John flew through the air with purpose, searching for his first target on which to test the new shield attack. He had already taken it out once to get a feel for the changes it had undergone, and he was very pleased with the results.

Not only had the weight nearly doubled, but it had also become incredibly tough and sharp. This made him consider whether he should use the same solid essence on Larang when he reached that point.

“John, too fast!” Rain complained from the back.

John had tried to fly off without her to test the shield, but she refused to stay behind. So, he had no choice but to bring her along and reduce the speed somewhat.

“Sorry, I’ll slow down a little bit. But you’re the one who wanted to join!”

“Look for monsters, not fly crazy!” she responded, which he assumed meant she simply expected him to fly like he had done the day before.

“I am looking! Just very fast looking!”

“Look slow!”

John grumbled silently to himself, regretting his promise from the day before. He made a mental note not to make promises before knowing the consequences.

But he did slow down, letting Rain get her bearings again. It was understandable that flying at speeds over thirty meters per second would be tough on an average person, even if Rain fit that description poorly.

Finally, John spotted a demon walking the dunes below them, giving him an opportunity to test his new strategy. It was another of the lizards he had fought the day before, but this one had a different aspect. It was covered in large bony spikes, making it look like a different creature entirely.

‘That seems weak, but it might work excellently against physical attacks. I should be careful in case it can shoot those things, though.’

He wanted to dive down at full speed, but alas.

“Rain, can I speed up a little bit now? I want to test something real quick.”

“... Only little.”

“Sure, only little! But straight down!”

“Down… down? No! Nooooo!”

Rain screamed in his ears as he started diving. She would probably remember what down meant after today, John thought with a smile.

They descended, but John refrained from making Larang increase their speed. Which meant they were just in free fall, four hundred meters up in the sky.

“Joooohn! Stuuuupid!” Rain kept yelling, hitting him softly in the back.

“Yeah, sure am! I’ll start moving us sideways soon, so hold on!”

As they approached the ground, he had to turn their momentum to prevent splashing into the sand. Soon, they were flying horizontally again, heading straight for the spiked lizard.

‘Fifty meters! Only a bit more! I’ll aim for the stomach!’

Rain was now laughing nervously behind him, like the butterflies in her stomach were too intense to avoid it. John was slightly nervous about the demon hearing them approach, but he couldn’t bear to silence her.

The demon turned its attention to them, rapidly turning its head. But John was already close enough to test his attack.

He summoned the shield with the sharp side facing forward and immediately teleported it in front of the lizard’s face.

Without any time to react, the demon’s face split down the middle, completely cleaved in half by the giant slab of steel materializing in front of it. Its brain turned to mush on the spot, seeping out of the split cranium.

It fell to the ground, completely still. As soon as the attack succeeded, the spikes on its back seemed to wilt, no longer in the beast's control.

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“Yes! It worked! Rain, it worked!” John cheered, nearly overjoyed by this new weapon in his arsenal. With this, he could hunt demons like they were cattle, waiting for him to drink their delicious essence.

“Okay!” Rain replied, not as excited.

John noticed her hands had dug deeper into his neck than usual, but he could hardly blame her. He had sped up past what he thought was sensible, looking back.

“Sorry, Rain. I got too excited,” he said remorsefully.

Rain sighed behind his back, and then she tussled his hair. “Is fine, John. Just careful, okay?”

They stopped next to the demon to make sure they got there before any other beasts showed up again. John started absorbing the essence left in the beast and turning it into liquid essence. Then he started infusing the lucky blade with the liquid essence, figuring it was the best equipment to test it.

He also wanted to test what would happen if he mixed two types of essence in one piece of equipment, but he wasn’t sure it was a good idea.

‘Mmmh, maybe I should test it to ensure I’m not making a mistake later? Eighty percent liquid, twenty percent solid sounds like a good plan.’

The dark steel blade in his core absorbed the liquid essence flowing from his core, drinking it greedily. John made sure to send some of his solid essence to it as well, just to ensure he didn’t fill it before being able to do his testing.

Slowly, the blade started to seem more flexible and sharp. It reflected the faint light of the essence more clearly than before, gaining a clear and shiny surface.

‘... If I’m going to keep using this sword the way I am, I should probably change its shape somewhat. The handguard gets in the way when piercing targets and slows it down during flight.’

Large footsteps from behind him let John know that Dennis and Kerchak were arriving at the scene, having followed his trajectory through the air.

“Holy hells, John! The new strategy worked well, then?” Dennis asked, looking at the corpse John was laying his hand on.

Rain put a finger in front of her lips as she looked at Dennis. “Costrating, Dennis! Shh.”

John smiled at her attempt to handle longer words but still felt grateful for her care. Still keeping his hand on the corpse, he turned to Dennis. “It’s fine, Rain. I have a question for Dennis, anyways.”

“Shoot!” Dennis yelled, jumping down from Kerchak’s hands and landing lightly in the sand.

“The infusion of other types of essence is working, but I’d like to know how the changes feel when you use gaseous essence. How does the equipment grow when you infuse them normally?”

Dennis seemed deep in thought for a moment before attempting to answer. “Uhm… Lighter and more… ethereal, I guess? It’s hard to explain, but they feel faster in every sense of the word, like they’re losing matter just to become easier to handle.”

“... That sounds terrible!” John replied, glad to have figured out these issues before evolving his weapons on his own. “You all just have floaty weapons and equipment, then?”

Dennis sighed and scratched the back of his head. “It’s not like they become weaker, you know. They are way easier to handle, sharper, and don’t lose toughness.”

“Okay, but that sounds bad for armor, right? I get that it’s easier to move, but you’ve already got super strength! What’s the point?” John argued, frustrated with the entirety of humanity for just accepting this as truth for so long.

Dennis held his hands up before him and smiled, trying to diffuse John’s emotions. “Hey, I get how you feel. Let’s just take it as a positive that we know for the future instead of crying over spilled milk, huh? You should finish your gathering before anything shows up.”

John turned his attention back to the lizard, knowing Dennis was right. By his calculations, there shouldn’t be much of the essence in the corpse remaining.

‘I’ll make the guard shrink as much as possible and make the blade more suited for stabbing. That should make it much more suited for shooting with the air blast while keeping the handle intact in case I need it.’

The final bit of essence flowed from the corpse and turned to liquid in his core, prompting him to end the infusion of the sword. He felt confident in fighting demons now, but he still wanted to have his core filled with essence just in case something happened.

“Okay, that was the last bit. I think the sword should be close to filled already due to the size, but it’s not done quite yet.”

“Great! Then let’s get out of here! Rain, do you want to keep flying with John?” Dennis asked.

Rain nodded, which was no easy task, with the antlers weighing her head down. “Rain fly more! Please?” she added after turning to John.

John looked at her with more than a bit of resignation. “Rain, are you sure? If I see beasts, I will probably continue hunting them and fly like I did before.”

He knew it was likely a losing battle, but he had to try. Not having to worry about keeping her safe while flying was considerably more manageable if he was going to hunt demons, and that’s what he intended to do.

Instead of continuing to plead, Rain looked at John with her big doe-eyes. “... Fine, Rain stay ground…”

John sighed deeply, unable to continue persuading her despite knowing she was manipulating him. “Fine, fine…”

He summoned Larang under his feet and nodded helplessly to Dennis, who nodded back with a grin, before turning to Rain again. “Come here, then.”

Rain was happy to comply, jumping on his back while John slipped the harness around his shoulders. But just as he was about to take off, he could feel a rumbling under his feet.

It reminded him of when they arrived in the red desert, right before they were separated. John turned to Dennis, who had the same fear in his eyes as him.

‘That fucking horror again!’