Hitching A Ride

*BAM!*

*SPLASH!*

Vincel watched with wide eyes as a barrier of water formed a partition between himself and the beast's wings to provide him with very much-needed protection.

The beast's wing proved stronger than the barrier of water and shattered it on impact but the blowback of the scattered water pushed Vincel to safety away from direct contact with the beast.

Vincel was knocked back and made painful contact with yet another tree trunk. The is time, the rough bark of the tree scraped him and drew blood.

[HP: 35/50]

*Growl*

The beast was angry to have been 'cheated' out of an 'Easy picking' and so it tensed in readiness to go for Vincel once again.

"*Growl* I'll take the interfering Mage down as well. She seems a feisty one"

The beast spoke in a voice that sounded feminine but also deep with manly undertones. It was a strange mix and Vincel might have found it chuckle-worthy if his life had not been on the line.

As Vincel struggled to his feet grateful to Lea's magical intervention, Lea arrived in front of him with her hands thrust towards the advancing beast.

"You always seem to become a prime target. How can someone so weak be such a danger magnet?"

Vincel furrowed his brows.

'We're in a forest of all manner man-hungry beasts so I don't see how my being a target is so strange. It's annoying for sure, but not strange'

"Lea, I need a Mana recovery potion!"

Lea cast a spell circle and a series of water balls all moving fast and hard like bullets shot out to strike against the beast's head.

She heard Vincel's request while she was straining to keep the spell active so she was instantly dismissive.

"What do you need it for?"

Vincel spoke fast as time was not on their side.

"I think I can make my inconsistent strength more consistent if I can just recover some Mana"

*Grrrrr*

"Pesky nuisance," the beast said in that strange mix of voices and shielded itself with a wing before retaliating with a focused blast of wind.

Lea made a quick and impressive shift from offensive to defensive but her water shield had a poor history against the wind attacks and did not last that long or stop them from getting blown away.

From many meters away, Aidan watched it all happen out of the corner of his eyes.

'Two Gate-Rankers? What bad luck!'

"DON'T LET UP!" he yelled to Kleon, Jilan, and Knowle.

Aidan had now realized they had been blindsided and were against greater opposition than they had expected but he also knew no good would come from switching attention away from the Gate Ranker he and the others were already facing.

'They are on their own for now'

As soon as they regained their balance, Vincel got right back to his request.

"Lea, the potion"

Lea looked conflicted.

"But..."

"Lea, you can't face the Dog-head Bat on your own," Vincel said with urgency.

"I know- Wait, what did you call it?" Lea asked with a raised brow.

Vincel looked taken aback.

"I called it a Dog-head Bat. You know, 'cause it has the head of a dog but the body of a bat?"

"That can't be its name and even if you wanted to name it, shouldn't it be 'Bat-winged Dog'? Since it has the body of a dog but the wings of a bat?"

Vincel looked surprised. Almost shocked.

"You have to be shitting me! How is this your focus right now?!

Lea, I NEED THE POTION!"

"Okay okay," Lea said and dug her hand into her satchel to retrieve a vial that she tossed at Vincel.

Vincel caught it, popped open the cork, and downed the potion in a single gulp.

[Host has consumed a Mana recovery potion]

[Arcane Mana Reserves +40]

[Arcane Mana Reserves: *78/100]

(*He gained +3 since the last time he checked before the battles started)

Even without the notification, Vincel could feel the increase in the Arcane mana coursing through his body. The origination of the power was his midsection.

'Activate Arcane Augmentation'

[Arcane Augmentation activated]

[-50 Arcane Mana Reserves]

[+10 to all physical stats]

The Dog-Head Bat shot another wind attack with an aggressive flap of its wings and it cackled in satisfaction when it did not see a defensive water spell covering Vincel and Lea.

But then, whatever obstruction the wind attack caused cleared up and the beast's wicked black eyes widened in surprise.

"What? Where did they go?"

As the beast spoke, its eyes moved until they fell on Vincel a few feet away with Lea in his arms. He had carried her to safety before the wind attack hit and now, the brown-haired mage was staring up at him in surprise at his speed.

