Everyone else was still in a daze, refusing to accept reality.
"What the f*ck are you doing? Someone must take flight and save her! With her arms locked in the talons, she can't use magic!" Lith wanted to beat them to death himself.
"A monster, another monster!" The high-pitched little girl-like voice actually belonged to the only other boy of the group. He was pointing at a black mass, as big as a carriage, approaching at break-neck speed.
It was Termyn, the Cingy, joining the fray while announcing his presence causing small quakes as he closed in.
"F*ck you all! If you want to stay on the ground, take cover while I…" Lith realized that talking was useless. The two girls had fallen on their knees, hugging each other, while the boy, judging from the repugnant smell, had pi*sed himself.
- "Now I get why Trasque was so hard on me and them the second day. Yet it was all for naught!"- Lith thought.
A Cingy was a tough opponent, and Lith could only use fake magic. He needed to keep his three rings' charges only for desperate situations. Being all five of them still in play, he racked his brain searching for a solution.
- "Wait a minute! Usually Cingy are limited to the use of water and earth magic. I can exploit that! Magical beasts do not control all elements." –
Termyn was unable to escape its boar nature, charging straight toward the prey. It saw an evil eyed kid starting to chant something, so Termyn activated one of his best defensive spells, Mountain Body.
The Cingy knew all too well how predictable was its attack pattern, so he never underestimated an opponent. Mountain Body raised its body weight and defence to the limit, making it impervious against weapons and magic alike.
- "Chant all you want kid. You'll never finish your spell in time, I'm too fast. It will be your requiem!" – Termyn inwardly sneered
Yet the chant ended right after it started, and Lith began a new one, while a small yellow orb flew in collision course with Termyn.
- "What an idiot! My earth magic is the perfect counter to air magic. Zap me, push me, whatever. It will never work!" -
When the two collided, nothing happened, not even a small spark against its hide. The Cingy started to think that the boy had misfired out of fear. Then, Lith completed the second spell too.
"Brezza Reale!" He had invoked the training spell Lift.
Suddenly, Termyn felt like a gentle caress on its belly, yet it managed to push it several meters in the air, like he was just a balloon. Then a second and third push came, making it rise above the threes.
Hidden between the bushes, Scarlett was watching the whole scene, giggling under its whiskers.
["Termyn, you idiot, the first was a basic Float spell. It wasn't meant for damage, but to make you weightless and set-up for another quick spell, to take you away from the ground and make you helpless. Pride goes before a fall.]
Listening to the Boss' explanation, the Cingy understood what had happened, and started laughing at itself.
["Damn! Such a feisty brat! I'll keep you for last!"] He yelled at Lith, that unable to understand animal-speak, ignored the beast's oinks reciting his third spell.
One of the greatest advantages from forgemastering, was that he had trained chaining short simple spells for over a month, making him able to move his fingers and mouth non-stop, no matter he was using fake magic, like before, or using the true one.
Lith reconsidered Lift value, since it allowed him to keep pushing away the Cingy even when he was casting another spell. After he finished casting his true magic flight spell, he rushed to save the girl.
Sentar was slowed down by her weight, and everything had happened in barely a few seconds. He was expecting Termyn and M'Rook to have the situation below under control. When he perceived a magic perturbation in the air currents, it was too late.
Lith had coupled the flight and slipstream spell, making him faster than a bullet. He had scarce knowledge about magical beasts, but he remembered well how despite their big sizes, the birds' hollow bones made them frailer than they looked.
So instead of using a spell that could be easily countered by the opponent's air and darkness true magic, he just combined his speed with the hardness and the explosive strength from fusion magic to land an uppercut right under the beast's beak.
Because of his almost vertical trajectory and the fire generated by the friction between his fist and the fast air currents, it looked exactly like a dragon punch.