Chapter 481: The Land Running on the Sea (3)

Piyo wore a dazed expression on Evan’s face.

“No, why can’t I move my body…?”

She struggled to get up from the sand pit, flailing as if caught and dragged by something invisible.

Lennok subtly averted his gaze, unable to face the sight directly.

“Isn’t the Mimicry not working properly?”

“That can’t be, otherwise the spell wouldn’t even activate… Ugh!!”

She coughed and spat, having inhaled a mouthful of the sand dust she herself had stirred up.

It was a pathetic sight, unbelievable for a superhuman who, just moments ago, had fiercely pressed Lennok with refined mutation abilities.

Yet, Piyo seemed completely oblivious to the fact that this pathetic display was the very risk Lennok always had to endure.

‘In a way, it’s only natural…’

The penalty on Lennok’s body wasn’t just a simple restriction; it was tantamount to a constraint on every ability required to move his body.

Unlike Lennok, who was accustomed to enduring the penalty, Piyo’s situation was like suddenly being trapped in a garbage-like physique.

Of course, Evan’s physical data was an arbitrary, virtual data created by Lennok, so Piyo wouldn’t have shared all of Lennok’s penalties.

Even so, it was certainly very interesting that she struggled so much and couldn’t even properly diagnose her own condition.

“Damn it, let’s try one more time!!”

Piyo, shedding the mimicry that had transformed her into Evan’s face, charged forward, transformed into a giant rhinoceros.

“Alright.”

Did she decide that the information collected from the battle wasn’t enough?

Lennok also accepted Piyo’s first strike without a word.

KWA-ANG!!!

The charge of the rhinoceros-like magical beast and fragments of the sand barrier intertwined, spreading a dance of magic in all directions.

The sand on the beach rose like waves, erupting the very space.

Pa-ba-ba-ba-bak…!!

Tens of sand-formed thorns, spear shafts, and stakes rotated, piercing everywhere, and the gently scattered sand particles transformed into sharp blades.

Piyo, cutting through them relentlessly, countered, changing into various beasts, bladed weapons, firearms, and metallic forms.

“Here I come…!!”

Amidst the rapid, lightning-fast exchange of offense and defense, Piyo fully unleashed her magic and flipped her body.

Her body, which had been half-transformed into a tank-like shape, rapidly contracted, finally compressing into a human form.

The appearance of a middle-aged man, completely different from Piyo’s or Gio’s face.

If she pulled out a human form instead of another weapon or animal at this point, it was almost certainly the mutation form Piyo was most confident in.

Perhaps it was the form of the most cherished person or the most memorable acquaintance to the mutation sorcerer.

Kwoo-ooo…!!

Highly compressed magic rotated between the fists of Piyo, now in the form of a middle-aged man, and then struck down as a long flash of light.

Lennok’s sand wave countered the shock that overturned the entire field.

In the fleeting moment of an inhaled breath, dozens of slashes and impacts intersected and diverged, erupting chaotically in all directions.

Amidst the aftermath, Piyo reached Lennok’s front once again, rotating her elbow and greatly stirring her Mind Imprint.

Lennok, having witnessed the true nature of Piyo’s Miniature Universe before his eyes, moved instantly.

One step to the side, avoiding the initial attack that was propelled by an endlessly powerful rotational force.

One step back, for a brief moment to absorb the storm bursting from her grasp.

And one step forward, piercing Piyo’s defenses from the front, as if the fierce exchanges up to now meant nothing.

The moment Lennok’s hand ghosted past Piyo’s forearm and lightly pushed her solar plexus,

Her body was sent flying backward, slamming headfirst into the sandy beach.

KOONG!!!

“Kahaak…!”

Before Piyo could get up, Lennok stepped on her back and immediately cast gravity magic.

Piyo let out a death rattle mixed with coughs.

At the same time, the sand fluttering above the beach fell to the ground all at once, creating a gentle rain of sand.

Pa-seu-seu-seu!!

“Three steps.”

On the suddenly quiet sandy beach, Lennok lifted his foot from Piyo’s back and said with a smile.

“It’s certainly difficult without moving.”

