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 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.

“Yes!”

“Then I’ll do it. I don’t know how long I can really hold this thing down, though. I was just planning to keep it distracted for a few seconds and then run once you were out of here.”

  The gorilla roared and loped toward them, giving up on the ranged attacks after seeing how ineffective they’d been. Emily was surprised it had taken the monster that long to charge.

She ran back, then turned back as the gorilla brought its hands down on Isabel. Stone pillars shot up all around her, slamming into the monster’s fist and slowing it just enough that she actually managed to stand her ground under the blow.

Emily pulled back on the string of her bow, channeling her Ice Rune heavily as she pulled power into the arrow that materialized on the string. The gorilla reared back and slammed its fists into Isabel again.

Despite the heavy stone reinforcements that Isabel summoned, the monster’s blow was too much. She was thrown to the ground, her shield shattering under the force of the strike. Emily nearly released the arrow to buy Isabel breathing room, but she froze before she could.

We’ll be back to square one if I let go now, and we’ll both have wasted energy. Isabel said she could hold her ground. I have to believe her.

Emily gritted her teeth and continued to pull power into the arrow. The gorilla raised its hands, then paused. It sniffed the air, then lifted its eyes toward Emily.

“Shit,” Emily breathed. “It can sense the energy I’m pulling.”

The gorilla turned toward her, stepping over Isabel. A band of stone erupted from the ground, wrapping around the monster’s leg. It stalled for a moment, then ripped itself free with a roar.

“Can you do that while bumping around?” Todd asked.

“Yes, but It’s not going to matter if I’m–”

Todd didn’t wait for Emily to finish her sentence, and neither did the gorilla. Lightning arced from its hands, slamming into the ground and coursing toward her. Todd grabbed Emily, holding her like a child in his arms as he sprinted away, his Imbued legs thumping with power.

Emily didn’t have the capacity to focus on anything other than the energy gathering in her hands. She had over half the energy in her Ice Rune packed into the arrow, and she was well on the way to pushing in everything she had left.

The gorilla started to chase after them, but it staggered as Isabel charged into its back, driving her spear through its leg. Roaring in pain, the gorilla kicked Isabel back. She skidded across the ground, and it sent another bolt of lightning for Todd.

He bounded into the air, clearing the magic as it shot below them, then hit the ground running. A pained hiss escaped his lips at the jolt of landing, but he didn’t let Emily go.

The gorilla’s head snapped back as a pillar of stone shot up from the ground beside Isabel and caught it in the chin. It tried to stomp her into the ground, but Isabel knocked its foot away with another stone pillar and then raised her shield, heavily reinforcing it a moment before the gorilla’s hand slammed down overhead.

Stone shattered, but Isabel held firm. The gorilla screamed in fury and raised its hands into the air. Lighting crackled between them, growing in intensity until it was practically glowing with light.

Emily pulled the last drops of energy out of her Rune. It was difficult to take aim while Todd was sprinting, but she didn’t have time to tell him to stop. She’d shot from horseback before. This wasn’t so different.

The gorilla’s hands started to fall.

Emily released the arrow.

A streak of blue light carved through the sky, leaving a white trail of frost behind in the air. It shot into the gorilla’s head, tearing through it in a fine spray of red mist, and continued into the air beyond it.

Frost crept down from the wound, continuing until it had reached the base of the monster’s neck. The gorilla swayed, then pitched backward and crashed to the ground directly on top of Emily’s tent, impaling itself through the chest.

Todd skidded to a stop, then yelped in pain. He tripped, dropping Emily and hitting the ground with a grunt as his hands shot up to clasp his neck. Emily’s shield flashed and a layer of frost covered her skin before she hit the ground, absorbing most of the impact.

Emily’s heart thumped violently in her chest. For several seconds, she just laid there, staring up at the stars twinkling in the night sky above. Finally, she let out a huff.

“Todd? You okay?”

“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?”