Chapter 12: There’s Nothing I Can Do

  Shit, shit, shit, what the fuck do I do? Teresa thought as she used while overclocked. There was no way she could heal this, there was just so much to heal. Even if Teresa could repair broken bones in under a minute, she couldn’t replace entire organs and massive chunks of flesh that fast. Sarah’s going to die.

  Teresa racked her brain, trying to think of something, anything. She knew healing her was out of the question, but what other option did she have? If Teresa couldn’t heal her right now, Sarah was going to die.

  She could start coagulating her blood to make a massive scab over half of Sarah’s body, but Sarah’s internal injuries would likely still kill her. If Teresa healed her organs, then Sarah would bleed out. If Teresa tried to heal everything at the same time, Sarah would still die before any of her injuries were even close to healed. Even if Teresa could figure out a way to heal Sarah fast enough, the Mana cost would probably far exceed Teresa’s maximum Mana pool multiple times over.

  Then she had an idea. If Teresa couldn’t heal her now, then she would heal Sarah later.

  “Leave the Tutorial.” Teresa commanded, grabbing her bow and quiver. “I swear Sarah, I won’t leave until I’m strong enough to heal you.”

  A moment of confusion crossed Sarah’s face before she just nodded. Teresa and Sarah held eye contact for a fleeting instant when suddenly she disappeared along with a large portion of the gore that had surrounded her. There was no flash of light, no fancy effects. Sarah was there one second, and gone the next.

  If Teresa understood the rules right, then everyone would arrive outside the Tutorial at the same time. It didn’t matter if you left right at the beginning, you would be put back on Earth at the same time as someone who had stayed for days.

  That meant once Teresa left the Tutorial, she would arrive right next to Sarah as she was just a moment ago, and if she was capable enough she might be able to heal her.

  Teresa no longer had any intention of leaving the Tutorial if things got too bad. She had to get stronger, or else Sarah would die. She would have to get a lot stronger, as she couldn’t imagine healing that injury even if she quadrupled the speed she could heal at now.

  Sarah’s life was in her hands.

  Teresa turned back to the battle to assess the situation, her heart pounding. Jake seemed pissed, he was being far more aggressive with the Clubbers than before. Just a few minutes ago, his strategy had consisted of blocking and taking the attention off of everyone else, but seeing that his was not all-powerful had made him far more bloodthirsty.

  Now, he seemed willing to take a hit to give one. A Clubber kicked him in the chest, just for him to smash his axe into the monster’s calf. There were still a total of two attacking him, and the other was blindly swinging its head around as its eyes had been burnt from Madeline’s .

  Meanwhile, Preston was battling two Clubbers as well, and yet another Clubber had entered the building. This new monster would be Clubber number 6, with 3 Clubbers currently dead. Even so, there would be another 3 Clubbers coming soon, and if this wave followed the same format as the previous waves then one of those would be a miniboss.

  Teresa still had Sarah’s bow and quiver, as she had taken it off of her before she left the Tutorial. It had felt a little cold to do so, but if Teresa was going to become strong enough to heal a wound that bad she would need some equipment. Her first move would be to help Preston finish off a Clubber, as it seemed Jake and Madeline were going to be finished with their two soon.

  She ran towards Preston who was closer to the entrance of the building, sheathing her sword in her belt and grabbing an arrow and pulling back on the bowstring. Immediately, Teresa realized this was way harder than it looked. The arrows had a small slit in the back to hold the bowstring, but just keeping the arrow straight on the bow was difficult. Where was she supposed to rest the arrow as she drew the string, on her hand? Then she had to do some awkward shifting if she didn’t want to cut her hand as she released-

  Screw it. Teresa fired a shot awkwardly, the arrow leaving a long slice in the back of her hand as it was released due to her poor form. The arrow flew and bounced harmlessly off one of the Clubbers attacking Preston, grabbing its attention. The Clubber began charging at Teresa, accomplishing her task of relieving Preston of some pressure.

  There was just one issue.

