Water Magician

Vol 3. Chapter 672: Individual Combat

In one corner of the Darwei main camp stood a water-attribute magician, looking pleased that he had properly fulfilled his role.

“The winner takes all.”

“Huh?”

“The Wyvern magic stones still lying where they fell a little while ago. The side that wins this battle gets to extract the magic stones from those Wyverns and take the whole lot!”

“That’s true, but...”

“Abel, now that you’ve become a king, haven’t your economic instincts changed? Back when we were traveling from the Forest of Rondo to Rune, you said Wyvern magic stones were valuable, so we should harvest them. Just because you’ve become a rich king, I don’t think it’s good to laugh at something valuable.”

The instant Ryo said that—

it happened completely without warning.

A man in white eastern robes, with long black hair hanging down his back, appeared before the two of them.

“Where the hell... did he come from?”

Abel was barely able to force out those words.

Ryo could say nothing.

Even Ryo, who prided himself on the perfection of his sonar-based detection of the surrounding area, had failed to notice him before he appeared.

But what shocked Ryo even more than that...

“Phantom King?”

It was his first time meeting the “real body.”

When they had fought at Kubebasa, Duke Helbe had been the one possessed, so the outward appearance had been Duke Helbe’s.

But the presence he felt from the man before him now was the same as it had been then.

So although he voiced it as a question, he was certain.

“It’s been a while, Duke Rondo. Though I suppose this is the first time you’ve seen me in this appearance. That’s right. I am the Phantom King.”

At that moment, Chief Attendant Linshun and Captain Lu Yao moved, placing themselves between Prince Ryun and the Phantom King in a protective stance before their lord.

Following them, Commander Tin Meu of the Forbidden Army moved to shield Emperor Tsuin, and Attendant Wenshu and the other Forbidden Army soldiers also shifted into positions to protect their masters.

“Ohhh, what splendid subordinates you’ve got there, but I’ve got no interest in that side.”

“You mean the only one you’re interested in is me.”

“That’s right. I hear you beat Marie at the summer villa. She’s strong, no exaggeration. I did think you were fairly strong back when we fought at Kubebasa, but honestly, I didn’t think you were strong enough to beat Marie. But if you did beat her, then naturally I’d be interested.”

“At Kubebasa, I already defeated you, so I’m not really interested at this point.”

“You little—”

Ryo deliberately spoke in a taunting tone. The Phantom King’s cheek twitched as he started to get angry.

Then Ryo began walking toward the battlefield.

The Phantom King, unable to make sense of it, stayed where he was and watched.

“Hey, Mr. Phantom King, if we do it there, we’ll just get in everyone else’s way. If you want to fight, let’s do it over here.”

Ryo called out to him.

At the same time, Ryo gave Abel a small nod.

It meant: I’m leaving the rest to you.

Abel gave a small nod back.

It meant: Understood.

And so, a little distance away from the main battlefield and the Darwei main camp, the second round between Ryo and the Phantom King began.

“By the way, what happened to Marie?”

“Why are you asking that?”

After they faced each other, Ryo asked first, and the Phantom King answered suspiciously.

“She said she wanted to go to the Western Countries and the Dark Continent. You didn’t possess her the way you did Duke Helbe, did you?”

“Possess Marie...? Impossible.”

“Because her heart is strong?”

“...I thought so when I met you at Kubebasa too, but just how much do you know?”

“Duke Helbe told me. He said that if someone had an unshakable heart, they couldn’t be possessed. But you possessed Duke Helbe. The only reason you could do that was because his heart wavered when you made him kill his own older brother, right?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

The Phantom King admitted that Ryo’s deduction was correct.

“That’s cowardly.”

“I won’t deny it.”

“The fact that you’re here now means you can’t possess Duke Helbe anymore.”

“Well now, who knows?”

“That man’s heart will never waver again.”

Ryo considered Duke Helbe an opponent who could not be taken lightly.

In truth, he still thought that in the end Duke Helbe might become an enemy he would have to fight.

But at the same time, he also held him in high regard as a capable ruler.

And for the sake of the Grand Duchy of Atinjo, which had only just changed rulers, he believed Duke Helbe ought to be thawed as quickly as possible.

So—

“”

“Huh?”

“It’s nothing. Nothing you need to concern yourself with.”

