Chapter 513 – The Grave of the Deep Sea

As the echoes faded, silence enveloped the surroundings. The castle’s construction materials and the seabed had crumbled into dust from the shockwave.

The traces of destruction formed a large hole. The hole drilled diagonally through the castle floor by Dragon’s Roar—considering the angle and direction, it seemed to have pierced through toward the sea fissure. The sand had likely been pushed out and collapsed toward the bottom of the fissure.

Without hesitation, I leaped into the hole. Using water flow manipulation and Earth Magic to clear away the lingering dust, I passed through the tunnel—and found myself in a rugged, natural rocky area.

The fissure wall where the hole had emerged. Across from it—stood Waldom. Though buried in rubble… it’s astonishing that a high-ranking demon could maintain its form after receiving a 9th-tier magic attack. But… half its body had been blown away. There was no mistaking this as a fatal wound.

“Ku, kukku. To be pushed back into this fissure and breathe my last… how ironic. I thought I would become Beristio’s… replacement and laid my plans. But that too, has come to an end.”

As soon as Waldom saw me following him, it twisted its mouth and spoke.

“A demon awakened by the leader’s hand… huh.”

At my words, Waldom closed its eyes and laughed. That I knew something about the leader didn’t seem particularly strange to Waldom.

Beristio’s replacement. Meaning it was one of the demons with the potential to become the next vessel for Beristio should the leader’s current body be destroyed.

Considering its reaction to Gardinis too, Waldom must be an ancient demon as well.

Waldom, who called itself the Sea King and led subordinates, and Gardinis, who led followers and aimed to become the leader of demons. They… shared some similarities somewhere.

Did it dislike becoming the leader’s vessel and find a way to avoid it? Using the leader until awakening, then aiming for independence—that’s an understandable story.

“Originally—I was essentially killed once by that queen, perhaps. For this body that had been frustrated in a long slumber of nothing but fear… the battle with you and the mermaids was truly exhilarating time.”

Saying this, Waldom bared its fangs in a smile. Then, keeping that smile on its lips until the final moment—it scattered into countless bubbles of light toward the bottom of the fissure.

All that remained were the traces of battle, the silent sea, and the dark fissure. The evil energy that had been swirling around had either been gathered up by Waldom and completely used up in our clash, as it was now completely gone.

I let out a small sigh and shook my head. …Anyway. The objective has been accomplished.

I’ve learned several things about demons. Whether they’ll be useful or not, I should share this information.

First, I need to regroup with everyone and inform those outside that the battle has ended. …I should probably give Queen Eldorene detailed information about Waldom’s end as well. From its own words, it seemed to hold quite high regard for the queen who sealed it—the motherly figure.

“Theodore-sama!”

When I returned to the mausoleum, everyone gathered around. Ashley came running up and began checking the state of my injuries.

“Yeah. We won. How are everyone’s injuries?”

“There were some… but everyone’s injuries have been treated for now.”

Ashley had a worried expression, but my injuries weren’t that severe.

Instead, I had quite a few small wounds. Looking back, I was injured all over. The trident had both long reach and wide attack range, making it quite difficult to dodge.

Waldom could easily cut through Shields, and to land effective blows I had to step even closer in my fighting style, so I got cut in various places and also received lacerations from getting near the whirlpools.

Then—from the pressure when I blocked the tornado, both my arms were slightly numb… but well, this should be the kind of thing that can be healed with circulating ki.

More importantly… while I’d stopped the bleeding, being in the sea meant the smell of blood would spread. That would cause Grace to become intoxicated by the blood scent.

It would be better to receive treatment after heading to the Sirius. It would be safer to activate Grace’s Cursed Tool there too, and I want to quickly inform everyone outside that Waldom has been defeated.

So I decided to head outside the castle while collecting any surviving subordinates using Golems and applying Seals.

“—Oh! There was a tremendous shaking, so we were worried!”

“I’m glad you’re safe… The water spirits were frightened too.”

As we exited the castle and headed toward the Sirius, Queen Eldorene, Marl, and the others immediately swam toward us.

“Well, we managed to win. Our losses are relatively light too.”

“To say that while injured all over like that…”

“It’s to the extent that it doesn’t hinder my activities. Let’s get treatment done quickly.”

Queen Eldorene made a pained expression but smiled wryly and climbed onto the Sirius’s deck.

First, before removing the blood stoppage from condensed magical power, I activated Grace’s Cursed Tool.

“Nn, ah…”

Grace moaned slightly and staggered, but Claudia supported her.

“Thank you, Claudia-sama.”

“Don’t mention it. Since I can’t really fight on the front lines, I want to be useful in places like this.”