“…”

“Mutation spell, Mimicry of Natural Enemy. This should be enough, right?”

Instead of answering, Piyo looked up at Lennok with a dazed expression.

Rapperd and Gapseon also remained silent, their mouths shut.

“Phew, damn it… This is the first time I’ve been pressed down like this even after borrowing my senior brother’s appearance.”

Piyo sighed deeply and hesitantly got up.

“Alright. I’m not sure why the spell isn’t working properly, but I guess I’ll have to be satisfied with this.”

At the same time, Piyo’s appearance instantly shifted, transforming into Evan’s.

It wasn’t perfectly identical, but she seemed to have managed to somehow imitate his appearance, atmosphere, and presence.

It was still not satisfactory in Lennok’s eyes, but Rapperd and Gapseon seemed to feel differently, watching Piyo with quite a curious expression.

[You said it was a mutation spell. It’s truly astonishing that it can mimic to this extent.]

“Indeed. I did wonder about that strangely empty aura… It’s a much better ability than I thought.”

“That’s true, but honestly, it’s not at a level I’d call a success.”

Piyo grumbled with Evan’s face, awkwardly flailing her limbs.

“I don’t know if it’s because the mutation isn’t working properly or because the body synchronization rate is low, but my physical abilities are utterly garbage-level.”

“…”

“Evan’s strength or stamina couldn’t possibly be this bad, so this just means the Mimicry of Natural Enemy didn’t work at all… I never knew that failed mutation spells had such terrible side effects.”

“…”

“Ugh, it’s hard to even breathe… I feel like I’m constantly getting tired, damn it… I can’t stand it for long. I really should only use this when I’m a decoy in place of the real Evan.”

Piyo, unconsciously and unreservedly, revealed Lennok’s inferior physical abilities.

As if she couldn’t stand it any longer, she hastily dispelled the mutation and returned to her original form, grumbling.

She didn’t seem to have any idea that this strength and stamina were Lennok’s, busily disparaging the side effects of the mutation spell with all sorts of epithets.

Was it just a feeling that Lennok’s chest hurt more every time he heard Piyo railing against what she called the side effects of the mutation spell?

But instead of telling Piyo the truth, Lennok quietly looked up.

“…Then let’s start immediately. We don’t have much time.”

Lennok’s quietly murmured voice sounded somehow muffled.

Goooooh…

“…I never imagined something like this was possible.”

“I can somewhat imagine Eliza’s feelings.”

Rapperd muttered, staring blankly out the window.

“If I could see a view like this, I’d swim beneath the surface too.”

It was a small submarine, made from hollowed-out logs, capable of carrying four people. Outside, the scenery of the seabed, not an island, was visible.

The exterior was made from logs brought by Rapperd and Piyo, and Lennok’s magic was layered over it, transforming it into a moving submarine.

When Rapperd’s primitive faith-based Domain declaration was cast inside it, those under its blessing could breathe even in a sealed space.

Piyo, looking at the schools of fish swimming deep in the sea and the cephalopods flapping and disappearing, muttered with a curious expression.

“High-level wizards really have unique ideas from the start. It makes me wonder if that’s why everyone’s looking for wizards…”

“There’s no wizard who does this kind of thing without the help of magic engineering.”

Lennok quietly averted his gaze, watching the two staring intently out of the submarine.

While the various creatures living beneath the sea were certainly exotic, what caught Lennok’s eye was a bit different.

A fierce updraft of magic rising from the deepest part of the Sea of Understanding.

It continuously shot natural magic upwards, forming a giant waterspout beneath the sea surface.

The seawater that surged above the surface created a grand mist, making everything indistinguishable, obscuring visibility.

In the vast Sea of Understanding, this considerable mist and magical updraft, rising from various places, created an isolated environment where even magic detection didn’t work properly.

One couldn’t say that these environmental factors didn’t contribute to the naval forces of the autonomous region not noticing the existence of the Far Eastern Branch.

The existence of an overwhelming updraft that, merely by being there, pushed the entire sea’s magic onto the land.

Lennok was certainly curious what existed beneath the sea to cause such a phenomenon, but now was not the time to ponder it.