“When you put it that way, it only makes me more curious.”

Far away from Darwei, in Camphor, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Atinjo, he released the .

Yes, once a magical line had been linked, transmission was instant regardless of distance.

It was such a mysterious phenomenon that it made Ryo think of “quantum entanglement” from particle physics.

Quantum entanglement could not be explained by classical physics.

No matter how far apart entangled particles were, if one changed, the other would also change “instantly”... as though distance had nothing to do with it.

It was almost enough to make him wonder, Are they connected by some kind of black hole or white hole? Or are they linked through extra dimensions?

And what was more, that ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) was not merely theoretical. It was a phenomenon confirmed by experiment.

“But getting back to what we were talking about, could it be that Marie went to open the Wall?”

“Hey, your conversation’s jumping all over the place.”

“The fact that you dodged the question means that’s exactly right, doesn’t it?”

“You little—”

“Come to think of it, the Emperor of Darwei said that the reason you drew blood was for the Key to open the Wall, right? Apparently even now the Wall is full of enough gaps that people can slip through, but Phantomkin still can’t pass unless it’s properly opened.”

“...”

“And in the first place, apparently the Wall and the Corridor were made to prevent something from the Central Countries from coming in, but that thing isn’t coming anymore? Or once you open it, can it not be closed again?”

“That’s something you don’t need to know.”

The Phantom King answered with a frown at Ryo’s words.

The reason Ryo was deliberately having this kind of conversation before the fight was because he wanted information.

To begin with, opportunities to gather information were not that common.

And right now was one of those precious opportunities.

There would not be many chances to speak directly with the Phantom King, who had apparently lived—or at least existed—for a very long time.

“I tried making a small deduction, you see. Things that exist in the Central Countries but not in the Eastern Countries, yet still remain in old books and legends... I thought perhaps those were the beings they didn’t want coming from the Central Countries. Of course, a few of them must have come through at first and run wild. And those are what were recorded in books and tales.”

“...”

“It isn’t dragons. There are dragons in the Eastern Countries too. It isn’t devils either. They still appear normally even now. As far as I know, there’s one thing that fits. Demon Men.”

“...”

The Phantom King remained silent, but Ryo felt as though the muscles in his face had stiffened slightly.

“That’s right, Demon Men is just what humans call them, isn’t it? They themselves called themselves Spermelno, I think?”

“...Themselves? You mean they told you that? Don’t tell me—you actually know some Spermelno?”

“I do. That’s not really something to be surprised about, is it?”

“It absolutely is something to be surprised about!”

If you wanted to draw information out of the other side, then you had to reveal information of your own.

The more valuable the information you disclosed, the easier it became to get valuable information in return.

If all you had was worthless information, they’d look down on you from the start, wouldn’t they?

“And besides, didn’t you mention dragons and devils earlier? What, are you saying you know those kinds of things too?”

“Know them... well, I fight them fairly often. I’ve fought the Azure Dragon twice, and devils... about five times, I think. Those people always want to fight me. It’s a real nuisance.”

“...I see.”

Ryo spoke with a smile, and the Phantom King answered in a weary tone.

By revealing several pieces of information, Ryo’s value in the Phantom King’s eyes seemed to have risen.

But...

that, in the end, pulled the trigger too soon.

“That’s enough. I understand now.”

“Huh?”

“In the end, the only way to know is to fight.”

“How did you arrive at that conclusion...?”

CLANG!

A sudden slash from the Phantom King.

Ryo received it with Murasame.

But Ryo noticed the sword the Phantom King was wielding.

“That sword... it’s the sword Duke Helbe had at Kubebasa...”

“Oh? You remembered it well. It’s the Saint Sword Tattien.”

Immediately after freezing Duke Helbe in ice, Ryo had lost consciousness.

When he woke some time later in what seemed to be an infirmary, he had asked Abel about the sword.

But Abel had said there had been no sword.

So the Phantom King had it.

But how had he gotten it?

The Phantom King’s real body should not have been at Kubebasa.

“Why do you have that sword?!”

“Because I got it back then.”

“How could you possibly get it in that situation?”

“Humans could never understand.”

The Phantom King said that with a grin.

In contrast, Ryo was frowning.

Because the trait of this Saint Sword Tattien was the worst possible one for him.

