John’s plan to avoid splatting into the ground was rather simple; it relied on taking advantage of his equipment system. As he bent down, he summoned the greatshield below his feet and jumped off it, sending it hurtling down to the ground while stopping a lot of his own momentum.
The shield returned to his core as soon as it was about thirty meters away, letting him repeat the process again. It did take some essence and skill to keep everything steady, but it seemed to be working just fine.
He reached the treetops before long, keeping his speed manageable, and decided to use a final jump to reach one of the trees. Feeling the solid ground below his feet felt nice, but he knew there was still potential danger below him.
Larang had returned to his core during the flight, and it had received a slight bend to the blade. He wasn’t sure what that might mean, but it at least meant it had hit the demon somehow.
He looked below and could clearly see the beast. It was lying on the ground, writhing in pain and bleeding heavily. John breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Thank God, it seems mortally wounded now. Can I kill it with the shortsword? If I take it by surprise, it shouldn’t be able to harden its skin, right?’
While keeping a watchful eye on the beast, John walked down the treeside using his solid essence, staying as quiet as possible. He wanted to get close enough to ensure a good hit before stopping, but the beast was getting sluggish, so he had to be quick.
Twenty meters away, he summoned the shortsword in his hand and took aim at the beast's skull. He waited for it to stop its movement for a second, holding his breath.
‘I really, really want an enchantment from you, beast. Be nice, and let me end your suffering.’
The moment arrived, and John fired the sword, aiming perfectly at the back of its skull. It pierced easily this time, avoiding detection and preventing the steel defenses from activating. The barg twitched one final time as it pierced its neck before finally falling silent.
Feeling certain the fight was over, John jumped down to the ground with a thud, eager to see what demon essence was like. He couldn't help but smile, feeling ecstatic about felling a demon beast on his own as a mere breaker. He knew he had many advantages over others, but it still felt like a great achievement.
Larang had left a deep gash in the side of the barg, cutting through ribs and intestines in its way. The skin looked like it was ripped apart around the wound, but it had still managed to stop the sword before it pierced all the way through, bending it in the process.
“Thanks for the fight,” he said as he put his hand on the large black head. The battle had taken more essence than John had expected, but he still had about half remaining. His training had really paid off since he managed to completely avoid using the gaseous essence, which still remained as a crutch.
His essence poured into the demon, and he could feel the power that was contained in the barg’s essence. Not only much larger than his own, it was also more potent. More dense.
‘Is this what Sage Full Blue meant by purity? It does feel stronger, but it seems very similar to my own… ‘
The essence flowed back to his own core, overflowing with gaseous essence. John decided to convert it on the spot so he would be back at full strength, taking his time with the absorption.
‘The rainiest of days… Pouring down like a flood from the sky… I wish I knew a way to speed this up!’
He had already improved the method, but it still took him five minutes to fill his core. Standing there on the ground, he felt vulnerable. But nothing appeared in the end.
The rest of the essence went to reinforcing his core, increasing its size by about fifteen percent. Since it had only grown by slightly over ten so far, this was a great increase—worthy of a demon.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
And the gifts didn’t end there. A blue light was dancing around in his core as well. John jumped in joy, feeling that the fight was more than worth it.
‘Yes! A blue one, even! Now I only need one more to be fully decked out, and I doubt any breaker will have as strong enchantments as me! Demons, watch out!’
He immediately started trying to figure out what the enchantment did, just in case it wouldn’t suit Larang. That’s where it would likely go since only Larang and the shield lacked enchantments now, and the weight enchantment was super useful. And no way would he destroy the golden enchantment. The golden goose.
‘... Gravity? How would I use that? Does it increase gravity? Does it change gravity? On just the equipment or on me as well? Will I be able to fly? Well, not that I want to…’
The thought of meeting blackie again frightened him, so he would not be using it to fly over the treetops in any case. He considered if there were any possible uses for gravity manipulation with the shield, but came to the conclusion that Larang probably could use it more.
'Larang it is, then. Don’t disappoint me, now!’
He let the blue light drift towards Larang, which was still slightly bent from the impact. It entered like a drop on a watery surface, creating ripples through the greatsword.
The information appeared in John’s mind once again, telling him exactly what the enchantment was capable of. Local gravity manipulation, only applying to Larang, but still extremely useful, he thought. He could change the direction of gravity affecting Larang, and also the force applied to it by up to three times.
‘This means I could increase the force of my swing by… well, quite a lot. That’s some hard math. Let’s see: gravity is about ten meters per second squared… Then, three times that, while holding one side… No, let’s just conclude with four times gravity at the tip. And a whole one-eighty arc would be about… Wait, ten meters? Really?’
He struggled with math due to the years he had spent without school, only focusing on combat. A different approach would likely suit him better.
‘How come there’s so much math in fighting, suddenly? Serah should have been here… Well, or I could smash it into a tree and see how deep it goes!’
His elegant solution definitely had merit, as it would let him get a sense of the power as well as skip the boring stuff. He wasn’t in any danger after all.
Larang was summoned into his hands, already looking better than it had earlier, but still slightly bent. John could feel the ability to change the gravity as he held it, giving him a new sense of power.
‘Okay, let’s just try an overhead swing first. That should be the easiest.’
He held it over his head with both hands and stood in front of a tree, prepared to slash down. The sword's gravity suddenly shifted forward at three times the usual force, lifting John from the ground and sending him along the sword toward the tree.
‘Ah, shit! The centripetal force brings me along, of course! Damn, this is going to be harder than I thought.’
But his joy didn’t diminish much because Larang had sunk deeply into the tree without using any of his own muscles to support the swing. This clearly showed the power behind this new ability despite the challenges it brought.
He changed the direction of gravity again to help pull it out, and it came along easily. Then he tried turning the gravity straight up, only using the normal amount of force this time. It made him feel a lot lighter, but it wasn’t quite enough to make him float. From that, he estimated the weight of the sword to be around eighty kilograms.
‘This will definitely let me fly, and at pretty good speeds as well. The acceleration would be about twenty meters per second per second, only stopped by the wind resistance. But I need to figure out the slashing first.’
Deciding to go for a sideways slash instead, he held it out to his side, planting his feet firmly in the dirt. He wouldn’t be lifted from the ground this time, at least. And instead of using the full force, he decided to go with a single g, making it easier to understand the forces used without risking injury.
It started flying forward, and John still felt himself being dragged along with it. It made him lose balance once again, going against all his combat instincts, which he had been training for over five years.
'God damn, this isn’t easy. I need to understand how the blade is dragging me along, but it feels so unintuitive to hold it back while I’m swinging! Can I… Is it possible to only affect one part of the sword? If I could only apply gravity to the tip, it would be way easier.’
He stood ready with Larang in his hands again, but his eyes were closed in concentration. Trying to sense if it would be possible, he gently applied the ability he felt so clearly to just one side of the sword.
But then, all of a sudden, his eyes stopped working. Or rather, he couldn’t see a thing, like the world had lost all its light in a split second. The red of his eyelids was no longer there, and nothing changed between keeping them open and closed.
But his ears still worked fine. He could hear a massive pair of wings moving in the air high above him as if going in for a landing. The sudden blast of wind blowing up around him threatened to push him off his feet.
‘Oh… I’m dead.’