Though he lunged forward, TJ knew better than to lock himself in melee with the Boss. Its ice would slow him at best, and he was sure that a Copper tier giving him Frostbite would be much worse than the Dirt had. As such, TJ lunged forward only long enough to get the wendigo to engage with him. Then, with Wind Manipulation's assistance, he pushed himself back. The air knew that, as soon as the wendigo was dead, the Tutorial would finish. The prospect of freedom was too alluring, and it happily helped him more than it should have for as paltry an offering of MP as he gave.
The wendigo's claws cut through the air in front of him, and TJ continued to the side. The enemy pressed the attack, its powerful steps shaking the ground. It went for the tip of his tail, looking to slow him. With a thought, TJ deactivated Divine Transformation and stood as a lone man with a spear before the monster. Its claws stabbed into the ground, freezing the mud as soon as they came in contact with it. It pulled its hand out, frozen mud holding its claws together. With a shriek, it spread its fingers and lunged back in to kill him.
TJ held the Bloodied Spear aloft and hurled it at the wendigo's chest before blasting it forward and himself back with the same explosive use of Wind Manipulation. The red horn of his spear's head smashed through the hardened ice and buried itself in the wendigo's chest. Even so, it was fortunate that TJ had launched himself backwards with his wind, because the wendigo's icy claws ripped through where he was just standing. A wave of frosty mist shot towards him, and TJ reactivated Divine Transformation just quickly enough to resist the frostbite that surely would have impacted him were he to only have his normal body's Attributes.
He stood ready to fight back, but the wendigo looked down at the weapon in its chest and screeched again.
"With my brother's body!" It screamed. "You hurt me with his body!"
There was a massive boom and the bone around the wendigo's eye shattered. It whirled, looking for whatever it was that'd dared to attack it. A certain Copper tiered Acolyte stood not far off, chambering another round into his .50 caliber rifle.
"I'll do a lot more than that you bastard!" Stanton shouted as he raised Suzie again. The wendigo sprinted in the direction of the old man, who fired at the Boss again. It dodged, only its horn taking a glancing hit. TJ slithered forward, the wind hurrying him along. He couldn't let Stanton be overwhelmed by the Boss so early! His fangs found the monster's calf and he crunched down into the frigid, supernaturally hard ice. As soon as he made contact, TJ felt the chill travel down his whole body. A minor Frostbite affliction appeared in his Status, but he couldn't pay that any attention right now. Instead, he condensed a blade of wind on his tongue.
The wendigo predicted his desperate attack and kicked at TJ's head with its other leg. Frost crawled over his body as he desperately thrashed and writhed. Frost grew from the ground all around him, boxing his body in. He couldn't escape. The wendigo's right hand's claws shot towards his eyes. Stanton shot twice, both times into the wendigo's hand hard enough to knock it off-course and it stabbed into the ground instead of TJ's head. It hissed and lunged down with its left hand while the right swung towards Stanton and released a hail of ice spears that shot forward.
Stanton dodged out of the way while TJ still tried to wriggle out of his prison. He was saved by an unexpected hero. A Divine Transformationed Molly lunged from his blind spot and sank her jaws into the same place that he had. Crackling electricity shuddered up the wendigo's leg inside the wound, making it twitch hard enough that its foot came free from TJ's back. The teenaged Neophyte dodged back as soon as TJ was remotely free, and with Divine Manifestation again amplifying Divine Transformation, he ripped free from the icy prison.
He tried to merely slither away, but the Boss lunged down with its jaws gaping wide. Thick mist billowed out of its maw and fought to blind and freeze TJ where he writhed. He blew back himself, the wind forcing the icy breath of the Boss into the skies. The rain froze into hail and plinked to the ground all over. A pair of foot-long claws threatened his life, and TJ couldn't see how to escape.
"Here!" Sarah screamed as she burst from behind two wendigo-pukwudgies and smashed her glowing shield into the wendigo's right hand. It was knocked off course enough for TJ to receive only a glancing wound down his side instead of being disembowelled completely. With frost creeping down his body, TJ was heavily slowed and unsure of what he could do. Before he could even think about different options, though, a faintly glowing green rain fell over his whole body. The frost melted away and TJ's afflictions all faded as Lailani's rain purged him from his suffering. He whipped around to reengage the Boss.
In that short time, Sarah had been knocked at least 40 feet back, and she lay on the ground with ice growing all around her. TJ could faintly hear her wheezing breaths, which was enough to let him know she was still alive. Molly was fleeing as fast as she could manage, pillars of ice appearing all around her as the wendigo swiped wildly to kill her. As TJ watched, frost crawled up her legs and she stopped, stuck to the ground.
