Ch. 140

This way, huh.

Arrows came lazily, almost as if to lure me in. Shoot and retreat, shoot and retreat—a pathetic tactic.

With Rai, my main defense, sent with Ash, and Ador, my offense, also dispatched as a lookout, my overall combat power had dropped. But with both Undaine and Undine by my side, arrows were no trouble to block.

The watery barrier surrounding me wasn’t rigid but elastic, capable of stopping even a strong sword thrust.

The advantage of this shield was that it blocked the front while still allowing me to see clearly.

I strolled toward the trap they’d dug. Passing between two tall buildings that stood like twins—only six stories, but tall for this area—I could sense without looking up that someone was watching me from the top.

Continuing on, I entered the open square and quickly noticed how cleverly the terrain was blocked off on all sides.

A glance showed hasty work covering any gaps that could have been escape routes.

“Worked hard using that brain of yours, huh.”

Was I supposed to wait here until they appeared? Playing along with idiots was exhausting.

I walked to the dead center of the clearing, the most obvious target for an attack.

How long had I stood there, openly inviting them? From the top of one of those six-story buildings, a loud voice finally rang out.

I turned and looked up into the sunlight, squinting, shading my eyes with my hand. There was Grak, barely visible, holding a loudspeaker.

“I’ve been waiting for you, wench!”

Was that supposed to be a warm greeting? Still missing those ears, I see… Well, ears don’t grow back. And was he always bald? Without a nose, he looked even uglier.

“You!”

“It’s too late to be afraid! This is what happens to anyone who—”

“Am I that scary to you?!”

“…Scary? Who says—”

“Then why keep running?!”

Even from here, I could tell he was at a loss for words, which meant my theory was probably right.

He’d invaded the inn while I was out to kidnap Annie, and even after I came here, instead of confronting me, he laid a trap.

That bastard was afraid of facing me.

He wanted revenge, but after what had happened, fear was instinctive… If he wanted to live long, he should’ve listened to his instincts.

“Running? Don’t be absurd! Filthy enemy! I won’t let you leave alive! Regret will be pointless!”

“Then come down here! My neck’s getting sore, you idiot!”

“…If you thought I’d forget that day’s grudge, you’re mistaken!”

“I said get down here!”

“Don’t think I don’t know you disrupted my business! I’ll round up all the slaves you freed, torture them, and make you the same! I’ll cut out your tongue and sell it!”

Ugh, so much talking.

I told him to come down, and he pretended not to hear.

“I’ll kill you and prove the gods are on my side!”

“Hey, shouting from that far away isn’t scary at all.”

“Then how about this!”

From behind walls and inside buildings, slave traders emerged with bows and crossbows—over seventy of them, just from what I could sense.

In short, I was surrounded. Good material for a diary entry, if I kept one.

I yelled back up at Grak.

“Alright, then surrender! I’ll spare your life!”

“What kind of crazy woman are you! That’s my line!”

“I’m not actually going to spare you.”

Teasing an idiot really was fun. Maybe he heard my laughter from six stories up, because Grak’s voice rose in anger until he was screaming like a madman.

“I’ll kill you and finally sleep without nightmares! I don’t know what you’re relying on, but today—”

“I’ll kill you in the most painful way possible!”

“Hey! Don’t steal my lines!”

“Shut up and fight!”

Grak failed spectacularly at intimidating me, and even at provoking me, before raising his fist toward the sky.

At the signal, countless arrowheads turned toward me.

Creak, creak.

The sound of bowstrings being drawn taut dug mercilessly into my ears.

A weapon for a weapon. I smiled and began chanting.

“Merciless water, rise from the maelstrom where the sea’s fury and death are bound…”

Anyone who heard me reciting a spell had best be ready to die.

“Come to me, Endairon.”

What I summoned was water, but the ground shook violently beneath me.

Something massive was rising.

The rain-soaked earth dried rapidly as water surged up from under my feet. I felt my body lifting as I seated myself atop it.

