Chapter 150 – Assassination?
"Eh?! That Queen didn't accept my proposal, but instead she plans to help us eliminate that sea monster?"
Standing on the ship's deck, Xu Fu looked utterly shocked, and due to the surprise, she lost her balance and fell straight down with a thud.
"This is what you call good news? Oh my God, what the hell did you do!!!"
Sitting on the ground, Xu Fu cried out in frustration.
"???"
What the hell, I helped you come up with a way to kill that Hydra, so doesn't that mean you'll be able to leave this sea area?
What's there to be unhappy about?
"You dared to use the goods I was going to exchange for the Immortality Elixir to do something like this—give them back! My goods!!"
Xu Fu shouted with a face full of grievance toward Ethan.
"Let's be reasonable here, do you really think you could exchange soy and porcelain for the Immortality Elixir?"
"I don't care! Not only did you ruin the goods I brought, now you've caused me a huge mess…"
Xu Fu buried her head in her arms again, and there seemed to be a shimmer of tears in her eyes.
"I just wanted to live peacefully in this place, was that wrong? Why does it always have to be about finding the Immortality Elixir, something that clearly doesn't even exist?!"
"Ah, why does everything have to go wrong like this? Seriously, I don't want to try anymore."
Xu Fu had completely entered a state of giving up on everything.
Ethan let out a long sigh.
There's no helping it, this person is completely useless now...
But he really needed this ship to get out of this sea area.
"I see. Looks like you don't intend to confront that giant serpent under the sea, huh."
"Of course not! That kind of ferocious creature in the sea is completely unstoppable, and it's already eaten so many of my subordinates—there's absolutely no way to deal with it! Even if that Queen from who-knows-where lends a hand, it won't make much difference!"
Xu Fu said with a face full of despair.
"If you're not planning to return that batch of goods to me, then just get out of here—this place doesn't welcome you!!!"
Seeing Xu Fu about to drive him away, Ethan sighed again, turned around, and made as if he were about to leave.
"Meh, fine. It's just that in that case, your supply lines might get cut off."
"Eh?!"
Xu Fu rushed forward and asked.
"What did you say?!"
"Do you really think that after rejecting the Queen's goodwill, you can just continue exchanging food like nothing happened?"
"Even so… there's still enough food on the ship for one, two, three… more than three months! Wait, only three months?!"
Xu Fu seemed to gradually realize the seriousness of the issue.
If they couldn't exchange food, and couldn't leave this sea area either, once this food ran out, with a ship this size and the number of people on board...
Xu Fu's face began to show anxiety.
"You already said this place doesn't welcome me, so I won't stay either. Farewell!"
Ethan turned and started to leave.
"Wait… please wait!!!"
Xu Fu immediately stood up and grabbed onto Ethan's sleeve tightly.
"...I didn't exactly say I disagreed, either."
"Oh? You've changed your mind???"
"Even if I didn't agree, there's no other way now, damn it, why do I have to go looking for that damned Immortality Elixir anyway..."
Xu Fu looked very reluctant, but she still forced a smile to face Ethan.
"That… from now on, you'll be the special envoy of my ship. Regarding the communication with that Queen, please… say something nice on my behalf..."
Xu Fu struggled to squeeze out a smile, but that smile on her face looked worse than crying.
"Don't be like that, it's scary..."
Ethan took a step back, increasing his distance from her.
"Anyway, I'll just take it that you've agreed. The next part of the plan will be communicated to you privately."
"Got it, then take care, dear envoy."
...
After leaving the ship, Ethan walked straight along the beach, heading toward the village.
It was already twilight, the evening sunlight from afar casting the final rays of the day, the wine-red hue hovering on the surface of the sea, seabirds flapping their wings as they flew toward the setting sun, and the gentle breeze characteristic of the coast lightly blew through.
Looking at that scene, Ethan felt the exhaustion from the entire day immediately ease quite a bit.
It was just that he didn't know where Mash and the others were right now—he still hadn't been able to connect with Chaldea today.
But as long as he could get past this sea area, the situation would surely take a turn for the better, right?
