Teresa fired a bright
Preston, Jake, and Randall should be arriving any moment now, and Teresa was aware she might need the backup. She was fully aware of how dangerous people could be compared to monsters, these three being 16 levels below her didn’t mean they couldn’t kill her. Especially considering the fact they had already demonstrated they were capable fighters. Alternatively, as Sasha would put it, Teresa had already seen them doing some crazy ninja shit, and Teresa knew damn well a proficient fighter could hit above their level.
Teresa kept an eye on their pursuers, and watched as one drew his bow while in a full sprint. In response, Teresa brought her sword out and used it to shield herself from the fired arrow, tracking where the archer was aiming. It helped that the sword was larger than she was so she didn’t have to be perfect with it, but she had a lot of practice tracking where a ranged opponent was aiming.
The arrow slammed harmlessly into her sword, before exploding into a cloud of green gas. Teresa began using
The fire from the explosion was further from Teresa than it would have been if not for
Sarah fired an arrow back at the archer, though it was blocked by a
Teresa didn’t want to let someone who was a ranger archetype push in alone, so she advanced towards the attackers as well while firing
Sarah fired an arrow that struck the ground next to the
Teresa kept the
They could outlast their attackers purely thanks to resource consumption. Their opponents would have already used a lot of Stamina and Mana, plus they had injuries that hadn’t been healed. While Teresa would prefer to deal with them quickly, outlasting them was the safer option.
Unfortunately, Sasha had never fought with them before. For all Teresa knew, Sasha may have never fought other people post-System. Sasha pushing forward with a bow was a peculiar decision, and while she might have skills involving that Teresa didn’t think it was a good move to overextend this early into the fight.
Teresa kept up with her using
It looked like Sasha had just fired a shotgun rather than a bow. Several of the small projectiles managed to make it past whatever wind defense they were using, but Teresa couldn’t see if the attack hit anyone. Simultaneously, another arrow from Sarah struck the
The
Sasha began retreating while drawing another arrow, and she was fast. Faster than Teresa without
It struck her bow, cutting the weapon in half just as she released her Mana arrow. The arrow shattered into pieces as it was launched, though the light warrior ducked underneath the attack letting only one small piece to graze his back. Despite it only being one fragment of the arrow, it tore out a surprisingly large chunk of flesh, but it wasn’t enough.
Teresa was already running towards them with
Another arrow from Sarah was fired at the tank, striking her and bursting a gap in the armor around her gut. The tank had a second layer of light armor underneath the metal exterior that protected her, but the damaged outer armor would make it difficult to move without cutting herself on the jagged edges that Sarah just made.
Before Teresa could get close enough to help, the light warrior thrust his sword at Sasha, stabbing her through the throat. Sasha leaned back in time to keep the sword from completely cutting her head off in that one motion, but the attack was still extremely serious and resulted in her choking on her own blood while Teresa’s
Teresa arrived just before the light warrior could strike Sasha again, and Teresa activated
She was forced to stop using
It worked, but the light warrior immediately managed to attack back. He slipped under Teresa’s swing and stabbed her in the arm, though it didn’t break skin. Her 156 Fortitude and
Teresa fired a shotgun
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Sarah was keeping their tank busy, but a yelp from behind alerted Teresa to another situation. The archer that had vanished earlier made an appearance, or at least one of his attacks did. An arrow struck Sarah in the chest, stabbing into her. It didn’t go straight through Sarah and out the other side, but Sarah still collapsed to the ground as the arrow damaged her spine.
Teresa tracked the trajectory of the arrow and found the source. The archer was using a camouflage skill, and his entire body had changed color to perfectly match his surroundings. He must have moved away from the fight at some point and repositioned, using his stealth capabilities to get a clean shot in.
Sasha was still choking even after
The situation was still terrible. The enemy tank was now freed up, even if she was covered in burns and a few arrow wounds. Additionally, there was an archer that was difficult to spot even with a good Perception. Meanwhile, both of Teresa’s allies were gravely wounded and likely out of the fight.
Teresa understood now that Sasha’s skills were unorthodox for a ranger archetype and likely benefitted from close range attacks, but she had overextended at the beginning of the fight and put them in a bad situation. She could see Jake and Preston rapidly approaching, though they were still a large distance away. At most, Jake might be able to protect Sarah so she didn’t get finished off with a well placed headshot. Preston was carrying him so they could go at max speed, but Teresa wasn’t sure they’d make it in time. Hell, they didn’t even have great Perception, so for all Teresa knew they probably couldn’t even see the situation from there yet.
Between Sasha and Sarah, Teresa had to make a decision, and while it was a hard one the answer was clear. She couldn’t protect both of them at the same time, not very well anyways. Teresa put her sword away and dual cast
Bows had more range than
The archer was able to avoid it by simply stepping back farther, and he was already preparing another arrow from the looks of it. His camouflage made it hard to tell exactly what he was doing, though Teresa was confident he was about to finish off Sarah.
