Chapter. 15. Can someone who has seen the end of the world plant an apple tree? (33)
****
“So… can I go alone?”
“I’m just coming to see you for a moment. I don’t think we should deal with him in a hurry. It looks peaceful, but this place can definitely be seen as hostile territory. “I think Otman will have to stay and watch over you.”
“Uhm. That… I go down there and you’re left behind…”
“Don’t even dream. “Because it’s obvious that if you go down, you’ll say, ‘Oh, it’s water, it’s water…’ and flop around like a jellyfish.”
“…I can’t deny it. So when do you plan on coming back? “How long can you dive?”
“Uh… I guess it would be a little over 12 hours, roughly. “When I think about it, this is the first time I’ve been in the water for this long since I did a well dive.”
“12 hours. ‘It’s only’ half a day…”
“It’s a bit… right?”
“Is that all it is? My professor, you went against the grain of our Reed Flow school and tried not to get involved in the magical aspect… But still, a water magician at the end of the third level is gasping for breath after only diving for half a day. That’s because the thought that ‘people need to breathe to live’ is still stuck in your mind like a stone. Uhm…. If you go somewhere and meet another water wizard, don’t tell them you’re my disciple.”
Ottman, who was floating like a watermelon on the water next to the dry oasis, clicked his tongue as he listened to the professor’s story. Right now, there are people who think they have talent among the 4th rank wizards, and there are people who live by building houses at the bottom of rivers or under ponds, but that only lasts for half a day.
Ottman was still a good student, but he lamented when he realized that he had been too indifferent to the professor’s magic education.
“Are you now only using your magic as an aid to your body?”
“yes. “Last time, when I went crazy at Margrave Spirit, the Blood Armor was completely incorporated into my body, and my efficiency improved greatly.”
The blood armor was already tightly packed between the professor’s bones and muscles, and was always active, just like any other part of his body.
A simple but efficient configuration that channels shock and discharges it outside the body. It was the most perfect means of escaping from the inability to fight, the ‘glass body’.
However… even though it is efficient, it cannot drain 100% of the damage, so the Blood Armor sucks mana every time it is shocked.
For example, when there is a health gauge and a mana gauge, the entire mana gauge is covered over the health gauge and used like a shield. This means that when the mana runs out, the blood armor is released and you return to your glass body.
In this situation, rather than working hard to create a magic and throw it away, it is much more advantageous to just hit with that mana and dig in and beat it, so I ended up neglecting magic.
“Can you tell me anything? “I was so busy with construction work that I barely had time to practice magic.”
“Uhm…. I can’t help it. If you ever get tired or need help down there, please contact me at any time. Here, no matter how far the distance is, the message magic will reach you. I’m going to hold some water around our boat. They say that water is still leaking because the repairs were made in a hurry. “I couldn’t go up to the surface of the shipwreck like the people in the log because the sailors were afraid.”
“Please take care of me.”
Sook-!
The professor and Otman, who had been chatting while floating on the water like some kind of fishman, ended up submerged in the water. Ottoman to the bottom of the boat and the professor to the center of the deep sea.
Grumble-
‘It’s definitely been a while since I’ve focused on magic in earnest, so it’s a bit strange.’
Assuming this was an enemy camp, it was natural to be careful when moving.
This is under the sea. There are no geographical features that are particularly useful for hiding, and it is impossible to tell which of the numerous sea creatures surrounding the area are produced by Mute and which are just fish.
‘They probably knew our ship would fall, so they put up surveillance around it.’
However, if there is something the enemy has overlooked, it is that the target of their surveillance is a water magician submerged in water.
Gurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr H H habo
even the slightest movement while a school of timid little fish passed by him.
‘Water wizards are no different from water.’
A long time ago, in Turan, when I was captured in a wizard’s laboratory. Isn’t that what I heard the most while undergoing ‘drowning body training’ under the kind Roman’s teachings?
『Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Don’t reject it, accept it! Like a baby in its mother’s amniotic fluid! You are water! A water wizard is no different from water! Take it with your body, not your head! Hah hah hah hah hah!”
It was then that I thought, ‘That crazy psychopath has decided to kill me.’ I just thought that, but now that I have become a wizard, I can see that those words were pure advice from a ‘wizard’s perspective’.
