Chapter 698 : Salamander Subjugation

Chapter 0698 Salamander Subjugation

Translator: Jay_Forestieri

Editor: Tseirp

Ryo and Abel moved toward the cave, guided by the village chief and the others.

Along the way,

they passed by a place that had first looked like a green pond.

“So it really was... trinitite.”

Ryo muttered as he looked at the hardened green ore.

“Trini-what?”

“Trinitite. It is an artificial ore created when sand melts under extremely high temperatures and then cools. It must be the result of the salamander’s fire-attribute magic.”

“The sand melted? Like a vessel or something?”

“Yes, something like porcelain. Though, compared to a kiln, it must have been at an incomparably higher temperature.”

On Earth, trinitite had been created by the Trinity atomic bomb test.

Apparently, it had emitted strong radiation, but this was different.

This was probably just the result of pure heat and cooling.

“We have to be careful around the salamander.”

Ryo’s mutter was serious.

Ryo and Abel arrived in front of the cave where the salamander was supposed to be.

The villagers, including the chief, were watching from a hill a little way off.

“Isn’t that cave kind of hot?”

“Maybe lava is flowing deep inside.”

“Well, salamanders do seem to like lava...”

“Wasn’t there a legend that salamanders usually eat lava?”

“Didn’t you say you didn’t know anything about salamanders?”

“I did. As an adventurer, I don’t know. Legends are just legends; they do not count as knowing.”

With that, Abel shrugged.

Even if one knew the legends, there was no way that knowledge would ever be useful in adventuring.

“<Active Sonar>”

Ryo chanted.

“It’s about three hundred meters in.”

“Is it hard to go inside?”

“Yes. The cave is only just wide enough for a person to pass through. Also, as for anything more than five hundred meters in, I have no idea what the situation is.”

“Even your magic can’t tell?”

“<Active Sonar> is by no means omnipotent. It gets too hot farther in, and the movement of the water vapor is too distorted. It is impossible.”

Ryo reported with a faintly frustrated expression.

Sonar is like ripples spreading across a still water surface.

If the water disappears halfway, you cannot grasp the information beyond that point.

“Then it would be best to lure it outside the cave.”

“Then I can attack with water-attribute magic... ah...”

“What is it?”

“It seems to have noticed us and is walking over.”

“That works out.”

With those words, Abel drew his sword.

“As planned, I’ll hold it in place with <Ice Wall>, so Abel, please finish it off with your sword.”

“Yeah! ”

The moment Abel answered Ryo’s words.

“It’s coming!”

The salamander suddenly accelerated and burst out of the cave.

“<Ice Wall 10-Layer>”

Ryo constructed a wall of ice in front of the salamander.

Bang.

With a tremendous sound, the salamander slammed into the invisible wall of ice.

Just as planned... or so it should have been.

Whoosh.

But in an instant, the ice wall melted.

“The magic melted!”

Could something like that even happen?

“Magic is still a physical phenomenon.”

If that were the case, then it was only natural that it would melt once it exceeded its melting point.

If you understand it, you can stay calm.

“Abel, the salamander is too hot!”

“Yeah. I never thought Ryo’s ice would get melted.”

“Tch... I’ve suffered psychological damage just from having the facts pointed out to me.”

Abel frowned as he spoke, while Ryo looked annoyed.

Indeed, when he had intervened in the battle between the Union and the Inbury Duchy, his Ice Bahn had been melted by the Union’s artificial golem.

But even then, the frozen ground had not melted instantly...

“It evaporates the moment it touches it...? Abel, be careful.”

“Yeah. More importantly, is that something a swordsman can even fight?”

Abel was holding his usual magic sword.

He was in position, but a monster that emitted heat strong enough to melt even Ryo’s ice in an instant... a melee class like a swordsman, who must get close to attack, was at a disadvantage.

However, it was also a bad matchup for a water-attribute magician like Ryo.

“So it’s an enemy we’re both bad against.”

“I should have charged the adventurer’s fee much higher.”

“That... is probably not the point.”

“Of course I’m joking.”

“You’re amazing, Ryo, being able to joke in this situation.”

Abel said in exasperation.

They were exchanging silly banter, but neither of them could think of an effective response.

Even as they talked, Ryo tried deploying multilayered barriers and using Ice Bahn to restrict its movement, but none of it had any effect.

Naturally.

The instant they touched it, the ice melted.

Even when he unleashed <Icicle Lance>...

“It is not hitting.”

“It’s melting the instant it is about to hit.”

Abel, with his sharp eyes, had caught the moment when the ice spears melted.

It never even reached the salamander’s skin.

“This is... seriously bad, isn’t it?”

“I cannot think of an attack method.”

Both Abel and Ryo were being driven into a corner.

“I’ll stop its movement!”

“How?”

“<Dynamic Steam Mine II>”

When Ryo cast the spell, the water vapor contained in the air around the salamander transformed into mines.

Mines that would freeze solid the moment they were touched.

“Now, if the salamander moves, it’ll freeze.”

