Blinding light filled the shrine ruin interior, forcing Theo and Tizmilly to shield their eyes with their hands.
Slowly, from the Magic Circle, tentacles crept out. Like a revived being, a massive octopus pushed its bluish body up. Its height reached the ceiling of the shrine, almost 6 meters tall, with its tentacles spanning over 10 meters long. Water churned violently around it, thick with mana.
The sudden appearance of the massive entity shattered the stillness of the water, creating a wave that forced Theo and Tizmilly to take several steps backward, bracing against the current.
Once the light from the Magic Circle subsided, both parties locked eyes. Eight gleaming eyes, cold and ancient, fixed on the two humans.
Tizmilly's face lost all color as she realized the height difference between them and the monster. Her legs felt like lead.
"What in the world is... that?" she muttered with a tired voice. She hadn't recovered her stamina spent fighting monsters earlier.
"The Underwater King," Theo replied. He shrugged and placed his spear on his shoulder, outwardly calm. "We need to defeat it first before we get the Aqua Rune."
Tizmilly's eyes became empty. "I see," she muttered, before looking at Theo like he had just deceived her into this hell. Betrayal and exhaustion warred on her face.
Theo could only scratch his cheek and laugh awkwardly.
"S-sorry... I forgot to mention the bonus boss."
The Underwater King slammed its tentacles down onto the mossy floor of the shrine, showing its fury to the two humans. Stone cracked. Ancient dust clouded the water.
It didn't give them time to breathe. Two tentacles whipped through the water, carrying with them the overwhelming strength of a Boss-level monster and a big wave that could banish any weak being.
Theo lunged to the left, grabbing Tizmilly's wrist just in time to pull her behind a thick stone pillar, its surface carved with faded runes.
_CRASH!_
The pillar shuddered, cracks spider-webbing across its surface. Chunks of stone drifted down like snow.
"Listen," Theo hissed, his casual demeanor finally sharpening into a warrior's focus, eyes hard. "I'll draw its attention to the north side, out of this shrine ruin. You see that glowing crown symbol on its head? That's its weakness. Focus your magic to attack it, and it will go down in no time."
Tizmilly leaned against the vibrating stone, her breath coming in ragged gasps. "You know I don't have much mana left, right? How can I launch any magic now?" Her hands trembled.
Theo flashed a quick, confident grin. "Don't worry. Even among other Irregular Monsters, the Underwater King is special. Its presence alone fills the water surrounding it with abundant mana. You can recover your mana if you absorb it. Feel it?"
Before she could argue, Theo cast Levitation on himself and rocketed straight toward the Underwater King. His spear glowed for a moment and synthesized a 1-meter stone on the tip, heavy and jagged.
"Eat this, big guy!"
The Underwater King was preparing its next attack when Theo swung his spear down onto its body, the stone shot out like a mini meteor.
That synthesized stone crashed into the rubbery shoulder of the Underwater King. That massive body was slightly pushed back, but the effect was no more than a bug's bite for an entity that big. The Underwater King roared—a low sound that shook the water and Tizmilly's lungs, rattling her bones.
Tizmilly stared briefly, stunned by Theo's recklessness. However, she realized something. The surrounding water now felt different; it felt warmer and was pulsating when making contact with her skin. It clung to her like liquid lightning. Theo was right. That monster's presence triggered an unbelievable mana anomaly that filled the surrounding area.
"Always making crazy plans... Mister Roost... You really are..." whispered Tizmilly. She closed her eyes, spread her arms, and started taking a deep breath. She imagined her body as a sponge that was absorbing the overflowing blue energies in that place. Mana rushed into her, cold and sharp.
Meanwhile, Theo was dancing all over the place.
"Come on, you cephalopod!" Theo shouted while maneuvering between crumbling walls, pillars, and rubble, evading tentacle strikes that were strong enough to flatten steel. He purposely led it toward the north side, out of the brittle shrine ruin and away from the pillar where Tizmilly was hiding.
One tentacle came at Theo like thunder. Theo twirled and shifted his weight, evading the tentacle and piercing its skin with his spear. Black ichor bled into the water.
The wound enraged the Underwater King. It chased Theo, letting out a roar and swinging its tentacles even faster, each strike creating whirlpools.
Theo jumped around, evading its tentacles while swinging and thrusting his spear when he got chances to counterattack.
He could deal more damage to the Underwater King if he used his powerful move, like Boulder Fall, as an example. But Theo refrained. He wanted to use this chance to train Tizmilly.
_You can do this, Tizmilly. You just need to tweak your Magic a little. Trust yourself._
Tizmilly opened her eyes, her pupils vaguely glowing—a sign that her mana was recovered forcefully. She stepped out of the shrine and extended her palm toward the Underwater King, stance unwavering despite her fatigue.
