Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
"I don't think it's dangerous."
Yomi indeed responded. However, that was the only sentence she would say.
Since his bonded female spirit was saying so, Seiji felt that there was no need for him to worry too much about it.
"It doesn't seem like anything dangerous… Just pay attention to it by yourself. Let me know if you feel like anything changes about it," Seiji told Hoshi.
Hoshi nodded as he glanced at the green marking again.
The next instant, he felt as if he was in another dimension. He was now in a dark forest, standing on a large tree branch high in the air. He was shooting a sharp arrow at a dark shadow by using a dark-green longbow!
Notching the arrow, drawing the bowstring, aiming, and shooting… all these actions felt so concrete and even familiar to Hoshi.
Just as he was confused, this illusion suddenly vanished.
Hoshi felt that his right hand was burning. He could faintly sense something within this marking, and had a sudden epiphany.
He decided to try out this idea.
Hoshi summoned a spiritual eagle and had it stand on his right hand. This gave him a mystical sensation as if some power was about to burst forth from his hand. Simultaneously, a word he'd never heard before popped into his mind.
"Artadus…"
Hoshi reflexively knew that this wasn't a word from the language of Sakura Island.
He then saw the green marking begin to glow. The spiritual eagle then started glowing red, before it speedily transformed into mist which formed itself into a longbow!
"This is…" Hoshi widened his eyes in surprise.
Apart from the fact that this bow was a different color, the longbow… more accurately, this recurve bow was identical to the one Hoshi saw in the illusion just now! This bow had elegant curves and exquisite runs. It looked like a masterpiece of craftsmanship.
Seiji and the others were also rather surprised to suddenly see Hoshi's spiritual eagle transform into a weapon.
Before any of them got a chance to ask Hoshi what was going on, Hoshi held the bow with his left hand as if it was only natural. He then drew the bowstring with his right hand as the marking on his hand began to glow. A feathered arrow suddenly materialized on the bow from midair!
Hoshi drew the bow, aimed, and fired!
*Shtick!* The sharp arrow accurately pierced through a black wolf's head and directly transformed it into mist.
*Shtick shtick shtick shtick!* The beautiful boy used well-practiced movements to continuously shoot out arrows which each accurately hit their targets. Every single arrow killed a spiritual monster in a single shot. Hoshi soon eliminated all the small monsters in this area all by himself!
An elf archer!?
Seiji couldn't help but think of this famous fantasy job class when he saw this impactful scene of Hoshi shooting arrows.
Hoshi had such a beautiful appearance that it was difficult to tell his gender. He also had an exquisite longbow, elegant movements, and pinpoint accuracy with his arrow shots… What else could this be other than an elf archer!? Hoshi was only missing a pair of long pointy ears!
"Hoshi, how…"
"I don't know… I suddenly felt that I possessed such a power." Hoshi looked at the marking on his right hand. "I think that this marking gave me this power."
The mysterious marking gave Hoshi the ability to use archery and the elf archer job class?
Seiji thought about the teaching that he received from Minamoto no Raiko which helped him to learn a new technique. Was Hoshi's situation similar to his own…?
Could this marking be what the "Cliff Squad" wanted to fight for and obtain at all costs? Seiji suddenly came to this realization.
If that was the case, this meant that the green spell array on Hoshi's hand was incredibly valuable! It likely had great power or potential.
Did Hoshi pick up a great treasure by chance?
"Do you feel any negative side effects from using this newfound power of yours?"
"Not at all… my right hand isn't even burning up anymore."
"If it doesn't have any negative side effects, then go ahead and use it as much as you want." Seiji glanced at the longbow. "Congratulations on job class changing to elf archer."
"Eh?" Hoshi paused in surprise.
"This humble one agrees!" Hisashi commented. "As long as our Knight of Light changes his clothes and puts on a fake set of pointy ears, he'll become a perfect and alluring elf archer!"
"You'll be quite beautiful, Amami-san." Mika also praised Hoshi.
