Water Magician

Chapter 36: Invisible Threat

After taking a large detour east to bypass the Behemoth-Wyvern battlefield, the two headed north.

After walking for a while, Abel spoke to Ryo.

“Hey, Ryo, if my eyes are not playing tricks on me, I can see a series of extremely tall mountains in front of us.”

“It’s strange. I see a series of inconceivably tall mountains too.”

It was still quite a distance but they could see the snow-capped mountains rising above the clouds.

In terms of the Earth units, the mountains were about 6,000 meters or 7,000 meters tall?

“So that’s the mountain range that acts as the lid …”

“I fear you are correct.”

Ryo didn’t expect the mountains to be that intimidating.

“Before crossing the mountain … I think it’s better to prepare dried meat while we’re at the foot of the mountain. It might not be an issue halfway through but after we cross the halfway point, it seems like it will be difficult hunting creatures for the meal of the day.”

“Yeah … the ground might be covered in snow.”

“Absolutely … If I was a Wind-Attribute Magician, I could leap over a mountain like that with a single jump!”

In Abel’s head, he pictured his party member, Rin, a Wind-Attribute Magician, trying to cross the mountain range in one go, and couldn’t see it happening at all.

“No, that’s impossible.”

Abel denied Ryo’s delusion.

The two proceeded north and entered a forest.

“Speaking of which, Abel. Have you ever defeated Wyverns?”

“Hn? I’ve participated in their subjugation several times. Why?”

“Well, didn’t the Wyverns who appeared at Behi-chan’s location come from the northern mountain range?”

Upon hearing that, Abel, who was walking beside Ryo, slowly turned his head toward Ryo as if a squeaking noise could be heard.

“Don’t tell me that there will be Wyverns ahead …?”

“Yes, I’m sure there will be.”

In contrast to Abel’s stunned expression, Ryo’s expression could even be said to be bright.

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In fact, Ryo wanted to see the Wyverns a little closer.

The battle with the Behemoth was seen from a great distance.

“Wyverns aren’t monsters that can be managed by two or so people. In fact, for Wyvern subjugations, there would be at least 20 people and they would have to be C-class adventurers and above. Even then, there would be victims on the adventurer side. “

To Abel, who had seen adventurers injured and in some cases die during Wyvern subjugations, Wyverns were opponents he would want to avoid if possible.

“How do you fight during subjugations? Since they are in the air, Abel’s Combat Arts won’t be able to reach, right?”

“When the opponent is a Wyvern, we swordsmen would act as decoys and have the role of dealing the final blow when they fall to the ground. However, for the Wyvern class, the bow and arrow is ineffective against them, so the main method of attack would be reliant on Magicians.”

“Ooo, Magicians banzai.”

Ryo commented and cheered.

“Well, even with that said, one or two Magicians can’t achieve anything. While alive, Wyverns guard their bodies with wind magic so even if they are hit by Fire-Attribute attack magic, they suffer almost no damage.”

Abel explained to Ryo as he recalled the memories of the subjugations he participated in and the points to note.

“Those Fire-Attribute Magicians aren’t that big a deal.”

As a Water-Attribute Magician, Ryo revealed his rivalry toward the Fire attribute.

Even though he had never met a Fire-Attribute Magician since he came to 『Phi』.

Of course, he had never met a Magician other than himself since he was born.

“Still, in terms of attack power, Fire-Attribute Magic is the strongest. In the first place, Wyverns use Wind-Attribute Magic, so the magic from Wind-Attribute Magicians can’t deal any damage to them.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Even if they fire Air Slashes at it, it won’t hit.”

The Bait Ball and Kraken that Ryo met in the sea came to mind.

(I wonder if they are the kind that will snatch magic control. I guess if it’s the same magic attribute, snatching control is the main way to go…)

“That’s why Fire-Attribute Magicians will solely focus on shooting Fireballs, Fire Lances, etc. And that’s how they whittle down the endurance of the Wyvern.”

