Water Magician - Chapter 398: More Faces…

TLN: Please read my translations at tseirptranslations.com, I did not give permission to any site to host my translations. 

Editor: Tseirp

“I knew you would come. But wasn’t expecting you’d be alone. Is it because you only have one of those bracelets?”

The Pope’s voice was quite expressive.

Compared to when he had attacked them on the roadside, his words sounded much more full of spirit.

“You are right, Your Holiness. As a matter of fact, I have no intention of fighting you now. So can you just let me off the hook for this?”

“Now, that’s hilarious. Okay, say I let you go, what then? I’m guessing you’ll go rally your companions and come right back to rescue these four. But did it ever occur to you that I could just kill them before you get here?”

“Not at all. These four people are probably your source of magic power. No, not only these four, but you have quite a few magicians locked up further in. You are siphoning magic power from them as well, aren’t you?”

The Pope was rather visibly taken aback by Ryo’s deduction.

He definitely looked much more emotional than when he attacked them on the roadside.

“It’s quite intriguing that you’re able to figure out so much. Let me guess, you used the wind-attribute magic , huh? I didn’t sense any such flow of magic power though.”

“Something like that.”

“You’re a dangerous individual.”

Then, the Pope seemed to smile a little.

Then he continued.

“You shall perish here before you learn anything more. .”

.”

Suddenly, a battle broke out.

Ryo honestly wished he could have gotten a little more information out of him.

Since the Pope was quite chatty this time.

Three flame vortexes emerged from the Pope’s right hand and struck Ryo.

Ryo received them with the laminated ice wall. The ice wall was not only erected in front of him but in every conceivable angle. Including overhead.

And then a rain of ice lances poured down.

Super-dense, super-fast, and super-massive.

The entire atrium turned into a pathway made of ice lances.

Probably tens of thousands of them in total.

…However.

“To think you’d be unscathed after all that.”

As expected, Ryo was surprised by that.

The Pope didn’t move a single step, only putting up a above him.

Ordinarily, a is not that sturdy.

However, the Pope’s barrier was surprisingly robust…

“Interesting, so you were a water-attribute magician. But still, how are you able to unleash such abundant ice lances and not run out of magic power…. Are you really a human?”

“Like you’re one to talk. What about you, I’m fairly certain you’re no human. I can’t really say if it exists in this world or not, but I’m guessing you’re a clone or something similar.”

That’s right, the Pope in front of him is a different individual from the one he fought on the roadside.

He looks exactly the same.

But his disposition is totally different.

Clones can be genetically identical to each other.

However, their ‘Spirit’, will not exactly be the same.

This is because a person’s ‘Spirit’ is developed based on all their knowledge and experiences from birth to the present.

And therefore manifests in their disposition.

Of course, this is only Ryo’s theory.

After all, there were no official human clones on Earth.

However, anyone could have arrived at this answer if they thought about it logically.

And Ryo thought that the product of his reasoning was right in front of him.

“I don’t know what a clone is, but it seems to me that you’ve uncovered our secrets. How truly fascinating. I know about you. Ryo, a C-rank adventurer with the Kingdom delegation. Hmm… I don’t think the whole delegation knows about it, but… let’s see, you mind telling me how much of our secrets you know exactly?”

“You know I can’t do that, obviously.”

Ryo thought.

(Earlier, he was surprised to learn that I’m a water-attribute magician, and now he knows my name. He must have updated his information. Something like the tactical data link… so it’s not limited to just golems, even this Pope has it…? Well, it’s quite plausible for a clone, I suppose. To have incorporated something like that in a golem, they seem to know the importance of sharing information in real-time.)

“To silence a magician, I guess this should do it. .”

The Pope chanted quickly and plunged toward Ryo with his nearly two-meter staff at the ready.

“Silence, do you think you’re capable of it?”

Ryo produced a blade from Murasame and intercepted him.

Clang.

The clash of staff and sword echoed through the atrium.

“What the…”

The Pope was astonished.

