Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: EP.105 No Longer a River - 2
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-Crackle, crackle!!
With all sorts of buffs wrapped around his body, Baltin's attack power was considerable.
Every time his fist slammed in, the water spirit froze solid before shattering, struggling to maintain its form.
"Graaah!! You pathetic beast!!"
A shot of water arrow grazed Baltin's cheek. Not just his cheek—blood was overflowing across his body too.
Yet his magnificent golden lion fur, unique to lion beastkin, was matted with blood, and Baltin looked delighted instead.
"Euuuuaaaargh!!"
Lion's Roar.
The lion beastkin's bellow erupted, halting the spirit mid-motion as it tried to fire another water arrow. At the same moment, Baltin shot forward like an arrow and arrived before the river spirit, thrusting out his ice-enchanted fist.
-Crackle, crackle, craaack!!
"Th... thiiiis!!"
The river spirit froze over, its face twisting into a demonic grimace.
As if in desperation, blades of water surged around the spirit and shot toward Baltin, but most were blocked by me and Lukendi. Even the few that hit barely registered with him.
The beastkin racial trait "Instinct Enhancement" was in full effect.
He felt no pain, no fear.
Only one sensation: the thrill of battle.
His blazing eyes flashed as his fist, now surging with greater force than before, plunged into the river spirit and froze it solid.
"Oaaah!!"
-Kaboooom!!
With an explosive roar, the spirit struck by the blast fist detonated into fragments, scattering like snowflakes around them.
Confirming the spirit utterly destroyed, Baltin panted heavily and barely managed to gulp down a top-grade potion.
"Huff... huff... Did I get it...?"
Unfortunately, no.
While Baltin handled the river spirit, I'd finished my preparations and turned my eyes to Sasdin.
"Guhk... kuh..."
Summoning the river spirit had drained his shamanic power dry, and regenerating it amid the fight with Baltin and Lukendi had sapped his life force too.
On the brink of death, the shaman shuddered violently before rolling back his eyes and passing out. I cast a heal to keep him alive.
No point letting him die now.
"Heh... heh heh heh... This should be enough to... part the waters... right?"
"You didn't part them, but it was splendid nonetheless."
I placed my hand on Baltin's head. A soft glow enveloped him, mending his wounds.
Cure and healing combined.
As Baltin began recovering, Lukendi sighed in relief and approached me and Lucille.
"So, Wise One. Is that it now?"
"No."
Time for the finishing touches.
I grabbed the barely clinging Sasdin and headed toward the river.
"...What the hell."
The river, calm just moments ago, changed. It grew more violent, more turbulent.
As if thoroughly pissed off.
The river that always flowed leisurely through the capital was transforming.
Its surging waters swallowed the riverbank, threatening to submerge the flood control structures.
The river...
Was furious.
"Is this... okay?"
"Of course."
"How do you plan to handle it?"
Lukendi seemed pretty tense at the river's shift.
She could fight simple monsters or formed enemies like before, but she'd never dealt with something like this—her tension was natural.
As she gripped her bow uncertainly, I glanced at Lucille.
"Prepare Burst."
"Yes."
Lucille gripped her staff tight and began chanting.
"O undead. A rite honoring you shall be held here. Of that death's..."
As immense mana gathered, the river seemed to sense it.
From the river's raging center, something began to rise.
Similar to before.
But a fiercer river spirit.
"You damned fools!! How dare you... how dare you!! Do you think you can block the flow of nature itself?! For defying me, I'll drown every last one of you in this city!!"
I let its curse-like roar slide past my ears.
What could it do anyway?
I pulled a vial from my bag.
"If you can, then try."
Lukendi looked puzzled, Baltin tilted his head, and the river spirit flinched.
The difference between those who knew and those who didn't.
"That's... you... yoooou!! You bastard! No way!! That's... a spirit seed?! You're the one who... who erased spirits?! "
Confirming the tension in its voice, I shook one of the materials I'd steadily gathered from hunting spirits.
A spirit seed—something alchemists would lose their minds over.
Each time the tiny glowing seed in the vial twinkled, the spirit's face twisted further.
"Wise One. What's that?"
"Spirit seed. You get it after erasing a spirit. Super rare. Can't even buy it with money."
Hardly anyone erases spirits like I do, after all.
Only then did the river spirit realize something was wrong.
But regret always comes too late, as usual.
"W-Wait... what... what are you planning?"
"Millennia of asceticism crumble in an instant. This is the work to make that instant happen."
I couldn't blast the river like I did with Gultelak or Huillot.
Using that level of power here would cause massive damage, and no festival then—obvious, right?
So the most amicable and reliable method it was.
I uncorked the vial with the spirit seed. A soft glow flowed out, settling in my palm.
"Spirit seed... I've heard of it. Bounty of a few hundred thousand gold on one, right? Ingredient for the Philosopher's Stone?"
"You know your stuff."
"I'm an S-Rank adventurer, after all."
Why a mere spirit drop fetches such a price: two reasons.
First, key ingredient for the Philosopher's Stone, main component of the elixir—a panacea.
Second, using a spirit seed lets you duplicate low-grade potions or materials—not infinitely, but up to a thousand times.
