The hunted had to become the hunter for them to live another day. Vincent now had a choice to make, to stay with the new swole strong Kass for a chance of victory, or run away, leaving him to die as bait.

Vincent tapped on Lupa's shoulder and indicated with his head to try for an escape. When the two of them took a few steps back, the Demonic Beast quickly plucked a rock from its back and threw it at them, stoping their intention to run away.

The rock was quickly thrown without accuracy, missing Vincent and Lupa by a few meters. The answer became perfectly clear, even when distracted, the Demonic Beast had its eyes on them.

[Damn it! This is the last time I will allow you to head into danger without saying anything. Our only option is to fight... you have eight minutes remaining. Let's do our best to help the soldier kill the Demonic Beast or injure it enough to escape.]

-I'm sorry for what I've done... -

Vincent said while feeling conflicted. He felt horrible for endangering Ester and Lupa, yet his body itched to fight.

The adrenaline pumping in his veins encouraged him to attack. As if his body had a mind of its own. It felt similar to the outburst when he shouted at Lupa and crushed the Moldy Snail.

The fear was being replaced with reckless curiosity and excitement for the deadly fight.

*Outside the bloody forest arena

Ester reached the female soldier Tula on the other side. She could see Tula on something black and a pool of blood beneath her. On the ground were a sword and an iron helmet split in two.

Upon approaching closer, she could see Tula lying on the corpse of a boar. It seemed to have cushioned her violent crash. Also, the blood under her body appeared to be from the boar.

Tula's arms were injured, filled with scratches, cuts, and bruises, but surprisingly, nothing seemed broken. She had some blood trickling from her head, but not enough to die from blood loss. It seemed Lady luck graced her with abundant luck.

Ester then checked for a pulse. Surprisingly Tula was still alive. She unfastened the ribbons holding the hem around her ankles and sliced a piece of her pants to bandage her injured head, giving Tula temporary first aid.

"I hope they are uninjured. The loud sound scared me, but I want to believe that they are still okay and have run away or are ready to." Ester muttered to herself while leaving to check on Vincent and Lupa. But what transpired at the center of this problem was the opposite of her wishes.

*Inside the bloody forest arena

[Watch out! Incoming Rock throw! Dodge to the side in 3,2,1, now!]

Vincent sidestepped, dodging a rock cannonball. Kazumi warned of incoming attacks, and Vincent dodged as if he had eyes everywhere.

The Tactical Guidance the two had thought before encountering the adult mudcrab proved extremely useful.

Vincent would've been in danger if he didn't know about the quick upcoming attack. Getting a few bones broken and crippled would be the least of his worries as a swift death would be the most plausible outcome.

Lupa circled the Demonic Beast and angrily lept on its back. She swung her sharp claws, scratching the rocks on its back, but like before; it was for naught.

The Demonic Beast didn't mind her attacks as it thought of Lupa as a pesky fly. Instead, Demonic Beast decided to charge at Vincent instead of the nearby Kass.

The mutation seemed to emit an unpleasant aura, causing the Demonic Beast to have a hard time deciding who to attack between Kass or Vincent.

Kass had an unpleasant aura filled with bloodlust, while Vincent had an unpleasant aura filled with the urge to devour anything in its path.

Vincent had an unnoticeable aura to ordinary people or Magical Beasts. However, the Demonic Beast was at an advanced Devouring stage, allowing it to sense the tainted mana caused by overflowing emotions accurately.

Both had an aura surrounding their body; the Demonic Beast wanted dead. But Vincent's mutated scent made him the most threatening enemy to kill first. As if it could sniff out his latent potential.

Kass noticed it was targeting Vincent instead of him. He rushed to intercept the Demonic Beast and swiftly delivered a few devesting strikes pushing it back with every strike.

*Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam

The force and impact of each strike gave Vincent the hope that there was a chance to survive, even if running away was impossible for the moment.

[Vincent. I think Demonic Beast is learning while we are fighting. I have noticed how it's sometimes shoving the rocky tail in the earth to hold its ground.]

[We need to hurry, or this fight will drag longer than your Overheat can last.]

Vincent noticed how there was barely any mutated skin covering his forearms. It was a good call to sidestep the last attack as he might have possibly died if he blocked the attack instead of following Kazumi's suggestion.

Vincent decided to renew the protective skin. He stopped and reactivated Overheat, regrowing a pair of new mutated hardened skin.

[Overheat deactivated.]

[Host Race returning to human.]

[Overheat activated.]

[Mutation starting to alter the host...]

[Mutation process finished.]

[Race altered to mutated human for its duration.]

Vincent raised the new pair of protected arms. He rushed to help Kass and threw a punch, but his strike was like throwing a pebble at a wall. Only sparks flew in the air.

