Skydancer Exams (14)

It was a cloudy day and two men fought side by side in a scorching desert.

"Hyena, finish it!"

Hugo yelled and punched the camel-like monster towards Hyena.

"On it!"

Hyena stopped the monster flying towards him with a palm and used his other hand to finish it.

"Team Hyena and Hugo have earned 85 points for killing a D-rank monster!"

The familiar mechanical voice sounded in their ears again and left a tingling sensation near it. Hugo walked to where Hyena was standing and sent out his palm for a high five.

Pa!

Hyena also sent out his hand, making the high five complete.

During the hour or two they spent in the virtual space, they pretty much figured out the point allocation of the monsters and so they could pick their targets properly.

F-Rank monster- 15 points

E-Rank monster- 50 points

D-Rank monster-85 points

C-Rank monster- 150 points

B-Rank monster- 300 points

A-Rank monster- 1000 points

S-Rank monster- ?

SS-Rank monster- ???

The ranks of the monsters were very easy to make out by their appearance, well, easy to make out if one didn't count the cool-looking monsters that turned out to be weaker than they looked.

Hyena and Hugo had killed every monster from F to A, at least one of each, the only type of monsters they hadn't killed were the S and SS rated monsters.

"Hmph, piece of trash that looked cool!"

Hugo stared at the pieces of the monster on the ground and spat on the floor disdainfully.

Hyena looked apathetically at Hugo's actions and did the same thing.

"Say, Hugo how many monsters have we killed?"

"I dunno, lost count after the thousandth."

Hyena looked at Hugo speechlessly and shrugged it off.

Ungh Ungh!

"Hmm?"

Hugo looked in the air towards the series of grunts coming from that direction.

"Hehe, Hugo, it's your turn to kill, and it seems like a multi-kill!"

Hyena grinned readying his fists for pummeling.

"Don't worry, I'll give you one of my kills, Hyena!"

Hugo yelled back and flexed his biceps a bit. The grunts became closer with each passing moment and Hugo felt his blood heating up.

'These next opponents, they seem strong!'

Hugo jumped up and down like boxers would do when fighting, ever since he entered this virtual space, this thing within him that lay dormant most of the time, suddenly awoke and actively asked for usage.

'Please, lend me your strength and let us beat the next opponents!'

Hugo said to the power in his soul and felt the power and his heart throb in response, to Hugo, they almost seemed to be saying.

'It is not MY strength, it is ours. What's yours is mine, and what's mine is yours, we will defeat this foe not as separate entities feeding off of each other, but as one!'

Hugo felt something he'd never felt before. The power which he always unconsciously repelled was now reaching out to embrace and join with him.

"I-I-I'm... whole again!"

Hugo embraced the power and activated his most useful skill.

"Black Matter Conjuring: Jet Black Wings!"

The wing that appeared on his back this time around was unlike the wings that have ever appeared before.

The previous wings were feathery and were a jet black colour, just like the name. But these wings... they were leathery and scaly, with feathers lining them. The wings were also black like the name, but the most striking difference was the six pair of wings stretching out from his back.

'Did he become stronger?' Hyena wondered, looking at Hugo's transformation with eyes filled with awe.

Hugo flapped his wings once and shot into the air.

The wind force generated from that single flap alone was enough to raze an entire mountain to the ground.

"I wonder, have I broken my limits?"

Hugo's voice seemed strangely ethereal and sounded out, everywhere around Hugo.

The monsters that were closely approaching felt the massive aura up ahead and grunted loudly again. Their grunts might have seemed useless, but Hyena an observer and animal expert realized what they were doing.

"Hugo, run they're calling for back up!"

Hugo glanced down, but that small movement almost cost him his life.

UNGH!

The loudest grunt yet came up from behind Hugo and an ugly being stood, staring at this disgusting piece of food in front of it. The vulture was towering at over six feet tall and had a wingspan of 10 feet. Its feathers were a motley grey colour and had amassed a lot of bloodstains and dirt obtained from fighting often.

UNGH!

The grunts became louder, and the vulture rushed towards Hugo to ram him towards the ground. Hugo, however, would not be caught off guard a second time.

"Hmph, die beast!"

He flew up and dodged the impromptu attack. While the vulture monster was dazed, he kicked his leg down in an axe kick aiming for the vulture monster's head.

The kick hit the monster's head, but its skull was thicker than he expected, so the desired effect of giving the monster a concussion could not happen.

Seeing that his plan didn't work, Hugo flapped his wings and flew backwards, but the bird wasn't so intent on letting him leave.

UNGH!

It grunted and flew towards Hugo seeming to say;

"Nowhere to run or hide in the sky!"

From there on, it was a game of cat and mouse. The vulture grunted loudly and flapped his wings.

"Monster skill- Razor Feathers"

Several feathers fell off the vulture's wings and flew towards Hugo.

In a moment of carelessness, one feather had already hit him, and though not very painful, they still stung and were very sharp.

'These aren't normal feathers!'

Hugo tried his best to dodge the oncoming feathers but obviously could not dodge them all, some feathers hit him here and there., leaving him with bloodstains all over his body.

Hugo endured the onslaught of the feathers for a while and noticed that the vulture was running out of feathers to use, so using this skill again would no longer be an option.

"Hmph, measly beast, it's my turn now!"

"Black Matter Conjuring: Shiloh!"