Ch.90Time Is Running Out. (1)

Esthie nodded obediently.

“It’s fine if you kill me by accident.”

Her voice sounded slightly hopeful.

She was definitely not normal.

Olivia frowned.

“…I already told you. I won’t kill you.”

Esthie flinched at the unfamiliar sensation on the back of her neck.

“It stings a little.”

Tzzzzzt!

Sparks flew through the air like embers.

[Skill, ‘Thunder Bolt’ is being used.]

The interior lit up for an instant. When the flash subsided, Esthie had lost consciousness, her head slumped to the floor. Just from her posture, it was obvious she wasn’t pretending.

She was definitely unconscious.

“……”

But even after waiting for quite some time, no notification appeared about subduing Esthie.

That could only mean one thing.

Olivia clicked her tongue.

“…So it ends up like this after all.”

She had hoped it would be easier this time, but her fears were confirmed.

Esthie couldn’t be subdued by simply knocking her unconscious.

Because of the curse engraved on her soul, Esthie could never rest until she defeated all her ‘enemies.’

And Olivia had just become Esthie’s ‘enemy’ with that attack.

Crash!

The waves made an eerie sound as they crashed against the rocks. Their movement was too unnatural to be ordinary waves.

The waves grew increasingly violent, then suddenly transformed into a sharp vortex. The vortex indiscriminately sucked in nearby fish and ground them up.

The sea turned red in an instant.

Grooooowl.

That’s when Esthie’s body began to tremble.

With the sound of twisting bones, Esthie’s head slowly turned. Her deeply sunken pupils and the killing intent that weighed down the air clearly revealed that she had lost her sanity.

[Kill…]

Olivia clicked her tongue and activated the magic circle she had prepared in advance.

[Skill, ‘Teleport’ is being used.]

When she reappeared, she was in the middle of the great ocean, far from Icail.

A notification window appeared before her eyes.

[‘Wavemaster Esthie’ is using ‘Tidal Wave’!]

In the distance, a tsunami-like wave was approaching.

No, could that even be called a wave?

At a glance, it easily exceeded several hundred meters in height.

Kuguuuuuu!

That was the reason Esthie had gained notoriety throughout the continent.

No matter who the opponent was, she fought to the death against enemies of Icail.

Even if she wanted to stop, she couldn’t; even if she wanted to show mercy, she couldn’t.

That was the curse (呪縛) engraved on her soul.

– Aaaaargh!

– P-please have mercy…!

Even the most vicious pirates trembled in fear at its overwhelming height.

[Die.]

With a crashing sound, the wave swallowed the ships whole.

It was a horrifying sight, but Olivia didn’t back down.

Instead, she stepped forward.

[Your mana is becoming unstable!]

As the tidal wave drew closer, the ominous notifications appeared with increasing frequency.

Olivia didn’t bother trying to control her disrupted mana.

Attempting to control mana in front of that wave could backfire.

A wave that devoured magical power.

A disaster that no magician could resist.

[Die!]

The ‘voice’ that had made Esthie like this probably thought the same.

And in the next moment, Olivia stretched both arms forward.

[Ancient Magic, ‘Absolute Zero’ is being used.]

The magic that had instantly brought a Greater Demon to the brink of death unfolded once again at Olivia’s fingertips.

A profound coldness enveloped the world.

The wave began to freeze from its edges.

Crack-crack-crack!

The tidal wave seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then advanced, breaking through the ice.

Now it was clear that the wave wasn’t just a single layer.

It consisted of at least dozens of layers.

[This level of magic is useless!]

Olivia’s eyebrow twitched, as if irritated by those words.

[Ancient Magic, ‘Annihilation Lightning’ is being used.]

Tzzzzzt!

In the next moment, the color of the sky changed.

Countless lightning bolts formed a wall and advanced.

It was as if the world was coming to an end.

“This is going to hurt quite a bit.”

The wall of waves and the wall of lightning collided.

[Mere lightning like this…!]

The ‘voice’ seemed to be holding out again. But it was only for a moment.

The total amount of mana was different this time. Even after the magic was deployed, Olivia continued to supply mana without stopping.

A magician who has touched the truth has a mana heart that is the world itself.