“Once we arrive beneath the island, we’ll abandon the submarine and dig in from underground. It won’t be long, so get ready.”

There was a reason he chose the submarine form instead of other methods.

If, as Gapseon said, the Far Eastern Branch was on a moving island, facilities for basic living would be established on it.

Among them, the existence of sewage facilities to treat wastewater was inevitable.

No matter how powerful a high-level superhuman, facilities for basic living are indispensable.

And such sewage systems would undoubtedly be located in the lower part of the island, specifically as hidden underground facilities.

Lennok intended to use the submarine to locate the island’s underground sewage system and ascend it to infiltrate the Far Eastern Branch.

Lennok spoke to Gapseon, who was leaning against one side of the submarine, silently gazing out the window.

“If you find it difficult to move in the water, please tell me in advance. It would be advisable to use Rapperd’s or Piyo’s strength to move you.”

[You are certainly different from that man.]

“…What?”

Despite Lennok’s counter-question, Gapseon did not reply.

He merely directed the scarlet, one-eyed pattern drawn on his talisman mask towards Lennok.

[A clean aura and demeanor, excellent barrier magic and logical thinking… None of it matches the anomalous manipulator I saw in Kaiushyu.]

“…”

[The only commonality is achieving such incredible feats at a young age… I don’t know what the world is coming to.]

“I’m sure I’m not the only young wizard in this vast world.”

Lennok replied calmly, instead turning his gaze towards Gapseon.

“If you came from the Western Continent, you’d know that fact better than I.”

[Do you truly think so?]

Surprisingly, Gapseon did not fall silent at that remark; instead, he counter-questioned Lennok.

[You can’t possibly not know that while there might be wizards with achievements like yours, wizards with results like yours are rare.]

“…”

[To pursue both research and practical application simultaneously is close to a fantasy. Most countless geniuses struggle to achieve even one properly.]

It felt as if Gapseon’s invisible gaze behind the talisman mask sharpened.

[Solid fundamentals and flexible thinking, keen senses and shrewd judgment. It’s impossible for a talented sorcerer to hone all of these. At least, not at your age.]

Only then did Lennok realize what Gapseon had been thinking of him, and he felt a chill run down his spine.

Despite having no evidence, no circumstantial commonalities, and no matching personality or talent.

Gapseon was overlapping Victor and Evan based solely on the fact that he had accumulated this level of skill.

That must be because Gapseon could use his talisman magic to determine whether or not someone had gone through the 45-year cycle.

Even while believing that Victor and Evan were different people, he couldn’t accept it, and was quietly probing Lennok like this.

Subtly implying, can someone of your age really achieve this much?

“…”

The statement that he was a famous eccentric from the Western Continent was not wrong.

If not for his memories as Victor, Lennok would have dismissed Gapseon’s words as mere fanciful nonsense.

But knowing that, he had to provide a convincing answer to his question now.

If Gapseon didn’t consider Lennok a fellow Watcher and an ally, he couldn’t predict how this talisman sorcerer would act at the end of this operation.

And the answer Lennok chose was very different from what Gapseon expected.

“You seem to be overlapping me with someone.”

“…”

He unhesitatingly poked and prodded at the core of what Dreyfus thought.

Instead, he slowly rose from his seat, as if tired of such comparisons.

“It’s not uncommon. I don’t care. Just make sure we don’t fail to do what we need to do because we’re lost in sentimentality.”

Even though Lennok was currently leading the Watchers to approach the Cult’s branch, the core of this operation was, ultimately, Gapseon.

If Gapseon hadn’t specifically requested it, Lennok wouldn’t have joined this operation.

At the very least, there should be no dropping of responsibility due to useless contemplation.

Gapseon seemed to reflect on this again, nodding with a slightly changed demeanor.

[Yes, you are right… I’ve decided to stop dwelling on irresponsible worries and great deeds.]

“…”

Lennok didn’t know the circumstances that led Gapseon to accept Lapis’s offer and become a Watcher.

However, it was undoubtedly true that his actions, wandering the entire Western Continent and performing eccentric feats, were closely related to those inner circumstances.

Thinking so, Lennok immediately began to form intricate hand signs with both hands.

