Chapter 166: The Water Magician
"Come forth, Water! Destroy them all!"
In the next moment, the water spread across the floor began to ripple violently as though a storm had descended upon a tranquil lake. Within a heartbeat, it rose upward in countless elongated tendrils that twisted and coiled around the limbs of every single creature standing there, binding arms and legs alike and forcing them to halt at the spot while restricting even the slightest movement, leaving them utterly incapable of advancing toward their prey. Not a single monster managed to slip past her sudden assault.
'What the—'
Kael found himself momentarily stunned by the sight of it, but he did not have the luxury to dwell on his surprise since the situation remained far too dire to celebrate even that tiny success. Although he was not in any condition to fight even an insect at this point, his concern was not for himself but for the outcome of the battle, which seemed to teeter on a fragile edge despite the miraculous turn of events.
'So... what now?'
It was undeniable that Mistress of Waves had succeeded in halting hundreds of creatures all by herself, and the display of power was nothing short of overwhelming, but how long would she be able to maintain such a feat? The sheer amount of mana required to sustain those writhing water tendrils had to be immense, and she also needed to keep replenishing the water covering the floor so that the spell would not weaken, which meant her reserves would inevitably run dry sooner rather than later.
Theoretically, to attain an advantage, all the adventurers needed to do was deliver swift finishing blows to the restrained enemies, but most of them lay gravely injured and incapable of lifting their weapons, while the few who still stood upright could never hope to eliminate dozens upon dozens within a short span of time.
To make matters worse, the boss surely comprehended by now how the tide of battle had shifted against its forces, which meant that it would most likely attempt to target the spellcaster in an effort to dismantle the foundation of their newfound upper hand. Furthermore, within mere seconds or so, another horde of monsters would appear through the teleportation circle, forcing Valric to divide his attention and deal with the fresh wave. Once that happened, the battlefield would descend into the same dreadful state it had been in moments ago. Under such circumstances, the possibility of victory still appeared painfully distant unless they somehow managed to halt the incoming horde entirely while simultaneously exterminating every immobilized creature before them.
'Can they even pull it off? The former sounds almost impossible to achieve. No, but seriously... how is anyone supposed to stop an endless swarm of enemies that appears out of nowhere... through an ecosystem-based gateway, no less?'
The thought itself felt absurd to him at first, but when he forced himself to examine the situation more carefully, a possibility surfaced from the depths of his mind, one that had lingered there since the moment he arrived but had never received his full attention.
His eyes widened abruptly.
'Wait! They're... not planning to do what I think they are, are they? They would not dare.'
He looked over his shoulder.
'Huh? No way!'
He found himself lost for words for a sec.
There, some distance away, Valric stood with his greatsword firmly in hand, but instead of aiming it toward any visible enemy, the blade was directed straight at the floor beneath him for some reason.
In the next split second, he swung the greatsword downward with terrifying speed and overwhelming force, shattering the stone floor almost instantly and sending shards of debris flying in all directions while a violent fountain of water erupted upward under the pressure of the impact.
A thunderous shockwave rolled across the vast hall with a deafening crash, shaking the entire chamber as dust and mist swallowed the scene in a swirling haze.
When the air finally began to clear, Kael stared at the spot where the teleportation circle had once been, only to find that it had vanished completely and in its place remained a jagged mini crater carved into the dungeon floor.
'Crazy, crazy... this is just so damn crazy.'
Since they couldn't stop the incoming horde by any conventional means, they decided to destroy the path the creatures were using to arrive instead. Without the teleportation circle to transport them, where would the enemy even come from in the first place? There is no other way to move between floors inside a dungeon, after all... unless two floors begin to merge together.
'How ingenious!'
Of course, that decision had consequences of its own, since it meant they would not be able to travel between floors either... at least for quite a while. Besides, dungeons possessed an uncanny ability to restore damage inflicted upon them, regardless of its severity, though such regeneration required time. Strangely enough, time was precisely what the leaders were gambling on now because they had no alternative left.
Slowly, Kael shifted his gaze back toward the immobilized creatures in front of him.
'So one of the boss's greatest advantages has been neutralized so decisively... which leaves only one final obstacle. Eliminating everything that remains, is that it?'
In the next moment, however, his jaw dropped, not in exaggerated shock but in a quiet and almost reluctant disbelief.
