The water I jumped into wasn’t as cold as I had anticipated. The Golden Flame protected me. And the water temperature was much warmer to the skin.
Come to think of it, it was the eleventh day of the fourth month. Spring had arrived. Plus, now that we are heading south, the water wasn’t as cold. This would give me plenty of room to swim.
I kicked the water. My improved physical abilities allowed me to swim like a fish. It was a night with a faint moon, but my eyesight was clear enough to spot the ships on the water.
The enemy’s boat hadn’t moved yet. Once I am directly below it, I grabbed the gold coin from my pocket.
“Wake up—(gurgle, gurgle)!”
The gold coin burst into dazzling light, releasing the gods into the water.
“W–water!?”
—or at least, that’s what I think they tried to say.
Thor, burdened by Mjölnir, was the first to plummet straight down. Uru and Sigris flailed just as badly in the river’s depths. Solana was shouting something too, but all I heard was a froth of bubbles.
R-right… I hadn’t exactly told them we’d be fighting underwater, had I…?
“S-sorry…(gurgle, gurgle)!”
Not that my apology carried through clearly.
Beside me, while I swam, Loki pressed his fingers to his forehead as if massaging away a headache.
“Hey guys… you do realize, don’t you? We’re beings manifested by magic. We don’t have physical bodies. There’s no need to actually drown.”
“Ah—”
Almost simultaneously, the four gods stopped flailing. They exchanged glances, then patted themselves down as if confirming something.
Planting both feet firmly on the riverbed, Thor scratched his head with Mjölnir.
“…Huh. Now that you mention it, I don’t feel out of breath at all.”
“Of course not. We don’t need air—only mana. Honestly, you’d think it would’ve clicked that drowning is impossible when we can literally float if we want to. Still—”
Loki shrugged.
That was when Solana drifted closer to me, clearing her throat with a prim little cough.
“Ahem. Rion, a reminder—the Light of the Sun’s Awakening won’t manifest at night. With no sun in the sky, the spell has nothing to draw on.”
I nodded.
I understood—the gods couldn’t linger like they did in the temple.
“Good grief. Busy day, huh?”
Loki joked. Then, flicking his hand, he said,
“Mist”
A black fog rolled out and swallowed the two boats, muffling the sound and hiding its shape. It was the same kind of concealment magic we’d used against the golems. With the vessels cloaked like that, even if the gods unleashed their power there’d be no one nearby who can see—not even the villagers, nor the passing adventurers.
“What the—”
“There’s light down below!?”
“Never mind that —look at the fog!”
While the bandits are confused, I launched myself up through the water in one motion.
“Let’s go, everyone!”
I waded through the water with a splash and landed on the edge of the boat. The gods followed close behind me. The raiders stared in stunned silence for a beat, then their expressions hardened.
There were two boats, each about 15 meters long, with more than 10 people on board each.
“Die!” one of them shouted.
He swung his oar at me. I hopped aside easily and countered with a kick to his face. He hit the deck and slumped unconscious. The fellow’s level was almost certainly below twenty.
“…Do you surrender?”
I asked.
“As if!”
A throwing knife whistled towards me. I sprang to the mast on instinct. Spears and blades stabbed upward from below, but on such a cramped deck they could barely swing their weapons. Using their heads as stepping stones, I darted toward the prow.
“Alright…!”
I spun on my heel, slashing with my short sword.
“Wake up!”
The engraved words “Jinrad” glowed blue. Sylph, the wind spirit, leaped out, blowing all five of them away. The bandits were launched high into the air, and after a few beats of staying mid-air, they fell and turned into pillars of water.
“…Is it just me, or is that spell getting stronger?”
A nervous grin tugged at my lips. Safi’s rune magic was incredible on its own, but the spirits themselves… it felt like they were pushing themselves harder than ever before. A violet glow shimmered faintly in my chest—the same light I’d seen in Loki.
“What the hell’s with this kid!?”
A sword lunged for me. I struck it aside, and the golden fire blazing along my dagger roared in response.
Snap!
The blade split clean in two and tumbled into the river. Not a nick marked my weapon.
Yes… that had to be Safi the smith’s handiwork.
“W-what…?”
The scar-faced man stared at his trembling, numbed hand. Around him, the others faltered, fear flickering in their eyes.
I drew in a deep breath and shouted,
“Will you surrender!?”
“I told you already—we ain’t surrendering! Damn it!”
A huge man, head and shoulders taller than the rest, shoved through the bandits to the front.
“This haul’s worth a fortune! Take a good look around—do you think we’re backing off now!?”
He looked like someone who knew how to handle himself in a fight.
His bald head gleamed under the torchlight. His worn leather armor creaked with each of his steps and his half-lidded eyes carried a cruel, oppressive weight. Across his back bristled weapons—spears, swords, axes, all rattling with menace.
His level….
“I’m Zamza the Grimface. Level twenty-nine. Time to die, brat!”
He shouted. His hand reached over his shoulder.
Would it be an axe? A sword?
“Hehe!”
What he drew was a slender blade.
“A rapier!?”
His choice confused me. Hulk frame, brutish face—and yet he went for finesse over brute force. The surprise cost me a heartbeat.
Zamza lunged, the rapier’s tip flashing. The edge grazed my cheek.
“Not a fan of fighting in a boat, are you? Nowhere to move but forward or back!”
Thrust after thrust rained down on me. They were all sharp and relentless. I swayed left, then right, dodging each of them by hairsbreadths, but the narrow deck ultimately hemmed me in. The prow loomed close at my back.
“You’re good, kid.”
Zamza spat while pressing forward.
“Dodging all this, you’ve got some skill!”
I fixed my eyes on his blade, reading every twitch, every line of his attack. The next thrust came fast and lethal—
Clang!
I caught it with the guard of my short sword and flicked it aside. Zamza staggered back a step, sweat breaking across his brow.
“Y-you….Are you seriously just a kid!?”
On the other ship, chaos erupted. Bandits clung to the rails, shrieking in disbelief.
“What the hell—!”
“Impossible! What is that!?”
The entire vessel was rising, heaving up out of the river. And beneath it—stood Thor, the God of Thunder, hefting a ship more than ten meters long on his shoulder like it was driftwood.
“Hahaha!”
He flipped it as if overturning a cooking pot, slamming the boat upside-down into the water. A column of spray burst skyward and crashed back down in a drenching downpour.
“F-fuh-Thor!”
“Come on, Rion, once in a while it’s fine, isn’t it?”
T-too reckless…!
Bandits flailed in the water, only to be snatched up one after another by the gods. The rapier-wielding Zamza faltered, torn between me and the overturned boat. His composure cracked.
“Rion.”
A whisper, soft and close came. It was Uru’s voice. A warm brown glow welled in my chest.
“It’s about time I lent you something more. A hunter’s power isn’t just about sensing prey. Without the skill to stalk while being unseen, the hunt will be incomplete.”
When I moved, the sound of my steps vanished. My breath, even the whisper of the cloth against my skin was gone! Like— my presence was erased.
Zamza’s eyes flicked back to the wreck of the ship. To him, in that single instant, it must have seemed as though I’d disappeared entirely.
“W-where are you!?”
I slid in closer.
The wooden deck creaked underfoot.
“.…Behind!?”
With my presence undetected, I emerged behind him. And with all my weight, I slammed down the Hammer of the Thunder God.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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