"Everyone, retreat!"
Teacher Fielding was shouting, but it was too late. All of the close combat fighters were down, and the long range mages weren't about to abandon their comrades. Bu Fan, Dong Fang Yue Chu and Jin Hao launched another inferno spell that bathed the wounded Silver Skeletal Wolf and sent it staggering again, but was unable to incinerate completely. Meanwhile Aoi and Alicia were covering Zhang Hou Zi as he dashed forward to conjure wind spells to lift the convulsing warrior-mages to safety without touching them and getting electrocuted.
Right…a Fiend-class monster like the Silver Skeletal Wolf would surely be capable of casting elemental spells like its lower-ranked Elemental-class brethren. We were careless…or we probably didn't anticipate that it could fire off high-voltage electricity in addition to its volleys of bone spikes.
"Damn it…if only Senior Pearl was here too…" Alicia muttered as she dropped her guns to apply emergency first aid. However, unlike Pearl, she was unable to cast healing spells, and could only perform the most basic treatment.
"Senior Pearl is with Teacher Cure and the injured," Aoi reminded her, trying to fight off her panic. "They are taking care of the wounded with all the other healing mages. They need every help they can get."
"Don't worry…they aren't dead," Teacher Fielding assured them as he crouched beside them to check on their injuries. "They're fried slightly, but they should recover in fifteen minutes. All of them have strong magical resistance. They just need some time to adapt to the attack and foreign mana invading their bodies."
"I'm not sure we have that time!" Harvey murmured as he dropped down to join them and offer his assistance at basic first aid.
"Yeah." Teacher Fielding turned to Zhang Hou Zi. "How fast can you carry all of them away with your wind magic?"
The wind mage winced. "Not very fast, especially with so many of them. I don't think I can outrun the Silver Skeletal Wolf while transporting all of them."
"We'll buy you the time you need to get them to safety. Harvey, you're the scout. You're to go ahead and look for a route without any enemies and locate a safe refuge. Zhang Hou Zi will follow you."
"Understood!"
While they were discussing their plans, Dong Fang Yue Chu, Bu Fan and Jin Hao continued their bombardment of flames at the howling Silver Skeletal Wolf. The rank B monster growled and lightning erupted from it, sizzling through the flames and dissipating them harmlessly. Even so, it was clear that it had taken quite some damage.
"The damned thing just won't die!" Bu Fan grumbled in frustration.
"Watch out!" Jin Hao yelled as the Silver Skeletal Wolf retaliated with a barrage of electricity. This time, the water barrier from Black Tortoise protected them from the deadly bolts, forming a ring that surrounded the Silver Skeletal Wolf and blocked off its attacks.
I would have done the same to protect the close combat mages earlier, but they were too close to the Silver Skeletal Wolf and too far from Black Tortoise's protective aura for me to have made it in time. In contrast, Dong Fang Yue Chu and the ranged mages were at a distance from the monster and closer to my Black Tortoise, so it was easier for me to protect them.
"So this is a rank B monster, huh?" Dong Fang Yue Chu shook his head. "It's just as powerful as the Crastrate from before."
"That's because they are both rank B," Jin Hao pointed out impatiently, having also engaged the Crastrate in combat before.
"On the bright side, we aren't getting immediately slaughtered like last time, so it seems that we have gotten a lot stronger than before!"
As expected of the optimistic Dong Fang Yue Chu, he was always looking for the positives.
"Not that it's going to help us much," Bu Fan sighed, infuriated. "We've to retreat. We can't beat this monster."
"Yes, we can!"
At that moment, I launched myself from one of the scorched buildings, drawing both Gan Jiang and Mo Ye. Vermillion Phoenix had shrunk to his chibi form and was flying right next to me as I lunged toward the Silver Skeletal Wolf.
He then disappeared and transformed into twin torrents of flames that blazed along the black and white blades of Gan Jiang and Mo Ye. The Silver Skeletal Wolf turned toward me with a snarl, but Alicia's projectiles slammed into its face, causing it to stagger.
"Cover him!" Bu Fan ordered, realizing what I was about to do. Dong Fang Yue Chu and Jin Hao immediately obeyed, joining him in launching a barrage of fireballs that seared through the bone-white armor that protected the howling wolf monster.
Hurrying forward, Aoi slammed both hands against the ground and froze the Silver Skeletal Wolf's legs. The Fiend-class monster growled and swiped at the expanding ice, smashing it, and then tried to shield its face from the relentless hail of magical projectiles from Alicia and the devastating rain of fireballs from the three guys.
It was forced to turn away from me for a split second.
That split second was more than enough.
With a single swing of both of my swords, I slashed at the bleeding part of its throat, where the scorched, weakened armor plating that protected its ruptured carotid artery was. Infusing both my swords with every ounce of mana I could muster, I succeeded in cleaving through the bone. My flaming swords actually sank deeply into soft flesh and cut in before hitting bone. Bolstering my strength with physical reinforcement spells (I still hadn't gotten to the stage of Ba Qi yet), I yelled desperately as I worked my swords through the tough bone.
Vermillion Phoenix's Solar Flare spell must have come through for I managed to melt the bone with the superheated flames running along my blades. In another couple of strokes I actually succeeded in decapitating the Silver Skeletal Wolf.
Sizzle!
Blood spurted from the Silver Skeletal Wolf's severed neck like a geyser. I landed on the ground, rolling to reduce the impact, and stumbled to a crouch while using both swords to support myself. Behind me, the Silver Skeletal Wolf's disembodied head struck the ground, the glow in its hatred-suffused red eyes fading away along with its life.
