Chapter 26
“W, wowww…”
“He’s been making a fuss for a while now. Hey! Is this your first time seeing the sea or something?”
“Probably is.”
“…Oh, really?”
“That guy has probably never left the Holy Land before.”
At the end of the cave, where even the island beyond the distant horizon could not be seen, the three held a brief strategy meeting.
“Then we’ll deal with the Harpoon Fish like this, right?”
Aren only nodded while keeping his eyes fixed on the sea, while Yohan waved his hand as if telling her to do whatever she wanted.
Isabella almost snapped at them, but somehow managed to calm herself before bringing up the next matter.
“…For breathing underwater, we’ll use Fish Transformation together with Oxygen Bubbles, just as we discussed beforehand. No problems, right?”
“Y, yeah.”
Aren gave a rough nod in agreement.
Yohan’s answer, however, was different.
“I don’t need either.”
“…Then how are you planning to breathe in the sea?”
“Do I really need to breathe?”
“……”
Perhaps she first needed to think about what kind of common sense could even be applied to this man.
Holding her throbbing forehead, Isabella spoke.
“You’re a blood mage. From what I know, Blood Magic requires far more delicate mana control than other forms of magic.”
“Correct.”
She raised her fingers one by one as she explained.
“The Mana Heart beats through breathing. In other words, proper mana control requires breathing. And considering how the heartbeat affects blood circulation, lack of oxygen should be even more dangerous for Blood Magic. In fact, oxygen deprivation is one of the most effective ways to counter a blood mage. Isn’t that right?”
“You know quite a lot.”
“Then why are you…!”
“It may be a weakness for Yohan the blood mage, but it isn’t a weakness for Yohan the Apostle.”
Yohan wrapped his sword with his cloak, tied it firmly around his waist with a cord, and jumped into the sea.
He slowly rose back to the surface and glanced at the other two.
“What are you doing? Jump in.”
Bubble, bubble.
Blub, blub.
Making different sounds, the three continued their journey toward the sea cave.
“……”
No, one of them made no sound at all.
There was no sound of breathing, splashing, or moving arms.
Yohan simply stretched his body straight and stared forward.
Yet his body kept advancing as if some kind of engine was attached to him.
Seeing that unnatural sight, Isabella groaned inwardly.
How is he moving…?
He was moving that fast without even taking a swimming posture.
It made her feel stupid for desperately moving her arms and legs.
…He hasn’t even used Fish Transformation.
When she glanced to the side, she saw fins growing from Aren’s neck and back.
She was the same.
Because of Fish Transformation, her fur had disappeared, replaced by fins and gills.
Compared to a real fish, they were crude, so she could not say she was completely free underwater.
Still, she could easily survive like this for about a week.
The downside was that the spell consumed an enormous amount of mana.
Even if her training was incomplete, she was still a Were.
Her natural physical strength was not inferior to any race.
Yet even after using Fish Transformation and swimming with all her strength, she could barely keep up.
Just what was Yohan doing?
And why is that elf so good at swimming?!
Aren happily twisted his body around as if he had truly become a fish.
“Th, this is f, fun. Hehe.”
Seeing his body, which was easily over 190 centimeters tall, twisting so smoothly made him look like an eel.
“…Sigh.”
Ever since entering the Dungeon, Isabella had experienced one thing after another that shattered her basic knowledge and common sense.
She could barely keep her thoughts straight.
But the sea gave her no time to organize them.
A large school of fish approached from far away at terrifying speed, signaling the start of the real battle.
“…They’re here.”
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whooosh.
Shwaak!
Needlefish with an average body length of thirty five centimeters lived throughout the sea of the Dark Cave.
They always traveled in groups of dozens or more, and attacked every creature other than their own kind by driving the harpoon like spikes covering their bodies into them.
They were Harpoon Fish.
“Th, they’re here!”
“You remember the plan, right? Stay twenty meters away, quickly!”
“Y, yeah!”
As soon as he answered, Aren fled upward and cast Refraction Magic over his entire body.
Isabella tightened her grip on her mace while glaring at the Harpoon Fish charging toward her.
“Come on, then…!”
Shwaak!
Isabella swung her mace with all her strength at the dozens of Harpoon Fish that attacked first.
The blunt weapon covered in Aura did not slow down in the water at all.
It crushed the Harpoon Fish into pulp.
But the attack did not end there.
Crackle…!
At the moment she swung the mace, she added electricity with elemental magic.
Even the fish that were not directly hit were instantly disabled.
“Kgh!”
Of course, the electricity also reached her.
However, because her entire body was thoroughly covered in Aura, she reduced the damage as much as possible.
After three exchanges, she had torn apart more than a hundred Harpoon Fish.
She quickly turned her gaze forward, toward Yohan.
TING! TING! TIDING!
“……”
Although weak, Harpoon Fish were still magic beasts.
By instinct, they knew which enemy they should target first.
More than ninety percent of the swarm attacked Yohan.
Even a rough estimate placed their number well above a thousand.
Crack! Crunch!
The sharpest and hardest harpoons on their faces were bent horribly.
Some had their bones completely shattered and fell into the depths.
Others had somehow pierced themselves with their own harpoons and went limp.
Looking at the fish that appeared to have thrown themselves against a solid steel wall, Yohan scratched his head.
