Chapter 544

「I wonder who is this bad girl who behaves badly in my beloved academy?」

While saying so, the beautiful blonde Elven woman gave off a pressure that even made Fran's whole-body shudder.

But now, her willow eyebrows were upturned showing her clear anger. When I looked at her face, she was just like an Elven woman frowning, but she gave off intimidation as if we were facing a Dragon.

「...Ugh」

She also showed us a glimpse of her ability. Just by slashing at the water, my durability value, which was buffed by the Sword God Transformation, was greatly reduced.

What was more, the annoying thing about that water defense layer was that it countered by instantaneously releasing a large amount of water. At the moment of attack, we'd be defenseless, and we'll be countered by a torrent of water at that moment, our attack could most likely be canceled halfway through. It was also quite difficult to spot it at first sight.

Even without appraising her, I could guess who this Elf was. She had tremendous magic power, the overly powerful Ocean Magic, and she also said the line 「My beloved academy」. Fran couldn't help but mutter her name.

「Weena Rhyn...?」

「That's right, I'm Weena Rhyn. Hmm... You're quite a lovely young lady, aren't you? Maybe you're Fran?」

「Nn」

「I wish we could have met differently... I also have a lot of questions I need to ask you――But first, I need to punish you」

The moment Weena Rhyn said that and looked at Fran, a violent sense of intimidation enveloped her. What she had been radiating was only a small residue that leaked out from earlier. Maybe she didn't even realize she was intimidating her.

「I'm sorry, but I won't let anyone who was messing in this academy go unpunished. But don't worry, I won't kill you」

Weena Rhyn was giving off a sense of pressure that was even accompanied by physical pressure as if the surrounding gravity had increased many times.

「I, Weena Rhyn, as the guardian, will――No, that's not good enough. That will be too much. To you, who will become a special instructor――That's still not good enough, huh? Then, to you, who have been offered a position as a special instructor and a short-term transfer plan, I shall begin with your punishment for your hostile acts towards our temporary instructor and our protected students. It will be a little harsher than a normal punishment. Well, you've almost killed him after all」

Immediately after Weena Rhyn said so, the air around us changed. I could see that the magic power that had enveloped this area was also flowing into Weena Rhyn. Some kind of reinforcement must have been applied to our surroundings.

However, Weena Rhyn seemed to be really unmotivated. Despite the intimidation and the words she said, there was not much motivation on her face. In fact, she looked like she didn't even want to fight.

「I'm going to have to restrain you for now. You can resist as much as you want, your opponent will be me alone. It's for your own good too. But I'm the strongest in this academy, you know? Divine Water Creation――Aquarius」

With Weena Rhyn's words, a sphere of water filled with strong magical power was created. Moreover, this sphere of water was slightly imbued with Divine Attributes. As the name suggested, Divine Water Creation must be a skill to create water with the Divine Attribute. She was manipulating it with the Ocean Magic, Aquarius.

Aquarius was an Ocean Magic that simply manipulated the surrounding water, but I've once read in the Adventurer's Guild documents that it could be changed into a thousand different forms when used by an expert user. In other words, if Weena Rhyn used it, it would become something terrifying.

The effect was immediately apparent. To my surprise, I could no longer sense the Divine Attributes and magic power from the water sphere. However, my danger detection was ringing loudly.

It's not that it has lost its attributes, but the effect of the Aquarius must have masked its presence. At first glance, it was just water magic. However, it was actually superb magic that contained powerful magic power and Divine Attributes.

Now I know why my endurance was cut down so quickly. That layer of water was also Divine water.

「Okay, let's start」

The next moment, a sphere of water shot out like a bullet. Fran jumped back to avoid it, but a new sphere of water was already created ahead of her.

「Tsk!」

Fran was trying to cut off the water sphere――.

「!!」

『How troublesome!』

We were being toyed with. Although it was a spur-of-the-moment attack, it was a blow that could even take down a mid-level magic beast... Fran managed to dodge the water sphere by twisting her body using an aerial jump. The water sphere approached her again, but Fran was also in a position to intercept it. She was in a Sheaths of Wind stance.

「Haaa!」

「Ara?」

Now it was Weena Rhyn's turn to be surprised. Her eyes widened when she saw the water sphere that had been cut in half by the Sheaths of Wind technique.

「No way, I didn't expect you to be able to do this much... You're an amazing child, aren't you? That was wonderful. But I wonder, why do we have to fight...?」

As I expected, Weena Rhyn does not seem to want to fight. However, some kind of compelling force seemed to be at work, forcing her to continue the fight.

『Fran. All I see with my appraisal is her name only! I don't know what she's going to do next!』

「Then, we'll take her down as fast as we can. Now it's our turn!」

「And now you're using light magic? You're so versatile, aren't you?」

Fran shot her light magic, the Solar Ray. Just as it looked like the violent torrent of light was going to swallow Weena Rhyn, it was the same layer of water that had interfered.

The rays of light were blocked by a layer of water and dissipated. But this was expected. Rather, the purpose was to blind her with the flash of light and make her focus on defense.

「...Black Thunder Rolls――Heaven Judgement!」

With Fran still maintaining her light magic, she went right behind her with the Black Thunder Rolls.

She then unleashed her all-out attack. Fran's aim from the start was to get in close and use the Heaven Judgement.

The speed was so godlike that an ordinary opponent would not even be able to react and would only realize after being slashed by it. However, Weena Rhyn was able to respond to it.

「You're so fast, aren't you!?」

Just like when she attacked Zeros Reed in her Sword God Transformation state, a layer of water then stood in front of Fran. She was blown away by its massive flow of water before, and unable to finish her slash.

But she had seen that technique once. So, Fran had naturally thought of a way to deal with it.

(Master!)

