut the arm of the last mantis, he thought about the damage he dealt. [Celeratio] didn’t gave him more firepower like [Fisica] would, it only made him faster. That presented the question if the momentum gained by [Celeratio]’s speed would be equivalent to more damage. The other class that had the requirements of having Maxxed [Celeratio] during the tutorial, the one called Velocitas, said that more momentum would be applied to his attacks, or something like that. Recalling his Physics class, a higher momentum translated into a higher force. So technically, when Adrian increased his [Celeratio], he would do more damage. This wouldn’t be directly caused by the Arcane Record, but by basic physics – if they worked.
After obtaining the four remaining left mantis’ arms, Adrian marched to the campsite so he could go with Kayle and Mike to the town. But then, he felt a presence of some sort, a killing instinct. Without hesitating, Adrian changed his time perception to a tenth of the normal as he felt half speed wouldn’t be enough. Slowly, he turned his head to see an enemy.
‘Oh, shit.’ He thought. A bigger mantis was in front of him, a more vicious one. Its scythes were longer, the tips having a vorpal shape; its eyes bigger than the [Archimantis Homicida] counterpart, and finally, long wings glued to its back. The monster was faster than any mantis he had seen, moving relatively fast in a perception were time moved ten times slower. Adrian was fucked, a lot of his [Skills] and [Titles] worked when being undetected. Right now, at a fight like this, he could only use [Ultimum Celeritas] and his daggers.
He kept calm and analyzed the situation. The big mantis had jumped in the air, giving him a window to strike at its weak points. Adrian could still use [Assassinate] if he positioned himself at the mantis back or broke the line of sight. Adrian eyeballed that the real mantis speed would be like his when he was at ten [Celeratio], double the speed of a normal human. Although the mantis was fast, Adrian was a bit more. And even then, he had ten seconds to react to the mantis’ movements, while the monster only got one to react to Adrian’s.
The Time Weaver decided to duck the first swing of the mantis, as he aimed for the free scythe, trying to cut it with one dagger strike. That didn’t work as planned as the dagger couldn’t cut through the monster keratin armor, but it received a serious hit in the right arm. Adrian dodged to one side as aiming for another strike could be risky.
As the human evaded, the mantis landed on the ground and did a sweep attack around it. Adrian could have gotten seriously wounded if he stayed to clutch another hit. The mantis cried, Adrian thought it could be a [Skill] as it was weird to cry when you were in a fight, then he remembered he was fighting against an insect.
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The problem of moving in such a slow time was that he had to calculate his speed. [Ultimate Celeritas] helped him a bit, but it still was an alien feeling even if he had used the [Title] every moment since he got it.
Adrian was scared of the monster, that speed, those attacks, the movements… ‘It was a [Skill].’ Adrian noticed when his thoughts became foggy. He didn’t know if he had passed a [Stat] check, if he did it was probably [Voluntat], but the Record did not give any notification. For the moment, Adrian stayed in the defensive. Maybe the mantis would think that its [Skill] affected him, but at least Adrian could counterattack the monster’s movements.
The mantis flipped its wings, they were clearly not potent enough to make the insect fly, but they gave them more force and acceleration to its jump. The monster pounced over Adrian, and he responded the same way as before, cutting the right arm. The blow now hit harder than before, splitting the mantis arm. Adrian was splashed by a bit of ichor as the mantis’ scythe was hanging from a thread, clinging to the body instead of falling to the ground.
The scenery was gory, the mantis shrieked in pain, the arm swinging from one side to the other. Either way, Adrian did not approach the monster. Maybe he was paranoid, but he had a gut feeling that getting closer to the mantis now would be bad. And he was right. The monster became angrier than before, losing its capability to think rationally. Perhaps it was inflicted with [Berserk] status effect as it saw its arm eviscerated by the human.
As rage take over the mantis, Adrian backstepped. The monster started slashing the air in front of it with its good scythe. The hacking was so potent that the insect was consuming a huge amount of stamina with each swing. Adrian waited eagerly the moment when the mantis stopped to rest or got out of stamina. The Time Weaver was fully concentrated on dodging every attack, patience was now the key to victory.
Seconds passed as the monster devasted the air. The period between each slice became greater and greater, and when the frequency was equivalent to one relative second to Adrian, he attacked. He threw a mantis arm, one he had cut before, as a distraction. The enraged mantis cut through the arm as it was butter, but it gave Adrian some precious instants. A brief tenth of a second was enough to break the line of sight. Adrian sidestepped and situated at the mantis’ back and stabbed it. He activated [Assassinate] as his right dagger flew across the mantis wings to the heart and the left one aimed to the head. The critter fell to the ground, and with a thud, a Record notification came.
Level 11 [Archimantis Occisor] has been slayed
Participation Rate: 100%
You have earned 800 experience
That mantis was different from the other ones, and the Record confirmed it. It also gave eight times more times than a common one. But then Adrian checked [Ultimum Celeritas] and realized one thing. Only thirty seconds had passed actually, but for him, he had battled to the death for five straight minutes. Time perception was scary sometimes.