After everyone stopped trying to get the killing blow on the wolf spiders, they went back to the team strategy, but taking down the Wolf Spiders was turning out to be more difficult than they originally thought.

Wolf Spiders were much sharper than the acromantulas, so Amber and Flynn were having a difficult time trying to root them, in turn, Theo and Olan could barely fight it off.

The dungeon started with E-ranked monsters and now they were trying to kill C-rank ones, as a team no less, seeing that the lower floor no longer had any goblins, bats or hobgoblins meant that the Wolf Spiders and Acromantulas eradicated them, which is why the dungeon now had C rank monsters, when the dungeon itself was supposed to be a D rank one.

Theo´s team had been fighting their mob for a while, not making any progress, “Theodore have your team take care of all the Acromantulas first, while you distract the wolf spider afterward have everyone attack the Wolf Spider together” Prim advised, Theo then took charge and went to the wolf spider fending it off with his Flower Wind stance.

“Everyone, pick off the spider while I distract this one!” Theo screamed, as his teammates saw him rush the Wolf Spider they reacted quickly, taking care of the Acromantulas.

Theo focused on the Wolf Spider, without Amber and Flynn’s magic to slow down his enemy it took all his concentration to not get beaten by the Wolf Spider, its legs were faster than the acromantula, and at every chance it had it tried to crush Theo with its big pincers on its mouth.

As his teammates were eliminating the Acromantulas, Theo backed off and began running from the Wolf Spider, his arms were incredibly tired from the beating he was taking just trying to defend himself from its attacks, the difference in strength was evident, but as the Wolf Spider sensed the rest of the Spiders were dying it turned from Theo no longer minding him.

As Theo noticed this, he quickly charged his Arc Slice and cast it at the Wolf Spider, this was Theo´s strongest and only attack spell, and with it, he had defeated a 3rd ranker which was the equivalent of this Wolf Spider in his mind, as the spell reached the Wolf Spider it wasn’t enough to hurt it but enough to get its attention once again.

The Wolf Spider then rushed at Theo, Theo then distanced himself quickly as he cast Arc Slice after Arc Slice trying to put some damage on the Wolf Spider, Theo was targeting its abdomen, but after hitting it 3 times the attacks were just bouncing off of it.

There was a clear difference between a Wolf Spiders’ defensive capabilities and a 3rd rank trainee, “Theo, all monsters are difficult to deal damage to, especially ones that are higher rank, right now your only chance is to hit its weak points, unlike the Acromantulas Wolf Spiders have a reinforced abdomen, you must go for the head” Prim imparted this information to him.

Theo then tried to overcharge Arc Slice while on the move, it proved difficult for him, taking into account the concentration from casting a spell and overcharging it, while running and taking evasive actions against the wolf spiders attacks, if he miscalculated the spell could backfire and activate on himself.

Luckily it didn’t happen and as he had it overcharged, Theo stopped abruptly, turning suddenly, the Wolf Spider sensing this attacked Theo violently, it was then that his teammates finally finished off the Acromantulas, as Amber and Flynn quickly cast their spells, they were able to slightly slow down the Wolf Spider.

Theo took advantage of this and aimed his spell right at the head, taking the Wolf Spider by surprise, Theo´s Arc Slice was able to pierce a third of its neck, and black ooze sprayed everywhere, then Olan and Theo rushed the wolf spider to finish it off.

After taking care of the Wolf Spider they were all lacking mana and exhausted, so they began using mana regeneration, as Theo looked over Ferdinand’s team was finishing their third mob, Ferdinand was a one-man wrecking crew, all they needed was his fire spells to destroy the Wolf Spiders, he scorched them completely.

Theo´s team then went to defeat their second mob, this time it took them less time, using the same strategy, Theo worked the Wolf Spider from a distance using his Arc Slice spell, and now that they knew how to handle it and its weaknesses it went smoother.

After all the mobs were defeated there was a total of 10 rank C mana cores, Everette decided to hold onto them until they left the dungeon.

