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Chapter 99

With a psychic scream that didn’t quite sound like a cry, the creature that had been climbing onto Aquamarine’s deck plummeted.

It wasn’t the only one.

With a soft thwip, several others, with arrows sprouting from their foreheads, fell like autumn leaves. Ninian’s archery, approaching the level of responding to a thousand attacks with one arrow, had become nearly impossible to evade with mere agility. Even the toughest hide couldn’t withstand such pinpoint attacks.

“...That makes a hundred. Doesn’t look like their numbers are decreasing.”

As if responding to her monologue, Galano, standing ahead, shouted confidently, “We’ll have to hold this position until those two either succeed in sealing the Rift or return to the ship!”

“Can we hold out?”

“No problem! My thrusts might not be as precise as your arrows, but they’re not so sloppy as to not break through these creatures’ defense. Plus, I’m conserving my stamina and aura in preparation for a long fight.”

Ninian nodded slightly and shot another arrow. With lethal precision, it drilled through the heads of more Demon Octopuses. While taking down more enemies, Ninian’s keen ears picked up the voices of her companions doing their best to support her from behind.

Two mages and a spiritualist—although the crew had less than ten members, it was a rather extravagant lineup for their expedition team. The focal point among them was Esther.

“Vivian! Sister Lorelei! I’ll buy us some casting time, so use a big spell!”

“Uh... Okay! Got it!”

“Understood!”

Lorelei, a prodigy who had reached Class 6 at a young age but lacked real combat experience, and Vivian, a high-rank spiritualist who had rarely collaborated with others despite her years of experience.

Although Esther herself wasn’t as skilled as those two, her expertise allowed them to maximize their abilities. As the top disciple from the Magic Tower, she had accumulated vast knowledge and had the invaluable experience of witnessing the prime days of the Aquamarine Expedition Team firsthand.

“Fire Arrow!”

In response to Esther’s incantation, dozens of magical circles materialized, unleashing flaming arrows. Originally, this spell wouldn’t have had such power and numbers, but thanks to Leonard’s help in optimizing the spell, the magic formation was now several times stronger.

Dozens of flaming arrows rained down, piercing through the air as though shot by elite soldiers. They struck the octopuses clinging to the ship’s hull, those just stepping onto the deck, and even those forming wings to fly.

Fourteen confirmed hits.

SKREEEE! KREEECH!

The Demon Octopuses, weak against heat and light, shrieked in agony as their skin was being pierced and scorched.

“■■?! ■■■■—!”

“■■■!? ■!”

“■■■■■■■??!”

While the attacks didn’t kill them outright, they effectively immobilized the creatures and bought more time. There was no need for excessive power or damage.

Thanks to Jack Russell’s teachings, Esther didn’t repeat the same mistake twice. Indeed, instead of amplifying her power with Fire Spear, focusing on quantity and accuracy to create an opportunity for the other two to cast their wide-area spells was the correct strategy.

“As expected of the disciple of the Chief Elder. She’s good.”

“Captain Njord’s judgment has never been wrong. Her potential was recognized as far back as eight years ago.”

Motivated by Esther’s efficient support, Ninian and Galano held their ground without taking a single step back.

Just then, Vivian shouted, “I’ll clear the way with wind! Give it everything you’ve got!”

“Uh, okay!”

A moment before Lorelei finished her chant, Vivian’s spirit magic activated.

Whooosh!

A high-rank spiritualist—few truly understood what that meant. Most spiritualists could only borrow a fragment of a spirit’s power, like Ninian. Low-rank spiritualists were weaker and less versatile than Class 3 Mages, and mid-rank spiritualists often fell short of even Class 4 Mages, let alone Class 5 Mages.

But high-rank spiritualists were different, as even Class 6 Mages would struggle against their chosen element.

Rider on the Storm

Audra

The high-rank spirit Audra, summoned from the Spirit Realm, enveloped the ship with several whirlwinds at the command of her contractor.

