Time sped by as I fought off group after group of four-legged, leather-skinned, big-toothed rodent beasts, their size growing with each new pack I faced. Still, none of them prepared me for the ground-shaking thud that reverberated through the air. I paused in my fight and strained to identify the source of the sound. Another thud came, then another a few seconds later. Whatever was causing them was big and was steadily getting closer to our group of fighters. I listened carefully to the other directions and heard more thunderous footsteps. One was targeting Coach Liv and the other was heading toward the other half of our class.

“Mini-bosses coming next!” I shouted.

“Bosses?” Coach Liv shouted back, a lilt in his voice made it sound like a question.

“Three of them,” I shouted. “One from each direction. They are probably ten minutes out.”

Coach Liv cursed. “Okay, each group gets one, if you kill yours, move on to help the other group.”

“Hurry through the current group, Sam, burn them down,” Robin ordered. “If we finish this group fast enough, we can take a short break to recover.”

Sam didn’t hold back as he unleashed the spell he called Flamethrower, burning half a dozen rodents with the initial burst then five more as he swept the flame in an arc in front of him. Thankfully, Lulu and I both knew to stand behind the pyromaniac when he used this spell. When he finished, there were four beasts on fire, and two more managed to avoid the flames entirely. The burning ones would die on their own soon enough. Lulu and I took one each of the remaining rodents.

“Let’s help the other group clear the field,” Robin said, leading the charge toward Al’s group. With all eight of us working together, the last of their rodent beasts died and we all got a much-needed reprieve.

“I ranked up Fire Manipulation, Fireball, and Flamethrower,” Sam bragged to Seth, the latter of which got a sour look on his face.

“That’s not fair, I only ranked up Ice Needle and Fireball,” Seth complained.

I listened as other people shared their gains with each other. I heard Liam bragging to Robin about his improvements. Robin didn’t respond, choosing instead to seek out Al and Lulu, who seemed to be having a heated discussion until the beargirl requested they bandage the gashes on her legs and arms. Something both healers quickly went to work on.

I took a minute to review my own gains. Other than learning Dual Wielding, something I wasn’t even trying to learn, I had several status improvements, I increased my Dexterity, Constitution, and Stamina all by one rank, bringing them all up to Average. Toughness also increased by one rank to Moderate. It was the most physical growth I’d ever had. Part of me assumed that the growth was probably already close to occurring thanks to the Martial Training class, the fighting just pushed me over the edge. I would have liked to see Shadow Blade advance. I’d been using it consistently throughout the fights. Maybe it would advance soon.

Coach Liv cleared his throat loudly, “That’s enough chit chat. Take up your positions and get ready for a fight. I can see the mini-bosses coming and thankfully they are all the same and familiar to me. Assuming they are the same as what I’ve fought in the past, you need to watch out for their tail whip. Other than that, they fight fairly straightforwardly. They will try to bite and claw at anything in front of them. No real special attacks to watch out for and no magic.”

That was some good news. Only one dangerous attack to watch out for was good news.

I smelled the new rodent long before I saw it with my eyes. It smelled like fetid water and rot. I could see the ugly orange of its breath with each laboured step it took, while its body radiated with a mustard yellow of the bog. The rodent beast was large and as long as Coach Liv was tall. It seemed to have been lumbering along up until it saw Robin standing on top of the pile of rodent corpses. The beast roared and its pace picked up. It stomped through the muck and slime of the swamp, each step sinking in deeply. It wasn’t able to move quickly through the mire due to its size. I made a note of that as the beast approached.

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I warned our defender, “Robin, dodge over block. The beast is big and powerful but moves slowly in the bog. Any hit, even a blocked hit, is going to do some damage to you.”

“Got it,” Robin replied, waiting patiently for the beast to come into range. Her armour was scratched and the metal bits had some dents, but it was holding up. I hoped that would continue to be the case.

As soon as the beast was in range for Sam’s magic, I gave the order “Burn it! Robin be ready with that taunt!”

