As Logan pulled the unconscious Valeria from the site, the flames of Phoenix Dive surged behind him.
Seeing his mentor's figure caused Logan to ignore what was happening behind him.
She had large black wings, long horns, dark red skin, and a tail. Unlike Rubina, who was half a demon, Valeria seemed more complete. "What is a demon doing helping us…" Logan asked himself as he tried healing her.
He had to drink more mana water, even if he did not want to.
This time, he was sure not to overstep his limits while using magic.
Logan looked at her arm, which was still bent, and closed his eyes before trying to set it back into position.
He saw her eyes open and screamed as he began casting healing magic to quickly repair the damage before she lost consciousness again.
"I think that's good enough, mentor. I will be back!" Logan whispered as he ran back to check on the monster, which should have been further weakened by the strong blast.
Its body was half charred, some parts still smoldering in flames.
Logan looked at the creature in front of him, this time careful not to get near it.
"So, are you still alive?" Logan lightly kicked the corpse, which did not seem to respond.
"Answer me!" Logan tapped her again.
He waited a few seconds before taking out a knife to cut her mana stone.
As he closed in to stab the dagger into the core within her chest, he saw her eyes—they showed emotion, something he did not know they could.
Fear was etched into her expression as she tried to move the stubs to hold the dagger back.
"No… pl…" he heard in a raspy voice.
His hand began to waver as it got closer to the demon's chest.
He tried to ignore her pleas as he brought the dagger closer to where it needed to enter, but he made the mistake of looking at her face again, which showed a tear.
"Damn it… if you attacked us, then why did you not just stay like the other two?" he said to himself as he began to doubt what he was going to do.
Letting his mind fight between two sides, he stared at her one last time before clicking his tongue and then slitting his finger to press a drop into the middle of the beast's chest.
As soon as he did, he noticed a struggle between two invisible forces.
He saw the eyes of the creature waver until the link was created.
[Please… blood,] he heard a young woman's voice call out.
[Does that mean you won't hurt me?] he asked as he pulled his hand back.
[Tamed… you have created the link… my life is forfeited,] she replied in a weak voice.
"Fine, but if you move, I will kill you…" Logan placed the dagger on her chest while, with his other hand, he pinched his cut, letting blood drops flow into her throat.
With each drop, he saw some improvement in her skin. It was slow, so he only let his blood drip for a few minutes.
[Thank you…] he heard the voice call out before it slumped to sleep.
"Now what do we do… two unconscious bodies and low visibility to make things worse…" Logan thought of what he needed to do next.
First, he had to try getting Valeria to safety, so he used Regal to create webs and tied her to Saber, who seemed to have the strength to carry her.
He then wondered what to do with the vampire, so he also decided to tie her up as a precaution and carry her on his back.
What a day, to have five demons around him, two of whom died, and this last one vampire he tamed who he didn't know what she would do in the future.
He also thought about his mentor, a little doubt within him, wondering if she was on their side or was a spy for the enemy.
Logan sighed, trying to keep his mind preoccupied with reaching the exit of the cave and not wanting to think about what would happen later.
It took them about an hour to reach halfway through the cavern, but with the weight on his back and Saber walking slowly to keep his new master safe, the journey back would take twice as long.
It wasn't long before Logan became too tired to keep going and stopped along the way, placing the vampire back down while heaving heavily.
[Are you awake?] Logan asked as he placed the ring next to his mouth and began drinking mana water to replenish what he had used during the day.
[More blood…] he heard the voice call within his mind.
"Do you know how much I gave you?" Logan asked, still huffing.
[Please… will try to regenerate…] he heard a reply that might help him.
"Fine, just not too much, alright!" Logan reopened the cut to give the demon more blood, letting it drip over her mouth.
Within a few minutes, he noticed she was able to move a little more.
[Are you bad against healing magic?] he asked, wondering if using heal would affect or damage her.
[Why would it…?] he heard a reply that he did not expect before trying to use heal magic on the more serious wounds.
[Feels nice…] he heard as he continued.
With her ability to regenerate and his healing magic, he noticed that she was able to form legs and hands.
It was a long way off from a full recovery, but it looked better than before at least.
[Will save energy for later…] she finished as she began to transform into something smaller.
Her figure began to shrink to that of a small bat as she rested on his shoulder.
[If you could have done that, you know things would have been easier…] Logan said, wondering why she hadn't used that strange magic before.
[Too weak… core needed mana…] he heard her say before snuggling inside his coat's hoodie.
"Well… let's continue, I guess…" Logan told the rest of the group consisting of monsters.