“If it undergoes Saint Sword Ascension, it ig-nores mag-ic...”

“Exactly. For a magician, it’s fair to call it a natural enemy of a sword. It looked convenient, so I took it.”

Apparently it would shine brilliantly when it underwent Saint Sword Ascension, but for now it was still just an ordinary sword.

Even so, the Phantom King’s swordsmanship was sharp.

As far as his handling of the sword went, it felt as though his blade came out more smoothly than it had when they fought at Kubebasa.

“As expected, this body’s much easier to fight in than a body I’ve possessed.”

He said that and laughed heartily.

Meanwhile, Ryo, still frowning, kept receiving the Phantom King’s descending strikes.

He did not really mind being forced into pure defense; developments like this happened often enough.

(He’s strong...)

Yes, the Phantom King was strong.

Far more than when they fought at Kubebasa, his sword was more powerful, faster, and technically superior.

And on top of that...

“That thrust rising diagonally from below—Marie used that too.”

“Yeah, that’s one of her specialties. That iajutsu or whatever was beyond even me, but I could copy this one.”

Yes, he was using that annoying upward thrust from a diagonal lower angle, chained off a robe-slashing diagonal cut within that flurry of attacks.

“You weren’t doing that back at Kubebasa!”

“Well, that body wasn’t really my own. Thinking back on it now, it was pretty restrictive.”

The Phantom King said it with a laugh.

He really was worthy of being called the Phantom King. Even though he wielded the sword one-handed, his blows were powerful.

And when he brought it down with both hands in a full-force overhead strike...

Ryo had once failed to redirect it and had to receive it head-on with all his strength, and for a moment he thought the arms supporting Murasame were going to break.

It was that powerful.

The ever-troublesome gap in racial characteristics.

How fragile a being a human truly was.

But there was no point grumbling.

If grumbling would change something, then he should grumble all he liked, but in most cases it changed nothing...

Ryo made one large backward step.

One deep breath.

“All I can do is what I can do.”

Muttering that, he raised Murasame into a centered stance, just as always.

That alone changed the atmosphere.

“Ohh... just as I thought, your whole aura changes in an instant. Truly fascinating.”

The Phantom King muttered in response to Ryo’s change.

“That alone makes it worth the trouble of coming here.”

As he said that, he raised his sword high with both hands.

Neither of them could move easily.

The tension mounted.

Sooner or later, something would cause it to burst.

But that—

“Behind you!”

Suddenly, Ryo shouted.

At that very instant, the command tent of the Darwei main camp was slashed open, and a sharp light attacked Emperor Tsuin.

CLANG!

The clear ringing of sword against sword echoed out.

The one man who had been able to move because of Ryo’s shout—

“It’s been a while, General Yun.”

Abel, wielding the red demonic sword, had taken the slash General Yun had launched, shielding Emperor Tsuin as he did so.

Then the Choouchi Imperial scout unit came cutting in as well.

By then, Prince Ryun, Commander Tin Meu of the Forbidden Army, and the others had drawn their swords and stepped in front of the scout unit.

“Tch.”

General Yun frowned.

His surprise attack had been blocked. Naturally, he was not pleased.

But because of their charge, the balance in another place collapsed.

“Don’t let your guard down, Duke Rondo.”

The Phantom King’s Saint Sword Tattien had pierced Ryo through the abdomen.

It was driven in deep, and the Phantom King’s right arm was soaked in Ryo’s blood all the way to the wrist.

“So creating that state of balance itself... was the trap?”

Though his face was twisted in pain, the Murasame in Ryo’s hands had also bitten into the Phantom King’s left shoulder.

The reason he had not been able to cut all the way through was that this was not a truly even exchange—Ryo had taken the greater damage.

“Yeah, of course it was. Against an opponent like you, no opening is going to appear that easily. But if there was a surprise attack on the main camp, then even you’d shift your attention there for an instant. And well, if the surprise attack itself succeeded, that would’ve been fine too. Our emperor would’ve been pleased.”

The Phantom King had taken a slash in his own shoulder, yet he was grinning.

He looked delighted that such a fairly large-scale operation had gone well.

“I suppose I should be honored that you were willing to plan an operation on that scale just to land a single blow on me.”

“You’ve got a sword run through your gut, and you’ve still got a lot of composure.”

