CHAPTER 29: MAN VS. BATGOS (2)

’Buy me another potion,’ Lukas told the system as he studied the bat.

[Gold deducted: 10]

[Minor Elixir of Life purchased]

Lukas held the bottle with a vice grip as he moved on to the next task. Somehow, he had to get the bat’s attention.

’Is there some kind of calling signal I can buy?’ Lukas asked, vaguely remembering that hunters on Earth would use stuff like that for birds.

Hopefully, the personal shop had something like that, but for bats.

If he could get the bat to make a reckless charge at him, they would win.

[None that you can afford]

Lukas narrowed his eyes at the simple but crushing rejection. Getting the bat to leave Alara and fight him instead was crucial to his definitely sane plan.

However, there was no use dwelling on it.

’I’m just going to have to do this the old-fashioned way then,’ Lukas thought before heaving a heavy sigh.

"Damnit!" Lukas lamented. "I didn’t wanna look like some idiot!"

Turning to the bat, Lukas took one last breath before screaming, "Hey, idiot bat! I’m right here!"

The next second he poured all of the elixir into his mouth, making sure to keep from swallowing. Then, he waited for the beast to charge.

Which is exactly what it did.

Leaving behind Alara in an instant, the bat zoomed right at Lukas. His eyes grew wide as the bat turned into a single, imperceptible black line.

In the next instant, he clenched his jaw down on his lips just as the beast flew into him. It was vitally important that he didn’t let any of the elixir escape.

’I got you now, bastard!’ Lukas thought as he stared into the bat’s eyes even as it tried to rip him apart.

Then he plunged the sword deep into its eyes.

[Critical Hit! -10 HP!]

[349,990/450,000 HP]

[Warning: your HP is in critical condition: 10/250]

’Damnit! I’m already almost dead?’ Lukas lamented. ’And my flawless plan didn’t do shit!’

Lukas swallowed the elixir and felt a rejuvenating energy course through him as he pulled out his sword. Instantly, he struck the other eye.

"Grah!" The bat screamed in anguish.

’Is this dealing real damage? Even though his HP is barely dropping?’

It made sense to him, as eyes were a delicate but important thing for anyone.

[Rae’s bat is suffering from a blindness debuff]

[It is relatively ineffective]

’Ineffective?’

"Hey!" A loud, angry voice called from behind the bat. "What did I tell you about your crazy plans, you asshole!"

A blinding flash of swords directly followed Alara’s scream. Blood flew in the air as Alara cut apart the bat’s back.

[Critical hits!]

[-150,000 HP]

[199,980 HP]

’We’re gonna win!’ Lukas thought with a heavy smile. ’Because of my crazy plan, we’re gonna—’

Slash!

"Geh!" Lukas groaned as blood suddenly poured from his mouth.

His eyes twitched from the sudden pain.

’Wh-what the hell happened?’ Too weak to keep his eyes open, Lukas let the darkness consume him alongside disbelief. ’Weren’t we just winning? Didn’t my plan work?’

Somewhere behind the bat, Lukas heard a primal scream erupt from Alara. A second later, there was a sudden gust of air, followed by a sickening thud and silence.

Suddenly, the wind holding Lukas up disappeared.

’So then why am I not falling?’ Lukas wondered.

"Listen, kid." A dark, demonic voice spoke. "Master wants you. If you behave, I’ll tell him we killed the goblins together."

’Killed... the goblins?’

’Fred? Pokey?’

Lukas recalled how valiantly they had all fought for him in the tournament. How each of them basically gave everything they had just to lead his army.

What kind of leader would he be if he got captured here?

[HP in critical condition!]

[5/250 HP]

’How much gold do I have left? Like 250, right?’

[270]

’More than enough for a few elixirs, eh?’

Lukas opened his eyes, giving the damned ugly bat a wide smile.

Its eyes shriveled into what he felt was a surprised look.

"Are you stupid?" The bat asked, unable to contain its laughter.

Ignoring the bat, Lukas said, "If I can buy some kind of automatic elixir, get me that. Otherwise,"

Lukas suddenly thrust his sword down, embedding it into the bat’s arm.

Then he pushed off it, exposing his completely torn-through midsection.

Simultaneously, the regular old elixir appeared in his hand, giving him his answer.

"This is going to be interesting."

Lukas landed on the bat’s arm with easy grace, his stomach already completely healed.

Not wasting a single second, Lukas ran to the bat’s ears.

’Going for the eyes earlier was stupid. It’s a damned bat!’

Jumping off the bat’s arm, Lukas stretched his arms as he prepared to hack at its ears.

Swish!

The bat’s other arm flew through the air, impaling him once again.

[HP in critical condition!]

[HP: 3/250]

’Yea, yea. Just give me a potion when that happens.’ Lukas smiled at the bat.

[Gold deducted: 10]

’I can do this all day,’ Lukas thought as he repeated his maneuver from earlier.

As his wounds healed, Lukas flashed another smile at the bat.

’You’re not gonna kill me, pussy. Your boss wants me alive. Sucks to be you.’

’As for me,’ Lukas thought as he swung down on the bat’s right ear, hacking at it like a butter knife on stone. ’I’m a free man now.’

Swish!

[Gold deducted: 10]

’I didn’t understand it at first, but...’

Lukas continued with his one task: striking the bat’s ear, even as it tried to nearly kill him over and over.

[Gold deducted: 10]

[Gold deducted: 10]

’They don’t help me because I’m useless or some bullshit. They help me because they believe in me as their leader.’

[Gold deducted: 10]

’I guess I just didn’t know how that felt.’

Lukas glared at the beast as his sword was about to sever its ear.

Then he screamed, "You wanted to report the annihilation of my people, right?!"

"Well, report this!" Lukas screamed as he felt the air rise around him. "When you meet your boss again, tell him that you tried!"

A sudden, nearly imperceptible light of orange and silver flashed through the air, leaving only red mist in its wake.

Smiling, Lukas left the bat’s ear intact, as the beast was dead anyway.

Lukas laughed as he said, "Maybe you bastards can bond over your deaths."