"Ice Rose: Burst Prison!" she chanted, voice ringing clear.
Her mana reserve depleted once again at a worrying pace, all poured into a big magic move—to grow tens of red ice rose vines that were thick and long enough to put a strain on the Underwater King's movement.
Ice Rose vines erupted out of the ground, straining the Underwater King's body and all of its eight tentacles. Thorns on the stalks made sure that it couldn't easily escape. However, even that was not enough, since cracks were spreading every time it struggled, ice shattering with sharp pings.
"Now, Mister Roost!" yelled Tizmilly amidst ragged gasps. Casting such a big spell was a first for her. Her body was overwhelmed and crying for rest. She would've been sleeping already if she was not currently in front of a giant octopus monster.
Theo responded with a thumbs-up.
_Still not enough, but I'll give you a pass._ Inwardly, he evaluated Tizmilly's spell. The structure was there. The power was there. The creativity was coming.
Kicking the ground, he launched himself up like a rocket. With Levitation cast on himself, he reached the height of 200 meters in no time, the shrine shrinking below.
He stopped there and cancelled the Levitation. Slowly, his body plummeted from the height. The speed of falling getting faster and faster. With the power of gravity, he became a meteor and pierced the Underwater King's body perfectly at the crown symbol glowing on its forehead.
With a loud, suppressed last roar, the Underwater King lost its life. After it became completely still, its body started to crumble into mana particles, dissolving into the water like blue snow.
Tizmilly sighed relievedly and collapsed on her knees, arms trembling.
After waiting for a while, the Underwater King finally disappeared, leaving behind it a deep blue, triangular transparent stone Theo collected afterward, which was the Aqua Rune. The reason they even fought the Underwater King in the first place. It pulsed in his hand, cold as deep ocean.
Standing at the place where the Underwater King had died, Theo turned around and raised the stone to show it to Tizmilly.
"We got it, Tizmilly!" said Theo, waving his hand with a smile on his face.
"Y-yes..." Tizmilly replied with a tired, but contented smile. Pride flickered in her eyes despite the exhaustion.
Theo walked toward Tizmilly while playing the Aqua Rune between his fingers and leaning his spear on his shoulder.
"By the way, your spell just now was a new spell... Right? Did you create it on the spot?" he asked once he reached Tizmilly, looking at her curiously.
Tizmilly nodded in response.
"That's right. I realized that my normal spell wouldn't be able to affect a massive monster like the Underwater King, so I poured all of my mana on it and also attempted to make the vines as hard as I can."
"Hmm, indeed. That spell was strong. It was able to strain a giant monster like the Underwater King, after all. However..." Theo leaned on the wall of the shrine ruin and pocketed the Aqua Rune. "...I think you can do better, Tizmilly. As I had once said to you before, being creative is essential. Why didn't you try to attack it with your magic instead of restraining it?"
"Attack it?" Tizmilly frowned and pondered over Theo's words, but she still looked uncertain. "But my magic was not offensive magic."
Theo grinned.
"If that is so, then using the same logic, my magic is also not offensive magic."
Tizmilly pursed her lips, clearly disagreeing with his statement.
"How can that be true? You could kill your enemies in that overwhelming manner, attacking them like a comet."
Theo waved his index finger. "That was manageable only after I obtained Boulder Thrust. However, even without it, I could also use Levitation to throw my enemies into the air and let them fall to their death. And even then, what killed them was not my magic, but gravity. Magic is a tool. How you use it decides everything."
Tizmilly was never a slow-witted person, so after Theo said it all, she immediately got what he wanted to say.
"Do you mean that Ice Rose can also be used as offensive magic?" Her voice was quiet, dawning.
His grin widened as Theo pointed his index finger toward Tizmilly. "Of course!"
Tizmilly looked at her palms. She cupped and uncupped her fists, feeling how weak she was after she depleted her mana for that single spell previously.
What if I decrease the consumption? Or compact the ice more? Or even decrease the temperature? Ideas filled her mind. She suddenly was able to see her magic in a new perspective that was completely different from what she learned until now. That felt scary, but also free. Limitless.
Tizmilly looked up at Theo's smiling face. A smile also slowly formed on her face. Warmth filled her chest, chasing away the cold water.
After she saw Theo's battle back then when they were rescuing Timmy, she had tried to get stronger and started to train with her magic and sword harder than before. However, she always felt like she was stuck in place, lost and completely clueless how to improve herself. Like hitting a wall she couldn't see.
Now she knew that she could really get stronger, and Theo himself had shown a path for her, she could finally resolve one of her biggest concerns. The door was open.
"After we take a rest, let's summon another Underwater King. Since we were together, we need two Aqua Runes!"
At that time, suddenly, Theo threw a bomb to her front.
In that instant, the warmth she felt disappeared, replaced by deadly coldness. Her smile froze.