Fog Fang.
The skill Seto had newly acquired was enough to leave Rei confused.
If it had been a skill called Fog, Seto had already acquired that one. After all, it had leveled up when he swallowed a Normal Species Smog Panther's magic stone.
Considering that the skill was acquired from what appeared to be a High-ranking Species or Rare Species of Smog Panther, it made sense that the skill was Fog Fang rather than Fog. But even so, his bewilderment was only natural.
Though slightly thrown by the skill, if he thought back to the Commander Individual's abilities, he could easily imagine what kind of effect it had.
Probably... no, definitely. It materialized the fog into fanged mouths and claws to attack — that's what it was, right? If so, is it safe to say it's a fairly practical skill?
In Rei's case, he had eventually learned to vaguely sense the moment the fog materialized, which was why it hadn't been very effective against him. But that was only possible because he was Rei. An ordinary, run-of-the-mill adventurer would have been torn apart by the fog's fangs and claws without being able to do a thing.
Such was the power of that formidable skill.
However, how much power did it actually have at Level 1, fresh off acquisition? Curious about this, Rei called out to Seto to test it.
"Seto, try using Fog Fang."
"Gruu... Gurururururu!"
Responding to Rei's words, Seto activated the skill.
However... there was no sign that anything had happened around them.
"...Gruu?"
Seto, who had activated the skill brimming with confidence, tilted his head in puzzlement at the fact that it hadn't triggered at all. Since even Seto, who had used the skill, didn't understand what had happened, Rei naturally had no idea either.
"Seto?"
"Gruu..."
At Rei's call, Seto purred apologetically.
Watching him, Rei asked to confirm, albeit tentatively.
"Is Fog Fang not activating?"
"Gruu."
Seto purred in affirmation — that was exactly right.
Seeing Seto's reaction, Rei also found himself wondering. Until now, there had never been a case where a skill was attempted but failed to activate. For Fog Fang to not trigger at all, something was clearly wrong. There had to be a definitive reason for it...
"Ah."
The realization slipped from Rei's mouth before he could stop it.
"Gruu?"
Seto purred, as if asking what was wrong. He wondered if perhaps Rei had figured out why Fog Fang couldn't be used.
And indeed, Seto's guess was spot on.
"Maybe Fog Fang, just as the name suggests, is a skill that can't be used without fog? In other words, it only works when you use your Fog skill. Or maybe it doesn't have to be the Fog skill specifically — maybe you just can't use it unless there's fog from a natural phenomenon or something."
"Gururu!?"
Seto let out a startled cry.
The sound drew Nielson's attention — she had been flying some distance away, delighted by the rare flowers — but judging that nothing was wrong, she returned to admiring the blooms.
Whether Rei noticed her reaction or not was unclear. Regardless, he continued speaking to Seto.
"It's a bit different, but you know how there's Fire Whirlwind, the one you and I use together? That's not something you can pull off with a single skill or spell. Seto's Tornado, Death Scythe's Wind Hand, and my magic — it's the combination of all three that finally creates Fire Whirlwind. So maybe Fog Fang works the same way..."
At Rei's explanation, Seto thought for a moment... and eventually showed a sign of understanding.
For Seto, hearing those words from Rei's mouth must have been nothing short of astonishing. But now that he was hearing the explanation laid out like this, there were points he could readily accept.
"Gurururu, gururu, gurururururu!"
Seto purred with unmistakable enthusiasm.
If what Rei said was true, then using the skill would involve a fundamentally different method from normal skill activation. If so, it was absolutely worth testing Fog Fang properly here and now.
"Yeah. I definitely think we should... but if that's the case, it also puts us in a bit of a bind."
Seeing Seto's eagerness, Rei glanced over at Nielson, who was still enjoying the rare flowers she had spotted some distance away, and spoke with a troubled expression.
Testing Fog Fang was one thing. But how was he supposed to explain it to Nielson?
