< Ruler of Water (3) >
The water drops floated up again. They calmly filled the spaces left by their fellows that had frozen and cracked. They floated slowly as if saying that nothing had gone wrong.
Sung Hyunjae raised one hand. A small spark formed at the tip of his hand. Then a thin beam of light spread out.
Crackle-
Golden particles wrapped around the water drops and continued on through the nearby water drops. Quickly, and endlessly, they swallowed, and then swallowed again, the big and small water drops,
Pop, pop!
They burst simultaneously. The light and water drops mixing together and scattering was blinding. All directions were filled with the sparkling fragments. Above the water surface, a noisy sound like rain drops falling rang out, and the surroundings became clear. For a moment.
Seeing new water drops float up yet again, Sung Hyunjae quirked up the ends of his mouth.
“It looks like it won’t end with a normal method.”
That was true. Did we have to evaporate all of the water or something? I thought of the mermaid queen saying that it would be a little difficult. It wasn’t a little. The simple pattern of monsters just appearing and us getting rid of them was much better.
Did we have to use the skill that was received now? If it was a single-story that ended with handling things here, it would be fine, but there could be a next floor. So I wanted to look around a bit more.
In the meantime, Yerim, who had left my embrace, had raised the Ice Spear up high.
“Freeze all of the water!”
“The water?”
“Yes. The water drops are popping up from the water gathered on the floor. If it’s all frozen, wouldn’t they be unable to appear?”
She said with face overflowing with competitive spirit, as if she had never been about to cry. Our Yerim was valiant indeed.
“It looks like it’s so big you can’t tell where it ends, but is it okay?”
“I have a lot of mana potions. I’ll try it out until I get sick of the taste of oranges and apples, like ahjussi!”
She was reliable. Still, don’t go overboard.
Yerim, who jumped forward and floated up into the air, started to freeze the water, starting from underneath her feet. Jjajajak, along with that sound, the water that touched the fog hardened into pure white. The water underneath my feet, which was already frozen, became even firmer as it spread the chill.
Above the water that was frozen smooth like a mirror, beams of light holding electric energy sparked again. As soon as the fragments of the water drops, bursting as they crackled, fell, they hardened roundly like beads.
‘The combination of Yerim and Sung Hyunjae also is considerably well matched… right?’
I thought of various application methods, so my mood became a little bad. Still, Moon Hyuna really was better. And they were already considerably close. I should also find a way to raise Moon Hyuna a little more, too.
“Yoohyun, did you name your elemental?”
“No, not yet.”
Maybe it had realized we were talking about it, because the fire lizard popped out and circled around Yoohyun’s shoulder.
“Since this guy was acting picky. All of it was rejected.”
Did he not have any talent for naming things? Was it that he gave it weird names?
“But anyways, hyung, it looks like you’re close to the Seseong Guild Leader.”
“I said we’re not close.”
Continuing on from Yerim, why were you also like that?
“We have things to extort from each other, so it’s a dry relationship where we only get along on the surface.”
He was someone who would cut off the relationship like flipping a switch[1] once I became useless. Of course, if it was the opposite, then I would also cleanly and refreshingly toss over a farewell.
If there was problem, wouldn’t it be not having any reason to do something like that? Sung Hyunjae’s cooperation would be necessary, not just for his skill, but also for preparing for the future.
“It wouldn’t be bad to collaborate with him. Weren’t you also quite close to him?”
At my words, Yoohyun frowned slightly.
“Saying we’re close… Be careful to not be dragged into things. And don’t carelessly follow him into places like dungeons. No, not again. It’s enough with once.”
“You don’t have to worry that much anymore.”
I explained to him in detail about the equipment that Myeongwoo made me, Eunhye. I explained that it could be charged with magic stones, and that the duration time was long if it was S~A-Rank level of damage nullification, so it would be safe inside even high rank dungeons as long as I adjusted it well.
Yoohyun, who was quietly listening, grabbed my wrist. Then he took off the bracelet.
“Uh…”
Hm, it was taken away really easily. Though it was an obvious result, since it was possible to a certain extent to touch me.
-Cheep!
The blue bird popped out of the bracelet’s gem and cheeped as it pecked Yoohyun’s hand. As if it was angrier because there wasn’t a scratch, it cried louder. It was just then.
-Shwiik
The fire lizard popped out and quickly bit the blue bird’s head.
-Cheeep!
“Eunhye! Don’t eat it!”
