Chapter 46
Kain dashed through the fog.
"Kyaaaack!"
"Kyak!"
The sharp, metallic screech of the Mermen echoed from all directions.
It was so thick you couldn't see an inch ahead; if you could see a Merman's claw, it wouldn't be surprising if your eyes were gouged out at that very moment.
But as if even the minimum mana needed to clear his vision was too precious, Kain only temporarily enhanced his physical abilities and rapidly traversed the swamp.
"Kyak!"
Thwack!
A Merman's claw swung at Kain, narrowly missing and embedding itself in a nearby tree.
"Kyak...?"
By the time the Merman pulled out its claw, Kain was already passing between the next set of trees.
Kain perfectly navigated through the dense trees and the swamp's vines.
"Kyaooooooo!"
"Kyaooo!"
The Mermen, clearly annoyed by Kain who dared to dart around in the fog as if it were his own living room, began to roar.
'They're gathering.'
The nearby Mermen who heard the roars focused their attention on Kain.
That was his intention.
The more Mermen that converged on Kain, the fewer would head towards the wagon.
'At this rate, the main group should be able to hold out sufficiently.'
He could deal with the Mermen that came for him all at once.
That was much more efficient than taking them down individually.
'And it's easier to erase the traces too.'
Kain stopped momentarily at a suitable spot.
"Kyaaaaack!!"
"Kyaoo!"
As if they had been waiting, the claws of the Mermen that charged from all directions through the fog were about to pierce Kain.
"Frost."
An incantation flowed from Kain's lips.
And then.
The numerous roars that had been deafening just moments before ceased all at once.
Swish.
The arm of the Merman that had stopped right in front of Kain was already covered in pure white frost.
The Merman's face, barely visible.
Its pupils, fixed on Kain, trembled as if unable to comprehend the situation that had just unfolded.
And immediately after that.
Its pupils also stopped trembling.
In a span of less than a few seconds.
The horde of Mermen that had been lunging at Kain all turned into blocks of ice.
"Collapse."
And with Kain's single word, they crumbled with a loud crack.
The things that had been Mermen just moments ago didn't even retain their shapes, shattering into pieces that scattered on the ground.
Soon, the ice blocks would naturally melt and seep into the muddy soil, becoming part of the earth.
So that no one who came here would know whether the Mermen had turned into black ash or tiny ice fragments.
The surrounding visibility had become quite clear.
It was a phenomenon caused by the Frost magic.
'It's a spell that utilizes the moisture in the surroundings.'
The 4th Circle magic, Frost.
"Frost," meaning frozen vapor or ice crystals, seemed similar to "Ice" but had a clear difference.
In the case of Ice, it froze water that existed in a liquid state or created ice using the caster's own water mana.
Frost, however, could transform moisture of any form into ice.
In other words, it was capable of sublimation.
The thick fog that had blanketed the swamp due to the Fog Mermen was moisture existing in a gaseous state.
By gathering and utilizing this, Kain was able to restrain dozens of Mermen's movements simultaneously while consuming a minimal amount of his own mana.
Furthermore, through the contact surface with the frost that covered them, it rapidly cooled the large amount of moisture that living beings possessed within their bodies, turning them into complete ice blocks.
And then, he collapsed them.
It didn't require much force to collapse them.
Cracks that formed from within were easily widened with little effort.
'If only they knew how to utilize it properly, there's no magic as efficient and simple as this... The disciples always grumbled and didn't try to learn it properly.'
-Master, I told you, it's only possible for you. Even if the opponent stood still without resisting, it would take a few seconds to completely freeze them. How are we supposed to use it against something moving around and emitting mana?
-And we understood what you meant about water being present even in this clear air. But gathering and freezing it directly is too difficult for us. It's easier for us to just use our own mana to freeze things.
-Even now, four years after reaching the 5th Circle, I think it's better to learn Ice Cannon or Ice Fog. Frost has too much variation in its usability.
-Don't you hear the cries of the disciples who joined with dreams after only seeing you use ice magic, Master? Haa... I'm not really in a position to talk, being a victim of false hope myself...
'That's why I even compiled a separate five-volume theory on Frost magic for the disciples who struggled with it...'
It was truly a regrettable thing.
Kain resolved that after restoring the Siers clan's prestige in the future, he would have to research a way to teach this magic in a slightly easier manner.
'Now that I've directly created a fire-elemental circle and used fire magic, I feel like I can explain the concept of "sense" better than before.'
Ice magic is fundamentally used by weaving together water droplets so small they're practically invisible into a solid state, and then fixing and maintaining them with mana.
Therefore, rather than relying on a sense of feeling, proficiency was determined by the accuracy of the incantation during manifestation and how precisely and firmly one could fix the ice afterward.
'But fire magic tends to rely more heavily on a sense of feeling.'
Fire, just by existing, continuously consumes and burns surrounding materials, blazing erratically.
Perfectly perceiving, predicting, and controlling that erratic blaze is an area nearing impossibility with just formulas and calculations.
'That's why I disliked fire magic even more.'
The very fact that there was an element in magic that couldn't be completely formalized bothered him.
'But I was wrong.'
As the head of the clan, while teaching disciples and observing how his disciples taught their own students.
