By Zephyria 
※ This WNC contains content related to bloodshed, violence, and death.
[It seems there was a Barrier. One seems to have been released.]
[One what?]
[If it’s this direction… it would be south or west, since that’s the direction we entered from. If one is released, the rest should be soon too. Let’s hurry a bit more.]
Even if I looked back, there was only pitch-black darkness.
The water wasn’t murky. The underwater, free of even a speck of dust, was so clear that my hands and feet, and those of my companions, seemed to glow white beyond the air bubbles. If this lake had reflected a blue sky instead of a dark, distorted one, it would have been quite a spectacle.
Around that time, once more.
Thump.
Several of them were swept away by the surge of water caused by Mana. This time, it was from a different direction.
[You said Alpha Squad and Beta Squad were circling in different directions, right?]
[Yes. Still, seeing two Barriers released at such short intervals suggests that releasing the Magic Circles on the outskirts wasn’t that difficult. We should be close to finishing too.]
[I don’t see anything yet.]
[It’s a ten-meter by ten-meter pit, so it would be harder to miss than to pass by… But just in case we miss it, shall we go straight to the bottom?]
[Yes, that would be best.]
We descended deeper.
It felt incredibly surreal that such a large, vast body of water was devoid of a single fish. Nothing alive was visible.
The deeper we went, the more the water that filled every space pressed down on my chest. Both the air I inhaled and the air I exhaled felt heavy. Mage Boulder coughed for a moment, but after weakly waving his staff, his expression improved. With his help, the others also took a couple of deep breaths, in and out.
Pushing through the black water, we continued to descend, and soon, dark aquatic plants filled our vision. The currents we stirred up as we swam made the reeds that had stood straight sway.
We reached the bottom without a sound. The floor was perfectly flat, paved with smoothly cut white flagstones, leaving no gaps.
…Flagstones? Then the roots of those aquatic plants I see…
[Careful!]
The black things, swaying like aquatic plants, lunged at us.
They all resembled Mermaids, with empty sockets for eyes.
The Mermaids I had seen in Yulan were mostly blue. In the deep water, they wore fins of various shimmering colors. They had lidless eyes and large mouths, but they were expressive and their actions were resolute.
But the ones here were different.
They were like humans whose bodies had mutated, called Heterogeneous Races. The Mermaids here had black skin, and their faces, forearms, and everywhere else were covered in bulging, tumor-like growths. Their tail scales and fins remained in their original colors, making them look even more grotesque.
All the enemies were skilled swimmers and reached us in the blink of an eye.
WHOOSH!
Trying to swing my sword in the water, where it was hard to maintain balance, felt like swinging a heavy weight tied to the tip. I could handle them well enough, but the companions from Squad 1, who were with me, were all slower with their swords compared to above water. I was busy cutting, stabbing, and deflecting the enemies that darted everywhere.
[Damn it, if we keep fighting here, there’s no end to it. Watch out above!]
[Shall I clear a path?]
[In the water? How far have Alpha Gamma Squad gone?]
[Hmm.]
Hugh Benson was right. I couldn’t know the situation of the companions not in my sight, so I couldn’t just stir up the water as I pleased.
Even after defeating them, there was a problem. The corpses of the continuously killed Mermaids floated before my eyes, obstructing my vision. Even to my eyes, accustomed to corpses, they looked horrific. Andy Spooner, who had deliberately turned off his Communication Artifact, gagged several times.
What to do?
I pushed away and struck down the enemies that swarmed from above, below, left, and right with my sword.
[Do you have any magic you can use?]
[It’s hard enough to maintain the Shield right now, so… Ack! I’m going to die!]
[You won’t die. Each of them is only at the highest level of Sword Expert. The problem is their numbers and how they can use their limbs more freely than monsters, constantly holding us back. Ack! The head!]
[Shall I tie your hair up for you when I have a moment?]
[Let’s just cut it short then.]
[Won’t that make me look too weak? My dream is to be a wild woman.]
[What on earth are you talking about…]
Mac Weaber was right.
The mutated Mermaids were not difficult opponents individually. They were just disgusting to look at and cumbersome due to the limited movement in the water. It was also disheartening that their numbers increased as we went deeper into the reservoir. We didn’t have time to linger, not knowing what was happening outside.
Should I charge ahead like during the Troll incident, bringing the companions behind me?
However, while one can avoid a few charging rabid dogs, it’s not easy to clear away hundreds of swarming mayflies. Trolls were large enough to weave through their tangled forms and escape, but the enemies before me were almost the same size as humans, making it difficult to push through and run.
Magic… Magic, huh.
While swinging my sword with my right hand, I drew the only Magic Formula I could with my left. Ice Magic was a 1st Circle spell. It required little Mana and had only six connection points, making its shape and structure simple.
Like a doodle left in the corner of my notebook during a difficult class, a crooked magic formula drawn with my fingertips bloomed like a floral pattern and was pushed forward.
And the world began to freeze.
