Just a Little

Elza glided smoothly through the water.

Though underwater, magic was assisting her breathing and she felt no difficulty.

The surroundings were surprisingly calm. She could swim without trouble.

Still wearing her priest robe had been a slight mistake.

She could feel the water resistance.

The lifeline around her waist was a bit of a nuisance, but that couldn't be helped.

Still, such handicaps didn't slow her down.

Though she'd never had a chance to demonstrate it in front of Yohane and the others, her long experience had included learning to swim.

(Impressive.)

She marveled at Alexia's magic while swimming.

Even using the Water Elemental and Azu's magical power, casting a spell that affected this vast sea was remarkable.

The range seemed limited, though. Looking into the distance, she could see violent churning.

Getting caught in that would not end well.

Even if she survived, she'd be swept away to who knew where.

If she lingered too long, the other two would run out of magical power.

(Better hurry.)

She headed for the sea floor.

After swimming for a while, by the time she arrived, the ship that should have been above her looked quite small.

She looked around.

Nothing but rocky surfaces and white sand.

Closing her eyes, she concentrated on sensing magical power.

(That way.)

Magical power permeated the entire sea, making it hard to pinpoint, but she detected an especially strong source.

Fortunately, it was within Alexia's spell range.

When she reached her destination, she found a statue.

It was gripping and raising a trident.

She thought it might be a human statue, but it had a fish tail for legs and fins on its upper body.

It was large.

The trident alone was bigger than Elza.

This merman statue seemed to be the source of the storm.

(I don't recognize this. It's not something we were involved with.)

She had thought it might be an ancient magical tool of the Creator King faith, given the scale of the phenomenon it was causing, but that didn't seem to be the case.

If it had been one of the Apostles' armaments, it could have been useful.

If it had naturally emerged from a labyrinth, it must have been an exceptionally powerful monster.

She didn't know why it had become a statue, but breaking it should stop the storm.

(Here goes.)

She raised her mace.

Her breathing wasn't affected by being underwater, but her movements were.

Water resistance was far heavier than air, and the mace she swung with all her might moved slowly as it struck the statue.

With a heavy sound, cracks appeared in the statue.

Those cracks spread rapidly across the entire structure.

With a crumbling sound, small fragments fell to the sea floor.

But only the surface layer had broken off.

Where the fragments had fallen away, something like scales was visible.

(Oh, this might be bad.)

She immediately put distance between herself and the statue.

Then fragments fell from the eye area, and a glaring eye met her gaze.

She tried smiling, but the creature's eyes were bloodshot and looked ready to explode with rage.

Eventually, all the surface stone had fallen away from what had been a statue, revealing the merman's true form.

It immediately pointed its trident at her.

She sensed intense hostility.

(What to do? It's probably as strong as an Etoroki.)

Given its size and the density of magical power it radiated.

This was quite a powerful monster.

And being a merman, it could move freely through the sea, meaning it wasn't an opponent they could fight from the ship.

Alexia and Azu were busy maintaining their spell and couldn't fight, and Finn wouldn't be of any use in her current state.

(No choice. No one can see me down here, so I'll use a little of my real power.)

She preferred not to use her power.

The only way to recover it was through the passage of time, and that recovery was slow.

Every bit she used would delay that recovery further.

It was far from enough as a countermeasure against the Sun God.

But if she lost Azu here, the one who had inherited the Creator King's Apostle, all her plans would be for nothing.

(Maybe I got a little greedy.)

She'd thought there might be another Apostle sleeping here.

But things wouldn't work out so conveniently.

The fact that Justitia, the Creator King's Apostle, had been in the Wind Labyrinth was itself close to a miracle.

The merman thrust its trident at her heart with tremendous speed.

She felt a strong impact on contact, but she didn't move from the spot.

The trident hadn't pierced her chest; it had stopped at the surface.

The merman looked shocked. When it tried to pull the trident back, she grabbed the tip with her left hand.

She didn't want to waste power unnecessarily.

"I'm sorry."

The words disappeared as bubbles.

The creature didn't seem to hear, but this was for her own satisfaction anyway.

She released just a little of her power.

"Elza still isn't back? My magical power's about to run out."

"She hasn't surfaced yet. Should we pull the lifeline up?"

"Yeah. It would be terrible if she got caught up in it. Go ask Master…"

Some time had passed since Elza dove into the sea.

Alexia had been fully suppressing the rough waters, but she said she was nearing her limit.

If a resolution seemed unlikely, they should retrieve Elza and press on.

Just as he was thinking that, a massive column of water erupted nearby.

It was tall enough to block out the sun, and seawater immediately rained down like a downpour.

"Did something happen?!"

"A pillar of water suddenly shot up from over there…"

Orleans pointed.

All that was visible there was calm sea.

"Oh? The resistance is gone."

Alexia released her spell as she said this.

Yet the sea remained unchanged.

"Elza must have done something."

"Probably."

Azu said, looking somewhat tired, and then the lifeline behind her went taut.

Elza seemed to be pulling on it.

Looking at the surface, Elza was floating limply in the water.

She waved weakly.

After retrieving Elza and hearing her explanation, apparently there had been a strange stone that exploded when she broke it.

"Smashing it without checking was careless."

"You're right. I'll reflect on that."

She said this while wringing out her wet hair.

She didn't look particularly remorseful, but at least she was safe.

"That stone must have been causing the storm. Maybe it was a magical tool."

"Could be. It was fixed in place and I couldn't move it, so I gave up on retrieving it."

"That's fine. No need to take unnecessary risks."

He dried Elza's hair with a towel, and Elza leaned into it contentedly.

She must have been tired. Best to let her rest.