“Ooh!”

Abel praised him.

That should work, indeed...

Ssshh, ssshh, ssshh...

“The spell is activating and freezing it...”

“But it’s melting and evaporating instantly...”

The Dynamic Steam Mines were activating, but the ice they produced was evaporating away.

“This heat is truly beyond the norm.”

“So it cannot even stop its feet?”

Both Ryo and Abel frowned.

For now, neither of them had taken any damage.

The salamander was running toward them, but honestly, it was not that fast.

It was possible to maintain distance.

As long as it could not get close, the heat was not so frightening...

Swish.

Abel’s sword gleamed once.

“Huh?”

“Just now, a ball of flame flew at us.”

Ryo was startled, and Abel answered in surprise as well.

His body had moved before he could think.

He had cut down the fireball launched from the salamander with his sword.

In other words, a long-range magic attack.

“I did not even see the flame form.”

“Neither did I. My body moved on its own, but if I cannot even see the ‘start’ of the magic... this is bad.”

Abel knew.

He knew how difficult it was to keep cutting down things you could not see.

Eventually, his defense would inevitably break down.

Even so...

“It cannot be stopped, it attacks from long range too, and all attacks are nullified...”

“When I heard about the fight with Marie-san, I got the impression it was a reckless, all-out charge kind of monster...”

“Maybe it learned from fighting that phantomkin.”

“A monster that’s intelligent?”

“Put another way, that means it holds a very deep grudge.”

“We have to do something and defeat it...”

“Eventually, the villagers will become casualties.”

Both Ryo and Abel understood that they were in a situation where they could not back down.

“That phantomkin called Marie landed one strike with a sword, right?”

“That’s what they said. Probably a quick-draw technique.”

“Quick-draw? Ah, a high-speed sword-drawing technique?”

“That sword flash was truly only a moment.”

Heat spreads.

That meant they had to finish it before the heat spread.

That also meant they just needed to finish it before the heat spread... probably.

“So we just need to reach the salamander before the sword melts.”

Abel seemed to understand.

“I want it to charge at us...”

“Yes. If it fires flames like before... and even worse, from close range...”

“I couldn’t cut that.”

Both of them had the same concern.

In the battle with Marie, it may have learned that if it charged in, it would be struck by a sword flash and take damage.

No, the possibility was high that it did.

Now then, what should they do?

“Saturation attack is justice.”

“Hm?”

“We’ll unleash attacks in such quantity that the enemy cannot possibly handle them. If we are lucky, we’ll inflict damage, and even if not, it should at least prevent counterattacks and hold it in place.”

“That may be true... but while the salamander is doing nothing, Ryo’s ice would melt just by approaching, right?”

“Yes. That is why this is a serious saturation attack. As a water-attribute magician, I will crush the fire-attribute monster head-on!”

Ryo exhaled long and hard.

Then, naturally, he inhaled deeply, and a forced deep breath was achieved.

“<Permafrost: Multi-Deployment>”

A spell named after permafrost, which reduces the vibration of water molecules in the air and freezes them in place.

“<Icicle Lance Shower>.”

Countless more ice spears rained down.

“<Directional Dynamic Steam Mine II>”

He added movement to his usual <Dynamic Steam Mine>. From all directions, toward the salamander.

“<Squall>”

After hearing that there had been a story about fleeing in the rain, he cast a sudden downpour spell that would surely deal damage, even if it could not finish it off.

“<Icicle Lance Shower ‘Pierce’>”

Tens of thousands of ice spears concentrated fire on a single point.

Five water-attribute spells were unleashed upon a single target.

“Whoaa...”

Wonder escaped from Abel’s lips before he could stop it.

It was a scene beyond imagination.

Flames melted the ice, the spells emitted the light of mutual annihilation, and the atmosphere raged wildly.

The world froze and melted, then froze again...

The falling ice melted, then fell again...

The atmosphere evaporated, then pressed in again...

The rain evaporated, then fell again...

The ice spears that had once pierced even the Pope’s absolute defense now drove into the salamander...

And yet...

“It is not enough to defeat it.”

The frustration leaked from Ryo’s mouth.

Even with Ryo’s full-power saturation attack, the salamander could not be defeated.

And yet, perhaps because it was consciously firing fire-attribute magic to repel Ryo’s spells, its feet had stopped.

Now, Ryo was not alone.

“Leave it to me.”

The moment he heard those words.

A flash of purple lightning.

Abel’s single strike severed the salamander’s neck.

“Since when were you behind the salamander...”

Ryo was amazed by Abel’s skill and the sharpness of that sword flash.

“Didn’t Ryo say you would prevent counterattacks and hold it in place? So I thought I would be the one to finish it off.”

“Inside that storm of magic?”

“There is a sword art called ‘Absolute Shadow’. You could call it the pinnacle of evasion. I activated it and slipped through the gaps between Ryo’s spells. The salamander also seemed to have a hard time dealing with Ryo’s magic. I could tell its attention was focused entirely on that.”

“What is that line, like something the genius swordsman protagonist would say...”