『Yeah』

To be honest, I don't know if resisting Weena Rhyn was the right thing to do here. Unlike Zeros Reed, we don't have a grudge against her, nor do we want to kill her. In fact, looking at it objectively, it would be worse for us to suddenly draw our swords and start fighting in a place where there were many non-combatants.

I couldn't sense any killing intent from Weena Rhyn, and I felt that it would be better for us to be caught obediently.

However, Fran was motivated, and she had received word from Weena Rhyn that it was okay to resist. Even if she was caught without resistance in this state, Fran would not be satisfied. If that was the case, it's better to go all out and feel satisfied later.

And it was not that I don't have my own thoughts after being so one-sidedly beaten before.

I activated my Dimension Shift in time with Fran's call. I guess that the counter of the water current was set to automatically activate upon impact.

We then easily slipped through the layer of water with the dimension shift. And the moment we hit Weena Rhyn, we canceled the skills.

As she regained her physical form, she was touched by the layer of water and the counter was triggered. Fran laughed ferociously while being blown away by the tremendous stream of water that was created to explode.

This time, there was a definite response.

「Kuh...! You can even use the space-time magic...!」

A red liquid was flowing out of Weena Rhyn's right side. It was where Fran's Heaven Judgement technique sliced through Weena Rhyn's side.

「You're stronger than I had imagined, aren't you...? It's been hundreds of years since I've had a hard-fought battle like this」

Weena Rhyn was grimacing. However, she immediately looked apologetic and said she was sorry.

「I'm sorry. I did say that you could resist as you can... But it seems that I've underestimated you. When this happens, I need to get a little serious... This is going to hurt a little bit, okay?」

「!」

Immediately after we heard Weena Rhyn's words, her figure was already in front of us. Instead of distancing herself to heal her wounds, she just stepped right in!

She must have been using a physical strengthening skill. Because even her blood flow has been strengthened, a large amount of blood was gushing out from her side. No, even that was actually Weena Rhyn's aim! A large amount of blood that overflowed became countless ivy and attacked Fran all at once.

Is it because it was a liquid, or because it was her blood that she could control it? Anyway, it seems that Weena Rhyn could manipulate her blood. Moreover, Weena Rhyn's blood, which was imbued with strong magical power, was actually much stronger than ordinary water.

The blood ivy, wriggling as if it was alive, wrapped around Fran's right arm in two or three layers. It must have focused on the right side of her sword grip. And her barrier could not pull it off.

Fran tried to use her magic release to blow the blood away, but it was a moment too late. Before she could do so, Weena Rhyn released a water sphere at close range that struck Fran's solar plexus.

「Ghaah!」

Because her arms were held by the blood ivy, she wasn't blown away and lost her power. Fran's body lifted and I saw that her right shoulder was badly injured.

Well, Fran wasn't the only one who was getting hit. Even as she was being attacked, she swung her left leg up and slammed a kick into the right side of Weena Rhyn.

「Guh!」

The water armor covering Weena Rhyn's skin caught the kick, but the impact seemed to have penetrated and reached Weena Rhyn, and she was frowning as she spat blood out of her mouth. Moreover, this was not the only attack that Fran had made.

「Eat, this!」

The black lightning that Fran wore was flowing into Weena Rhyn through her kick. It was the black lightning that even Goddarfa was taking damage from.

However, even though her entire body was enveloped in black lightning, Weena Rhyn's expression did not change. When I looked closely, I could see that she seemed to have controlled it with the water armor she wore and was guiding it to the ground.

It was a perfect response as if she had seen the black lightning before. Could it be that she had prepared the armor not to prevent the attack, but to nullify the black lightning?

「I think we're done here」

「?」

For some reason, Weena Rhyn let go of Fran's arm while saying those words. Fran hurriedly tried to keep her distance, but her legs never moved.

「Water...?」

Before she knew it, a large amount of water had covered Fran's body, blocking her movements. The water sphere that had just been released was not just to attack. The water quickly covered Fran's legs and torso. Moreover, this water was not just for catching Fran too.

「Argh? Gughaah...!」

Fran's body suddenly glowed and began to spark, accompanied by a buzzing sound like electricity popping. It was as if she was leaking electricity.

No, it seems that a similar phenomenon was really occurring. The black lightning on Fran's body lost its density all at once, and her life force began to drop rapidly.

「My... Power is...」

「It's been a long time since I've seen Black Tiger Kin, but I've got all the countermeasures I need, you know?」

This phenomenon, Weena Rhyn was doing this on purpose! It seemed that Weena Rhyn, who had lived for a long time, had fought the Black Heavenly Tiger in the past. So, this wasn't her first time seeing the black lightning either.

I tried to use teleport to somehow escape, but for some reason, it didn't activate.

『This feeling... It feels like something was interfering with its activation?』

「Did you try to use teleport? Currently, teleport was not allowed to be used in this whole area. Even I won't be able to use it」

『Fran! Unleash your Brilliant Lightning Rush right now! We're in trouble if you don't!』

「...Okay!」

As soon as Fran released the skill, she used all her magic power release while putting up a barrier, and flicked away the water that clung to her body.

「That was a quick decision, wasn't it? I can't believe you were able to do something about it... It's been hundreds of years since I had someone run away from me after I thought I've caught them perfectly, you know? I would have preferred to have a normal encounter with you if I could...」

Weena Rhyn sighed again as she healed her wounds. Her face showed signs of fatigue, but she was still able to fight.

On the other hand, Fran was fully wounded. If it was a game of simple battle, we'd have won by hitting her with the Heaven Judgement. But if you look at the degree of exhaustion, we were overwhelmingly defeated.

「You have very little energy left, but what will you do now? More than this, and I'll be more serious, you know? Or do you still want to go?」