Chapter 8: Minor Evolved skill: Fire Magic Hephaestus

The wind was blowing through the forest around us, along with the sound of owls and wolves from the distance. I put my hand near the fire of the campfire I made as our source of light and heat in this cold and dark woodland.

I drifted my gaze on Rafaela, munching the chicken on a stick I bought earlier before leaving the kingdom; I had already eaten mine.

I have to talk to Cherubim to understand my skill. The child-like voice inside my head said he is my unique skill. But what is a unique skill? 

[Unique skill is a special skill. It means it doesn't evolve, unlike common skills. Unique skills can produce sub-skill and extra skills. These sub and extra skills have their own minor skill, which is your newly acquired elemental skill. But for some reason, a Unique Skill can evolve into its final form, the Divine Ultimate Skill]

So, can you do that? 

[I cannot do that on my own. You need to grow and know what exactly you desire. Only then can I evolve]

I see. 

I ended my conversation between Cherubim and I. I averted my gaze back to Rafaela.

Maybe she noticed me watching her and immediately put her food down and looked down.

"Just eat, don't mind me."

She paused for a second, raised her food, and continued to eat.

I left her alone and just put some firewood on the campfire. The next thing I knew, she was already done and watching me.

I smiled at her. "Where are you from?"

"A village... near the demon kingdom."

"Are your parents still there?"

She shook her head. "They died... protecting me."

I really need to ask, am I?

"I see. Forgive me for asking such a personal question."

She just nodded and watched the campfire.

As the night went deeper, both of us took our rest. Rafaela used her oversized robe as her carpet to the ground while I on the other hand slept while sitting and leaning against a tree.

However,

As I opened my eyes, something unprecedented happened due to the rustling coming near us.

I immediately stood up after seeing a group of knights standing a few meters away from me, where Rafaela was supposed to be sleeping.

"Do something I won't like, and you will see this demon's head rolling on the ground," Captain Caspian announced while holding a sword on Rafaela's neck.

Around him were about ten knights clad with full-body armor and swords, looking at me with ominous amusement in their eyes.

Oh damn, look like we're about to get fucked up. 

Captain Caspian laughed. "Look at you, acting like a tough hero. Do you really think you can run from me? This is your punishment for messing with me, young man."

There were Eight of the knights with him scattered around me.

"How did you find us here?"

"It's actually simple: you're carrying a demon with you, there's only one place you can go, to the lawless town, and to my surprise, you really are predictable, like a big talk coward that you are."

Yep, he's quite smart, if I must say.

I exhaled. 

"Don't tell me you're going to punish me while holding her? Is that how knights in your kingdom do things?"

"Of course not." He pushed Rafaela to the other two knights behind him.

"Don't let that thing go this time, or I'll crush both of you."

Oh, it's the same two nights earlier.

Cherubim, I think I'm in great trouble. Mind helping me here? 

[Understood. Scanning the opponent for possible hidden skill]

S-scanning!? 

"Let me tell you this first: I will give you a chance to leave us alone, and in return, I will forget about this; however, if you still want to go for it? Remember that I already gave you my first Warning inside the kingdom earlier; don't blame me for what will happen next. You are the one pushing me to do it," I said as I gave time for Cherubim to assess Cain, acting tough, although I was trembling a bit. 

Captain Cain faced me again and raised his sword, using a different sword from earlier this time.

 "You really are full of arrogance, aren't you? So you know, This sword can slice through anything. Do you know what that means? I will turn you into minced meat!" 

As he walked slowly towards me, his sword gradually became covered in fire, but this time, it wasn't yellow-orange like a normal fire. It was a blood-red colored fire. 

"Don't need to express your praises, I know, I'm an elite who specializes in Fire magic; as you can see, I can wrap my sword that can slice through everything-"

His scream resonated around the area as his entire body was instantly covered in fire and slowly fell to the ground. The fire was the same color as his, and my eyes widened at the scene. 

W-what did just happen!? I didn't even do anything. 