The slave traders, their shots forgotten, shrank in my sight as they gawked.

“What is that?!”

“G-Gods above…”

If Undine was a pond, Undaine was a river—Endairon was the sea.

The sheer presence was too immense to simply call water.

Shaped like a sea dragon, a mix of serpent and dragon, its deep-ocean-colored body was far beyond human scale.

In an instant, Endairon rose three stories higher than Grak’s building, its body stretching endlessly upward and still growing.

“W-wait…!”

Now Grak was the one looking up at me.

I could clearly see his dumbstruck face, mouth agape under Endairon’s crushing presence.

“T-this is cheating… isn’t this cheating?!”

It seemed he was regretting picking a fight.

Hard not to—Endairon was the kind of being whose sheer existence suffocated anything smaller.

“Grak. Congratulations on choosing your own death.”

“Wait, I—”

“You do know the world’s better off without you, right? So you’re not *completely* stupid.”

Already, slave traders below were fleeing.

Of course they were—no one here had ever seen anything like this. I’d felt the same facing a dragon.

[Friend.]

Every spirit’s voice had a distinct feel.

Undine’s was that of a young child, Undaine’s was intelligent and neutral.

Endairon’s voice was an immense rumble, like sinking into the deepest part of the ocean, resonating through my entire body.

It intoxicated me every time.

Handling such greatness created the powerful illusion that I myself was a great being.

It felt like I held a fragment of the ocean under my hand, able to rule over anything.

Rai often warned me to be careful with that feeling, but looking down on the fleeing slave traders from atop Endairon, my heart swelled with the thrill of power.

How could I deny it? It was exhilarating.

The world belonged to the strong, and I preferred being the one in control.

[Do you need aid?]

“Yeah, I need you now. You’ll help me, right?”

With everyone’s fear beneath me, petting a creature like this made me untouchable.

[By our pact, whatever it may be, I will be your strength.]

Endairon’s eyes were a near-black blue, the color of the deep ocean where no light reached.

Facing that as an enemy meant feeling death creep close—fear seeping into the body, as inevitable as sinking into the abyss.

“T-that’s…!”

“Run!”

“It’s a monster!”

Faced with it, most humans panicked.

Used to preying on the weak, these men had never felt such overwhelming terror.

The number dropping their weapons and fleeing grew so fast, it seemed half of them would be gone before Endairon even acted.

“Endairon, don’t let anyone escape.”

I pointed to the farthest runner. From up here, I could see everything.

“Kill the ones who get too far.”

Anyone who opposed me would learn to fear water to their core—if they lived.

Boom!

A massive water tail split the sky, crashing around the clearing with such force that the ground shook.

Those trying to escape were struck by geysers shooting up from the earth, flung high into the air, and—if they were lucky—killed instantly when they hit the ground.

“Uwaaaah!”

“Spare me!”

As a dozen bodies hit the dirt, the rest scattered like headless snakes.

Grak’s carefully prepared trap was modest enough for Endairon’s tail to encircle completely—perfect for corralling the traders to kill them.

I twirled a finger in the air.

The towering columns of water twisted into waves that surged inward from all sides.

Swept up by the powerful current, the slave traders were herded helplessly into the center, where Endairon’s coiled tail trapped them all.

Not a single one escaped, flailing in the trap they’d dug themselves.

“This is your idea of a trap? I’m insulted.”

With the water up to their necks, they seemed to have forgotten their original goal, screaming only to be spared.

As if they’d forgotten they’d come to kill me.

Beg all they want—I was unmoved.

The water rose higher, beginning to spin. Those who couldn’t swim were already sinking.

Caught in Endairon’s sea, all would die sooner or later. I counted the various heads still above the surface, stroking my chin.

“I heard there were about a hundred, but there aren’t that many. Did I kill that many earlier…? What do you think, Grak? This is all you brought?”

“…”

“You really are a disappointment.”

A tendril of water coiled like a vine around Grak, lifting him and delivering him before me.