Today, too, we’ll be exploring Area 5 .

Because I fought the Slime Lord in the South yesterday, I’ll search a different direction today .

In the East area I discovered a huge Snake exceeding 20 meters in length: a Doppel Snake . (¹) The thickness of its body was like that of a Drum .

As its name suggests, it had a Skill called Fission Creation; it allows the user to create a body double which can imitate their original Skills, abilities, and so on .

When I defeated the first Doppelgänger and it disappeared like a phantom, I was really surprised . However, because its tactics revolved around using its double from a safe distance, the main body wasn’t actually that strong .

Its fighting power didn’t really exceed that of a Demonic Beast from Area 4 . Once I found the body lurking underground, the fight was finished in an instant .

I used the Fission Creation Skill immediately after obtaining it, but……

「This isn’t the body of a Sword……」

『It’s me from when I was living as a human . 』

And so, the doppelgänger created by Fission Creation imitated a Human . At the same time, my thoughts were obtained simultaneously, so I was able to move my Sword and Doppelgänger body at the same time .

「Oh? If I do this, won’t I not need someone to equip me?」

『Seriously? But what’s the strength of my alter ego?』

Wouldn’t equipping myself using my double be pretty good?

Or so I thought, but it didn’t go very well .

First of all, Fission Creation has a time limit . Currently, the limit’s 5 minutes . Second, the Doppelgänger is incredibly weak . With the exception of INT, its stats all had an average of 5 — weaker than even Goblins .

Moreover, its Skills were reduced . The Doppelgänger has the same Skills as my main body, but all of its Skill Levels were 1 .

With that, the Skill can’t be used . I don’t know what would happen if I leveled up the Skill, but the Doppel Snake’s Fission Creation Skill was Lv9, which made its Doppelgänger body stronger than the main body .

Other Skills obtained from the snake such as Molting, Heat Perception, and Scale Regeneration couldn’t be used, so there was only one other Skill that would be usable . It’s a Skill superior to Poison Fang called Sovereign Toxic Fang . (²) It also had the Deadly Poison Fang Skill, but this Skill’s effects are above it .

For now, the Doppel Snake was placed into storage . Dimensional Storage still wasn’t full after holding that giant snake . Its capacity is greater than expected .

In the afternoon, I headed towards the Northern area . Of course, I hunted down any Demonic Beasts along the way; after defeating them they were immediately stored .

After conquering the East, I understood that within the North, East, South and West there would only be one big Boss . I guess they would be Area Bosses? The only Demonic Beasts that I found strong were the Slime Lord and the Doppel Snake; anything else is probably just food for the Area Bosses .

So, the next area boss I would face was the one in the North .

『The Area Bosses always have strong Skills, so I’m looking forward to it . 』

What was there was the smallest of the Area Bosses . A Turtle Demonic Beast; its Magic Power wasn’t at all inferior to that of the other Area Bosses .

Its overall length was only around 5 meters . From its shining black shell, 10 tubes stick out, with a thick gun-barrel protruding in the center .

『Blast Tortoise . 』 (³)

As a matter of fact, I’ve defeated a lower ranked version of this tortoise . It was a Demonic Beast called a Cannon Tortoise, which absorbed the surrounding air from tubes and shot it from its compressed barrel .

「GOOOooooOooo!」

It’s a form of Demonic Beast whose chosen form of combat is long-range bombardment; its detection range seems quite wide as well . Already, its eyes have become fixed upon me .

Goo!

*BOBOBOU!*

Compressed air bullets are shot consecutively . I didn’t think that it would be possible to release those continuously . For Canon Tortoises, it could only shoot once, and left no shots in reserve . Indeed, this is a superior race .

『Arayotto!』 (⁴)

Air bullets continue to come flying at high speed . I took a trajectory to evade, but……

*BOBON!*

『Nua!』(⁵)

An air bullet unexpectedly bursts, and I’m crushed by the exploding air bullets from all directions . It dealt almost 100% damage . Is this due to the aftermath? (⁶) Or, more importantly, being able to remotely explode them remotely… What an amazing power!

*Bonn!*

『Gu! Dangerous, dangerous!』

While my escape routes were sealed, there’s also the threat of air bullets in pursuit . With a direct hit, 400 durability is shaved off . In addition, I can see more being fired .