No matter how much of a disaster the wave was called, it couldn’t stand against the world.

[…!]

The ‘voice’ screamed in pain, but it was drowned out by the thunder.

Olivia didn’t stop her magic even as Esthie’s entire body turned charred black.

After all, Esthie under the control of the ‘voice’ wouldn’t die from something like that.

Kwagwagwagwang!

When the water’s surface was completely covered with fish carcasses.

[You have subdued the returner, ‘Esthie Aquar’, without killing her.]

[Clue #4 acquired.]

The long-awaited notification appeared.

‘…Finally.’

Olivia staggered for a moment. Maintaining ancient magic for several minutes was taxing even for her.

‘Damn it.’

Esthie’s resistance was stronger than she had expected. One or two lightning bolts might have gone unnoticed, but hundreds raining down like this—would other returners really not notice?

Just this morning, Kiel’s sword strike had flown all the way to the skies of the Holy Kingdom.

‘…’

A reward appeared before Olivia’s dismayed face.

[Reward for acquiring 4 clues]

– For each clue, you can use all remaining time limit at once, limited to one use per clue.

Fortunately, her luck with rewards was good.

Olivia gritted her teeth.

‘Half, no. Even less is fine, but I need to get at least one person on my side quickly.’

Now, she really had no time left.

*****

There once was a princess.

A princess who had been loved by the sea since birth went berserk on the day she became an adult.

That day, half the capital was submerged.

*****

Esthie watched Olivia with her arms crossed.

– Give me a hundred days, and I’ll solve that voice for you.

Today was the first day. But Olivia merely stared intensely at the sea surface without taking any special action.

“…What are you looking for? There’s nothing in the sea except some wrecked pirate ships. Occasionally there are merchant vessels too, but you won’t find what you want.”

No answer came.

“…”

It occurred to Esthie that perhaps from the beginning, Olivia had come not to help her but to find something submerged in the sea.

‘…In the end, she’s just the same as the others.’

Of course, she had nothing to lose. She had already secured a pledge that the Emperor’s token would be used for Icail.

But she couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Esthie watched Olivia for a while longer, but seeing that she continued to just stare at the sea surface, she gave up and turned away.

“I’ll go ahead. By the way, 99 days left.”

“…”

Olivia didn’t answer. Only after Esthie had disappeared beyond the horizon did she exhale and look around.

[Clue #4]

[Memory of April, Imperial Year 993]

– Time remaining: 82 hours 49 minutes

“…Good.”

Perhaps because of the newly acquired reward, the time limit was generous. That didn’t mean she had plenty of time, but it was much better than having only 5 minutes.

‘The timing worked out fortunately.’

The third rule of using clues.

If two clues conflict, the later one overwrites the earlier one.

Therefore, if she used this clue well, she could undo the Icail Massacre.

She had to make it so.

‘I need to find a way.’

As long as Livga remained in Icail, extreme methods couldn’t be used. But she couldn’t leave Esthie’s ‘voice’ as it was either.

Whatever the method, eliminating the ‘voice’ was one of the reasons why the ‘current’ Esthie had become friendly.

‘…Is that method the only option after all?’

A method that was certain in effect but had been avoided due to its low probability of success.

And this new method had to be executed when Esthie wasn’t nearby.

Olivia descended as close as possible to the sea surface. Then, the sea around her gradually began to freeze.

Tzzzzzt!

The cold spread widely and quickly, expanding its domain.

The cold that had been spreading endlessly suddenly stopped, as if blocked by something.

It wasn’t because of insufficient magical power. Someone who could create a barrier the size of a city wouldn’t be exhausted just from freezing some seawater.

It felt like her mana was being scattered, similar to when it touched Esthie’s waves.

“Found it.”

Olivia smiled.

The sunken city, Aquar, the magical realm of water.

The place where countless vengeful spirits rested, submerged by Esthie.

Swoosh.

The surroundings were suddenly covered in black mist.

From underwater, human figures began to rise one by one.

Specters wearing the guise of merfolk.

Olivia smiled and spoke to a specter wrapped in knight’s armor.

“Specters of Aquar.”

Eerie gazes glared fiercely at Olivia.

“Guide me to your king.”