Shatei Kyokufuri Yumi-Ojisan

er skills underwater.

“I’ll weaken the sunfish with this.”

And so I shot three harpoons at it.
They all struck the sunfish, and it stopped moving around.
It’s quite weak…this sunfish.

Then I just left the hook in its mouth and pulled it back to the surface.
And since I couldn’t drag it all the way to the shore, I deactivated Harpoon and then shot a Warp Arrow at the beach.

Like that, I could appear on the sand with my sunfish in the blink of an eye.
There was quite a stir around me, but I ignored them and went to the sage to make a report.

“I caught it.”

“Indeed! I can already tell that it is several meters long.
What a wonderful sunfish! You have passed the first trial!”

To be honest, it didn’t really feel like fishing.
But if he was satisfied, then that was fine.
Besides, it had still been hooked.

“Now, will you accept the second trial? Of course, it’s still early, and so it is not very difficult!”

“I’ll do it.”

If it’s an easy one, better to finish it off quickly.

◆　◆　◆

The second trial was ‘Turtle Jet.’
This was also a type of common mini game.

You rode on top of a big turtle and moved forward by shifting your center of gravity.
And if you gathered enough rings of light that floated above the water, you would clear the stage.
While it wasn’t particularly hard, it was all about getting the best time.

The sage’s requirement was that I complete Turtle Jet on normal difficulty in under a minute.
There were players who had already done it in 30 seconds.
So it should be easy… That’s what I thought.

“Woooaahh!?”

My feet slipped and I fell into the sea.
Just standing on top of the turtle was difficult…
The shell was so slippery, and Turtle Jet wasn’t about riding waves like a surfer.
A living turtle was using its flippers to propel itself forward like a jet ski.
And there was a lot of vibration…

Still, the other players seemed to be doing well, and having fun.
Turtle Jet…it really was something.

Ultimately, while I had started in the afternoon, I didn’t clear it until the evening.
The sunset beach looked quite romantic, but I was too exhausted to enjoy it at all.
Well, I did feel that I had improved.
And that was a good feeling.

“Now you have cleared the second trial! Well done! It will be getting dark soon.
So you should do the third trial on a different day.”

“But, what is…the next trial?”

“Hitting targets underwater.
You will be using the Zero form to shoot at targets that are set under the water.”

“Ah, in that case, I think that I can finish it now.”

This was a mini game where you tried to hit as many targets within a limited time, and rack up the highest score.
There were moving targets, vanishing targets, and targets that would deduct points if you hit them.

However, they were not nearly as fast as actual enemies you fought.
And so I just shot at them like I always did, and was able to get the necessary score with ease.

However, I also hit a few of the targets that I wasn’t supposed to.
I had developed a habit of just hitting everything that entered my vision.
It was the result of being in so many fights where letting your guard down for a second could result in your death, and so it couldn’t be helped.

“Now I’ve passed the third trial.”

“Aye…indeed.
I thought you were a clumsy man, but it seems that you are not.
Humans are rather mysterious, aren’t they? Well, that is all for today.”

The sea was starting to get dark.
There was something scary about the sea at night.
It looked like it would swallow you up, and you would never return.
I didn’t want to go into it either.

“From the 4th trial on, combat will always be involved.
So be ready.”

“I understand.”

And then the sage left.
I stared at the dark sea for a while.
Yes, it was frightful how it seemed to pull you in.
But there was also a beauty that made it hard to look away.

There were fires on the beach, and I could see people enjoying some night fishing.
As for me, I would log out and get some sleep…

“…Huh?”

Just as I was about to look away, I saw something like a red shooting star pass through the water.
Was it the reflection of a shooting star in the night sky?
No, it had been too bright a light for that.

“I-is there a monster in the sea…?”

It felt as if something was looking at me from the water, and so I quickly moved away from the beach.