Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

As I tried to take a step forward as if possessed, Dersia stopped me.

“Jern, from there on, it’s a ‘different’ place.”

“…Sorry?”

I looked down at the plain where I had just tried to step.

There was no difference from before. No line to distinguish anything, no different atmosphere.

Of course, there was no way Dersia would say something meaningless, so I cautiously stepped back.

However, Dersia casually stepped inside and looked back at me.

“Aren’t you coming?”

“…You just said that stepping in might kill me.”

“That’s possible. But that doesn’t mean you can avoid going in. I was simply telling you the truth.”

She was right. I shrugged and followed.

“So what’s different?”

“The world is different.”

“…The world?”

“Yes. Although I can’t say for sure.”

At her words, unease surged inside me.

I didn’t expect there to be something even Dersia didn’t understand.

“I’ll unfold my current sense a little too.”

“There’s no need.”

Dersia pulled a long, thin stick from her robe’s pocket.

At first, I mistook it for a magic wand. But the end, though unclear, had a nib, and the shaft was scratched and stained, clearly a fountain pen.

Still, unless one looked closely, they wouldn’t be able to tell. The nib was clogged with ink residue, making the pointed tip hard to find, and overflowing ink kept staining her pale white hand as it dripped to the ground.

In an instant, Dersia’s hand became a mess. Of course, she paid it no mind and walked forward, letting the ink drip.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

The city gate stood wide open.

However.

“…Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue as I looked at the moat that had turned red.

Horses, arms, legs, all gruesomely severed.

Not a single part was intact. The dismembered remains floated, calling flies with their stench of blood.

They were all gathered along the edges of the moat. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

…They died while trying to escape.

Dersia gently raised her left hand to cover my eyes.

“You don’t need to worry. I won’t be shaken by something like this.”

“Yes, if it is you, Jern, you would be fine. That is what worries me.”

“…?”

“Isn’t it wrong to be okay after seeing something like this? You must’ve forgotten, but my disciple is ten years old.”

“…You’re right.”

I’m not exactly a saint.

But seeing this and feeling no anger was difficult. Especially since they were similar to me.

To live, they killed others. I can’t approve of it, but I can’t deny it either.

In the end, the most important thing is your own life. If the life of a complete stranger is placed on the other side of the scale, even those who pretend to be virtuous on the outside might not know what choice they would make after deliberation.

Still, was this really the result placed on the scales?

Did they really have to include the bodies of children in this moat?

I took hold of Dersia’s left hand and lowered it, taking in the scene with my own eyes to search for answers.

“Then I’ll make sure to remember it.”

“You might fall even deeper.”

“That’s an amusing joke.”

I brushed it off with a laugh. I was probably someone already deeper in the bottom than anyone else in this world.

As soon as we entered the city, the same scene unfolded again, along with small screams. Dersia immediately scanned the surroundings, furrowed her brows, and turned toward a very tall spire.

“I’ve found them. Your disciple is in that tower.”

“…Wait, how did you know?”

I was slightly surprised. Of course, I knew Dersia was amazing, but I didn’t expect her to know the moment we entered.

However, Dersia didn’t look pleased.

“The mana I released is being repelled.”

“Ah, so that’s how you found them. Can you also tell if she is unharmed?”

“She is… likely not unharmed.”

Dersia let out a sigh and spoke words like a bolt from the blue.

“My mana is being rejected. It would be more accurate to say it’s fortunate that she hasn’t fallen yet, but even that seems like only a matter of time.”

“…Let’s go for now.”

“Yes.”

As long as she is alive, something can be done. I’m alive too, after all.

Just as I hardened my resolve and was about to run toward the spire, someone suddenly came running and shouted.

“Ah, no! It’s dangerous over there!”

When I turned around, it was a knight clad in blood-soaked armor. The insignia carved into the armor was that of the White Swan Knights.

A fairly well-known knight order.

Still, both Dersia and I raised our hands immediately.

“Kegh-?!”

The moment I pushed the knight back with the current, a red line was drawn across his throat.

His head flew off and fell into the nearby lake. His staggering body collapsed to its knees, then fell forward to the ground, blood pouring out.

Dersia asked in surprise.

“How did you know?”

“I didn’t think a knight, in this situation, would approach suspicious individuals like us just to give advice. What about you, Master?”

“Remember this. A knight approaching a wizard with their sword drawn is an extreme act of disrespect. A knight trained in Body Reinforcement Art can kill a wizard instantly if they step into their range. At the very least, they must fix their sword and remove their hand from it to prove they have no hostility.”

