Chapter 142: Professors

Chapter 142: Professors

Isabel thrust her hands upward, and a wall of stone erupted from the ground at her feet. It slammed into the monkey’s chin, shattering against it and completely failing to do anything other than irritate the monster.

It smashed the stone to pieces with a massive fist, lumbering straight through it and letting out another roar. Isabel shoved herself to her feet and grabbed Emily, throwing her to safety before forming a thick wall of stone before her shield.

The gorilla’s fist crashed through the stone, sending arcs of electricity shooting off and into the ground, then continued on into Isabel’s shield. Once again, the supports Isabel had erected were smashed to pieces and she was sent tumbling until she slammed into a tree.

“Isabel!” Todd yelled. A thick torrent of flame washed out of his hands and over the gorilla’s back. It roared in fury and spun toward Todd. Emily rushed to ready another arrow, cursing.

If I just had more time, I could get a stronger attack in. But, if I wait, then Todd is going to get squished. He can’t take a hit like Isabel can.

Even as Isabel struggled back to her feet, Emily sent three arrows streaking through the air. They thudded into the back of the gorilla’s head one after the other. It stumbled forward, but each of them just shattered against its skull instead of penetrating.

The gorilla turned back toward Emily, and the electricity crackling across its skin intensified. Emily’s eyes widened.

It’s got a ranged attack.

She didn’t have time to react on her newfound knowledge. A torrent of electric power shot out of the monkey’s palms, searing across the ground and heading straight for Emily, far faster than she could react.

Isabel blurred, throwing herself into the path of the lightning and catching it on her shield. She let out a defiant yell as the power crackled off her body, blackening her shield and coursing down her armor into the ground.

“Thanks,” Emily said.

Another blast of fire shot into the back of the gorilla’s head. It spun toward Todd.

“Stop doing that!” Emily and Isabel yelled at the same time.

Todd’s feet thumped across the ground as he poured power into his Body Imbuements. He dove out of the way as a bolt of lightning slammed into the ground where he’d been standing, narrowly avoiding getting fried.

He hit the ground in a roll, grunting in pain as he skidded to a stop near Isabel.

“I was trying to keep its attention off you,” Todd said through gritted teeth. “But my magic just doesn’t do enough damage against this thing, and my Body Imbuements aren’t going to help me here.”

“It’s my job to keep its attention,” Isabel barked. “Let me do it! Don’t put yourself in danger like that.”

She’s right. Todd is still clearly still injured on top of that. He’s going to get himself killed.

“You can’t be the only one that keeps its attention,” Emily said. “You can’t withstand multiple attacks from it.”

“What else are we supposed to do?” Isabel demanded. The gorilla sent another bolt of lighting at them and Isabel raised her shield, letting it slam against her. She grunted in pain, but her armor took the brunt of the blow and sent the energy coursing into the ground. “You can’t take a hit from it at all. Just trust me!”

Emily opened her mouth. Then she closed it. If the gorilla did manage to land a blow on her, it would probably shatter her Shield at best. And, even if she managed to weather the first strike, the second one would turn her to paste.

“Can – can you hold its attention? If I don’t attack?” Emily asked.

Isabel jerked her head in a nod. “For a little while, but we don’t have any way to defeat it. You both need to run while I distract it.”

“No,” Todd said.

“No,” Emily said. “I can kill it, but I need time to gather enough Runic energy to kill it. It’ll take me time.”

“Are you sure?” Isabel asked.

“Yeah,” Todd said through gritted teeth from beside her. “Sorry about dropping you.”

“Better than getting electrocuted.”

“True enough,” Todd agreed. He raised his voice and called out, “Isabel! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Isabel replied. Emily pushed herself into a seated position to watch as Isabel walked toward them, her stone armor melting off her body. She had several bruises on her arms, but was otherwise unharmed. “Are you really just a Rank 1?”

“Me?” Emily asked. “Yeah.”

“How did you do so much damage with just one spell?” Isabel asked, flopping down beside them and gingerly poking at one of her bruised arms.

“I put all the energy of one of my Ice Runes into it,” Emily replied. “It takes too long to use that attack normally, though. It’s completely useless, so I never bother with it.”

“Didn’t look useless to me,” Todd muttered. “I wish I could do that.”

“Well, I wish I could do Body Imbuements. They don’t work at all for me,” Emily replied, pursing her lips. “If I could, maybe I’d be fast enough to outrun monsters myself. We just got lucky.”

“I’m not sure if I’d call you blowing its head off luck,” Isabel said with a curt laugh. “I wish I had that much destructive power too, you know. I’ll settle for being able to take some blows, though.”

“You’re pretty damn good at that,” Emily admitted. She paused, half expecting Moxie to show up and admonish her for her language, but there was still no sign of any of the professors.

“You can say that again,” Todd said with a grin. Isabel rolled her eyes and extended a hand to Todd, pulling him to his feet.

Emily started to stand, but paused when she saw Isabel hold her hand out.

“What?” Isabel asked, noticing Emily’s look.

“Nothing,” Emily replied, accepting the hand and letting Isabel pull her upright. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Isabel replied. “I had no idea you could do anything like that. I was probably getting in your way during the other fight today, wasn’t I?”

Emily glanced to the side. “I don’t know. I guess. It was hard to get a good shot in because the Beakfoot wasn’t as large as the gorilla was. I probably wouldn’t have been much use in that kind of fight when other people are involved.”

“You would have been if Isabel had given you space to attack,” Todd said. “My attacks aren’t easier to hit than yours are, and I have no trouble positioning myself to use them because Isabel is conscious of my position.”

“It’s not like I didn’t know where Emily was,” Isabel muttered. “I was just trying to keep myself between the monster and her.”

“What? Why?” Emily asked. “I’m not helpless, you know. I would have been fine. I did just as good as you against the Snufflers.”

“Yeah. Sorry,” Isabel said. “I’m just used to fighting together with Todd. I’ve never worked together with someone else like this before, so it didn’t really cross my mind. I’ll be more mindful of it next time.”

“Maybe we can all practice together so we can work better together next time?” Todd suggested.

“Next time?” Emily blinked. “What do you mean?”

“We’re working together for the survival exam, aren’t we? And we’re going to be out here in the wilderness for a while. What if another one of the gorillas shows up?”

“Oh. Yeah,” Emily said, taking a moment to respond before a flicker of a smile crossed her lips. “I guess that’s probably a good idea. Just don’t get in my way too much.”

“I was about to say the same thing to you,” Isabel replied, her eyes creasing in a slight smile that quickly fell away. “But... more importantly, where are the professors?”