novelraw Chapter 117 : Chapter 117
Chapter 117 : Chapter 117
Chapter 117: Fire and Water (7)
Water is a tricky Origin, Ellen realized anew.
The river was unbelievably cold. It was also heavy. It felt as if she were buried underground.
And within that river, another river was flowing.
It was an especially dense magic, Ellen intuited.
That was the attack. To bind the enemy with the normal river, and to attack the enemy with that dense river.
It must be the hunting method of the mage named Avery Aquins.
Surprisingly, the matchup wasn't bad.
Ellen could hold her breath for a long time, and she possessed the strength to forget the weight. Even in this unique underwater environment, she could swing her sword.
A river is advantageous when dealing with many, but it is not an Origin suited for a single, exceptional individual. The torrent, swirling and rushing, was cut by Ellen's sword.
Although such torrents were countless, Ellen could somehow react or endure. However, the trickiness was undeniable.
‘Harad only knows how to burn.’
It was the difference in Origin.
It must be a characteristic of each Mages’ Tower.
Water is versatile.
But it is not destructive like fire.
That was why Ellen could endure even after falling into the 5th Rank's magic.
Torrents swirled from all directions. Some were blatant, and some were subtle. Ellen cut the blatant ones and endured the subtle ones.
She could swing her sword, but the speed was definitely much slower than outside.
Blood and water flowed from the gaping hole in her palm. Bubbles formed in that water. As she clenched her fist, the bubbles burst.
She blocked the explosion, but her hand became more tattered. Indeed. Ellen was keenly aware once again that she was in the middle of magic. It wouldn't be strange for an attack to start from anywhere.
‘Breath.’
It was still fine. Her body was, too. There was enough stamina.
But it was a matter of time. She had to either kill him before her breath ran out, or escape this river.
‘How annoying.’
Ellen was reminded anew of what a troublesome bunch mages were.
If a mage is given enough time and distance, a knight is bound to be at a disadvantage.
Of course, there is also the difference in level. Because I am not a Sword Master. But still.
‘Does this make sense.’
She couldn't gauge the depth. Ellen had fallen that deep. It was a river that wouldn't be strange for dozens, perhaps even over a hundred people to fall into.
A 5th Rank mage could wield magic of this scale as if it were natural.
It meant that while a knight was killing enemies one by one, Avery Aquins was capable of mass slaughter.
If they were weak, they wouldn't even be able to resist.
She hated to admit it, but… Ellen was on the weaker side, too. Compared to a 5th Rank, that is.
‘Did I think too lightly of it?’
She had thought it would be enough to just raise her aura and swing with all her might.
Because when one thinks of a mage, the first one that comes to mind is Harad, and when one thinks of an Origin, the first that comes to mind is the Sun.
Harad's Sun is a clear Origin.
Projection. He had said it was the stage where the shadow of the Origin manifests, and Harad's projection rises in the middle of the sky.
Whether it could be cut or not, she didn't know, but all she had to do was swing her sword towards that black sun.
‘Then what about the river?’
Smoke?
Instead of Avery Aquins, whom she had seen for the first time today, Ellen thought of Kubel.
If smoke were to manifest, how would one cut it?
‘Can it even be cut?’
No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't picture cutting it. An Origin was an abstract concept.
That was why Harad had once said that cutting an Origin was almost impossible.
It meant that Harad was also partly responsible for Ellen floundering and getting hurt in the deep river right now.
Because he had said that Ellen was an exception.
-But why is it my fault.
Harad answered in her head.
He had answered not to Ellen, but to Grand Duke Elaine.
Ellen was dreaming right now.
Even as she was floundering in the river, she kept hearing the dream in her head.
-You kept finding fault with Innate Strength, didn't you.
-It was Your Highness who suggested we worry about it together. So desperate to become a Sword Master…….
-Shut up.
It seemed the Grand Duke Elaine of the dream had also been lost at some point.
Ellen smiled bitterly as she was hit by the waterfall-like stream of water. It didn't feel like someone else's problem.
-That was the problem, Innate Strength is not something to be thought about.
A dream. It's a dream.
But could one dismiss something heard even when awake as a dream?
-My progress was delayed because of you.
-I apologize.
-I forgive you.
This is magic.
Magic whose origin is unknown, but which Harad is clearly involved in.
-20 years old? 25 years old? Whenever, if I went back to those times now, I could kill a Sword Master or a 5th Rank.
……Magic that Ellen should pay close attention to.
-Who couldn't.
-Fool. I mean with the martial prowess of that time.
-If I went back, projection and manifestation would be possible for me too.
-You, who were a good-for-nothing?
-……Let's say I go back as a 3rd Rank.
-Still, it's different. If you went back, you would overexert yourself trying to use techniques. Not me.
Grand Duke Elaine said.
Ellen couldn't see it, but she felt like she knew the expression on that Grand Duke's face.
-It is simply to use what one originally possesses correctly. Innate Strength.
Grand Duke Elaine was always arrogant.
-How do you use it?
-You must not try to understand it.
-……?
