“Rowan, what do we do next?”
“What else can we do? We fight with our lives!”
To ensure they could breathe underwater, Rowan had to keep a tight grip on Leonora’s hand while using her free right hand to attack with her wand.
As the jellyfish lunged again with its tentacles, Rowan immediately unleashed her magic. Starting from the boundary where the air bubble met the water, every approaching tentacle was frozen solid, rendering them immobile.
After briefly restraining the enemy, Rowan barked out an order. “Leonora, move forward!”
As the two pushed ahead, the jellyfish seemed to realize it could not free its tentacles. It simply tore them off, and within three breaths, new tissue sprouted from the stumps.
Rowan conjured an ice spear and used mana as fuel — compressing and expanding it to grant the weapon an unparalleled initial velocity.
The spear pierced through the water, freezing everything in its path. It reached the jellyfish almost instantly, but at the moment of impact, it was forcibly halted, stopping a mere few centimeters away.
Rowan was startled. She could not tell how it had done that.
Magic? A coincidence? Or some unknown ability?
The answer came quickly.
What stopped the spear was neither magic nor coincidence; it was the water itself.
When the jellyfish manipulated the currents to strike, Rowan finally saw the truth. It could control certain properties of water to both attack and defend.
Escape was no longer an option. They had to fight to the death.
After layering a Mana Barrier over the air bubble to block the currents, Rowan cast another spell.
Fire would be extinguished by the water, so she was limited to basic magic and ice magic. However, the resistance underwater was too high. No matter how powerful the spell originally was, its strength and speed would be significantly reduced.
After her attacks were blocked several times, Rowan accepted the reality that long-range combat was impossible. If she wanted to deal actual damage, she had to get close.
But close-quarters combat was always a disadvantage for a mage. Because of their low defense, the slightest delay in casting a spell or deploying a barrier would mean the end. Combined with the environmental disadvantage, their chances of winning were slim.
Leonora understood their situation as well. Her hand trembled slightly in Rowan’s grip. “Rowan, will we die?”
Rowan countered with a question of her own. “Are you afraid?”
“Of course I am. Who isn’t afraid of dying? But if — and I mean if — only one of us can make it out alive, I want it to be you.”
“Don’t say such dangerous things. I don’t want to hear it.”
Leonora took off her necklace and placed it around Rowan’s neck. “You need it more than I do. Promise me, you have to survive.”
Rowan had never been the sentimental type, but since she had promised to protect Leonora, she would not break her word.
“I will protect you.”
A violent surge of water struck again, but against Rowan’s full-power Mana Barrier, the attack failed to cause even a ripple.
After quickly communicating their next tactic, the two charged upstream without hesitation, heading straight for the jellyfish’s main body. Rowan purposefully cast Fireball spells behind them, using the explosive force to accelerate and change direction. It was far more difficult in practice than she had imagined, but she managed to pull it off without any accidents.
When they finally broke through the currents and tentacles to reach the jellyfish, Leonora decisively let go of Rowan’s hand, leaving the protective barrier to stay behind. Rowan, meanwhile, darted toward the jellyfish’s face as nimbly as a fish.
Sensing Rowan’s approach, the jellyfish lashed out with the majority of its tentacles, attempting to overwhelm her with sheer numbers.
But Leonora would not stand by. She aimed her wand at the tentacles, and sharp ice shards tore through the water like shrapnel, cutting them down before they could reach Rowan.
This action enraged the creature. It used its remaining tentacles to ensnare Leonora, binding her tightly.
Through sheer willpower, Leonora managed to deploy a partial Mana Barrier, preventing her bones from being crushed.
The pain of resisting was perhaps greater than that of giving up, but this was the result she wanted.
The window for an attack would only last a split second. If she had to trade her life for that opening, she was willing to die.
‘Just wait for it, you damn jellyfish!’
Using the brief window Leonora had created, Rowan reached a distance where she could almost touch the creature.
Only now, being so close, did she realize just how massive the gap in their sizes was. A small section of one tentacle was as large as she was, let alone the entire beast.
‘Mia, Leonora, Sasha…’ Several names flashed through Rowan’s mind. She spoke silently to them, and to herself, ‘Wait for my return.’
Pointing the wand she had exchanged with Leonora directly at the creature’s body, a torrential storm of orange-red mana began to condense rapidly. Sensing the danger, the jellyfish instinctively tried to use the water for defense while attempting to propel itself backward to flee.
But Rowan would not let it have its way. She instantly froze it in place with magic. Then, the roaring fire she unleashed was like the divine might of a dragon. Any water it touched was instantly vaporized, and the resulting bubbles nearly filled the entire area.
The surface of every bubble reflected the firelight, like countless torches lit in the dark — cold, yet carrying a hint of warmth.
To sustain such massive consumption, Rowan did not hesitate to pour in tens or even dozens of Motherly Love Points. She had been reluctant to use them before, but now she sacrificed them all, and the result far exceeded her expectations.
The fire dragon bit through the jellyfish’s fragile surface and burrowed inside. The sparks rampaged through its internal walls, and the tissue and fluids, which were mostly water, were nearly set ablaze. Even the tentacles binding Leonora were forced to let go.
It writhed in agony, its tentacles flailing wildly against Rowan’s barrier. The frantic movement only caused the already weakened tentacles to snap off, eventually being incinerated into nothingness.
Taking advantage of the gap, Rowan immediately swam back to Leonora and rescued her.
Seeing Leonora looking half-dead, Rowan thought she had drowned. Just as she was about to attempt first aid, Leonora woke up and coughed violently.
Before even recovering from the pain of being crushed, Leonora asked urgently, “Rowan… how is it?”
“See for yourself.”
Looking up, Leonora saw a gargantuan entity dancing frantically like a maddened demon god. The fire inside it burned like a purifying flame, one that would not be extinguished until the evil was completely destroyed.
“That’s good…”
Seeing this, Leonora could no longer endure the pain. She closed her eyes and drifted into a peaceful unconsciousness.
After checking to ensure her friend had no life-threatening injuries, Rowan carried her toward the location of the hourglass.
When she finally grasped the hourglass, Rowan felt a strange sense of familiarity and closeness, as if it were a clingy pet she had raised in a past life.
But now was not the time for research. She had to get back to land first.