Since the scenery here was also quite nice, then opening a livestream for a bit would be fine too.
Just as Ethan was about to start a livestream, preparing to say a few opening lines to continue earning some points, he suddenly felt something sweep past his back at an extremely fast speed.
"——————?!"
Ethan immediately turned his head and discovered that near the distant forest, there was a figure walking into a small path inside.
This late already, just who was still wandering around out here?
Could it be someone from the village, or from the ship?!
As soon as he thought that, Ethan immediately walked quickly toward the area, intending to call that person back.
"Hey, it's late already, this area is really dangerous!!!"
However, when Ethan chased after that figure and stepped into the forest, there was no one in sight.
Ethan instantly became alert, his eyes scanning the surroundings — there was nothing unusual.
But he couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching him from within the bushes.
It was exactly that sensation of clearly seeing nothing, but his instincts kept telling him that something was definitely there.
"——————————?!"
Ethan immediately realized something was wrong, and turned to go back the way he came.
The small path that had faintly appeared under the twilight just moments ago had completely vanished without a trace — not even footprints remained.
Shit!
Ethan's heart skipped a beat, but he quickly forced himself to stay calm.
This was absolutely not the time to panic. First, he needed to find a way out.
Who would've thought that so close to the village and the ship, something this clearly strange would happen.
"Phew..."
Ethan's breath turned into a white mist in the air.
Only now did Ethan realize the temperature around him had started to drop drastically, and even the ground had begun to show tiny, crystalline ice particles!?
Nights near the coast were definitely colder, but there was no way it should have dropped this quickly in the blink of an eye.
"Whoosh————————!!!"
Suddenly, a purple light shot straight out from the darkness toward Ethan!
"————————?!"
Sensing danger on instinct, Ethan instantly stepped back, but to his surprise, a thin layer of ice had already formed beneath his feet.
Losing balance, he slipped and fell backward.
Though he had unintentionally dodged the first attack, right after that, a massive ice pillar appeared directly above Ethan!?
The huge ice pillar immediately crashed down, aiming straight for the fallen Ethan!
"Boom————————!!!"
In that critical moment, Ethan used all his strength to roll to the side, but fragments from the shattered ice still struck his arm and thigh.
Fortunately, the Mystic Code protected him, so he wasn't seriously injured.
Just as Ethan was about to leap up to avoid the next wave of attacks, a woman appeared in front of him, looking like a magus, wearing a purple cloak. Her face was fully concealed, and the lighting was too dim to make out her features.
She said nothing, silently raising the staff in her hand and pointing it toward Ethan.
Right behind her, dozens of magic circles began to appear in midair!
Just seconds later, from those magic circles, countless beams of light fired straight toward Ethan!!!
Ethan gritted his teeth, preparing to leap up and dodge again — when at that moment, a deep crimson stream of mana shot in from afar, colliding directly with the beams of light fired from the magic circles!!!
"Clang——————————!!!"
The violent impact created a blinding light, forcing Ethan to shield his eyes with the back of his hand.
"How amusing indeed."
A petite figure appeared next to Ethan.
"Draco!!!"
Ethan called out joyfully.
"I was just wondering why you still hadn't come back for dinner at this hour. That boring queen kept nagging me… and it turns out you're here playing around with some worthless side character like this."
Right after that, she stretched out her right hand, which had long been dragonized, and swung it straight toward the female magus floating in mid-air!
"Whoosh————————!!!"
A red blade aura tore through the cold air, rushing forth like a whirlwind!
The floating magus merely raised a hand to lightly touch the air in front of her. Instantly, several fireballs shot out from the magic circles behind her, intercepting the blade aura.
However, even after a series of explosions, the blade aura showed no signs of stopping.
"Tch…"
The airborne magus let out a displeased sound, then swung the staff in her hand, instantly conjuring an ice shield directly in front of her.
"Boom——————————!!!"
The ice shield was struck, immediately shattering into countless shards, transforming into razor-sharp blades raining down toward the two below!
The trees they struck were instantly frozen and then severed cleanly!!!
Even boulders couldn't withstand the impact of this blast, being pulverized into fine dust by the force of the ice fragments!