-You must not think about it either. It is like how saliva naturally comes out when you are hungry, and you naturally want to sleep when you are sleepy. Therefore, if you want to cut, you can cut.
-Why is that the conclusion?
-Because that is what I want.
-…….
-If it is difficult, let's call it the will of the heavens. Since it is Innate Strength.
What kind of bullshit is that.
Harad muttered.
-To put it simply, you have to do as you damn well please.
But Ellen's eyes glazed over dreamily.
On the other hand, her senses became sharper. She was drawn into reality like that.
-……You really like the word 'damn'.
To the point where she could no longer hear the dream.
-That is why you are alive, because I do not wish to cut you.
-Thank you.
-Alright.
* * *
Elaine Serzila was born with Innate Strength.
If someone were to ask what that is, Elaine would answer that it is a talent.
If they asked what kind of talent, she would answer that one just needs to know that her monstrous strength, stamina, regenerative power… and just her overall physical ability and aura are ridiculously great.
If they asked if that made sense, or if that was all there was to it… she would answer that she didn't know.
It was, regrettably, the truth.
-Innate Strength is Innate Strength.
The Grand Heir Elaine of her past life was foolish.
-Innate Strength is me.
However, Grand Duke Elaine did come to her own conclusion.
Of course, even that answer was vague.
However, the Harad of his past life could not deny it.
That was the correct answer. Grand Duke Elaine was a superhuman who had realized her own essence.
How could one who has realized their own essence not know their own talent?
The arrogant Elaine fully understood the concept of Innate Strength.
-So what is it.
-I said it's me.
However, she could not explain it to others.
Perhaps it was natural.
The power bestowed by the heavens. It was Grand Duke Aratus who had attached the concept of Innate Strength to Elaine's talent.
Who could know the will of the heavens?
Grand Duke Aratus must have imbued it with such meaning.
Because it must be a power that even the Grand Duke himself cannot explain.
-If you're so curious, would you like to try digging into it yourself? You can do anything except for dissection.
-No, thank you. I do not wish to touch it. It's not even magic.
I decided to understand it as a difference of birth.
That Elaine was not human, but something above that.
It was easier to just think of it that way.
Of course, it was not a very welcome interpretation.
‘Should I have checked more.’
If I had known I would regress, I would have.
‘Should I have tried dissecting her?’
No. Even if I had, it would have been fruitless.
Innate Strength was that kind of power.
Understanding it is Ellen's role.
‘I should have dreamed more.’
I said I would give advice, but it was not enough.
It couldn't be helped, though.
‘If you want to cut, you can cut. That is the correct answer.’
For my part, I couldn't properly explain Innate Strength.
So I must help.
As Ellen said, I had to get hurt a little, no, quite a bit.
The river, of a scale so great as to bring a tidal wave to mind, I accurately gazed upon Avery's Origin hidden within it.
It was the intuition of a mage named Harad, something that Ellen could not grasp.
‘I must avoid the Origin.’
Attacking the Origin was Ellen's role.
Avery Aquins had to play the same role as the tattered magical beast. By facing him and experiencing the appropriate line of death, Ellen had to grow.
“There is still time in the prophecy.”
Avery Aquins said.
Though he was quite far away, his voice was as clear as if he were speaking in my ear. It must be in the same context as the air becoming damp. I was within that bastard's range.
“It’s all the same story.”
Noticing that my Origin was the Sun.
Psina had been certain of his death.
Avery Aquins was the same.
That bastard was calculating the growth time of the woman who would be born with the Sun after I died.
‘No one thinks the prophecy will be wrong. The history of the Moon Tower must be the basis.’
The Moon must have never been wrong.
That is why they are so certain.
“Fake, how does it feel to be sentenced to death.”
Avery Aquins called me a fake.
According to the Moon's prophecy, it was the right word.
“Hmm. I'm curious, when do I die.”
“It will not be long.”
“Are you going to say it's today? That's a bit cliché.”
I laughed and spread my arms to the sides.
“Come on. Attack.”
“…….”
“It's a chance to go back and brag. That you hastened the prophecy. It would be a huge merit.”
But the river did not move.
“I will take you alive.”
“I see. The Deep Sea must fear the prophecy.”
I understood Avery Aquins's choice at once.
The King of the Red Tower is born only after I die.
It would be a moment the Tower of the Deep Sea would not wish for.
If the prophecy must come true, they would want to delay that time as much as possible.
“Smart. Like a mage.”
The longer I live, the later the King of the Red Tower comes.
Avery was aiming for that point.
“And insidious. Like water.”
However, the reason the river doesn't move is not because of that. I grinned.
“Is it getting more burdensome?”
Even at this moment, the raging torrent is getting rougher.
It means the power of the magic is getting stronger.
It also meant that he couldn't handle Ellen otherwise.
In the deep river, though she couldn't be seen, Ellen must be changing.
‘It is surprising.’
By what means, I wonder.
I did not try to understand.
“Consider it an honor.”
The opponent was that Elaine.
Elaine, who somehow overcomes when she stands on the line of death.
“She is several times more valuable than the Sun.”