Hoshi had a rather subtle expression after hearing this.
'Indeed, you're quite beautiful, rather than handsome and cool.' Seiji couldn't help but add that in his mind.
Still, he felt that Hoshi becoming an elf archer was much easier for him to accept than a magical girl.
Hoshi's new archery abilities had great attack power. Every single small monster could be dealt with by a single arrow. Hoshi's arrows also had good DPS against boss monsters. However, there was a slight cost that it would drain his energy.
Hoshi could replenish his energy by absorbing mist through the spell array on his right hand. His spiritual eagles could also absorb mist and replenish his energy, but that was less effective.
Seiji inferred that Hoshi would level up his archery abilities quicker if he absorbed mist with the marking on his hand.
"If you want to level up your elven bow at a quicker rate, try absorbing more mist with the spell array on your hand. If you want to level up your summoned creatures faster, have your spiritual eagles absorb more mist… that's my best guess."
"Which should I pick?"
"Choose for yourself. These are all your abilities."
After some consideration, Hoshi decided to focus more on absorbing mist with the marking to level up his new spiritual bow weapon.
Everyone progressed down the direction that Seiji's locator spell pointed them in, killing monsters along the way.
They walked down a particularly long staircase and arrived at an incredibly wide area. At the end of this area was a giant stone door which had a large circle carved into it.
Everyone was rendered speechless by the sight.
"I have an ominous premonition," Seiji muttered in a low voice.
"I have one as well," Mika commented.
"The same goes for this humble one." Hisashi adjusted his eyeglasses.
Hoshi didn't get a chance to comment, because there was a sudden loud sound that came from behind.
Everyone turned around to see that the staircase they just arrived from was now blocked off by a stone wall!
And then, large amounts of black mist poured out from everywhere, speedily forming into a pack of wolves… no, humanoid figures!
All the enemy spiritual monsters were humanoid this time! They resembled armored warriors. They wielded shields and swords, spears, greatswords, bows and arrows, battle hammers, war axes, and so on…
What was with this sudden change of style!!
Although there was previously a humanoid boss monster in the Forest Palace, that was the only one! What was up with so many humanoid monsters suddenly appearing here!?
However, there was no time for everyone to be astonished. Their path of retreat was cut off, so they could only battle.
Seiji instantly cast his [Turtle Armor] barrier spell. This successfully blocked the enemy monsters' long-ranged attacks!
Hisashi threw out the largest Thunderboom spell in his arsenal! Mika attacked with her spiritual gun and black bands! Hoshi shot arrows as fast as he could!
Although this killed a few monsters, there were simply far too many of them. It was quite imposing how many of them were marching in unison towards Seiji and his friends.
In such dire circumstances, Seiji recalled the [Spirit Form Summoning Cards] that he received as a reward from the light novel award ceremony incident… This seemed like an excellent time to use this option!
He immediately opened up his system and used the armored knight card.
Spirit Summoning, [Royal Knight Squadron]!
Numerous spiritual knights that wore full body armor appeared. They were riding tall warhorses, and equipped with spears, swords, and shields.
Mika and the others were rather shocked to see so many powerful appearing knights suddenly materializing right in front of them.
"Don't panic! I summoned these knights," Seiji told them.
He then gave these knights a command: attack the enemy army!
*Kching!* The knight squadron readied their spears in unison and charged at the enemy knights!
At this moment, Seiji and the others felt a truly heroic aura emanating from these knights. It was as if they were watching a real battlefield.
Sounds of clashing began as the knight squadron rushed into the tremendous number of enemies and began a fierce battle!
"We're going to join them!"
Seiji maintained his [Turtle Armor] barrier as he led the others in charging towards the enemy group!
Many enemy monsters were slain. They all transformed into mist, some of which was absorbed by Mika, Hisashi, and Hoshi. Another part of the mist floated towards the stone door, creating black runes on the circle there which gradually formed into a spell formation.