As they descended to the third floor, things were noticeably different, so far on the first and second, it was like a big underground field, now it was rather smaller compared to the other floors and they could roughly see how many mobs there were in total, about 40 all having 1 to 2 Wolf Spiders in them.

“All right, we will remain working with the same teams until we reach the boss’s lair, work at your own pace and be careful, you will only be able to rely on each other!” Everette ordered as his team moved on ahead.

It was clear that Everette wanted everyone to be able to fend for themselves, in battle they would probably use the same strategy working in small teams to fight battles.

Theo was nervous again, before they met with the Wolf Spiders he was feeling pretty good, but now all these monsters were getting far stronger than he would have liked.

On the plus side he earned 100 mana just from splitting the killing blow on the Wolf spiders, he now had 1,175 mana.

Theo´s team was the last one to advance, all the other group was already engaged in battle, they decided to talk over a different strategy, as having Theo tank the Wolf Spider was dangerous for him and it took them a long time to take care of the rest of the Acromantulas with just Olan at the front line.

Fester would distract the Wolf Spider with fireballs, he would keep a safe distance as the rest killed the Acromantulas as quickly as possible, they picked a mob that had just one Wolf Spider on it, as they got used to fighting like this.

It worked far better as the Wolf Spider was kept distracted by Fester, Theo would use Arc Slice on the Acromantulas as soon as they were rooted in place, with just one it was enough to penetrate the abdomen from the back killing it instantly, by doing this Olan could fight one as Theo killed another, cutting their time in half, in just a few minutes they were already upon the Wolf Spider, having everyone attack it at once proved great as they killed it even faster this time.

They rested after killing the mob and extracting the mana cores, they kept this up for the next 2 mobs they faced, as they were resting Theo decided to consume the mana cores he now had.

“Prim, how do I consume a mana core?” Theo asked, “Hold and feel the mana on it, then just like with mana restoration, try extracting mana, you´ll automatically consume it, how fast you consume it depends on your talent, normally it takes a few weeks to consume D rank cores” Prim shared with him.

Theo then did as Prim said, he decided to start with his only E rank core, he had 14 D ranked ones, as he held it in his hand he could feel the mana on it, he did as Prim instructed him, and he could feel mana flowing within him filling and expanding his core, it took him 5 min to consume it.

Because it was so fast he decided to do it with a D rank core now, as he was doing this Prim was watching him, amazed at his consumption speed, even a 4th ranked would take a few hours to consume a measly E rank core, and Theo was 4 times faster than an stronger awakened 2 levels higher than him.

As Theo started to consume the mana core “Hey Theo come on we gotta get moving or we´ll fall behind” Amber said to him, “Oh r-right, sorry” he decided to put the mana core away as they went to deal with another mob.

After finishing their 4th mob, Theo asked for 10 min, so he could consume part of a mana core, they all said yes and decided to do the same, the more mana all of them had the stronger they´d be.

In just ten minutes, Theo consumed a fourth of the mana core, “Prim how much mana do I have now?” Theo asked, “You just reached 1.6k, also your consumption speed is faster than average which is great” Prim said deciding to keep to herself his incredible talent for consuming mana cores.

“That’s great, I can cast a lot more Arc Slice´s now” Theo spoke enthusiastically, “Would you like to learn a new spell Theodore,” Prim asked, Theo´s eyes popped open as he responded with an emphatic “YES!”.

Prim then brought Theo into her domain, then under the flame, there was an activated mana circle with 3 rings on it.

This is the spell called Time Step, it is a tier 3 spell, it gives you speed by slowing everything around you, it will feel like when I lend you my power and time slows down, but instead of just seeing and feeling things slower, you´ll be able to move normally which will make you move 50% faster real-time, it will consume 1.5k mana and it lasts 10 seconds, which is why I hadn’t decided to teach it to you until now”.

It took Theo 2 hours to learn Time Step, when he came back, everyone was still working on their mana cores, he also went back to consume a mana core and get as much mana as possible, he would soon need it.