Water Magician

Chapter 145: Darkness-Attribute

Extra chapter thanks to JR, AK and ML. Thank you for the support!

After walking for almost two hours, they finally arrived at the destination.

“Finally … phew, at last … pant, we’ve arrived … haa, it was quite far.”

Ryo breathlessly told Abel.

“…”

Abel stared at him and couldn’t say anything.

Only his eyes conveyed that he understood Ryo was doing it intentionally.

Ryo wouldn’t get tired from this distance.

“Hmph, was it tough for an untrained Magician?”

The undercut hairstyle man, who was following behind them, watched Ryo and made a fool of him.

He didn’t realize that it was ‘intentional’.

After confirming that, Ryo sniggered to Abel softly.

For some reason, Abel felt like he lost.

The place they arrived at was a village.

There were about 20 houses, and in the center of the village, they could see a building with a square and an altar.

However, Ryo felt uncomfortable.

He didn’t know what the cause was … well, it was a sense of discomfort precisely because he didn’t know the cause or reason for it.

However, Abel also felt that discomfort.

“Isn’t something strange?”

Abel whispered in a really quiet voice.

Ryo didn’t say anything and just nodded.

Ryo didn’t know the cause of the discomfort, but he realized that it was a discomfort that he had felt somewhere before.

Thinking of ‘a sense of discomfort’, Ryo first thought of ‘magic nullification’, but that was not the case.

(Magic nullification …? One-eyed Assassin Hawk, Behi-chan, and Hassan … Oh! The village of the Order of Assassins! It’s the same feeling as that village!)

Ryo finally noticed the true nature of the discomfort.

The home of the Order of Assassins was also a village. It was cleverly disguised.

This village also felt like a disguised village.

What made Ryo feel that way?

Not the lack of women.

There were women in the village of the Order of Assassins and this village.

He felt that many women there had a slight sharpness in their eyes, but that couldn’t be helped.

That wasn’t the reason …

(The lack of children?)

Yes, neither the Order of Assassins village nor this village had children.

Every village has one or two children.

And you could see them playing or hear their high-pitched voices outdoors.

But …

(There were probably other villages of the Order of Assassins besides that one. Raising children … some other villages or facilities focused on raising assassins. So there weren’t children there. What about this village? I’m not sure … a compound that only appears to be a village? Do they have another village where they actually live…? Hmm, I can’t conclude either …)

For the time being, Ryo whispered to Abel what he had noticed.

“There are no children.”

The moment he heard that, Ryo noticed that Abel’s eyes opened a little wider.

And he nodded slightly.

The two were brought to the village square.

There was an old man who wore a black robe and his white hair stretched to his waist, followed by three people on each side, who wore the same black robes.

Except for the old man, all of them also wore hoods, which made them feel somewhat eerie.

However, Ryo paid attention to something else.

The long staff held by the old man.

The ornament and stone carving attached to the staff.

He had seen that combination before.

It was the same as the one Baba-sama in Niel’s village had attached to her staff.

Etho said that it was a miniature sculpture … but …

(The shape of this sculpture is different from what Baba-sama had.)

The cord was the same as the one used by Baba-sama, in which seven colors were intertwined, but the stone sculpture was different.

Ryo, who was not a priest like Etho, of course did not know what the sculpture represented.

Therefore, he held onto a sliver of hope and decided to ask the B-rank adventurer next to him.

“Abel, what do you know about the stone carving that old white-haired man has on his staff?”

“Hmm … the seven-colored decorative strings are beautiful.”

B-rank adventurers only had that level of understanding too.

However, except for the priests of the Goddess of Light, known as ‘Priests’, knowledge of these sculptures had already disappeared from the history of the Central Nations.

It was no wonder that Abel didn’t know.

The first person to open his mouth was the old man with white hair.

“Welcome, guests. To cut to the chase, what we want is the magic sword on your waist. Of course, not for free. I wonder how much you want for it or what do you want in exchange?”

