Ch.105Temporary Water Battle (1)

“Hwaaam… This is so boring.”

It had already been four days since I found a hiding place and started preparing for the defense.

During these four days, most of my time was invested in mind-numbingly boring alchemy.

As I’ve mentioned before, simple alchemy wasn’t much different from cooking.

Were the ingredients properly prepared?

Was the fire neither too strong nor too weak?

Were the ingredients added in the correct order?

If you followed these rules well, there wouldn’t be any problems.

And to put it differently, alchemy was an extremely static activity.

Bubble, bubble.

I lit the alchemy kit and sat in front of it for hours, adjusting the temperature of the fire.

Stir, stir.

For reasons unknown, I stirred the mixture with a stick at a moderate speed when the instructions said to do so.

Woooong-

Finally, I infused mana into the completed reagent to create the necessary potion.

And then I repeated this process from the beginning, over and over.

The first few times were fine, but endless repetition made it impossible not to get bored.

“How many is this now… Sigh, if I had known it would be like this, I would have prepared them in advance.”

[This is all your own doing~]

[That’s right, you should have made them in advance instead of just buying them.]

I couldn’t say anything in response to Lumia’s brutally honest words.

If I had made potions during camping or rest times, I wouldn’t have to make them all at once like this.

But I did have an excuse.

“But even if I had bought them, I didn’t think I’d ever need to use them.”

In the past, the reason I made explosive potions with alchemy was simply for siege warfare.

Back when I couldn’t even properly use sword energy, let alone strong ki, it was necessary to demolish the walls of the Apostles’ base.

But what about now?

First, my physical abilities had improved to the point where I could be called strong.

And my swordsmanship and cultivation technique proficiency had surpassed even that, allowing me to fight against those stronger than myself.

[Not to mention other traits that keep raising your minimum and maximum capabilities.]

“Plus I have True Words as my secret weapon. There was no need to focus on alchemy.”

If it weren’t for the unexpected situation of being stranded alone in the immaterial realm, I probably wouldn’t have returned to alchemy.

“Still… now that I’ve experienced this kind of unexpected situation, I can prepare better next time.”

While alchemy was certainly boring, I had Lumia to help me.

As if sensing my thoughts, Lumia suddenly questioned me suspiciously.

[Hmm… I just got a really bad feeling.]

[You’re not thinking something strange, are you?]

“What? Of course not. It’s just your imagination, just your imagination.”

I immediately denied everything when Lumia questioned me, pretending I knew nothing.

Of course, this wasn’t enough to escape her suspicion, but fortunately, a bell sound rang from outside at just the right moment.

Dong. Dong. Dong.

It was the bell I had installed to ring when ten or more black mages approached at once.

“Hnng. Looks like they’re finally coming.”

[We managed to stay hidden longer than expected.]

“Thanks to that, we were able to prepare somewhat.”

Having just finished infusing mana into the newly made potion, I stood up and went outside.

Outside, Luna and the earth mages were busy finishing the defensive preparations.

They seemed to have become quite friendly after spending four days together.

“Grooowl!”

“Our Luna is working hard too.”

I stroked Luna while looking at the crudely made walls constructed with earth and wood.

Despite our best efforts, it looked more like something prepared for playing house rather than for war.

“Pfft, just five people defending a fort… the very thought makes me laugh.”

[Well, as pathetic as we are, our opponents are even more incompetent.]

“True~ Considering the black mages we’ve seen here so far, they’re more like a ragtag bunch.”

I laughed dejectedly as I recalled what had happened while I was making potions here.

Certainly, during these four days, there were black mages who discovered this place.

It would be stranger if we weren’t discovered with so many mages casting detection spells.

In fact, during these short four days, as many as six black mages found this place.

If they had been even slightly experienced, they would have reported their discovery first.

But unfortunately, they didn’t seem very experienced.

“Hehe, I smell achievement! I smell achievement!!”

“Chomp chomp!!”

“Arghhhh!!”

There was no other explanation for why they approached, blinded by the desire for achievement, only to be torn apart by Luna.

‘If an experienced black mage had found us first… it might have been difficult.’

If the first to discover us had been an experienced black mage, we wouldn’t have had ample time to prepare for defense.

But since none of the six black mages were like that, it was fair to say our opponents were essentially a ragtag bunch.