Saying this, Claudia smiled.

When the wounds were exposed to air, perhaps because the battle had ended and I’d calmed down, they began to transmit a stinging pain.

“Tsu…”

“I’ll treat you immediately. I’ll handle it so that as few scars remain as possible, so please bear with it a little.”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

Depending on the type and depth of the wounds, Ashley carefully used Healing Magic on me. Apparently judging from Ashley’s assessment that the shoulder wound was the deepest, she began treatment there.

As I received the faint light of Healing Magic, the pain gradually subsided. She seemed to have detected the numbness in my arms with magical sonar too, and used Healing Magic there as well. Eventually the treatment ended, and Ashley nodded.

“This should be fine now. Are there any places that still hurt?”

“No. I think I’m okay.”

“…I’m glad you’re safe.”

Saying this, Ashley drew closer.

“You too, Ashley.”

Responding to her, I embraced her shoulders and stroked her hair. I also drew closer the slightly dazed Grace, and we embraced each other.

“Grace, are you okay? You weren’t overdoing it too much in the battle, were you?”

“Yes, that’s right. A little… there’s some recoil.”

Grace answered with a small laugh. Right. Later I’ll need to take time to slowly perform circulating ki and such.

After embracing for a while and separating, I took Marlene and Claudia’s hands, and also Rosemary who had been hesitating, drawing them closer. I could feel their warm body temperatures and heartbeats.

“I’m glad everyone is safe.”

At Claudia’s words, Marlene happily nodded repeatedly.

“Well… I’ll need to perform circulating ki slowly later.”

“I… was fighting on Ignis, so it wasn’t that bad.”

Rosemary answered, but… magical battles wear down your nerves, and when magical power consumption is severe, you tend to feel sluggish. I think Rosemary is more tired than her words suggest, so I’ll make sure to properly perform circulating ki.

“Sheila, are you okay?”

“Ashley used Healing Magic on me, so I’m fine. More importantly, I’ve achieved Open Eye.”

When I asked, Sheila spoke while lightly touching the Pearl Sword’s hilt. Sheila seemed to be in relatively good spirits.

Yeah… That’s right. To utilize the new techniques using the Pearl Sword on land as well, I’ll probably need more Magic Tools, so I should start thinking about that now too.

“Ilm and Seraphina gathered sounds for me, which made various things easier. At the end, I gathered the surrounding magical power too to defeat it.”

When I told the two, they smiled back.

“I’m happy if I could be of help.”

“The last sound magic was amazing, after all.”

Indeed. There was the part where I further enhanced the technique through song. I chose the sonic bullet magic considering the quality of the environmental magical power.

“Sion and the others, I’m glad you’re not injured. The guard captain seemed like quite a strong opponent, but are you okay?”

Forset had returned to the deck and was embracing the three’s shoulders, rejoicing in their safety. When I called out, Sion turned and nodded.

“We managed to win. Marceska and Sigritta are safe too… and Eckels seems to have been saved as well.”

Sion nodded. Sion had been concerned since she unleashed a major technique without holding back… but Eckels had his wounds closed, and as a precaution we applied a Seal and rolled him onto the deck, though he still hasn’t regained consciousness.

“Sion’s opponent was strong, after all.”

“…Yeah. It seems I didn’t have the leeway to hold back.”

Marceska and Sigritta nodded.

Well… for now, those who participated in the battle inside the castle are safe. Then—Princess Stephania returned along with Corulis. Placing hands on the deck’s edge, it slowly sat down. The barrier group was returning one after another too, but what happened to the remaining subordinates?

“How did the situation with the other groups turn out?”

I asked Queen Eldorene about the current situation. The barrier being lifted meant that the situation had been resolved, but still.

“After Waldom fell, they’ve been surrendering one after another. With the evil energy lost… their toughness and such have disappeared, and their belligerence seems to have quieted down. The castle gate was opened from inside too, so they probably don’t have any fighting power left.”

Queen Eldorene said. …I see. Well, if there was something like a contract with the demon, then it’s natural they would lose that power when Waldom fell. For now, there don’t seem to be any problems… No, there was one problem.

“Um, one problem. Various parts inside the castle were destroyed.”

“That’s not something Theodore-dono should trouble yourself over. Whether it’s the audience chamber or the mausoleum… we’re the ones who let them fall into enemy hands. Just being able to reclaim them is more than we hoped for… and being able to rebuild is thanks to Theodore-dono as well.”

Queen Eldorene said this with a soft smile.

Hmm. Still, it might be good to say I’ll help where I can with the castle and town’s reconstruction. After all, I’m the one who made that big hole.