“It is natural for a modern magician to be able to fight in close quarters.”

Ryo looked smug.

“Cut the crap!”

Thrust. Thrust, thrust.

Strike.

Swing.

And thrust again.

Ryo carefully received the Pope’s staff attack with Murasame.

“Looks like close-quarters combat is leading nowhere…”

Ryo heard the Pope’s muttering.

Perhaps because of the enchantment, the Pope’s speed and power exceeded Ryo’s.

However, his technique with the staff was not that spectacular.

Meaning, it would be difficult for him to get past Ryo’s ironclad defense.

Compared to Sera’s sword during ‘Wind Clad’, it wasn’t too hard to deal with.

That was Ryo’s honest impression.

The Pope jumped backward greatly.

“.”

The moment the Pope chanted, two faces appeared to the left of his face, and two to the right… five faces lined up along with his own face.

The newly materialized faces were only faces… nothing from the neck down.

They appeared to be floating…

“How creepy.”

Ryo muttered his honest thoughts.

But that was about it as far as leeway goes.

“.”

“”

“”

“”

The faces that appeared beside the Pope chanted four magic spells at the same time.

“”

Ryo chanted as he jumped backward.

The four attributes magic spells collided with the ice wall, and… in an instant, the ice wall cracked.

“Unbelievable!”

The , , and disappeared as the ice wall cracked, but the three stone lances… two bounced off the robe and one pierced through a gap in the robe and onto his left leg.

Ryo was sent flying backward.

A completely unexpected turn of events.

For the to crack in an instant.

But, of course, it didn’t end there.

“”

“”

“”

“”

The four faces chanted Sonic Blade.

Sonic Blade is an AOE offensive magic spell, in which a single wind blade splits into five blades.

In other words, the four Sonic Blades eventually became twenty wind blades.

It struck Ryo, who was blown away and unable to move after being shot in the leg.

Wind blades rained down.

Shattered walls and floors.

“”

At the same time as the Pope chanted, Ryo, holding Murasame, came down from directly above him.

Clang.

The absolute protection that only high-ranking clergymen of the Western Church can cast, , collided with Murasame, and a high-pitched sound resounded forth.

Having failed in his surprise attack, Ryo spun backward and landed on the ground.

Standing on one leg.

His left leg was injured and in a rather bad state.

“The main body is of the light attribute, and the other four cast magic of the four attributes… talk about a foul technique!”

Ryo muttered.

“Hey water-attribute magician, you can’t do that, can you?”

“As a matter of fact, I don’t think anyone can…. Still, I was truly surprised earlier when the ice wall shattered in an instant. What was that?”

“You want to know? Even in this situation where you are on the verge of dying?”

“Yeah. I would very much like to know.”

Ryo answered the Pope’s question with a broad nod.

Certainly, it is a bit unusual to ask such a thing of the opponent you are fighting in a very unfavorable situation where you might die.

But again, looking at it from another point of view.

Wouldn’t it be a shame to die with such a question on your mind?

Then you wouldn’t be able to rest in peace.

Ryo didn’t fancy the idea of wandering around this world as a wraith…

“Interesting! The quest for truth is a privilege allowed to man. Fine, I’ll make an exception and tell you. In magic, there is a phenomenon called resonance. There are several conditions under which resonance can occur… but it rarely happens when the magic of two attributes collide. However, when four attributes are aligned, the conditions for resonance to occur are more easily met spontaneously, and the chances of resonance occurring is very high. As a result, some magic will ‘disappear’.”

“I see. The fact that all but the earth lance, including my ice wall, disappeared in an instant just now was a magic resonance phenomenon…”

Resonance is a common occurrence even outside of magic.

“But it’s only because you can activate all four attributes at the same time, isn’t it…?”

Ryo suddenly thought of the battlefield scenes he had seen so far.

For example, in the Kingdom Liberation War…

Fire, earth, and wind attributes were often used in offensive magic, but he had never seen water-attribute offensive magic…

Yeah, only the three attributes…

It seems that there is still a world of magic unknown to Ryo.

