Chapter 181: The Final Test, Part Seventeen

{Rin}

{A while later}

"Almost there," Elisa said, prompting Rin to look up. "I can see the peak from here. Just a few more minutes away, isn't it?"

It was difficult to tell with all of the snow falling around them but as Rin narrowed her eyes in an attempt to see a little more clearly she came to the conclusion that Elisa was right. The path was unclear and foggy, but their destination was not. Just after one more stretch of nebulous territory was the summit of this mountain.

Rin couldn't wait to be there. Mainly, because she hoped Maria would be able to restore feeling in her body. The numbness had now spread to her abdomen.

"Haven't seen many monsters in this part," Elisa muttered. "You think we're past them all?"

"Maybe," Rin replied.

"Hopefully we are," Elisa said, "I feel like it's getting even colder."

[... So, it's not just me.]

Rin had been able to see her own breath for a while now, but, at this point, even the combined warmth of her body plus that of the woman carrying her wasn't enough to fully combat the freezing temperature.

[Is this just the weather being weird again?]

Elisa then stopped. Rin wondered if, maybe, she was tired, but as she looked forward she soon understood this wasn't the case. Instead, up ahead, she found one singular monster, moving toward them.

"... I actually know this one," Elisa muttered. "You remember it from class?"

Rin couldn't say that she did. The creature looked like a skeleton with glowing blue eyes, wearing a black cloak and carrying what appeared to be a scythe on its back. Its limbs were unnaturally long and its pace was slow as it approached.

"Not really."

"It's a wraith," Elisa explained. "A type of undead, but, this one can be hit by normal attacks. Kinda like zombies or skeletons. I'm gonna have to drop you for a second."

"It's fine..."

Elisa laid Rin down in a hurry. Before, when she'd fought that spider-like creature, she appeared completely and totally confident. Here, though, Rin could sense a small amount of apprehension on her face.

"This might be a bit hard," Elisa said quietly.

"How strong is it?" Rin asked, her concern growing steadily.

"... It's Rank C," Elisa then stated and Rin's eyes widened. "I think we might have gone to a bad side of the mountain or something. Probably because the snow made it hard to see where we were going."

"S-Should we run?" Rin asked. "You can pick me up and-"

"Nah, that thing's not gonna let us go," Elisa explained, taking her greatswords out. "Cara said that once it finds an enemy, it doesn't stop until they're dead. I'm going to have to kill it."

Due to the poison that had spread inside of her, all Rin could do was watch from behind. The skeletal creature moved toward them slowly. As it got closer, it took out its weapon as well. A black shaft leading up to a stainless blade, Rin felt an ominous amount of strength pouring out of the creature. She remembered this feeling. It was similar to what she felt when she saw the skeleton she and Xhez took down at those ruins.

"Be careful," Rin muttered.

"Yeah, I-"

Elisa didn't get a chance to finish. The wraith dashed toward her and appeared in front of the rookie adventurer in the blink of an eye. Elisa responded to its aggression just as quickly, however, spinning with her greatswords and slashing out with them to deter the creature from continuing to press forward.

Indeed, it didn't. It chose to leap up into the air instead.

The monster flipped forward and looked like it was going to slam the tip of its scythe into the center of Elisa's head from above. Elisa blocked the attack as it came toward her, however, and spun again, forcing the wraith to move back.

[It's fast,] Rin thought as the wraith paused its aggression, staring at its opponent.

Just as she'd done before, Elisa dropped one of her greatswords and continued the fight with just one blade. Rin figured she understood that she needed to be as fast as possible in this situation and that wielding both weapons wouldn't allow for that.

The wraith disappeared.

[Where did it go?]

As she heard a clang to the side, she realized that it hadn't disappeared. It was simply that fast. Elisa ducked under a horizontal swipe and dragged her legs through the snow to move forward and try to stab the creature. Her sword struck the skeleton's ribcage but didn't seem to do any real damage.

Despite the hit she'd just landed, Elisa quickly took up a defensive position. Rin could tell she was taking no chances.

Even then, this would be a difficult battle, as, for the first time, the wraith moved too quickly for Elisa to react. It moved up to her left. Rin followed Elisa's eyes as she tried to track the creature, but it was already attacking before she figured out what was going on.

The wraith managed to stab the tip of its scythe into Elisa's left calf muscle. Elisa gritted her teeth, however, and placed a hand on the wraith's shoulder, holding it in place and raising her sword up. The monster tried to yank itself free, but Elisa managed to sever its left arm before it could do so.

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Then, it backed off. The skeleton's arm fell on the snow, as did blood from Elisa's leg.

Elisa clutched her wound, dropping to one knee as Rin watched, terrified.

They'd traded blows but something told Rin that this skeletal monster probably didn't feel much in the form of pain, unlike Elisa clearly was right now.

Despite that, it didn't take long before Elisa forced herself to stand back up, putting her greatsword in front of her.

[... My Essence has regenerated since the fights against those ghosts,] Rin thought, trying to come up with some idea to help. [Maybe I could use a Fireball.]

She had to try something. Elisa was a great fighter, Rin knew that to be true, but as the two opponents clashed again and Elisa struggled to keep the wraith from killing her, it became more and more obvious she was outmatched.

[As soon as I attack, the monster might target me. I need to make it count.]

This was a desperate situation. Rin knew she had to try. She lifted a hand, trying her hardest to keep it from trembling.

[Don't mess up. Focus, and land the shot. It doesn't even need to hurt the wraith, it's fine if it just gives Elisa a window to kill it.]

With that in mind, Rin waited. Elisa noticed her, peeking at her out of the corner of her eye. Rin saw her nod before the wraith engaged her again.

The wound on Elisa's leg had slowed the adventurer's speed down dramatically.

Rin knew she needed to act quickly.

The wraith appeared in front of Elisa. The adventurer raised her sword vertically, stopping the undead creature's scythe as it went to attack her midsection.

And Rin saw her opportunity.

[Now!]

As the two of them remained locked in that position, Rin pushed Essence into her hand and drew an upwards arrow.

A sphere of flames shot out toward the wraith. The ability struck the undead creature in its back, and, naturally, it let out a shriek of pain. It turned, ripping its scythe away from Elisa, trying to see what had struck it.

Elisa raised her sword.

This was it.

... Or so Rin thought.

The wraith moved too quickly for Elisa to capitalize. Her slash completely whiffed.

Rin's body froze as she saw the wraith move toward her.

[Crap...]

In all honesty, given how bad of a situation this was, Rin didn't mind this being how she went out. At least she gave Elisa a chance to make it out, or to sneak in a killing blow after Rin died.

Thankfully, however, she wouldn't die today.

Maria appeared in front of her.

As shocked as Rin had been to see the wraith's speed, she was even more surprised to find her teacher standing between her and the monster.

The woman caught the creature's scythe with her bare hands and then used a palm strike on its skull.

The blow was so powerful that the skeleton's head exploded on contact.

"... Maria?" Rin muttered as she watched the wraith's body flop onto the snow. She looked down at her and smiled.

"It seems I made it just in time, thank the Divine," Maria said. "You two strayed quite far from the path. Please, make sure to follow the instructions next time."

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