NOVEL NEXT Book 3: Chapter 76
Chapter 76.
Fuyuki's appearance and mood changed drastically when he mentioned his wish.
A black fog of something wobbled up from his whole body.
The limbs were equipped with pitch-black knight's armor, and a long, insubstantial cloak was worn over the uniform, swept away by the wind with a rustle.
And in Fuyuki's right hand was a black sniper rifle - so black that it seemed to suck you in as you looked at it.
This was the form that he evolved into the phantom beast "The Shadow Sniper" as requested by Tenji.
According to Fuyuki, Shadow Sniper's true form is a giant crow-like phantom, but only when Fuyuki uses its ability does it take on this appearance.
Because of the painful appearance, Fuyuki usually didn't want to use it as a high school senior.
"Whew, that's cool!"
"Jet black!"
Although amused, the two immediately began to make fun of Fuyuki.
Seeing the troubled look on his face, Fuyuki silently walks over to Tenji's side and grabs him by the head with one hand without breaking into a smile.
"What did you just say......?"
Usually Fuyuki is a gentle man, but this is the only time he shows off his evil smile.
The fear made Tenji shrink back, and Chigo began to pretend not to see him.
"This is why I don't want to use it in public anymore."
He lets out a small sigh.
It seems to do the job. As he looked at Tenji and Chigo, they showed some remorse. He quickly switched his head to the direction of the monsters.
At the same time, he holds his sniper rifle with both hands and stares ahead.
When Fuyuki aimed and pulled the trigger, a bullet was shot without a sound, cloaked in the dark atmosphere.
The bullet passed through the middle of a nearby tree without incident, and from far away, they heard the monster's voice, "Kishaaaa!".
'The Shadow Sniper' has several abilities, including "Clairvoyant Eyes" to see through obstacles further, "Telephoto Eyes" that can zoom freely like a telescope, and "Silent Body" to lose all sound from each movement, all adapted to several sniping techniques.
[Although, these aren't Fuyuki's trump cards. He showed them to me once, but Fuyuki's dedication is on a different level.]
Looking at Fuyuki's sniper attack, which he can assure is still very raw, Tenji wonders if he will be able to become an explorer of this caliber some day.
"Are we done here? Okay?"
Chigo sat flat on a nearby stump, perhaps tired from the walk.
She herself may still have a lot of physical strength, but perhaps because she had been playing games like a NEET for the past year or two, she was beginning to lack the patience to endure.
[TLN: NEET , or niito 'ニート', is an acronym for "Not in Education, Employment, or Training." In other words, a NEET is someone who isn't studying, doesn't have a job, and isn't learning a craft.]
Seeing Chigo like that, the two students also thought this area was good enough.
"You don't need assistance today, do you? Tenji-kun."
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll just do some light exercise as usual. The real show starts this afternoon."
"I'm going to go over there and do some quick prep work then."
Fuyuki said, pointing towards the right side.
Then. Tenji pointed to the left.
"Okay, I'll start on that side."
"Copy that. See you back here in an hour and a half."
With those words, Fuyuki walked out of the place and into the forest to the right.
Tenji also told Chigo that he had to go and proceeded to the forest on the left side.
Chigo was going to take a short break here and abandon her duties. Well, this was a celebration of freedom, since Chigo's hand will not be needed constantly in this level
--Kurou Fuyuki.
"Now, let's see if I can do my best."
Fuyuki slowly stands taller and taller as he walks, increasing concentration even more.
He then unleashed the evolution of 'The Shadow Sniper' to unleash a certain phantom beast upon himself.
"-The Phantom King wants the "Jin sky dragon.""
Fuyuki's appearance changes again.
Blue sapphire scales grew dazzlingly on his arms and part of his neck. A sharp, clear, light blue claws appear at the tips of his hands.
His hair also changed from chestnut to a mixture of white and blue, and his hair grew a lot longer.
If there was a species of dragon people, the current appearance of Fuyuki could be mistaken for them.
"Okay, I should be able to coordinate soon....... If I don't, Tenji-kun will overtake me."
