Chapter 19: The Other Shoe

  Flying high above the information center and the party, the miniboss of the fifth and final wave was flapping its wings made of black smoke. The creature’s wingspan was large enough to be measured in meters, and the Fish’s beady black eyes seemed to absorb the light around them. It was too high up for Teresa to shoot with her bow, as she would certainly miss.

  Madeline on the other hand didn’t have any misgivings about taking shots. Her shot a continuous stream of sparks up in the air, which initially missed wildly and did not even reach high enough. However, Madeline’s ranged attack was not a single projectile, so she was able to adjust her aim as she fired her spell.

  The miniboss flew through the air to avoid the sparks that were getting closer to hitting their target, and swooped down towards the rooftop. As it got closer, some sparks made contact with its wings, and tiny holes formed in the outer layer of the smoke.

  It was very similar to the Shaman they had fought in the wave against the goblins. The Shaman had used a poisonous gas attack that used Mana, and when making contact with Madeline’s spell the two attacks had canceled each other out.

  At the time, Madeline’s hadn’t been very strong, and had been eventually overpowered by the poisonous gas. However, Madeline’s had seen significant improvement since then, and managed to deal more damage against the smoke wings than it had against the Shaman’s war crime gas.

  She managed to slightly destabilize the miniboss, however it still managed to avoid taking any hits to its main body. Additionally, the wings slowly repaired themselves wherever they took damage.

  Madeline wasn’t the only one with experience against gas based entities. Teresa may have been feeling like an airhead for forgetting about the miniboss this wave, but she sure remembered one thing that would come in handy.

  Teresa had already torn off four strips of fabric from her sleeves, and passed them around to the party. She wrapped a strip around her mouth and nose, tying it behind her head. During the fight against the Shaman, she had discovered her healer robes were able to negate poison to an extent. Seeing another monster with a gaseous property that would make it hard to breathe instantly reminded her of this, and soon everyone had wrapped a strip of fabric around their face.

  The miniboss opened its mouth and shot a stream of fire far larger than what the other Wyvern-Fish had been capable of. A wave of red energy shot up from Jake as he used his and held his shield above him. Preston used his to grab Madeline and run out of the way of the incoming flames while Teresa simply darted underneath Jake’s shield.

  Two seconds hadn’t even passed in the time it took for the flames to get from the miniboss’ mouth to the rooftop, and instantly both Jake and Teresa were completely surrounded by a raging inferno.

  “Shit!” Jake yelled as he held his shield above himself and Teresa. “Damn this one burns!”

  Teresa could see Jake’s shield begin to melt, and with the fire all around her she felt like she was rapidly getting sunburn everywhere. Any exposed skin turned pink from the heat, and the smell of burnt hair filled her nose. She couldn’t imagine how hot it must be inside the metal armor.

  She placed her hands against him and used . She sent the restoration Mana into Jake’s body, and she found she was able to control the restoration Mana even when Jake’s body had already absorbed it. This seemed to be a side effect of having already been cast on him, allowing Teresa greater control over how the Mana healed him.

  She guided to spread out and heal his skin all over, rapidly repairing his burns as he got them. Teresa herself was getting burnt pretty bad herself, but she wasn’t wearing a metal furnace like Jake.

  Soon the flames stopped, but not before Teresa had gotten a notification telling her that had finally reached level 3. She actively noticed an increase in the quality of her skill as she repaired Jake’s skin, and the only reason he wasn’t already completely healed was because his armor was still hot to the touch.

  Her own palms had been burning against his armor, but her palms were literally coated in restoration Mana. They would be fine. Within seconds, Jake’s armor had managed to cool itself off completely. This was worthy of note to Teresa, who figured it was similar to her own robe’s ability to work as a mask that could keep out poisonous gas. His armor likely had the ability to rapidly change to the ideal temperature, though evidently it wasn’t strong enough to negate the miniboss’ fire breath.

  Another wave of red energy shot out from Jake as he used his again, eager to keep the monster’s attention on him. Teresa quickly healed her own burns, which barely hurt compared to her injuries she had gotten against the Royal Yectin Clubber.

  Admittedly, they still hurt a lot, but she could still mostly ignore it. She fully healed herself in seconds, her being boosted by the she had cast on herself at the beginning of the wave. As soon as she was done, she nocked an arrow with her bow to try and land a shot.

  More streams of shot out from Madeline’s palm while Preston stood beside her, ready to get her out of the way of any attacks. It was probably the most useful thing he could do at the moment, as he didn’t have any way to attack the monster in the air.

  As Teresa was thinking that, he swung his sword at the monster high in the air. A white cut made of some sort of Mana shot out in an arc towards the miniboss, though the monster was able to avoid most of it. However, the force from the arc behaved like a gust of wind, and destabilized the monster’s flight.