The forehead of a Mermaid touched by my magic formula froze. The second Mermaid, which was caught by the frozen monster’s body, also turned white and hardened. The flailing limbs of the creatures stopped. Their wriggling black bodies turned into shining white ice sculptures.
In front of me, all the way to the end.
Stunned, I turned to look at my companions without realizing it. They were all looking ahead with bewildered faces. It was unbelievable. Even though the Mermaids were packed so closely together, could they really be stopped so easily by something like this?
[…What is it?]
[What did you… No… What is it? Did Lord Ernhardt do this too? What is it? What did you do?]
[Huh? Uh… I just used Ice Magic. A very small amount…]
[Ah!]
He realized something. Mage Boulder jumped up and down, his eyes as round as marbles. Samantha, standing beside him, grabbed Boulder’s slender body, which looked like it might collapse at any moment, to prevent him from floating away.
Mage Boulder, like Asdel who was surprised, cupped his cheeks with both hands, looking ecstatic.
[When the water temperature slowly decreases, ice forms. But if the water freezes at a very rapid speed, a supercooling phenomenon occurs where it cannot freeze even at a suitable temperature. At this point, if physical shock or impact is applied, that kinetic energy triggers a sudden phase change.]
[Is this information necessary right now?]
[But it works similarly in the Mana system! The amount of Mana contained within this reservoir far exceeds the amount of Mana that ordinary water can hold! However, because the Mana level is maintained equally inside and outside the water, and the current water temperature is abnormally low, homeostasis was possible. But by applying a Mana impact of a lower temperature, as Lord Ernhardt just did, the internal fluids of the Monster Variants, which were completely filled with Mana inside and out, must have all frozen!]
[But until just now, our auras were also…]
[Temperature! Temperature was the key. We are all using Body Temperature Maintenance Artifacts, aren’t we? That’s like casting a Shield at the boundary between the skin’s surface and the clothing in contact with it. So, the temperature of our hands would be maintained, and basically, Aura is dynamic Mana energy, so it contains heat, which would work in the opposite direction rather than freezing. Would water in a supercooled state freeze if you exposed it to fire? Rather, the temperature should rise!]
[…Hmm.]
[Honestly, magic is usually a matter of luck, but Lord Ernhardt’s luck is a bit extreme. Like someone who received all the blessings from the gods alone! How did you think of using Ice Magic at this exact moment? It’s already freezing to death!]
Indeed.
What was I thinking when I did that? I wasn’t thinking anything, so I tried using magic.
But, a good thing is a good thing, so Mage Boulder took over the Ice Magic from then on. Leon, who had been watching, tried to step forward, but Samantha volunteered instead and pulled Boulder over.
[I’ll carry the Wizard.]
[Gasp, Lord Andrei.]
[It will be faster that way.]
Boulder, the Wizard, lacked the stamina to run in water that was significantly denser than air. The rest of us were fine even if we had 20kg sandbags attached to our limbs. Since there was a floor supporting our feet, it was much better than swimming.
Every time I kicked off the bottom and propelled myself forward, Undine, who was leading me, had a blooming smile on her face. I had worried that the spirits, being cute and small, might be scared by the sight of monsters dying, so I was relieved.
Now, even the chattering ones fell silent.
It felt like running through ink. Beyond the heavy water, the presence of my companions felt fainter than usual. I repeatedly pushed aside the water blocking the way at the very front, creating openings and pushing through. Not too fast, and not too slow.
The cold water froze even colder. The charging creatures became cold corpses stuck to the bottom. Occasionally, for those not satisfied, I cut them down. The constant sound of water parting brought on a baseless melancholy.
As I led the ones behind me, various thoughts became entangled with my wet hands and feet.
Mostly dark imaginings. What if I fail to do this properly, or if Ruben is severely injured while I’m away, what if being held in this deep water is also a ploy by the enemy, what if the enemy’s forces suddenly attack Sierren…
It was then.
Something glittered, far ahead.
Without hesitation, I hurried forward. Inside a column of transparent water, a familiar divine being stood, adorned with magnificent fins like a backlight. The fins, so colorful they made the large Barrier look small, swayed dreamily at its neck, elbows, waist, and tail tip.
The first to murmur the opponent’s identity was Hugh Benson.
[Oasis…]
[Wow, is this the third god? Since they’re the God of Water, they look a lot like the Mermaids from myths! Maybe these are the real Mermaids, not the fish-men you saw in Yulan before. They’re bigger than I expected, though…]
Mage Boulder’s voice rumbled, mixed with the sound of bubbling water.
Indeed, his words were true.
The facial features were as pale as I had seen before, but its height was as great as Makrir, the Sun God, whom I had seen in the Shatun Desert.
The upper body alone would have been well over 3 meters, and its fish-like lower body, covered in all sorts of iridescent scales, would have been 4 meters long given its gracefully curved shape. A total of 7 meters. It was similar to the other gods who had shown immense forms.
Just in case, I drew my sword and aimed, approaching slowly, but my intention was thwarted. A dense net of Mana strands pushed me back with strong tension. I stopped in place and surveyed my surroundings.