Chapter 55

No matter how strong the attack, it was useless under these circumstances.

The defense was as fast as the attack.

If only it would rain, Endairon might be able to display more of its abilities…

Ah, water would work! And the more, the better!

[“Oh my! Master, why are you gripping my delicate waist so roughly… Huaaak!”]

I immediately grabbed Rai and spun it lightly in the air.

Yes, I just need to create a setting that works to my advantage.

Alright, hey, Theatrazen! Let’s see your swimming skills.

[“Endairon! Sea Blast!”]

As Endairon’s glowing tail struck the ground, water bubbled and surged, forming a massive wave.

The wave surged toward Silairon, but it didn’t deal much damage.

The existing Wind Shield easily blocked it, splitting the water into two streams.

Sea Blast is a spell that creates tidal waves. While it works well against a large number of weak opponents, it’s ineffective against a powerful single enemy.

“Ha-ha! You call that an attack? Seems like you’re out of mana, golden-haired intruder!”

[“Endairon! One more time—or rather, keep going until the entire area turns into an ocean! We have plenty of mana, so use all your power to create your stage. Can you do that?”]

[“Sounds fun. Let’s try it!”]

Endairon repeatedly slammed its tail onto the ground.

Water began to pool and spread rapidly, and before long, Endairon’s tail was striking the surface of the water instead of solid ground. It didn’t take long to reach this point.

Summoning water was an easy task, even with the large quantity involved.

The hand holding Rai glowed with a dark light, likely because Rai itself had turned black.

All the mana I absorbed into Rai was used to generate more water.

Once satisfied with the amount, Endairon skillfully gathered it.

The summoned water, instead of soaking into the ground, floated in the air under Endairon’s control.

“Hah! Such desperation. Silairon! Wind Shie—huh?”

[“Yoo-hoo, Rai! What do you think of naming this move something like ‘Oceanification’? Oh, Endairon! Compress it so Silairon can’t escape!”]

The water, which had just been pooling, rose to a height that matched Endairon’s body, forming what looked like a giant aquarium. At a glance, it resembled a massive underwater prison, but it was far larger and darker than anything of its kind.

Heh. How does it feel to be trapped in seawater?

Floating in the air, I looked down triumphantly at Theatrazen and Silairon, now submerged. The Wind Shield provided some protection, but the air supply would run out soon enough.

“Gah! Silairon, get us out of here, now!”

A buzzing sound echoed as the water around Silairon thrashed violently, as if it were about to explode, but the effort was in vain.

Someone once said there were no limits for wind spirits. As long as there’s air, their power is infinite.

But look now! They’re completely helpless, aren’t they?

Silairon was like a fish caught in a net—or perhaps a fly stuck on glue.

No matter how extraordinary Silairon was, it couldn’t fully exert its power in a place without air.

Previously, this stage belonged to Silairon, but now it was Endairon’s domain.

The moment Silairon was trapped in the water, the advantage shifted to me!

For Silairon, being underwater with no air was like a human drowning.

Silairon’s only granted power was the ability to manipulate a massive amount of wind. Even the Wind Spirit King, Sylphid, couldn’t display power in a place without air.

Spirits were limited to “controlling, adjusting, and harmonizing” with what already existed.

Creating air was a task reserved for the gods.

So, perhaps what that mermaid Anna referred to as the “Mother of Water” was an entity that created water.

Does wind have a “Mother of Wind” too?

[“Undaine, relay my words into that water.”]

[“Yes, Master.”]

[“Will you surrender, or will you die?”]

– “Will you surrender, or will you die?”

Theatrazen, and while I am still posing as an elf, stared at me with an open mouth, seemingly incredulous.

Heh! What’s the point of glaring? You’re already a fly caught in a trap!

Just as water spirits lose power in volcanic zones and earth spirits become ineffective in the sea, wind spirits weaken when trapped underwater.

That’s the natural order and law of the world.

Theatrazen, don’t you understand this?

