I can do a few tricks now, spinning the knives as I take them out of my waist and twirling them between my fingers.
But it is painful and it leaves trails of blood with every spin. I grit my teeth and do it anyway.
Kazu, out.
◇
When someone is smarter and more intelligent than you, it is hard to let it go. You feel an unconscious urge to prove that it is not the case at all.
I lie down on the ground, chest facing the ground, with an unfazed gaze at the monster on my right side. I wait for one last step, while a huge grin spreads on my face. I hold the knife firmly in my chest, hidden from the eyes of my prey.
Tsukkk. The sound of the final step. I throw my knife, hitting its neck.
Grkk! Grkk! The sound of someone choking fills the air.
I slice my own neck to restart.
I hear it stumble and gasp for breath.
It is over. The asshole is now on the ground, reaching for something in the air, like begging for someone's help. It even has tears in its eyes, pitiful.
Thud!
With a thud, the monster dies.
Finally! I can now continue my magic experiment.
I flip over its body and cut its skin just above the abdomen. I plunge my hand inside. Where is it?
I can feel the warm flesh all over my hand. Fuh~
Pshhh!
Blood sprays out, making my face red. But I ignore it and proceed to locate the magic stone.
Pshhh!
Found it. It is not in the stomach, but around the solar plexus.
Small. Why is it small?
Is it because he used his magic sparingly in our fight? What a bummer.
Well, it is better than nothing.
I immediately run the experiment to weaponize the magic stone.
I have noticed that whenever they use magic, a faint red glow is visible in the area where the magic is released. In this case, it is the asshole's hand.
I cut off his two hands at the wrists.
To think that I am fine doing this kind of thing and being undisturbed. I have changed a lot. But I do not regret it. Even if you ask me, I have no words for what I feel.
◇
After some time of contemplation, I can't think of anything to try. I don't want to repeat the same mistake I made before. I wonder how the magic is triggered when the horn and the magic stone are placed inside the body. Is there something in the monster's body that I didn't take into account? Or does being inside the body make it warm and, boom! Magic happens. Hmmm.
Sometimes monsters come, maybe they smell the blood. Blood? Blood!!!
Is blood the trigger? Ho~ that sounds plausible. Let's try.
I place the magic stone on one of the severed hands. I collect some blood and drip a small amount onto the magic stone.
Swissshh… swishhh…
I feel a faint breeze and it is swirling in a chaotic manner. It continues to do so without stopping. Interesting.
I wipe off the blood and the breeze is gone.
Hmmm.
I attempt various ways to control the wind.
Awesome. I think I get it.
The process can be distinguished into three aspects: source, medium, and trigger. The source is the magic stone and the trigger is the blood. It is like how house appliances work: just the mere contact between the source and trigger can be considered as a power outlet that is always available, waiting to plug in a device or appliance. The medium is of course the appliance.
Like these two hands. They can produce wind just by plugging into the power outlet. They can produce wind even without actual contact. Just being near is fine. But only around one meter. More than that is not possible.
The power of the wind can increase by increasing the amount of blood that the magic stone is exposed to. I dip half of the magic stone into the blood, and surprisingly it is powerful enough to cut a deep wound in me. It also reduces the size of the magic stone visibly. The small magic stone is now even smaller. Also, when I try to use my blood, it does not work. I wonder why?
It is time to do some actual magic.
I tie the severed hands to my own hands respectively. The magic stone is wet with blood, one-eighth of its fraction. This is probably enough to produce the same result as the monster did.
Chaotic wind envelops each of my hands, but it is not strong enough to cause any damage.
I imitate the gesture of the monster. I place each hand with the other and then distance them afterward.
Strangely, the chaotic wind disappears when the two hands make contact. And when I distance them from each other, it forms a concentrated line of wind connecting each palm.
Woah! It is the air spear. Holy shit! I made it.
I try to throw it the same way I remember. Wow! What power!
The tree that is hit by the air spear has a fist-sized hole in it.
This is enough for now. Hahaha! Fuh! Finally, I can now use magic. Just a few modifications and this will be a great asset.
I collect the blood and use a certain organ on its body to contain it.
In the meantime, I tie the hands and chain them around my neck like some kind of necklace. The magic stone is in my pocket and the bag of blood on my waist. Before I finalize this weapon, I want that six-legged monster's magic stone.
Fuhhh~ Just thinking about casting fireballs makes me excited.
◇
Right now, I'm looking for the six-legged monster and picking up the knives I threw along the way. I hope that no other monster found it before me.
Seven knives. I lost a lot, that's what happens when you throw a knife and forget where it lands. Sigh.
But where is the damn monster?
Did someone drag it?
I can see a faint trail on the grass. Is it still alive? But I saw it hit in the chest.
I follow the trail until I reach some kind of village. What?!
To my surprise, inside the village are individuals whose appearance is similar to the one I killed. Monkeys with green scales.
This is the home of the monster's master! I can't believe these creatures are intelligent enough to build a small village, with a wooden wall surrounding it!
Does that mean the six-legged monster is its pet? Ho~ I didn't expect that. I should have killed the six-legged monster first if I knew that.
But it unknowingly brought me to its master's hometown, a treasure trove. Maybe it didn't expect its master to die, after all, he was a very careful fellow.
Bwuhaahahaha!!! I laugh maniacally. I will surely enjoy killing every last one of you. Monsters!
It probably didn't think that crossing me marked their end.
Fuh~ So many magic stones. This is going to be fun.