Episode 97: 〖Physical Extend〗
Several days had passed since I started leveling up Fiss.
Today, as always, she was fighting a pack of 〖Greater Beasts〗.
“Giiirururu!”
Three 〖Greater Beasts〗 stood blocking the way on a flat rock.
Two of them were ordinary gargoyles. Covered in tough stone skin, they mainly fought using ranged 〖Skills〗.
“Kyurua!”
The last one let out a clear cry and activated a 〖Skill〗.
A pure white wall rose in front of Fiss, who was running towards the gargoyles.
It was the work of a rare gargoyle species.
As the name suggested, it had a white porcelain skin and a glossy, rounded form.
“〖Physical Boost Leg〗”
Just before colliding with the wall, Fiss activated her magic. She changed direction at a right angle with her enhanced leg strength and jumped out from the right side of the wall.
She then approached the gargoyles in an arc.
The gargoyles’ attacks, trying to stop her, were varied.
Having become 〖Greater Beasts〗, they could not only throw stones, but also create stone thorns from the ground and extend stone arms that they could move freely.
However, none of them hit. Her concentrated leg strength was too fast for them to track.
Leaving the stones and thorns behind, Fiss cut through the swarm of homing arms and ran.
“Kyuryi!”
The white gargoyle stepped forward, protecting the other gargoyles.
In a knight-like style, with a sword in its right hand and a shield in the other, it used a 〖Skill〗 to create white armor that covered its entire body.
The white gargoyle, now equipped for close combat, thrust its sword when the distance between them closed to ten meters.
It was obviously out of range. Or so it should have been.
But the blade extended. With the force of a spring recoiling.
At the same time, stone thorns grew from the ground on Fiss’s left and right.
Her escape routes were blocked—,
“Fuuh.”
—No, there was still the sky.
With her concentrated leg strength, Fiss easily jumped over the tip of the sword.
“Kekyakya!”
The white gargoyle’s mouth curled up at the sight.
Six steps remained until the range of its axe.
Even if she was jumping with the momentum of her run, the white sword would be raised faster than she could enter its range.
The white gargoyle held its blade vertically, put strength into its arm, and,
“〖Physical Extend Arm〗”
Its head was sliced diagonally.
“Kyu, ruu…”
“Gyugege!?”
The normal gargoyles looked at their companion, whose head had suddenly been cut off.
That was a fatal opening in battle.
The reversed axe then devoured them, cutting down two at once.
『Good work, as always, it was brilliant.』
“Mm.”
Fiss stopped activating her magic when I called out to her.
Then, the extension of her arm was released, and the part from her elbow snapped back like a vacuum cleaner cord being retracted.
『You’ve got the hang of 〖Physical Extend〗 now.』
“No, not yet. I need to be able to extend it faster.”
The reason she was able to defeat the gargoyles from outside their range in the previous battle was due to the magic that extended her arm.
It was the same magic that extended her hair, and she had been making various adjustments to use it in actual combat.
For example, modifying her armor.
She changed it to a design that could separate at the elbows and knees, so that the armor wouldn’t get caught when she extended her limbs.
〖Physical Extend〗, which had become usable in actual combat, turned out to be quite a convenient magic.
Not only did it extend her range, but she could also attack from blind spots by wrapping her arm around, and increase the power by using centrifugal force.
There was a limit to the distance she could extend it, and it seemed that it became difficult to control if she extended it too far, but it was still useful enough.
『Alright, I’ll grill the meat, Fiss, you can drink some water.』
“Mm.”
I placed a square container on the rock, and headed towards the gargoyles.
Fiss, who passed by me, came to the container, picked up something that looked like a ladle and a dipper combined, and scooped up the transparent liquid filling the container—just water—and drank it.
This giant container, resembling a one-meter square measuring box, was something I made for water storage.
I melted down some suitable metal and made it.
The water inside was also distilled from the rain the other day.
“(Thanks to Red Whip-sama.)”
I had realized painfully in the last few days that fire had supported human civilization.
Red Whip didn’t emit fire, but heat, but well, that was a minor thing. More importantly, it was time to cook the gargoyles.
“(I need to check its properties carefully, 〖Escalating Warfare〗.)”
I carefully analyzed the white porcelain rare species.
It would be terrible if it had poison.
Then, after confirming that it was harmless even when grilled, I put it on the iron plate.
『This part is fine to eat as is.』
“Understood.”
I put the meat dripping with blue blood on a plate and offered it to her.
She was used to it, and she stabbed it with a fork and devoured it.
This was to maintain nutritional balance.
If she only ate grilled meat, her nutrition would be unbalanced, so she was taking in vitamins as carnivores do.
“〖Physical Absorption〗”
Of course, humans and carnivores have different body structures, so I was also assisting with magic. Or rather, it could be said that she started eating raw meat because she became able to use this.
She easily succeeded just by explaining that it expanded the function of the digestive organs, which surprised me.
『Here you go.』
“Thank you.”
The grilling and the raw meat were finished at about the same time.
I piled the thoroughly cooked meat on a large plate and handed it to her.
While watching Fiss gobble down the mountain of meat, I analyzed the white gargoyle’s claws, fangs, horns, and skin.
But as expected, it wasn’t a material that I could use at my current level.
“(It’s no good—)”
“Munch… gulp. Were you checking if you could make another weapon again?”
Fiss asked, noticing that I was analyzing it from the movement of 〖Mana〗.
『Well, yeah, but it was a miss this time too.』
“The demon beasts around here shouldn’t lead to Kouya’s power-up.”
『Well, that’s true, but what if there’s a chance? If I can get stronger, I want to get stronger.』
“Hey, why do you want to get so strong? You’re already strong enough to defeat a 〖Feral Beast〗 alone, is there a reason why you need to get even stronger?”
『That is…』
I asked myself why.
The reason I sought strength… at first, it was to live safely.
In the law of the jungle, if I didn’t become strong, I might be killed by someone with a means to surpass my 〖Toughness〗.
The next reason was admiration.
I was fascinated by the majestic figure of the Forest Turtle and its immense power. I wanted to become like that.
But now that I had obtained 〖Zone Control〗 and defeated even the Forest Turtle that I admired, it could be said that I had achieved that goal.
And now… was it for revenge?
Was I seeking power to be able to surely bury that root monster called Chaos Spawn…?
“(No, that’s not it.)”
Since the identity of the opponent was unknown, I couldn’t have enough power, but that wasn’t the reason I wanted to get stronger.
In the first place, I already had enough power at this point.
Even if it was a 〖Beast Rank〗 higher than a 〖Feral Beast〗, I was confident that I could win with just my 〖Toughness〗 and 〖Feral Beast〗 weapons.
So, the reason I wanted to get stronger was—
『—The reason is, maybe there isn’t one in particular. My upbringing was special, and I’ve always been trying to get stronger, so I think I’m still trying to get stronger now. Like a habit?』
I gave such a vague answer.
However, this was probably my true feeling. I couldn’t think of any particular reason.
“I see. Because you were born into a Border Count family, huh?”
『Ye, yeah, something like that…』
That was close… I was almost forgetting that setting.
While progressing through the rocky mountains like that, we stepped into an area with an even denser concentration of 〖Mana〗.
We had finally reached the Ferocious Beast Zone.