“Ridiculous nonse—blub-blub-blub!”

As the Wind Shield collapsed, Theatrazen plunged into the water, thrashing about helplessly.

Silairon had lost its strength.

In fact, Silairon seemed to be struggling to maintain its form.

Without air to sustain its body, that was inevitable.

Furthermore, with the compression spell in place, Theatrazen couldn’t move at all within the massive sphere of water.

In ordinary water, a body would float to the surface, but this water was compressed.

[“Then die.”]

– “Then die.”

“Glug-glug-glug!”

Ah, I do love that sound.

Theatrazen thrashed endlessly, flailing its arms and legs like someone drowning who didn’t know how to swim.

It looked so pitiful, like a fly trapped in water.

The once magnificent and beautiful Silairon was barely holding onto consciousness.

Its presence was faint, as if it might vanish at any moment.

Although I wanted to test my skills further, I had to let it go under the current circumstances.

To truly prove my strength, I would need more training.

The casting speed difference was just too significant.

For now, I had no choice but to end this situation quickly.

[“Surrender. Do you really think a human could summon and control this much water?”]

– “Surrender. Do you really think a human could summon and control this much water?”

Of course, I am human. Only Rai, the one providing me with mana, isn’t.

Heh. Theatrazen seemed unsure, as if questioning whether I was truly human.

But I can say this with confidence: no human could summon and sustain this much water.

Without Rai, it would be impossible for me as well.

This is… pure mana power!

[“Whether you acknowledge it or not, your barrier is already collapsing.”]

– “Whether you acknowledge it or not, your barrier is already collapsing.”

Silairon began to weaken, its form losing cohesion, and I turned to examine the barrier.

The elemental array created through the contract between Theatrazen and Silairon was now faltering. If Silairon lost all its power and was forcibly unsummoned, the barrier would disappear along with it.

Gripping the now-hot Rai tightly, I refrained from using any additional spells. Simply waiting for Silairon to vanish would suffice to destroy both this defensive formation and the magic circles beyond it.

[“Ah, Master! That old man is teleporting—”]

Swoosh!

“Eek!”

What was that? What just happened? I barely dodged, but the attack was undoubtedly wind-attribute.

The edge of my hood was slashed cleanly by something sharp.

Startled, I looked into the water, but Theatrazen was already gone. Silairon’s presence had also vanished. It must have been unsummoned just now.

The barrier remained intact, so it wasn’t a forced unsummoning.

Damn it, where did he go?

Whoosh!

“Undaine!”

Undaine blocked another incoming attack.

That spell… Wind Cutter!

I turned toward the direction of the attack. Theatrazen was floating above me, dripping wet, but something about him seemed off. Not only was I baffled at how he escaped from the water, but I also sensed a new presence that hadn’t been there before.

Could it be…?

“So, you’re human after all! A young girl, no less! I could tell just by your shrill voice.”

“Tch, Theatrazen! Don’t tell me… you’ve contracted with a spatial spirit?”

“What?! H-how did you know that…”

Theatrazen was visibly flustered, but I was even more shocked.

Ugh! Give me back my spirit!

I couldn’t help but feel despair. Damn it. No wonder he was so hard to track down.

He must have left hints about non-elemental spirits to his descendants. If that’s the case, then what about the Spirit of Luck?

“What about the Spirit of Luck? That one too?”

“No, that one was destroyed… I mean, why would I tell you anything?! Reveal yourself, intruder!”

Oh, great. The Spirit of Luck is out of the picture? Then there’s no reason to linger here any longer.

“No thanks! Bleh! If that’s how it’s going to be… Endairon! Smash everything!”

[“Smash it all! Master, what about me?”]

“You stay put. You need to replenish mana.”

[“Aww…”]

I unleashed all the water Endairon had gathered in an explosive surge.

With a loud “bang!” waves crashed in all directions, as destructive as a storm-induced tidal wave.

The guards were swept away in the onslaught.

