Hiatus Gifting This Unfortunate Guy With Blessings

Using the moment when Xyllisa's words wouldn't reach me no matter what I closed the distance and I made sure I wasn't looking anywhere near her face. When I was right in front of her I used my Griffin's talons to swing as hard as I could hoping to tore the threat in one swipe.

I already saw how easily they tore through the body of a Giant Toad so if I managed to hit her it would be an easy victory.

My limb was about to find its mark but I heard a sudden yell, saw a flash and Xyllisa was no longer anywhere in front of me. On one of my talons, I spotted a piece of fabric that was previously a part of the enemy's cloak's hood.

The air in my lungs was going out at a fast pace so I furiously looked around and saw Xyllisa stand 100 meters away with a shocked expression on her face. I accidentally looked at her face but I didn't feel any different so her charm had to have a distance limit.

But I honestly didn't want to find out the exact number at that moment.

Megumin was standing a few meters behind me with hands glued to her ears. I was worried I might have hurt her eardrums with my Griffin's screeching but I didn't have any other choice. But to my surprise, all I could see in Megumin's face was awe and her own version of red neon lights in her eyes.

"THAT IS THE COOLEST- WAIT!"

We were far from safe though, so I didn't waste any time and quickly run up to Megumin. Very carefully I caught Megumin's small frame in between my left arm's talons and I flew into the air in the opposite direction from Xyllisa.

I already tasted how powerful her charm is when she seriously uses it. I didn't want to be anywhere near her without Archpriest Dispel or something like that.

"Woah! I am flying!" Megumin exclaimed excitedly as if we weren't in trouble.

I finally looked around to get my bearings and I could spot Axel in the distance. By my estimation, I guessed that we were teleported around 20 kilometers from the city.

I put all the magic I could use in my Griffin form to accelerate as much as possible and flapped my wings furiously. When I felt that I flew a considerable distance I looked behind and my vision was shrouded by a very fast approaching dark ball.

I gave out a surprised Griffin's yell and descended a few meters down to avoid the projectile. The sudden change erected a shocked shout from Megumin as well.

"Awww, I almost got you."

I've heard the woman's jovial laugh from behind me as. She was once again around 200 meters from me, this time with a pair of dark wings protruding from her back. She was flying almost as fast as me but because of my evasive-maneuver-related drop of speed, she gained another 50 meters in between us.

"THIS HORNY DEMON! I AM GONNA BLAST YOU TO SMITHEREENS!"

Megumin yelled bravely but Xyllisa ignored her and formed another three watery balls around her and after chanting "Paralyze Slime!" they shout out with great speed straight at us.

This time, without decelerating I flapped my wings and flew higher to dodge the first sticky ball. For the next two, I descended while changing my course a bit to the right.

"Please, fly a little steadier!"

I noticed that Megumin was getting pretty pale but I couldn't help it. While mentally apologizing to her I once again looked behind me.

"Well, I tried playing nice. Don't blame me for your bad life choices. You could've happily followed my orders but instead decided to disobey. But don't worry, I will make sure to get you up and running in no time. I don't know what will happen with the girl though."

I saw some blue sparks jump between Xyllisa's fingers as she flew after me. Connecting that fact with what she said I immediately released Megumin from between my talons when I saw Xyllisa moving her lips once again.

"W-WHAAAAT?!" "Lightning Bolt!"

At that moment I heard Megumin surprised yell I felt a stinging pain in my back and all the muscles in my body suddenly contracted. I felt an unknown sensation of a tsunami wave surging throughout my entire body. This didn't last longer than three seconds though and as soon as I felt that the effects of the Lightning Bolt were over I dived straight down and once again caught Megumin.

"Kazuki, what are you doing?!"

With no way to tell her that I had to do it unless I wanted her to receive a similar effect, due to how electricity worked, but with her much less resistant body I just resumed my flight straight at the city.

"Ara, you managed to save the little girl. What a valiant effort! My sisters will be so jealous when I come back home with someone like you as my puppet!"

Xyllisa was now less than a hundred meters behind me. Surprisingly she stopped lunging spells at my rear for around a minute. I was observing her the whole time and saw how she took out a bottle from her belt and drank all its contents.

"Is she still following us?!" Megumin yelled from below because she couldn't really look back and the long absence of offensive spells lunged at us probably worried her.

As if to answer Megumin the S.u.c.c.u.b.u.s behind us voiced:

"I got an offer for you, my dear mysterious adventurer. This girl seems important to you. If you stop to talk with me like a civilized person I will let her go free. If you don't-"

"Don't listen to her, she's bluffing! She is probably almost out of magic. A long-distance Teleport, Flash Teleport, and five more advanced spells would tire almost everyone but Crimson Demons!"

There was a note of anger in Xyllisa's voice as if she was gravely offended that someone interjected her speech.

"If you don't then I will show you how much magic I have by using two Lightning Bolts to hit you and that little brat in the air when you let her go."

This time I saw both of her hands start glowing blue and release crackling sounds. Megumin's prediction might have been right but it seemed that the contents of the bottle Xyllisa has emptied restored her reserves.

Not giving me even a moment to think she melodically added.

"If you won't start descending in the next ten seconds your precious brat will be done for. Ten~!"

As Xyllisa counted down Megumin yelled again:

"Even if I die I can be resurrected! But if you get caught- "

"You won't be able to get her to the priest in time. Seven!"