Thankfully, maybe Yoohyun had stopped it or maybe it judged that it wasn’t for eating, because the lizard opened its mouth and spit it out. Eunhye flapped its wings and pecked the elemental’s head.
“You’ll get bitten again like that; come here. You’re a good kid, right?”
-Cheep, cheeep!
“Okay, okay. The lizard was bad. It’s a bad lizard.”
Eunhye was furious as it returned to my hand. Then it opened its beak wide and shouted.
-Bad lizard! Bad lizard!
“…That also talks?”
“It’s also my first time hearing it speak.”
Maybe it didn’t know how to say anything else, because the blue bird just kept on shouting ‘bad lizard’, and went back into the gem when Yoohyun returned the bracelet. Supposedly, it would get more skills when it grew, so was it that it could also learn words?
“Don’t trust items so much. Especially against people.”
“I also know that much. But the Seseong Guild Leader is someone who’ll cool-headedly judge my worth and react to that. Until he finds something more usable than me, it’ll be safe.”
But would there be something like that? If I were an item, I would easily pass L-Rank. Poison resistance, curse resistance, attack skill buff, growth buff, new skill acquisition, stat-skill buff, damage nullification shield, and I could raise monsters, as well as combine curse and poison dragons, though that wasn’t a certain success yet. If you added the Seed-Leaf and the Teacher skills to that, I was an item you should preciously treasure.
…It was a bit of a waste that I was a person. If I really was an item, I would be easier to use, and wouldn’t you be able to always get the resistances and buffs without the skill sharing? Thinking like that, it really was a waste. Why wasn’t I an item?
“If I were a dungeon item, I would’ve given me to you.”
“…What is that all of a sudden?”
“Because it’s too bad.”
In the meantime, the water had completely frozen solid up to that far away. As expected, the water drops were all burst except for several in the corners. Maybe because the water was frozen, new water drops didn’t appear.
“Ahjussi! It’s blocked starting from here!”
Yerim shouted, waving both arms hard. She said it was blocked, but the space kept on spreading out past that, so it seemed like there was a transparent membrane. When I slipped trying to go over to Yerim, Yoohyun grabbed me.
“We probably should’ve brought Peace.”
That was true. I hadn’t thought that far. Maybe because he always was in his juvenile form at home, he didn’t feel like someone you could conceivably take into a dungeon.
“This is really firm. Is this the end of this dungeon?”
It did seem similar to normal dungeon being blocked. But when I saw it up close, it felt different.
Even past the transparent membrane, there was frozen water spread out. Endlessly. Yerim’s skill range was large, but it wasn’t to that point. And it went past a membrane that you couldn’t pierce through.
“It looks like it’s not a dungeon’s membrane.”
And Sung Hyunjae seemed like he had the same thought as me. This was.
“It’s a mirror.”
A mirror that didn’t reflect us. No, if you said that the dungeon itself was a mirror, it was reflecting us. Our pasts’ memories. The zombie guy had also reflected what each of us wanted to see.
I felt like I could tell a little more certainly what kind of guy the new filial duty addict was.
“A mirror? But it’s just transparent?”
“Look closely. If you take us out, it’s the same. And it’s reflecting that slightly broken ice surface as it is, too.”
“Huh? That’s true? But now what should we do?”
I wonder. There was still no response. When I looked around the surroundings, I saw a few water drops remaining here and there, far away.
“Yerim, burst those, too.”
“Yes!”
Along with bright reply, an arrow-like ice fragment flew over and cleanly cleared the remaining water drops. Right after, the membrane’, the mirror’s, surface started to ripple roundly. Yoohyun grabbed me and drew back, and Yerim blocked the front. Sung Hyunjae also drew back a few steps.
“It really looks like the solution was to freeze and sweep all of it away!”
When we got rid of all the memory-reflecting water drops and made them unable to appear again, the mirror reacted. This was, as expected.
“It seems like something from our memories will appear, so be careful.”
For Sung Hyunjae, I wasn’t particularly worried, and I requested it of Yoohyun and Yerim. Though it seemed like it would be the most dangerous for me. Should I close my eyes ahead of time at least?
The ripples on the mirror slowly became bigger and rougher. To prepare just in case, we increased the distance. Our appearances were briefly reflected on the shaking membrane and,
Blue light started to spread.
“Huh, those earrings?”
Yerim’s eyes became round. Familiar earrings jangled. What was slowly being shown through the mirror, was a giant mermaid with blue scales.