“Endairon! Icicle Lance at the barrier!”

[“Got it!”]

Once more, Endairon launched a massive, rapidly spinning shard of ice directly at the barrier.

I had noticed earlier that the ice shards bounced off the barrier, but I wanted to test something. As expected, the barrier didn’t allow Icicle Lance to penetrate.

Alright, so it won’t let attacks pass through. That means we just have to break it!

“One more time!”

A new Icicle Lance struck the old one lodged in the barrier, shattering the original but slightly cracking the barrier in the process.

On top of the cracked barrier, the second Icicle Lance lodged itself with a grating sound.

“Trying to escape? Do you think I’ll let you? Silaphe! Triple Wind Cutter!” (T/N : Sylphid -> Silaphne -> Silairon ?)

“Block it, Rai!”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Endairon was occupied with its powerful magic, and Undaine was still in use, so I couldn’t summon any other spirits.

That left only Rai. Nodding swiftly, Rai darted out and deflected the Wind Cutters one by one with its tail.

Not bad, this one.

[“Agh! A scratch! Master, what do I do? My tail’s scratched!”]

Never mind. Scratch that thought. Or postpone it. I ignored Rai as it dramatically showed off its barely visible injury.

Despite being ten thousand years old, it acted no better than Annie. No, Annie was slightly more tolerable.

“Just spit on it. Endairon, another Icicle Lance!”

Stalling any longer would only result in capture, so I hurried. A contingent of knights had already stationed themselves outside the barrier. If mages joined them… that would be the worst-case scenario.

Even with my hood on, they had caught a glimpse of my hair color and identified me as a human woman.

I had wanted to maintain the act of being an elf until the end… perhaps I lacked the acting skills for it?

Looks like I’ll need to work on that in the future.

“Silaphe, Boom de Wind!”

“Eek! Endairon, Dust Chip!”

Though my cover was blown, there was no need to confirm it further. I clutched my hood tightly to keep it from flying off in the fierce wind.

When the wind weakened, Endairon unleashed Dust Chip again, scattering countless ice needles in every direction.

The sheer number of ice needles momentarily turned my surroundings white.

Most of them, however, bounced off the barrier.

“Argh!”

Huh?

Whether by timing or luck, it seemed one of the attacks had landed, and Theatrazen groaned in pain.

Glancing at him, I noticed a few ice needles glinting in his shoulder.

Nice! Time to make my escape!

“Endairon, oversized Icicle Lance!”

With a screech, an even larger Icicle Lance struck the already embedded one, growing it to one-and-a-half times its original size.

It felt like hammering a nail.

Whether by strength or technique, the barrier finally shattered with an ear-piercing noise, and the oppressive winds surged once more.

I pressed down on my hood, swiftly unsummoning Endairon.

“Return, Endairon!”

“This… can’t… ugh! Gah!”

Theatrazen collapsed, coughing up blood as the barrier shattered.

Sorry about that. Well, a little.

I grimaced slightly as I slipped past the broken barrier.

The kind of wind spirit barrier I just destroyed was maintained and activated through a blood contract, even when the spirit resided in the spirit realm.

While the blood contract allowed magic to bridge the spirit realm and the middle world, it was a difficult contract to establish. If the summoner suffered damage, the barrier would disappear automatically.

When the barrier broke like this, both the summoner and spirit suffered severe repercussions.

A blood contract was named such because it often cost the summoner their life—or at least half of it. I couldn’t say for sure, having never tried it myself.

Not that I’d want to, considering how dangerous such contracts are.

The one regret I had was that I couldn’t completely defeat Theatrazen.

The circumstances just weren’t ideal.

Still, I managed to outmaneuver him using Rai’s mana. Crafty tactics—or rather, craftiness itself—was a skill, wasn’t it?

[“Master, my scratch…”]

“Fix it yourself! You’re capable of handling that much, aren’t you? Just do it yourself!”

Already stressed from the escape, I bared my teeth at Rai’s whining in frustration.