Additionally, the tank was now advancing on her uninhibited, while the light warrior was stumbling towards the unarmed Sasha to continue fighting her as well. Sasha should be able to handle that, even if she couldn’t breathe and was unarmed. She just had to run away, so her survival was just a matter of competency in Teresa’s eyes.
It might have been cold, but Sarah needed her help more. Sarah had played her cards right in this fight, and had Sasha done the same they wouldn’t be in such a bad situation. Teresa couldn’t blame her for not having experience fighting people with magical abilities, and she had only made one bad decision at the beginning of the fight, but it was sink or swim.
Teresa wracked her mind for something she could do, thinking as fast as she was physically capable of doing. She considered all of her skills, and only had one option to keep Sarah from getting finished off.
It bought Teresa enough time to get to Sarah’s side and summon her sword from her
In a surprising turn of events, Sarah was already moving. The arrow was still firmly lodged in her chest and her spine was still damaged, but Sarah didn’t need her legs to shoot a bow. She had an arrow nocked, and was aiming at the archer as soon as his camouflage went away. Sarah fired, the arrow striking the archer just above the groin before
Their tank was still being occupied by Teresa, and was running low on resources as well. She wasn’t able to protect the archer, and likely wasn’t even aware Sarah had been aiming at him.
The enemy tank managed to reach them with the advancing
, but the tank deflected the attack on her shield at an angle and sent the sword to the ground. It looked like that still broke the tank’s forearm, but she took advantage of the moment and tackled Teresa to the ground.
Fuck.
This was a terrible situation for Teresa. She didn’t know shit about grappling. Not only was the tank already shifting to an advantageous position that showed she was in her element, but the tank was also physically stronger. She didn’t even know when, but Teresa had been forced to drop her sword somehow. Teresa’s knee jerk reaction was to try and use
Her bones resisted, and Teresa managed to dual cast the spell in each hand. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to aim it, as the tank forced both arms out to keep her palms facing away. Teresa tried to kick the tank off, and Sarah was even aiming an arrow at her, but the tank managed to somehow roll behind Teresa and use her as a human shield.
Teresa was pretty confident these maneuvers weren’t from Earth, or were at the very least heavily adapted to a post-System environment. While Teresa may not have known anything about grappling, as she had no experience with wrestling, jujitsu, or anything along those lines, but directing someone’s hands specifically so their palms faced away seemed pretty unique. Teresa wasn’t even entirely sure how the tank was doing that, but every time she tried to aim her palms at the tank her wrist and forearms were twisted to keep her from getting a good angle.
On top of that, the tank was even able to use her as a shield at the same time. Something was pressed against Teresa’s spine, likely the tank’s leg, ensuring she was facing Sarah and not the tank. Her wrists finally broke, being put under continuous strain against someone with solid Strength and technique.
Sarah fired an arrow at the ground near them and made it
“The angle’s too sharp! I can’t land a hit!” Sarah exclaimed, still lying on her back. She wouldn’t be able to stand until the arrow piercing her spine was removed.
Teresa’s mind continued to race at what she could do. Only one idea came to mind, and it sucked. It would work though. She locked eyes with Sarah then glanced down to her own stomach a few times.
Sarah’s eyes went wide as she understood what Teresa was thinking, and aimed the bow at her stomach. In the briefest of moments before Sarah fired, Teresa’s mind was still racing. Could she lower her Fortitude voluntarily the same way she could change her Perception? Why would it only let her do that to one stat? If she thought about it, she kind of already did that all the time with her Strength, even if she didn’t think of it that way. Lowering her Fortitude here wouldn’t be great since then the tank would probably rip her arms off, so she decided not to, but it might be something-
Her thoughts were interrupted as Sarah fired, her arrow piercing through Teresa’s waist before
Had Sarah tried to shoot her through the stomach, the arrow likely wouldn’t have made it through due to Teresa’s Fortitude. Instead, Sarah shot the side of Teresa’s torso, making it more of a grazing shot than anything. Still, it fulfilled the conditions for her to use
The attack made the tank loosen her grip, and Teresa finally managed to get an arm free with sheer force. Her wrists were broken so she couldn’t hold her hands up to aim properly. The tank was already trying to maneuver to an advantageous position even with an arrow in her throat, but Teresa was just too fast.
She slapped her limp palm against the tank’s face and activated
Teresa’s resources were fine as far as things went, all of them were actually still over half capacity. Her main concern had been permanent injury, if the tank had managed to rip an arm off then she would be screwed.
That didn’t mean the process didn’t hurt like hell, but their attackers were all dead. The archer and light warrior had both collapsed from blood loss, and Sasha had managed to keep away from the light warrior. She was still coughing up blood, though she’d live.
With the fight over, Teresa sat down next to her sword and got to healing.