Right now, Otman and other water wizards say that if something that doesn’t come from water enters their body, their mind wanders, so don’t they only eat things like raw fish and aquatic plants?
A water wizard is water. This means that the existential boundary that separates my body from the sea is very blurred. Just as if you were to pour a cup of water into the water and not be able to find the mixed water, the presence of the professor submerged in the sea had already assimilated with the water and had become very blurred.
Also, what is the swimming speed? It was so secretive that even small fish could not notice it, and its speed was fast enough to be reminiscent of a torpedo or a marlin.
Of course, the leg strength of two strong legs played a role. The bridge that burst the military ship that served as the stepping stone in one leap was achieving remarkable results in spurring water.
However, if you hit the ball like that ignorantly, you would be able to see the white foam leaving a long trail behind the professor from 1km away.
But what if the wizard’s ‘water control’ comes into play here?
SURURURURU –
The body moves forward as if seeping through the water, which has lost its resistance as a medium. You can move forward in completely silent mode without any noise or coarse foam from pounding the water.
Finding a water-type wizard underwater means that it is impossible unless you are a water-type wizard or have water-related abilities, which means that there is no one who can do it more perfectly than a water-type wizard when it comes to secretly infiltrating a facility submerged in water. . Moreover, if that wizard is the ace of a guerrilla unit that was once called a legend on the battlefield.
‘This is knowledge that cannot be known unless a wizard or someone familiar with magic teaches it. It is such trivial and miscellaneous knowledge that there is no need to know exactly. Even if you take over the wizard’s body and live as a parasite to retrieve his memories, you won’t be able to easily retrieve knowledge like [A water-type wizard who goes underwater can’t be found] unless you make a deliberate effort to remember it.’
Bazyur, the Mute faction’s only magic expert, is dead. The only people Falcatus can ask for magical advice from are the wizards who have fallen under their control, and finding knowledge from them who cannot actively ask and answer questions is a single piece of information from a huge library called [Knowledge that the wizard has accepted throughout his life]. It’s no different from finding something.
‘So far, we’ve been sticking to a very standard and rigid approach to attacking Mute. ‘You’ve already eliminated the enemy’s magic power through battle, but you’re not digging in between them.’
Rumbling –
The preparations Falcatus and his forces had prepared, and what they knew and what they did not know, were intertwined in the professor’s mind as he was sinking endlessly into the sea.
He learns easily and applies quickly. A method used once will not work again.
A gap created by a lack of magical knowledge. After using this this time, it will be completely gone the next time we meet.
‘So… I have no choice but to stab him properly and leave irreversible damage.’
Just as Bajyur died and this gap was created. Something that causes great damage that will lead to other gaps.
That would be the only way to surpass those who think at the same level as me.
****
Grumble-
‘It’s slowly starting to come into my eyes, yes.’
[That and that. And… is that a mute too? It’s so big?]
‘Probably.’
[Shit. I secretly hoped not.]
‘Me too.’
Unlike the typical deep sea, the sea emits brighter light as it gets deeper.
In the shimmering halo of light, the things I was looking for began to come into view one by one.
First, the center of the deep sea. A sunken moon shining brightly surrounded by a huge group of corals.
These are chamber maids cleverly hidden among the corals of the month.
[Let’s see. One, two, three…. There are more than eight that just catch the eye, right?]
‘There’s no reason to put it to one side, so I guess it should be said that there are more than 20, including the parts that don’t catch the eye. This is enough to delay mute production.’
Chamber maids cleverly hidden among beautiful coral forests.
Contrary to what it looked like from the outside, it was not a thorny vine, but rather an object specially created to be active in the sea, with its transparent body waving like a jellyfish.
20 chamber maids is a quantity that can only be found at the entrance to the northern part of the country where the queen resides. Chamber Maids, which suck out vitality at a regional level, are usually active with only 3 to 4 chamber maids planted per region.
All of those chamber maids must have used up all the nutrients they had absorbed to take root and transform into productive entities. Of course, Mute would not have been produced during that time.
As for the escort troops and the troops waiting on the mainland, they would all drown if they were brought here, so they would have had to create new mutes based on aquatic species separately, which is why we have not seen any significant troops yet. They would have had to make them one by one on the mainland and then bring them to the tunnel bugs.
