novelraw Vol 3. Chapter 698: Bonus Part: Ryo and Abel’s Journey Home (26)
Vol 3. Chapter 698: Bonus Part: Ryo and Abel’s Journey Home (26)
0698 Salamander Subjugation
Guided by the village chief and the others, Ryo and Abel headed toward the cave.
On the way, they passed the place that had first looked like a green pond.
“It really is... trinitite.”
Ryo murmured as he looked at the hardened green mineral.
“Trini-what?”
“Trinitite. It’s an artificial mineral formed when sand melts under ultra-high heat, then cools. It must be the result of the Salamander’s fire-attribute magic.”
“Sand melts? Like pottery?”
“Yes, something like porcelain. Though it must have been far hotter than a kiln.”
On Earth, trinitite had been created by the Trinity test of the atomic bomb.
Because of that, apparently it had emitted strong radiation, but this was different.
This was probably the result of pure high heat and cooling.
“We’ll need to be careful of the Salamander.”
Ryo’s murmur was serious.
Ryo and Abel arrived before the cave where the Salamander was said to live.
The villagers, including the village chief, were watching from a hill a short distance away.
“Isn’t that cave... hot?”
“There may be lava flowing in the depths.”
“So Salamanders really do like lava...”
“There was a legend that Salamanders normally eat lava.”
“Didn’t you say you didn’t know anything about Salamanders?”
“I did. I don’t know them as an adventurer. Legends are just stories passed down. They don’t count as knowing.”
Abel said that and shrugged.
Even if he knew a legend, it was not as though it would be useful in adventuring.
“
Ryo chanted.
“It’s about three hundred meters in.”
“Would going inside be difficult?”
“Yes. The cave is just barely wide enough for a person to pass through. And while I’m at it, I can’t tell what it’s like beyond five hundred meters.”
“Even with your magic, Ryo?”
“
Ryo reported that with slight frustration.
Sonar was like ripples spreading across a still water surface.
If the water vanished partway through, information from beyond that point could not be grasped.
“Then luring it outside would be best.”
“In that case, I’ll attack with water-attribute magic... Ah...”
“What is it?”
“I think it noticed us. It’s walking this way.”
“Perfect.”
Saying that, Abel drew his sword.
“As discussed, I’ll stop it with
“Right!”
The instant Abel answered Ryo’s words—
“It’s here!”
The Salamander suddenly accelerated and shot out of the cave.
“
Ryo constructed an ice wall in front of the Salamander.
CLANG.
With an enormous sound, the Salamander collided with the invisible ice wall.
Everything should have gone according to plan.
HSSS.
But in an instant, the ice wall melted.
“Magic is melting!”
Could such a thing even happen?
“Even magic is a physical phenomenon.”
If that was true, then it made sense that it would melt once its melting point was exceeded.
Understanding that allowed him to calm down.
“Abel, the Salamander is too hot!”
“Yes. I never thought even your ice would be melted, Ryo.”
“Guh... I suffered psychological damage just from having the truth pointed out.”
Abel spoke with a grimace, while Ryo looked frustrated.
It was true that when they intervened in the battle between the Federation and the Principality of Inberi, the Federation’s artificial Golem had melted
But even then, the ice floor had not melted in an instant...
“To think it evaporates the moment it touches it... Abel, be careful.”
“Right. Or rather, is that something a swordsman can even attack?”
Abel had his usual demonic sword at the ready.
He had it ready, but the monster was wreathed in heat that could melt even Ryo’s ice in an instant... For close-range professions like swordsmen, who could not attack without approaching, it was a bad matchup.
However, it was also a bad matchup for a water-attribute magician like Ryo.
“So it’s a bad matchup for both of us.”
“We should have charged a higher adventurer’s fee.”
“That’s... not the point, is it?”
“Of course I’m joking.”
“The fact that you can joke in this situation is impressive, Ryo.”
Abel was exasperated.
They were talking nonsense, but neither of them could think of a suitable way to deal with it.
Even as they spoke, Ryo put up layered defensive walls and tried to impede its movement with
But none of it was effective.
Of course not.
The ice melted the instant it touched the Salamander.
Even when he fired
“They aren’t hitting.”
“They melt the instant they’re about to land.”
Abel’s sharp eyes had caught the moment the ice spears melted.
They were not reaching the Salamander’s skin.
“This is... seriously dangerous.”
“I can’t think of a way to attack it.”
Both Abel and Ryo were being driven into a corner.
“I’ll stop its movement!”
“How?”
“
When Ryo chanted, the water vapor contained in the air around the Salamander transformed into mines.
Mines that would freeze whatever touched them.
“With this, the Salamander will freeze if it moves.”
“Oh.”
Abel praised him.
