Water Magician

Chapter 4: Day of Battle

The 13^th day after coming to 『Phi』.

It was finally the day of the decisive battle.

He started a fire with experienced hands and ate meat.

He slowly ruminated the preparations he made in his head …

After finishing his meal, he confirmed the items he would bring.

The Wound Grass had already been ground and frozen into packs using water magic. They were ready to use by just melting them and applying them to any wound.

A bamboo spear with a knife as the tip. He had strengthened the part where the knife and spear connect with created ice.

That was all.

In fact, the items he took to leave the barrier were very limited.

His goal was to secure flint and Detoxifying grass.

And to fight a weak monster … if possible, he hoped for a slime!

He didn’t plan to stray too far.

If anything happened, it would be troubling if he was too far and couldn’t escape into the barrier quickly.

He closed his eyes a little and adjusted his breathing.

“All right, let’s depart.”

He headed in the direction of southwest. The direction where Michael (pseudonym) told him that there was a beach 500 meters away.

There were a couple of kinds of rocks that can be used as flint but Ryo was not well versed in it.

The only stone that Ryo could identify as an amateur was ‘Quartz’, a stone with a proven track record used as a flint.

There were colorless transparent quartz called crystals but the more common opaque white quartz could be found quite easily.

A good place to find such stones was at river banks.

If there was a sea, there should be rivers connected to it.

In that case, he wondered if he could encounter a river along the way to the sea.

“Well if this fails, I can set off in the opposite direction next time. This is an adventure in a sense. There’s no telling what can happen so it is an adventure.”

Ryo felt a slight sense of resistance as he left the barrier.

“I guess that sensation was the outer edge of the barrier.”

As he was within a forest, visibility was poor.

He listened carefully and walked slowly while relying on sound.

He could hear the sound of birds flapping their wings in the distance.

After proceeding about 100 meters outside the barrier, the forest suddenly ended.

In front of him was a river that spanned hundreds of meters to the opposite side.

“Bingo!”

However, Ryo appeared on the top of a cliff. It was a difficult spot to go down to the river to look for flint.

(I guess I’ll continue walking upstream.)

The river ran from east to west so Ryo carefully walked upstream on the cliff.

“Such a wide river is only a hundred meters away from home … This scenery is a little touching …”

However, the current Ryo couldn’t afford to take a leisurely look at the scenery.

After a short walk, he was able to get down to the riverbank.

And quickly found quartz.

He decided to give it a quick try to generate sparks.

He tried to hit the back of the knife attached to the bamboo spear to the quartz.

Spark spark

“Ooo, I see sparks. With this, I can make fire even when there is no sun.”

There was no need to linger once he confirmed that.

A river was a place for beasts to quench their thirst. There was no telling what would appear.

He quickly climbed up the cliff where he came down from and headed in the direction of northeast.

(If I continue moving north like this, I should appear on the south end of the house barrier. If I head northeast, I should be able to move while having my house to my left.)

If anything happened, he could quickly dash into his house barrier.

As mentioned many times, that was the most important matter to Ryo right now.

In the first place, he didn’t know how strong the monsters in 『Phi』 were.

He was certain that he could defeat slimes but it wasn’t guaranteed that only slimes would appear.

He was able to find flint fairly quickly but he couldn’t find Detoxifying grass no matter how long he looked.

He constantly moved while keeping the position of the house in mind so he didn’t stray too far from the barrier.

“Well … this is quite difficult … what should I do?”

Perhaps he was recalling the page on the Detoxifying grass in the Plant Encyclopedia hoping for a hint … at the very least, it was certain that his attention strayed from his surroundings.

When he suddenly realized a boar was looking in his direction.

“Shit. That is a Lesser Boar.”

The Lesser Boar charged in a straight line toward Ryo.

That was a Lesser Boar.

Charging in his direction.

He had to intercept it.

Ryo’s mind was aware of those facts. Even though he was aware, his body did not move.

It was the first time he faced the killing intent of a monster head-on.

It was a clear murderous intent that he had never experienced in his life.

Perhaps it was the same principle as a frog that couldn’t move when a snake glares at it.

“Shit, move, move, move~~~!”

His body finally jumped to the left. Instead of jumping, it may be closer to describe his action as falling to the side.

“Uguh …”

When dodging the Lesser Boar’s rush, its fangs lightly scratched Ryo’ right foot and injured him.

However, he couldn’t stay down forever.

The Lesser Boar that rushed past him slowed down and stopped before turning around and staring at Ryo.

In those eyes was clear murderous intent. Or perhaps it was angered that he avoided its rush.

“Calm down.”

If it was possible to calm down just by saying that, no one would have a hard time.

Ryo was not an exception.

His heart was pumping like an alarm bell.

His mind was blank … well, not completely.

Even though that was the case, his body wouldn’t move as he wanted.

The Lesser Boar charged once more.

Once again, Ryo couldn’t move as expected.

However, even if he couldn’t move his body, Ryo had magic.

His water attribute magic that he has practiced over and over and over again.

Hard work will not betray.

“<Ice Bahn>” (T/N: Bahn = Road in German)

In front of Ryo to the Lesser Boar, an ice road about 2 meters wide was formed.

Due to its momentum, the Lesser Boar slid over the ice toward Ryo. It couldn’t stop itself on the ice.

“<Icicle Lance 16>”

Even though the Icicle lance couldn’t fly yet, he could grow them from the Ice Bahn.

It was like a line of spears in front of Ryo.

The 16 spears grew from the ice floor at a 30-degree angle.

Without any means to stop, the Lesser Boar rammed into the mountain of Icicle Lance head-on.

“Gyooooooo”

The skewered Lesser Boar screamed from the severe pain.

But it had not died.

But the fear of death that bound Ryo was released.

He could finally move his body.

He held his bamboo spear affixed with a knife.

Ryo did kendo but of course, he didn’t know how to use a spear.

However, there was no need to think about it so much. He just needed to stab.

Face, neck, groin. He stabbed over and over again.

He could move his body now but that didn’t mean that he was calm.

He stabbed with the bamboo spear with all his might.

Again and again and again …

He probably stabbed a couple of dozen times.

Ryo finally realized that the Lesser Boar was no longer moving.

“I won …”

That day, Ryo defeated a monster for the first time.

“I have to quickly leave this place.”

There was no telling what might be attracted by the scent of blood.

Ryo summoned his energy and stood up.

The problem was the Lesser Boar’s corpse.

It looked heavy.

“So how should I carry this?”

Of course, leaving it there was not an option.

It was his first hunt.

Ryo decided that he would eat Lesser Boar meat tonight.

The barrier shouldn’t be far. It was at most a hundred meters.

That was when he suddenly saw the Ice Bahn that the Lesser Boar slid on.

“Could I pull the Lesser Boar if I spread ice below it?”

If he laid down Ice Bahn until the barrier, it shouldn’t be difficult for him to pull on his own.

With just a little adjustment, he created a path of ice below the Lesser Boar and pulled.

“Ooo, it’s super~ easy this way.”

He could easily pull the Lesser Boar that seemed close to 200 kilograms with a single hand.

Then, he passed through the barrier and arrived in front of his house.

“I’m finally … home.”

There stood a young man who had exhausted all his energy and willpower.

Although he didn’t get any Detoxifying grass, he obtained flint, won his fight battle, and net a Lesser Boar.

Those were sufficient results.