Chapter 25: Futile

Neil had done many things but he couldn’t do what those Phantoms were doing.

He even tried shouting it out, but aside from embarrassment, it brought out nothing.

It felt that something about him was not complete yet, as if he needed something more to become a true Phantom.

“But I can still use Aquamorph…”

Neil first patted the heads of the two Vultures and commanded:

“Go around and check any creatures walking around alone or in groups, and return without letting them notice you.”

KRIIIIEEEEE!

The two creatures let out loud screeching noises before flying up and disappearing from sight quickly.

Then he called the guardian out to handle things if something were to go wrong, like him going berserk or something.

[Aquamorph Activated!]

Neil closed his eyes and stood motionless, focusing all his attention on the flow of blood and the beating of his heart.

THUMP THUMP

With his skill, he could manipulate the flow of fluids as well. Although it was extremely risky, he had the privilege to keep trying, the price for it being pain.

After sensing the blood flowing through his veins, Neil raised his brow in surprise.

His blood had really changed. It was now pitch black and was moving quite fast.

Hoo…

Releasing a long breath, he finally began.

The blood flow slowed down at first and then increased rapidly, as he tried to imitate the pattern he had seen the Phantom follow.

COUGH

Extreme pain shot through all his veins and heart as he coughed out blood.

His body was shaking badly, and his heart seemed to be on the verge of collapsing.

But he persevered, as all the residents of his domain watched from a distance in nervousness.

“W- Will our lord be okay? What is he doing? He looks in so much pain.” Fay muttered, shivering just as much as him.

“…Yeah, I am sure the lord will be fine and come out stronger.” Ray consoled his sister, though he was just as nervous.

The three dwarves also looked quite startled. They were just chatting and relaxing when they suddenly noticed their lord acting strangely.

He was definitely doing something very dangerous.

Unaware of their thoughts, Neil continued to try, controlling the flow of his blood.

Veins bulged all over his skin, pulsing and trembling, almost looking like thin snakes moving across his body.

The sight of him was quite strange.

“Is our lord really a human? Or is this some skill?” Bob wondered. He felt a chill. Thankfully, the guardian was standing before them for protection.

“Ughh, cough.”

Finally, he could no longer hold on. Several veins burst, and his heart stopped beating.

All of a sudden, the world became dark as he heard the panicked voices of his subjects.

’Ah, so I failed. Sigh, as expected.’

[You Died.]

[Analyzer Activated.]

[Would you like to restart / continue?]

[Start Again / Give Up / Continue?]

Not wanting to waste any time, Neil chose…

’Restart’

…

KRIIIIEEEEE!

The two Vultures shot into the sky as they disappeared to follow their orders. Thankfully, the skill worked as he expected.

Though he still knew little about the Analyzer, he could see some patterns now, at least about the checkpoints.

“Anyway, let’s try again.”

[Aquamorph Activated!]

Within seconds, black veins bulged over his milky skin, and his heart started to beat rapidly.

Controlling his blood was a bit easier this time. Soon, a burning sensation spread through all his veins, blood flowing out of his nose and mouth.

“W- Will our lord be okay? What is he doing? He looks in so much pain.” Fay muttered like before and got consoled by her brother.

…

[You Died.]

…

[You Died.]

…

[You Died.]

…

After exactly sixteen attempts, he gave up. Even though he was a bit used to pain and death now, he couldn’t make his body go through the same torture again and again.

’Restart.’

KRIIIIEEEEE!

He no longer tried it. Neil had hoped to increase his strength as much as possible before leaving, but his plan failed.

“Sigh, what benefit is there even in being a Phantom then?”

Shaking his head in disappointment, he again scanned the surroundings and sensed one domain some distance away.

He waited for a few minutes, and soon the two Vultures returned from different directions, one after another.

Neil couldn’t understand their language, but he understood exactly what they wanted to tell him. It was yet another perk of being their lord.

“So you came across three groups and two lone figures.”

The Vultures were truly excellent at scouting. They even gauged the ranks of those Lizzard men.

Two of the groups had at least one person in 2nd Origin, so he couldn’t mess with them yet.

While the remaining group was made of four 1st Origin ranked Lizzard men, and Neil was completely confident in taking them on.

And the two lone guys were also out of his league currently.

“Alright, then it’s time to go hunt that group.”

There were three reasons behind abruptly deciding to go on a hunt at this moment, a couple of hours before the deadline.

Firstly, he wanted to kill the Lizzard men with his own hands and make sure that he didn’t hesitate later on, messing up an important moment.

He had only killed mindless beasts or Phaged so far.

Secondly, he hoped to get some sort of resources from them, though Neil kept his expectations low for this one.

And lastly, and most importantly, he needed to steal at least one of the bracelets of the Lizzard men.

All races on this planet wore such bracelets, or used them as different accessories. Aside from the battlesuit, it had lots of other features.

Many of which had helped Neil before. Spatial storage, oxygen supply, some level of defense, drones, and more.

But he needed to get information from inside the ship. Nemo would steal as much data as possible.

“Only by this can we know the exact location of the orb I need to destroy, and several other things.”

Taking a long breath, he got ready for the hunt.

Bringing the two Vultures and Magnar along, Neil headed out.

One of the Vultures led them toward the location of the group, while Magnar gave him a ride to reach there faster.

It took him a bit over ten minutes to finally get into close proximity with the group of four Lizzard men.

Magnar had already returned to its smaller size. After all, they couldn’t allow the prey to get alerted.

The Vultures were high in the sky while Neil climbed onto a tree, the group nearly a hundred meters away from him.

Focusing, he first tried to sense their strength. It wasn’t easy, but Neil could make out their classes just fine.

’All four in the Silver rank. Not bad.’

After making sure no one else was around, he pulled the bow out of his storage.

Holding the heavy black bow, he took his posture and pulled the string. The force and energy he used weren’t too high.

The string was so tight that Neil would need to get stronger to draw out its complete potential.

In the next instant, an arrow made of wind appeared, attached to the string.

The group of four seemed to be searching for something among the high grass, so they weren’t facing each other.

Locking onto one of the Lizzard men, Neil let go of the string.

WHOOSH

The wind arrow moved swiftly without producing any sound, rotating at high speed.

Almost instantly, the arrow reached the unsuspecting man, and then…

It pierced through his head, coming out from the back, cleanly puncturing the skull and spraying blood.

The arrow disappeared as blood burst out.

[You have killed a 1st Origin Silver Class Lizzard man.]

Darkness swallowed his sight as the man collapsed into the grass, eyes still wide open in shock.

’Oh, I hadn’t even used half my strength. This bow is good.’

Without wasting a moment, Neil pulled the string again, and this time he manifested a water arrow.

The bow absorbed more energy as the water arrow appeared, looking rather plain.

WHOOSH

The arrow flew quickly toward the second target. Neil didn’t even need to focus much, as it automatically homed in on the target.

In the next instant, it hit the back of the head of another Lizzard man who was squatting down to pick something up.

The water arrow struck his skull, but after a moment, it simply fell down, wetting his armor.

’Huh? Did I use too little force?’ Neil wondered, realizing he could no longer remain hidden.

But then, the Lizzard man fell face first, his eyeballs bursting in a bloody mess.

[You have killed a 1st Origin Silver Class Lizzard man.]

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