To Maeyurai's surprise, a red, tall, and thin creature with large hands came out of nowhere. It was faceless and showed no sign of ever following Maeyurai.
It launched itself forward to attack Maeyurai, not making a single sound, its footsteps as silent as the wind.
"What is—Urgh!" Maeyurai groaned as he felt the powerful punch of the creature on his guts.
Maeyurai was sent crashing through a destroyed restaurant to the right, the force sending sharp jolts of pain in his body as he hurtled through the tables and chairs.
He held the counter with his left hand, pulling himself up with a huff.
"Agh..." he grunted, trying to regain balance.
After he stood up, he looked at the hole in the wall. The creature was walking towards him in a menacing manner. Slow and steady.
"So you've been the one trying to scare me since earlier..." he said, taking out his longbow.
He took aim immediately after, nocking an arrow on his bowstring.
A blink.
"Huh?" he muttered in confusion.
The creature was gone. Nowhere to be seen, not even leaving a trace behind.
Maeyurai let his guard down, perplexed by its sudden disappearance. If it had run away to the side, he would've at least seen it. But he didn't.
Thwam!
The creature suddenly appeared on his left, took hold of his collar, and blasted him away. He burst through the wall and hurled down to the packed dirt ground.
He tumbled over until his back hit a solid object, the force destroying the wooden wall.
"Hagh—" he exclaimed in pain. He didn't expect that the creature could become invisible for a short time—or maybe longer.
What appeared before him is an Elite-Level HS (Hell's Spawn), a Stalker. While it wasn't as destructive as a Shrieker, it was much sneakier and cleverer.
What is that thing?
It disappeared into the air...?
Maeyurai stood up, pushing away the wooden planks that fell on him. Immediately after, he conjured a ball of fire and drew his bow.
He took aim and tapped the tip of the arrow, activating his technique, "Firecracker."
Before the Stalker could turn invisible, he immediately shot the Firecracker in its way to intercept it.
However, he was too late, and the Stalker acted faster than he did.
It went invisible, and the Firecracker exploded in the air without hitting a target.
"Tch," he uttered in annoyance, observing around the area carefully to find where the Stalker could come out from.
From left to right, he shifted his gaze quickly, absorbing information and creating predictions of where it could possibly appear.
He exhaled.
...Right side.
The Stalker suddenly appeared on his right, ready to land another punch.
But Maeyurai was ready to intercept its attack. He brought his bow up and shot an arrow, making sure that he aimed it at the Stalker's head.
It was a feint; his arrow flew past the Stalker.
The Stalker merely appeared for a second before turning away, invisible, as if giving him a scare.
Realizing that he was in a dangerously open position, Maeyurai decided to move. He lowered his head and ran to the right, trying to find a narrow space.
An open space is the best place an invisible opponent can fight in.
If I can't play along, then I'll bring it to a territory where it's weak.
With a small, narrow path, I'll have a much easier way to attack and give it much less space to take.
I'm going to win this.
He ran for the next few seconds, jumping over obstacles in order to shake off the invisible Stalker, if it were following him.
Whoosh!
A large barrel flew over Maeyurai's head, launched in his direction by the Stalker. He turned his head to check but couldn't see where the stalker was.
In an attempt to slow Maeyurai down, the Stalker sent several large objects in his way. Maeyurai dodged each object, some grazing him by a hair.
"How annoying..." he said under his breath as he led the Stalker into a narrower area.
As Maeyurai jumped over a fence, a barrel hit his left side. He stumbled over the floor like a ball.
He rose to his feet after he caught himself. Hastily, he drew his bow, his hands shaking. He shot immediately when the stalker popped up—thinking it was finally going to hit.
However, the Stalker went invisible, and the arrow completely missed.
Huh?
Does it have invulnerability during its invisible state?
Tch, how unfair.
Maeyurai recovered right after and stood on his feet, nocking up another arrow on his bow.
Since the Stalker was in its invisible state, he couldn't see where it was. But the one thing he could do was predict where it would come out.
He was observing everything around him.
The mark appeared in his left eye, his expression changing into one of intense focus.
It's this feeling again.
I can see everything in front of me. Every movement and every little detail is there to see.
If this happens when I focus... Can't I just leave this state when I want to?
The Stalker then suddenly appeared in his blind spot, which was behind him. Its hands reached out for Maeyurai's neck, slowly, so he wouldn't notice.
However, he felt a change in presence behind him and managed to react.
"Behind, huh?" said Maeyurai as he squatted and rolled forward to create distance.
Intentionally losing focus, the mark in his left eye disappeared, and his sight returned to how it normally is.