Were they always so weak that they couldn’t even break through Aura this thin?
[Harpoon Fish are among the weakest sea magic beasts. The only thing they know how to do is overwhelm things with numbers.]
Yohan casually cleared away the ones that still failed to understand the situation and kept attacking.
Then he looked to both sides.
His eyes clearly captured Aren and Isabella’s battles.
“W, whoa, whoaaa!”
Boooom…!
Elf Aren’s fighting style was closer to evasion than actual combat.
His strategy was simple.
He used Refraction Magic over his entire body to distort the enemy’s attack path.
However, Harpoon Fish did not have very good dynamic vision.
Once they decided on an attack direction, they almost never changed it midway.
In that situation, Refraction Magic became useless.
To prepare for that, Aren had also created a Mana Barrier around himself.
The Harpoon Fish that flew in without changing direction struck the barrier and burst apart.
Except for a few unusual cases, elves were seriously unsuited for close physical combat.
It was an efficient response that could only be used by someone who properly understood that weakness.
[He’s pretty skilled considering this is his first fight against magic beasts. Did that Nuadillen guy teach him?]
Even if someone teaches you, that doesn’t mean you can immediately use it in battle. He simply has good natural instincts.
[Hmm… I thought watching him collapse while crying your name might have been entertaining. Boring.]
Next, the goddess looked at the thin layer of Aura protecting Isabella’s skin.
[This one is unexpectedly interesting too. Her Aura didn’t look impressive for a Were, but once she spreads it over her whole body, it’s different. The Aura density is extremely high. Blocking electrocution with Aura thinner than a fingernail… not bad.]
That general wouldn’t have brought someone talentless into the expedition.
Many Harpoon Fish were still throwing themselves at Yohan, hoping to leave even the slightest wound.
But before the overwhelming density of Yohan’s Aura, they fell like leaves in the wind.
[Of course, compared to our Yohan’s Aura, hers is at the level of a newborn baby. Hehehe.]
The battle ended in less than fifteen minutes.
The strange fish that had seemed ready to fill the entire area completely disappeared.
Aren cautiously stuck out his head, blinked, and shouted.
“Th, they’re gone! They ran away!”
“Phew… Is it over?”
“……”
After sensing the mana flow several hundred meters around them, Yohan nodded first.
It meant they should continue moving.
Another hour passed.
The empty horizon that had seemed endless finally began to change.
When terrain that looked like a sea cave appeared, Aren excitedly pointed toward it.
“Th, that! A cave! That’s a cave, right?”
“Good. Let’s hurry!”
Isabella moved her arms and legs even harder to increase her speed.
Yohan, who was several dozen meters ahead and guarding the front, suddenly stopped after sensing a sharp hostility approaching from ahead.
“M, mister?”
“What are you doing? Hurry and… go…”
Isabella sensed it a little later and stopped swimming as well.
Aren looked back and forth between the two.
Only when the shape of a gigantic creature appeared in the distance did he swallow hard.
Blub, blub…
Its body was longer than the combined height of all three of them.
Yet even that massive body seemed small compared to its two enormous pincers, which spread even wider.
Behind it, a red tail and hook scattered dark purple liquid in every direction.
The poison was powerful enough to kill nearly every lifeform other than magic beasts.
The creature was one of the strongest beings in this world.
Depending on the environment, it could even be compared to the creations of the Great Old Ones.
A sea magic beast known as the Giant Thunder Scorpion.
CLANG! CLANG!
The sound of its pincers striking each other rang clearly even underwater.
For its kind, that sound was a signal.
It was a call to gather its brethren.
And a declaration that the enemy before it must not be allowed to live.
Isabella released a deep, self mocking sigh.
“…Of course.”
Things could never go this easily.
She pulled the mace from her back and gripped it tightly with both hands.
The number of sea magic beasts beginning to gather from every direction easily reached several hundred.
The Harpoon Fish returning to support them were more than twice that number.
Facing an army that easily surpassed a thousand, even Aren’s cheerful expression turned stiff.
After looking around once, Yohan silently used Blood Magic.
Blub, blub…
Isabella and Aren were about to create Oxygen Bubbles to protect themselves from the poisonous mist slowly approaching them.
But then they noticed red bubbles already surrounding their faces.
“This is…”
“Blood Bubbles. Be careful not to move outside their range. As long as you stay inside, you’ll be protected from both poison and harpoons.”
Leaving only those words behind, Yohan turned back toward the enemy commander.
The Giant Thunder Scorpion was studying Yohan’s level and waiting for the right moment to attack.
Using the brief pause, the goddess spoke from inside his clothes.
[Hmm? You protected the Were too, darling?]
Why? Is there a problem?
[Not really, but it’s strange. That little elf looks useful enough to protect, but that woman? Not really. Being good with Aura isn’t exactly unusual for a Were.]
That’s true.
[…Then why?]
Instinct.
[…Instinct?]
CLANG! CLANG!
With the Giant Thunder Scorpion displaying all its hostility before him, Yohan briefly glanced back at Isabella.
I saw the possibility of her becoming an Apostle.
Before their conversation could even finish,
SKREEEE!
The enemy commander released its unique scream and swung its pincers in every direction.
At the same time, every sea magic beast and Harpoon Fish in the area charged at the three of them.
It was the moment the final battle of the fifth floor began.