"Hmph, is that all you've got."
Draco stood in front of Ethan, a golden Holy Grail appearing in her left hand.
"That's not even enough to make this king itch!"
From the Holy Grail surged a stream of black mist, as if it had a will of its own, immediately enveloping Ethan and Draco.
The sharp ice fragments that touched the black mist instantly dissolved without a trace.
When Ethan looked up at the sky again, he saw that the female magus had opened a teleportation array and was preparing to retreat from the area.
"You think you can just pull something like this and get away!?"
Draco raised her right hand again, intending to use a beam of radiant mana to stop the enemy from escaping.
"Rustle rustle rustle rustle————————!!"
Suddenly, from the surrounding forest, dozens of glowing green eyes appeared.
Right after that, one lamia after another emerged from the bushes!
"Hiss hiss hiss——————!!!"
They slithered their bodies, rushing straight at Ethan and Draco without the slightest fear!!!
"Don't look at them! Or you'll be turned to stone!"
Ethan immediately warned Draco.
"Look? You think this kind of low-grade familiar even deserves a glance from me?"
The black mist emanating from the Holy Grail began spreading across the area, and the lamias that touched it instantly screamed in pain, writhing on the ground.
Before long, they all collapsed one after another, their serpent tails curling tightly, and then they turned into black smoke and vanished.
When they looked again, the mysterious female magus in the sky had also disappeared without a trace.
Though the opponent hadn't spoken a single word from beginning to end, Ethan vaguely had a few suspicions.
If speaking of magi in Greek mythology, and who had previously appeared in Chapter 3, it was easy to arrive at one name.
The opponent could be big sis — Medea.
But wasn't the Medea of this singularity supposed to be in her lily form? Yet the one who just attacked him was clearly in her prime as a magus.
Why did she attack him?
While Ethan was still quickly thinking, beside him Draco's irritated voice rang out.
"How boring! This king hates those sneaky Caster types the most, especially the ones who only know how to run away — they're the worst!!!"
Then she immediately turned to Ethan.
"Didn't you say you were just going to deliver a message to that boring captain? If you ended up dying a pathetic death out here like this, this king would probably laugh so hard I'd swallow the entirety of human civilization down into my belly!"
"…Sorry, I was careless and fell into her trap."
Mainly, he truly didn't expect to be ambushed so close to the village.
"I'll be more careful next time."
"Hmph, your life belongs to this king. Engrave that into your memory."
Draco withdrew the Holy Grail in her hand.
"UAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
Suddenly, from the boulder behind them on the right, there was a loud explosion — the entire rock mass crumbled into pieces!!!
Could there be another ambush?!
Ethan immediately turned his head toward the source of the sound in full alert.
But emerging from the pile of rubble was an energetic twin-bun-haired girl — Himiko?!
"Oh! Found you, found you! Are you two alright?!"
"Himiko?! Why are you here???"
Ethan asked in surprise.
"Just now I heard a ton of noise coming from over here, but I couldn't get close at all, so I got impatient and smashed some rocks nearby to check if anything weird was hiding in them."
"No, normally no one hides inside rocks though…"
Ethan hastily waved his hands.
"Really? But I thought it was pretty normal."
Himiko tilted her head, her face full of doubt.
Who the hell smashes rocks barehanded to break a barrier!!!
And it actually worked too, damn it!!!
"But why are you two here anyway? Were you fighting wicked creatures or something?!"
Himiko immediately ran over to check Ethan's body.
"You're not hurt, right? If you were cursed by those things, we need to perform a purification ritual right away."
"No, I'm fine."
Ethan held out his hand for her to see. Aside from a few scratches, he had no unusual injuries.
"That's good. What about Draco-chan over there?"
Himiko tried to check on Draco, but the latter gave her a death glare sharp as a blade.
"Ugh… don't tell me I'm just a useless queen…"
Himiko lowered her gaze, sighing in disappointment.
"…No, I don't think this is your fault."
Ethan then turned to look at the two beside him.
"We should head back to the village first, regroup and go over the information — and while we're at it, discuss how to deal with that giant sea serpent."
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