Chapter 62: Teleportation

Michael raised his sword and got ready, the grip settling into his palm the way it always did right before things got loud. *Julian's a genuinely solid, reliable fighter,* he thought, watching him work through fireballs and spear thrusts a few meters away. Any other student would have difficulties engaging even one monster but Julian was fighting three at the same time.

Then something happened that threw him completely off balance. His phone buzzed in his pocket.

For a second his brain just stalled on it. A phone. Ringing. Now, of all times.

*Who's calling? Mom? Dad? Andrea? Gabriel? Johannes???*

He stood there, one hand drifting halfway toward his pocket before he caught himself, sword still raised but his focus gone somewhere else entirely.

Three monsters were closing in on him now, dangerously close, claws scraping against the asphalt with every stride, while Julian — catching sight of him standing there, frozen — screamed, "MICHAEL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

The shout snapped him out of it. He raised his sword, the world lurched sideways for half a second — like the ground had stepped out from under him — and then—

he vanished.

Julian had just finished off the monster he'd been fighting with his own spear when he caught it out of the corner of his eye. Michael was gone, vanished into thin air just like his summon did minutes ago. "Whaaat?!"

Michael reappeared behind the monsters, close enough to smell them, and cut into them before they'd even registered he was there. The first didn't get a chance to turn — his blade caught it across the neck and the head came clean off, rolling under a parked car. The second twisted toward him a half-second too late; the sword went in below the ribs and came out the other side, tearing its torso open on a diagonal. The third barely had time to snarl before the blade drove straight down through it, splitting it clean in two. All three, thanks to his sword — level 5 with the best stats available at that tier.

[You have killed a Razorclaw Stalker -- Level 3]

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[You have received 50 Experience Points]

[You have killed a Razorclaw Stalker -- Level 3]

[You have received 50 Experience Points]

[You have killed a Razorclaw Stalker -- Level 3]

[You have received 50 Experience Points]

Julian stood frozen, shocked twice over — once by how easily the sword had gone through them, and once by the fact that Michael had simply vanished a second earlier.

"Michael... is it what I think it is? Did you just turn invisible, or did you actually disappear?"

"You wanted to know my class and my skill." Michael was already turning, scanning for the next threat. "This is it. Teleportation. You can admire it later — there's still five of them."

Julian didn't let himself get distracted any further, whatever teleportation could do, that could wait. He wanted to prove himself too. He moved straight to the monster still tangled up with his own summon, timed the opening, and put it down with one clean spear thrust through the skull.

[You have killed a Razorclaw Stalker -- Level 3]

[You have received 50 Experience Points]

Then he turned to the one his fireball had caught earlier. It was still burning, thrashing on the asphalt, shrieking through the flames, one leg kicking uselessly against the ground. One more thrust, driven straight through its chest, ended it.

[You have killed a Razorclaw Stalker -- Level 3]

[You have received 50 Experience Points]

"Now there's only four left," Julian said.

Three of them were on Michael. Julian moved to help — the fourth cut him off before he'd made it two steps. He didn't let that stop him completely. He sent his summon ahead instead.

Michael was still dodging, weaving back from one swipe after another, when one of the three attacking him got snatched from behind and flung aside by Julian's monster, sent rolling across the hood of a car. *Fighting like this is honestly a relief,* he thought — someone actually watching his back for once. The other two monsters didn't slow down. He stepped to the side, and for the first time didn't fall back — he closed the distance instead, lunging straight into one of them, the blade opening it from shoulder to hip in a single motion.

[You have killed a Razorclaw Stalker -- Level 3]

[You have received 50 Experience Points]

He didn't stop moving. He spun as the last one's claws raked toward him, met the strike with the blade turned edge-first, and cut clean through its leg at the joint. It went down hard, screeching, clawing at the asphalt. Michael stepped back once to let it fall, then closed in again and finished it where it lay.

[You have killed a Razorclaw Stalker -- Level 4]

[You have received 100 Experience Points]

*Oh, that one was Level 4?* He looked over. Julian had already put down both of his own opponents, spear resting easy at his side like none of it had cost him anything. For a second, that was it — quiet, just the two of them standing among the bodies, breathing hard between the wrecked cars.

Then more monsters showed up. Fifteen this time, pouring out from further down the road, drawn in by all the noise.

"This can't keep going," Michael said, already backing toward the front of the jam. "We need to move!"

"FIREBALL! FIREBALL!" Two balls of fire tore out of Julian's hands, one right after the other, and slammed into the front of the pack, throwing two of them backward into the cars behind them.

"Go!"

The two fireballs bought them a few seconds — not just from the monsters that got hit, but from the ones behind them, who flinched back at the flash and the sudden screaming. That was enough. They ran, weaving through the last stretch of dead cars, boots skidding on broken glass, until they reached the front of the jam.

Michael, to Julian's visible surprise, swung around the front of the car and climbed into the passenger seat instead of the driver's side.

"You're driving," Michael said, already scanning the mirrors. "I need to do something."