  The Wyvern-Fish miniboss lost control of its trajectory and crashed onto the rooftop, although it quickly got back onto its feet. Nobody let the moment go to waste. Madeline shot her straight at the monster’s face, Teresa released an arrow that planted itself in the monster’s torso, Jake swung his axe down into the creature’s back where one of its wings sprouted from, and Preston cut his sword across the creature’s neck, leaving a lethal wound.

  At least, it should have been lethal. The monster released a high pitched sound, the first noise any of the creatures this wave had vocalized. The monster’s screech created a soundwave that forcibly pushed everyone away, and Teresa felt blood running out of her ears. The monster’s yell was a sonic weapon, and she had sensed that it had been infused with Mana.

  Teresa had gone completely deaf for a moment, but her kicked in and began to restore her hearing. Everyone around her seemed to be experiencing the same thing, as they all had blood dripping out from their ears. Only Jake seemed to have been able to withstand it at all, though judging by his grimace even he hadn't gotten away completely unharmed.

  Another red wave of energy shot out from Jake’s , which only made the miniboss hesitate for a second. Black smoke poured into its wounds from its wings, decreasing the monster’s overall wingspan. However, the black smoke transformed into flesh as it healed the monster of its wounds, though Madeline was not letting it off easy.

  She continued to use , constantly shooting a stream of sparks into the monster’s face and blinding it as it tried to heal. The monster tried to cover its face with its hands, which protected its vision but resulted in nasty burns to its arms. Jake and Preston both ran towards the monster again, and Teresa began drawing another arrow.

  Before anyone could land an attack, the miniboss’ wings slammed into the ground, dispersing into a massive cloud of black smoke that completely covered the rooftop. Teresa’s rags certainly helped against the smoke, but it wasn’t perfect. Just like how Jake’s armor could only do so much against the flames, Teresa’s robes could only protect so much against the smoke.

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  Each breath burnt her lungs, and she was forced to close her eyes to keep the smoke from searing her retinas. All over her skin she felt burns, though she used to keep herself going.

  Teresa couldn’t just keep her eyes closed forever, and she tried to wave the smoke away and open her eyes. That barely did anything, and as soon as her eyes opened any water on them completely evaporated. She forced herself to keep her eyes open anyways, using the restoration Mana from to repair the damage as she took it.

  Yet another red wave of energy passed through the smoke, which succeeded in both letting Teresa know where Jake was and taking the miniboss’ attention. All of the smoke condensed into one section on the roof, likely where Jake was, and Teresa saw her chance. Madeline and Preston were both wheezing and covering their eyes, as the had not completely healed them yet.

  Teresa was in no condition to aim a bow, especially on a rooftop with allies. Instead, she drew her sword and sprinted at the miniboss, swinging it at the creature’s head.

  The miniboss managed to raise its arm in time, blocking the strike by letting the blade cut into its arm. Teresa lifted her rear leg and roundhouse kicked the monster in the stomach, making the monster hunch over for a moment.

  Teresa used that moment to jerk her sword out of the miniboss’ arm, getting ready to swing again. As she swung her blade down, the monster caught her by surprise and attacked first. Smokey claws formed on the end of its hands, and it slashed Teresa’s forearm.

  She was forced to drop her sword as the flesh on her arm was sliced into ribbons, and she jumped back thankful that her arm was still attached. She immediately started using , though the monster attacked again.

  It swung its other arm at her head, but the attack was clearly telegraphed by the wild monster. Teresa leaned back and ducked, slipping her head under the blow. She rapidly backstepped, trying to create distance between herself and the monster. More sparks hit the beast’s back as Madeline began using again, and another cut traveled through the air into the miniboss’ back from Preston’s new skill.

  The monster let out another screech, the soundwave once again deafening Teresa and the rest of the party. Teresa had to focus on her arm rather than her hearing, and it would be fully healed in just another couple of seconds.

  Seizing the moment, the Wyvern-Fish miniboss charged at Teresa, seeming eager to finish her off. Teresa was in no position to avoid this attack, and she saw that getting impaled was inevitable. This might kill her, but she wasn’t going to leave the Tutorial to avoid this. She was still in no shape to save Sarah, she had to take this hit and figure out some way to survive.

  It really didn’t look like something she could survive. Smokey claws thrust towards her, likely capable of tearing her torso in half. She tried to dodge to the side, but her accelerated thinking that likely had something to do with her Intelligence stat let her understand that there was no avoiding this.

  It was either leave the Tutorial or die.

  Teresa mentally braced herself for the end as she tried to dodge too slowly, feeling strange as her life was about to be cut short. Teresa remembered when she had jumped off that cliff just before the Tutorial happened, and time had frozen. It almost felt like the same thing was happening again, as her life flashed before her eyes.

  Teresa opened a screen she hadn’t even looked at herself yet.

  Leave Tutorial?

  Yes

  No

  She couldn’t do it. She selected “No,” as death approached, feeling disappointed in how things turned out. When she had first tried to kill herself, she had expected the fall off the cliff to be the longest couple of seconds in her life as she eagerly approached death. Now, she had proved that thought wrong. The seconds she was experiencing now, as she was about to be reluctantly taken by death, had easily been the longest couple of seconds in her life.