  The newest Clubber to enter the building was also charging towards Teresa, seeing one of its allies charging at an opponent it must have decided to tag along. Teresa hastily drew another arrow and fired, barely taking the time to aim as it completely missed both targets. Considering the size of the monsters, missing them was almost impressive. But hey, shooting a medieval bow with no experience was really hard, okay?

  Teresa used her tried and true tactic of diving to the side at the last moment and hoping she doesn’t get trampled, only to scramble to her feet and repeat the process as the second Clubber charged her. She managed to completely dodge the first Clubber, but the second managed to kick her foot as she was diving. Teresa felt her toes break, but lives were on the line.

  Teresa got to her feet, ignoring her injuries as she nocked another arrow. She drew back, having a moment longer to aim as the Clubbers were halting their momentum to pivot and charge her once again. Teresa steadied her breath as much as she could, though no matter how much she breathed it didn’t seem to be enough.

  Teresa released the arrow, and it flew into the sclera of the leading Clubber’s left eye. It let out a signature human scream as it hesitated for a moment, just long enough for the second Clubber to charge into its side.

  The two Clubbers knocked each other over, and Teresa took the moment to draw her sword from her belt. She wrapped both hands around the handle, less because of its weight and more because she used the opportunity to heal her hand that had received a few cuts and grazes from shooting the bow.

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  She ran awkwardly towards the fallen Clubbers, her balance off from her injured foot. Just as the Clubbers were making their way back up to their feet, Teresa left a deep cut along the uninjured Clubber’s stomach, nearly disemboweling it in one go. The Clubber thrashed, this time clipped Teresa on her shoulder as she dodged backwards.

  Teresa felt her left arm pop out of her shoulder, making her nearly drop the sword. Instead, she gritted her teeth and attacked the second Clubber she had shot in the eye, who had also now been kicked multiple times by the disemboweled Clubber, stealing its attention.

  Teresa left a similar cut on this Clubber, jumping backwards as soon as she was done this time. She couldn’t catch herself in time and landed on her back, making the pain from her shoulder much more intense. However, she had not been hit by the Clubber this time around, and pain didn’t seem to have an effect on her HP.

  Teresa panted, still out of breath as the two Clubbers slowly succumbed to their wounds. No matter how much she breathed, she felt like her lungs couldn’t hold enough air. Her heart was pounding, and sweat poured down her face. She checked her status screen, only to be shocked that her Stamina was still half full. She was having a hard time thinking clearly, and figured it was probably her injuries getting to her.

  Teresa began healing her shoulder first, witnessing her healing magic pop her arm back into place for her. With her other hand, she healed her foot, the small bones that had broken were quickly repairing themselves. Getting another look at the battle, she decided she could hold off on overclocking her for now, as she might need the extra Mana.

  The battle had returned to being in their favor, as Jake and Madeline had managed to kill the two Clubbers they were fighting, while Preston had also killed his own. Jake and Madeline were both fighting another Clubber, while Preston was fighting one as well. Discarding the two that were actively bleeding out next to Teresa, there should only be three remaining. If the Party was fighting two right now, the next and final Clubber would be the miniboss.

  Teresa slowly healed up as she got the kill notifications for the Clubbers bleeding out, which came with its own surprise.

  You Have Slain {Yectin Clubber (F) (lv 9)}

  Experience Granted

  You Have Slain {Yectin Clubber (F) (lv 7)}

  Experience Granted

  You Have Slain {Yectin Clubber (F) (lv 8)}

  Experience Granted

  Level Up!

  Teresa hadn’t thought about it, but she had received a kill notification for damaging a Clubber earlier that had been finished off by Preston. When Sarah had gotten injured, Teresa had to stop fighting a Clubber and leave it to Preston. When she had returned to the fight, she had gotten the attention of one of the Clubbers again. It seemed that she had grabbed the attention of the Clubber Preston had been originally fighting, and not the one she offloaded onto him.

