“Really? Well, we’ve got a few hours left until dark, and the ship doesn’t need any attention to run. So, feel free to relax for a while. Unless another pirate shows up. Or a sea monster. Apparently that’s not too rare out here.”
“Ooh, really?” Dariel brightens up at the mention of this. “That sounds exciting!”
“You are very bored back at the village, aren’t you?”
“That obvious, huh?”
“Just a bit.” I smirked to her, taking a look around.
“So, I hear you have a new project you’re working on?”
“Oh, right. I’m trying to figure out advanced enchanting on my own. Lilith’s idea, since I am usually hiding my full power she wants me to be able to figure this stuff out without help.”
“Sounds like a good idea. I’d offer to help anyways if I was good at enchanting.”
I shook my head and laughed. “Thanks, but I really want to figure this out for myself. It feels a bit good to work out the information the hard way.”
“True. Besides, this is like inventing it yourself. You might even make some new methods nobody else has before.”
“Maybe. So far all I’ve figured out is how to drain an enchantment and transfer it to another item. My current formula won’t allow me to put two enchantments on the same object, or even one complicated enchantment.”
“Well, that’s progress at least! And you’ve only been at it a couple days, right? You’re already moving pretty quickly.”
“Yeah, but I need to figure this out. Oh, by the way, have you heard that I’m not the only foreigner mage among the humans anymore?”
“There was a rumor, but I thought it might have just been you at a different part of your travels.”
Nodding, I decided to see what she knew about it. “So, what’d you hear?”
“Just that there was someone among the humans who graduated the mage college and began to call himself the Frozen Flame.”
“Huh… probably refers to the spell he used to pass. I had thought about doing something like that, but at the time I only knew earth element magic.”
Dariel nodded, “I haven’t heard anything else about him since then. And that rumor came by just over a week ago, when some foreigners were talking about it as they passed through.”
“I see, so it’s already spread that far. Thanks for letting me know.”
“Is it important?” Dariel tilted her head curiously when she asked.
“Maybe. I’m having Lilith investigate the matter so that I can talk to him. Since I’m not the only one anymore, might be nice.”
“I see. Well, I still look forward to meeting her. If you trust her, then surely she is not as bad as demons are typically understood.”
“Right. Though I’ll warn you ahead of time… she’s a succubus.” I grinned a bit, and Dariel laughed.
“Is that so? Well, that’s a shock. Who would have imagined a demon of lust would rule over them.”
I chuckled, knowing that this would be a good way to tease Lilith. “I know, right?”
We continued talking like this for a few hours, the ship maintaining its course until the sun went down. Dariel, Denise, and I all gathered on the main deck to call the demon queen. Once again, I warned her that I had to do a flashy entrance for Lilith or else she wouldn’t appear. Dariel smiles like it was an inside joke, and Denise just shakes her head resignedly.
As I began calling her, I felt the mental ping from the detection crystal, and figured that she was coming early to watch her ‘summoning’. “Queen in the darkness, may my words reach your ears. Hear my call and come forth, display your awesome might. Arise, Demon Queen Lilith!” I tried to sound as enthusiastic as I could, but knowing that she was already around and still making me put on this show for her was a tad embarrassing.
“Hmm, I’ll give it an eight for the call, but only a three for spirit. Put more feeling into it next time~!” A web of shadows broke out in front of me, spiraling into the air and then coalescing into the form of a beautiful woman with small horns and blood red eyes, a thin tail swishing back and forth behind her. As when she first appeared, she was wearing her black armor that hid only the bare minimum of her body.
At the same time, beside the boat was a giant waterspout, and a massive monster emerged when it cleared, causing the boat to shake a bit. The monster easily towered over the ship despite only its head and neck emerging from the water. It had two columns of three blue eyes, and various tentacles sprouting from its head and neck like a mane of hair. According to my Worldlore, the creature was called a Turisas.
Noticing the boat shake, Lilith looked behind her and let out a happy sound. “I take it back, ten on the spirit! Really, the sea monster is a great touch!” She claps her hands like applauding a grand performance, while I just stare at her.
“So… he’s not with you?”
“What are you talking about? It’s obvious that thing isn’t a demon.” She turned to look at least a hundred meters long rose up from the sea, rising directly above the ship. Going purely on instinct, I activated the ship’s barrier and put as much power into it as I could manage. “Seriously, all that time you spent in Hell, and you can’t even tell when something isn’t one of us?” Lilith, apparently oblivious to all of this, just kept talking casually.