-Brother! I finally succeeded! It worked when I focused on holding it firmly from the center, just like you told me last time!
-When I only looked at the theory Master organized, I didn't understand it well, but thanks to you, brother, I finally got the feeling... H-huh, M-Master? No, of course, I'm not saying Master's theory is wrong, what I mean is...
Kain had no choice but to acknowledge the usefulness of explaining things with abstract words, senses, and feelings.
Just as humans can excellently perform the complex joint movements needed to pick up objects or walk without calculating them, relying on a sense of feel, Kain concluded that this sense might be an efficient and compressed medium of transmission in some ways.
'The problem was that I didn't know how to properly convey that sensory explanation.'
There was a limit to the disciples teaching each other using sensory explanations.
This was because the explainers themselves lacked a broad and perfect understanding of ice magic.
If Kain, the foremost authority on ice magic, had been able to properly provide sensory explanations based on his perfect understanding, his disciples in his past life might have achieved much faster progress.
'I ended up giving up on it in my past life, though...'
After reincarnating, as Kain directly used fire magic, he naturally began to utilize the sensory aspects that fire magic required.
And he increasingly felt that he could explain the "sense" in magic a bit better.
'See? I'm already feeling that I can explain the sense better. A good feeling.'
Anyway, with that thought, Kain stepped on the broken pieces of Mermen and ran towards his destination.
"...Is this it?"
The place Kain arrived at was a large swamp.
'This is probably the largest swamp in this entire swamp region.'
The main reason why they couldn't directly cross southeast from the swamp's entrance.
Kain reached out his hand towards the swamp that would have been a massive lake if it were clear water.
"Flame Spear."
The magic summoned in front of Kain's hand was launched towards the swamp.
"Kyaaaack...!"
A Merman that leaped out of the swamp was pierced by the flame spear.
"Amplify, Accelerate."
Screeeee!
Burning more intensely and propelled by increased force, the Flame Spear plunged straight into the swamp.
However,
Screeeeeee—.
Unlike when he had shot it into a small swamp puddle, this Flame Spear couldn't penetrate the swamp very deeply before dissipating.
"As expected."
The high concentration of mana dissolved in the swamp was interfering with the magic.
Kain lowered his outstretched hand and walked towards the swamp.
Splish, splash.
The sound of stepping on waterlogged mud echoed, and soon his ankles were completely submerged in the swamp.
Kain knelt down.
He spread his hands and quietly dipped them into the swamp.
And with his eyes closed, he focused his mind.
A moment later, a short incantation flowed from Kain's lips.
"Water."
A murky swamp where he couldn't see even a hand's breadth below the surface.
Within it, two clear streams of water silently began to extend downwards.
'It's definitely in here.'
No matter how wide and mana-rich the swamp was, Mermen couldn't actively breed to have over a hundred adult individuals.
Even if they did breed that much, it would be nearly impossible for them to maintain their activity while inhabiting it for a long time.
'Resources are limited.'
If this were a normal swamp, by now all the trees around it would have withered and the soil would have lost its vitality.
The fact that it wasn't like that meant there was a high possibility of some resource supply within this swamp.
The deeper the streams of water burrowed into the swamp and descended, the more that thought turned into conviction.
Kain focused his mind on the streams of water, following the areas where the mana concentration grew denser.
And at that moment.
-Kyaaaack!
-Kyak!
Through the vibrations transmitted through the water, Kain sensed the Mermen beginning to converge to sever the unfamiliar streams of water that had invaded their territory.
However,
'Get lost.'
Even an incantation wasn't necessary.
One of the thin streams of water that had been cutting through the swamp wrapped around the other stream, protecting it as if it were a very long vine.
And from its surface, dozens of branches sprouted instantly.
-Kyaak...!
Some branches became razor-thin ice spikes, piercing the Mermen's hearts.
-Kyak…….
Other branches touched the Mermen's bodies and immediately turned them into blocks of ice.
-Kweeeeeek…….
Even the large Merman leader, who had been asleep and was rising to see what was happening, couldn't escape that fate.
"Kyak!"
Some Mermen who had been searching for Kain from above lunged at the seemingly defenseless Kain.
Only to be pierced by ice that unexpectedly shot up from the swamp.
'Just a little more.'
The streams of water relentlessly extended towards the center of the swamp, its bottom.
And
'Just a little more...?'
Kain soon realized that he had already passed the place he had assumed was the bottom.
'That can't be... The only mana source large enough to be in a swamp would be...'
Black ore or obsidian pearls, which rarely formed naturally in swamps.
The mana concentration they emitted was mostly fixed.
'I've even harvested and researched them directly.'
That's why, when the stream of water had descended and detected mana above a certain concentration, he had thought it would reach it around that point.
However, even after passing that point, the concentration was still increasing.
'I did think it was strange that the bottom of such a large swamp was shallower than expected, but...'
As soon as he sensed the unease, Kain increased the speed of the water streams.
Passing by the still-immature Merman larvae and even the Merman eggs floating in the very depths of the swamp, the streams of water traveled much further before finally reaching the bottom of the swamp.
And when the streams of water finally reached the source of the dense mana.
"You've got to be kidding me."
An expletive escaped Kain's lips.