“Rapperd. Prepare to release the Domain.”

“…Already? No, more importantly, have you already found the sewage system’s location?”

“We’re going up. Prepare for the pressure change.”

At that moment, the front of the submarine shot up vertically from the water, beginning a rapid ascent.

Shoooong…!!

A drastic pressure change, enough to make the other Watchers, who were accustomed to the strong pressure beneath the sea, stagger.

For an ordinary human, it would be a shock enough to cause their heart to stop on the spot.

If not for Lennok’s protection magic and Rapperd’s Domain declaration spell, the submarine wouldn’t have lasted this long.

“Now!”

“Reap the seeds…!”

With Rapperd’s incantation, the Domain protecting the submarine vanished, and the blessing shattered.

At the same time, the log pieces forming the submarine split apart in the middle of the sea, and water rapidly began to fill the inside.

The view through the cracked log pieces was the lower part of a grand island floating on the sea.

The sight of countless earth mounds floating on the territorial waters of the Sea of Understanding, moving little by little and hovering,

It echoed the numerous floating islands located in the floating island cluster.

Amidst such earth mounds, a long cylindrical shape glowed with a faint white light.

Dark red liquid poured out from within, mixing with the sea and spreading a hazy mist.

Rapperd and Piyo both took a deep breath, then unhesitatingly threw themselves into the mist.

Cheolpeok!!

Lennok and Dreyfus, their bodies protected by shields and talismans, immediately ascended the massive cylindrical sewage pipe.

Going against the flowing current required considerable stamina, but the water flowing out from inside the sewage pipe wasn’t very strong.

It didn’t take long to ascend the stream of waste and reach a passage where they could step.

“Phew!! Holding my breath was harder than I thought—”

“Ugh, what’s that smell…!!”

Rapperd and Piyo wrinkled their noses and stood up, gagging and shaking their heads.

“There are oddly no traces here. Let’s move immediately.”

At Lennok’s words, as he emerged last from the water, Piyo glanced at their appearance and grumbled.

“Damn it, only Rapperd and I are covered in strange liquid… You two don’t have a speck of dust on you.”

As Piyo said, Rapperd and his body were plastered with evidence of having ascended the sewage system head-on.

An unidentifiable dark red liquid clung to their bodies, refusing to come off easily.

Only Gapseon and Lennok, who had surrounded themselves with shields and talismans, maintained their clean appearance.

Lennok glanced at the two and replied as he passed them.

“It’s not waste; it’s blood. Proof that hundreds of people were slaughtered like rats.”

“Huh? This is blood?”

Piyo touched the dark red liquid with a bewildered expression and said.

It was a shocking explanation, but no one present was so inexperienced as to be horrified or surprised by blood.

Lennok walked past Piyo and muttered ahead.

“I heard that blood used as a catalyst for spells often degenerates. Considering the Cult’s behavior, I suspect this is the result.”

Most likely, they were just disposing of blood shed through human sacrifice.

If the Far Eastern Branch had arrived in the Sea of Understanding and was deeply engaged in human sacrifice, what would be the reason?

If it was to confirm the Cult’s hidden secrets, then Lennok’s arrival here today would certainly not be in vain.

“Let’s move quickly. Magic detection doesn’t work well beneath the surface due to the updraft. We need to get to the surface as soon as possible.”

“…”

“Why no answ—”

Lennok turned his gaze to the silent Watchers and closed his mouth, seeing the sight unfolded behind them.

Dozens of priests had surrounded the three, pointing sharp spearheads at them.

“We’ve been waiting.”

The Cult’s soldiers looked down into the sewage system with eyes full of cold murderous intent.

“We wondered if anyone would crawl up through the sewers, and indeed there were.”

“Slowly climb onto the railing and put your hands on your head.”

“…Evan?”

Piyo slowly put her hands on her head and asked Lennok.

“What should we do?”

There was no answer.

SWISH!!

With a chilling sound of wind, a cutting noise passed through the priests, splitting their bodies in half.

“I don’t know the reason, but if we’ve been discovered, there’s no need to look back.”

Lennok’s eyes shone coldly.

“Change of plans. From now on, it’s a speed run.”