We were still a good distance away from Axel and I certainly didn't want to agree to that crazy resurrection plan. But with nothing to shield us from the Lightning in the air I didn't see how we could run away from that S.u.c.c.u.b.u.s menace.

Something to shield us-

"Good choice. You are going to like serving under me."

"Stop going down!"

I started to quickly descend towards the luscious forest below us. It was just chock full of trees.

I spotted a clearing large enough in which I could fit my Griffin body and I used it to put Megumin down gently. She landed on the moss but quickly stood up and started yelling "WHAT-" but stopped herself when she saw what I was doing.

I neither wanted to see Megumin fried by Xyllisa's Lightning Bolt nor I wanted to give up my freedom.

After putting down Megumin I changed into my human form, quickly took out my bow and took aim. When Xyllisa's head appeared above the trees I released an arrow and without looking to see if it connected I ushered Megumin and we started running in the direction of the city.

"You sneaky little-! Don't you care about that brat?"

Unfortunately, my arrow didn't seem to kill her in one hit or do any damage whatsoever.

"Megumin, listen…"

We continued running while I kept stopping from time to time to release an arrow in Xyllisa's direction. With her vision obstructed by trees and danger of arrows pretty accurately flying at her she didn't try to close her distance to us too much.

After the 6th arrow, Xylissa sped up and overtook us. In her mind, we could only change direction or face her Lightning Bolt. She released a triumphant laugh while her hands once again started emanating with a blue hue and some sparkles.

She certainly didn't expect me suddenly appearing behind her with the use of my owl form and transforming into a human above the tree line to release another arrow straight at her. She only reacted when she heard a whizz of an arrow flying straight at her face but she managed to shield her head with her wing.

Xyllisa released a pained cry and I could finally hear the anger in her voice:

"I am gonna skewer that little witch before I take away your reasoning!"

As gravitation took care of my escape I heard her voice calm down and she started talking again:

"But I have to say you managed to impress me again. Your ability to transform even lets you use multiple humanoid races with separate classes! If I catch you and level you up you are gonna be a great addition to the Demon King's army!"

I transformed into an owl once again making sure to remain at a considerable distance from Xyllisa. With my owl's hearing, I heard Megumin running towards the city while trying to keep a low profile. To distract the S.u.c.c.u.b.u.s I popped up two more times in the opposite direction to Megumin and fired my arrows while falling down.

Xyllisa already anticipated my move so she easily dodged the last arrow and sent a spell in my direction. Fearing for my human's form life I changed into resistant Griffin and took one more hit of Lightning to my c.h.e.s.t. The moment I felt a surging pain I switched my form to an owl and quickly dove under the tree line.

I then flew right above the ground level and maneuvered skillfully between the trees trying to avoid being spotted. When I managed to successfully fly under Xyllisa without her seeing me I directed myself towards Megumin.

"Do you think I didn't notice that brat running away? If you don't show up quickly then I am gonna fly after her and make sure to disintegrate her with Light of Saber."

I didn't know what spell she was talking about but it sounded really ominous indeed.

But I wasn't trying to fly after Megumin.

I once again used the fact Xyllisa didn't know where I was and my owl form's silent flying to appear behind her. But this time I didn't transform into a human twenty meters away.

I flew as close as possible before I saw Xyllisa turning around to face me.

"Oh, you decided to voluntarily-"

She started talking but my gamble was successful. She didn't manage to use her charm to disable my power on time.

When I was right above her I changed my form again.

For Xyllisa it must have looked as if a giant cloud suddenly appeared in the sky. But it was just me in my fat Giant Toad form.

My old friend gravity pulled me down with high speed and before Xyllisa could dodge or use a spell she was hit with Giant Toad belly and experienced a fall from dozens of meters that included a few tree branches on the way.

A hulking mass of fat came down from the sky and fell onto the ground giving a large tremor. A crater appeared in the ground and even a tree behind me gave a dangerous creaking sound as if it were about to fall.

I didn't bother checking if that did something to Xyllisa and simply changed into my Griffin form.

The Lightning Bolt charge that I got hit with didn't manage to dissipate before I changed into an owl previously so I felt the extremely painful sensation of electricity traveling through me towards the ground. But there was someone between me and the ground. And that someone gave out a bloodcurdling scream from under my Griffin's belly.

This time Xyllisa didn't seem to 'appreciate' me surprising her again. It was my time to be surprised since she still seemed to be alive and kicking after what have I just did to her.

But that still wasn't all that I have planned for her. Unfortunately, the muscle contraction due to electric spell was still surging through my body so I couldn't use that moment of pain to end my pursuer with Griffin's sharp talons. Before she could calm down and use her charm on me I transformed once again into an owl and flew away quickly.

I spotted Megumin standing a distance away from the crash site.

There was an enormous magic circle formed above the place Xyllisa was now sitting.

Xyllisa seemed extremely surprised but quickly collected herself. She realized that she wouldn't be able to run away and she didn't seem to have enough Magic for teleportation.

I saw a different type of energy than electricity gathering around Xyllisa's hand and her face contracted with anger as she yelled:

"YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G BRAT! LET'S SEE WHO FIRES FIRST!"

I was already in front of Megumin and looking at Xyllisa who straightened her back and put a hand above her head as a giant beam of light appeared above it. I heard a yell and I saw her hand start descending with the light beam following the same trajectory.

"LIGHT OF SABER!"

"EXPLOSION!"

After transforming into a Giant Toad and standing in front of Megumin I saw a flash of light, heard a deafening roar of flames and then.... everything went black.

And then white again.