Giant Yeti

My mood had gotten a bit better after getting to beat up some poor monsters, and now, I had somehow reached the end without me realizing how far I had gone. At the end of the dungeon, I had arrived at what almost looked like a large arena, with another yeti in the middle.

The only difference was that this yeti was at least double the size of the others, and its fur was a dark red instead of dirty white. A small spark of excitement quickly found its way to me again, now getting to maybe face a challenge.

The way here hadn't been all too exciting, as I had just used a dome to confuse the frontline, while sprinting towards the backline, during the times there was one. Now, however, that cheap trick would be superfluous, as there was but one big enemy for me to face.

"Let's go!"

Motivating myself, we ran forward, too eager to wait for even a second longer.

*Roaaar!*

As soon as the boss saw me and sub-me, he let out a loud roar, showing the huge, sharp fangs that rested inside its mouth. Still, I didn't let it affect me as I kept my eyes on my target and initiated the fight.

"[Orb of Mist]!"

Shooting a misty ball from my hand, it quickly took its place in front of the boss's eyes, successfully blinding him for a couple of seconds. Not wasting the opportunity, me and my clone got to work.

*Sching! Sching! Sching!*

Enlarging our scythes, we started to dance around its legs, making blood fly into the air as we quickly ripped through the tough hide.

Then, just as the boss was about to swipe the mist away from its eyes, I detonated it. *BOM!, GUAAARGH!*

"Hupp!"

With bleeding eyes, it started trashing around wildly, I and my clone quickly materialized our wings and used them to retreat.

'These really are incredibly useful...'

The idea of using the wings in order to increase my grounded movement was something that I had gotten from Sophie, who used her draconic wings to create short bursts of speed. My wings weren't quite as powerful, but, in contrast, they made for a lot more flexible movement.

*ROOAR!, FWOOSH!*

'Oh shit!'

Not respecting my inner pondering, the giant yeti let out another loud roar, except this time it was accompanied by a huge, frosty breath, looking as if anything it touches would freeze to death.

'Enlarge!'

I wasn't fast enough to escape from this, it was just too wide. So instead, I enlarged my scythes to an even bigger size, pouring in a lot of mana as I sliced horizontally.

*Sching! Don!*

My defense had been successful, as the purple light had repelled enough of the ice for me to be safe.

*Guarrr! Dan, Dan, Dan!*

Unhappy with its enemies not getting frozen, the yeti dashed forward, its legs making the cave shake a bit from the sheer weight of its red body.

*Ssss!*

Knowing that I shouldn't fight for too long, as my mana had already decreased quite a bit, both of me switched to using one hand to weild the scythes, while at the same time transforming our left arms into green snakes.

"Happ!"

*BAM!*

Slamming its big hands down toward us, a cloud of dust emerged in the air. Unfortunately for the boss, both of me had used our wings once again to quickly move forward to his sides.

*Ssss!, Guarg?!*

Two bites quickly landed on his legs, as I poured yet another wave of mana in order to strengthen my attack.

'Now, I just had to survive.'

The venom had been injected, and even if it was a boss, it was still an organic being. Even if his defenses were incredibly sturdy, there was no way that it could completely resist my venom.

*Gruargh!, BAM, BAM, BAM!*

Furious that he never seemed to be able to lay his hands on the humans that had invaded his cave, the boss started to thrash wildly once again, slamming his arms all around the cave.

'Shit...!'

Even though I did a pretty good job of navigating around its attacks with the use of my wings, one stray swing was now flying directly towards my face, forcing me to make a decision.

Suddenly, an incredibly dangerous impulse emerged in my mind, an impulse so strong that I couldn't resist it.

'I'll take it head-on!'

*BAM!, BOOM!*

"Argh!" Lifting my scythe in front of me, I took the attack directly, making me fly directly into the wall of the cave.

Somehow, the pain I felt was incredibly weird. Instead of it focusing on my back, it was as if it had been evenly distributed throughout my body.

Looking down, expecting to see my body in tatters, I was once again surprised.

Not even a gram of dirt had soiled my body or my gray suit, and there was no blood to be seen.

Instead, I felt my mana running dangerously low, so low that my vision started to blur, and extreme nausea overcame me.

Not wanting to let its prey survive, the dark red giant quickly tried to make its way toward my main body.

*Gu?!*

Thankfully, that created an opportunity for sub-me to attack it from behind, using not only the enlarged scythe itself but also covering it in a misty glow, the mist dense enough to make it impossible to see through it.

*Sching! BOOM!*

*GRUAARGH!*

The yeti took a knee when its back got blown up, revealing the bloody flesh under the fur. However, it had no plans on staying down.

Putting strength into its legs, it tried to stand up again, fully focused on taking the lives of its enemies. Yet, it couldn't get up.

*Gu?! Rooar!*

Frustrated with the fact that its legs wouldn't carry it, the boss let out another roar, seemingly expecting its frosty breath to emerge once more. But no attack came out.

Shakily, I did what the yeti was unable to do, and let my scythe reappear in my hands, as I had lost it during my little trip to the wall.

"Seems like that was enough damage for the venom to work its magic... Still, pretty impressive that it could fight for so long considering how much mana I had poured into it."

It wasn't as if I had expected the boss to just instantly get paralyzed from the venom, but it was also surprising that it had taken another huge attack that landed cleanly on its defenseless back to weaken it enough to take effect.

Walking up to the yeti who was baring his teeth, I felt a smile emerge behind my mask, feeling as if I had learned a lot thanks to it.

Now I was a hundred percent sure. It would cost less mana to take an attack head-on in comparison to dodging it by turning my body into mist.

The downside was that I would, as you could expect, get hit. If I turned my body into mist, I would have gotten the chance to instantly counterattack, something I couldn't do with my back imprinted in the wall.

"Thank you for your patronage."

*Sching! Splurt!*

****

[Sarah's Pov]

"No! I can still go on!"

"Ms. Lindt! Please, your body is in tatters already! You don't even have enough mana to heal yourself! Any more and you might risk permanently injuring yourself!"

"Shit! Fine!"

Turning away from Ms. Turner, I felt my heart burning with frustration.

I had spent more than three hours sparring against my teacher, trying my best to learn to both fight with spells, but also to use my staff in melee combat.

Although I had gotten words of advice from a dead man that I should focus on what I could do, and what I was good at, I didn't care. After all, why should I believe the one who never told the truth?

However, I was so far away from where I needed to be. I was nowhere strong enough for what I had to do.

There was no love for the man known as James anymore, there was only hatred for the demon who had taken the arms of my father.

The worst part of it was that it had been my fault. If only I hadn't believed his lies, believed that he was truly just an exceptionally talented commoner, this would have never happened.

Walking back to the girls' dorm, it didn't take long until I was in my apartment again, spending the nights as I usually spent them nowadays; Alone. With Sophie unable to see the truth, and Arthur staying by her side, our little circle of friends was no more.

Although they weren't my enemies, they couldn't be my allies either if they didn't see things for what they were.

Throwing myself into the shower, I tried to wash away the loneliness I was feeling, and disguise the tears that inevitably emerged when there was no one around.

I knew what I had to do, and nothing could ever stop me from doing so.

"Sob! Shit! Get a hold of yourself! Sniff..."

It still hurt so bad. The fact that the man I trusted was the one to make the strong man that was my father spend all of his time bedridden was nauseating.

"He is already dead... There is no way to bring him back..."

Repeating the mantra I had come up with to protect my mind, I prepared myself to continue living, knowing that I at least had to let his body rest in peace.