It was the Mermaid Queen of Sea Waves, who was holding a long spear and spreading her scale wings.
‘……Damn.’
Could that mirror be showing us the strongest opponent in our memories? Since it seemed like Yerim saw the same thing, I was certain. We were really doomed. It wasn’t just a little difficult. This conwoman-like Water Droplet!
The mermaid queen’s closed eyes slowly opened. The emotionless marble-like deep blue eyes stared at us. Maybe it couldn’t completely copy the real thing, because the oppressive feeling was less. But she was a fiend that we definitely couldn’t match up against with our current combat power. At the most, we would barely be able to escape after blocking the attack with the bracelet’s power.
“Yerim, use the skill!”
Yerim, who had frozen stiff, startled and fixed her grip on her spear. The gem fixed onto the spear let out light and,
Toodook, toodoodook
Rain started to fall.
Between the thickening streaks of rain, I saw Yerim’s back. She was definitely small and young, but a scarily strong presence was overflowing out. It was an oppressive feeling that would make my knees tremble and make it hard to stand, if she turned around and looked at me. Yoohyun, and Sung Hyunjae as well, couldn’t take their eyes off her.
At some point, all of the ice had melted, and water wet my ankles.
“This, is no joke.”
Yerim said heavily yet easily. The fake mermaid queen stared at her. The end of the long spear moved, and with that one slow movement, the entire dungeon shook. But it was just that.
The power that seemed like it would cut the ground disappeared in an instant. I couldn’t tell what had happened. Yerim also tilted her head slightly. The water drops that were lightly floating in the air around her, swayed.
“…Ahjussi, I really don’t know. The skill moves on its own.”
At the helpless voice, the inside of my head that was suppressed, became a little clearer. I searched back and forth between the fake mermaid queen and Yerim. Rain was falling around the mermaid queen, too, but the thickness and speed was a little different.
The two of them were fundamentally using the same strength. If so.
‘Though I don’t know if I’ll be able to endure.’
Rather than throwing away a precious chance, let’s try it out. I used the Teacher skill on Yerim. At the same time, what I felt was water.
It was just water. An inexplicable sensation of, not simply being inside water, but your entire body, down to a single hair, to a single drop of blood, being all engulfed in water, rushed over me.
“Hyung!”
Yoohyun’s voice reached my ear one step late. I felt my brother’s arm supporting my body. Wow, this really was no joke. Was Yerim okay?
“I’m, okay.”
“What do you mean you’re okay? Exactly what are you doing!”
What do you mean what – I just kinda used a skill.
“Ahjussi! Don’t use that skill!”
Yerim also shouted. I mean, it was endurable. It was too precious of a chance to just throw away.
“…I said I’m okay. Look here, Mr. Good Adult.”
I barely turned my head and looked up at Sung Hyunjae. Why did that person have a displeased expression?
“The, skill.”
That, the combat foresight. If Yerim was able to feel the sensations of someone using the same, but much weaker, skill as hers at the same time, she would gain more things. It would be better to use the Teacher skill on the fake mermaid queen as well, but I thought that I really wouldn’t be able to endure that.
When I applied the Teacher skill to Sung Hyunjae, he raised his eyebrows slightly.
“You’re in a state where you’ll faint right away if I reject it.”
“…Please do not be like that, with our relationship. Aren’t we friends for a week?”
“I’ve never made things like friends in my whole life.”
It was a desolate life, huh. Even while being disinclined to it, Sung Hyunjae used the combat foresight skill. And then the water moved.
The mermaid queen and Bak Yerim. The two Rulers of Water wielded their powers at the same time. I now felt the phenomenon that I couldn’t understand a while ago.
Everywhere it was raining, no, all of the moisture in the air was following Yerim’s will. There were so many things that this thing called ‘water’ was holding. Right now, this entire space was only looking at the movements of the tip of a small hand.
The fake mermaid queen also spread her control and tried her hardest, but she was ridiculously lacking. Like a small regional lord in front of a king commanding a million troops, the gap between the two was incredible.
The moment I faintly realized how Yerim had to move, it was the end.
Kwajangchang!
The mirror broke. All of the mirror broke in all directions and fell. Water rippled in the not-that-big space, putting aside that it was a dungeon, and the rain kept pouring down.
Receiving all of the water’s worship, Yerim turned back around. Um, it was an angry face.
[1] lit. ‘as if flipping over [your] palm’ which means ‘very easily changing one’s attitude suddenly or obviously’.