Chapter 116
The guy called Gawain was incredibly strong. For me, evading his attacks was the best I could do. And it wasn’t just him—there were still three others. The other three were watching the situation, and although Lorcha had put up a water barrier in front of them, I couldn’t ignore them because I didn’t know when they would join in. On top of that, Gawain’s attacks were strange. There was a gut feeling in my head that I had to avoid his attacks; I couldn’t block them under any circumstances.
“Hoh… you have quite good instincts! As expected! To instinctively avoid contact with my body, huh?”
“I just don’t want to touch someone as disgusting as you.”
I didn’t have any interest in bumping bodies with a man of my age.
“Looks like you’re the kind of weapon our organization has been after! You’re the kind of person who has the potential to kill even gods!”
What the hell? I’m not some Monster Hunter monster, so how would I be a weapon? His attitude of seeing me as some kind of creature made my irritation rise. The way he was treating me like a monster definitely needed to be corrected. First of all, I didn’t want to touch this bastard, so I had to create some distance and fight with magic.
“Steel Dragon’s scales, pierce my enemy!”
Countless sharp steel scales flew toward Gawain. If one hit, I could severely limit his movements… Oh, shit. As soon as the steel scales touched his body, they melted away. My attack turned into molten metal and dripped off of him. I gritted my teeth as I looked at the remnants of my attack.
“Too bad for you, I’m a man with a body as hot as my heart… so iron melts as soon as it touches my body. Thanks to that, I can block most magic, and easily defeat enemies who use martial arts or swords. Well, it would be a challenge against Sir Lancelot, though.”
In short, his body was fucking hot. A body that was so hot meant that the skin underneath was burning red. That meant… this bastard was red to the core? The blood of the anti-communist warrior screamed inside me.
“Today is your funeral, you unlucky pig bastard.”
“I’m pretty skinny, though? Also, from what I see, your martial arts are your specialty… you’ll turn into a sticky stew of meat if you touch me.”
That was definitely true. Fighting this bastard barehanded would definitely be suicide. So I needed to come up with another plan.
“You’re all talk, but you don’t have any clever ideas, do you? I hate people like you. The kind that just talks big without any actual plans!”
“Too bad! I hate dogs like you who look like that!”
Avoiding his punches and kicks was already reaching its limit.
“Spirit of Water, devour my enemy!”
A huge amount of water poured toward him. If I could soak his body and hit him with lightning magic using the moisture in the ground, I could win.
“Hahaha… magicians always think the same thing and always end up the same way…”
He wasn’t wet at all. The water I shot with my magic evaporated before it even touched his body. How hot was his body? The steel mine had been incredibly hot since earlier… this bastard was the cause of it. He was like the bastard causing global warming by raising temperatures.
I had to deal with this bastard in the name of environmental protection. But since most of my offensive magic had been sealed, I had few ways to deal with him now. I could always sacrifice an arm, but… I wasn’t about to sacrifice my body just to catch this bastard.
Then I heard Lorcha’s voice.
“Ha… let’s switch positions, Werner.”
Suddenly, my body was swept toward Lorcha, as if I were being carried away by a river. Lorcha calmly floated with the flowing water and confronted Gawain.
“Hey, stop messing around! Lorcha, you saw it too. Water-based magic doesn’t work on that bastard!”
“Well, magicians always think that pouring water on me will win. In fact, water-based magic is useless in front of me. It all evaporates before it even touches me, so it’s all useless.”
Lorcha then let out a small laugh, before staring at Gawain with a displeased expression.
“You’re the kind of bastard I really hate. Saying water-based magic is useless… the kind who dismisses it as useless for attack and defense… like those idiots who treat it as a joke.”
“I didn’t exactly say that. I just said that water-based magic is useless in front of me.”
“I’ll show you just how great water-based magic is, as a gift for your trip to the afterlife.”
With that, a blue aura began to envelop Lorcha’s body. Lorcha, who had dedicated her life to mastering water-based magic, was a formidable magician. Yeah, the more attributes you master, like Werner, the better. You can handle more situations and enemies that way.
