The Wel didn’t look as hard on paper.

  The double-humped canine had a water breath attack that Ether had to brace against, but tanking a water line at range and claws and teeth close up wasn’t a problem for her. Before she got her awakened class, she would have had trouble keeping up with it, but now she was able to twist and turn in a dance with the brown-furred creature. A blue mane protected its neck, but that meant we were going to have to take time to wear it down.

  Fray kept up with the tempo, moving the opposite direction of Ether to score a hit, then dodging back behind the shorter woman to avoid the counterattack.

  I looked over at Aelin, who was standing beside Justia and me, watching the two whittle the monster down. “We need a skill that lets us get some height so we can shoot down at the monster. That way we don’t run the risk of hitting someone.”

  “Pretty sure that thing is big enough that you wouldn’t miss.” Justia quipped.

  “Probably, but it’s also going to run out of stamina long before either of them do.” I sighted the monster with my pistol, then lowered the weapon. “When it tires out, we can finish it off.”

  “After I’ve done all the work!” Fray cut another gash into the Wel’s side. She faded behind Ether and adjusted her hair under the leather hood. Stray strands of brown hair stuck to her face as the movement pulled some of her hair out from under the hood.

  “If you want us to help, then stand back.” I glanced over at Aelin, who was still admiring the ring. I shook my head. “Aelin! You can look at that thing all you want once we’re topside. For now, let’s finish the boss so we can go home.”

  “We have to stop at the hospital first.” Justia bumped into her girlfriend. “Aelin. You’re up.”

  “Wha—?” Aelin blinked.

  “The boss.” I pointed my pistol at the deformed canine. “Pew pew.”

  “Right.” Aelin drew her bow and put her sights on the monster. “MAGIC ARROWS!”

  I ignored the pink arrows as I rotated around her and aimed for the creature’s heart. Somehow Aelin was firing faster than I could pull the trigger, but that just meant that she was going to run out of mana faster than me. Not that either of us was going to run out of mana before the boss died.

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  With both of us aiming at the same spot, I only went through two clips before it vanished.

  Gesai shook her head as she walked in. “You didn’t utilize your teamwork out there. If this had been an exhibition match, you’d have been docked points for having team members sitting out part of the fight. You’ve gotten so used to just overpowering everything that you’re getting complacent.”

  “It’s the last fight of the day…” Aelin put her bow into her CB. “It’s dead, we’re in one piece, what’s the problem?”

  “The problem is that you could have finished the fight in half the time.” Gesai shook her head. “Both of you waited until Fray got tired to join the fight, but you could have been helping in other ways than damage.” She pointed at me. “Atlas, you have ; that would have made it run out of stamina faster and Ether would have taken less of a beating.”

  “And Aelin.” Our teacher turned her attention to the short woman. “You’ve got an array of buffing spells, but all you ever do anymore is shoot your bow.” Gesai looked at her CB. “ would have made every one of Fray’s hits do more damage. would have let her do more damage faster. And you aren’t using to guide your arrows or even starting the fight putting on Ether’s shield!” She shook her head. “I should have said something in the first fight, but…” She bit her lip.

  “It wasn’t easy for us.” I walked over and put my arm on her shoulder. The silver woman turned towards me, wrapping me in a hug. “It’s okay.” I ran my fingers through her red hair. “If Sipher tried that today, you’d kick his butt.”

  Gesai nodded as she enjoyed the embrace, then composed herself and pulled back.

  “I know that the five of you think that technique doesn’t matter because you can’t compete in the Adventurer’s Games this year, but…” She swallowed. “After everything you’ve been through, do you really want to go out there in front of everyone at the Cathedral and just take last place?”

  I glanced over at Ether, who was walking over with a pair of brown pants.

  “Leather Pants.” She held the item out to Justia. “It gives a point of Recovery and isn’t see-through.”

  “We’ll do better.” I looked at each member of my team. “Gesai is right. Even if we can’t go to the games, we need to win the preliminaries to prove to everyone that we deserve to be in my dad’s class.”

  The others nodded in agreement.

  I looked at Gesai. “Can we run it again?”

  The silver woman hesitated, then looked at her CB to check the time. She nodded slowly. “Since we’re not going to run the next boss, we’ve got time to do this one again.”

  I clapped my hands. “Alright, no more slacking around this time! Let’s speedrun this thing!”

  The others followed me out of the boss room so we could reset it.

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