The scene was chaotic, with purple blood flying in every direction. The demon seemed determined to wound the attackers before its death at least, using all of its remaining life to retaliate.

Dennis realized the danger and tried to back away, but he was too late. Several large drops landed on his armor and immediately started working its way through it.

Dennis let out a panicked scream, trying to brush the blood away with his daggers. He fell to the ground, partially hidden by the purple smoke that rose from the blood.

“Don’t remove your armor!” John yelled, trying to think of a way to save him. Removing the acidic blood would be hard without any liquid.

‘What do I do? Do we just hope it doesn’t fall on him if he removes the armor?’

“John, flame!” Rain yelled from behind, trying to help.

John paused, wondering if that would work. It might get rid of the acid, but Dennis would be fried if he overdid it. And besides the air blast, he hadn't practiced spells much lately.

“... Dennis, fill your armor and body with solid essence for now! I need to stop the snake first; hang tight!”

The snake was still whipping around, barely slowing down. Its large, hatred-filled eyes stared at John as he approached.

John summoned two liquid spheres and sent them to attack the beast's head, hoping to either force it to let go of the tree and drop to the ground or hurt it enough to kill it.

They rocketed through the air, barely needing any time to reach it, and created heavy blasts of force on impact. Both its eyes were destroyed, but it still didn’t give in.

‘Fuck! I need to hurry!’

He summoned the lucky sword and blasted it forward, aiming straight for the brain through one of the fresh wounds. It hit its mark perfectly, ending all movement for good. The snake's body swung lifelessly below it, still attached to the tree.

John hurried to get close to Dennis, sitting still on top of the giant branch. “I’ll try to get rid of it! And shout if you need me to stop!”

“W–what are you going to do?!”

“Burn it off!”

“Wha–”

Dennis didn’t finish his question before a stream of fire enveloped him completely. The force was so great that he started sliding back on the tree.

John stopped the fire spell, surprised by the intensity of the flame. He hadn’t used any flame spell since before learning about the other types of essence, and now he was even an aspecter on top of that.

‘Shit, was that too much?’

“Hey, are you okay, Dennis?” He asked, waiting for the smoke to clear. All he could see was a vague outline of the armor sitting entirely still.

"... I think so—" Dennis started, but was cut off by a violent coughing fit. "...I think I'm okay."

The smoke cleared, showing a blackened and badly damaged suit of armor. But there were no holes, and the purple blood seemed to have disappeared with the flame.

John breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. The flame was a bit stronger than I expected, so sorry about that.”

Dennis slowly got up, checking his body for any wounds. “No, I should have listened when you told me to get back. It’s my bad… And thanks for saving me again.”

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John pointed at Rain sitting on his back. “The flame was her idea. I had no idea what I should do. I considered trying to fill your armor with tiny black spheres, but I don’t know how well that would have gone.”

Rain waved at Dennis proudly. “Rain smart! And John skilled!”

Dennis chuckled but was interrupted by another coughing fit. “Haaah, you sure are. Well, just goes to show that demons are still a significant threat. I’ll have to keep my armor in my core for a while, but that just means I’ll be faster when following you two.”

He removed his armor, revealing a black set of slim combat clothes. They looked way cleaner than Rain’s clothes, but a clear miasma of sweat was coming off them.

John backed up slightly. “You’ll have to be more careful without your armor, though. Try to keep some essence to reinforce your body constantly, just in case.”

“Hey now, I don’t have infinite essence, you know. If I have to run between trees and keep myself protected, I’ll be using way more than I generate.”

“Well, suit yourself,” John said with a shrug. He walked over to the demon's corpse, suddenly wondering if there would also be some essence in the other body parts.

‘I guess it all depends on where the core is… And where is that, exactly? The head, right? Or the heart? I should know since I spent some time outside my body, but I can’t say where my essence came from… It couldn’t have been my soul since essence remains in the body after death.’

Dismissing his frankly unnecessary thoughts, he put his hand on the smooth surface of the snake. He took some time to refill the spent essence before starting to reinforce his core, adding another measly percent.

‘How the hell does it make sense for everyone to beat a hundred beasts to rise in tiers? There’s a math equation that just doesn’t add up there. One horror is worth ten thousand monsters?… Okay, looking at it like that, it makes sense…’

He could easily see a horror defeating any number of monsters if it had to. But a hundred demons would likely be challenging, depending on its invocation. The premonition of the monkey wouldn’t help too much, but the intense pressure of the desert horror would make it simple.

‘Oh! Oh…’

A sudden excitement rose in his chest as a light appeared in his core, but it dimmed after seeing the color. It was a measly green enchantment. Barely worth looking at.

‘Oh well, I guess I can put you somewhere for now. You’ve got something to do with… air? Huh, might be useful after all.’

In his home capital, he was still known as ‘The Windwalker,’ a title he carried proudly. Although his strength had increased several times since then, the title showed he was the greatest among his peers, before all the complicated stuff was added.

Quickly considering where to put the enchantment, the lucky sword seemed like the best option. It was often used with his air blasts and could use the extra attack power. The shield was definitely not well-suited, but putting it in his armor might make him more agile.

‘Hmm, now that I think about it… Does the enchantment change to suit the equipment? The lucky enchantment wouldn’t have worked if I put it in my armor, and the weight reduction probably wouldn’t include my body if it was placed on the shield…’

It made sense if he based it on his enchantments so far, even if many of them could also function decently in other equipment.

He decided on the sword in the end, thinking it would improve his chances of getting more enchantments in the future. It entered with a light burst and settled, streaming the information to John’s mind.

‘Ah, that’s good! It coats the blade with air and makes it cut better! That doesn’t help the air blast, but as I thought, it will make getting killing blows easier.’

“Uhm, John?” Rain asked from his back.

“Yeah?”

“Goal is moving,” she said, pointing her finger to the side and showing him the change. Her hand moved slowly to the side, meaning their goal had to be close. And that it was capable of moving.

“Wha… So it’s not a portal, then! That must be a person! Or a small object! Dennis!”

“Yeah? I’m ready to go!” Dennis replied, saluting him. He still looked a bit sweaty, and seeing him without armor was strange, but John trusted he knew his condition.

“Good! Because we’re going!” John said, getting back up on Larang and starting his ascent. He felt nerves and excitement blending in his stomach, almost afraid to learn what they had been traveling towards for the better part of a month.

“Rain, willing to give any more info?”

“Not indeed!” she replied, clearly stating she had no intention of spoiling the surprise. Or at least as clear as her mastery of the language allowed.

“You’re so kind, Rain!” John said, giving a quick lesson in sarcasm.

He felt slightly worried that it wasn’t the portal to Earth they were traveling to, which only left Serah as his personal goal. But how would Rain lead him to her? Was there another fateful encounter on the planet he needed to go through? Was the goal for his sake at all?

‘Well, at least the answers are about to reveal themselves! Considering how fast Rain's hand moved, it couldn’t be more than a few kilometers away… Will you finally be ready to reveal some of your secrets, Rain?’