I had expected the barrier to at least provide some resistance to the tentacle, but it shattered on impact, sending a recoil into my mind that seemed like a sudden headache. Forced to close my eyes from the pain of the barrier being crushed, I half expected to hear the crash of the ship being destroyed next. When that didn’t happen, I slowly opened my eyes to see why not.
“You okay, Jin?” Lilith asked me, still talking as if nothing was the matter. However, now she held a flaming red chain in her hand that ran straight into the Turisas’s head. It didn’t seem to be doing any damage, but its movement had completely frozen. “Sorry, looks like this guy responded to my presence. I’ll take care of him for you.” She smiled, and then suddenly disappeared.
The only way I was able to follow her movement was by watching the chain that went with her, and saw that it now led up to the crow’s nest, which was just a few meters away from the previously attacking tentacle. “Now, now. Big boys like you should know when it’s best to turn around and leave. Don’t you know that being too rough is unpopular?” She hopped into the air and smacked the tentacle aside with an open palm, causing it to whip around and fall into the sea again.
“That’s better. Don’t worry, I don’t hate guys like you, so I won’t kill you this time. But those humans down there are with me. I suppose the elf too, now.” Lilith smiled down to Dariel, who shuddered a bit after the massive display of strength. “However, I do have to punish you.” She gripped the chain again and raised it up. “How about I send you flying for now?”
As if responding to her will, the sea monster rose further above the water. What I thought was the neck was really just its body, with it having a dozen of those giant tentacles extending from the base of it. And it didn’t stop rising until the entire creature was hovering above the sea, dangled on that thin chain coming out of its head like a fish caught on a hook. But still, it didn’t-- or couldn’t-- offer any resistance.
Finally, Lilith jumped at it, almost vanishing from sight again. When she reached the creature, she did a spinning kick in midair, striking the Turisas on the head with the flat of her foot. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor sea monster as it was literally sent flying beyond the horizon from that one attack. So… she really is the queen of all demons…
Beside me, Denise was wide-eyed with awe and respect after witnessing the display of strength. Dariel, on the other hand, was pale as she looked at me as if to say ‘She’s the succubus right?’. Then Lilith landed back on the deck and sighed dramatically.
“Sorry, guys like him tend to show up when I’m around. Hope I didn’t cause you any trouble.” She smiled to the three of us, unable to read the atmosphere.
/> “It’s… alright. I guess that kind of strength is to be expected from you, huh?”
“Right! I keep telling you I’m really the queen, but no, you don’t believe me!” Lilith laughed a bit, shaking off some water that had fallen on her from her brief melee with the monster. “So, are you going to introduce me to your elf lady friend?”
Dariel coughed a bit, and began speaking. “Oh, uh, my apologies. I am Dariel Vinehaven, high priestess of the Vinehaven clan of elves.” She curtsies in her dress, and Lilith repeats the motion. Though, it doesn’t look the same when you do it in armored underwear.
“Pleasure to meet you. I am the Demon Queen Lilith. I take it we’re both friends of Jin here?” She smiled towards me, and Dariel confirmed it. “Then let’s get along, okay? I already had to do something rather brutish in front of you all, so please forgive me.”
Denise shook her head rapidly at that statement. “That was awesome! I thought for sure we were done for! I’ve never seen anyone that strong!” Lilith blushed a bit from Denise’s compliments, but didn’t retort.
“Out of curiosity, what was that spell you used on it just now?” I decided to ask, since the tense atmosphere had been mostly cleared.
“Oh, that? I don’t think you’d want to learn it. It’s the enslavement spell, Infernal Chains. It can bind anyone to your will, as long as they are weaker than you. You don’t seem like the type to enjoy that kind of thing so I never bothered to show you.”
“No, that’s alright, I understand. Thank you for answering my question. Did you bring the items I asked for?”
“You mean stuff to practice enchanting on? Yeah, I brought some rings, a couple swords, and a few necklaces. Also mixed in some magic items since you seem to be working on removing magic from items as well~.” Lilith grinned to me, shamelessly confirming that she has been listening to anything I say when I’m in a dark area.
“I swear, both of you like to spy on me…”
“Oh, Jin, with your personality there will be a lot of people watching you eventually.” Dariel nodded after Lilith said this. It seemed that they found a point in common after all.
“I get it. And, about that other matter?”
“The mage? I actually found him right away, but figured I’d wait until I visited to tell you.” Lilith laughed lightly as she continued. “He goes by Xiao, the Frozen Flame of Eastal. Well, lately he’s just been calling himself Xiao to reduce attention. That guy didn’t have your foresight and immediately announced himself after graduating. Even claimed that he was the first one, though some of the established mages refuted that.”
