Undine reached Almada around the time Loyd left.
The city of Almada was separated into different areas by large walls. There was the residential area, the industrial area, the commercial area, and the academic area. This structure was also reflected in the current capital, Escarole.
This city was a ghost town, but it was bustling with activity two hundred years ago.
Undine was headed to the area where there was once the Almada Academy, whose facilities were turned to rubble by Levithesis’ rampage.
In the present, this was used as a base to study Levithesis.
It seemed the people there were aware that she would be going there, because the person responsible for the research establishment greeted Undine directly.
It was a male Kaleid mermaid older than sixty, who conducted research on Levithesis as a mage.
“It has been a while Queen Undine. We received a letter explaining the reasons for your visit.”
“Yes, I was told the seal is almost breaking. Is this true?”
“I’m afraid so. It will be lifted soon.”
Undine crossed her arms, and they continued exchanging information. As for dealing with Levithesis, Undine would rather not take it down, so prospects for doing so were not favorable.
But she was well aware of the danger it posed, so that would still be viable as a last resort.
“But can we really trust this Loyd you spoke of? Rumors say he is an unremarkable mage with a material picking rate of forty percent.”
“We cannot be too picky right now. We will see how good he really is when he gets here.”
“I see, you are correct.”
He agreed with Undine.
A young mage showed up where Undine was deciding the plan going forward. He was also a mermaid, and the kind of cute boy she liked. He then provided her with updated information.
“I have news. Vermeer was successful in enlisting Mister Loyd’s help. They will be here in thirty minutes.”
The mage boy presented a piece of paper to Undine, who read it and nodded.
“This is good news. It seems we can repair the barrier before the seal is undone.”
Undine said with a smile, but not ten seconds after that, the facility shook greatly.
“Is this an earthquake?”
Asked the mage boy.
“No, I don’t think so. I feel the reaction of strong magic energy from outside.”
She answered while keeping her composure, and as time passed, panic spread inside the facility.
Many young researchers gathered where she was to tell her about the anomaly that just happened.
“Section chief, there is an anomaly in the pyramid.”
“What?”
The person in charge hurried to the second floor, with Undine and the others right behind him.
There was a viewing platform where they could see the whole city, and one building stood out from the rest.
Several kilometers away from the academy stood a giant golden pyramid. It was about a hundred meters tall and three hundred meters wide, and on its four sides were the wedges of the sealing equipment, which released streaks of light that stretched to the top of the pyramid.
The barrier was not transparent, so there was no way to check what was going on inside it.
The demon king Albatross made this barrier, sealing Levithesis in the pyramid. Spatial magic was employed there, meaning the space inside the barrier was different from the space outside.
It was impossible to escape from the inside at the time, but the barrier deteriorated as the years passed, and became less and less reliable.
The black smoke exiting from the top of the pyramid was proof of this. Magic energy was leaking, meaning the barrier was at its limit, and not at a point where it could be repaired.
Undine immediately gathered all the soldiers on location, so they could head to the pyramid as soon as they were ready.
They reached their destination an hour after the first earthquake, and the magic energy leaking from the top of the pyramid was cloudy.
Levithesis was sealed halfway between the academic area and the residential area, where was also the pyramid.
In the two hundred years that followed the sealing, that land was made flat and all obstacles were removed.
Undine checked the pyramid again, and saw several white cracks in the golden outer wall.
Then, a second earthquake happened, creating more cracks.
This earthquake was critical to the pyramid. Vertical cracks were visibly encroaching on the whole pyramid.
And eventually, there was a noise as the balance of the pyramid collapsed.
There was a giant water dragon in the center of the pyramid. It was a hundred meters tall, far bigger than a regular water dragon.
Its body was long like a snake’s, and it had sharp horns on its back, along with purple scales that covered its whole body.
The two horns on either side of its head looked like sheep horns.
Levithesis was awake, and slowly got up upon seeing Undine and the others.
It spread its two large wings, making it look even bigger.
Undine hoped that being awakened from its seal had restored its mental state, and she stood in front of the soldiers to ask a question with a gentle tone.
“Levithesis, do you remember me?”
If it did, it should mellow out quickly, but reality was not so nice.
“Gyaaaaaaah!”
Levithesis used its tail like a whip to attack her.
The soldiers quickly protected her, meaning Undine was unharmed, but the soldiers that used themselves as shields were put out of commission.
Levithesis was as violent as it was two hundred years in the past. She wanted to reconcile, but that seemed unlikely.
Undine took a deep breath, and switched her way of thinking. The normal gentleness in her eyes was gone.
“To all troops! Levithesis is still violent! We will take it down for the safety of the Kingdom of Atlanta!”
““““Ooooooooooh!””””
Undine gave the order, and all the soldiers were roused.
The second battle against Levithesis was beginning.
Unlike other water dragons, Levithesis had something called manatite reflector. This meant its body was covered in magic reflecting scales.
Since Undine was a water spirit, all of her attacks carried a magic element, making her a bad match for something that reflected magic.
