By Zephyria 
We reached our destination before long.
It was midday, yet the air around us remained chillingly cold.
The Lake of Memories looked much the same as I had seen it before. A grayish-white lake dotted with patches of thin ice, trees barely clinging to dry leaves, and a fog so dense it blurred the line between sky and ground.
However, this time, the flow of the fog was visible.
It was something I could see now that I had ascended to a new realm. The massive currents of mana, like an inverted fortress, burned themselves into my vision. Fog gathered from far away, tenaciously clinging to itself, converging on a single point in the center of the lake.
Is this what it feels like to see a waterspout up close?
So, I had to go closer and break it. Remembering Boulder’s boastful words when he was near death, I lightly tapped the lake’s surface with my sword tip. I also tapped the thin ice nearby, testing its hardness.
“Hmm.”
“What are you looking at?”
A knight from the vanguard observed me with a curious expression. I answered without hiding anything.
“I was checking if I could step on it and jump.”
“…This?”
“Yes. It seems like one person could step on it and jump…”
“…This?”
“…Yes? Yes.”
I saw no need for further explanation and closed my mouth.
Hugh Benson, who had been watching, stepped forward and gestured with his chin.
“Then, go and come back from just there.”
And so I did.
It’s only natural that water is heavier than the sky. In truth, even I, in my past life, could briefly run on water. It was only when my power was insufficient during my Academy days that I couldn’t perform water-walking, but for me now, it was not that difficult.
I hopped from one patch of thin ice to the next. If I lingered too long, I would naturally sink, but I could hold on for at least three seconds on each piece of ice. With a swift movement, mimicking a gentle breeze, I circled around and returned, receiving a round of applause.
Even though I had grown accustomed to Sierren’s way of offering great praise for trivial matters, I still felt awkward whenever I heard the cheers of unfamiliar knights.
Naturally, I agreed to help Mage Boulder disable the magic circle.
The problem was finding the optimal posture.
Boulder, like a wizard, wore a long robe that reached his knees, and dangling from the inside of the robe were pouches filled with various magical tools and reagents.
At first, I tried to carry him on my back, but he shook his head, saying it would restrict my hand movements. Then, if I held him by the waist, it would interfere with him retrieving reagents.
Should I grab him by the scruff of his neck like a young animal? He had a considerable build and age, so I couldn’t handle him too roughly.
Should I hold him tenderly in my arms like Ruben? He said that if one arm was inconvenient, it would hinder him from wielding his staff, so that was out too. I was rather glad, as I also found such a posture quite unappealing.
In the end, I placed Mage Boulder on my shoulders.
“…Is this the best… way?”
“Yes! I’m very comfortable! Sir Michael, are you? If you need to use your arms midway, please tell me! As much as I look, my legs are very strong…”
“Whoa, your neck! Mage Boulder, don’t choke me!”
“…I’m fine.”
Deep contemplation settled in.
I had never given my younger brothers a piggyback ride, let alone anyone else. What was this situation? Even when trying to show respect to an elder, it was proving difficult. While his emaciated legs wouldn’t choke me, it was unpleasant in many ways.
“Alright, let’s go! Giddy up!”
Feeling even more troubled, I didn’t bother to reply.
In any case, the knights decided to set up a defensive perimeter near the lake and wait.
I navigated through the fog, moving in the direction Boulder indicated. Despite everything, thanks to the considerable time I had spent sparring with Boulder during my Academy days, I could clearly understand the distances he specified as coordinates.
It was a grand undertaking that took nearly an hour.
Occasionally, I used my sword to move the thin ice to the required locations. Since I had to stay in one place for more than eight seconds frequently, I performed the feat of constantly switching the ice I stood on without faltering.
Each time, some of the knights standing over there would tuck their swords under their arms and clap, cheering.
Was I disabling a magic circle, or was I performing as a circus monkey?
If one could just watch idly, it would have been quite a spectacle. Whenever mana intertwined with mana, Boulder’s staff was deeply embedded, or reagents were scattered, immense power surged.
The light filtering through the hazy fog resembled a round rainbow. Each time the magic circle was undone, bright golden wisps popped out from the dense fog, displaying their beauty.
Now I understood what it meant to undo a magic circle by tracing it backward. It looked like cutting the seams of a tightly tied cotton pouch. Mana, resembling fluffy cotton, squeezed out of the pouch and scattered in round clumps all around.
