The Sea's Judgment
This way, huh.
Arrows came flying in teasing little bursts, as if trying to lure me in. Shoot and run, shoot and run—what a pathetic tactic.
I’d sent Rai, my main defense, off with Ash, and even Adore, my attack spirit, was busy on surveillance duty. My forces were thinned out, but with Undain and Undine at my side, blocking a few arrows was child’s play.
The water barrier around me wasn’t the rigid type; it was elastic, resilient enough to stop even a sword thrust with force behind it.
Its real advantage was that it shielded me from every direction while still letting me see clearly.
I strolled toward the trap the slavers had dug, passing between two tall buildings that faced each other like twins.
They were only six stories, but tall enough for the area. I didn’t need to look up to sense someone watching me from the rooftop; focusing my attention was enough.
I kept walking until the familiar clearing opened up. The terrain was cleverly boxed in on all sides.
A quick scan showed fresh signs that every possible exit had been hastily blocked.
“You went to a lot of trouble with that clever little head of yours.”
If I waited here, they’d show themselves. Playing along with idiots was exhausting.
I moved to the center of the clearing—the spot that looked most inviting for an ambush—and stood there.
How long did I have to wait, openly offering myself as a target? A booming voice finally rang out from the roof of the six-story building I’d passed.
I turned and looked up. Grack stood there, faintly visible, holding some kind of megaphone.
“I’ve been waiting, wench!”
Should I feel flattered? He still didn’t have ears… Well, ears don’t grow back. Come to think of it, had he always been bald? Without a nose, he looked even uglier.
I squinted against the harsh sunlight, shielding my eyes with one hand as I stared up at him.
My neck was already starting to ache.
“You!”
“It’s too late to be afraid! This is what happens when you mess with me—”
“Am I really that scary?”
“…Who’s scared?”
“Then why are you running around like a coward?”
He was too far away for me to be certain, but the way Grack faltered told me my guess was probably right.
He’d raided the inn while I was gone to kidnap Einy, and even after realizing I’d come for him, he hadn’t charged straight in—he’d set this trap instead.
The bastard was afraid of facing me.
He wanted revenge, but he’d already tasted what I could do, so his instincts screamed danger. If he wanted to live long, he should’ve listened to those instincts!
“Running? Don’t talk nonsense! You filthy enemy! I’ll never let you leave alive! You’ll regret this!”
“Then come down here! My neck hurts, you idiot!”
“…If you thought I’d forgotten the grudge from that day, you were mistaken!”
“Get down here already!”
“And don’t think I don’t know you ruined my business! I’ll round up every last slave you freed, torture them, and do the same to you! I’ll cut out your tongue and sell it!”
God, he talked too much.
The coward pretended not to hear me every time I told him to come down.
“I’ll kill you and prove that the gods are on my side!”
“You know, shouting threats from way up there doesn’t actually make you scary.”
“Even like this!”
Slave traders who had been hiding behind walls and inside the building poured out, armed with bows and crossbows. At a glance, there were easily over seventy of them.
In short, I was surrounded. It would’ve made a great diary entry—too bad I didn’t keep one.
I shouted up at Grack with all my strength.
“I get it, so just surrender! I’ll spare your life!”
“What kind of crazy bitch are you?! That’s supposed to be my line!”
“Just so you know, I’m not actually going to spare you.”
Messing with idiots was always fun. My laughter must have carried all the way to the sixth floor, because Grack started screaming like a madman, veins bulging.
“I’ll kill you and finally sleep without nightmares! I don’t know what the hell you’re so confident about, but today I’ll—”
“Make you die the most painful death in the world!”
“Gah! Stop stealing my lines!”
“Shut up and come at me!”
Grack had failed spectacularly—not only had he failed to instill fear, he’d even botched the simple act of provocation. He raised his fist toward the sky.
At that signal, countless arrowheads turned in my direction.
Creak, creak.
The sound of bowstrings being drawn sliced into my ears from every side.
When it came to weapons, I had my own. I grinned and began the incantation.
“O merciless water, arise from the raging sea and the whirlpool where death has taken root…”
Anyone who heard me chant had better be prepared to die.
“Come to me, Endairon.”
What I summoned was water, yet the ground beneath my feet trembled violently.
Something far too massive was rising.
The rain-soaked earth dried rapidly as a colossal form of water surged upward from beneath my feet. I felt myself being lifted higher and higher until I was seated atop the water.
The slave traders, who had been about to loose their arrows, froze in shock. They looked smaller and more pathetic by the second.
“What the hell is that?!”