If Seto suddenly generated fog in this situation, she would naturally get suspicious. To avoid that, he needed some kind of excuse...
"Ah... ahh... it's a bit hot out. Seto, could you put out some fog or something?"
What came out of Rei's mouth was delivered in an almost painfully flat monotone.
Anyone who knew Rei even a little would immediately recognize that what he'd just said was patently absurd. His Dragon Robe had a built-in simplified air conditioner. Wearing it meant he would rarely, if ever, feel uncomfortably hot or cold.
Even so, that was the only excuse that came to mind to justify having Seto use the Fog skill on the spot.
After actually saying it, Rei couldn't help but think that he could have simply asked Seto to use the Fog skill without any pretext at all — but he set that thought aside for now. He must have figured that whatever he said in this situation would lack persuasiveness anyway.
"So with that settled, go ahead, Seto."
Hearing Rei's request, Seto activated the skill without hesitation.
"Gurururururu!"
Fog materialized around them.
However, perhaps because Seto also understood the current circumstances, the fog he produced was limited to the immediate vicinity of Rei and himself. At his current level, Seto could generate fog in a 600-meter radius centered on himself. But naturally, in this situation, there was no need to blanket such a wide area. He merely wanted to test whether Fog Fang could be activated in the presence of fog. Given that, this modest range was more than sufficient.
"All right, Seto. Try using Fog Fang. Your target is... that fallen log."
Rei pointed at a downed log lying right beside him.
Seto looked at it and activated Fog Fang.
"Gurururu!"
Let's hope this works.
The skill fired with that thought behind it — and as if giving form to Seto's intentions, a fanged mouth materialized from the fog and sank its teeth into the fallen log Rei had indicated.
Part of the reason was probably that the log, having lain by the river, had already begun to rot... but the fog's fangs effortlessly shattered it to pieces.
"All right."
"Gruu!"
"Hey, wait — why are you suddenly producing fog?! Hey!"
"Whoa!"
"Gruu!?"
Rei and Seto were celebrating the successful activation of Fog Fang when Nielson's voice cut in right after, startling them both into cries of surprise. They hadn't expected Nielson to come over at this particular moment.
...Of course, from Nielson's perspective, fog had suddenly appeared in a section of the river — right where Rei and Seto were standing — so expecting her not to be concerned would have been unreasonable.
Thanks to having been some distance away, she apparently hadn't heard Rei's earlier, painfully contrived request for fog. Whether that was fortunate or unfortunate for Rei was an entirely separate question.
"Hey, wait. Rei? You can hear me, right?"
"Yeah, I hear you. Hold on a second. Seto, you can dismiss the fog now."
"Gurururu."
Seto purred at Rei's words, and in the next instant, the fog vanished completely, leaving a scene where it was hard to believe any fog had been there just seconds before.
With the fog gone, Nielson was naturally standing right there, and she fixed Rei with an openly dissatisfied expression.
"Hey, Rei. Why would you suddenly do something like this right now?"
"Why, you ask... just felt like it, I guess? If I had to give a reason, it was mostly experimental — testing Seto's Fog skill."
Rei said it so casually that Nielson cast him a distinctly suspicious glance. She couldn't bring herself to believe what he was saying. At the same time, though, there was no evidence that he was hiding anything or doing anything underhanded.
Eventually concluding that pressing the matter further would be pointless given Rei's demeanor, Nielson let out an exasperated sigh.
"So, how's the dissection coming along?"
"Huh? ...Whoa!"
At Nielson's words, Rei looked over at the Commander Individual's corpse submerged in the river — and saw that multiple fish had gathered around it. He shouted in alarm.
Naturally, those fish hadn't gathered there without reason. Since he had opened the corpse's innards in the river, the exposed meat was perfectly edible. As a result, several fish had swarmed around the Smog Panther Commander Individual's torso.
"Haah!"
Generating an arrowhead with the Eye of Nebula and hurling it, Rei sprinted toward the river.
