Book 1 Chapter 645
645.
“Ugh!”
Undine supported herself with the trident in her hand like a staff and stood up.
‘What was that just now!’
To attack Leo, Undine used the water of Lake Rumeria.
This island, in the middle of a giant lake, was an extremely advantageous battlefield for Undine.
‘I didn’t think I could finish it in one go.’
Undine bit her lip tightly.
She wasn't underestimating Leo.
As a spirit of the deep sea, she made her domain in the depths of the ocean, but that didn't mean she was uninterested in the flow of the world.
No, on the contrary, Undine was more interested in worldly affairs.
Undine’s goal was to become the strongest spirit.
And to leave her name in history as such a spirit, there was something essential.
‘A Pledger.’
No matter how powerful a Great Spirit, it cannot leave its name in history alone.
It is the heroes who get their names in the Hero Records, not the spirits who have pledged to them.
The influence of heroes could be seen just by looking at Lael.
Lael, the spirit of brilliance, had not appeared in history for thousands of years.
No pledger existed, and she had remained a bystander in countless wars against Tartarus.
However, simply because Lael's pledger was Rodia, the Dragon of Genesis, Lael had been considered an exception for 3000 years.
Decades ago, that lowly spirit of purification.
Even now, she was hailed as the strongest spirit, but the moment Lael was mentioned, she was pushed aside.
Undine couldn't stand that.
That's why she had waited for so long for a pledger suitable for her.
And the one she found was Leo Flobe.
He wasn't the preferred type of spirit user for a Great Spirit.
After all, Great Spirits disliked playboys.
But Leo was such an attractive pledger that such a background didn't seem to matter.
That's why she proposed a pledge on the condition of breaking his pledges with other fantastic beasts and spirits.
Because he was Leo, she expected he wouldn't be easy to deal with.
‘What the hell is it!?’
Her attack was blocked in one blow on a battlefield where she, a water spirit, had an overwhelming advantage.
Even if it was spirit magic using Ista, another Great Spirit, it was astonishing.
‘Even if there's a spirit user…!’
A summoner is a being who can draw out the abilities of fantastic beasts beyond their limits.
However, at the level of a Great Spirit, the limits of the summoned beast are overwhelmingly high.
It is equally difficult to draw out those limited abilities.
It was also why most Great Spirits took an arrogant stance.
Even if one gains stronger power than usual through the existence of a contractor, in places where the topographical advantage is so clear, things usually end up being equal.
It was when Undine was about to once again draw forth the power of the spirit.
Flash-
“…?”
A flash of light sparkled before her eyes.
At that moment.
Whoosh-!
“…!”
Leo, who had approached without her noticing, was swinging his foot towards Undine's face.
Bang-!
Undine's head exploded and scattered everywhere.
Water droplets scattered in all directions.
As a spirit, she wasn't fatally wounded, but there was no way she could avoid the shock.
Shhhwiiing-!
The water droplets, scattering everywhere, instantly turned sharp as icicles.
Hundreds of water icicles attacked Leo from all directions.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-!
Blue flames erupted all over Leo's body.
Hiss-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-!
The water icicles that touched Leo were swept into the armor of fire and evaporated.
“Ugh!”
Undine quickly distanced herself from Leo and plunged her trident into the ground.
Gurgle-gurgle-gurgle… Splaaash-!
Starting from where Undine struck the trident, the surrounding area began to turn into a sea of water.
“I’ll sink this entire island!”
This was to make the place an advantageous battlefield for herself.
“Even a purification spirit can’t evaporate the entire Lake Rumeria!”
Undine curled up the corners of her lips.
Her words were true.
Lake Rumeria was so vast and held so much water that one might mistake it for a sea.
As Undine drew upon the water of such a Lake Rumeria, it was almost impossible for even Ista's power to evaporate all of it.
“I’ll make you regret making me your enemy, Leo Flobe!”
To Undine's words, Leo replied indifferently.
“I don’t really intend to be your enemy.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! You attacked me first!”
“Well, you picked a fight with her first.”
Leo tapped the air with his finger.
Lael, the size of a palm, shook her head left and right by Leo's finger.
“Besides, I never intended to have only one pledger in the first place.”
Leo shrugged his shoulders.
“If you had heard this, wouldn’t you have attacked me first anyway?”
“…”
Undine fell silent at Leo’s words.
Indeed, if he had rejected her offer, she intended to attack him for being arrogant.
“So, about that. Do you want to pledge with me?”
“Playboy!”
“Anyone hearing that would misunderstand.”
-It’s true he’s a playboy when he says things like that with existing pledgers.
-I agree with the old hag this time.
Lael kicked the side of Ista, who appeared next to her.
-Peep-peep.
-Honestly, who would like that?
-Among us, only Lady Elsi will truly understand master.
The fantastic beasts also sided with Undine.
Leo clicked his tongue at the summoned beasts’ words.
Then, looking at Undine, who was showing hostility, he said,
“Anyway, I need you.”
For a spirit user, a powerful spirit is a powerful weapon.
Of course, contracting with a powerful spirit doesn’t necessarily make one strong.
Moreover, for a typical spirit user, even if they have already contracted with a Great Spirit, contracting with another Great Spirit doesn’t make them stronger.
Usually, it’s hard to even properly handle the power of one Great Spirit.