[Assesment completed. The opponent has a minor evolution of fire called Hephaestus. This can forge and channel fire magic into any weapon, strengthening it. Slightly stronger than common fire magic]

Are you the one who attacked him!?

[Yes]

How!? I didn't even feel you did anything!

Suddenly, a status menu appeared before my eyes. The information about Cherubim appeared there, including his passive skill. 

Active skill: imitation

Passive skill: control the magic to ensure the user's safety in dire situations.

Woah! You're the best, Cherubim!

And then I looked at the Captain.

That's the elite who specialize in Fire magic for you.

After a few seconds of being burned alive while screaming in agony, he finally stopped moving and no longer screamed like an oversized white-skinned goblin.

All the other knights could do was watch his agonizing death.

[Confirmed. Hephaestus Fire Skill Imitation unlocked successfully!]

I scratched my head. "Oh, forgive me, I ran out of patience," I said, making my voice louder as if I was the one who did it.

"Damn you!"

[Note: You can now use Hephaestus ability]

I picked up the sword that was left by the burned Captain and looked at the remaining knights.

The eight knights scattering around me sprinted towards me at once.

I let my mana flow to the hand that was holding the sword. Suddenly, blood-red fire wrapped the sword, and I was awed when I saw the sword was burning like blood!

Well, it's time to try this sweet baby to the enemies! 

I swung the sword and gave them a long slice. There was a burning, thin slash of bloody red fire created by the slash I made, and I was moving towards them at an incredible speed. My newly acquired Fire magic burned two surprised knights before me, penetrating them; the fire slash sliced off the remaining three behind the two. The fire slash gave them a painless death by just slicing off their necks and burning them in the process. 

Gah!! Awesome!

"Damn it!" Shouted the other knight as he ran towards me while swinging his sword.

After I killed the five knights, I suddenly felt weakness in my body. 

[Warning! Low on mana. Using the newly acquired skill is not advisable.]

Oh, no! Any option, Cherubim!? I will die if I don't do something about these remaining knights!

[Due to a great decrease of mana, switching to common elemental magic has been applied]

Feeling suddenly sluggish as my bloody red fire vanished, I aimed my hand at him and the other one on his way to me, imprisoned them inside a huge water ball, and used my Ice magic to freeze them inside.

There's still one remaining, but rather than attacking, he tried to flee.

I activated my electricity magic, amassed a huge amount of electric energy in my palm, and aimed it towards him.

"It's already too late to escape."

The thunder strike roared as the massive light of energy surged from my palm towards the fleeing knight and instantly annihilated him.

When you try to take someone's life, you should expect the same outcome for yourself.

It's a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye.

Here we go again. I just killed more people without hesitation, and just like the last time, I can't feel anything. I just killed nine people, but I'm feeling no guilt, no regret, nothing.

It felt like I did something very mundane, like killing annoying mosquitoes flying around me.

What is happening to me?

What did that summoning spell do to me?

I exhaled and turned my gaze at the three people looking at me with disbelief on their faces.

The remaining two knights no longer hold Rafaela and just let her stand beside them.

However, I'm not surprised; knowing their behavior earlier back inside the kingdom, I already expected it. Breathing heavily, I looked at them.

"Forgive me that it has to happen." I calmly said and was forced to sit on the ground.

One of them walked towards me while shaking his head. "No, forgive us that we can't do anything. To tell you the truth, this man is not even captain material, and he just received his rank due to his family's influence. I'm sick of obeying his wicked orders."

Rafaela ran towards me and sat down beside me with worry plastered in her eyes. "Mister Troy, are you okay?"

"He did this out of a personal grudge towards you, so he didn't report it to the kingdom. It means you are just a faceless fugitive to the kingdom's eyes." He smiled. "Farewell, and I hope we won't meet ever again."

I smiled and nodded, pushing myself to stand up. "Let's go, Rafaela."

Rafaela waved her hand at them. "Thank you so much, Mister Knights."

The two knights just exhaled, scratching the back of their heads while trying their best to stop their smiles. 

"Just go, brats!"