"No!" TJ and Lailani screamed in unison as the wendigo struck down at the much smaller Lightning Dog. Connor got there just in time, raising his shield between Molly and the Boss. He glowed with his Tortoise Shell Skill. Its claws punched straight through and into his upper chest. Even so, his Divine Armament shield didn't disappear. Instead, it shone like the sun and, with his right arm hanging limp, he roared in challenge. With a swing of his left arm, the shield punched through the wendigo's palm and severed all its fingers except its thumb.
It screamed its most terrible cry yet, its amputated fingers remaining inside of Connor's chest.
"I will be God!" It screamed into the heavens. "You dare?"
The monster seemed to be trying to think of something more eloquent to say, but it couldn't. Instead, as frost climbed up Connor's body as the wendigo recovered from its momentary lack of focus. Then, with its other hand, the left, it swiped down to finish them both off. Lailani's green rain expanded at this point and covered the entire battlefield, melting ice and any other afflictions while she was at it. Fortunately, it had taken long enough that Stanton fired three more times in quick succession. Each bullet exploded on its face, but they didn't slow the monster. TJ did. Disregarding the chill that immediately seeped into his organs and made him shiver, TJ leapt and wrapped his body around the wendigo's left arm, his coils then reaching to its other arm.
TJ disregarded the flashing warnings from the the System about his ever-worsening Frostbite affliction, instead tightening himself to keep the wendigo from moving easily. Lailani's rain washed over him and kept his body from crumbling into ice. That was enough for two other Zealots to dash in and extract the trapped Connor and Molly. Despite his efforts to trap the Boss, TJ felt the wendigo's arms move to pull him off. Though he didn't feel it was ready, TJ let his wind blade loose from his tongue. The attack cut into the bone, sending shrapnel in every direction, and its right eye's flame died entirely. The wind whipped into the wendigo's face with such power that the Boss stumbled.
"Zealots, now!" someone screamed, and TJ felt more than he saw a half dozen weapons and shields smash into the 12 foot-tall monster's knees. It slowly toppled, and nobody hesitated to continue pressing the attack. Seth's bolts, Farid's spears, every Zealot's weapons, everything. TJ focused entirely on slowing its recovery, and it fought to get to its hands and knees. The occasional attack hit TJ instead of the Boss, but he didn't care. He, again, began condensing an attack on his tongue to hopefully decapitate the threat. It stretched its left hand forward. Everyone simply avoided it, instead focusing on dealing more permanent damage to the Boss.
That was a mistake.
They'd forgotten one of its base Skills.
With surprising speed, the wendigo threw the body of a Gila Monstrosity into its mouth. As soon as it happened, everyone understood what the problem was. Its head wasn't nearly large enough to swallow the beast whole, but as soon as it got that first bite of flesh, its strength surged. With a flex of its shoulders, it pulled TJ mostly off of its left arm. Then, with improved mobility, it disregarded all the attacks it was receiving and stuffed the rest of the body into its horribly disfigured jaw.
"Don't give it any time or space! It can recover!" TJ shouted, even though he knew he was just repeating the obvious. The only silver lining he could see was that the monster hadn't been able to recover its right hand's fingers.
As soon as he felt that there was a positive side, though, the wendigo threw its head back and roared. That same moment, subzero mist burst out of every wound it'd sustained. TJ's Frostbite affliction was Severe, but all he could do was draw on the strength from the storm overhead to empower his Wind Manipulation. The boost from his Storm Authority began to flag and run dry, but TJ couldn't sacrifice any of his dwindling resources, and through his Ritualistic Transfer, he could feel that most people weren't doing well either. None were at full HP, and most where nearly exhausted in one of their resources.
"Focus fire!" Stanton commanded, and a dozen Skills all together struck the Boss. It screamed and laughed about something, but TJ refused to listen. The Storm and the winds both whispered in his ears, telling him he was nearly there. The ice chilled his body, and he could only move his neck. Still he waited. He watched as the wendigo kicked a Zealot away and she smashed into three others like bowling pins. None got up. Still, he waited. The wendigo pulled his spear from the ground, where it'd fallen after it was restored. It reared back and threw it at the Disciples and Acolytes. TJ couldn't see what happened. Still. He. Waited.
As it jumped forward and landed with one foot each on Connor and Molly, TJ wanted to weep, but finally, it was time. The wind and the Storm screamed for release, and TJ lunged forward as quickly as he could manage, a pitifully slow attack. As soon as his jaws caught the Boss's neck, he flicked his tongue back and forth like only snakes could. The hyper-focused blade of wind shaved through the thick, icy vertebrae exactly as it was meant to. Less than a second later, its spine was severed and the wendigo fell.
"Kin… killer." It whispered. "I… was… avenge–"
"I don't give a fuck." Seth interrupted, TJ's Spear in his hands. He smashed it down in the guttering eyes of the wendigo. Just as the System notifications began to roll in, TJ's eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness.