Kaiser felt the mana within his body.
He'd been working on increasing it and it'd risen substantially from the black worm. He was no longer at the very beginning of mana capacity.
With his spear in hand, he directed the mana into his weapon. It took only a moment to do this but everyone watching could tell the spear was much sharper. There was a faint red glow surrounding the spear.
They also knew this was a basic augmenting type of magic. It was actually the easiest once you knew how to move mana.
Kaiser did a practice thrust with the spear, feeling out his enhanced weapon.
'This should work,' Kaiser thought confidently.
The demon turned around once again but didn't charge forward.
"What's it doing?" Kaiser thought aloud.
A second later he noticed the third eye lighting up.
'No you don't.'
Kaiser ran at the demon, striking forward as far as he could reach, but then stopped with an abrupt halt. The demon finished.
The demon looked high off of victory, even though countless powerful mages were around. During Kaiser's attempt at getting to it, it'd summoned a transparent blade of its own.
Two to be precise, each of them attaching to the demon horns.
Kaiser looked at this opponent again, reevaluating it.
It now had a longer reach and a stronger piercing ability.
Regardless of its change, it charged again, closing the distance instantly.
Kaiser dodged again to the side, realizing he'd been dumb.
'Even if it has longer reach, its speed is the same.'
As long as he timed his dodges well, he'd be okay.
The demon, undisturbed by its fruitless efforts, charged again.
Kaiser waited and then perfectly timed his dodge. As the demon was passing by him, he shoved his spear as hard as he could into the demon's side.
This time it pierced all the way through and out the other side, causing Kaiser to drop his weapon. He hadn't expected zero resistance.
The bull's momentum continued onward, but its legs crumbled, and it crashed head-first into the dirt, the spear it conjured, dissipating into tiny fragments.
The bull flipped over and onto its back, spear stuck inside.
Kaiser was happy, but also disappointed in himself.
He lost his weapon.
'I can't do that, I absolutely can not.'
His weapon meant everything to him, it was his mother's, but now his. His dad gave it to him. It almost felt like a parting gift.
The demon cow had stopped moving a while ago so he approached it, retrieving his spear.
Looking at the wound, it looked like he got lucky. The spear pierced straight through the heart causing instant death.
Why it worked like that? He couldn't even guess.
A man in his 30's ran up to Kaiser saying, "That was mighty impressive. I was assigned to this expedition by the king, I'm Tike. What's your name kid?"
Kaiser, who was lost inspecting his weapon's condition, was startled.
He looked up and saw a well-kept man who had a very enthusiastic look about him.
'Do I have to be nice to this guy? Would I be disrespecting the king if I'm mean?'
Deciding to be a good person, just in case, Kaiser said, "It was okay and my name is Kaiser."
"No, no that was most certainly impressive. I don't think I've ever seen someone so young kill a demon."
The man talked fast and made Kaiser stumped.
He thought he could have done a lot better, but this man was persistent.
"Well, I could always improve."
He kept his response short, hoping this man would go away. Instead, Tike only laughed out loud.
"That's a great mindset to have. Everyone can improve somehow so keep doing what you do. I'll be keeping an eye out."
With that, the man left, returning to his spot within their formation.
'Is something bad going to happen if Tike likes what he sees? Well, troubles for another time.'
The Guard Captain walked up to the cow.
"That was a good fight you had, but this is only the start. This is the weakest type of demon in the forest and there are hundreds of these guys."
The Captain hesitated but said, "There also shouldn't be any devils here. I think the demons are only overgrown and need cut down."
Kaiser stayed silent.
The Guard Captain realized he made it awkward and said, "Stay back for the rest of today and watch how we fight all the demons. You can learn a lot if you try."
"Yes, sir."
The Guard Captain turned away yelling at the others, "Come on! Time to start moving."
Everybody started moving again. They each shared their own expressions and thoughts but most seemed impressed by his performance.
Kaiser got back to his spot in the formation. He may not fight anymore today, but he sure could learn a lot.
He wasn't completely conceited. Seeing how others fight certain monsters could expand his knowledge base. The different types of magic used were also important to him.
The group continued their walk through the forest.
They had done this before a few years back thus making their trip a planned one. They headed to the first camp spot within the forest. The tiny tree.
Stepping over a branch on the floor, Kaiser inspected his ring.
[ Sarah's Lost Weapon ]
Owner: Kaiser Fael
Rank: 10th star
Evolution(warped): 2/50
Skills: Insanity Breaker(passive)
Owner Buffs: Enhanced Learning
'Oh wow. The evolution has increased. Does this mean if I kill 48 more demons It'll evolve? No wonder it yearned for the demon earlier.'
He was happy to see progress finally appear on his weapon, but he didn't know where the first kill came from.
'Wait, is it Jak? Was he really turned into a demon at the end?'
He didn't to think about this.
He missed his best friend dearly. They could be handling this foreign world together but instead, he killed him, even if it was out of necessity.
If his dad were here he would ask more about his mother and her "heirloom". He had many questions, but more than anything he wanted people he knew and trusted.
The people around him were technically family and helpful for his training, but they weren't his real family. He couldn't admit that, not yet at least.