Chapter 142: Rookie Mistakes
As she touched the ground, Thalia waved her staff above herself, and five fireballs were sent at the five monsters. The five monsters were about to dodge, but with another wave of her staff, Thalia showed her incredible control over her spell as the five fireballs suddenly converged toward one of the monsters.
Everything happened too quickly for the monster to quickly react, and the five fireballs hit the monster at once, engulfing it in flames. The impact pushed it to the ground, but it didn't get back up nor did it make any sound. Obviously, it had already died.
The other four members of the pack though were still very much alive. Seeing the dead monster's condition, two of them whimpered sadly as the two others roared in madness as they rushed toward Thalia.
Thalia moved her staff, and sent three other fireballs, but this time all three fireballs missed, only burning a few hairs of the two charging monsters. Seeing this, she grit her teeth as the mana around her became thicker in an instant and her 8 tails were revealed from under her cloak.
All 8 tails were pointing at the monsters, and a tornado of fire was sent toward the monsters. This time, they had no chance to dodge as the tornado wasn't just powerful, but it also had an attraction force.
The four remaining monsters were burned to a crisp by the powerful fire spell, burning their skin and their flesh alike, leaving only white bones behind.
Thalia let her tails fold back into her cloak's shadow as she looked at Adam, a little proud, but she couldn't see his expression because of the cloak. As she about to jump back onto Neith's back though, a shadow flashed from within the forest, rushing toward Thalia.
She hastily tapped her staff against the ground, creating a fire shield between her and the shadow, which stopped it, revealing a monster similar to those killed, except that it was bigger, and this was a Lord monster.
[Vamir] (Lord, Level 100)
HP: 1,650,000/1,700,000
Right after having been stopped by the fire wall, the monster jumped right back at her, and this time wind blades were being formed around it, and were quickly fired toward Thalia.
Her tails emerged once again as she parried each of the wind blades with a fireball, but because of how close the monster was, and the fact she had been surprised, two of the fireballs missed their target.
Even as the wind blades were approaching her though, Thalia wasn't worried because she was sure Adam was going to help her. However, even as the blades were about to hit her, Adam still wasn't moving. She understood too late she was on her own.
One of the blades teared the cloak on her left shoulder, slicing into her shoulder too, while the second one hit her ribs. Blood splashed from the two injuries and Thalia faltered backwards because of the pain and the powerful impact.
She was still stunned from the attack and only saw the monster when its long claws were about to slash her in two.
For the very first time in her life, she felt death. Her brain suddenly became much faster, but her body was frozen. Instead, all her brain was capable of doing for the moment was visualize how her sliced body would look like.
She wasn't ready, she couldn't die here, but her body, her mana refused to answer to her. Just as the claws were about to hit her, the monster suddenly disappeared from her view, as if it had teleported away.
The feeling of death faded away, and she finally regained control over her body. She stepped back until her back hit a tree, and finally saw where the monster was.
Ten meters on her left, the monster was laying against a tree, a large hole in its body. On her right, she saw the big spider move toward her, with the tip of one of her legs covered in blood.
On top of Neith, Adam who was sitting in a meditative pose said "Are you still coming, or are you bailing?"
Thalia clenched her fist, and as she jumped back on top of Neith, she said "You asshole." Her cloak had already disappeared since one of it's characteristics is that it disappears the moment the user is hit by something.
Adam looked back at her calmly and said "You should heal your cuts before you die of blood loss." Thalia's face had already paled because of the blood she lost with those two cuts.
Vamirs were creatures unique to the Great Swamp that looked like a mix between a boar and an ape, with unusually long and sharp claws. Those claws were a Vamir's main weapon, and apart from being unusually sharp, they had the effect of intensifying the bleeding of a wound.
Thalia became silent before she asked with a small blush "Do you have any bandages?" Hadn't it been for the blood loss, her face would already be tomato red due to her embarrassment.
Adam looked at her weirdly "You decided to come out on an adventure without bandages?" Thalia lowered her head and said "Can I have bandages please?"
Adam sighed and threw a small bandage at her while saying "Use this to stop the bleeding, and heal yourself using the healing power of the second Gate."
Thalia nodded and began trying to bandage herself up, but seeing how clumsy she looked he sighed and took the bandage from her hands. She asked surprised "What are you doing?!"
Adam replied "This is something your family should have taught you." He began quickly bandaging her two wounds, if he let her she would probably die before she successfully bandaged herself.
In a couple of minutes her wounds were bandaged and she had recovered all of her lost health. However, there would be scars left for some time. Also, although she had all her health back, she wasn't back to 100% of her fighting capacity.
While the healing power of the 2nd Gate was very powerful, it still had it's limits. Wounds would be healed, but the lost blood couldn't be replaced by the healing power, and instead would need to be restored with time. Of course, the blood regeneration of someone who opened the 2nd Gate was way faster than someone who didn't.
Still, opponents like Vamirs who could use attacks that dealt massive blood losses were the worse opponents for humanoids who could open the Gates.
As Neith continued making her way through the jungle, Thalia suddenly asked "What did I do wrong?" Adam looked at her with genuine surprise, and shock. He never expected her to let go of her pride and actually ask someone of her age about her faults.
Despite being surprised, Adam still replied quickly "First, you jumped off of Neith. Had you been a close ranged fighter, it would have made sense to close the distance with your opponent. But you are a mage, and you deliberately left the upper ground to approach the monsters."
"Then, you didn't even both verifying your surroundings, you assumed there were only the five monsters you were seeing, and thus didn't notice the stronger one laying in ambush."
"Lastly, you used way too much mana trying to impress me, and because you were impatient. You could have finished the first five using only fireballs with the control you showed over your spells. Even if there hadn't been this sneak attack, the mana you used to kill only those four monsters was way too high."
After listening to his explanation, Thalia asked "Can I see you fight? I mean, seriously. Even if the next monster we cross is weak, can I see the difference between us?"
Adam was once again surprised, but he shrugged and said "If you want, but before I go, let me tell you, my stats aren't even as strong as yours, but I have opened the 4th Gate."
Thalia's eyes widened, and asked "You already opened your 4th Gate?! But you are only Level 35…" Adam chuckled "Don't try to compare yourself to me, your frustration would know no end…"
Below them, Neith snorted when she heard him. As strong as he got, his pride was always catching up.
A few minutes later, Adam said "Looks like you are about to see that demonstration."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
SlyOW
SlyOW Thanks for all the support. Also, spoiler, it's not going to be an incredible fight, he's just going to roll on the monsters.
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