Water Magician

Sorry for the late release!

The world had flipped.

Ryo could only express it that way.

All the signs of people around him had disappeared.

However, the scenery remained the same.

For example, his feet were still on the cobbled road of the City of Rune.

(It feels like I’m in a subspace … as expected of a fantasy world.)

However, he had a throbbing feeling that something was dangerous.

(Should I do what the submarine captain would say, ‘Fire just one ping’ … I’m certain there’s something, but since I don’t know where or what it is, I guess that is my only choice …)

Ryo took a deep breath and imagined.

(<Active Sonar>)

At that instant, a wave of 『stimulation』 spread through the water vapor floating in the surrounding air centered on Ryo.

(I found it. About 200 meters ahead, the size is almost the same as a human, but the sonar reflection is strange …)

After analyzing up to that point, he felt an abnormality from the front.

(『Ice Wall 10-Layers』)

A spell that severs, like a Sonic Blade, flew in from the front and hit the ice wall before bouncing off.

(What power …)

So far, he had defended against many monster attacks with the ice wall, but that destructive power was overwhelmingly high among all of them.

“Hmm? Did a human get dragged in?”

He heard the voice not far away from him.

The being should have been about 200 meters away from the reaction of the Active Sonar, but the voice was much closer.

Then, as the voice gradually approached, Ryo saw it.

Height 175 cm. Almost the same as Ryo.

Bipedal gait.

Two arms.

The appearance was human at first glance.

However, if looked closely, there was a tail.

And there was something that looked like a horn.

The body was a woman by human standards. Because the chest was bigger compared to man.

The face was … a beautiful woman.

Although she was a beautiful woman … Ryo wasn’t charmed at all.

After recognizing its existence, the first impression he had was …

(……Akuma?) (TLN: Refresher: Akuma = Devil, but the author made a distinction between Akuma悪魔 and Devilデビル)

In 『Monster Encyclopedia: Beginner’s Edition』, there was a section on the ‘Akuma’ that Michael (pseudonym) seemed to have added on purpose.

Remarks: Pray that you do not meet one.

(Yeah, I might have met one … and in an unusual space …)

The presence of the Akuma (provisional) was staggering.

Perhaps around the range of Behi-chan or Griffon?

If that encounter was in the normal space, Ryo would have escaped as fast as he could.

Yes, he would escape like a genuine rabbit, without looking back. (TLN: The idiom for Japanese to ‘Escape as fast as possible’ is literally ‘Like an escaping rabbit’.)

However, he was in a space where escape was unlikely.

At present, Ryo’s back was drenched in cold sweat.

“Oh well. There will be no problem as long as I kill them.”

The moment she said that, a huge amount of magical power converged on the hands of the Akuma (provisional).

(That’s dangerous! <Ice Wall 10-Layers Lamination>)

In front of Ryo, 10 layers of Ice Walls were generated one after another, overlapping each other.

A multitude of Ice Walls stretched towards the Akuma (provisional).

The hellfire released by the Akuma (provisional) crashed into the overlapping Ice Wall 10-Layers and penetrated it with almost no loss of momentum.

(I wonder if this can stop it.)

Ryo channeled magical power into the stacked Ice Wall 10-Layers to strengthen it while shedding cold sweat.

The spell consumed the ice walls about halfway through. By then, its speed had slowed down a little too.

After it consumed another half more, it had slowed down considerably.

When it reached the final Ice Wall 10-Layers … the Akuma’s (provisional) hellfire was extinguished.

(I stopped it ……)

Ryo was relieved.

And then…….

In an instant, the final Ice Wall 10-Layers broke.

Following his intuition, Ryo desperately twisted his body to dodge the wind spear that was aimed at his heart.

But he was too late.

He escaped a direct hit to his heart but was stabbed at his left shoulder … however, it shattered without piercing him.

Nevertheless, pushed by the momentum of the spear, Ryo’s body flew backward while rotating.

“The wind spear didn’t penetrate …”

The Akuma (provisional) was astonished.

“I was surprised that he was able to block the hellfire, but the wind spear too … no, that robe … the Fairy King’s robe …?”

The Akuma (provisional) squinted and focused on the robe Ryo had on that blocked her wind spear.

“There’s no doubt about it. The Fairy King’s robe … no wonder. I guess I have to slash directly?”

Ryo was blown away but because he twisted his body, he was hardly damaged.

(<Ice Armor>)

He didn’t know how effective it would be but it was better than nothing.

“Well, in any case, die.”

When the Akuma (provisional) picked up her sword that appeared out of nowhere, she rushed in and closed the distance to Ryo in an instant.

Ryo also held up Murasame and received the attack.

Ryo parried the Akuma’s (provisional) sword.

He also fought back by relying on sideward sweeps and thrusts.

However, the movement of the Akuma (provisional) was abnormally fast.

(Is she moving using Wind Magic, not just footwork?)

Ryo’s sideways sweeps and thrusts were just a diversion.

He fundamentally devoted himself to defending.

Ryo, who was devoted to defending, could not be easily taken down.

