Chapter 138

Underwater

And then, before I even had time to think of any good solution for that.

Things suddenly began escalating out of nowhere, and it was clear that everything was progressing so rapidly that Sir Aiden did not even have the chance to fall into deep thought about how to improve that mother-daughter relationship.

“……Wait.”

From right behind the raft I was riding on, Katya, who had been staring continuously toward the waterside, suddenly spoke.

“What’s that?”

It seemed she could not hear whatever conversation I and the Pontiff were having at the front, but ironically, the moment she said those words, everyone heard her voice clearly.

The biggest reason was probably because everyone had noticed something similar, causing the surroundings to fall into silence in an instant.

And probably most of the people there had already realized it.

That this silence resembled the calm just before a storm.

In fact, the color of the sea was gradually turning darker and darker.

It was not that anything had happened to the sea itself.

Rather.

It only appeared black because an enormous number of lifeforms beneath it were gradually rising toward the surface!

As the humans began realizing this fact one by one and their faces turned pale, the first person to move was the same person who had first alerted everyone to it.

“Get down—!”

In a low, heavy, and firm voice, Katya shouted as she leapt onto my raft.

Immediately, she pressed my head down hard and struck away the “creature” that was rapidly surging toward me with her bare hand.

With a splashing sound, the creature that had leapt out of the water was struck by Katya’s fist wrapped in divine power, and with a scream it burst apart entirely.

…She was so tough that even I, a man, might have fallen for her at that point. Yet Katya, who had just done that, clicked her tongue and looked down at her own arm.

She had managed to burst it in a single blow, but in exchange, her arm had nearly been torn off. Just before dying, that creature had clamped down on it with a crushing bite.

Naturally, the fact that it could wound an arm wrapped in divine power was proof that this creature’s bite force and attack power were anything but ordinary.

“……A merfolk?”

It was easy to understand why someone muttered that, since the creature looked quite similar to such a thing.

However, calling it that felt somewhat wrong, as its hideous appearance seemed designed around grotesquely sharp teeth to a horrifying degree, making it difficult to describe it simply as a fish that resembled a human.

“-Savage things. Looks like we have no choice but to fight!”

The Pontiff, who had gotten thoroughly splashed with water and was frowning, said that, but I panicked and hurriedly stopped her. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

“Wait a moment, we’re underwater. If you unleash something like a wide-area spell all at once, we’ll all sink and drown together!”

Even if people could endure it, the raft we were riding on would not.

The Pontiff seemed to acknowledge that point as well. Instead of giving a reply, she quickly nodded and continued speaking.

“Then think of something quickly. As you can see—”

She crossed her arms and looked around.

“……It’s not just one or two. Even if we don’t drown, we’ll all get torn apart and eaten.”

It really was not something that could be dismissed as just one or two. Just as she said, a group of creatures almost like a colony was continuously surging upward.

In fact, rather than simply attacking us from the surroundings to hunt us, it was clearly visible that they were tightening a net from all directions, herding us into an increasingly narrower spot.

Most of the people here were royals who still possessed some level of combat ability, so they were individually responding as best as they could, but against numbers large enough to darken the entire sea, it was simply not enough.

And.

The moment I quickly judged that.

—

Click.

A switch flipped inside my head.

“Gather toward the center! Don’t fight!”

When I shouted that order almost like a roar, the people nearby turned toward me with expressions that seemed to say, What kind of insane nonsense is that?

Creatures fierce enough to tear apart even arms wrapped in divine power were leaping out from all directions, yet I was telling them not to fight them.

But regardless of those reactions, another shout burst from my mouth.

“Now!”

-System Message

▶ The effect of ‘Unique Trait: Royal Bloodline’ is activated.

▶ People respond easily to your charisma!

And apparently that window had not appeared for nothing, because people’s bodies jolted as they immediately began gathering toward the center just as I had ordered.

“Miss Morrigan, please support it!”

As too many people climbed onto the raft and it began to sink, I asked Morrigan to keep it supported, and immediately kicked off the spot where I stood.

While manipulating the spear with movements ingrained in my body, I calculated the trajectory in my head.

Skill, Primal Power activated. Purchased a ‘Strength’-related potion from the Point Shop.

After choosing the two abilities among my combinations that most directly increased physical capability, my eyes immediately swept around the surroundings.

The moment I confirmed that everyone at the outer edge had abandoned their rafts and hurriedly gathered inside the formation.

“Hup!”

Boom—

I kicked off the ground.

And then.

-!!

The surface of the waterway flipped over in an instant.

At the sight of the water surface scattering violently in all directions as if a bomb had exploded beneath the water, the humans around me stared with their mouths wide open.

“-It didn’t go in properly!”

Katya clenched her teeth and said that.

Of course.

It was certainly surprising that a human who had been standing still just moments ago could suddenly display such power, but the attack he had just made seemed to have had no effect at all. Most of the merfolk near the surface looked perfectly fine.

However, that had never been what I was aiming for in the first place.