But there was also a kind of strength in humans who stubbornly stick to one path. Because she never compromises and devotes herself fully to one thing, I started to believe that she wouldn’t lose this fight.
“Young people these days really have no manners, huh? Talking so arrogantly to adults like this!”
“Oh, so you think being old is great? If you’re that old, does your mom’s last name happen to be Saurus? When your mom opens her legs, does an archaeological site appear? Isn’t there an ancient mural inside your mom’s womb?”
The level of trash talk made my head spin, and I almost lost consciousness. Looking around, even Lancelot, who had been maintaining his usual stoic and cool image, was sweating profusely.
“Ah, such a rough mouth for someone so young! This is why kids these days have no manners!”
“It’s better to have no manners than to be like you, without a mother.”
Lorcha, throwing a diss that could rival a rap battle from a slum, then released a deep blue magical aura instead of more trash talk. The magic was cool and moist enough to lower the temperature and counter the heat in the steel mine.
“I told you, didn’t I? Water-based magic is useless against me!”
“Sea Dragon’s scales, pierce through and devour the arrogant and wicked!”
At that moment, enormous shark teeth appeared from nowhere and tore into Gawain’s right arm. Technically, they only bit into the flesh of his arm, but still, it was a fact that this seemingly invincible bastard had been wounded.
“Seems like you’ve materialized a part of a water-elemental spirit. And it’s one of the higher-tier spirits, no less!”
“Don’t worry, the Sea Dragon is still younger than your mom.”
Gawain, perhaps fed up from the trash talk, suddenly shot fire from his mouth, burning the teeth that had appeared around him.
Then, Gawain charged straight toward Lorcha. If he touched her, she would be roasted like a well-done steak. I quickly threw myself toward her to protect her. I didn’t care if the other Round Table bastards targeted my back; they were all idiots who just watched while their comrades were fighting.
His hand touched my arm.
“You son of a…”
Shit, it was incredibly hot. It felt like my arm had been plunged into boiling oil. It was just a slight touch, enough to redirect his attack, but it still felt like my skin was being burned.
“Haha, it’s hot, isn’t it? Hey, girl! You were talking all tough, but now your friend got hurt! You’ve been talking big, so shouldn’t you be fighting properly?”
Lorcha said nothing and walked over to me, inspecting my arm.
“Idiot… even if I got hit, it would’ve just been a mild burn…”
“I’m fine. Compared to what I did to you…”
What I did to her—making her work for 12 years with only 11 days off—was a mistake of a much larger scale. A burn like this couldn’t come close to making up for it.
“Werner… you really are an idiot. You could have just stayed back and waited while I fought, but you always jump in and get hurt.”
“Haha… maybe I’d do that because I’m happy you’re worried about me.”
“… Spirit of Water, wrap around the wound and bring calm.”
Then, cool water enveloped the burn, and with a soothing sensation, the pain seemed to ease as the burn began to subside.
Lorcha, leaving me behind, stepped forward. She was still exuding a dark blue magical aura, but it felt eerily colder, as if something ominous was in the air.
“You haven’t seen your parents in a while, huh? Maybe you should go visit them and show some filial piety.”
Lorcha’s magic pressed heavily on the air within the steel mine.
“I’m telling you to go to hell, you bastards. Of course, I won’t make it easy for you.”
“Lorcha, there’s no need to get that angry…”
Lorcha took a blue gemstone from her chest. It was an item that clearly radiated immense power.
“By offering this gem, protected by the Macklin family, I approve the contract with the Water Elemental King. This contract will be passed down through generations.”
Then a blinding blue light began to surround Lorcha’s body. The three other people, who had been observing, sensed something was wrong and hurriedly moved in, but it was already too late.
She had completed some kind of contract and stood before me, radiating magical power that undulated like the ocean’s waters.
“Now no one can hurt you. The result won’t be like last time. You’ll never cry or lose anything again.”
Lorcha’s figure from behind was as solid as the sea, and as beautiful as the flowing waters.
“I will make sure of that.”