Certainly, with this—
HSSS. HSSS. HSSS...
“The magic is activating and freezing it, but...”
“It instantly melts and evaporates...”
The Dynamic Water Vapor Mines were activating, but the ice that formed was evaporating.
“That heat is truly beyond standard.”
“So we can’t even stop its feet.”
Both Ryo and Abel grimaced.
At present, neither of them had taken any damage.
The Salamander was running toward them, but honestly, it was not especially fast.
They could continue keeping their distance.
As long as it did not get close, its heat was not frightening...
WHOOSH.
Abel’s sword flashed.
“Huh?”
“A lump of flame just flew at us.”
Ryo was surprised, and Abel answered with surprise as well.
His body had moved without thought.
He had cut down a lump of flame launched by the Salamander with his sword.
In other words, it had a long-range magical attack.
“I didn’t even see the flame appear.”
“Neither did I. My body moved on its own, but not being able to see the ‘start’ of the magic... That’s bad.”
Abel knew.
He knew how difficult it was to keep cutting what he could not see.
Sooner or later, it would inevitably fall apart.
Even so...
“We can’t stop its movement, it can attack from range, and all our attacks are being nullified...”
“When I heard the story about its fight with Marie, I got the impression of a reckless charge... a monster that only rushed straight ahead...”
“It may have learned from its fight with that Phantomkin.”
“It’s smart, even though it’s a monster?”
“Put another way, that’s how deep its hatred must be.”
“We have to do something and defeat it...”
“Otherwise, the villagers will eventually become its victims.”
Both Ryo and Abel understood that they were in a situation where they could not retreat.
“That Phantomkin Marie landed a blow with her sword, right?”
“That’s what they said. It was probably an iaido strike.”
“Iaido? Ah, a high-speed drawing technique.”
“That sword flash really is instantaneous.”
Heat propagated.
Which meant it had to end before the heat could transfer.
Which meant, if it ended before the heat could transfer, it would be fine... probably.
“So it just has to reach the Salamander before the sword melts.”
Abel seemed to understand.
“If it charges in, that would work, but...”
“Yes. If it releases flame like before... and at close range...”
“Even I can’t cut it.”
Their concern was the same.
It was possible the Salamander had learned from the fight with Marie that charging in would get it struck by a sword and wounded.
No, the likelihood was high.
Now then, what should they do?
“Saturation attacks are justice.”
“Hm?”
“I’ll launch attacks with enough volume that it can’t deal with them all. If we’re lucky, they’ll damage it, and even if they don’t go that far, I think they’ll seal off its counterattack and stop its feet.”
“That may be true, but... the Salamander doesn’t need to do anything for your ice to melt just by getting near it, does it?”
“Yes. That’s why this will be a serious saturation attack. As a water-attribute magician, I will crush this fire-attribute monster head-on!”
Ryo exhaled deeply once.
After that, he naturally inhaled deeply, forming a forced deep breath.
“
The magic named permafrost reduced the vibration of water molecules in the air and froze them solid.
“
Then ice spears rained down.
“
He gave motion to his usual
“
After hearing that it had fled from rain, this was a rainstorm spell that should at least inflict definite damage, even if it could not defeat it.
“
Tens of thousands of ice spears concentrated their attack on a single point.
Five water-attribute spells were released at a single target.
“Oh...”
A voice escaped Abel’s mouth without him meaning to.
That was how unimaginable the sight was.
Flames melted ice, spells emitted light as they annihilated one another, and the atmosphere raged.
The world froze and melted, then froze again...
The ice raining down melted, then fell again...
The atmosphere evaporated, then pressed in again...
The rain evaporated, then poured down again...
The ice spears that had once {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} pierced even the Pope’s absolute defense drilled into the Salamander...
But...
“I can’t finish it.”
Frustration spilled from Ryo’s mouth.
Even Ryo’s full-power saturation attack could not finish the Salamander.
Even so, perhaps because it was consciously releasing fire-attribute magic to drive off Ryo’s magic, its feet had stopped.
Right now, Ryo was not alone.
“Leave it to me.”
The instant he heard Abel’s words—
A flash of lightning.
Abel’s single stroke cut off the Salamander’s head.
“When did you get behind the Salamander...”
Ryo was shocked by the smoothness of the maneuver and the sharpness of the sword flash.
“You said it yourself, Ryo. That it would seal off its counterattack and stop its feet. So I assumed I was supposed to deliver the finishing blow.”
“Inside that storm of magic?”
“There’s a sword technique called
“What is with that genius-swordsman-protagonist line...”
Abel said it as if it were nothing, while Ryo could only be stunned.
“You took all the delicious parts for yourself, Abel, but fine.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Abel gave a wry smile at Ryo’s words.
In any case, they had succeeded in subjugating the Salamander.