An orange fireball streaked across the sky like a comet, splitting the air with a crack. I saw it hit the bog next to the beast, exploding and scattering dirt and debris in all directions. The blast knocked the beast off balance and it pivoted to face the Firemancer with a deafening roar.

“Hit it again,” I barked before I started moving to flank the beast. Sam gestured wildly and orange flames once again erupted from his outstretched hands, arcing through the air until they collided with the beast’s hide. It howled in pain but kept coming, undeterred.

Robin lunged forward, bellowing a defiant cry and smacking her mace against her shield. The beast shuddered and roared in response, rearing up on its hind legs and extending its massive claws. Its beady eyes flashed with anger as it prepared to fall forward and crush our defender in its jaws. Robin quickly moved aside, narrowly avoiding the attack, and shouted, “Attack!” She brought her mace down on the thick leathery hide of the creature, barely leaving a scratch.

I charged in from the side and saw Lulu approaching from the opposite side. It was strange though, she looked almost hesitant. I didn’t have time to worry about her as I moved forward with my attack, slashing at its hide with my weapon and activating my Bleed skill, leaving a gash that streamed red. With lightning speed the creature spun around and swept its enormous tail towards me. I dropped to the ground and rolled beneath, avoiding the whiplike appendage’s first strike. I stayed down as I waited for the return. I didn’t have to wait long before the sound of a whipping tail soon filled the air.

I leapt back up and charged, my booted feet pounding the ground and throwing up mud as I chased the beast's long tail where I found it lying limply in the mud. I saw a chance to end the threat from the appendage and lunged, my blades glinting in the dying light as I plunged them into the thick hide, one steel and the other shadow, the latter digging in deeper and more easily.

The giant rodent jerked around, its powerful leg crashing into my body and sending me flying backwards, tumbling over the muddy terrain and coming to a stop with a pained groan. My sides burned, ribs aching with every breath, and skin bruised and battered. Gritting my teeth, I managed to stand on shaky legs, noticing that I was still clutching my knife - but the blade had broken off. Throwing the handle aside with a curse, I quickly examined myself for wounds but could only make out mud caked to my skin. Hopefully, once these mini-bosses were taken care of I could find some healing.

As I ran, every footfall in the mud sent pain shooting through my injured side. I ignored the pain as best I could and forced myself to run harder. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to dive under the whipping tail, crying out in pain as the impact also hit the periphery of my injury. It hurt more when I rolled several times to avoid the tail smashing down on me until after the fourth attempt to bury me, the tail didn’t lift again, going limp instead. It was another opportunity, but rolling as I did hurt so much. It took all of my willpower to climb back onto my feet. I tried to run but ended up limping over. The tail was bleeding but the damage I dealt was minimal. Knives wouldn’t be enough. I needed something bigger and it needed to be a blade I could create with my Shadow Manipulation skill.

I thought back on a lesson from my Handler in the early days of staying at his manor. He had a rather extensive weapon collection. He seemed proud when he told me that he knew how to use each and every one of the weapons. He made sure I learned every weapon he had by name. I even remembered the sword that was a metre taller than he was and looked more like it was made for a giant than one of the kin. He’d called it a Zhanmadao. It was meant to cut through riding beasts and ultimately break a cavalry charge. I also remembered how heavy it was, much too heavy for me to lift let alone swing. But I had a way around that.

I clenched my teeth as I lifted my arms, feeling a sharp pain in my side. My fingers tingled as I gathered mana and shaped it into a massive Zhanmadao sword. The blade thrummed with shadow energy and the air smelled of ozone. Every muscle in my body strained as the weight of the blade dragged me forward, and then it all seemed to happen in slow motion. The giant sword slashed into the beast's tail, and the force of the impact tore through the tail and sent bits of flesh flying everywhere.

The beast shook and bucked in agony, and I dropped to the ground with a cry of pain. I scrambled through the mud, the blood from the rat creature coating me as I moved. When I finally looked up again, I saw that the creature was slowing down and I felt drained of mana—but I knew that my Bleed skill had done its job and that it wouldn't take long before the beast bled out.