"Certainly, it would be dangerous to fall asleep in such a place for 2-3 days. Or maybe exhausting my magicules was, or rather is, actually dangerous? Perhaps I should avoid it until I've learned more."

"Time to explore what awaits us in such a location. Just ruins? A cave infested with monsters meant to serve as a trial? An encounter with an amazing being? Or maybe some treasure? Whatever awaits, here I come!"

A mysterious smile crept upon Kee, one he didn’t realize, but his eyes shone like those of a child, innocent and bright, even in the darkness of the cave as he went deeper.

"Magic sense allows me to see in the dark. It's amazing. It's like a panorama on a curved screen, seeing 360 degrees with full brightness and color, even in normally dark areas probably because of the magicule but its a pretty view though it stresses me out a bit like taking a bit of focus?"

Soon, Kee saw a light at the end of the path and wondered.

"Is this a tunnel? Not a cave? So it's not like an opportunity for characters or protagonists in books, as I remember from miscellaneous memories?"

However, the white light moved towards him, and so did something black—a combination of white and black, glowing and brightening? No, they were coming closer.

That's when he saw them. No, it was not some train running on magic. They were two bats—giant flaming bats at least 2.5 meters tall, one with white flames and the other with black flames.

Kee reflexively reached for his sword, but it was broken and discarded. In its place was the small knife that had gone dull from cutting while cooking food. He needed something with an edge. Reinforcing the knife and using it was a great idea, so he did. He laced the knife with magic, making a sharp edge with compressed magicules, making the knife stronger and sharper as long as magicules were supplied to it.

The battle began soon, with Kee jumping around, dodging the flames. The white flame was extremely hot, like it was concentrated, but it didn't have a wide area. It lasted quite a while with no fuel, while the black flames were much stronger than normal. Though not as hot as the white flames, they could burn using even the rocks of the cave. The black flames covered everything and caused 2nd degree burns despite Kee’s thermal fluctuation resistance. He maintained a minimum distance of 50 cm, even while dodging, but his stamina was draining at an alarming rate despite using minimum enhancement.

"I need to go faster. If I can't resist the flames, then I should reduce my time of contact."

Kee Style Magic Sword Arts, 1st Form: World on Point - I Am Speed.

"I need to come up with a better name. It’s a single thrust motion like ‘Inside Out,’ but instead of creating vibrations and channeling them through the sword, this one pushes by amplifying my magic by compressing and focusing on my legs only. Focusing all the vectors of my power at the point of my sword—or knife in this case—and charging seemingly like a bullet… hm, a name… Bullet Charge… Bullet Shot?"

"I broke through! Next, slice through the black flame bat by increasing the overall strengthening and go for the white one immediately as it's in shock!"

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White flame covered his vision with no time left to dodge.

"To think it would discard its friend so quickly. Well, there's only one thing I can do."

Kee Style Magic Sword Arts, 1st Form: World on Point - I Am Speed.

"And increase my strengthening and focus a ton of magicules on regeneration skill. Let's break through!"

Kee suffered even more burns, almost melting his skin despite high strengthening and short contact, but he got his chance—or so he thought. The white flame bat had already seen this move and moved preemptively. Despite Kee’s increase in speed…

"No, I can't miss it. If I do, I will definitely die by its fire when I retreat. If only my short sword was with me instead of this knife, though it’s way longer than a knife by just a few centimeters… cut."

Suddenly, the glow on the knife edge grew brighter and the knife extended? No, the whole knife was glowing blue. Kee had manifested magicules on the knife, turning it into a long sword despite it being difficult for him. The sword, made of magicules, cut through something strong yet brittle inside the monster. What was it? The monster cores! He didn't cut the one inside the black bat, but it looked dead—or is it an undead that will come back to life? He didn’t see a core when he looked toward the black bat, but it wasn’t moving. However, his instincts were ringing a warning to dodge left, and he did. A white flame split past where his body was, and then he saw the white bat had somehow survived and was healing already. There was a black gem in its wound, melting into a white gem.

Suddenly, a gust of wind swept past Kee, extinguishing the flames. As the second gust swept past, a ton of dust flew into the air. Kee closed his eyes and retreated after losing his vision but realized he could still see clearly despite his closed eyes and the dust. But where did this dust come from? The cave had a few plants here and there, water dripping from stalactites, and the stones appeared moist, with the surface dry but the inside wet. There was no trace or possibility of sand. It wasn’t ash from the rocks, but that’s when he noticed the sand was black and looked as if it was corroding. There was no such phenomenon near the white flames; it must have been the black flames that corroded the rocks in the cave to dust.

"Magic sense allows me to utilize all my senses even if they aren’t actually working, but… oh no, I think I just missed my chance for winning while pondering what was happening."

"Eeep!!! Run, that thing is like a chimera. It turned half black, half white. The flame's center is white while the outside is black. It spreads quickly and has a super high temperature, though it seems the corrosive effect is gone, I think."

"It’s time to finish this. It’s gonna hurt a lot, but well, let's break through!"

Kee Style Magic Sword Arts, 1st Form: World on Point - I Am Speed.

Breaking through the outer black flames at full speed, then splitting the chimera in half while increasing his magicules’ strengthening.

Kee Style Magic Sword Arts, 2nd Form: Canvas - Running Moonhouse Draw.

Kee ran towards the chimera bat, split in two, already starting to draw his magicule sword in a half-moon arc once while unsheathing like a sword-drawing art, and once while sheathing. The sheath was imaginary in this case, like drawing a half-moon on a horizontal plane.

The core broke, killing the monster. Kee activated his magician skill, absorbing the core, but this time it happened quickly.

"Absorption complete. Acquiring ‘Hell Flare’... unsuccessful… error. Using excess energy to get skill flares… successful… magicule capacity increased… skill 'Minor Regeneration' has evolved to 'Regeneration'… Acquired skill 'Corrosion Resistance.'"

After this, Kee was able to coat his knife with hell flare, with a white flame at the center and a black outer flame. The black flame corroded people and spread quickly, while the inner white flame healed the person using their vitality, burning at a very high temperature, giving them a taste of hell. In essence there would be no effect of corrosion or healing visible since the flames were combined but it would burn as long as there was living target inside it and torture the target but would stop once the target died.

A dreadful ability befitting the name hellflare