However, it was not all over yet.
“It’s been about thirty minutes since it died, but it’s still hissing.”
“Even though your rain has been cooling it the whole time.”
Both Ryo and Abel intended to dismantle the Salamander.
They had already agreed that anything they recovered, such as the magic stone, would belong to the two of them.
But the Salamander remained hot...
“Do you think its blood is hot?”
“Probably. The blood flowing out of its severed neck is making noise when it falls on the ground.”
“If it were an ordinary monster, I’d lift it by its hind legs with ice and bleed it out...”
“But this abnormal heat melts even your ice, Ryo... We’ll just have to wait a little longer.”
“To think I would be subjected to such humiliation... I need to raise my mastery of water-attribute magic even further!”
“D-do your best.”
Ryo looked frustrated, and Abel offered him a small bit of encouragement.
In truth, it was quite difficult for a human to face monsters that could use magic by instinct with magic.
Abel knew that.
But he also knew such words would not comfort Ryo.
“Well, even if Ryo starts working hard at magical training, it won’t bother anyone, so I suppose that’s fine.”
Muttering that, Abel shrugged.
Another thirty minutes later.
Even when Ryo’s rain fell on it, the Salamander’s corpse no longer hissed.
Abel touched it with the tip of his sword.
“It crumbled.”
“Seriously...?”
“Abel broke it with brute force!”
“You were watching too, Ryo! It crumbled just because I touched it with the tip of my sword.”
“I’ll accept that as the official story.”
“...”
Yes, the Salamander’s body had crumbled all too easily.
What remained behind was a very deep-red, fist-sized...
“Since it’s red, does that make it a fire magic stone?”
“Yes. It’s something you almost never see in the Central Countries.”
“Will the Knightley royal family buy this?”
“Yes, they probably will.”
“Half the rights are mine, you know. I’ll charge an outrageous price!”
“Don’t say that right in front of the person who will be buying it...”
Abel shook his head slightly.
Abel was the lord of the Knightley royal family, His Majesty the King.
In other words, he was the very person who would buy it.
And he also owned half the rights to this magic stone.
“Abel, please hold that magic stone.”
“Me?”
“My hands are a little full.”
As Ryo said that, his gaze slid away.
He was lying.
Abel knew the reason.
“You think the magic stone might be hot, don’t you?”
“Wh-what are you talking about?”
Apparently, he had hit the mark.
“Too bad for you.”
As Abel said that, he picked up the red magic stone without the slightest hesitation.
“Ah...”
“That’s right. It’s not hot. Magic stones don’t produce heat.”
“They don’t?”
“No. You’ve touched Wyvern magic stones and others before, haven’t you? Not a single magic stone was hot, was it?”
“Now that you mention it... I didn’t know magic stones didn’t produce heat.”
Ignorance was a disadvantage.
Ryo tilted his head as he looked at the red magic stone Abel held.
“Even though magic stones don’t produce heat, the Salamander produced that much heat?”
“That seems to be the case. Strange, isn’t it?”
“Yes, very strange.”
There still seemed to be many secrets in Fai that Ryo did not know.
“I’d like to do proper research into magic stones one day.”
“You use magic stones in alchemy, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do, but... I’m not very strong in that field.”
“You aren’t?”
“I was interested in magic formulas, so I did various research with Kenneth, but...”
As Ryo said that, his eyes turned nostalgic.
“When I return to the kingdom, I’ll have to work even harder at alchemy than before...”
“Didn’t you just say you were going to raise your mastery of water-attribute magic?”
“I-I’ll work hard at both.”
“That sounds difficult.”
Ryo wore a determined expression, and Abel gave a wry smile as he watched him.
In any case, the Salamander subjugation ended with them obtaining a fire magic stone.
When they reported back to the village, the village chief and all the villagers thanked them.
After the banquet that night, the two of them departed the village the next morning.
“We only just entered the Corridor, and already we ended up fighting a rare monster like a Salamander.”
“I don’t know whether it’s actually rare, but it’s definitely a monster that doesn’t exist in the Central Countries.”
“When I’m with you, Abel, the future looks worrying.”
“Me? The Salamander wasn’t my fault.”
“Time will prove that.”
“Time...”
Ryo declared it, and Abel looked troubled.
“Long ago, a great sculptor carved a marble statue called Time Revealing Truth. It was truly magnificent.”
“Hm. What does that have to do with me?”
“Nothing at all.”
“Hey...”
“Time reveals everything. That is all.”
“I see, I see. It’s true there is one truth about time that no one can defy.”
“What is that?”
“When time passes, everyone gets hungry.”
“As expected of Abel, the hungry swordsman...”
As they had that conversation, the party had finally left the Eastern Countries.
The two men, two horses, and twenty