''Ah!'' Maise cried as an unseen force pulled her whole body towards Jake. As he had leveled up [Demonic Grasp] from level 1 to level 2, its range had increased. Now he could affect things within 15 meters of him as long as their weight didn't exceed 200 kilograms.
The others were stunned to see this and simultaneously gasped as Jake caught Maise by her waist. Yahul immediately stopped charging when his sword came near his sister's body.
That Johnny was using Maise as a shield... This was what he thought. However, Jake was just not in a mood to fight with this ant.
''You... what are you?!'' Yahul exclaimed as he held his sword straight.
''What do you think?'' Jake held Maise's chin and showed her pitiful face to her brother. She was completely at Jake's mercy and unable to move. However, he had controlled his strength and didn't pinch too much or her head would explode.
''Let...let her go!'' Yahul brandished his sword and cautiously walked forward. He was starting to realize who this adventurer might be.
Hearing Yahul, Jake looked left and right and snapped his finger. A pitch black fire burned on his forefinger's tip. Immediately, people started excaliming.
''He's a mage!?''
''No wonder, no wonder!''
In this world, the status of those who can use magic is way higher than those who cannot. Controlling the mysterious force known as mana and performing awe-inspiring actions which could only be considered as miracles, was a respected and feared profession.
When Yahul realized that Jake was a mage, his hands holding the longsword trembled. Yet, he kept his grip tight, not wanting to show weakness. However, he panicked when Jake brought that burning fingertip towards Maise's face.
''Brother!'' she cried.
''Stop, stop! What do you want?!'' Yahul asked. He even went as far as throwing his sword.
Jake smiled and extinguished the little fire. However, he suddenly brought his lips near Maise's ear and whispered something to her.
He then pushed Maise forward and folded his hands. ''Entertain me now. Tell everyone about it.''
The surrounding people who had been tense until now heaved long sighs of relief. Thankfully, this mage didn't hurt that girl. However, her brother was really a fool for offending such a mysterious man.
''Now!'' Jake urged and Maise shook like a frightened deer. She glanced at Yahul and seeing the look on her sister's face, his eyes widened. No, he must not let her disclose that secret!
''I... Me and my brother commi-'' Yahul dashed forward and closed his sister's mouth with his palm.
A moment later, however, he started choking as Jake pulled his neck using [Demonic Grasp].
''P-please... n-no...'' He uttered.
''Th-that's enough young man, he'll die at this rate!'' Someone said from behind. It was an old retired adventurer.
However, when Jake turned around and looked at him with his black eyes, the retired adventurer quickly shut up. He felt fear. Immense fear as if a top predator was standing in front of him.
Jake looked at all of them and nobody dared to say anything. His expression was then quickly replaced by a smile as he glanced at Yahul, who was holding his neck with both his hands.
''I was about to leave from here, but you just made things more interesting.''
''Please...'' Yahul coughed violently and added, ''I-I'll do anything... a-anything!''
''So you want to keep your pride that much? Is it really worth your life?'' Jake asked in amusement.
''What about you, Maise?'' Just as Jake asked, he suddenly threw Yahul away. A long black scythe appeared in his right and he swung it behind him.
Tiiiinnng!
A loud sound rang out and a gust of wind spread outwards from the point of contact. The man who attacked him stepped eight steps backward while Jake stood on spot.
'He's quite strong... A spearman of the 2nd Circle?' Jake thought. He was about to use his [Demon Eye] skill but the armored man came again.
Weapons clashed, but this time the man swiftly carried himself using the rebound force and thrusted at Jake's right. The spear tip went through Jake's waist and he grunted in pain. What did he expect? His battle experience was really low.
After reincarnating, this was the first time Jake was fighting someone. He thought that he was already powerful, so he became careless. That was not good and Jake knew it. However, even as it hurt like hell, Jake acted on instinct to save himself.
''Arrgh!'' He quickly stumbled backwards and waved his left hand. A pitch black fire burned on the spearman's helmet.