“I once had my heart pierced through by a Demon Man’s arm, so compared to that...”

“Are you really human?”

Ryo, cold sweat on his face, made a show of acting as though it did not affect him. The Phantom King stared at him in disbelief.

“You carried out a surprise attack on that scale, and in the end all you managed to do was stick a sword in my stomach, so what exactly do you intend to do now?”

“...At this point, your taunting is honestly impressive.”

The Phantom King was still incredulous.

There was a reason Ryo was carrying on such a long conversation while a sword was still stuck through his abdomen.

It was to understand the Saint Sword Tattien the Phantom King was using.

At present, since the Saint Sword Tattien was piercing Ryo, it was fair to say that it was being constantly analyzed by Ryo’s water-attribute magic.

If the Saint Sword Tattien’s trait had not been “ignores magic,” but instead something like “repels magic” or “does not accept magic at all,” then perhaps not even Ryo’s water-attribute magic would have been able to analyze it.

But its trait was “ignores magic.”

For example, Ryo’s water-attribute magic would probably be unable to bend or break the Saint Sword Tattien.

In other words, magic could not affect the Saint Sword Tattien—that was what “ignores magic” meant.

But merely observing it with magic, that at least seemed possible.

From Ryo’s point of view, strictly speaking, if even observation were ignored, then it ought to be impossible too...

So perhaps, to be exact, it did not truly “ignore magic” after all.

He had not read an instruction manual, after all.

It was only what the Phantom King himself had said back at Kubebasa.

In any case, by sacrificing his own abdomen, Ryo was gathering information.

Of course, he had put an ice membrane over his organs and blood vessels to keep the bleeding to a minimum.

Even so, that too was nearing its limit.

(The pain’s getting worse.)

Meanwhile, fierce close-quarters combat was also unfolding on the surprise-attack side.

And among that fighting, there could be little doubt that the fiercest clash was Abel versus General Yun.

This was their second battle.

Their first had taken place at Rondo Manor.

Since that had been an indoor battle under a low ceiling, they had been forced to construct their swordplay mainly around thrusts and sweeping horizontal cuts.

Naturally, it had been exactly as Ryo described it: “cramped.”

But this time was different.

They were inside the Darwei main camp, but there was no roof overhead.

Around them, the Choouchi Imperial scout unit and the Darwei military leaders were fighting, but perhaps because Abel and General Yun’s sword clash was so violent,

the others were gradually pulling farther and farther away from them.

After all, no one wanted to get dragged into someone else’s fight.

“I thought so back at Rondo Manor too, but you’re strong.”

“Why, thank you.”

Abel spoke, hoping to draw out information, but General Yun answered with few words.

“What’s wrong? Don’t have enough room to fight and talk at the same time?”

“You only want to draw information out of me. I won’t fall for that.”

“That’s too bad.”

Abel’s plan failed.

But after saying that, General Yun kept glancing at the demonic sword in Abel’s hand.

“What’s wrong? First time seeing a demonic sword? No, that can’t be right. Phantomkin live a very long time, don’t they?”

“I’ve seen hundreds of demonic swords. But that...”

CLANG.

Abel and General Yun went into a bind of locked blades.

Which naturally meant that Abel’s demonic sword came right up before General Yun’s eyes.

“It resembles the sword Richard used.”

General Yun muttered.

That murmur surprised Abel.

No, it surprised him, but lately he had gradually started getting used to this sort of thing.

Apparently his ancestor had been an extremely active man.

He had fought Demon Men, fought the ghost ship Luri...

and Abel had more or less taken it for granted that he had probably fought other inhuman beings too.

It seemed the Phantomkin had now joined that list.

“Yeah, apparently it was the sword my ancestor King Richard used. I only learned that myself fairly recently.”

Abel answered in an intentionally casual tone.

“...You’re Richard’s descendant?”

General Yun said that with a frown.

“Sounds like you fought King Richard before. Did you lose?”

“Rather than lose... I simply wasn’t an opponent worthy of him.”

“Well, that’s rough.”

General Yun answered in a low voice. Abel caught something like anger in that voice.

“Red swordsman, if you truly are Richard’s descendant, then you’re a fitting target for me to unleash my full strength upon.”

“No, you really don’t need to unleash your full strength on me. It hurts when both sides get injured. And also, my name’s Abel, General Yun.”