[“So mean, Master. Ah… the barrier!”]

“Hic! Undaine, stop!”

[“…It’s gone. Master, the barriers ahead have disappeared.”]

“…Do you want to get down?”

This…

I swung Rai, who was shaking its head in exasperation, a few times.

You startled me, you little rascal!

The multiple barriers blocking me had vanished all at once, likely due to Theatrazen’s contract.

For a brief moment, guilt pricked my conscience as I considered the possibility that the elderly man might suffer severe damage—or even die—from the impact.

But what could I do?

If my skills were superior, I would have subdued him easily. However, they weren’t, and I had no room to worry about someone else’s well-being when I was busy running for my life.

[“Master, someone is pursuing us.”]

“Oh, right! Keep moving, Undaine!”

Oh, right, I was still in the middle of an escape! Realizing that I had stopped in place, I quickly commanded Undaine to continue moving.

I couldn’t afford to let my guard down—not until I escaped this castle and collapsed onto the bed in my inn.

The defeat of Theatrazen, renowned as the continent’s greatest summoner, sent shockwaves through the guards and mages who had been observing the fight from beyond the barrier. His apprentices, who had been hidden among the guards, rushed to their teacher’s side. Even the knights, already stationed and awaiting orders, murmured in disbelief at the unexpected outcome.

“Master! Are you alright?”

“We must get you to a priest immediately, Master.”

“Cough… How could this happen? I… I lost!”

Theatrazen, bleeding profusely, was supported by his two apprentices, a young man and a young woman, both appearing to be in their early twenties. Concern etched on their faces, they carefully helped their master to his feet.

As they steadied him, the knight commander stormed over to Theatrazen with heavy steps, his thick brows furrowed in anger. His stern expression matched his rigid demeanor.

“Count Theatrazen! Have you lost your mind? Letting the intruder escape! His Majesty the King will be furious when he hears of this! If only you had deactivated the barrier when we arrived, my knights would have captured the intruder immediately!”

Theatrazen bowed his head at the scolding, but his male apprentice, a blonde-haired young man, could not contain his frustration and shouted in defense of his master.

“What are you saying, Commander? If Master had deactivated the barrier, the intruder would have fled! How could the knights capture someone flying in the air? It was only thanks to Master holding them off!”

“Exactly! Master did his best! Besides, the intruder… the intruder was exceptional! A high-level summoner of water spirits, no less, who used mana as if it were limitless. How could anyone stand against that? It’s beyond human… wait, Master, wasn’t the intruder human?”

“Yes, yes! That’s it! He wasn’t human—he was an elf.”

Theatrazen, still hunched over, glanced around nervously before lifting his head and speaking. He knew that the conversations inside the barrier couldn’t have been overheard from the outside. Admitting that he, of all people, had lost to a mere girl was unacceptable to his pride.

“An elf? What are you saying? Are you making up lies to cover for yourself, Count?”

“It’s true! Did you see the amount of water she summoned? Enough to fill an entire lake and then some! How could a human accomplish such a feat? And she told me—yes, she said he was on a mission under the orders of… Clara, was it? Yes, Clara!”

“…Clara? Who is that?”

“I don’t know, but it’s clear she wasn’t human. You saw it too! The sheer volume of water and the repeated use of high-level summoning techniques that even the most skilled mages struggle to cast once! I was astonished!”

The knight commander reflected on what he had seen. Although he hadn’t arrived in time to witness everything, he recalled the massive chunks of ice lodged in the semi-transparent barrier and another even larger chunk smashing into it repeatedly.

The sight of the enormous blue creature spitting out the ice had been intimidating enough to make him take a step back.

“That blue serpent-like creature… that was the high-level water spirit?”

“Yes! That was Endai… cough, cough! Endairon…”

Theatrazen, who had gotten carried away in his excitement, began coughing up blood again. His apprentices, visibly worried, fretted over him as he struggled to regain composure.