At this time, the bystanders finally acted and ran away while shouting. Most of them here were simple villagers who rarely got to see human blood. Yet, they didn't know that the red liquid flowing out of the wound on Jake's body wasn't human, but demon blood.
''Fuck you!'' Jake cursed and gritted his teeth. He immediately created some distance between him and the spearman who had thrown away his helmet.
At first, Hog had tried to resolve the earlier situation by force. He actually didn't mean to hurt Jake, but an accident happened. Now he had no choice but to fight against this mage. Thankfully, this one seemed rather new and didn't know how to fight properly.
Hastily pulling up the status panel, Jake leveled up his [Minor Regeneration] skill to level 3. It took him 1300 points but he didn't care. Using that skill, his blood quickly started coagulating. The red-haired spearman noticed it and frowned.
Glancing at his helmet, he found that instead of being burned, it was being consumed by the black fire.
''Which dark mages' faction are you a part of?'' The spearman asked alertly.
However, Jake didn't answer.
Demonic Grasp!
Unlike others, the spearman knew what would happen when Jake stretched his hand. He had seen it 3 times already and knew a way to cope with it. With his blood speartip pointed straight ahead, the spearman let himself be pulled.
Jake's Demonic Grasp was only at level 2 and he didn't have fine control over it. When the spear was in front of him, he had no choice but to swing his scythe again.
'Damn it, I have zero experience in fighting. I should have bought more skills!' It was at this moment that Jake realized that he was neglecting his combat aspect too much. Leveling up and buying skills was good and all, but he needed to have actual experience in using everything he had.
Right now, against this skilled spearman, Jake was having trouble even with his superior stats and magical powers. However, because Jake became more cautious, the spearman also couldn't hurt him after that first attack.
Thus, a gritty and somewhat bizarre fight happened between a mercenary in his prime youth and an inexperienced demon-in-disguise. At the village square, everyone was surrounding the two from far away. Quite a few mercenaries were trying to help their captain Hog, but they were afraid of the mage's magic.
After a while, Jake went completely mad and started using [Dark Fire] only. This caused the spearman to lose all his armor in no time. After spending more than 80 mana, Jake was starting to get an advantage. He was getting into this feeling of battling.
Even though his body was littered with bloody wounds, he was calm because he knew the skill [Minor Regeneration] would cover for him. As long as he conserved his mana, he could easily defeat this spearman.
Both of them were quite tired at this moment and Jake used that opportunity to level up his [Dark Fire] skill two times, spending 2550 Evil Points. It was costly but he needed this.
Now at level 4, he could conjure a larger and more deadly flame. Its temperature had spiked by 60%, and its range had increased upto 25 metres.
The moment he caught a breather, Jake used that skill on the spearman who looked awfully tired.
A churning sound came as the man's flesh burned, now without any armor to protect himself.
"Aaaahh!"
The spearman's whole body caught fire in an instant as he ran forward with all his might, trying to clash with the caster.
However, after all the fighting, Jake was quick to react. Spending 10 points of mana, he again used [Demonic Grasp] to hold that red-haired man's burning legs.
Sizzle… Sizzle…
The villagers looked as a horrific scene played out. When the previously muscular man turned into nothing more than a charred corpse, they sucked in deep frightened breaths.
A mage, this was the terrific power of an actual mage!
Jake wasn't in the mood to remain there after finishing off his opponent. However, just as he turned around, he suddenly narrowed his eyes.
"Kill!" Yahul's eyes were crimson as he used all his strength and slashed at this Johnny who had cucked him.
But instead of dodging, Jake directly grabbed the blade which sank deep into his palms.
"Kuh…" Jake grunted, feeling the pain but didn't let go of the sword. When he stared at Yahul who had utter dread in his eyes, Jake smiled and spat on his face.
"You just dug your own grave, but I won't kill you yet. I'll let you know what true pain is," Jake's cold voice rang in Yahul's ears and he couldn't help but shudder hearing it.