“-Ah, right. That was a thing too.”

That last line wasn’t spoken by me.

The knight’s body twitched, then grotesquely swelled.

Its skin turned bluish, and though arms and legs were barely distinguishable, its face was nothing but a mass of flesh, a grotesque lump with no human features.

It was the most bizarre form I had ever seen in my life. In fact, I wasn’t even sure if this should be called a living creature.

On the belly of the flesh lump, a hole formed, one that had to be called a mouth. There were no lips, no teeth, no tongue, but a voice came out from there.

“How’d you kill me? That knight just now, his Body Reinforcement Art was top-tier. Not the kind of guy who dies from half-assed magic.”

The lump raised what could be considered its hand and grinned slyly. Or rather, it spoke as if smiling.

Goosebumps ran across my skin. Dersia, as if it were nothing, stroked her chin and then nodded.

“You.”

“Call me ‘Lump’. That’s what everyone around here does. Khaha!”

“You’re already living in hell.”

“…What?”

The lump asked again, puzzled.

Dersia, unusually, looked over the lump with a gaze full of pity and replied.

“You’re the second most horrifying burden I’ve seen in my life. Especially the fact that, even though death would be a relief, you can’t die by your own will.”

“Heh, lady. That’s kind of rude for a first meeting, don’t you think? What do you even know about me?”

The lump laughed while clutching its belly, but Dersia didn’t stop and simply sighed.

“‘Lump’- you seem to take that name quite cheerfully. Let me ask you one question.”

“Hm? What kind? Why we attacked this place?”

“No. Who are you really?”

“-”

The lump’s smile vanished. Or at least, it appeared that way.

“Shall I ask more specifically? Who were you initially? Since you’ve forgotten everything, it is no different from being dead. Then, you who now call yourself ‘Lump’, who are you? Where did you come from? Into whom did you transform… though I suppose you’ve forgotten even that.”

At Dersia’s words, the lump stood frozen in silence for a moment.

“…Hah, uhahaha! Now this is something!”

Then it began to shake its massive body with laughter.

“Seriously, this gave me chills. Who are you?”

“You’ll find out soon.”

“Yeah, I’d like that. But let me correct one thing, okay? I’m satisfied with my current state. At first, sure, forgetting myself like you said felt pretty awful. But when I think about it now… that guy’s not me anymore, right?”

The lump began to compress.

Soon, he turned into a naked man. It was the body of a warrior, covered in massive muscles and scars.

His voice also changed, low and weighty, but what he said remained just as frivolous and shallow.

“When you think about it, wasn’t it that guy who carried all the burden? I just got the power! That fool died, and thanks to that, I was born!”

“One day, you’ll realize that the one you now despise as a fool was your true self, and that the consciousness you possess now is nothing more than a parasite. I’m curious what choice you’ll make on that day.”

“I can’t deny that! So until that day comes, shouldn’t I thrash around as much as I can?”

-Bang!

The massive figure vanished. And the sun went out.

Or at least, it looked that way. The man’s shadow, which had flown up into the sky in an instant, blocked out the sun.

“Master-!”

Too late. Even while thinking that, I tried to crush him with water pressure, but Dersia calmly looked at me with a calm face.

“Jern.”

Within the slowed-down flow of time, she gave a faint smile.

“Do you think the sky reached with wings and the sky reached by stacking buildings are the same?”

Along with words that did not fit the situation at all-

Rain fell.

“…?”

Patter, hot and red rain poured down, and only then did I barely begin to understand what had happened.

He was shredded. Saying that doesn’t do it justice.

There was literally nothing solid left. Not a single scrap of flesh or a shard of bone. Only pure blood flowed.

As a result, the lump was disassembled in midair.

Dersia, untouched by even a drop of blood, walked with graceful steps and began a lecture, as if it were the right time.

“The Abyss realm and the Celestial Realm are indeed part of the same domain. If they could use the entirety of their world’s power, then someone like me, who has yet to reach the Celestial Realm, would have no way to resist.”

Splatter, a hand reached out from the pool of blood as Dersia took a step forward.

It was a thinner man this time. But before he could do anything, red lines slashed across his body.

“…?”

As the lump looked at the lines drawn across his body, he exploded.

Pop. The sound was too small and feeble for the explosion of a human. The puddle simply grew slightly larger.

“However, can someone who is rejected by the world truly borrow its power? That is impossible. They merely wield the power they gained as residents. It’s just that their power is stronger in this world. Imagine a tiger dropped into a desert.”