“No, I told the previous man the same thing, but I’m not going to give it up easily. Please tell me what you want this magic sword for in the first place.”

Abel confidently replied to the straightforward demands from the old man with white hair.

That area of Abel’s behavior impressed even Ryo.

“Umu. We wish to offer that magic sword to God.”

“Offerings to God? Goddess of Light … I guess not?”

“We do not associate with such a false god!”

The reaction that returned was fierce.

It was a sudden change from his slightly aloft carefree attitude.

Ryo kept to himself that he flinched a little.

“… Please excuse my reaction. Let us guide you to the temple and explain about our god. Follow me.”

Then the old man with white hair and the six black-robed individuals headed for the hills at the back of the village.

Ryo and Abel looked at each other once and follow them.

From behind, the skinhead men followed suit.

The entrance to the temple was a side hole on a small mountain.

The end of the side hole was a dead end, but when the old man with white hair pushed it by hand, it opened with almost no resistance.

“Come in.”

The old man with white hair and the six black-robed men entered first.

Then, Abel, Ryo, and the three skinhead men entered.

The interior was larger than he imagined.

It was about the size of a soccer court?

Also, the height of the ceiling was likely to be more than 10 meters.

The three skinhead men closed the entrance and stood there.

Ryo and Abel were prompted by the old white-haired man to walk to the front of the room.

Ryo felt it the moment he entered the room.

(A hidden temple?)

He felt the same atmosphere as the hidden temple in Niel’s village.

And at the end …

Something that looked like a perfect undamaged crystal ball … was placed there.

The one in Niel’s village was chipped.

This was an undamaged jewel.

The colors and sizes were different, but somehow he got the feeling that it resembled the one he encountered on the 40th floor of the Rune dungeon and the black jewel collected on the 5th basement floor of the Sanctum this time.

The jewel sitting in front of them was transparent, and you would believe it if somebody told you that it was a crystal ball because of its transparency.

It was different from the two black jewels.

Different, but … the atmosphere he felt was similar.

“Come here.”

The white-haired old man invited them to approach the altar in front of them.

As the two approached, the white-haired old man chanted something in a soft voice.

At that moment …,

Abel knelt to one knee.

And Ryo also got on one knee.

“Now, obey me.”

The old man with white hair ordered them.

However, the two did not move.

“Hm?”

The old man held some doubts.

Then sang in a whisper again.

“<Slave>”

And give the order once more.

“Obey me.”

“I refuse!”

He couldn’t raise my face and was still forced to the knee but Abel asserted strongly.

“Impossible! Why isn’t Slave working? Casting Slave in the temple … it’s said that even the Demon Lord would have to obey … it should work.”

“If something like this works, the Demon Lord isn’t a big deal.”

Abel was sweating from his forehead but resisted the magic of the old man.

“Mental interference magic … Darkness-attribute magic … that’s extremely rare nowadays. If this is a temple that strengthens it, are you a priest of the God of Darkness of the Seven Gods?”

Abel saw through them.

“To know that much … you’re not an ordinary adventurer.”

“I’m only a B-rank adventurer! I just hate mental interference magic!”

Then Abel finally stood up.

His complexion remained pale and he was sweating a lot from his forehead, but he broke the magical effect.

Of course, that was due to the effect of the 『Tranquility Necklace』 that he wore on his skin.

It was a necklace that allowed him to recover from considerably powerful abnormal conditions and mental interference magic in just a few seconds, but even with that, this Darkness-Attribute spell of this white-haired old man took so long to recover from. It could be said that the magic was very powerful.

“Oh … but your companion is in my hands. I’ll have your companion fight you. Come on, obey me!”

“I refuse.”

Ryo said so and stood up quickly.

“Huh……”

“Huh……”

Abel and the old man with white hair leaked voices of surprise at the same time.

The old man for the fact that his magic was not working.

Abel for how incomprehensibly tough Ryo was.