Fortunately... truly fortunately, it seemed not much time had passed since the fish first began to gather. The Smog Panther Commander Individual's corpse had barely been torn apart yet.
The arrowhead Rei released struck the water surface, sending up a spray as if it had exploded. Judging the impact to be dangerous, the fish scattered away from the corpse.
Watching them go, Rei quickly waded to the river's edge and hauled up the Smog Panther Commander Individual's corpse that had been submerged there.
"Damn, this one's got guts."
A fish with fangs — Rei wasn't entirely sure whether it was a monster or not — was still clamped stubbornly onto the Smog Panther Commander Individual's corpse in his hands.
"For now... you're Seto's snack. Seto!"
"Gruu!"
Prying the fish off the corpse, Rei tossed it toward Seto. It wasn't grilled, nor had it been scaled or gutted — just a whole fish, as-is. It was about twenty centimeters long, a decent size for a river fish. But that was based on Rei's perception from Japan; here in Elgin, it would only be considered slightly on the larger side.
Seto swallowed the fish whole...
[Seto has acquired the skill "Sense of Smell Enhancement Lv.6"]
The familiar announcement message echoed through his mind.
"Huh...?"
"Gruu!?"
At that completely unexpected development, sounds of surprise slipped from both Rei and Seto.
Was it because it ate a monster's meat? he wondered — but even among ordinary, non-monster fish, there were carnivorous species. The most obvious example would be piranhas. Of course, Rei had never seen a real one. He'd only encountered them on TV or in books.
Regardless, if even ordinary fish had carnivorous varieties, it wouldn't be strange for there to be carnivorous fish lurking about in Elgin. It wouldn't be strange... but precisely because of that assumption, the fact that it actually turned out to be a monster caught Rei completely off guard.
Recovering his wits first, Rei drew Death Scythe and swung it at the fish still lingering in the river. The blade effortlessly sliced through the several remaining fish, but... no announcement message surfaced in Rei's mind.
That meant either the fish he had killed weren't monsters — unlike the one he'd fed Seto earlier — or simply that the fish's magic stone couldn't grant a skill.
Based on Rei's instincts, it was probably the latter. He didn't have hard evidence, but he had a lingering sense that the fish he killed had indeed been monsters.
Even without any firm conviction on the matter, the fish were already gone. Knowing only that, Rei regretted that killing them and having Death Scythe acquire a skill was now an impossibility.
"Rei, what on earth are you doing?"
Nielson was watching him with a thoroughly exasperated expression.
Naturally, she couldn't hear the Beast Magic announcement message. Which meant she had simply witnessed Rei abruptly swinging Death Scythe at the river for no apparent reason. Wondering what on earth he was doing was a perfectly natural reaction.
And Rei himself, reflecting on what he had just done, had no idea how to excuse it... so for the time being, he simply laughed it off.
[Seto]
"Water Ball Lv.5" | "Fire Breath Lv.5" | "Wind Arrow Lv.4" | "King's Intimidation Lv.4" | "Poison Claw Lv.7" | "Size Change Lv.2" | "Tornado Lv.4" | "Ice Arrow Lv.5" | "Optical Camouflage Lv.6" | "Magic Eye of Shock Lv.3" | "Power Crush Lv.6" | "Sense of Smell Enhancement Lv.6" new | "Bubble Breath Lv.3" | "Crystal Breath Lv.2" | "Earth Arrow Lv.2" | "Power Attack Lv.2" | "Magic Reflection Lv.1" | "Acid Breath Lv.2" | "Wing Blade Lv.3" | "Underground Dive Lv.1" | "Thunder Breath Lv.1" | "Fog Lv.2" | "Fog Fang Lv.1"
Sense of Smell Enhancement: The user's sense of smell becomes sharper.
Fog Fang: Only usable when the Fog skill is active or when natural fog is present. A portion of the fog materializes into a fanged mouth or a clawed foot, enabling the user to attack a target. At Level 1, only one fanged mouth or one clawed foot can be produced at a time.