To get used to the changes in his body, Fuyuki continues to walk while stretching his legs and hands to make them flexible.
He was a freshman in high school when he awakened to his calling and has already lived with this calling for nearly two years.
Even so, this "Jin sky Dragon" was a relatively new beast that he had only recently become able to handle, and he was still unable to master it as much as he would like to. This was because of the rapid growth of its monstrous physical abilities, unmatched by anything that had come before.
With a gurgle of his neck, Fuyuki kicked the place with a bang.
r
The unaccustomed physical ability of the body made it impossible to control, and small craters formed on the ground that he kicked up.
Seeing this scene makes him reflect on how far he has come.
And then--
"Oh, I found just the thing."
He spotted the monster in the distance.
It's the third grade monster 'Gremlins', which is rare at this level.
Gremlin is a humanoid monster about the height of a middle schooler boy, and is known for having the appearance of a goblin with bright red skin.
In terms of strength, they are average among the three grades, and a little intelligent. They also have sharp claws and two jagged fangs, and their strength is more than ten times stronger than an average male.
Using its monstrous strength and intelligence, it excels at throwing stones and sharp weapons from a distance.
But that is only when fighting a lower ranked explorer or of similar strength.
Such an attack would be meaningless in front of an explorer as strong as Fuyuki. Or rather, he wouldn't even notice the impact.
"Yo!"
Approaching with blinding speed, Fuyuki swung his sharp toe at Gremlin's right arm, unaware of his presence.
As if he was slashing a tofu, the tip of the claw stabbed the body and spurted out a reddish spray of blood.
When he realized that his right arm was gone and pain was coursing through his body, Gremlin let out a yelp of pain. He then fell to both knees on the spot.
The trees grew noisier and noisier at the sound of his rage, warning the nearby monsters of the danger they were in.
"Hmmm, it's still difficult. I think if I swung it more sharply, I wouldn't be splattered with so much blood. Like this? Like this...... spapapapapap....... No, it should be more like a swoosh."
In Fuyuki's imagination, he had imagined such an attack, like a delayed blood spurt. It was also because such an attack could easily be done using other phantom beasts.
But far from what he imagined, he tilted his head at the warm, blood splattering attack.
He practices swinging his arms over and over, catching Gremlin from the corner of his eye.
'Ggggg......................... griiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!'
Seeing the person who had slashed his arm, Gremlin fell into a state of rage.
Monsters are known to go into a limitless state of rage when they experience excessive fear or pain.
Monsters in a rage state are said to be roughly 120% as powerful as they can be.
[TLN: Like hulk gets stronger as he gets angrier.]
Gremlin's blue eyes bled in such an angry state, and he spat a large amount of spit from his mouth, becoming clearly agitated.
Baring his sharp fangs, he attacked Fuyuki desperately.
"I see....... Let's try it like this next time."
Still, Fuyuki did not once focus his eyes on the Gremlin in front of him.
As he approaches, he then applies a whip-like claw attack to Gremlin's remaining left arm.
"Gg......ggh!"
"Oh, I like it! Now that's what I'm talking about! Now, before I forget."
Shrunkenly, Fuyuki swung his arm at the back of Gremlin's neck, who had lost both arms and lost his balance, falling face-first to the ground.
After a second or so of delay, blood started to ooze out from the neck section as the neck separated from the torso, and then there was blood all over.
Fuyuki laughed in delight at the sight.
"Yeah, I'm getting the hang of it. It's like, "Shwoshh, Shwoshh, Shwoshh, Shwoshh."
He practiced the arm swing repeatedly so he didn't forget this technique.
For a kind and smart-looking young man, Fuyuki was unexpectedly intuitive.
If someone were to listen to his mutterings from the side, he looked like a brainiac, but in reality he was a smart young man, so he is contradicting himself.
His status is similar to a first grade explorer, and his potential for growth was still immense.
When he reaches a certain level and his abilities are at more than 100% through his intuition, Fuyuki will truly be on par with a Zero grade explorer.
He started to walk again.
"Next time, let's try the skill 'Blue Roar'."
To tell her how he felt someday.
Fuyuki was dying to hone his abilities and senses.