“Understood, Abel. Since you went out of your way to introduce yourself, that must be a provocation telling me to come at you with everything I have.”

“No, were you even listening to what I said?”

For some reason, the calm and composed air General Yun had shown until a moment ago was gone, and now his emotions were clearly heightened.

Abel lamented that this was no longer a conversation at all.

“I tried to master Richard’s alchemy after I was defeated by him.”

“Ah... it’s said that King Richard reached the farthest extreme even in alchemy.”

“Then take this, descendant of his.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Imitation: Thousand-Handed Kannon.”

The instant General Yun chanted it, the sword in his hand gave off the pale light of alchemy.

And in the next instant—

dozens of invisible slashes attacked Abel!

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG...

“You deflect all of them? As expected of Richard’s descendant!”

“You sound nothing like the calm, cool-headed general you were a second ago!”

Abel pointed out just how drastic the change was in General Yun, now worked up and far more talkative.

“More importantly, aren’t you Phantomkin? Why can you use alchemy?”

“Wasn’t alchemy made so that anyone could use it?”

“Huh, was it...?”

Hit with something that sounded almost like perfect logic, Abel faltered.

Yes, alchemy tools were indeed made so that anyone could use them.

But that did not mean alchemy itself had been made so that anyone could use it.

“Then what about this! Imitation: Thousand-Handed Kannon, All Range!”

The instant General Yun chanted it, Abel sensed something had appeared behind him as well.

He had not seen it.

He had no time to look.

But he knew!

“An attack from all directions!”

His judgment took an instant.

His action took an instant too.

He burst straight forward, running at General Yun.

CLANG.

He exchanged one strike, lowered his posture, ran past General Yun’s side, and spun around.

By doing that, he placed General Yun between himself and the countless invisible blades appearing in the air, using him as a shield.

“As expected, your judgment is quick.”

“If you want to survive as an adventurer, quick judgment is everything.”

“However, that is the trap.”

The instant General Yun said it, wind ran upward from beneath Abel’s feet.

Something like ?

General Yun must have set it there in advance, having anticipated Abel’s movement.

Clatter, clatter...

“What?”

But the rushing wind struck Abel—and was repelled away.

General Yun stared in surprise.

“Ah... it’s an ice armor. Was it called ?”

“Ice? Don’t tell me that was Duke Rondo!”

“Pretty great partner of mine, right? He’s facing a troublesome enemy himself, and he’s still protecting me.”

Abel said it with a laugh, looking just a little proud.

Meanwhile, that very partner of Abel’s still had a sword stuck through his abdomen.

And yet...

The Phantom King, who until then had calmly kept his sword thrust into him, frowned slightly, pulled the blade free, and leaped a great distance backward.

Perhaps because he had a huge hole opened in his abdomen, Ryo could not pursue him at once.

“Tch...”

The pained sound that escaped did not come from Ryo, but from the Phantom King.

“Hey, Duke Rondo... what did you do to my body?”

“I didn’t do anything. Isn’t it just your imagination?”

“As if that’s possible!”

Even his shout was not especially loud.

Before long, the Phantom King even dropped to one knee.

“Saint Sword Ascension: Disperse.”

The Phantom King chanted.

But nothing happened.

“Impossible...”

Even that mutter of the Phantom King’s was not loud.

But his eyes were opened wide.

“That just now was the one where Saint Sword Ascension disperses magical effects, right? But unfortunately for you, I sealed the power of the Saint Sword Tattien.”

“That can’t be possible...”

“I couldn’t perform a complete analysis, but I did manage to seal Saint Sword Ascension.”

Ryo smiled brightly.

Apparently he was satisfied that he had been able to make use of the analytical data he had gained by sacrificing his own abdomen.

“Damn it, I can’t put any strength into my body...”

“That sounds difficult.”

Ryo slowly walked toward the Phantom King, who was stuck on one knee and unable to move.

Murasame was in his right hand.

“I’ll ask you again. What did you do?”

“I’ll answer you again. Isn’t it just your imagination?”

Ryo was the very image of shameless composure.

Needless to say, it was not the Phantom King’s imagination.

After all, the Phantom King himself could no longer move.

“Phantom King, then this is farewell.”

At that instant, the Phantom King’s head was cut off, and his heart was pierced through.