In front, the Stalker rushed forward and lunged its arms towards Maeyurai.
He shot the arrow on its head and hopped to the side. The arrow merely flicked away when it hit the Stalker's head due to how thick it was.
As Maeyurai planted his rear foot to the ground, the Stalker had already turned and charged his way, continuing its attack relentlessly.
In response, he stepped to the side and lowered his right shoulder, dodging smoothly.
However, the speed at which the Stalker could turn and follow up in its attack was ridiculously fast, taking Maeyurai off guard.
"Already?!" he shouted in surprise, seeing as the Stalker was already on its way to grab him.
The moment that he stood upright, the Stalker caught him in its hands. Once it gripped him firmly, the Stalker ran forward at full speed as it dragged him along like he was a meat shield.
The Stalker bashed through the walls as it destroyed the buildings that had already suffered damage. Maeyurai was used as a meat shield as his back absorbed every single impact.
"Hrrrgh!" Maeyurai groaned as he felt the powerful impact of the walls hit his back. It was like being slammed by a hundred hammers.
In a desperate attempt to break free, he punched it with all his strength.
Wham! Phack!
He roared, "Raaghh!"
But the Stalker's hands gripped him like a vise, not giving way for him to escape.
After going through seven different walls, the Stalker pummeled Maeyurai down to the ground. Its attacks are creating bruises behind Maeyurai's clothing.
When the Stalker was done, it gripped Maeyurai's collar and threw him away like how you would with a bag of trash, launching him against another wall.
CRASH!!
Maeyurai's back collided with a table; the excess momentum flung him across the room. He crashed into the wall, his side taking the brunt of the hit before he hit the ground with a loud thud.
"Arrghhh..."
He was struggling to get up. The pain in his back lingered, and each move he made was shaking with shock.
I'm going to die... Seriously going to die!
My journey can't end here. I haven't even reached Wyumatsui Island yet...
Standing up, his knees were shivering. Then, he lifted both of his hands, imitating the motion of conjuring a Firecracker.
Wait.
Where's my bow...?
His eyes widened in realization.
Hands empty, he no longer had his bow, nor did he have any weapons to attack with. Even his quiver was taken away. He swore to himself that he held it with all his strength to ensure it wouldn't fall out of his hands, but it was gone.
Looking forward, the Stalker wasn't present. It was nowhere to be found, possibly going into its invisible state.
Maeyurai's face tightened up in confusion and anger.
If the Stalker could move things and make noise within the environment... Can't it just attack me in its invisible state?
Why isn't it doing so? Why does it show up when it attacks?
It's giving me the feeling that it's looking down on me.
And it... Pisses me off...!
His hands curled up into a fist, and with gritted teeth, he walked forward fearlessly.
Walking outside the building with staggered movements, he lifted his hand.
"This is the first time I'm going to be doing this," he said with a low voice, conjuring a large fireball in his hand. "But, thank you, Naguta, for showing me how conjuration can be used."
Then, he manipulated and changed the large fireball's shape into the longbow he uses. It wasn't a carbon copy, nor was it perfect. It was trembling, almost failing to keep a stable shape, but it had a form that resembled his bow.
This wasn't Alteration; this was still Conjuration.
Alteration is the manipulation of the mana in the surroundings in correspondence to an individual's Affinity, while Conjuration is the releasing of mana formed with a specific Affinity.
And Conjuration allows the manipulation of the mana released, whether it be shape, power output, or other things.
Since he had enough mastery over his own Fire Mana, Maeyurai could lessen his fire's temperature to the point that it didn't burn him.
"Naguta, allow me to copy a move of yours," said Maeyurai as he aimed the flaming bow upwards.
Next, what he did was conjure a fire arrow. He drew the bowstring and shot, the fire arrow flying high in the air.
He spoke in a quiet voice. "I'll call this one 'Flame Shower.'"
Flame Shower, the fire variant of Naguta's Hard Rain. It was weaker and slower, but Maeyurai managed to create the technique mid-battle.
Several fire arrows came showering down on the surroundings, burning the flammable objects and creating a burning field.
Soon, the invisible Stalker would be lit up in flames, its position exposed as it left its invisible state. As the flames burned its body, it screamed out in pain, its voice distorted.
"Riiyahh!"
"I got you now," said Maeyurai, conjuring a lightning bolt and applying it to his flaming bow.
The lightning bolt assumed the form of a lightning arrow, but it was wiggly and imperfect. It was like watching a wavelength with high frequency become visible to the eye.
The Stalker kept in place, thrashing around to put out the flames that enveloped its body.
Then, Maeyurai shot the lightning arrow.