“Still, they can’t all be useless.”

[The commander or someone like that probably has some skill.]

As I sensed the approaching black mages and their undead minions getting closer, I jumped up to the top of the wall to see with my own eyes.

Luca was on the wall, ringing the bell and keeping watch.

“You’re working hard.”

“Ah, Lady Frey. You’re here.”

“As I said before, you don’t need to be so formal with me.”

Actually, being formal was fine.

Kitsune, who traveled with me, also spoke politely and showed respect.

But Luca’s formality went beyond mere politeness and felt more like idol worship, which was uncomfortable in many ways.

“No, Lady Frey is my benefactor, so I cannot treat you casually.”

“It makes me uncomfortable. Please tone it down a little.”

“…I’ll try.”

Although it didn’t seem like he would tone it down at all, I was satisfied just to get a response.

And while we were having this conversation, the black mages seemed to have approached sufficiently with their undead.

Thud. Thud.

As approximately 70 black mages and their undead army approached, I could feel the vibrations through my feet.

Though Lumia and I called them a ragtag bunch, their numbers were enough to be called a legion.

And from that legion, a middle-aged man who appeared to be the commander stepped forward.

“I sense an unusual aura. Are you the leader of this crude place?”

“Well, for now.”

“Then I’ll get straight to the point. Surrender quietly. No matter how good you are, you’re alone. Do you think you can defeat all of us in the limited time?”

The opponent seemed to be trying to induce my surrender by using the characteristics of the immaterial realm.

In fact, since I had decided to hold out here because I couldn’t solve that problem, it wasn’t a bad choice.

“Hmm, if you’re so confident, why not just push in? Or do you have other demands?”

“Surrender quietly and reopen the gate you closed. Then I’ll spare your life.”

“Ah, pfft… I didn’t expect such a misunderstanding.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his subsequent demands and his generous offer to spare my life.

I never imagined they would think there was a reason why the gate connected to the Magic Tower was closed.

At the same time, I was relieved that my plan had worked well.

At least I didn’t have to worry about additional reinforcements coming during this defense.

“What’s so funny? Do you really think you alone can defeat all these undead? Or do you think those insignificant presences behind you can do something?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. I just thought that ‘sparing my life’ might mean turning me into an undead.”

“…”

“What? Did I hit the mark? Your thinking is so predictable. As expected, a necromancer’s greed for corpses never changes.”

In truth, if it weren’t for the current situation, they would never have a chance to obtain the corpse of someone as strong as me, so their desire was understandable.

But I felt they were too blinded by greed.

They were no different from the six black mages who were torn apart by Luna earlier.

“Um, but don’t you think you’ve all come too close?”

“What?”

“I’m saying, watch your step.”

With those words, I threw one of the potions I had just made at them.

Some of the more alert ones quickly turned to escape, but it was already too late.

BOOM-!!

The bomb I threw released intense heat with a flash of light in mid-air.

Crack-

The barriers of the black mages exposed to the heat partially cracked, but it was impossible to completely destroy them with just one bomb.

But that was fine.

The first bomb wasn’t an attack but a trigger for what came next.

“Remember this. Explosion is an art.”

“You…!”

After the first explosion occurred, it struck a large number of explosive potions I had buried in advance.

Those potions were buried right beneath where the black mages were standing, so…

BOOOOOM-!!!!!

I thought the damage would be enormous, even if it didn’t wipe them all out.

[Wow~ They’re flying away spectacularly.]

[Things seem to be going better than expected?]

“I never thought it would be such a great success. I was just planning to blow away some of the undead.”

I never imagined that the black mages would approach closely together with their undead.

I’d like it if they all died from this, but they didn’t seem willing to go down that easily.

I could sense black mages who had used undead as shields getting up one by one from the dirt cloud.

“More survived than I expected. What a shame.”

“Kuheouk…! Y-you…!”

“Glaring at me won’t help you get out of here. The rules are quite troublesome, aren’t they?”

I said that he too must know well about the time limit according to the rules.

As I spoke, I looked at the hands of the commander black mage.

The rings that extended activity time, which all other black mages wore, were absent from this commander’s hands.

“My, my. You don’t care about other people’s lifespans, but your own is precious, I see.”

“Kuk… Shut up!!”