Chapter 545

「Or do you still want to go?」

「...I do!」

Immediately after shouting so, Fran created a ball of light behind her. However, this was not an attack skill, but merely simple light magic.

The place where it was created was where the light ball, Fran, and Weena Lane line up. Fran's long shadow then swallowed Weena Rhyn.

And then, the mouth of a huge beast suddenly appeared from her shadow and swallowed Weena Rhyn's leg.

It was Urushi, who had changed to his largest size, who ambushed her from the shadows.

「Grrrr!」

「...It's still hiding all this time even though you've been pushed this far, huh!?」

Weena Rhyn had jumped up as quickly as she could, and all Urushi could bite was below the knee. In addition, the Aquarius counter immediately pried open Urushi's closed mouth. Apparently, the large amount of water produced in his mouth made it impossible for him to keep it closed.

「Gaoof!」

Spitting out a large amount of water from his mouth, Urushi fled into the shadows again. But he had done his job well enough.

Although he hadn't been able to bite through, both of Weena Rhyn's legs had been severely injured. Blood was pouring out of the holes drilled by his fangs, and both legs would have been broken.

It was the effect of the dimensional fangs that he had acquired through his evolution. The attack, which ignored defense, penetrated the defensive layer created by Aquarius and inflicted damage to her.

If he had been able to close his mouth completely without the water getting in the way, he would have been able to bite her legs off... But this was enough to make a chance for us.

Fran and I decided to make our final attack here.

「Kanna Kamui!」

「Let's overlap it!」

To be honest, my durability value was already on the edge. That was due to the combination of the damage received from the Sword God Transformation and the damage from striking the Divine Water.

Knowing this, Fran chose magic. It was a field that she was not very good at, but her training had improved this as well.

It wasn't enough to unleash Kanna Kamui easily, but it didn't take her tens of seconds to concentrate like before. That was enough time for me to complete my preparations in the time that Urushi had given us.

The strongest attack we could unleash at the moment rained down on Weena Rhyn, who was healing her legs while floating in the air using water to support her body.

「Divine Water Creation! Yamata-no-Orochi!」

(TLN: Eight-headed serpent)

However, our opponent was a master of magic. She must have sensed the signs. So, she immediately activated her magic against the extreme lightning that was pouring down.

Eight dragons formed out of water ascended toward the sky. The water dragons, each with their own tremendous power, then collided with Kanna Kamui in the sky, causing a tremendous discharge.

Rizzt zzt zzzt!

Then the lightning rapidly became thinner and thinner and disappeared before it even reached the ground.

It wasn't an explosion, nor was it being one-sidedly pushed back. The water dragon had weakened, dispersed, and dissipated the power of extreme lightning.

It seems that Weena Rhyn was doing it on purpose. She had adjusted its power to cause as little damage to the surrounding area as possible while being able to cancel out our Kanna Kamui.

We were able to have a good match in close combat, but I guess she has the upper hand in the battle of magic.

「That hurts... My combat instincts must have been completely dulled, huh? But even so, you are still able to use Kanna Kamui after using the Heaven Judgement, huh...? Aren't you a little too strong for someone of your age? Well, I'll ask you once again, will you surrender now?」

Perhaps, Fran's voluntary surrender was the key. Weena Right seemed to be forced to fight by some kind of compelling force after all. It seemed that in order to stop it, the other side would have to surrender or be neutralized.

「The damage would be too great if we were to have a serious fight here with someone of your level. I'll detain you, but I'll let you go soon. I promise」

(Master?)

『I think we should listen to what she has to say here. She wasn't lying』

The Principle of Falsehood was able to discern a lie and the truth. However, I didn't know if the Principle of Falsehood was working properly against someone who was so superior that even my appraisal could only reveal her name.

Still, Fran seemed to have decided to believe her words. Well, it could also be said that her anger was somewhat dissipated after the fierce fight.

「Or do you still want to beat me and kill him?」

「...」

Weena Rhyn and Fran's gazes turned to Zeros Reed, who was standing some distance away. He was covered in blood, with blood pouring out of his neck, which had been cut open by us. But he didn't make any noise and stood there quietly.

