Awakening to a Special-Grade Explorer
Vol. 5 - Ch. 233

It was momentarily happening; someone's silhouette had reflected in the periphery of the man.

The man could barely feel an aura from that human. Whatever that person may be, something was silently smouldering inside.

It was all veiled. Nothing that gives even a hint of the situation.

But it was all that made it strange. That human was so silent, almost like him.

"—Grf, cough!?"

It was the moment of twilight, the sky at another end had started to wear the orange hue.

The man spitted out some blood as his eyes greeted the sky and carrying the same momentum, he crashed onto the tree behind violently. He shouldn't have been feeling pain with his peculiar ability, yet why was he now?

The man's vision spun like a patient affected with anaemia, as the once familiar pain once again coursed through his body. That single attack must have been packed with quite a power, that was apparent enough.

Nevertheless, the man showed an exhilarating expression, seemingly enjoying the pain, and slowly got up to his feet—no, back to his turtle-like stance.

"Wow, it hurrrrt man. What the heck was that?"

He raised his head with great difficulty, the dizziness still continuing without an end, and glanced at the spot where he was a moment ago, spotting three shadows.

With his darkening vision, he couldn't make out their expression but a look of fury, distorted in Oni-like, was dyeing their face.

Ugh, my eyes. It's so wavering, damn, it's so hard to look around.

"Touka, Koro-chan. Save her at all cost."

"Yes, 3rd lord."

"Sure so."

Around then, the man's vision had also started to restore. And this time, he could clearly make out the appearance of a young man in a student designated uniform, his height a bit short of the average. Behind the young man was a woman—or that's what he could make out from silhouette—covered from head to toe in ultramarine and white theme clothes. Alongside, there was also a floating mass of flame, hovering in the air.

One man and one person stood there in the servitude of that student.

"What the heck, a student? Was it you just now who—"

The man was about to continue when he lost his words at the next scene.

"Kikai—<Toh>!"

Tohka, the newly appeared woman, gently supported struggling Karen and quietly laid her on the ground. Next she chanted an incomprehensible 'Toh' word, and in the same split second, the man's erosion ability that had been infesting Karen's wound also vanished.

It was his own ability after all, so it took no effort for the man to realise his power had been purified. Otherwise that erosion was supposed to wreak havoc inside Karen until her last breath. He had also made sure to plant it deep enough that virtually nothing should be able to heal her. It should have held true for even any prominent healer.

Just what in the world had that woman done? He was also feeling an aura unlike that of humans sharply from her.

But if she was capable of removing his ability from the root, then might have been somewhere around first-grade or even stronger. However she didn't like the usual professional, if anything......she resembled a monster.

"HAAA?! There's no way you heal that with just a freaking word?"

The man hollered, but his voice was subdued by the shout from that floating lump of fire—Koro-chan.

"Green Flame—<Ghost Lantern Solace>."

Koro-chan suddenly spewed out a flame breath.

The green flames swiftly covered Karen's wound, however it didn't burn her. The splattered blood flew back to its root, and regenerated the mission gouged out flesh, along with the skin. It was like instead someone had tapped on the rewind button.

The peculiar flames reminded of the very Phoenix.

"Exhale-Inhale, Exhale-Inhale......"

Soon, Karen's rough breathing stabilised. She had yet to regain her consciousness but at the very least, her life was no longer in danger.

"Phew, barely in time......Tohka, Koro-chan. Carry Tachibana-san to the sideline."

" "Understood." "

"I will deal with him."

Tenji patted his chest in relief when he confirmed that and then turned his attention toward that man. The man's body shivered like crazy when that sharp glint targeted him. He felt like a mouse being stared at by a snake, causing that man's pupil to shrink.

"W-What's with those eyes of yours?! This is not right, you shouldn't be supposed to come here."

"And why?"

"B-Because my, my......my dolls were supposed to be guarding the area. How, just how the HELL a student made it to here?! They had my—"

"Hmm...you mean this?"

Tenji's expression, which had been contorted in fury, appeared slightly fed up, or even a cold one to say the least. Nevertheless, he threw that thing he was holding on his left hand in front of that man.

—They were the heads of three dolls.

They're like dolls that had been arranged as a device to gather points in this final preliminary, except they bore a different colour. Their skins were black, and black flames like something were smouldering into their eyes. Someone had tinkered with them, it was obvious.

The heads rolled on the ground and stopped by that man's feet.

"What the hell, what the hell—"

The man ruffled his already messy hairs, shook his head as he slapped his hand against his forehead over and over.

"It's not adding up, just how can it be? I am sure I had made them so that not even a professional could take them down. I had even tested them. They're the professional explorer killers. They were incredible pieces already, so I just had to instil my power and make them go berserk. I had just encroached them. So how the hell...who the hell are you?"

The man's eyes trembled. His gaze was fixed solely on Tenji's terrifyingly angry face.

Perhaps it became a sort of trigger as Tenji's eyes suddenly widened, seemingly recalling something. It was the expression of someone who had just heard shocking information.

"Your speech and presence...... it's quite different from the person I know, but the height that doesn't match that physique, the leaf-coloured eyes, and the preference for inconspicuous black attire—I know only one explorer like that."

Tenji's anger had minutely abated. It was as if things had clicked to him, he tapped his hand with a fist and looked at the man with pitiable eyes.

