Bow Art

I distanced myself from the corpses of the Mephits, their yellow blood released a pungent smell when exposed to the air that was disgusting to humans, but other Mephits would flock to it if there were large amounts of it, indicating the death of a comrade so that they could avenge them.

I hoped the blood on my clothes didn't attract their attention, it was unlikely as it was a small amount but if I ran into more of them, I should try to kill them without getting too much blood on me.

As I jumped from rock to rock while heading towards the spire, my eyes caught something odd about the rock I was about to step on. The moss covering the rock was oddly interrupted by four black triangles that seemed to move every now and then.

Sighing I gripped my dagger, preparing to raise it as I walked close to the dagger, and as soon as I was within a meter of the rock, a part of the rock detached as it launched towards me with the triangles fluttering wildly.

I raised my dagger in front of my neck.

*DRIP* *DRIP*

I looked over and at the edge of my dagger was an impaled Flying Serpent. The dagger had gone through its exposed mouth, it's two fangs had a yellow substance dripping from it and its blood puddled on the floor.

I put the tip of my dagger on the floor and removed the snake's corpse with my foot, attempting to avoid the paralyzing venom that dripped from its fangs before continuing onwards, this time keeping a closer eye on the rocks surrounding me.

I saw a few more but simply avoided them and soon reached the foot of the tall rock spire that had a cliff face right next to it.

'Just as described in the novel'

I saw it before, but the spires height was even more impressive up close, I was sure it reached well over 400 meters as it rose above even the harsh cliff that was next to it but I wasn't interested in it for now.

The only monster I could see were Horned Rabbits at the foot of the spire. Their buggy red eyes focused on me as I came close and all five of them jumped at me, attempting to impale me but I simply sidestepped and released a wide slash, decapitating 3 of them and finished off the other two with quick stabs.

Collecting their horns, I looked up at the cliff which was a harsh drop of at least 250 meters and there would usually be no way to get up there, but a part of the cliff face had been artificially smoothed out with a staircase structure being created out of carved rock.

It was the work of academy earth mages, to help student's traverse the area and also how Katz found his signature weapon art. I sighed as I looked at the number of steps, the author hadn't mentioned where exactly Katz found it, but he was leaning on the cave face for safety as he went up the stairs when suddenly he fell into a small cave.

I used my left hand to put pressure on the rocky surface as I went up the short steps to check for any loose rocks that I could move but as I kept going up the steps nothing changed as I soon reached the top of the cliff without anything happening in the meantime.

'Why?'

Katz also had a wind affinity, so it wasn't that and I was only a sub rank above him in combat, why did he cause the cave in but not me? I began heading back down, applying more pressure this time but as I did so I felt a sharp pain in my palm.

A small cut had appeared on my palm and some blood leaked out of it.

'Katz, his constitution was considered awful even at G-, which is why he used a bow.'

Thinking this way, I had a terrible idea but it kind of made sense. The novel didn't specify this, but it was possible that Katz's blood was the catalyst for the cave appearing.

It was the only lead I had and so after some hesitation, I ran my palm over my dagger, opening up the cut and covering a lot of my palm in blood as I gently traced it over the rocks once again.

It stung, but I had experienced worse, so I just continued down the steps with my palm pressed to the wall.

After only a few steps down, upon the blood smearing over it, the rock began to heat up and as soon as I took my hand away from it, the rock was pulverized into dust and the entrance to a small cave took its place.

'Really?'

It was like one of those easy puzzle games and I was surprised it worked but I went inside the cave cautiously anyway. I could see a bright white light, illuminating some of the cave inside and found it difficult to look directly at it.

However, as soon as I stepped inside, I heard a click and two braziers at the ends of the cave lit up, illuminating the whole room.

The cave walls were smooth, created artificially using Earth Magic and the only thing in the room was the Combat Manual which emitted a brilliant white light as it was placed on a stone pedestal with a piece of parchment behind it.

I knelt in front of it and placed my hand on the cover.

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Ishikawa Bow Art (★★★★★) (Original)

The teachings of a clan feared all through the land for their deadly precision with a bow and arrow. Utilizes unusual techniques to allow for accurate shots to be fired even while moving with the assistance of wind magic.

Compatibility: Wind.

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A combat manual with untold amounts of blood on its hands, but a manual was just a tool, one Katz used to slaughter hundreds of people. It would be better in my hands simply because I prevented him from getting it, but was that the best choice?

If I opened the Manual, I would become one of the 10 people in this world to wield one, but I always had the choice to hand it to another hero, greatly bolstering their strength and most likely get enough money to live the rest of my time on this world peacefully.

Picking up the thick manual, I realized that I couldn't do that. I trusted no one but the main cast to not be corrupted by this power and none of them utilized a bow and I also had a far more selfish reason.

'I want to be stronger.'

Not just to protect myself and my life here but also simply for the thrill that came with becoming stronger.

I attempted to suppress it but when I felt the mana course through my body, I felt a rush I had not felt in a long time. A feeling almost worth staying alive for and that coupled with my fear of returning to the void, I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time.

A desire to live.

Thinking so, I abandoned all doubt and opened the first page of the manual and as I did the manual began floating as it flipped through the thousands of pages before dissipating into green mana particles which then shot directly at my forehead.

For a few moments there was silence.

"Argh!"

I clutched my head in pain as it felt like my head was being split open and it became difficult to think, I felt a liquid trickling down from my eyes and soon the unbearable pain caused me to black out.