“Somehow … I get the impression that it’s not very refined…”

“It can’t be helped. There is no established way to hunt Wyverns with certainty. Hit it with Fire Magic, whittle down its endurance, and if you are lucky enough that the magic passes through when the wind defense is weakened, it will fall to the ground. However, when faced with Fire Magic attacks, the Wyverns will be angered and their diving charges would give rise to many casualties.”

Abel shrugged and answered.

“Yeah, I think humans shouldn’t try to confront Wyverns anymore.”

“Even if we don’t wish to, it’s not good if one appears on the route of caravans and trade becomes stagnant. The feudal lords and kings would request the adventurer’s guild to subdue them.”

At that point, Abel suddenly got into combat readiness.

(Something is strange.)

Ryo, like Abel, felt uncomfortable.

“Something is strange … with the plants …”

Ryo whispered to Abel.

In other words, it was not an animal-based monster. The plants around them were the cause of the discomfort.

However, there were no incoming attacks.

Nothing was attacking … as far as they could see.

Suddenly Abel knelt on one knee.

“Abel!”

“It’s okay, it must be poison or something, but I’ll be back to normal soon.”

After saying that, Abel stood up as if he had immediately recovered from the poison and then pulled out his sword.

Ryo imagined capturing all the water vapor molecules floating in the air within a radius of 20 meters.

(<Active Sonar>)

Instantaneously, his head was swimming from the overwhelming flow of information into his head.

But he had no other choice now.

The 『Ping』 that he emitted from his body spread like ripples along the surrounding water molecules.

Just like the spreading waves when you drop a stone into the mirror-like surface of still water.

Utilizing that, he caught some floating 『foreign substances』.

(This sensation is a paralytic poison.)

Based on the 『Ping』 that was reflected off the foreign substances, he identified the foreign substance from past experience.

(The direction of higher density is … to the right … I can’t see anything … no, it’s shaking slightly.)

“<Squall>”

The sudden rain flushed the paralytic poison in the air to the ground.

“<Ice Coffin>”

And he completely sealed the source of the paralytic poison in ice.

Previously, he could not control Water Magic within 10cm from the surface of a creature, but perhaps as the result of considerable effort, he could now freeze the air surrounding creatures.

“That lump of ice …”

“That plant was spreading the paralytic poison. So I locked it in ice to prevent the poison from scattering.”

“But … what is this …”

Abel was also surprised by the monster he saw for the first time.

Perhaps because it was frozen in ice and its refractive index changed, they could see the plant monster that looked just like the Rafflesia plant.

“Maybe it can reflect like a mirror and could camouflage with the surrounding scenery.”

“So that’s why we couldn’t see it …”

Abel also felt a sense of discomfort from the surroundings but could not identify the cause.

That was a given if it was an invisible monster.

“So what are you doing to do with this lump of ice?”

“Let’s leave it as it is and it should thaw when it is far enough away from me. In the case of plants, it should live once it thaws. It has nothing to do with us so let’s choose to let it live.”

“Then … what happens to creatures apart from plants?”

“They’ll die. I tried to allow blood to circulate through the heart when in the ice, or conversely, to put them in a state of suspended animation through cryogenic freezing, but … it still doesn’t work well. I’ll have to work harder.”

“I-I see …”

Abel swallowed his saliva.

Yes, Abel thought about the possibility of being frozen in ice.

Of course, Ryo wouldn’t do such a thing, but even if he wouldn’t … sometimes the mind would consider the possibility when thinking about ‘possible or impossible’.

Ryo’s voice pierced into him at that moment.

“Abel … I know what you’re thinking!”

“W-what …”

As expected, Abel couldn’t hide his unease.

“In the summer, the ice coffin would feel cold and comfortable, isn’t it? Sheesh … that would be troublesome.”

“Ah … I’m a lot more relieved for many different reasons.”

Although disappointed, Abel was a little happy for certain reasons.