“They didn’t mention me, did they…?”
“No, they just said that there was another mage among the foreigners that had graduated from Rosenheim a while before he did. Xiao said that was impossible, he refused to believe it, blah blah blah. In the end, a bunch of foreigners that were studying at the college began to swarm around him, and he was forced to go into hiding. He’s still a glory seeker, though, so finding him was easy.”
“I see, well it’s good that my name wasn’t made public. Did you learn any details on his Frozen Flame? I assume that’s what he used to graduate from the college.”
“Ah, yeah. It wasn’t really that impressive. All he did was give a high level ice spell a more fluid form, letting it appear to be fire. Then, whenever the ‘fire’ hits something, it freezes over as if all heat had been drained from it.”
“Really…? That’s it? I had been hoping for something better. But, I suppose it does fill the conditions. What about his tome? He shouldn’t have any objects that were able to hide it like I do.”
“He doesn’t. But he doesn’t really use it either. If anything, he sees it as a nuisance to carry around the book. My spy actually had to sneak into an inn to get a look at it and confirm he really was a mage.”
“Did they get a look at the book’s runes to figure out what type it was?”
“Yeah, there were attack runes on the book instead of the protection ones on yours. So he likely has one of the Assailant Tomes. It’s a good match for yours really, if he takes the time to develop it.”
“Well.. I can’t deny that I’m a bit disappointed, now that you have told me all of this. I thought someone else who went through the trials of becoming a true mage would work harder to fit in with this world.”
Lilith smiled, patting my shoulder. “It’s alright. Not everyone can be as obsessive as you are.”
“....Aren’t you supposed to try to cheer me up?”
She smirked, winking at me. “Maybe later. You had a spell you wanted to show us, right?”
Dariel glanced to me at Lilith’s comment, and I nodded. “Yeah. It should be fine to use it out here when nobody else is around.” I walked over towards the edge of the boat and retrieved my book, flipping through the pages until it came to the spell I wanted. Holding my staff up with my spare hand, I began the incantation.
“Ancient laws which bind this world, rules set down from god to man. Twist, unbind, destroy the world with my fury.” I thought I heard Lilith gasp behind me, and in the air a good distance from the boat a magic circle of light appeared, spinning slightly above the water. As I spoke the next line, a second and third one appeared above and below it. “Let he who walks before me and all among them burn to ash at my will.”
The clouds above the magic circle began to part, a bright light shining from above. “Let the sky itself be overturned and forsaken, and shatter the world below. Magus Wrath!” Suddenly, it was as if a storm broke out in the area around us, a strong gust of wind blowing towards the magic circles. Then, the bright light from above shot down, piercing each of the three circles at once to strike into the water.
The wide beam, which I estimated to be half a kilometer thick, didn’t disappear right away. It persisted while my mana was plummeting, lasting a full ten seconds before both the beam and my mana were entirely gone. For those ten seconds though, the seas parted. The spell was vaporizing the water faster than it could fill the hole left behind, causing a whirlpool that began to drag us towards it.
Standing near the edge of the water, I almost fell overboard, but Denise and Dariel were there to catch me. The Unity was being rocked back and forth, refusing to be overturned by using what little mana I had left until the spell was done. The sky, which for a few moments had been as bright as daylight, returned to its normal darkness. The sea took a bit longer to settle, waves pouring in and out from the spot I had targeted.
Denise and Dariel were stunned by the display. Even I hadn’t expected that kind of effect. But, the strongest reaction came from Lilith, who hadn’t moved a single step even when I was about to fall off the ship. Her arm seemed to be slightly trembling until finally she came up and asked in a quiet voice. “Jin… where did you get that spell..”
“I just got it… after I reached a certain level of power, it just appeared… Sorry… was it too much like an angel spell?” I asked because it did seem to be a light smiting down from heaven.
She shook her head to my question, but then added. “It’s not possible that you got it because you reached that level of power… that power is way beyond you… even if it is you..”
“Uh.. sorry… dumb mage here, mind explaining that spell a bit? You seem to know more about it than I do.” I glanced to Lilith, who nodded slightly, keeping her eyes down.
“Magus Wrath, one of the two Grand Magics of the first Archmage. Do you know about the Archmages?” When I shook my head she continued. “Among the mages, there are specialists. Elementalists, enchanters, diviners, and so on. There are those who even master two fields in their life. Very rarely, not since five hundred years ago, there is one who masters every form of magic. They are known as an Archmage, the highest form of existence among magic users.”
The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith Page 37