I’m Human Bait!?

Kanie screamed like a girl as he shot through the air. He and Eric were flying narrowly above the trees of Vorax Thicket. Below them, Mylo was leaping at the salamander meat that dangled from Kanie’s waist. Eric had tied one end of the rope to him, letting the other end with the meat hang from his body like a fishing lure.

“Eric—” Kanie shouted. “I am going to KILL you for this!”

“Hahaha!” Eric laughed. “… My name’s Erika, remember?”

“I don’t care what it is!” Kanie said, flinching as Mylo’s jaws snapped dangerously close to him. “When this is over, you’re so dead!”

“Now, now, no need to get mad~,” Eric said, mocking him.

“Couldn’t you have at least—shit!—cast a shield around me or something!?” Kanie asked, nearly getting bitten again.

Eric crossed his ankles and put his hands behind his head. He lounged comfortably behind a shield of his own, facing the opposite direction that he was flying in.

“Sorry—no can do,” he said, yawning. “It already drains enough magic as-is to haul myself and your heavy ass through the air at the same time.”

“Besides,” he added. “Are you forgetting that you can cast your own shield?”

Kanie’s expression lit up.

“Oh, right,” he said. “Defense Barrier!”

“… So anyway, what’s the plan from here? Surely we’re not going all the way to Impes Lux like this, are we?”

“Tch, I wish it were that easy,” Eric said. “—No. My HUD says we’re doing seventy-one miles an hour right now, and judging by the speed my MP bar is dropping—”

“There’s no way we’re lasting over six hours in the air without a break. … We’re lucky if I can keep this up for half that time before I need to rest.”

“… But worry not, I have a plan,” he continued.

“According to that map Aurora gave me, there’s a guild outpost on the way to the Kingdom of Fire. If the map is accurately drawn to scale, I should be able to get us there before I’m out of magic.”

The heroes, along with Mylo, cleared the end of Vorax Thicket and ventured into the plains immediately outside the forest. Mylo was still right on top of them, leaping at the salamander meat. Trails of smoke leaked from the two fiery ribbons coming from his shoulders. His eyes, burning with determination, matched the color of the setting sun illuminating the area.

“We’re going to crash a giant hellhound into a guild outpost?” Kanie said in disbelief. “That’s your plan?”

“I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen when we arrive,” Eric said. “But I do have an idea. I had a look through my spell roster, and there’s a spell called Dharvix’s Kip listed in there. It casts the target into a deep sleep.”

“I see,” Kanie said. His jet black hair waved about from the wind resistance.

“… You mean to give our boy here a little tranquilizer, huh?”

“Assuming all goes well, yeah,” Eric replied. “Kimora said that brainwashing magic doesn’t work on Mylo, but she never said anything about other types of magic.”

“Once he’s out cold, we can enlist the help of the adventurers at the outpost to figure out what to do next.”

Kanie shot Eric a doubtful glance.

“… And if the spell doesn’t work?”

“At that point, you’re our trump card,” Eric said. “You’ll have to knock him out by force.”

Kanie felt a chill run down his spine.

“I-I don’t know if I’m up to that,” he stammered.

“Oh, don’t be a pussy,” Eric shot back. “He might be stronger than you, but you just need to knock him unconscious, not defeat him outright.”

“No, it’s not that,” Kanie said. He recalled Kimora’s warning.

“If Kimora finds out I laid a hand on Mylo—even by necessity—who knows what type of sadistic shit she might do to me?”

Eric laughed.

“Well, that’ll be your problem—I’ll just be sitting here watching, popcorn in hand.”

“… I hate you, man,” Kanie said.

By nightfall, the weather had gotten considerably cooler. Kanie and Eric were still jetting through the air as Mylo trailed them. The streaks on Mylo’s body glowed beautifully, resembling campfire embers.

Kanie could feel his eyelids growing heavy. The fatigue from the salamander quest, coupled with the pleasant heat coming from Mylo’s body, had caused him to become sleepy.

Eric noticed and addressed the matter directly.

“Feel free to take a nap if you want,” he said. “I’ll wake you when we get to the outpost.”

“You sure?” Kanie said with a yawn. “If I zonk out, I won’t be able to stop Mylo from grabbing the salamander meat.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep watch to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Eric replied, pointing to his staff. “For now, just focus on resting up. I’ll need your help if something goes wrong with my original plan.”

“Do you really think a sleeping spell will work on him?” Kanie asked. There was skepticism blended into his tired voice.

“I don’t see why not,” said Eric. “The description of the spell said it even works on divine-class targets, which is what Scout categorized Mylo as. Of all our options, I’d say this is our safest bet at buying some time.”

“… Really? Well, that’s good to hear, I guess…” Kanie said weakly. He could feel his consciousness start to fade away.

Still, Eric thought, parsing the spell’s description again. Dharvix’s Kip sure requires a lot of magic to use.

He looked at his MP bar, which had dropped to about forty percent of its total capacity.

By the time we get to the outpost, I might only have enough to cast it twice…

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of snoring. He glanced over to his side to find that Kanie had drifted off to sleep.