'I didn't feel the use of a spell. That was his body's speed. That was all him'

Vincel placed her feet on the ground.

"Are you alright?"

Lea nodded.

"Yeah"

"Good"

Vincel dashed forward towards the Dog-Head Bat and before the beast could realize it was the target of an assault, it received a swift kick to the side of its head.

*Bam!*

"Nnggh"

The kick caused the beast's head to move a few inches but it recovered quickly enough to push Vincel back and hastily snap its fangs at his heels.

Vincel landed on the ground, successfully avoiding getting bitten, and was pleased when Lea got right back to shooting her water ball attacks against the Dog-head Bat.

By the aggressive sound the Dog-head Bat was making, the attack was more of a nuisance than it was painful but it was enough distraction for Vincel to scan the best possible spot to attack; The Beast's long and leathery neck.

Vincel tensed his knees and dashed forward with incredible speed to gather just enough momentum to launch himself at the neck and hopefully deliver a crippling blow.

The Dog-Head Bat spotted his advancing movement and swung its wing...

*Swish*

... Smacked Vincel in the face...

*BAM!*

... And sent him slamming against a tree trunk.

*BANG!*

"Ahh"

Vincel groaned.

Thanks to a stinging pain, Vincel realized that in the process of getting wing-smacked, he had also been scraped by one of the Beast's claws.

[HP: 10/50]

'Shit! Did I lose 25 HP? From a claw scrape? The next successful attack will be my last!'

Lea was still on with her water-ball spell attack and the beast now turned its singular attention to her.

The beast had its back turned to Vincel and as he watched its short tail swish back and forth happily, Vincel did not know what got into him but he ran forward and grabbed the tail to use it to pull the beast back and keep it away from Lea for as long as he could.

As he pulled his hardest, Vincel was quickly met with the realization that his strength, despite being augmented, was still very much lower than that of the beast.

He was barely slowing the beast down and judging by the fact that the Dog-Head Bat let out a chuckle, Vincel was sure it was only just toying with him.

The Beast turned its head just a bit so that one eye was looking at tail-holding Vincel while the other eye remained on Lea, the exhausted spell caster.

To Vincel, the Beast said,

"I sense something in you. It's ancient and interesting... It won't help you tho-"

*WHAM!*

"Arrrrrrrgggghhhhhh"

The sound of a heavy object slamming into one of the beast's hind legs was so sudden and it was only after the Dog-head Bat let out a yell of pain that Vincel saw the one responsible for the attack.

Jilan looked so happy for having caught the Dog-head Bat by surprise.

"Haha, Take that!"

Jilan had felt a bit useless with the Beast he was fighting with Aidan and the others because that one remained mostly in the air and always out of range from his club.

When he looked back and saw the second Gate-ranker standing on the ground and overwhelming Vincel and Lea, he decided to intervene with a sneaky strike.

*GRRRR*

The Dog-Head Bat let out a scary growl and hobbled away from Jilan before swinging his clawed paw at him.

Jilan avoided getting cut by the clawed paw but the wing attached to the front limb still smacked him into the ground with a focused wind attack.

Vincel was still holding the Beast's tail and he watched as the Beast now raised its injured hind limb to crush Jilan into paste.

However, before its muscular leg could smash into Jilan, Lea intervened with yet another series of water ball attacks focused on the injured area.

*Pew* *Pew* *Pew*

"Ahn-- Oww-- Arrgh"

The beast's injured leg took more damage and it flapped its wings.

Vincel's eyes widened in realization.

'It wants to get away. It's going to take flight!'

Vincel clawed at the short tail and with the strength coursing through his legs thanks to Arcane Augmentation, he launched himself onto the beast's back just as he yelled to Jilan who was stirring on the ground.

"Jilan, your club! TOSS IT!"

Jilan looked from a struggling Vincel, to the beast now tensing to leap into the air and then to his club one foot away from himself.

"Give it to him!" Lea yelled.

Jilan grabbed his club and without a second thought, he tossed it to Vincel.

Vincel had only just managed to catch the club when the Dog-head Bat took off into the air for a much-needed breather.