“Why is Ryo okay …”

“What doesn’t work on Abel won’t work on me!”

“No, that logic is flawed.”

It was thanks to the national treasure-class item that the magic didn’t work on Abel.

But Ryo …

“Sera told me. I repel evil. That Slave spell must be evil magic. So it doesn’t work on me!”

Ryo stated confidently.

Abel couldn’t understand how he could say so confidently … but at least he was confident.

“Damn. Hey, hurry up and call our allies.”

The white-haired old man shouted to the skinhead men who were watching the development from the door.

The men hurriedly opened the stone door and left to call their companions.

In the meantime, and thereafter, the stone door remained open.

“What will you do in front of these numbers? If you give us your sword, we won’t take your life.”

The old man with white hair proposed to Abel.

About thirty new members entered the temple.

That suggestion backed by force was usually threatening.

“Adding any number of riffraff doesn’t matter. We’ll send everyone to hell so come at us!”

Abel swung his sword menacingly.

It was so beautiful that Ryo was impressed by watching it.

“Now Ryo, do it!”

“Why did you have to throw this to me …”

Ryo regretted feeling impressed.

However, a mysterious event happened then.

The entrance to the temple was suddenly painted black. In a square with a height of 5 meters and a width of 4 meters.

Only Ryo noticed it.

If there were any survivors from the Central University Survey Team there, they would have pointed out that it was what President Clive Staples named the 『Gate』.

If anyone from the Hero party was here, they would recognize it as the portal that appeared near the artificial altar and from inside …

“Fufufu, I finally caught the trace. I always failed to get an accurate picture of the place since there was only a weak reaction … I see, it’s a temple built within a mountain hollowed out behind a rock door? Now, where’s that Wish-Fulfilling Jewel …”

What emerged from the 『Gate』 was the Akuma Leonor, with horns and a thin black tail.

Leonor’s overly loud soliloquy attracted the eyes of nearly forty humans who were there.

Leonor walked toward the end of the temple without worrying about such things.

However, Leonor, who had been looking around for a jewel, found another ‘thing’.

“Hn? Hmm? Is that … Ryo? Isn’t it Ryo! Oh my, what a strange place to meet.”

“Y-o-u-r-e-i-m-a-g-i-n-i-n-g-t-h-i-n-g-s.”

“No, I’m not?”

It was the elated face of finding prey.

Of course, Ryo denied it, and Leonor denied him further.

While saying that, Leonor found the 『Jewel』 placed at the end facing them.

Then, she approached and confirmed it at a speed that seemed to be teleportation.

“Yup. It’s quite a 『Jewel』. I’ll be taking this.”

When she held her right hand over it, the 『Jewel』disappeared instantly.

At that moment, the old man and men finally started to move.

“Who the hell are you?”

“What did you do to the Jewel?”

“Are you their friend!”

Leonor walked on, ignoring all the questions asked.

And chanted.

“<Stalagmites>”

Countless stone icicles that formed around Leonor pierced the men’s throats perfectly.

More than thirty men, including the skinhead men, instantly turned into silent corpses.

Now, except for Leonor, Ryo, and Abel, there were only the old man with white hair and the six black-robed individuals in the temple.

The old man with white hair chanted something softly since earlier.

He finally finished chanting and glared at Leonor.

At that moment, a thin black smoke covered Leonor.

“Hmm, Darkness-Attribute Magic? But it’s weak. Even flies won’t obey you with this level.”

Leonor commented and waved her hand.

As a result, the black smoke that covered Leonor dissipated.

“By the way, I was told that Darkness-Attribute Magicians were precious these days … I want you as a sample. Hmm, I’ll bring you along. I don’t need the others. <Stalagmites>”

The stone icicles instantly shot through the throats of the men in black robes.

Only the old man with white hair was knocked unconscious by the stone gravel striking his stomach.

TLN: Upcoming big fight? Leonor vs Ryo Round 2!