‘Let’s see…. There are three active chamber maid nests. The rest are still in the process of being settled…’
[Ah, there! A new one appears!]
‘…. Considering that it looks like a tuna, it would be correct to assume that some of the saltwater fish that were wandering around the boat were scouts for those guys.’
This means that Falcatus has already confirmed the location of our party and the ship and has begun surveillance in real time.
‘First, check the production base. At that level, it’s safe to say that it’s a major target.’
They have certainly settled down here, and if we give them just a little more time, they will pour out their troops based on the infinite vitality contained in this sea. An impregnable production base is created under the sandy sea, which is difficult for ordinary people to enter.
Another unusual thing was that there were structures floating like buoys above the coral layer.
It wasn’t difficult to figure out what it was. Because I could see it at a glance.
‘It’s home?’
[I know. These are similar to the ones above.]
Part of a broken ship. Or a sandstone house. Even a thick tent that would be difficult to sink to a place like this.
All sorts of miscellaneous structures floated like satellites around the moon surrounded by coral.
wreck. Or a tent. Some even have sandstone houses where someone in the desert might have lived.
It floated like a buoy sunken in the sea, neither floating nor sinking, and looked like a satellite surrounding the moon.
‘Should I say this… has sunk? Or should I say floating?’
[Neutral buoyancy? No, I don’t think it’s something to think about physically, right?]
‘If it can sink in the first place, it is right that all the wreckage remains on the surface of the water should also sink. But anything heavier than this floats on the water. Some things sink and some float on top… It seems like the sea is picky.’
It’s as if the moon is selecting what it brings into its arms.
The sand that spills along with the quicksand returns to the sea of sand on the ceiling like a lie. Shipwrecks and desert houses that have been swallowed up by quicksand for nearly hundreds of years are floating on the sea and orbit around the moon as if only a part of them had sunk.
Even while I was thinking, my body was sinking helplessly. Slowly, the chamber maid’s facial features could be seen with the naked eye, and the frequency of mutes around her was also increasing.
Gurgling-
‘….!Eup! ‘Ugh!’
[Don’t even make a squeak! Cover your mouth!]
All the creatures that passed right before my eyes had a dangerous appearance. Marine creatures that are purely combative. It’s like an eel with several layers of razor-like teeth sticking out of its mouth, or a dangerous-looking green light passing over the long stripes of its body…
When a monkfish with dozens of eyeballs passed the tip of its nose, you really had to cover its mouth to make a sound. I almost made a mistake.
‘If you get caught here… you’ll be screwed, right?’
[If you do your best to bounce, at least your upper
body might reach the surface of the water.] The lower you go, the higher the class there are, which means that even if you assimilate to the sea as much as possible as a water magician, the probability of being detected increases.
Grumbling-chin.
‘I’ve reached it!’
The heart-pounding dive continued like that. The professor finally landed on one of the floating houses around the moon and dug into it like an infantryman looking for a bomb shelter during a bombing raid.
….Kuddeuddeuk.
As I broke through the corals blocking the door of the house and went inside, I saw the saltwater fish that had been eating the sphagnum moss inside startled and running away through the small window.
Part of a sandstone house in the desert with nothing special to offer.
‘Wow, my heart is really shaking…’
[If I hadn’t controlled my heart rate, I would have been caught by that sound. Anyway, what is this place?]
‘….It’s just a house?’
Unlike other houses and shipwrecks floating on the water, I thought there was something there because it was around the moon, but it was just a house.
I searched a few floating houses and tents at similar heights, but the situation was the same.
A house surrounded by moss, algae, barnacles, etc. Tent. Part of what appears to be a shipwreck cabin. And
‘Oh, this…’
[What’s there?]
A house is a house, but a house with a distinctive feature.
‘This… was carved with a dagger.’
[It’s not usually sincerity. The walls, ceiling, and even the floor were meticulously carved.] This was
the fourth sunken house I visited while holding my breath among the mutes on the sea floor.
Unlike other houses, the inside was very clean, as if someone had maintained it.
Thanks to this, the letters engraved on the walls, ceiling, and floor of the sandstone house were clearly visible.