  This resulted in her getting the kill notification on the two she just killed, as well as a kill notification for the one Preston had just finished off. Doing the math in her head, the first Clubber she killed this wave had given her 27% progression to her next level. If she solo killed one, and got half the experience from the other two kills, that would only add up to an additional 54% experience to what she already had. She had been at 31%, so this would have brought her up to 85%, not 100%.

  Then again, the monsters were different levels, and she might have gotten more than half the experience on some of the monsters she assisted in killing. The party still wasn’t sure how experience was shared, and this event threw another puzzle at her to figure out later.

  Teresa opened her status screen and put her unallocated point into Agility again, as she really needed to stop taking hits. She considered putting a point into Wisdom or Intelligence to bring her one step closer to healing Sarah, but decided against it. Like it or not, if Teresa only focused on her healing capabilities she would probably be forced to leave the Tutorial sooner. By keeping her fighting capability in top shape, she would be able to get more levels than she would by just focusing on her healing, which would ironically enough result in her becoming a better healer by the time she left the Tutorial.

  She didn’t have the time to go over her status screen in too much detail as the miniboss had just made its way inside. Unlike the previous Clubbers, this one had six legs and a long, rat-like tail covered in scales. The monster screamed, its screech reminding Teresa of an Aztec death whistle.

  Teresa’s injuries finished healing, and she sheathed her sword so she could draw her bow. She nocked an arrow and pulled back, once again trying to steady her breathing. She clearly didn’t understand how her Stamina worked, because she was still having a hard time breathing. It couldn’t be leftover poison from the Shaman in the last wave, she had already used on everybody in between waves, herself included.

  What the hell was her problem?

  Teresa released her shot, and the arrow glanced off the side of the Clubber. All things considered it was a decent shot, but the only part of the Clubber vulnerable to arrows was its face that was located on its chest. Trying to hit that target at an angle from even a short distance was tough.

  The miniboss turned her way and began to charge, much quicker than the previous Clubbers. Teresa did not have time to draw another arrow before she had to dive out of the way of the charging monster, her increased Agility once again saving her.

  Or so she thought.

  The creature’s tail whipped around its side, slamming into Teresa just as she avoided the charge. The tail slammed into her right side, breaking multiple ribs and sending her tumbling along the concrete floor. Maybe Fortitude would have been a good choice as well.

  Teresa had managed to hold onto her bow, but she was in no shape to draw the bowstring. Just moving her right arm sent pain through her whole body, and she could barely hold an arrow in her hand.

  She overclocked her and struggled to her feet, blood seeping out from multiple scrapes. It would take about 40 seconds for her to heal her ribs, not accounting for any other damage she had just received. The Clubber would easily be able to charge her again in that timeframe, probably multiple times. She needed to think of some way to fight this thing.

  Sparks flew towards the creature’s face, sizzling on the vulnerable flesh. The Clubber screeched, and Teresa had an idea, though she was unsure of how it would go. She couldn’t shoot an arrow with only half of her body, but she might be able to throw something.

  Teresa scrambled to her pile of projectiles, grabbing a goblin spear with her left hand. It would be a pretty shit throw, all things considered, but it was better than nothing.

  The Clubber began its charge again, Madeline’s sparks no longer having a viable angle to blind it. Teresa had the rubble of the broken balcony Sarah had once stood on behind her, giving her no space to run. A red wave of energy passed through the monster as Jake used his , making it hesitate for just a brief moment. However, the skill was not strong enough to completely steal its attention away and it resumed its charge.

  Preston was sprinting over like an Olympic athlete, but he wouldn’t make it in time. Teresa briefly considered leaving the Tutorial, as it was not looking good for her, but the very thought made her heartbeat hurt worse than her ribs. Leaving now would doom Sarah, she had to survive somehow.

  Teresa made up her mind. Who was she kidding, she wouldn’t be able to throw the spear nearly well enough to stop the Clubber. Even if she got a good hit in, the monster would still crush her right after. She glanced at a certain section in her status screen, and decided to take a gamble.

  She charged towards the Clubber with the spear still in her hand.