Neither he nor anyone else needed to lift a finger to finish the struggling creatures standing before them at that moment. It was not because the leaders had decided to personally wipe them out instead, nor because some hidden reinforcements had intervened at the last second, but because every creature was already dead... all within the span of a single second.
All hundred or so of them.
After Valric destroyed the teleportation circle, countless javelins formed out of water burst forth and shot into the immobilized creatures with deadly precision. Their heads, necks, chests, torsos, thighs, and limbs were pierced, the compressed water tearing through thick fur, hardened muscles, and even bones alike, leaving behind deep and grievous holes in its wake while in other cases slicing entire limbs in half as if flesh and marrow offered no resistance at all.
He did not even wish to imagine how much pressure had been condensed into such infinitesimal points at once to produce such catastrophic results, nor did he dare to ponder the level of control required to maintain such uniform devastation across so many targets simultaneously either.
No, but truly, could water even be capable of piercing through something so resilient, something protected by thick and matted fur and hardened hide such as these creatures possessed, or had he simply underestimated an element he barely understood in the first place?
Perhaps it was always capable of such destruction when placed in the right hands, or perhaps it only appeared impossible until someone demonstrated otherwise. However, at this moment he was forced to accept that what he once regarded as harmless fluid could become a weapon sharper than steel as well.
'Still, is she crazy?'
It was not the sheer fact that Valentina had turned the entire battle upside down within a second that unsettled him so deeply, but rather the quiet realization that followed immediately after. At that moment, she had been casting three high-ranking spells at once. On the surface, such a feat was not unheard of among S-Ranked mages, but the reality of witnessing it firsthand felt far more overwhelming than any casual acknowledgment of rank could convey.
Not only had she been continuously filling the surrounding water with her own mana while engaging the boss in magical combat, but she had also been controlling and manipulating that same water as though it were an extension of her own limbs, shaping it according to her imagination into two entirely different forms at the same time, one to bind and restrict every creature present and another to fashion those lethal javelins that eradicated them without exception.
Her aim had been so precise and her focus so refined that there had been no room for error whatsoever, since even the slightest miscalculation would have resulted in her water spears impaling her own comrades instead, but not a single ally had been harmed in the process. As to how much strain that wicked woman had imposed upon her brain during that overwhelming display, Kael did not even want to entertain the thought. And despite all of that, she remained standing there as though nothing extraordinary had occurred at all, still smiling faintly and still infusing the water with her magic as naturally as breathing itself.
Like a true magician.
A water magician, to be precise.
'I really don't want to know just how much mana she still has in reserve... and yet she does not even look exhausted in the slightest.'
A moment later, the bodies of the hundreds of slain creatures began to sway unsteadily before collapsing onto the flooded ground one after another.
'So, this is the true strength of the members of the Crownbreakers, huh? It seems they are clearly not individuals to be taken lightly.'
Then again, why had she remained silent all this time when she possessed the power to reverse the situation in an instant? Was she testing the capabilities of the lower-ranked adventurers who fought alongside her? No, that did not sound right... if that had truly been her intention, she would never have allowed the situation to escalate to such a dangerous extent, since she does not strike him as someone who would gamble recklessly with the lives of others. There had to be another reason behind her silence.
'But what could it possibly be?'
Was it not obvious enough, though?
The answer had been right in front of his eyes this entire time.
Kael lifted a hand to his forehead and allowed a dark smile to form upon his lips.
'It was all nothing but a trap.'
A trap designed to lure the boss to reveal itself before them. After all, how could anyone hope to fight an opponent that could neither be seen nor sensed, an unseen predator lurking somewhere in the shadows, ready to strike at any moment without warning?
The only viable solution had been to make it step out of hiding of its own accord. Well, what better method could there be than presenting it with a scene so dreadful that the humans appeared to be teetering on the brink of utter defeat despite pouring every ounce of their strength into the fight?
Perhaps that was why the plan had not been disclosed to the others, ensuring that their desperation remained genuine and their struggle convincing enough to deceive even a cautious predator, since any hint of fake restraint or staged weakness might have exposed the deception prematurely.
But since the creature failed to perceive the trap, it did reveal itself, believing the facade entirely, and the moment it did, Valentina eradicated its minions while Valric destroyed the teleportation circle to halt the incoming horde, sealing every possible path of escape and cornering the true enemy in a single decisive movement.
Due to the latter, the creature couldn't retreat back to the lower floors anymore like it did last time. Besides, despite having an ability to conceal its presence, it was actually unable to move beyond this spacious hall either, so in the end, it was still trapped here with nothing left.