[Let me see… I remember… Oh, here it is! Before, there was a warriors’ meeting or something in Roderick’s capital. These are the letters written on the hem of the clothes of the Saint of Abundance.]
‘Sacred letters of abundance. Then…is this really the place?’
[That is highly likely. The priest of abundance mentioned in the journal said that I used all the means I could.]
A record written in the journal. It was written that the priest of abundance gathered together with the sailors who had become believers and prayed. Considering the size of the coral on the wall and the degree of weathering, it seemed to roughly match the time recorded in the journal.
‘Then he devoured the priest and his believers, and as if that wasn’t enough, he also dragged the house where they were staying into his arms…’ I
could vaguely guess the reason for attracting sacred things. Since he is a fallen god, he may be able to cram in even a little bit of divinity to restore his lack of divinity. Priests, believers, holy relics, etc. Because it definitely contains at least a little bit of divinity.
‘But… the divinity of abundance won’t dwell in this way, right?’
For the Church of Abundance, a large wheat field or fertile land is sufficient for a temple. This means that struggling to copy battles on the wall does not create divine power. This house is just a house filled with the struggles of a priest.
However, the sunken moon selected this house, which did not contain any sacred power, and brought it into its arms.
‘…Hyde. ‘Think of the other sunken houses you’ve seen before.’
[Yes.]
Sigh –
As the tents and houses I had seen as I passed by unfolded before my eyes, my doubts turned into certainty. If you look closely, you can see particularly neat spots scattered here and there in the shadows of the shimmering water.
Traces of something neatly maintained between the seaweed and coral sphagnum, as if someone had taken care of that area.
‘A round trace on the altar. It is usually a place to place ritual vessels or sacred images.’
‘On the bed. There’s nothing to see about that. ‘It’s a place where people lay down.’
‘Is this…feather-shaped? Ah, quills and ink! Then, the empty square space next to it is a book. It looks like someone copied the Bible.’
From the location of the icons and ancestral rites, traces of someone who must have been sacred, a copied Bible, and even the quill and ink that copied the Bible.
‘I’m not a passionate fan who collects idol goods…’
At this level, it seemed like I was getting my hands on everything related to divinity, rather than collecting divinity itself.
‘Now that I think about it, I randomly brought in things that didn’t contain divinity.’
The fact that not only the priest but also the people who were next to him when he prayed have all become objects of taboo means that the divine power itself is not the target, but everything related to it is the target.
Something. Something…
‘…obsession?’
[Oh yeah! I just had a feeling that something was wrong. That’s it, that one!]
‘Obsessed. It’s an obsession… Unless you simply capture a being with divinity and collect its inherent sacred power…’
Rumbling –
The sunken moon is obsessed with the keyword ‘divinity’ itself.
Rather than being a person who was once holy, the behavior is closer to being ignorant of divinity, devouring and seeing everything related to divinity.
‘In the first place… you were never a god?’
then. It means that the sunken moon was a being that could not become a god even with its enormous power. If it weren’t for God, their power to hold this sea and create the desert would be…
‘World Tree.’ It was a different entity of the same type as the World Tree. It was a power given to me! It didn’t occur within the worldview, but was given by someone!’
It is a power given to a being who was designated as a god from the beginning. As the god of creation. As a tool that helped create this world.
However, the sun and moon were removed by the dragons’ ‘self-cleaning action’. That means that something was lacking to be in a position like the World Tree.
And the surviving moon was collecting everything related to divinity…
Kwasik!
‘….ah?’
A sharp pain cut through my thoughts.
Teeth like saw blades protruding through the top of the foot.
Kwajak! Quad deuk!
One after another, dozens of teeth broke through the ceiling and floor of the sandstone house, and the entire house began to crumble.
‘I got caught!’
[I’ve been here too long! I guess they noticed me because I stayed in one place!]
Sooooo!
Quad deuk!
The professor came to his senses and quickly got out of the house, and at the same time, the maw that was chewing on the house he was in just a moment ago came into view.
The guy that Nulak summoned from the Sand Sea.
A creature a little smaller than him, almost half the size of a dragon, was chewing away at a large sandstone house, staring at me with big eyes.
****