“Now!”

At Vivian’s signal, Lorelei completed her incantation. The Class 6 Mage, a step away from becoming an Archmage, unleashed her full power. The magic in the area was sucked into a massive magic circle, which was several meters in diameter.

Lorelei knew the Demon Octopuses were vulnerable to light and heat, and possessing theoretical knowledge on par with that of an elder from the Magic Tower, she chose the most devastating spell to exploit that weakness.

“Breath that turns verdant fields into wastelands, unleash a single gust that withers thousands to death!”

At that moment, the Class 6 fire spell, Prominence Burn, erupted. The blaze from the magic circle wasn’t merely fire; it was something that rode the storm, enveloping the ship.

Seeing this, Esther screamed in alarm, “Prominence Burn?! Isn’t that a forbidden spell?!”

“It’s only forbidden in war zones and places with a high fire risk... I think...”

Magic with excessive lethality and collateral damage was often outlawed with continent-wide consensus, and spells like Mega Drought and Prominence Burn fell into this category. If someone was found guilty of casting such spells without meeting the specific conditions, a bounty would be placed on the caster’s head.

Usually, the Magic Tower would intervene and compensate for the damages, covering up the incident.

“...?!”

Witnessing the spell’s devastating power firsthand, the Aquamarine crew now understood why Prominence Burn was classified as a forbidden spell.

“...That’s terrifying.”

“There’s no way we could avoid that... The range is too wide to just dodge. The only thing we could do is to prevent it from being cast.”

The experienced Galano and Ninian exchanged their impressions of Prominence Burn, once again realizing the destructive power of a Class 6 magic spell. Powerhouses capable of reversing the tide of the battle—that was what high-rank mages were.

The flames of Prominence Burn—or more accurately, the high-temperature gas resembling flames—intensified by the storm, swept through, erasing even the screams of the creatures. Even the slightest contact with the blue flames would reduce the target to ash.

The vacuum environment created by the spell, which didn’t extinguish the blue flames, plunged the area into an eerie silence, spreading death quietly.

“Sister Lorelei.”

Esther, who had been staring wide-eyed at the hellscape, quickly regained her composure and turned to Lorelei. “How much longer can you maintain it?”

“Two, maybe three minutes? If I push it, five minutes, but I’ll be out of mana...”

“There’s no need to overextend. Even if you used Prominence Burn ten more times, you wouldn’t be able to annihilate them all.”

Despite the advantage gained by the wide-area spell, the creatures kept coming like moths to a flame. While they avoided rushing into Prominence Burn, they were clearly waiting for the spell to end.

At this rate, as soon as the effects of Prominence Burn wore off, an endless battle of attrition would ensue.

But there’s no way to end this...

Esther wiped the cold sweat off her forehead, racking her brains for a way out of this.

Master’s supreme spell, Helios, still has some time left. We can hold out for thirty more minutes. The problem is what we do after Helios fades away.

The magic sun, Helios, left behind by Jack Russell, weakened those monstrous creatures with its light and heat. That was why Ninian could kill them with her arrows and the barrage of Fire Arrow spells could inflict fatal damage.

Despite targeting their weak points, these were Rank B monsters. Normally, the Demon Octopuses couldn’t be defeated that easily.

The psychic waves are being blocked by Aquamarine, and the telekinesis and otherworldly magic aren’t too powerful... If I knew this was going to happen, I would have studied barrier spells more!

Nothing was as useful in defending a stronghold as barriers. Knowing this, Esther regretted her past disinterest in barrier spells. Time kept flowing, and no good ideas came to mind. If there were an ideal strategy, Archmage Russell would have shared it with the crew before leaving.

It was a battle of endurance, relying on pure strength. The five Aquamarine members, without Leonard and Russell to help them, faced their limits.

“Hup!”

Galano gritted his teeth, pushing through the pain in his lungs, and skewered four Demonic Octopuses with a single thrust. Blood and flesh splattered everywhere along with a foul smell.