Advanced alchemy demands exponentially more low-grade stuff as base or catalysts.
Who has time to farm that while leveling?
So the devs added a mercy: with decent alchemy skill and a spirit seed, multiply low-grade mats and potions up to a thousand.
"Ei."
I duplicated rock creation potions with the spirit seed and hurled them at the river.
And simultaneously—
-Pshhh!!
Reacting to the water, gray rocks erupted, staking claim in the river.
"Stop!! Stop it!!"
The river spirit cried desperately, but I didn't halt.
I threw vial after vial.
Each time, thick smoke billowed, and more gray rocks appeared.
Basic alchemy: rock creation.
Effect? Nothing fancy.
Just makes rocks, literally.
Alchemy often needs natural materials, but you can't always gather them.
That's why rock creation potion is a tutorial staple for newbie alchemists.
"Stop it!!"
-Pshhh!!
Each duplicated rock potion hitting the river spawned huge boulders.
They began blocking the flow.
The spirit frantically intensified the current to wash them away.
But would it be that easy?
-Pshh! Pshhhh!!
Rocks kept forming, damming the river.
The waters overflowed faster than the spirit wanted.
But everything was held back by the rocks.
And...
The river's current weakened bit by bit due to the rocks.
"St-Stop!! I-I was wrong! Please, just stop!!"
The spirit begged, but I pressed on.
Even using teleport to keep damming.
-Splash! Splash!!
As rocks multiplied, the flowing river slowed to a standstill.
"Do you have any idea what happens if you block a river?!"
Fish in the river sensed the anomaly and leaped out.
Overflowing waters fully submerged the banks.
Yet I kept throwing rock potions, blocking it relentlessly.
"If the river stops flowing, the damage falls squarely on you all!! Stop!!!"
Maybe sensing the flood? People from outside started gathering.
With a gallery like this, I couldn't do the taunt I'd planned:
"Uhyotwwwww!! Can't even control water properly! Are you some genius at overflowing rivers?! www This is the end for you as a river spiritwwwww! Uhyeot uhyeot! Overflow!! Gloop gloop, flood everywherewwwww!!"
Ignoring me, the spirit turned its eyes.
Not to me—to the gathering crowd.
"Stop that insolent fool!! Halting the river's flow is disastrous! For you all...!"
"Sounds like we're the only ones suffering. If it's bad enough to stop the flow, you'll vanish first as the guardian."
"H-How do you... "
"Don't pretend to care about humans now. Disgusting."
I pulled out more spirit seeds from my bag. One vial, two, three.
Several vials reacted, exponentially multiplying the rock potions.
The river spirit's face crumbled completely.
Endgame.
"...No. No.... Please... don't. Please... Do you know how long I toiled to become a spirit...!! To return to that worthless state...."
I dumped all the duplicated potions into the river.
Alchemy reacted, rocks surged, fully damming the flow.
Only trickles seeped through rock gaps.
No one would call that a river anymore.
Thus, the river spirit began losing form.
"Ah... aaaah!! Th-the river..."
"......"
"It's no longer a riiiiveeeeer!!!"
Flow completely halted, it became stagnant water—not a river—and the spirit melted away.
Millennia of trials earned it spirit status from nature, but failing to rule that nature led to its erasure.
"Lucille."
The river gone, its spirit gone—but I couldn't leave it like this.
I wanted it not a river for just an instant, not forever.
So I ordered Lucille, who had her spell ready, and she thrust out her staff.
"Burst."
Hundreds of golden orbs shot from her staff.
Top-tier explosion magic, Burst, cast effortlessly.
Impressive.
-Kaboom!! Kaboom!! KaboOOOM!!
Rocks damming the river exploded into gravel or dust.
Water streams caught in the blasts erupted like rain, but no one dodged.
They just stared blankly as the stagnant water behind the rocks became a river again.
"Th... Wise One?"
"Hm?"
"Is this... done?"
"Not yet."
This alone didn't restore everything.
The current was still too violent for any festival.
I handed Lucille one spirit seed and pointed at the raging waters.
"Throw it. A new spirit will appear, and since you planted it here, it'll obey you."
Even rude ones listen to who gave them a home.
Hesitating briefly, Lucille tossed the seed into the flowing river.
Moments later, a river spirit slowly appeared, like before.
But different.
A girl of about ten cautiously walked across the water, face flushed, bowing her head.
"...Thank you for summoning me...."
"Ah, l-look forward to working with you from now on?"
"Hee hee. Yes."
Innocent-looking girl, but can't let guard down.
She'd obey now, but in a couple hundred years? She'd change.
Spirits are like that.
But that's a problem for future me.
The overflowing waters slowly receded into the river.
Traces from evicting the old spirit got sucked in and erased by the new one.
"With a new river spirit settled, the fertile plains downstream will get even richer."
"Really?"
"Would I scam you on this?"
New ones always work hard at first.
I patted Lucille's head.
"No more flood worries. The spirit will heed you."
This levels up Lucille another step, and the kingdom gets bumper crops for years.
I got quest points, merchants get their festival.
A happy ending for all.
Except...
"Ugh... uuuugh..."
The half-dead Sasdin over there.
Author's Note (Afterword)
See you tomorrow! Bye~!!