The headless body of the Silver Skeletal Wolf staggered for a moment, as if still trying to absorb the shock of losing its head, and then it toppled over. The massive corpse crashed into a nearby building, the concrete giving way as tons of bone fell against it, but the majority of the structure held firm, propping up the carcass.
"…we did it…"
Dong Fang Yue Chu was gaping at me in shock.
"That bastard actually did it!" Bu Fan muttered, just as amazed as my friend.
"YES!"
"Ha ha ha ha!"
"I knew Senior Richard could do it!"
Jin Hao was cheering, and Zhang Hou Zi was laughing from sheer relief. Harvey, as usual, was beaming with that knowing grin, as if he had suspected I had planned this all along. No, I didn't. I just thought I could exploit the weakness that opened up when the three ranged mages incinerated the Silver Skeletal Wolf with their fire spells.
"I…don't believe it…a rank B monster…we slew it…"
Aoi collapsed to her knees, her mouth open. Teacher Fielding shook his head with an amused smile as he helped her up.
"Well, this isn't the first time Richard took down a rank B monster…though admittedly he didn't need to cast a Strategic-scale spell to do it this time."
"It's only because everyone worked together," I pointed out, exhausted. Vermillion Phoenix and Black Tortoise had faded away, the flames dissipating from my two swords before I sheathed them. "There's no way I could have cut off the Silver Skeletal Wolf's head if everyone didn't weaken it at first."
That was the truth. I didn't care if readers were calling me weak and pathetic in the comments, but reality was harsh. This wasn't a world where I could go solo and emerge a hero. If I had tried that same stunt when I was alone, it would have ended up like Craig's attempt, with the Silver Skeletal Wolf sealing its wound with a bone armor, and then it would proceed to kick my ass just like the Crastrate so long ago.
I was glad I had reliable comrades who cooperated. Every person had their role, and each spell and attack counted. If Alicia and the rest didn't distract the Silver Skeletal Wolf when I was trying to deliver that last blow, it would have swatted me out of the sky and slaughtered me mercilessly.
I had trusted the others to realize what I was going to do, and my faith was not misplaced. Alicia had reacted the quickest, being the first to offer support, while Bu Fan and the other two also helped out. Aoi's ice magic also made the entire difference, distracting the Silver Skeletal Wolf at the most pivotal moment.
"Are you all right?"
Alicia smiled as she approached me. She offered me a hand and I accepted it. She pulled me to my feet before hugging me.
"That was quite the risk you took. Putting yourself in danger like that…you had me worried."
"Well…" I shrugged. "If I didn't take the risk, we would all be dead."
"That might be true." Alicia sighed.
"Oi, stop flirting and help us out," Bu Fan ordered, sounding annoyed. We broke apart, a little embarrassed, but…
"No need for that." Teacher Fielding held out a hand to stop us. "They've recovered. Give them some time to rest and we'll move out again. Everyone, use this chance to get some rest."
"I'll stay on the lookout," Harvey offered. He probably felt bad that he couldn't contribute to the battle at all, but he was the one who spotted the Silver Skeletal Wolf in the first place. If it wasn't for him, we would have been taken by surprise by the rank B monster the moment its overwhelming aura hit and paralyzed us. By then, the damned monster would have tracked us by scent before we could plan the ambush.
Hell, the only reason why we stood a chance in the first place was because we ambushed it. Had our roles been reversed, the Silver Skeletal Wolf would have at least slaughtered several of us. It was a miracle that we didn't sustain any heavy casualties against a monster of such caliber.
"Ouch. That hit hard."
Unsurprisingly, Theodore was the first to recover, given his innate resistance to lightning spells because of his affinity with that element. He checked to see if his Thunder Hammer was still around and was relieved to see that it was beside him.
"I can't believe I was knocked out by a lightning spell of all things…"
"A spell cast by a rank B monster," Teacher Fielding reminded him. "You're lucky you didn't suffer worse damage than this. The others are even luckier to be alive."
"Ugh…"
Craig was sitting up and rubbing his head. His body still trembled from faint traces of electricity, but otherwise he seemed fine. Beside him, Sheila and Lily rose, still grimacing from the last of the currents still flowing through them.
"That hit hard."
"Yeah. A rank B monster's attack. I'm glad we survived."
Harrison was already up on his feet, and shrugging off the effects. By now, Theodore had completely recovered and was swinging his Thunder Hammer around to ensure he wasn't still affected by the lightning spell.
"I hope we don't run into any more of those things," Aoi murmured with a shudder. "I'm not sure we can survive another fight like that."
"The shelter is just a kilometer away, and I don't see anything else for now." Harvey took a deep breath as he observed from his vantage point.
"Great." Jin Hao leaned back and relaxed. Bu Fan and Zhang Hou Zi were exchanging a few words out of earshot, but I doubted they were plotting something behind our back to betray us or something.
"Everyone should rest for now. We move out in five." Teacher Fielding was already plotting the route in the screen of his smartphone and transmitting it to the other groups. Appended to the holographic map was a warning to keep an eye out for rank B monsters in the vicinity. Surely that wasn't the only Silver Skeletal Wolf roaming about in the city.
"Yes, sir."
Chorusing in relief, everyone did whatever they needed. For now, I contented myself with sitting beside Alicia as we waited to recuperate our strength. Glancing in the distance, I sighed heavily and wondered what other dangers awaited us in the rest of the journey.