My spear is starting to waver. I can’t keep doing this for much longer.

His family’s martial art, Maelstrom, would lose more than half its power without precision. A proper thrust would have left neat holes in the creatures instead of messy splatters. His breathing was ragged, his muscles growing more tired by the minute.

The others were in similar situations.

“Audra!”

Vivian’s call barely roused the high-rank spirit, Audra, to unleash blades of wind.

The creatures approaching Ninian were shredded into pieces. Normally, the wind blades would have cut through the rear ranks as well, but now they only took down one or two before dissipating. Though she was a pure-blooded elf with abundant mana, Vivian also had her limits.

Twang!

Ninian gritted her teeth as her bowstring snapped despite her careful maintenance. The strain of the intense battle proved too much for it. Within seconds, she re-strung her bow, but the situation had already spiraled out of control.

Galano, holding the front line, was pushed back, and the Demonic Octopuses were swarming the deck.

Yeon Family Archery

Prelude

Resonating Arrows, Three Sections

To make up for her mistake, Ninian pulled out a technique she had not yet mastered. Resonating Arrows, initially used in Goguryeo for signaling or commands, were different in the Yeon Family Archery.

If it sliced through the air sharply, the sound vanished, but if it tore through roughly, it echoed like a ghost’s wail.

I’ll compensate for my lack of aura control with spirit magic.

With bloodied fingers, she nocked an arrow, channeling her aura through it as she twisted it half a turn. Similar yet distinct from Maelstrom, this was also an application of rotational force, which surged from the fletching to the shaft and then to the arrowhead.

A non-human, a half-elf from another world recreated the martial art of Goguryeo’s renowned family.

Whiiing—!

Augmented arrow energy—the three arrows sliced through the air and transformed into gusts of wind, shredding the creatures they struck.

The technique meant to tear through multiple enemies at once, compensating for the general weakness of archers, temporarily halted the Demonic Octopuses’ charge.

“Hup!”

At that moment, Marianne jumped onto the deck from inside the ship.

Kiing!

Swinging her aura-enhanced sword with full force, Marianne easily cut through the creatures already weakened by Helios. With a few strikes, she broke through to reach Galano’s side, holding the line. Without her, the front would have collapsed in seconds, even though they had managed to hold on for minutes.

The fact that Marianne, whose duty was guarding Frances, had come to offer aid was proof of how dire the situation was.

“Just hold on a little longer! Judging by how the power within the Rift is shifting and fluctuating, it looks like a decisive moment is near!”

“Then I’ll give it one last push...!”

With trembling knees, Galano gripped his spear as tightly as he could. He felt like he would drop it at any moment, and the others weren’t doing any better .

Ninian, Vivian, Esther, and Lorelei—all of them were pale, having never been pushed this far, but none gave up or fell.

“Ah!” Esther, looking up at the sky, started trembling.

The power source they had relied on until now, Helios, was dispersing. They had already reached their limits by maintaining the front lines against weakened foes. If the Demonic Octopuses regained their full strength, Aquamarine wouldn’t last a moment.

Just as despair was about to set in...

Crack!

A web of cracks materialized in the space surrounding Aquamarine, spreading rapidly. It was a phenomenon that three members of Aquamarine had experienced before.

Jack Russell and Leonard had succeeded in sealing the Rift.

Crack! Crack!

The entire space surrounding them, covered in tiny cracks, collapsed.

“Looks like they’re back.”

“Mmhmm...”

The crew, fighting desperately on the deck, saw Leonard and Russell before them. Despite facing stronger and more dangerous foes, they seemed to be in far better condition than the rest of the crew.

Those who had fought on the deck, feeling a mix of relief and frustration, collapsed almost simultaneously.

The journey through the Abyss of the Demonic Octopus had been incomparably more perilous than the previous expedition in the Sea Orc Den, and it was coming to its final moments.