“G-God have mercy…”
If Undine was a pond, then Undain was a river. And Endairon was the sea itself.
His presence overflowed with power and overwhelming majesty that could never be described as mere “water.”
He took the form of a water dragon, a fusion of serpent and dragon, wrought from the deep blue of the abyss. He was so enormous that no human could hope to contain him.
In an instant, Endairon towered three stories above the six-story building where Grack stood. His body kept lengthening without end, growing larger with every passing moment.
“Uh… wait a second…!”
Now Grack was the one looking up at me.
His slack-jawed, dumbfounded expression was plain even from this distance, crushed beneath the crushing weight of Endairon’s presence.
“Th-This is cheating… This has to be cheating, right?”
Grack seemed to be regretting his decision to come after me—though facing Endairon and not regretting it would have been the harder feat.
He was a being of such terrifying, overwhelming power that anything smaller than him struggled to even breathe.
“Congratulations, Grack. You’ve brought death upon yourself.”
“N-No, that’s… I mean, sir, please—”
“You actually understand that scum like you dying quickly would be a service to the world? You’re not a complete idiot, then.”
At the sight of the colossal water spirit they had never seen before, the slave traders below began fleeing in droves.
Yeah, they’d never witnessed anything like this. I remembered feeling the exact same way the first time I stood before a dragon.
[My friend.]
Each spirit’s voice carried a distinct feeling.
Undine’s was that of a young child. Undain’s was intellectual and androgynous.
Endairon’s voice resonated through my entire body, so majestic it felt as though I were submerged in the deepest part of the ocean.
And every time, it intoxicated me with power.
Commanding something so immense made me feel, for a moment, as though I myself had become something immense. A fierce illusion of absolute dominance surged through me, as if the sea itself answered to my hand.
Rai often warned me to be careful of that sensation, but staring down at the slave traders scattering like ants before Endairon, I couldn’t help the thrill that swelled in my chest.
How could I deny it? It was exhilarating.
Power was everything in this world, and I much preferred being the one who wielded it.
[Do you require assistance?]
“Yeah. I need you now. You’ll help me, won’t you?”
When everyone feared the being beneath my feet and I could treat it like a pet, nothing could stand against me.
[As per our pact, I shall become your strength in all things.]
Endairon’s eyes were a deep blue, nearly black—the color of the lightless depths of the sea.
Because of that, anyone who met his gaze as an enemy felt death creeping ever closer, an endless, hollow terror that sank into their bones.
“Uh… ugh, that thing…”
“…Shit! Run!”
“It’s a monster!”
Most humans would panic the moment they faced him.
These were men who had always stood on the strong side, preying on others. They had never known fear like this.
More and more slave traders threw down their weapons and fled. At this rate, half of them would escape before Endairon even acted.
“Endairon, don’t let a single one get away.”
I pointed at the farthest runner with my fingertip. From this height, I could see them all.
“Kill the ones who’ve gone the farthest.”
I could guarantee that every human who became my enemy would learn to fear water—down to their very bones.
Of course, only if they survived.
BOOM!
Endairon’s massive tail split the sky and slammed into the ground around the clearing. The earth quaked violently beneath the sheer force.
Fleeing slavers were struck by pillars of water erupting from below and hurled high into the air. Those lucky enough to fall back down died instantly, spared further suffering.
“Aaaagh!”
“Help me!”
Over a dozen bodies crashed to the ground. The remaining runners began to thrash about like headless snakes.
The trap Grack had prepared for me was small enough for Endairon’s tail to encircle in a single sweep—perfect for gathering the slavers together and slaughtering them.
I twirled a finger in the air.
The towering pillars of water transformed into a surging wave that crashed inward from the edges.
The slave traders were swept up helplessly and herded back into the clearing. By the time they regained their senses, they were already trapped inside the coils of Endairon’s tail.
Not a single one escaped. They floundered in the very trap they had dug.
“Calling this pathetic thing a trap is an insult to me.”
The water kept rising. The slavers, forgetting whatever grand plans they’d had, screamed for mercy. They seemed to have already forgotten they’d come here to kill me.
I watched them beg with complete indifference.
The water didn’t stop rising—it began to spin rapidly. Those who couldn’t swim sank immediately.
Anyone caught in Endairon’s sea would meet death, sooner or later. I counted the bobbing heads still above water, then rested my chin on my hand.
“I heard there were about a hundred of you. Fewer than I expected. Did I already kill that many earlier…? What do you think, Grack? I don’t have enough to kill. Is this really all you prepared?”
“……”
“You’re disappointing me.”
A tendril of water coiled around Grack like a vine and dragged him down before me.