If I thought about it, among the humans present here, it was not as if there was no one capable of easily dealing with a threat of this level.

However, even they would have no way of unleashing such power without dragging others into it.

In that case, the answer was simple.

If someone had a way to respond with a wide-area attack but could not use it because others might get caught in it, then all that needed to be done was create an environment where they could unleash it freely.

The laws of physics still existed, even in a fantasy world overflowing with supernatural abilities.

My eyes quickly scanned the surroundings. Because of the ‘reverberation’ created by the strike I had just delivered, the shock that had spread across the water’s surface had pushed the rafts carrying the people far backward.

Which meant.

It could be said that the perfect conditions had been created for someone optimized for a stage like this to run wild.

“Sir!”

I had only called out with the title, leaving out the name, but Noel, who was the target, had already recognized it instantly and was stepping forward to the front.

The qi leaking from beneath her teeth spread in all directions like steam.

Stepping across the long line of rafts one after another, Noel dashed to the very front in an instant and drew her sword at lightning speed.

Just as if proving the near-miraculous technique of stepping across them without a single raft overturning or even shaking despite moving at such speed, the slash she unleashed after drawing her sword displayed power that could truly be said to touch the realm of divine technique.

-!!

Noel’s specialty, the ‘sending slash’. A divine technique-like skill that cut its target by leaping across space.

However, its power was on a completely different level than before.

The sea—

was sliced apart down to the bottom in an instant.

A slash that cut so deep, sharp, and far that it seemed as though it had split the entire world apart stirred up storms of blood in all directions.

A mountain of corpses. A sea of blood.

The strike that felt like those words had been brought directly into reality swept across the surroundings in an instant.

“……”

And as I watched that scene, I completely lost my words.

‘……What?’

Compared to the amount of qi Noel originally possessed, she had used an amount that could be described as barely a palmful, and the technique itself was not anything particularly special.

And yet the technique she had just unleashed far surpassed the strike she had shown earlier when she clashed with Theresa.

…Huh?

This person… hadn’t she somehow become much stronger than before?

Since the fight with Magnus, I had not had many opportunities to directly watch her fight, so it had been hard to feel it clearly, but her raw combat power definitely seemed higher than it had been before.

There had not been any special event, and I had not particularly strengthened her with my own skills either. So how…?

-System Message

▶ Due to the effect of ‘Weaver of Fate’, the ‘Unification’ of the target ‘Noel Astria Seamus’ is detected.

▶ Due to Unification, the connection between the target and a divine being increases.

▶ Once Unification is complete, the target will become significantly stronger.

▶ Complete quests related to Affinity to unlock the ‘Unification’ category!

“……”

And apparently.

That strength was also clearly one of the effects attached to my skill, something that had occurred without me even realizing it.

‘……Unification.’

Come to think of it.

…The image of Karva, who had looked exactly like Noel before, suddenly flashed through my mind.

There was definitely something connected to that—

“-That was good, but!”

However, it was clear I did not have the chance to continue that thought.

The Pontiff’s almost scream-like briefing burst into my ears.

“Something bigger is coming!”

And with those words.

From beneath the water’s surface, a gigantic ‘something’ surged upward.

▣

A massive tidal wave and torrents of water churned in all directions.

At the end of the Black Night ritual, there was a legend that the First Seeker had been forced to go around because the God of Death stood guarding an uncrossable river.

And perhaps.

If anyone were to see ‘that’, they would naturally think it was not strange for such an overwhelming title to exist.

Its entire body was not even visible. What had just emerged slightly was merely a part of its body.

And yet.

…Even that alone was comparable in size to the dragon I had encountered before.

“-!”

I could see people around me staring in shock with their mouths wide open.

That shock grew far worse when eggs began pouring out from holes in the body of that ‘creature’ that had revealed itself.

And when those eggs hatched instantly, grew larger, and transformed into the same merfolk Noel had just sliced apart, everyone looked as though they were about to stop breathing.

In an instant, more than several times the number Noel had just cut down filled the surroundings.

“……!”

Seeing that, Noel immediately swung her sword, attempting to cut apart the creature’s body.

There was no reason to stand by and watch the enemy replenish its forces right in front of us, so the action was perfectly reasonable—and it even worked.

Her terrifying slash easily severed the exposed body of the creature.

That is.

It would have been quite a satisfying strike—

if the severed portion had not immediately reattached itself.

“-Regeneration?!”

As Noel clenched her teeth, Katya’s voice, thick with irritation, rang out.

“How are we supposed to beat something like that—!”

…It was a little funny that she was complaining about such a trait when she herself possessed something similar.

But even so, the situation was undeniably desperate.

The enemy could endlessly replenish its forces, and on top of that, it could regenerate every time it was struck.

The outlook was quite grim.

That is.

Everyone thought so except for one person.

“It regenerates.”

I said that while rubbing my chin.

…My tone was clearly so meaningful that everyone’s gaze instantly turned toward me.

“……”

“That’s actually good.”

…The expression on my face looked so twisted that no one even dared to ask what exactly was good about it.