Long-Range Combat Evaluation
The evaluation of long-range combat capability. When one breaks through their own limits or achieves a feat worthy of the Goddess’s recognition, their Rank rises. In the world at large, this is called “Promotion.” Those who have been promoted see their base stats improve—better stamina, higher-quality mana, and so on. Depending on their talent, they may even awaken new mysteries such as skills or spells.
The process used to verify that change is the “Promotion Test.” To be honest, it’s less of a test and more of a simple confirmation and registration procedure for the new abilities gained after promotion. All you have to do is show the examiner the skill or spell you obtained after ranking up. A quick, straightforward check.
But then—
“Right! Before we begin the promotion test for our new adventurer, Yuri, we will first conduct a combat capability evaluation for her familiar, Raven!”
“...?”
Why the hell are they suddenly evaluating me?
“Tamers, riders, summoners, spirit mages, demon contractors—anyone who travels with a familiar has their evaluation based on both their own abilities and those of their familiar!”
That was the reason I, too, had to take this so-called combat capability evaluation test.
Now that I think about it, this might not be such a bad thing.
When I was inside the dungeon, I had to stay focused on protecting my contractor, so I never really got to stretch my legs properly. Thanks to Kkachi coming out later, I was able to move around a bit more freely. If not for that, I probably would have stuck to my contractor’s side like a babysitter until the exploration was over.
Because my contractor is as important to me as my own life. That’s not an exaggeration.
Think about it. The one who summoned me to this place was my contractor. If—though it must never happen—my contractor were to lose their life, what would become of me?
Even if the contract were broken, would I be able to remain in this world?
The fear of that possibility had kept me up last night. I had secretly called out my senior demon, Regina Gura, and asked her quietly: What happens to a demon if their contractor dies?
“If the contractor dies… I’ve never once considered that possibility before. My own contractor is a rather special existence. That is why we can remain together forever. But for those of our kind who form bonds with mortals… the moment a mortal’s life ends, the contract is broken, and we are sent back to the Demon Realm.”
The Demon Realm. A world that exists on the other side of reality—vague, mysterious, the birthplace of demons said to have risen from the Goddess’s darkness, her shadow, and her emotions.
But that is not my home. Because I am not a demon.
Then where would I go?
Terraforming. A hell filled with pain and despair, where the mad and the already-dead scream and rampage twenty-four hours a day just to survive or to keep from losing their minds.
Yes. I would probably be sent back to that place I came from.
Therefore, no matter what, I must protect my contractor.
I still have so many things I want to do together with them in this lovely world.
Which means…
I need to get my act together a little more.
It was time to oil up this body that had grown stiff from too much peace.
The familiar combat capability evaluation consisted of three stages in total.
“The first stage is the long-range combat capability evaluation! If you have no long-range attack methods or do not wish to reveal them, please say so! Oh, and if you need a bow, crossbow, or throwing daggers, just tell me! I will lend them to you right away!”
Following Regina Gura’s explanation, I moved to the firing range and took my position.
“Ugh… Raven-nim! Do your best…”
“Crow! Don’t do anything crazy like you did in the dungeon, nyang!”
From behind the protective barrier came my contractor’s half-hearted cheer and Sion’s scolding. Sion seemed anxious that I might lose control of my power. Don’t worry too much. I have zero desire to be thrown into the underground prison for property damage. I’ll take it easy.
“The targets are placed at 20 meters, 50 meters, and 100 meters respectively. There is no need to force yourself to hit the farthest ones! Just do what you can!”
I could see thick logs firmly anchored into the ground. Their blackened surfaces suggested they had been deliberately scorched to prevent them from breaking too easily. Or maybe they had simply been burned by fire magic before.
So.
“Exactly what am I supposed to do?”
“Just pour every long-range attack you can into the targets until I tell you to stop! But please do it a little slowly! If it’s too fast, it’s hard for us to record everything!”
Regina Gura said this while glancing toward the protective wall. Following her gaze, I saw three people who appeared to be record keepers.
“Hehe…”
“Slowly! As slowly as possible! We’re begging you, Demon-nim!”
—Bow.
A woman scratching the back of her head awkwardly, a polite young man with a loud voice, and finally a cold-looking woman who silently bowed her head.
Four people—just to evaluate me. One demon and three humans. And if I included the dozens of eyes watching me from the upper floors of the U-shaped building surrounding the area…
Hmm. This is kind of embarrassing.
I was a little nervous too. I gave the record keepers a light wave, hoping they would look favorably on me, then turned toward the targets.
“When should I start?”
“Anytime is fine!”
So I nodded, reached into my coat, and pulled out my weapon.
—Shhhk!
“Eeeeeh!?”
“…What is that?”
“A wand…?”
Amidst a chorus of colorful screams and gasps, a long, black barrel slowly emerged.
—Click.
For safety, I lowered the muzzle, pulled back the hammer, and swung out the cylinder. Then—
“Filling.”
[Please input the fear to be injected.]
[???]
[Please input the injection volume.]
[0]
[MP: 29,425,214]
The system UI that appeared after I spoke the activation word was slightly different from usual. There was now an additional window allowing me to select the type of fear.
…That’s right. The Injector wasn’t just a weapon whose sound and explosive power changed based on the amount of mana poured into it. It was a stylish weapon whose bullet properties changed depending on the kind of fear it was charged with!
Attribute bullets? This really is a fantasy world.
After fiddling with the Injector last night and running some experiments, I discovered that this UI only appeared when the passive skill Fear Collector was active. The usage was simple.
“Open.”
[Displaying collected fears list.]
[Fears collected so far (4 types)]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1. ‘Phonophobia’: Fear of sudden or loud sounds.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2. ‘Ekrixiphobia’: Fear of explosions or explosive sounds.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3. ‘Aichmophobia’: Fear of sharp or pointed objects.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4. ‘Agliophobia’: Fear of pain or physical suffering.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The names humans had given to fear. All I had to do was recite them. Of course, only from the ones I had collected.
The two at the bottom were ones I had accidentally obtained yesterday while experimenting. It had been a truly enlightening experience to realize I could even collect fear from myself.
【“Ekrixiphobia.”】
‘Mana. 10.’
[Charging]
— ‘Ekrixiphobia (Fear of explosions or explosive sounds)’
[‘Ekrixiphobia’]
[10]
[MP: 29,425,204]
Once the fear was injected, a black bullet formed inside the empty cylinder. After confirming it, I snapped my wrist and closed the cylinder.
—Clack.
There were currently six rounds loaded. Since firing a 1,000-mana bullet might earn me a smack on the back of the head from Sion, I rotated the cylinder so that the 10-mana bullet would fire first. Then I naturally extended my arm.
The target and the barrel aligned. My gaze locked on. At some point my breathing had stopped naturally. Since my heart didn’t beat, my outstretched arm remained perfectly steady without the slightest tremor.
But—
—Whiiiiiiir.
Why is it so quiet…?
Just moments ago the upper floors had been noisy with people shouting. Now the entire area had fallen silent. I rolled my eyes beneath the mask and looked around. Every single person had stopped what they were doing and was staring at me.
Even the adventurers who had been taking their promotion tests and the record keepers had set down their weapons and pens, their eyes fixed on me.
This is uncomfortable.
Have you people never seen a crow-headed demon holding a revolver before?
Focus.
I shook the tension from my beak and narrowed my field of vision. Then, staring at the target, I pulled the trigger.
—Click!
I pulled the trigger…
—Click. Click!
“...?”
The trigger wouldn’t budge. What? Is it malfunctioning?
[No valid injection target exists.]