Abel said it casually, while Ryo could only be astonished.

“You took all the good parts, Abel, but well, that is fine.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Abel smiled wryly at Ryo’s words.

In any case, the salamander extermination was a success.

But everything was still not over.

“It has been dead for about thirty minutes, but it is still sizzling.”

“Even though you’ve been keeping it cooled with your rain the whole time.”

Both Ryo and Abel intended to dismantle the salamander.

They had already agreed that anything they could salvage, such as a magic stone, would belong to the two of them.

But the salamander was still hot...

“Is its blood hot?”

“Probably. The blood flowing from the severed neck makes a sound when it hits the ground.”

“With ordinary monsters, I would lift the hind legs with ice to bleed them out, but...”

“Even Ryo’s ice melts against this abnormal heat... I suppose we just have to wait a little longer.”

“To think I would be made to feel such humiliation... I need to improve my mastery of water-attribute magic even more!”

“W-well, do your best.”

Ryo looked frustrated, and Abel gave him a little encouragement.

Actually, fighting a monster that could use magic by instinct with human magic was quite difficult.

Abel knew that.

But he also knew that those words would not comfort Ryo.

“Well, even if Ryo becomes serious about magic training, it would not inconvenience anyone, so that is fine, I guess.”

With that mutter, Abel shrugged.

Another thirty minutes later.

With Ryo’s rain falling, the salamander corpse no longer sizzled.

Abel touched it with the tip of his sword.

“It collapsed.”

“No way...”

“Abel broke it with brute strength!”

“Ryo, you were watching too! It collapsed the moment I touched it with the tip of my sword.”

“I will let you have that one.”

“...”

Indeed, the salamander’s body crumbled apart so easily.

What remained was a very deep red, fist-sized...

“Since it is red, is that a fire magic stone?”

“Yeah. It is something you rarely see in the Central Countries.”

“Will the Knightley royal family buy this?”

“Probably. I think they will, most likely.”

“Half the rights belong to me, after all. I’ll demand an outrageous price!”

“Don’t say that right in front of the person who’s actually buying it...”

Abel shook his head slightly.

Abel was the head of the Knightley royal family, His Majesty the King.

In other words, he was the very person who would be buying it.

And he owned half the rights to this magic stone.

“Abel, please hold onto that magic stone.”

“Me?”

“I’m a bit full up with baggage.”

Saying that, Ryo let his eyes drift away.

He was lying.

Abel knew the reason.

“You think it might be hot, don’t you?”

“W-what are you talking about?”

It seemed he had hit the mark.

“Too bad.”

With those words, Abel picked up the red magic stone without the slightest hesitation.

“Ah...”

“See? It is not hot. Magic stones do not emit heat.”

“They don’t?”

“Yeah. You touched wyvern magic stones before too, right? There were no hot magic stones, were there?”

“Now that you mention it... I had no idea that magic stones do not emit heat.”

Ignorance is a disadvantage.

Ryo tilted his head as he looked at the red magic stone in Abel’s hand.

“If magic stones do not emit heat, then why was the salamander producing so much heat?”

“That must be how it is. Strange, isn’t it?”

“Yes, very strange.”

There still seemed to be many secrets in this ‘Phi’ that Ryo did not know yet.

“Someday, I would like to properly research magic stones.”

“You do use magic stones in alchemy, right?”

“Yes, that is true, but... I am not very strong in that area.”

“Is that so?”

“I was interested in magic formulas, so I researched all sorts of things with Kenneth too...”

Saying that, Ryo’s eyes turned nostalgic.

“When we return to the kingdom, I will have to work even harder at alchemy than before...”

“Didn’t you just say earlier that you would improve your mastery of water-attribute magic?”

“I-I will do my best at both.”

“That sounds rough.”

Ryo wore a determined expression, while Abel smiled wryly as he watched him.

In any case, the salamander extermination ended with the acquisition of a fire magic stone.

When they reported back to the village, they were thanked by the chief and all the villagers.

After the feast that night, the two departed the next morning.

“We had just entered the ‘Corridor,’ and already we ended up fighting a rare monster called a salamander.”

“I don’t know whether it is really rare, exactly... but it’s certainly not a monster found in the Central Countries.”

“Being with Abel makes me worried about what lies ahead.”

“Me? The salamander was not my fault.”

“That, time will prove.”

“Time...”

Ryo declared it flatly, and Abel made a troubled expression.

“A long time ago, a great sculptor carved a marble statue called ‘Time Reveals the Truth’. It was truly magnificent.”

“Hm. And how does that relate to me?”

“No, it has nothing to do with you at all.”

“Hey...”

“All I mean is that ‘time’ will make everything clear.”

“That so? Well, when it comes to time, there is indeed one truth that no one can ever resist.”

“What is that?”

“That as time passes, everyone gets hungry.”

“As expected of Abel, the hungry swordsman...”

Exchanging such conversation, the party finally exited the Eastern Countries.

The two men, two horses, and twenty <Dollies> continued westward still further.