After spending a while without fighting anything that genuinely wanted to rip her head off, Rin had to admit that she felt a little nervous. Still, having Maria right behind her as she walked through the cemetery did make things better.
The air was chilly and felt stagnant. Even as the sun hit Rin's skin easily through the cloudless sky, Rin felt her body turn colder with every step. With her fists clenched by her sides, she waited for the first enemy to appear. Sure enough, from her right, she heard bones clattering against each other and she saw a skeletal body walk out from behind a strange building between some tombstones, holding a sword and a shield.
[Okay... Calm down, take your time, and remember what you've learned,] Rin told herself as she closed her eyes and activated her [Spirit Flame]. Her hands and feet were covered in white fire, and she got into a fighting stance as the skeleton approached her.
It lurched toward her, dragging its legs as Rin waited just a little more, and then, as it got close enough, it attacked.
Rin dodged to the right, moving out of the way of its sword easily, and then she closed the gap between them. She went for a right hook and, predictably, the skeleton leaned back, dodging her punch.
[Remember what Maria said,] Rin told herself, however. [Overwhelm it.]
And so, she followed up with two punches to the skeleton's body, neither of which the monster avoided, and as the skeleton let out a pained screech, Rin followed up with a punch to its head that sent it falling back to the ground. The white flame from her fists spread throughout its body, and it shook and spasmed before falling still, without making a sound.
"Uh, I think it's dead," Rin said aloud and she heard Maria applaud her from behind.
"Good work," Maria told her as Rin turned to face her. "That ability of yours is useful. However, I'd rather you fought with your bare fists, Rin."
"Really?" The young adventurer asked.
"Yes," Maria nodded. "I don't want you relying too heavily on anything except your own body. Once you're able to consistently kill these enemies without this power, you can use it again."
Admittedly, fighting these skeletons without her [Spirit Flame] sounded awful to her. However, if Maria wanted this, then Rin was willing to do as she suggested.
So, putting her doubts aside, she canceled the ability, and her arms held no fire anymore.
"How do I kill them without the fire though?" Rin asked.
"You can break their bodies apart, but the easiest way is to break their skulls," Maria responded. "When it comes to most Undead-type enemies, there is a weak point that holds their life force, where their Essence is concentrated. For zombies, skeletons, and thralls, that point is their head."
"... Oh. Okay," Rin nodded slowly. "Well, uh, I guess I'll keep going."
With that out of the way, Rin walked forward just a few rows, before her next enemies appeared. Two skeletons, one on the left carrying a morning star, and the other carrying a spear.
She gulped and brought her fists up, hoping she was ready for this next trial.
---
{Maria}
With a quick dash, Rin dodged out of the way of the spiked ball the one on the left was using. With a kick, she sent this enemy back, just in time to avoid being stabbed by the other skeleton's spear. She grabbed the spear by the shaft, pulled the skeleton toward her, and then landed a straight, powerful blow at its chest.
However, since she wasn't using that ability from before, the skeletons didn't die. Instead, they slowly got up as Rin took a deep breath, and prepared herself again.
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Maria watched all of this with some satisfaction. Rin was doing fine, for a beginner. It was easy for an amateur martial artist to lose hope in the path of the hand-to-hand fighter, as, obviously, someone wielding a hammer or an ax would have already finished this battle by now. However, once Rin progressed far enough, her hands would be able to do everything conventional weapons could do, and more.
All she needed was to get through the first, early, portion of weakness, and she would be rewarded later. Rin only needed to believe in herself until then.
But, at this moment, Maria wondered if maybe the girl could do with a demonstration of that reward.
The skeleton with the morning star attacked with a horizontal, wide, swing, and Rin nimbly ducked under it and came back up with an uppercut. Her punch missed, but the adventurer used her momentum and spun into a kick that shoved the skeleton back.
At this point, Maria noticed one of her student's flaws, and she called it out.