Of course, the creature could simply hide itself from their eyes once again, and who knew how long it might manage to do so, perhaps until the teleportation circle fully repaired itself and then retreat again... if it was even aware of such a possibility.
The adventurers only knew that fact because they had witnessed it happen countless times before, but the creature neither possessed that knowledge nor the intelligence required to comprehend the ecosystem of a dungeon and the patterns that governed it. So, it would most likely assume that it truly had nowhere else to go and had been cornered... unless it managed to defeat its enemies here and now. In the end, everything still rested upon the decision the boss would make now. Would it choose to hide once more, or would it dare to fight this time around?
In truth, however, it had never been given a choice to begin with. It would be forced to decide later, as there were simply no other paths left open to it.
'How cunning!'
Still, there seemed to be something off to him. Why had the minions never been able to sense the incoming attacks and evade them at all? Was it merely because the speed of her casting left no room to react, or was it because the countless tendrils made it nearly impossible to identify which one was truly aimed at them? Or perhaps the entire hall itself had begun to feel like a lurking danger since none of them had paid attention to the water below. He did not know. More importantly, though, why hadn't the boss diverted the spell itself and saved its minions when it possessed the ability to do so?
It could not simply be because it had been occupied transporting the water instead... could it? That would be far too foolish.
As he gazed at the boss, the answer slowly revealed itself before his eyes, because the creature vanished from where it had stood as though it had never been there at all... leaving behind nothing but a violent whirlpool twisting upon the flooded floor.
'Don't tell me... Valentina actually cast another spell to finish off the boss, forcing it to choose between defending itself or its minions. Either way, the adventurers would gain the advantage one way or another. How devious!'
Naturally, it chose the latter, which hardly came as a surprise considering it was nothing more than a creature devoid of a heart, so expecting it to show even the faintest trace of sentiment would have been nothing short of foolish.
'Which means we are no longer the ones standing on the brink of defeat, instead there is a genuine chance that we might actually win this battle. Am I supposed to feel relieved about it or remain astonished by what I am witnessing?'
He had yet to decide.
Soon enough, his gaze drifted toward the Mistress of Waves.
'Still... it is difficult to believe that a single person could orchestrate something like this.'
All at once, his eyes widened ever so slightly.
'As expected... she has become the greatest threat to the creature now.'
At that moment, the Star-eyed Digger King reappeared directly in front of Valentina, its dagger-like claws hovering an inch away from slicing her apart and rendering the other adventurers frozen in place by sheer terror. Before those claws could descend, however, countless tendrils of water surged upward and wrapped around its massive body, restraining its limbs and forcing its movement to falter.
It shattered those bindings within a split second, though.
Fortunately, Valentina managed to retreat to a safe distance at the last possible moment. So, its claws sliced through nothing but empty air while the immense pressure behind the swing split the water below as though the surface itself had been cleaved apart.
Kael blinked and it vanished again.
'Huh? It's targeting the weakened again.'
The creature reappeared behind her, though this time it loomed over the frozen adventurers positioned at her back, raising its massive clawed leg with the clear intention of crushing all of them in a single merciless strike. Just an inch before the strike could land, a massive fist formed entirely out of water erupted from the flooded floor and delivered a devastating blow to its descending limb.
A violent shockwave tore through the hall, sending torrents of water crashing outward and obscuring the vision of most of the adventurers as waves and splashes scattered in every direction.
Sadly, the creature destroyed the watery hand in less than a second as well and continued its descent without wasting any time to finish off its prey.
In the next moment, however, countless thick tendrils coiled around its enormous body once more, tightening in unison as they attempted to drag it down and pin it against the flooded floor. But even that was not enough to halt it... because it diverted the spell toward the adventurers themselves, forcing Valentina to dispel her own technique immediately to prevent her allies from being struck by her power.
"No, you won't..."
Cursing under her breath, she dashed beneath the towering creature and slid across the soaked floor, boots skimming over the water before she finally came to a halt just beneath its descending feet in one fluid motion, stopping near the two adventurers who still stood frozen in shock.
"Gather everyone and retreat immediately to a safe distance!"
As its attack came crashing down, several surging waves of water erupted upward in response, twisting into the air like coiling serpents to intercept the strike, but the instant they collided with the creature's feet, they vanished as though swallowed by an unseen force, dissolving into nothingness within the blink of an eye.
"Tch!"