「I understand that you have a history with him, but I can't let you kill him just yet. Besides, if you kill him here, I won't be holding back anymore. So please, surrender!」

Weena Rhyn said so and bowed her head in place. It felt like the positions were reversed, but I could tell that Weena Rhyn really wanted to avoid further fighting. Fran must have understood that too.

「...Okay, I'll surrender」

「Thank you」

Weena Rhyn exhaled in relief at Fran's words.

「Hmm... Berthoudi is still making noise...」

But her brow furrowed again.

「Eh? Do you mean that wolf? I don't have a choice then」

Does she have a conversation with someone? Weena Rhyn, who was nodding towards nothing, produced a sphere of water again.

「Aside from Fran, I don't think I've punished the wolf enough. I'm sorry if I'm being a little rough with him」

The sphere that Weena Rhyn created was sent flying and landed at Fran's feet. I wondered if she was trying to restrain Fran, but it didn't seem that was the case.

The sphere of water began to spread thinly as if it were licking the ground. At first glance, it would appear that Fran was standing in the center of the puddle. I wonder what she was doing.

As Fran and I watched in amazement, the water immediately began to bubble up. Soon after, something jumped out of the water.

「Ofu offu!」

「Urushi?」

It was Urushi, spitting water out of his mouth and scratching the air with its paws as if he were drowning. Or rather, he was actually drowning. It seems that the water was somehow poured into the shadow where Urushi was hiding.

As long as Urushi was blocked from using his teleport, he would not be able to escape the water torture. As soon as Urushi jumped out of the water, the sphere of water that was placed above his head attacked him again, as if it had been aiming for it.

「Offu...!」

When the water sphere expanded at once, Urushi was trapped inside it. After having escaped from being suffocated, he was immediately thrown back into the water and moaned pitifully.

He seemed to be on the verge of panic, but still, Urushi did not give up. He then tried to make his body huge at once. He thought he could use the size of his body to blow away the water.

However, Weena Rhyn was one step ahead of him.

「It's useless」

To my surprise, the water sphere expanded to adjust with the giant Urushi. In the end, Urushi was still trapped in it. Then Urushi's face was distorted in agony. It seemed that water was being forcefully pushed into his mouth.

「Offufu...」

This was bad, Urushi's going to drown! But just as Urushi's face twisted in agony, Weena Rhyn snapped her fingers. Then the sphere of water changed its shape, with only Urushi's face allowed to come out.

「That should take care of the wolf. You're next. Stay put」

「Nn」

Weena Rhyn then waved her finger lightly, and water rose from under Fran's feet at once, covering her as if to envelop her. From the outsider's perspective, it would appear as if she were being attacked by blue slime.

Just like that, the water went from Fran's neck down. It wrapped around her torso and legs, similar to Urushi. Apparently, the water pressure was exquisitely regulated, as there was no damage to Fran's vitality. However, she seemed to be unable to move.

Fran and Urushi, who were stupidly restrained with only their faces sticking out of the water sphere, were drooping in frustration.

But Weena Rhyn's face still frowned.

「She doesn't seem to want to resist, and I've restrained their movements, but why is Berthoudi still so noisy...? Eh? Her sword? What you mean is that hostile thing is... her sword?」

She was talking to someone else again. And did she just say sword? Then Weena Rhyn's gaze turned completely to me.

The water holding Fran then wriggled, and I am separated from her in such a way that only I am separated from her.

「Umm? Sword-san? How should I say this...? Are you going to resist?」

I was sure that she knew. So, there was no point in hiding it now.

「Well, just because it has consciousness doesn't mean that it can answer my question huh...?」

『...No, I'm not going to resist』

「Eh? What was that?」

『I'm the sword. Please talk using telepathy for now』

(A-a talking sword...? Even though each one of them was legendary enough, there are only three of them after all... Well, I'll have to hear more about that later, okay?)

『Yeah』

「Hostile response complete. This concludes the defensive action」

When Weena Rhyn said that, the magic that had covered our surroundings dissipated. At the same time, the aggressive magic emanating from Weena Rhyn eased.