“Menel! Full speed!”
“On it!”
No sooner had I given the instruction than Menel was calling to the elementals to summon a powerful current and strong tailwind to move the boat.
However—
“Feck, not much reply! The fairies are weak here!”
It was probably the result of this entire piece of land being cursed by the Taboo Word. The spirits of nature seemed to be slow to respond. If this was how things were, there was a good chance that Menel’s spells for use around water, like Waterwalk and Waterbreathing, wouldn’t work very well, either. If our boat sank or we were knocked off it, we’d be in danger.
“Keep your focus on the spells! Reystov and Ghelreis, port side! Al, back Menel up!” I shouted out orders as I struck out with Pale Moon, then swept it sideways into another one of the serpents that had burst out of the water to starboard.
This wasn’t a great situation to be in. The serpents were bleeding into the water. It was possible that the blood would draw even more of them here, and maybe other aquatic monsters as well. There was no time to hesitate. It was risky, but I decided to turn to an attack Word. I would make the blast go off underwater and take them all out in one fell swoop by the same principle as blast fishing. With my course of action decided, I chose the shortest and most powerful attack Word in my arsenal.
“Vasta—”
At that instant, the boat shook violently. My Word was disrupted. I was forced to shift my concentration to a desperate attempt to control the Word and prevent it from exploding.
The moment I did, one of the largest water serpents burst out of the water and sunk its teeth into my side.
I grunted in surprise and confusion. The boat lurched. I lost my balance.
Digging my feet in didn’t work. I was pulled forward. The murky surface of the water suddenly got a lot closer.
“Will?!”
There was a huge splash and I was pulled under the stagnant water.
The instant before I fell into the water, I took a deep breath and filled my lungs with air. Many people in this world couldn’t swim, but fortunately, I’d been taught the basics of swimming both in this world and my previous one.
The serpent that had bitten into my side twisted in confusion. Its curved fangs didn’t have the power to puncture my mithril mail; nor did its jaw have the bite force to pressure my abdominal muscles and crush my internal organs. Muscles win again. That said, of course, if the serpent squeezed me tight and dragged me into the depths, I would definitely drown.
Bubbles rose toward the surface. In the stagnant water, opening my eyes only resulted in its muddiness filling my vision. I couldn’t see. Of course, I couldn’t utter any Words, either. So as I tensed up my stomach to prevent myself from being crushed, I prayed instead.
What I pictured in my mind was light and purity. In the next moment, there was a flash, and the murkiness vanished about sixty meters in every direction, transforming into water that was pure and clear.
It was the Prayer of Purification.
Having secured a usable view, I opened my eyes. The water was teeming with giant serpents, and I could see them all clearly as they swam. Several of them were gunning right for me now that I’d fallen into the water. As one aimed for my foot, I drew in my leg to dodge it and swung my arm at another trying to wrap itself around my chest, knocking it away.
It was difficult to move, like the water itself was constricting me. If I continued fighting in the water like this, sooner or later, I was going to lose. But I had already seen a way out.
As one of the snakes darted straight at me, aiming for my throat, I grabbed both its top and bottom jaws and used brute strength to tear both flesh and skin away. The giant serpent threw itself around in my hands, and its blood flowed into the purified water.
With one hand, I grabbed the one attached to my mail and held it still, drew my dagger from my belt, and sliced open its neck. More and more blood poured out into the water, turning it a cloudy red.
Then, the other serpents started to sink their teeth into the two that were shedding blood. These were not beasts; they were merely large water snakes. In other words, they were attacking me not because of the overaggressive nature characteristic of beasts and other monsters, but purely because they were predators and I was their prey. In which case, I didn’t need to fight them to the death; I just needed to provide them weaker prey, prey that was easier to attack.
A few more of them came at me separately. I killed them as well.
I’d been moving around underwater for a while, and the need to breathe was becoming hard to ignore. I endured it, hanging on until the serpents’ attention had turned from me to their weakened brothers, and then I started to swim for the surface. My clothes had absorbed water and clung to me, feeling incredibly heavy. I desperately thrashed upward.
Finally, my head broke the surface next to the boat. I gasped loudly for air.
How many minutes had I been fighting underwater? The air tasted so good.
“Sir Will!” Al immediately threw me a rope.
I grabbed onto it and somehow made it back onto the boat, water dripping from every part of me. I breathed hard with both my hands flat against the deck.
My entire body craved oxygen.
“Will!”
“You okay?”
I managed a nod back at everyone calling to me. I spotted Pale Moon, which
I’d let go of just before falling in. As I thought about how glad I was that I hadn’t dropped it into the water, I got my breathing together, faced the water, and
—
“Vastare. ” I blasted an attack spell into it with all my might.
This time, my aim was true. A vortex of destruction formed under the highly conductive water. The blast swept through it and slammed into the serpents, turning their flesh to mush and crushing their bones. The boat rocked badly.
I let out a puff of air. “That should do it.”
Not a moment later, the remains of many serpents floated to the surface.
“God. No mercy from you,” Menel muttered, astounded.
Well, sure, I thought. I can’t exactly leave enemies that are actively attackingour boat alive.
“Menel, let’s move out of here. Also, I think we’ve mostly gotten rid of them, but everyone be on your guard.”
“Got it.”
“Understood.”
“U-Um… The water turned very clean all of a sudden.”
“Huh? It’s just the Prayer of Purification.”
“Huh?” Al looked as if he was totally confused, and so was I. “Umm, the Prayer of Purification is normally for one bottle of water or a pond at most…”
“Oh…” So the power was the problem.
Menel slapped Al on the shoulder as the latter looked at me, bewildered. “It’s just brute force. Get used to it.”
“Wha?”
“It’s his standard battle tactic: do everything with a barbaric level of force.
He doesn’t even think anything of it. Better get used to it.”
Al hesitated.
“That’s what I did,” Menel added with an expression as if he’d attained some higher understanding.
“A barbaric level of force?” I said. “Come on, that’s a bit mean.”
“What do you call it, then?”
“I have more power and moves than a barbarian, so it’s more than a barbaric level of force.” I gave him a smug grin. Menel shook his head without a word, and Al nodded at him with a complicated expression. “J-… What’s that face supposed to be?!”
“Disbelief, Sir Even Barbarianer.”
As we joked around with each other like that—
“This change in landscape’s the problem.” Reystov’s muttered words cut our idle chatter short.