Fortunately, the adventurers managed to withdraw in that narrow window of time, or more precisely, they were seized and dragged away by swift water tendrils that wrapped around their waists and arms, pulling them across the broken floor until all of them stood at a safer distance from the monstrosity, unharmed yet visibly shaken, their faces pale and eyes wide with lingering terror.
Why would they not be afraid?
They could barely follow its movements at all, since everything was happening at a pace that exceeded what their eyes were capable of capturing, and even she, despite her experience and honed perception, found it increasingly difficult to keep track of the monster's shifting form as it blurred through the hall.
"How troubling!"
Leaping sideways, she rolled across the floor before she steadied herself at a short distance, narrowly evading the crushing force of its descending limb. The impact fractured the floor instantly and sent jagged shards of debris spiraling through the air in every direction, some embedding themselves into the distant walls while others clattered uselessly across the ground.
"It's been a while since I met a monstrosity of such caliber, though. Somehow it reminds me of my good old days."
Rising smoothly to her feet, she brushed away the shallow water that clung to her lips. But in the next moment, her eyes widened slightly as a vast shadow loomed over her from behind, its presence pressing down like an oppressive weight.
"How swift!"
The creature lunged, its claws tearing through the air with lethal intent, aiming to rip her apart before she could react. However, at the precise instant its strike descended, she propelled herself forward with astonishing speed and slid along the wet floor, pivoting on her boots so that she faced it directly before coming to an abrupt yet controlled halt.
"I'm almost impressed."
Adjusting her hat, she extended her hand toward the towering figure.
In less than a heartbeat, countless tendrils of water surged upward from every direction and coiled tightly around the creature's limbs and torso, restricting its movements for a second.
Naturally, she knew it would attempt to divert the spell and retaliate with ferocity.
Before it could accomplish that, she clenched her fist and scoffed, "But did you really think it would be enough to bring me down?"
At her command, innumerable thick spears formed from compressed water shot upward into the air, tearing through the wind with shrill whistles as they surrounded the creature from every direction, each one poised to pierce through its limbs and torso simultaneously, striking with overwhelming precision. But in the last second, the creature diverted the spell itself, turning her own attack against its surroundings so that the rain of lethal water spears descended toward the battered adventurers, threatening to end them where they stood.
Fortunately, she reacted in time and dispelled the falling javelins before they could reach their targets, dissolving them into harmless droplets that splashed across the ruined floor, since even a single heartbeat of delay would have brought the quest to a brutal end.
'Tsk... I need to be extra careful about which spell I'd use.'
With her attempt to finish the creature having failed, she could sense that it would not remain restrained much longer, the water tendrils straining as the monstrous force within them swelled and twisted against her control.
As expected, it soon tore itself free with a deafening growl that reverberated through the hall, the sound shaking loose fragments of stone from the fractured ceiling.
'Since nothing's working against it, I should just use physical strength to bring it down.'
When it launched another attack, she reacted without hesitation, seizing one of the water tendrils that remained wrapped tightly around its neck and gripping it firmly in her hand, then channeling mana into her body as she attempted to drag the creature downward and strangle it through sheer augmented strength.
But instead of forcing it to submit, her body was suddenly yanked forward through the air like a weightless doll, as the creature pulled violently against the tendril in an effort to free its neck from her constriction.
'Huh?'
In the blink of an eye, she found herself propelled like an arrow directly toward the creature's face, wind shrieking past her ears as the distance between them vanished almost instantly. The boss, recognizing the opportunity, prepared its clawed hand to strike her midair, intending to smash her facial features beyond recognition with a single brutal blow.
'Why my face, really?'
As if such a humiliation could ever be tolerated!
'Oh, hell no! You're not touching my face!'
Twisting her body in midair and using the tendril wrapped around its neck as an anchor point, she redirected her momentum at the last possible moment and delivered a devastating kick against its incoming claw. The collision unleashed a shockwave that rippled outward through the vast hall and sent water and debris spiraling away from the impact point.
The sheer force behind its strike carried enough destructive power to shatter the bones of her leg into fragments, but they still remained intact only because she had concentrated an immense quantity of mana into her lower limbs while simultaneously forming a dense layer of water magic around her feet as a protective barrier at the last instant, reinforcing herself against the monstrous strength she had chosen to meet head on. If she had not done that, she would've become legless, for real.
'It won't be an appropriate appearance for a mistress, though.'
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(Chapter Ended)