What I had to do was to properly control that line of death.
‘Rivals.’
The Red Tower and the Tower of the Deep Sea are rivals.
It must have become so only after the King of the Red Tower died.
That is why Avery Aquins is trying to delay the realization of the prophecy.
When the Sun existed, the Tower of the Deep Sea could not be rivals with the Red Tower.
It is the way of things, to be so under the Sun.
“Do you know this?”
Crack. A crack appeared on the black sun.
A dazzlingly bright light spread from between the cracks.
And in that light, a particularly black spot bulged out.
“The sun sometimes explodes.”
I said, shedding tears of blood.
A roar was heard.
So massive that only I could hear it.
* * *
I want to cut.
Then it gets cut. Ellen felt a thrilling sensation in her hand. She had just cut not a river, but magic.
Even a light swing is the same as a swing with all her might. That is Innate Strength. A lightly stirred sword severed the flowing river. She cut the continuous magic.
‘It’s working.’
The continuous sensation in her hand is thrilling. But Ellen thought it was strange. That subtle sensation was holding her back from getting excited.
I want to cut.
If she thinks that and cuts, it cuts better.
Ellen was aware that her own achievements had advanced.
But she also intuited that it was the wrong answer.
This is not it.
You must not try to understand it.
You must not think about it either.
She succeeded in the former. She failed in the latter.
Ellen was swinging her sword, thinking she wanted to cut.
But Grand Duke Elaine had said she shouldn't do that.
‘It’s a dream.’
She had reached a stage of enlightenment through a dream, and now she was going to ignore it because it was a dream?
‘Bullshit.’
The dream was telling her the right answer.
Without thinking, she had to naturally want to cut.
Like how your stomach rumbles before you think you're hungry when you're hungry.
‘How do I do it.’
First, she needed to stop thinking.
But as soon as she became conscious of that fact, she couldn't stop at all.
I wish I were as ignorant as the knights.
Ellen clicked her tongue.
It's not that she gained nothing. A 5th Rank. And a river and magic manifested by an Origin at that.
In the midst of that, Ellen was free. She felt her Innate Strength expanding more than ever. No. Innate Strength was originally this kind of power.
No, even that was wrong. To borrow Grand Duke Elaine's words, Innate Strength is a power even greater than this.
It's just that she is not yet using it correctly.
Grand Duke Elaine knows more than this.
‘Thoughts.’
I have to stop.
It was then that her vision went black.
Her ears went deaf from something indescribable.
Her eardrums had burst, Ellen realized belatedly.
Her vision was shaking. Her body was shaken here and there, as if someone were grabbing her by the scruff of the neck and shaking her.
No, it was not her that was shaking, but the world.
Avery's river, caught by the scruff of the neck, was raging.
‘Harad.’
That destructive power, Ellen intuited at once.
It is Harad's magic. He is getting hurt for her. Perhaps not just a little, but quite a bit.
‘I said just a little.’
Actually, no.
He had to get hurt more, Ellen had already intuited.
Harad had anticipated that and granted her wish.
Her head broke the surface of the river.
It was not Ellen who had come up. It must be thanks to Harad's magic. The river is still heavy.
Breathing for the first time in a while, Ellen felt Harad. The outside of the river, which she had escaped from after a long time, was utterly dry. And chilling. It was to the point where she felt she would rather be inside the river.
The river was drying up.
And it was being rapidly replenished. But the depth did not increase. Even though water was pouring from somewhere, the river did not swell.
‘That bastard should have compressed it.’
Harad's words came to mind.
The river was being compressed.
Avery Aquins had finally felt the threat.
As proof, the river no longer rushed at Ellen.
It must mean he no longer had the luxury to pay attention to her.
The already heavy river became even heavier. The velocity slowed down noticeably. It felt as if it were preparing something.
In the midst of that flow, Ellen felt a sense of incongruity.
A river was flowing within the river.
It was a phenomenon she had seen before. That was magic, and an attack.
But Avery Aquins now did not have the luxury to attack Ellen.
Harad had taken that away.
So… that is definitely incongruous.
That incongruous river was flowing in the deepest part. It's the Origin. Ellen licked her lips unconsciously.
‘I want to cut it.’
When that thought arose.
Ellen was already swinging her sword.
No, she was cutting the Origin.
“Ah.”
Like this.
“Hee.”
Ellen grinned widely.
Because she had cut the Origin.
Because the cut river had disappeared from the world.
Because she had realized the correct use of Innate Strength.
But more than that…….
“Hee hee.”
Harad was blinking his widened eyes.
He had a dumbfounded look on his face.
“……Your Highness?”
The dumbfounded Harad muttered something.
Unfortunately, she couldn't hear it. Her burst eardrums had not yet healed.
She tried to read his lips, but that was difficult too. Harad's face was covered in blood.
But it surely meant he was surprised.
“How was it?”
“…….”
“I did well, didn't I?”
Harad smiled.
She couldn't hear the sound, but Ellen didn't feel any emptiness.
That was because Harad's expression was so rich.
“Hee hee.”
That was truly satisfying.