I had to be careful underfoot, watch overhead, and I was busy scolding Mage Boulder, who kept pulling at my hair. Just as Elvin, who had been the last to remain vigilant, lowered his sword, Boulder let out a welcome cry.
“This is the last part!”
“The last part?”
“Yes. If we undo this part right here, it will all unravel!”
He shouted with his voice amplified by his aura.
“Standby!”
“Yes!”
Immediately, all the knights entered a state of alert.
I ran towards the center of the lake as Mage Boulder directed. He gripped my hair like reins and swallowed hard.
“Sir Michael. If this goes wrong…”
“I won’t abandon you. Don’t worry.”
“No, here in the center. You have to throw me right here in the center.”
…
It was a statement not worth responding to. I didn’t reply.
Feeling Boulder tense up, I also prepared to escape. The impatient wizard’s hands, in front of my forehead, firmly gripped his staff and held it horizontally. As if erecting a transparent wall in the air and piercing it with a long awl, the tip of the staff disappeared at a point in the void and embedded itself.
Three,
Two,
One.
Just before the gathered power exploded, I leaned to the left and embraced the frail wizard who was perched on my shoulders. The surface of the lake, kicked by my feet, dug in deeply, as high as a person, and then surged upwards as if exploding.
Water splashed in all directions.
A bubbling sound came from beneath the lake.
Already at the lake’s edge, I rolled twice before I could stand steady. The hazy fog, as if it had never been there, crumbled and dissipated, and something large and black raised its head.
A monster, no, a monstrous creature, with black, glossy scales and fangs larger than most knights.
“Shit, what is that!”
“A dragon? No, a dragon? Here? The final boss?”
“Formation 3! Formation 3!”
“What formation! Will that thing even die from falling? We can’t go!”
It was a Black Dragon.
Mage Boulder’s cackling laughter echoed in my ears.
I looked up at the beast’s head, impossibly high above.
Mage Boulder had once shown an illusion spell mimicking a dragon. This creature seemed at least twenty meters larger than that. Even with half its body submerged in the lake, the stream of water flowing down from its forehead had not yet reached the surface, cascading like a waterfall.
The turbid qi flowing from its dark body was undoubtedly contaminated mana.
Gritting my teeth, I stepped forward. I raised my voice. I had been told to attempt dialogue first when a single enemy appeared. I didn’t know if it would work, but I couldn’t attack blindly.
I recited the words Ruben had taught me verbatim.
“My name is Michael Ernhardt! I have arrived on this land by the Fourth God’s summons! If you are a sentient being, answer me!”
Then, the beast’s head slowly tilted towards me.
Could this be called making eye contact? With eyes that large, it could survey three villages at once. Though I had never doubted my own abilities, my heart chilled. While I blinked five times, the dragon blinked once.
And then.
“…Evade!”
-Kwararararara!
Dialogue? What dialogue?
I blocked the beast’s breath with my sword.
Three meters in front of my body, the breath, blocked in a massive hemisphere, split into two with a dark, murky light, like a valley stream hit by a downpour.
Cold sweat trickled down my forehead. I had never felt this hot, not even when submerged in boiling water. Mage Boulder, crouched behind me, muttered like a madman.
“Breath… The breath has no attribute. It’s this hot, yet it’s not fire, nor is it darkness. Only the part touched by the breath melts, while a single wildflower right next to it remains unharmed. It’s impossible, truly impossible! No magic can defy the laws of physics to this extent!”
I wanted to tell him to shut up, as he was distracting me, but I was too exhausted to even open my mouth.
I used every ounce of the new power I had gained upon becoming a Grand Sword Master.
The power surging through my sword was a blue light. I forgot the constraints of each individual move. The power, built up by sweeping through my body, inside and out, with a light that was both blue and white, protected me.
I heard the sound of the earth sinking. Trees all around were shaken and buried into the ground, and the soil melted to form massive rocks.
I was pushed back nearly ten meters, and the overflowing lake water wet my feet. It was hard to tell if it had moved further away or closer.
Were the knights still alive?
Gnawing on my lips with anxiety, Hugh Benson’s resounding voice echoed from a distance.
“Prepare for battle! Attack formation 6! Disperse!”
“Yes!”
“Boulder! Binding! Michael! Aggro!”
“Yes!”
This meant I would draw the beast’s gaze and attacks, while they would disperse from the rear and shatter it. There was no turning back now. We had to kill it before it fully revealed its lower body.
I wondered where on earth the God of Records and Lakes was hiding. I vowed to grab him by the collar if I met him. Gritting my teeth, I charged forward.