At the same time, many doubts were bubbling inside him. After all—He was supposed to have died five years ago.

"Huh, what? What are you blabbering all of a sudden?"

"I am talking about you. When you were active, you didn't like to stand out and didn't have your hair spiked up like that. You used to speak more gently and were a kind explorer who cared about your comrades. You hated seeing blood and would rush to help your injured comrades first—you were supposed to be a kind person."

"Who the hell are you talking about?"

"Many explorers had tagged you as someone who barely had any presence, but as someone who had admired your brother, I couldn't be any more familiar with you—Hai Ukai. It's you I am talking about."

The man's pupils slightly widened, and his eyes wavered. His eyes darted here and there, showing confusion over Tenji's words.

A silence descended between the two for a while.

"W-Who......is Hai ......Ukai? I don't know that guy or whatsoever."

"What, did you lose your memories? No wait, you weren't supposed to be alive as well."

Hai Ukai—He was the little brother of Renji Ukai.

He had always been at the frontrunner team of the guild that Renji had established, but attributing to his plain persona, he barely had any fans. If Renji was a charming person like a red rose, then Hai was the personification of butterbur thriving, hidden beneath the snow. He also had awakened a first-grade calling, much like his brother, but his faint presence had barely made him popular.

The calling that Hai Ukai had awakened was—<The Man of Shadows>.

It was a rare calling even among other first-graders that grants the ability to manipulate uncertain and unstable elements 'Darkness.' As the explorer capable of manipulating such conceptual power, he had boasted an unrivalled strength as well. President Limey of Mallorca could also be categorised into such conceptual ability.

The Hai Ukai of the phantom era was someone who lurked in the darkness, using AoE attacks like waves of darkness to swallow enemies into it, or covering himself in darkness to completely silence his moves—it was an fit everywhere type of offensive ability, and had always been one of the member among the guild <Class> members. He was the core member of Japan's strongest guild.

While the cause hadn't been identified still, or maybe it was this 'Darkness' that had become a precursor, he caused the century's biggest incident and died—no, he was killed as a wanted man with a bounty on his head.

Hai Ukai was the criminal guilty of creating havoc in the Fujinomiya city five years ago.

One day out of nowhere, Hai quit the guild and was like a completely changed person, and started to participate in the underworld of the world as the black explorer engaging in smuggling and murders.

It happened after he had fallen.

Hai, having been cornered into Fujinomiya city by the association, activated the compensation at the death's door. As a matter of fact, the photo of the explorer that had turned into human meatball, due to the influence of compensation, was none other than of Hai Ukai.

—And in the wake, the whole region was swallowed by the tsunami of darkness. It caused the city to break down. The aftermath left the region in cursed state.

"Hai Ukai? What gibberish are you speaking? I am not him, because I am...I am......no, wait. WHo am I?"

A wave of confusion washed over that man—Hai Ukai, as he smacked his forehead between the eyebrows once again, and over and over. He was apparently thinking that might make him recall the details. Albeit, he was smacking so hard this time that his forehead had gotten a red swelling.

Then, like someone had clicked on a pause button, Hai stopped his movement.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter now. First, I will kill you...yeah. There's no need for eyesore like you, I just need to crush you thoroughly, cleanly. It was what they told me—wait, who told me? Argh, I just need to flatten you, I must turn you into a meat patty, It's my duty."

Tenji looked at Hai with pity in his eyes, seemingly having an idea about what brought such a drastic personality change.

This was the very definition of unbalanced phenomenon, seldomly, but surely, acquiring a calling that was far removed from the receiver's personally often pushed them into insanity.

He himself had been through the same, so Tenji could relate.

"A too strong of a calling can tip the scale of life into the wrong side. What actually killed the remarkable explorer called Hai Ukai was...... his own calling. But—how did the dead come back to life?"

"I'm a living person, alright. Do you have a button for eyes? Stop saying dead or dead. It's sad, it's sad, it's not fun."

The shadow at Hai's feet started bubbling up like boiling water. Then, with the blinding speed, the shadow covered the whole body of Hai and transformed into a jet-black full-plate armour.

Everything from head to toe was now hidden behind that armour, saving his green eyes, visible through the gaps in armour.

In his right hand, he held a dark weapon that had elongated sharply like a sword.

(Hai Ukai's ability is said to be either 'darkness' or 'shadow.' ...But again, his abilities were never discussed in detail, and Hai himself had no full picture about his abilities because it was too abstract. Either way, it would be a fool's errand to challenge him with an iron sword.)

It was his first time facing an abstract calling, so Tenji didn't waste any time summoning the Book of Enma.

"Summon—<Demon Executioner's Sword>."

He swiftly summoned the third-grade red demon weapon. It was a menacing sword with red and white mixed evenly.

Tenji calmly took a stance with the sword, and the flames of hell began to envelop it.

No one uttered the word but it signalled the beginning of their battle.

"Extend—<Dark Fang>."

"Blaze on—<Demon Executioner's Sword>."

Both acted at the same instant.

The Dark Fang rapidly extended, precisely aiming for Tenji's head.

In response, Tenji swung the Demon Executioner's Sword, cloaked in the flames of hell, completely deflecting it.

Claaaang!

An ear deafening sound reverberated within the whole area.

The collision between the powerful explorers generated an intense shockwave in its wake, dealing damage to the surroundings.

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