Levithesis was basically its worst enemy, but Undine came to know it very well through their previous battle, and knew a spell Levithesis could not reflect.
Binding magic. It was not an offensive spell, so the reflective effect would not activate.
Undine manipulated water right away, and created ten chains.
They all wrapped around Levithesis’ fingers, and Undine could control every chain separately, including their length.
“Water Chain!”
She bound Levithesis with those chains, immobilizing it quickly.
“Ooh! Queen Undine is so strong!”
“So cool!”
“She really is number one!”
The soldiers raised their voices with joy, but Levithesis cast Water Protection, and blew away all the chains.
“Wha!?”
Undine was deeply shaken. Water Chain was one of her few cards to play, and if they did not work, that would leave her with an empty hand.
“Tch…! How about this then!? Ice Prison!”
She used ice magic to create a prison around Levithesis, but it released magic energy, and the prison crumbled with a loud sound.
(T-this isn’t good. It’s clearly stronger than it was two hundred years ago…! But how…? It should have stopped growing while it was sealed…)
She saw no answers to her questions. One thing she knew, was that it was considerably stronger than she remembered.
Even its owner, Undine, was not going to be able to contain it at this point.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Queen Undine is in trouble! Everyone protect her!”
““““Uooooooooooh!””””
First, the swordsmen attacked. They already knew magic was not going to work, so they focused on attacking it up close.
They split into two groups, left and right, and cut at Levithesis. But Water Protection made its scales harder than they thought, and not only did they not cause damage, but the ones attacking were flung back.
“W-what is this unnatural toughness!?”
“It’s like I’m hitting a giant rocky mountain.”
“This isn’t like what I heard. Aren’t physical attacks supposed to work!?”
The swordsmen all reacted to Levithesis’ toughness, all sharing that surprise and being terribly shaken.
But Levithesis was not going to sit still and be attacked either, so it used its giant tail to fling away the attackers, and released a beam of light from its mouth.
“””Gyaaah.”””
With every attack, screams could be heard as the soldiers went down one after the other.”
“C-captain! The enemy is too strong! We can’t beat a monster like this!”
“Don’t panic! We need to inflict fatal damage! If swords don’t work, we’ll keep attacking until they do!”
Yelled the captain of the vanguard, going all in on the idea that if there was a will, there was a way.
“If it’s this strong, we can’t hold back. Alpha, Beta, Gamma! Prepare the final attack!”
“““Yes!”””
The three strongest swordsmen responded to the captain.
All four took position, and swam fast above to create the shape of a corkscrew as they attacked Levithesis.
“Last Strike!”
They unleashed a combo attack that required a few skilled swordsmen.
It was very powerful, but once used, would leave them unable to continue to fight.
But they were fighting an opponent that could easily block even Undine’s powerful Water Gungnir, and it also blocked their special move without much trouble.
Clink!
““““Guwaaaah!””””
The swordsmen’s screams echoed, and the others were even more shaken after witnessing this.
“Awawawa, even the best swordsmen lost… This is hopeless… It’s over…”
Yelled the boy mage that reported to Undine earlier. He was also there as one of the troops, but this was not even a fight anymore.
The sheer power dropped morale so much, that the soldiers fled. But as they ran in a panic, Levithesis unleashed a hyper compressed Water Force.
Undine erected a water barrier, but the jet easily penetrated it and blew away both herself and the soldiers.
“““““Guwaaaah!”””””
That attack wiped out most of the soldiers.
Undine’s barrier softened the attack, so they somehow all survived, but barely.
Undine staggered to her feet, with wounds all over as well. It was hard for her to even stand.
“Ahh… Ahh…”
Levithesis opened its mouth wide, and magic energy concentrated there, before it fired an even thicker beam.
(Kuh… So this is it…)
Undine closed her eyes tightly, but the attack never came.
She fearfully opened her eyes, and saw someone she did not expect.
“Loyd?”
Loyd had somehow blocked the beam completely with a golden barrier.
“That was close, Queen Undine. I just barely made it in time.”
He said with a gentle smile as he turned to her.
“Mister Loyd! A-are you okay!?”
Vermeer’s voice echoed from above, leading Undine to also notice her presence.
The king turtle was swimming around with Vermeer, Mars, and Lela on its back.
“I-it’s huge. Mars, Levithesis is even bigger than I thought. Is Loyd going to fight that!?”
“S-stop shaking me upu.”
Lela was very surprised by the size of Levithesis, and Mars was a little sick from riding the king turtle.
Loyd looked at them with a bit of an awkward smile.
“Queen Undine, I don’t know if I can win, but I will do my best.”
Once Loyd said that, Levithesis’ beam stopped, and Loyd chanted another spell.
“L-Loyd wait! Magic won’t work!”
Yelled Undine, but Levithesis’ attack drowned it out.
It fired another beam, and Loyd finished the chant to intercept it, firing magic against Levithesis.
“Water Daedalus!”
A giant water dragon emerged from his staff, which collided with the beam and created a big explosion.
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