  The claws were about to reach her stomach, when a screen of light appeared between her and the Wyvern-Fish. The creature’s attack slammed into the screen of light, cracking it but not breaking through. This gave Teresa enough time to get to her feet and backstep again, creating distance as her arm finished healing.

  “Thanks!” Teresa yelled out as her eardrums healed, having an idea of who had saved her.

  “I got you dude.” Jake replied, having just used his new skill he unlocked from his class level up.

  Preston was now directly behind the monster, and he plunged his sword through the back of the creature’s head. Teresa had been completely expecting a kill notification from this, but she didn’t get one. The Wyvern-Fish instead began to panic and thrash, managing to actually take off into the air with a furious flap of its wings.

  The Fish held a firm grip on Preston’s wrist as it flew into the air, going higher and higher. The flight was suddenly cut short as the Wyvern-Fish tried to heal its head injury with the smoke from its wings, making them lose their shape and lose the ability to fly.

  Preston finally managed to yank his sword out of the creature’s head while midair, and began to plummet to the ground. A shield of light appeared under him as Jake attempted to catch him, but it disappeared a moment later.

  “Shit, it only lasts for a second and it has a five second cooldown!” Jake yelled, watching as Preston fell helplessly from the sky. In that five second cooldown, Preston would have built enough momentum to not survive being caught by a stationary object like Jake’s light shield.

  “TERESA!” Preston screamed. He threw his sword ahead of him towards the ground, and he gave a double thumbs up. “SAVE SARAH!”

  He didn’t have the time for any more words as he rapidly lost altitude. Before he could splatter against the ground, he simply disappeared. No puff of smoke, no lightshow, just gone. All that remained was his sword that clattered against the ground a distance away from the information center.

  Preston had left the Tutorial.

  The miniboss plummeted to the ground, still healing from the stab wound that went through its head. There was nothing Teresa could actively do as it fell, so she took the chance to use again on everyone remaining in the party to refresh the healing.

  The Wyvern-Fish crashed into the ground, landing a short distance away from the information center. Everyone ran to the edge of the roof, ready to keep fighting.

  The miniboss had splattered against the concrete, but the remaining tendrils of smoke were filling its wounds. Teresa was pretty sure she saw a glimpse of a Wyvern-Fish’s head in the smoke, but it vanished as the miniboss absorbed the smoke to recover.

  Its wingspan was incredibly short now, as they had shrunk each time the monster needed to heal itself. Teresa was willing to bet that the wings were like some sort of health bar, and once they were completely gone the monster would actually be able to die from its wounds.

  Madeline unleashed her again, burning away at the monster as it tried to heal. The miniboss let out yet another shriek, and a soundwave once again shot out.

  A light screen appeared just in front of Madeline’s head, stopping the soundwave from hitting her ears while letting her continue using her spell. Jake could only use his new skill so often due to its cooldown, so Teresa was still hit by the soundwave once again.

  She didn’t mind that Jake had chosen to protect Madeline in this instance, as it made the most sense. Jake could tank the damage thanks to his high Fortitude, and Teresa could heal herself incredibly fast. Teresa felt her eardrums rupture yet again, but she managed to ignore the agonizing pain to draw another arrow.

  The monster sprinted towards the building, and began climbing it far faster than any other Wyvern-Fish had been capable of. It used what little remained of its wings to grant itself a small speed boost, though it didn’t stop Madeline and Teresa from launching attacks at the beast.

  Teresa released an arrow that stabbed into the creature’s arm, and a red wave of energy from Jake’s once again hit the beast. Even with the arrows and sparks, the miniboss didn’t slow down, and managed to make it onto the rooftop.

  Jake swung his axe down onto the monster, but the miniboss was able to narrowly avoid the strike and land one of its own. The Wyvern-Fish grabbed onto the rim of Jake’s shield and pulled, though due to Jake’s high Strength all it succeeded in doing was lifting itself over the top of the shield.

  That was still dangerous enough.

  The monster opened its mouth, ignoring the sparks and the arrows that injured it to finish off their tank. Smoke pooled into its wounds as a bright light appeared in the creature's gaping jaw, and fire shot down at Jake’s unprotected head.

  Jake tried to protect his face by blocking the fire with his armored hand, but it wasn’t enough. He even used his new skill to create a light screen in front of his head, but it only lasted for a second while the miniboss refused to relent its barrage of flames right at his head.

  “SHIT!” Jake yelled, burns now covering the vast majority of his head where he was unable to protect himself. He locked eye contact with Teresa for an instant. “I’M SORRY!”

  With that, Jake vanished. He left the Tutorial, likely a wise decision as he was about to have his head burnt to a crisp.

  All that was left standing on the rooftop was Teresa and Madeline, along with the strongest monster the Tutorial had thrown at them so far.