“Alright, alright. So, the intruder was an elf, and a high-level water summoner at that. I’ll report this directly to His Majesty as I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Yes, exactly. That’s it. I didn’t lose to a human. It was an elf—an elf with golden hair!”

“Golden hair? Good. We’ll issue a citywide alert. Describe the intruder’s appearance.”

Theatrazen, wiping the blood from his mouth with his sleeve, thought about the girl’s features. Her golden hair and luminous blue eyes were unmistakable, even in the darkness. But he couldn’t reveal that. If the girl were caught, it would tarnish his reputation.

“He… he had golden hair and brown eyes. Yes, a male elf with golden hair and brown eyes!”

“A male elf with golden hair and brown eyes? What about his height?”

“That… I’m not sure. He was too far away, and he wore a hood.”

“Hmm. From what I glimpsed, he didn’t seem particularly tall. With the hood, it was hard to tell, but he appeared to have an average build. Still, as an elf male, he’d be somewhat slender. We’ll take that into account for the alert. And Count, you should prepare for disciplinary action.”

The knight commander’s words were not meant maliciously. However, for someone like Theatrazen, renowned for his strength, failing to capture an intruder and losing was reason enough to face consequences. Theatrazen ground his teeth in frustration as he was escorted to his temporary quarters in the Crystal Pavilion.

Once inside the Crystal Pavilion, Theatrazen slumped onto a chair, clutching his aching chest. His apprentices, ever dutiful, stood by his side.

“Master, I’ve brought medicine to soothe your pain. Please take it,” said the young woman, her voice tinged with worry.

“Hmm, thank you,” Theatrazen muttered as he accepted the medicine.

The young man chimed in, “I was so startled, Master! When that tidal wave suddenly trapped you… it was terrifying.”

“Me too, Master! What kind of magic was that? I’ve never seen anything like it. It was as if a piece of the ocean had been carved out and placed there.”

Their words echoed the similarity in their tones and personalities. Though both were his apprentices, they were strikingly alike. The main differences lay in their talent and origins: one was a noble from a wealthy family, while the other was a street child Theatrazen had taken in.

The boy had once marveled at a summoned Sylph and asked, “What is this?” Theatrazen, impressed by the child’s innate talent, had taken him as a disciple. Yet, this exceptional talent also made Theatrazen uneasy, fearing that the boy might one day surpass him. Consequently, despite knowing the disparity in their abilities, he had deliberately limited their training to maintain similar levels of skill.

“That… that was elf magic,” Theatrazen replied, leaning into his chair. “Elves are known to wield rare spirit magic.”

“Wow! Truly incredible. As expected of the elves, the masters of spirits. But, Master, how did you escape from the water? Wasn’t that teleportation magic?” the young man asked curiously.

“I saw it too! I thought you’d never make it out, Master, and then suddenly, there you were outside the water,” added the young woman.

Theatrazen hesitated, his mind racing for a plausible explanation. He couldn’t reveal the truth—that he had summoned a spatial spirit. It was a secret passed down through his family and only shared with a chosen successor, a decision he had yet to make.

“Ah, it was… a magic item. Yes, I used an item imbued with Warp magic,” he finally said.

“Wow! Those are so expensive, Master. You truly are incredible!” the young woman exclaimed.

“I’ll have to ask my parents to get one for me. It would be invaluable in emergencies,” the young man mused.

Theatrazen glanced between his apprentices. The noble-born apprentice might provide him with financial security, while the talented one could elevate his legacy. However, neither option was guaranteed. A wealthy disciple might not necessarily support him, and a talented one surpassing him could be intolerable.

“Successor…” he murmured softly.

“Master, did you say ‘successor’? Are you finally choosing one of us as your successor?” the young woman asked, her excitement evident.

“Really, Master? Will there be a test? When will it be?” the young man pressed eagerly.

Theatrazen furrowed his brow, irritated by their clamor, but a sudden idea formed in his mind.