Vincent's forearms suddenly caught on fire from the sparks from the little Mutated Ash remaining on his forearms. A green raging wildfire soon burnt on his mutated hard skin, yet he surprisingly couldn't feel the heat, as if his body was resistant to it.

The uncovered flesh didn't burn while the fire's intensity calmed down, leaving an unextinguishable layer of green fire wrapped around his mutated hardened skin. The fire appeared to feed on the mutation it burnt upon.

Lupa, Kazumi, Kass, and the Demonic Beast stared at Vincent, who had his arms burning. Good thing Vincent had the sleeves removed or his shirt would've caught on fire and reveal to Kass the mark of the Hero.

Vincent didn't let this occasion go to waste. He leaped forward and delivered another strike with the idea of becoming powered up from the green flame. However, nothing changed. The Demonic Beast didn't catch on fire, nor bothered by the heat surrounding his fists.

[Guard, now!]

The annoyed Demonic Beast retaliated with a strong jab, but the swift surprise attack failed. Vincent raised his guard and blocked the attack.

Once again, Vincent got flung in the air and rolled while sliding on the ground. The fire on his arms grew even fiercer as the cracking mutated skin turned into Mutated Ash and immediately burst into flame.

The rage Lupa felt as she saw Vincent getting hurt was immeasurable. She shouted at the Demonic Beast, but it continued ignoring her angry taunts and useless attacks. It didn't feel threatened by her anger and glaring.

Kass didn't ignore this opportunity to attack. He charged at the Demonic Beast and delivered a devastating uppercut to its unprotected chin. The Demonic Beast fell on the ground, momentarily stunned by the attack.

Lupa, without any hesitation in her eyes, jumped on the fallen Demonic Beast. She mustered all her strength in her fingers and furiously swung her arms, slashing the same location on its unprotected chest with her sharp claws.

Slash after slash, the wound on the Demonic Beast chest grew deeper on every swing. However, it didn't take long for the Demonic Beast to regain its senses.

Lupa felt her animal senses tingling of the approaching danger. She jumped back without a second delay, evading a dangerous large rocky palm, swung to slap her away.

Kass waited for the Demonic Beast to stand up. He swiftly followed with frontal a double shield bash, but the Demonic Beast countered with a punch.

*Clang

A loud sound rang across the field by the collision of their powerful attacks. Both the owners of the mighty strike took a step back from the recoil. As if their strength was equal.

Lupa tried to use this opportunity for an ambush but promptly stopped in her tracks. The Demonic Beast turned its gaze at her, angry for the injury she left on its chest.

*Vincent's Soul Domain

[Vince...]

[Vincent, hey, look at me.]

[I brought you into your Soul Domain to wake up. An awake soul is an awake person. Or so I thought before it worked.]

Vincent understood the situation when he opened his eyes and saw a green wisp floating before him, surrounded by a small emerald grass patch.

Vincent took a deep breath and gently exhaled, relieving all the tension of the fight. He had to calm down and work together with swole Kass for survival. Independent attacks proved to be useless against the toughness of the Demonic Beast.

"We can't run away even if the buffed old soldier distracted the Demonic Beast enough to help us escape. It would be behind us in minutes, shooting cannonballs without stop." Vincent stated how he felt.

The option to run away wasn't on the table anymore. The curiosity to check what a Demonic Beast was, bit him in the ass and endangering his life along with Ester, Lupa, and Kazumi in the process.

"Thank you. You can send me back. I have made a mistake that I hope I will not make another time." Vincent was ready to continue the fight and learn from this dangerous mistake.

[Learning from failure means you are still alive. So keep it that way and remember this lesson. Don't let curiosity win over your reason.]

Vincent nodded and closed his eyes. Kazumi stopped using Soul Visit, kicking him out of his Soul Domain.

When his glowing green eyes opened next, he was awake in the living world. Kazumi allowed him to recover from an unconscious state in mere seconds.

Ester returned from giving the female soldier first aid. Multiple emotions collided with each other as she saw Lupa and swole Kass circling the barely injured Demonic Beast. However, Vincent wasn't with them.

Ester assertively turned her gaze from left to right. Shortly, her crimson eyes stopped on Vincent standing up. He was spitting mutated green blood and donning a pair of burning arms. A sense of urgency took over her fear; she ran to him with a worried frown.

"Vincent, are you ok? Shall we run away? It's too dangerous to continue." Ester asked, filled with worry.

"I'm bleeding because I bit my lips from the last hit I took. But you don't need to worry." Vincent lied about the cause of the blood while wiping his lips with his burning arms. As if he was immune to heat, he didn't get burned.