In the past, it could be said that in the close battle with the evolved one-eyed Assassin Hawk, he also won by thwarting its attacks by defending.

Even when he practiced with Dullahan, the Fairy King, his defense was not easily broken through if he devoted himself to defending.

Ryo was an impregnable fortress when it came to the sword.

And his stamina was inexhaustible.

As expected, even the Akuma (provisional) couldn’t hide her frustration that she couldn’t bypass his defense no matter how long she attacked.

“That sword is also the sword of the Fairy King … Who the heck are you …”

The Akuma (provisional) held her sword with her right hand as she attacked while collecting a small amount of magical power in her left hand.

(<Icicle Lance>)

Before the magic was activated, it was struck and offset by an Icicle Lance generated from midair.

“What’s with that generation speed … you monster.”

“You’re one to say that.”

Ryo unintentionally retorted when a monster called him a monster.

“Mu … you can understand my language? You’re trouble after all. I must kill you.”

“You’ve been trying to kill me since a while ago …”

The sword fight became even more intense.

However, Ryo had more leeway compared to the beginning.

It was probably because he had become accustomed to the Akuma’s (provisional) sword handling.

However, that was also noticed by the Akuma (provisional).

Therefore, she took a distance by leaping back to get a fresh start.

(Chance! <Icicle Lance 32>)

He timed it as the Akuma (provisional) was on her downward trajectory and fired off ice spears from the front.

(<Icicle Lance 64> <Icicle Lance 256>)

The Akuma (provisional) erased all the first 32 ice spears by simply waving her hand.

64 additional ice spears spread like a fan and rapidly converged toward the Akuma (provisional).

However, all of them disappeared just by a wave of her hand too.

“Only this much …”

When the Akuma (provisional) said that, the main attack of 256 ice spears fell from directly above the Akuma.

A silent attack from the blind spot after attracting her attention forward.

As expected, even the Akuma (provisional) was delayed in responding to it.

“Ku.”

However, he didn’t think it could be defeated with just ice spears.

(<Icicle Lance 32>)

When she turned her attention up, he once again attacked directly from the front with ice spears.

The Akuma (provisional) created an earth wall to defend against that.

(<Abrasive Jet 256>)

And then his true attack, 256 water jets with ice abrasives were generated on the 『other side』 of the earth wall which fired in a random number of angles and sliced the entire space including the Akuma (provisional).

The earth wall created by the Akuma (provisional) was also dissected by the abrasive jet and collapsed.

Ryo, holding up Murasame, plunged into it.

But…….

He was just a split moment, a second, or even a millisecond, late.

The Akuma (provisional) certainly seemed to have been damaged to some extent by his Abrasive Jet, but by the time Ryo rushed in, her regeneration was already complete.

“Rapid Regeneration!?”

“Don’t look down on me, human!”

Ryo released the fastest frontal strike he could.

However, the Akuma (provisional) parried it.

Ryo stepped back and readied his sword without pushing too deeply.

The surface of the Akuma’s body was squirming.

(Is that the part that was regenerated? I couldn’t defeat it with a frontal attack … in that case.)

For an instant, Ryo turned his gaze slightly upwards.

The Akuma (provisional) showed a dramatic reaction.

She retreated immediately.

She was wary of the fall of 256 spears from above.

But that was beyond Akuma’s expectations.

(Although it was a gaze to guide her attention as a distraction … It is counterproductive if she retreats so far away.)

There was a distance of about 20 meters between Ryo and the Akuma (provisional).

He had no way of reducing that distance in an instant.

But the Akuma (provisional) had.

(I guess it will be a magic battle again …)

After thinking so far, he heard the voice of the Akuma (provisional).

“Hmm … Unfortunately, the time has run out. It’s been hundreds of years since I’ve had such a battle. It was a lot of fun, human.”

“Are you running away?”

Upon hearing that, ‘Kukuku’ the Akuma (provisional) laughed devilishly.

“There’s no use provoking me. This 『corridor』is a special space. Even I have restrictions that I can’t escape from. My name is Leonor Uraca Alburquerque. What’s your name?”

Ryo wondered if he should answer.

The name represents the body … or because he grew up in the country where they believe words hold mysterious powers …

He was wary that he might be trapped if he gave his name to the Akuma.

“Hm? Do humans not have names?”

The Akuma (provisional), no, Leonor, found it amusing.

“My name is Ryo. Akuma.”

Leonor was surprised to hear that.

“Akuma … you know our true identity … perhaps I should have killed you even if I had to force myself …”

But she shook her head.

“I don’t have enough time and you are not an opponent that I can beat easily in the first place. It’s unavoidable. Let’s meet again, Ryo.”

“No, sorry but I don’t wish to see you again …”

‘Kukuku’ Leonor laughed once again.

“Don’t say that. If you have that much power, we’ll meet again even if you don’t want to. It might be me, or one of us. Don’t be killed by anyone other than me. I shall be the one who kills Ryo. By then, I will be stronger than I am now. See you again.”

Then, Leonor’s presence disappeared.

And the world regained its color.