Chapter 42: An Unexpected Crisis
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 42: An Unexpected Crisis
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Eluka heard the strange sound as well.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The sound drew closer, growing clearer with every beat.
It was a heartbeat, pounding like a war drum.
"A heartbeat..."
Eluka’s pupils shrank.
Her hearing was extraordinary, far surpassing even Rhode’s, despite him being a martial artist.
But they were currently in the middle of a lake, lashed by wind and rain.
For a heartbeat to be heard so clearly over the storm, just how powerful must it be?
And how massive must its owner be?
"This is bad..."
"Run!"
Eluka looked toward Rhode and Diya, who were standing atop the Lake Lord’s corpse, and screamed at the top of her lungs:
"Watch out be—!"
Her final word, "below," was swallowed by the roar of a crashing wave.
The mist shrouding the lake was torn asunder in an instant as a gargantuan, pitch-black monster lunged from the depths. Its blood-red eyes burned with fury, and jagged scales and bone spikes crackled with blinding lightning.
"The Lake Lord..."
"Another one..."
"How is this possible..."
Staring at the black fish—even more massive than the first—Rhode and Diya couldn't help but gape in shock.
But there was no time for dazed silence.
Rhode immediately gripped his longsword, wrapping it in fighting spirit. Then, unleashing the Martial Technique: Lion's Roar, he met the beast head-on with a visible shockwave.
In the middle of the lake, there was no chance of escape. Their only option was a direct confrontation!
The shockwave collided with the lightning, instantly kicking up a towering wall of water.
"Dammit... this one is strong..."
Rhode was forced back step by step by the beast’s sheer pressure, a trickle of crimson blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.
In just a brief exchange, Rhode was already completely on the defensive.
After all, it was a surprise attack—and the attacker was a behemoth nearly thirty meters long!
"I’ll help you."
Fortunately, Diya was no mere human vase; she was a genuine Third-Tier Mage.
"Burn! Crimson Flame Magic!"
She used a chantless instant-cast spell. A massive pillar of fire, radiating intense heat, surged toward the unsuspecting Lake Lord.
If it hit, even if it didn't cause a fatal wound, it would surely force the beast back.
But...
Within the lake, those eyes—utterly inhuman—flickered with a chillingly sentient mockery.
To Diya’s horror, the beast suddenly whipped its broad tail and slammed it against the lake’s surface!
A colossal wave erupted like a wall blocking out all hope, crashing into the pillar of flames in an instant.
Sizzle.
The extreme heat evaporated the lake water. As the fire was extinguished, a massive cloud of steam billowed out, turning the area into a thick, blinding fog. Visibility dropped to near zero.
The new Lake Lord sank back into the depths, vanishing once more.
"I wanted to say this earlier—don't use fire magic in this environment!"
Eluka, who was floating safely in the air rather than standing on the corpse, used wind magic to disperse the steam. She couldn't help but snap, "Aren't you just making things harder for us?"
"You... shut up!"
Diya shot back, "You're not down here in the danger zone! How would you know what the optimal spell was at that moment?"
"Using fire magic on a lake is fundamentally flawed!"
"But didn't my fire magic just kill the previous Lake Lord? Besides, Eluka, you haven't done a single thing. What right do you have to criticize me?"
"I'm just pointing out a mistake—"
"I didn't make a mistake!"
"Alright, alright, that’s enough from both of you."
Rhode stepped in to break up the bickering, though his tone was non-committal. "Save your energy. We’re still in the middle of a fight."
"Hmph."
Diya snorted and crossed her arms. "For Rhode’s sake, I won't lower myself to argue with this country bumpkin."
"Country bumpkin..."
Snap.
That was the second time today Eluka nearly snapped her magic wand in half.
So what if she was a little prettier and had a bigger chest?
What right did she have to call her a country bumpkin?
Did she not realize that the Rhode she spent all day clinging to was from the same village as this "country bumpkin"?
I knew it. I never should have agreed to let her join the team...
If she hadn't been worried about Rhode overworking himself, she never would have let someone else intrude on their world of two.
...How annoying.
...But they were still in combat, and her persona was that of a soft, cute, and kind girl. She couldn't afford to get bogged down in a spat right now.
Eluka cleared her mind and focused on searching for the Lake Lord.
"Due to territorial instincts, two Overlord-class magical beasts wouldn't stay together."
"Unless... they’re a mated pair."
Eluka looked at the corpse beneath Rhode’s feet. "Judging by the appearance, the one attacking us now should be the female."
In most magical beast species, the females were significantly larger than the males.
And size meant power.
"An Overlord-class beast has high intelligence. What would it do now?"
As Eluka pondered, her gaze drifted back to the corpse.
Rhode was still standing on it. As a martial artist, being on solid ground allowed him to exert far more power than floating in the air.
"If I were her, what would I do?"
Eluka’s eyes suddenly went wide.
If she were that Lake Lord, she would definitely...
"Rhode!"
"Diya!"
"Move!"
Three years of adventuring had conditioned Eluka’s body to act faster than her thoughts.
By the time she realized what she was doing, she was already waving her wand. She cast a rapid succession of Levitation spells on Rhode and Diya.
"Huh? What are you doing all of a sudden?"
Being levitated by someone else felt entirely different from casting it on oneself; the sensation of being "lifted" was incredibly unsettling.
Diya thought Eluka was retaliating and was about to complain to Rhode.
But in the next heartbeat, the words died in her throat.
She watched as the massive corpse of the Lake Lord they had been standing on suddenly plummeted into the depths!
It sank so abruptly that the resulting splash nearly knocked them out of the air.
"I knew it. Her first priority was to reclaim her mate’s body. How could a magical beast allow its partner to be trampled underfoot by humans?"
"And the second thing she’ll do is..."
The turbulent surface of the lake suddenly went still, turning into a dark mirror that reflected the storm clouds and the two figures in the sky.
Then, the water rippled. A vortex began to form, expanding rapidly.
It was as if an invisible giant hand was churning the lake.
The Lake Lord’s head emerged from the center of the whirlpool.
Blinding lightning began to coalesce around its hideous single horn.
With eyes full of rage, it locked onto the two humans who had just been standing on its mate.
"Just as I thought. She’s going all out to avenge her partner."
"But..."
Eluka stared at the lightning gathering on the horn, murmuring in shock.
"A ranged attack?"