"Rin," she said, and the girl turned toward her. "No, no. Keep your eyes on your enemies. Just listen to me."
"R-Right," Rin responded, turning back toward the skeletons, as the one with the spear approached.
"Okay. listen. You need to be ruthless, Rin. You're getting these opponents into positions of weakness, but you're not finishing them off. This fight should have been over a while ago, understand?"
"Are you sure?" Rin asked. "How do I do that?"
"Run up and crush their skulls when they're in a position where they can't react. You're doing great, but you're being far too hesitant."
"Oh... Okay," Rin nodded as the one with the spear lunged for her. As Maria had taught her to do, Rin pushed the spear out of her way mid-swing, and then she ran up to it. She put one foot behind the creature and shoved it, tripping the skeleton.
"Good, now!" Maria instructed and Rin, though her arms were shaking, finally went and finished this side of the fight. She raised a foot up and brought it down on the skeleton's skull, crushing it under her boot.
With that, the skeleton ceased its movements, and Rin stepped back.
"I-It's dead?" She asked herself. "It's dead!" She turned toward Maria.
"Hey, focus, you still have one more opponent left," Maria told her, just in time for Rin to dodge a swing that may have taken her head off. Then, she did a spinning sweep with her right foot that brought the enemy down, and, just like with the other one, she crushed its skull with her boot.
"Holy shit!" Rin said, excited and surprised at her own feat.
"See?" Maria asked, walking up. "Don't misunderstand, Rin, it's okay to be careful. That's great, and it will help you down the line, but at the end of the day, you're fighting to end their lives before they end yours. If you never try to do that, you won't win. Understand?"
"Yeah, sorry," Rin replied.
"No, no. You're still only learning. It's okay," Maria said, putting a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "But... I figured I may as well sho-"
At that moment, something happened.
Above, a sort of screech pierced the skies and the two adventurers froze, as a shadow passed over them.
A memory flashed in front of Maria's eyes and she quickly turned, looking up to see what had come.
A grey, draconic, creature with glowing blue eyes flew down in front of them and landed on the mausoleum to their right. Its body was rotten and wounded, to the point where some of its bones could clearly be seen.
When Maria's eyes landed on it, her lips parted and the Rank S adventurer just stared at the monster.
"Uh, Maria?" Rin asked, with a scared voice. "What is that thing?"
Maria couldn't respond. In her mind, she was seeing herself on that storm-covered mountaintop she'd been on three years ago. When she'd gone on what had been her last mission as an adventurer before she became a simple teacher.
"Maria?" Rin asked again. "I-It's going to do something..."
When Maria heard that, she shook her head and looked forward, seeing the dragon opening its mouth and a dark, purple Essence gathering at its mouth.
[Oh.]
Then, a black-purple beam shot out from its mouth, aimed at the two of them. Maria reacted in time, however, standing between Rin and the creature, and using nothing but her own body, she wrapped her arms around Rin, and shielded her student, taking the full force of the beam.
The pain was brutal, at first, mostly because it had been a while since Maria took any real damage, but as she remembered what it was like to take this sort of hit, she gritted her teeth and absorbed it. When the monster stopped, Maria let go and instantly spun, charging toward the monster. She jumped up into the air, and with one, easy, punch, she broke through the creature's head, killing it in a single strike.
Its Essence dispersed, and Maria took a trembling breath as her back stung. Rin jogged up to her.
"M-Maria, are you okay, what, uh, what hap-"
"It's fine," Maria shook her head, quickly casting a mid-tier healing spell on herself. "I'm sorry. I was distracted."
As she said that, she tried her hardest to push the memories out of her head.
"What was that thing?"
"An undead, almost skeletal, drake," Maria answered. "A Rank C monster. They are rare, as their existence requires several coincidences to occur, but I suppose a drake died here and found itself being corrupted."
"That can happen!?" Rin asked.
"Yes," Maria took a deep breath. "Sorry, Rin. Come on, let's keep going."