By the way, thanks to Airflow Vision, I can see the incoming colorless and transparent air bullets . If I didn’t have that, it would have been difficult to avoid anything .

For the time being, I need to break through . I descended using Telekinesis Catapult to avoid an air bullet, and zigzag at maximum speed while continuing to dodge the barrage of air bullets .

『Don’t get cocky!』

I occasionally receive damage, but I gradually approach the Tortoise .

『I’ve got you!』

If I get this close, it’s my win . My blade plunges into the exposed neck of the turtle ー not .

『Ah?! Don’t run away!』

With a speed impossible to imagine from the slow movements of a Tortoise, it retracts its neck and legs . I attack the shell out of vexation, but it’s only cut a little . If I attack multiple times, I might be able to break through but……

『As if I’d permit such a thing!』

*BOBOboBOboboBO!*

The Tortoise who had retracted its neck began to rotate at high-speed . (⁷) Really, it’s just like Ga**ra . (⁸) And, like that, it scatters air bullets indiscriminately .

Precisely because it’s not directly aimed at me, it’s difficult to read, and thus difficult to avoid .

All around me air rends the ground, but even if I take distance there would still be air bullets in the sky .

I try to move to the blind spot directly above it, but because of the perception Skills that the tortoise possesses it simply distributes the air bullets above .

『Ohtto! Dangerous!』

If the top is hopeless, then perhaps the bottom would be a better choice . It might not be able to attack on its underside, after all .

I play with my Status a bit while dodging the air bullets fired off by the Tortoise .

I managed to avoid the bullets while changing my Status without a problem due to the Thought Division Skill .

Using my left over Self-Evolution Points, I achieve Ground Magic Lv4; that’s when it becomes legitimately usable .

This fellow will be on the receiving end of this Skill, as I’ve become able to tunnel using the abilities I’ve obtained .

『ーDig dug!』 (⁹)

I dive into the hole dug with magic; the ending of the tunnel is directly below the Tortoise .

『Dig dug! Dig dug!』

But that’s not all . Casting the magic consecutively, I hollow out holes at the feet of the Tortoise . The ground, which couldn’t tolerate the weight of the Tortoise, sinks in, causing its big body to be swallowed into the ground .

『All according to plan!』

Furthermore, because I had dug the holes at an angle, the Tortoise does one rotation and falls upside down .

The Tortoise struggles to get up, but I sandwich it in place using Ground Magic .

Kukuku . It won’t be able to escape in this state .

Then, The Tortoise takes its neck and legs out, only to attempt to return back inside . But didn’t miss that chance .

The fastest blow that struck down even the Slime Lord resulted in an explosion of the head of the Tortoise .

After all, it’s nothing more than a Tortoise . It wasn’t a match against me . (¹⁰)

『Victory!』

However, that was quite dangerous . Again, Area 5 is to be reckoned with .

Piercing into the Tortoise’s shell through the head-portion’s opening, the Magic Stone on the side of its heart was acquired one way or another .

Of course, I also store the Blast Tortoise; the storage still isn’t filled .

『Now there’s one less Magic Skill remaining . Let’s head back for now . 』

The search of Area 5’s Western region will be put off until tomorrow .

I still want to inspect the Skills I got from the Tortoise for now .

After returning to the Pedestal, I try out the Skills; compressing the air as well as firing two air bullets seems possible . It went well, because the two Skills seem useful .

Air Bullet Discharge strengthens the surrounding air, thus “casting” the bullet . It seemed that through sucking air into the inside of its shell, the Blast Tortoise gained the ability to fire continuously .

As for me, if I use Airflow Manipulation in conjunction with Wind Magic, repeated shots also seems possible .

Air Compression can be used to compress air; at first it looks plain, but it’s actually quite interesting .

For example, I can add strength to the bullet fired from Air Bullet Discharge, or can make a compressed wall of air around myself as a shield . It could be said that alone it’s weak, but when used with multiple Skills it becomes quite strong .

『I’m happy that there’re a bunch of good Skills, but〜 in order to utilize them, more training is required . 』

Strong Skills are pretty hard to master .

Chapter 10
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