“Naturally, however, the four attributes must be near each other for this to happen.”

Of course.

Even if it is something other than magic, resonance will not occur if they are far apart.

“I see. That was enlightening.”

Ryo said, bowing his head.

Although they were killing each other, he had been taught something he was curious about, so it wouldn’t hurt to be thankful for that, would it?

Ryo had a strange sense of discipline…

“Now, I suppose you don’t have any more regrets. I’ll send you on your way now, so desist from any useless resistance.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

Ryo rejected the Pope’s proposal.

“Why are you so obsessed with life…?”

“Isn’t that obvious? How am I supposed to eat yummy cakes if I’m not alive!”

Ryo answered the Pope’s muttering with extreme seriousness.

It’s that important to Ryo.

Man shall not live by bread alone… so said a certain Son of God.

Meaning that both curry and cake are necessary… may not necessarily be an accurate interpretation, but for Ryo, both curry and cake are important.

“Either way, you’re going to die.”

“No, thank you!”

“”

“Ugh…the impregnable one from earlier! No, there is no such thing as impregnable magic!”

The Pope first cast absolute defensive magic.

So, after securing the safety of the main body, he intended to cast the four-attribute offensive magic spell.

Ryo’s countermeasure to that was…

“”

Dynamic steam mines were stacked in multiple layers so that even if some of them disappeared due to the resonance phenomenon, they wouldn’t get near Ryo.

First, they set up their defenses against each other.

After that, they began chanting.

Big moves at that.

“”

“”

“”

“”

The faces beside the Pope chanted.

Ryo didn’t know, but those magic were the strongest spells of each attribute offensive magic in the Western Countries.

As for Ryo’s counter.

“”

Sixteen magic circles emerged.

The magic chanted by the faces of the Pope was blocked by the .

While emitting pair annihilation particles.

Under such circumstances, Ryo chanted with more concentration than usual.

“.”

In that moment, tens of thousands of ice lances per second flew toward the Pope’s forehead, concentrating on a single point.

Of course, they were repelled by the .

But it didn’t matter.

Five seconds, ten seconds, twenty seconds…

Hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, four hundred thousand…

All the ice lances flew toward a single point… just one point, without a single millimeter of deviation.

“What a fool. is unbreakable.”

“There’s no magic that can’t be broken!”

Ryo refuted the Pope’s words with absolute confidence.

Why is he so confident…?

It is because Michael (pseudonym) once said.

It’s about ‘the same as Earth in terms of physical phenomena’.

And if one were to consider the physical phenomena on Earth from a logical standpoint, then there’s no such thing as ‘Absolute Defense’.

If so, there’s no such thing on ‘Phi’ either.

Ryo thought that it was just a super-hard defensive barrier, and , being generated to the extent that it seemed like an absolute defense.

Essentially, those two barriers are non-attribute magic, but when light attribute is added to them, they may become amazingly sturdy…

The so-called resonance absorption of the general theory of relativity… nucleus goes from the ground state to the excited state by absorbing light… something like that…

Moreover, it is quite difficult to use, so only high-ranking priests and clergy can use it… in other words, only magicians with very high proficiency in light-attribute magic can use it…

That was Ryo’s reasoning.

So, with that being the case, there is no way it can’t be broken.

The magic spell concentrating the Icicle Lance attacked on a single point, .

When the total number of shots exceeded ten million…

Crack.

Slash.

cracked, and the next ice lance pierced the Pope’s forehead.

The ‘Pierce’ then shifted to ‘Fan’ and the faces floating beside the Pope and his entire body were pierced by hundreds of ice lances… blowing them away, and the Pope was crucified on the wall behind him.

TLN: Please read my translations at tseirptranslations.com, I did not give permission to any site to host my translations. 

If you like my translations, please support me on Ko-fi and Patreon and unlock early chapter releases! 7 day free trial is available for Bronze tier now!