‘That’s only in the case of a typical spirit user.’
Leo was a Great Hero and could be called the second most powerful summoner in the history of summoning magic.
The more Great Spirit-level spirits Leo had, the stronger he became.
Fiora, Kilian, Arty, Lael, and Ista inwardly complained about Leo contracting with multiple fantastic beasts, yet remained silent because they knew Leo had the ability to perfectly control them.
Therefore, for Leo, a pledge with Great Spirits was essential to prepare for future battles.
“I refuse!”
“It would be better to agree to a contract nicely.”
Leo smiled warmly.
Undine scoffed at his words.
“What will you do if I don’t agree nicely? What can you do!?”
“I can do many things.”
Leo curled up the corners of his mouth.
Crackle-!
Suddenly, a huge vortex began to form in front of Leo.
Seeing that, Undine’s body flinched.
The enormous amount of water that Undine had been drawing upon suddenly began to be sucked into the bottom.
‘As if a giant hole had opened…’
Shing-shing-shing-shing-shing-!
Snap-! Snap-!
Suddenly, chains of darkness, breaking through the water, shot up and grabbed Undine's arms and neck.
“Spirit of the Abyss!”
Undine glared with wide eyes at the gloomy-eyed spirit who had suddenly subdued her.
It was Ignit, the Spirit of the Abyss, who had taken root in Lumern.
Lael also looked surprised.
-When did you make a pledge with Ignit?
“I never pledged, I just summoned him, and he just responded to me.”
-…You've gained more freeloaders than I remember, Leo Flobe.
-Who are you calling a freeloader! If you're going to pledge with Leo Flobe too, then I’m your senior who came in earlier! Treat me with respect!
-You still have that habit of boasting about those disgusting muscles and getting cocky.
-You too are still just as scrawny!
Kilian crossed his arms and looked disdainfully at the Great Spirit of Darkness and the Great Spirit of Fire, who were showing sharp attitudes towards each other.
-Seriously. Why are Great Spirits all so bad with each other? We fantastic beasts have such good teamwork. Don't we? Fat chick? Pervert?
-Peep!
Clack-!
Fiora unhesitatingly pecked Kilian's temple with her beak for calling her a fat chick.
-This chick!
-Fi-Fiora! That sharp beak attack on me!
“…”
Leo held his throbbing head.
‘I respect Lysinas more than ever.’
Lysinas’s pledgers were just as, if not more, difficult than Leo’s pledgers now.
As a summoner, he felt an immeasurable gap compared to him.
‘Did he hit them when they were being noisy out of his sight? Given his violent tendencies, he seems capable of that.’
Thinking thoughts that Lysinas would have charged at him for if he heard them, Leo approached Undine.
“Ugh!”
Undine, bound by Ignit’s power, bit her lip tightly.
Ignit, the Spirit of the Abyss, had the ability to seal power.
Furthermore, not only Ignit but also Lael and Ista were suppressing Undine's power.
No matter how powerful a Great Spirit was, if three Great Spirits of the same level were determined to subdue her, she had no choice but to be captured.
It was difficult to break free from this restraint right now.
“So? Do you still not want to pledge with me?”
“Don’t be ridiculous! Do you think I'm like those common summoned beasts?!”
At Undine's shout, the summoned beasts, who had been squabbling, instantly froze.
The gazes of the six summoned beasts, who could be called the dream and goal of summoners, turned to Undine.
-Did you just call us common?
Lael approached right up to Undine’s nose and asked.
“Don't come near me! You’re low-class! I feel like I'm becoming cheap too!”
At her words, Lael looked back at the summoned beasts who had pledged with Leo.
The Great Spirits and the Three Great Fantastic Beasts were all individuals with strong personalities and strong self-love.
It was only natural for them to be noisy when gathered together.
Harmony was almost impossible.
But even in such situations, there were times when they harmonized.
That was when a common enemy appeared from outside.
And Undine had successfully become their common enemy.
-It seems we're all thinking the same thing.
Ista returned to his original size.
In his hand was a club made of flames.
The sight of him flexing his muscles while gripping the club was threatening.
-Hitting isn't my preference. But sometimes this is good too.
In Arty's hand was a pure white club made of lightning.
-Hold on tight, Great Spirit of Darkness.
Kilian flashed a mischievous smile.
-When Leo said that violence was the way to persuade Great Spirits, I said absolutely not. Shall we test if it persuades them?
Lael smiled faintly.
-Peep. Peep.
Fiora also flapped her wings threateningly.
“Wh-what are you trying to do? Don't come! Don't come near me!”
Undine, sensing the ominous atmosphere, cried out with a panicked expression.
Leo was contemplating what to do, seeing her reaction.
Flash-!
“Hmm?”
A huge amount of magic was felt from afar.
‘It's the 4th and 5th graders.’
Having finished their preparations, they were aiming Great Magic at Leo.
‘Senior Runba is still fighting Elsi.’
Zing-!
A magic circle formed at Leo's feet.
Flash- Craaash-!
A pillar of fire soared.
As the flames disappeared, Leo, caught in the magic, raised his head.
“They certainly prepared well.”
The nature of the magic was clearly different from a moment ago.
He could feel that their strategy for him had distinctly changed after just one battle.
Leo curled up the corners of his mouth.
“How different is it from before… shall we see?”