Dozens of hands shot out from the puddle simultaneously.

This time, even gaining a human form was not allowed. The moment they emerged, red lines cut across them, and they burst.

“In the end, they are not created, but exiled. How can they rampage without understanding their place?”

“No, wait a bit-”

A face rose from the puddle. It exploded.

“They are not the same.”

Dersia looked down at the puddle with cold eyes.

Nothing emerged again.

“A position obtained through trickery cannot even reach the tip of my foot.”

“…Ah, I see.”

Dozens of meters away, on a rooftop, the lump reformed.

Apparently, a drop of blood had splashed that far. But it didn’t matter much.

The lump, looking at the red lines still wrapped around his body, now spoke with a deeply furrowed brow, unlike before.

“The Red Line of Death… Dersia, Dersia Aspandil. Ah~ no wonder you hit my Inner World in one shot.”

“The fact that Crimson Circle knows my name is an honor.”

“…That’s my line. How the hell did you figure it out and get here in just two hours? It’s absurd.”

Hearing Dersia’s utterly indifferent tone, the lump sighed.

“There is no chance of winning like this. What am I supposed to do?”

It was true.

The opponent was plenty monstrous. Shifting into countless knights, killing and being killed, yet never dying. Even when his body was dissolved into blood, he resurrected, no telling what kind of world he came from. He was probably an executive of the Crimson Circle.

But Dersia was simply the greater monster.

I knew she was strong, but I didn’t expect her to be this overwhelming in battle. She didn’t even use basic techniques, let alone anything more advanced.

That alone decided the fight.

The lump raised his hand with a face that had given up on everything.

“Alright, I’ll back out.”

“You think I’ll let you go just like that?”

Drip, drip… The ink falling from Dersia’s pen began to speed up, coloring the area around her.

The lump shrugged and replied.

“I was not talking to you.”

“ㅡ!”

In that instant, a deeply unsettling sensation washed over my entire body.

I turned pale and shouted.

“Master!”

“Jern?”

“You must kill him immediately!”

Boom-! Dersia didn’t answer. She acted.

The lines coiled around the lump like living creatures, tightening and bursting him apart.

Dersia asked with a calm expression.

“Was that enough?”

“…No.”

I clenched my teeth tightly.

It was something I’d never seen before. The Deep Sea’s waters freezing.

Crack…

I stepped back, avoiding contact with the ice. Of course, it was a first for me. My affinity with it is disastrously bad. If the Deep Sea freezes, I die.

But contrary to what I expected, the lump’s blood began to boil. Unlike the previous times he resurrected without warning, something was different.

Before long, a man in proper clothes slowly began to climb up, starting from his head.

No red lines marked his body.

“…”

Except for the mask on his face, he looked like a normal man.

Without even glancing at me, he looked straight at Dersia and muttered.

“Dersia, is it. That lump brought quite a troublesome opponent.”

“Jern.”

Dersia still spoke in a calm tone.

“Go do what you need to.”

“Will you be alright?”

“There shouldn’t be any major issues. However-”

She furrowed her brow slightly.

“He doesn’t seem like the kind of opponent I can fight while protecting you at the same time.”

“Yes.”

If I’m a hindrance, then I need to withdraw quickly.

The man sat on the edge of the rooftop and muttered in a drained tone.

“This world is a polar wasteland of extreme ice. Don’t you agree?”

“I’ve read about that. The process of declaring one’s Inner World, or something like that…”

Dersia shook her head, giving a response that was more of a sneer than anything else.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t force your delusions on me.”

“You don’t understand. What a shame.”

That was the last thing I heard from their conversation as I hurried to close the door to the spire and went inside.

Only then did the frozen ice shards disappear.

“Haa…”

I took several deep breaths before standing up.

As long as those two monsters are outside, the spire should be safe.

I have to find Elysia and escape, fast.

“Keuk, kuh…”

“…?”

Hmm.

Within the spire, filled only with blood, fire, and silence, corpses with black eyes were walking around.

They were definitely corpses. Their entrails were hanging out.

“…”

Rather than try to understand the situation, I made a quick judgment and stepped as carefully as possible so as not to provoke them.

As slowly as possible.

-Clang!

“No.”

It wasn’t me.

I looked resentfully at the chandelier, which had been burning and then finally gave out at the exact moment I entered.

But it was already too late.

“Keuh, kuh…”

“Ki… kill.”

“Sla, slash.”

It seemed the corpses had been given simple and clear commands.