Ryosuke Sakurai's point of view.


　Two years ago, I wandered into another world.

　My skills were checked at the Water Temple, and as soon as they found out that I was the "Hero of Light", I was quickly carried up as the "Reincarnation of the Savior".

　It wasn't all bad.
　The Land of the Sun welcomed me with the best treatment, and said I could bring my friends with me.
　He said he would treat all of us as guests of honor.
　If I play an active role as the Brave Man of Light, he will provide me with a lifetime's worth of food and drink.

　I tried to call all my classmates, but those who had gained strong skills said they were free to do so and left.
　It was a shame that even Takatsuki, who would have liked to come, refused to come.

　Then I learned about this world.
　I learned about swords and magic.
　I met a lot of people.

　And then the battle against the Demon King's Army.
　The battle was a win-win.
　And as we had planned, we were able to defeat the Dark Lord.
　We didn't do any damage.

"Further assault on the Demon King's army!
　But President Ewain, who was in command, forbade them to pursue it deeper.
　However, they couldn't lower their troops until the Demon King's army completely retreated, so they had to wait and see......and then they were attacked.　

　I guess I was also careless after defeating the Demon King.
　When I came to my senses, only the 7th Division, including me, was divided within the warding.
The ward, which was developed solely for the purpose of confining the 'Hero of Light', was powerful, and this was the first time my attack didn't go through.
　Besides, the sun's light, the source of the Hero of Light skill, has been weakened.
　Perhaps this was also a ploy of the enemy.

　One by one, his companions fell, one by one.　
　And I was the last one standing.


(.........this is it.)


　I thought as I wielded my sword.
　I can still fight.
　I'll be okay for an hour.
　Two hours will be manageable.
　Three hours might be tough.
　Four hours is probably not gonna be enough.

　No help is coming here.
　My men have already taken their place.
　There was no escape from the black wards, and the demons were attacking incessantly.
　I felt like I was going crazy.

　Wielding his sword was not a sense of duty as a brave man, but a fear of not wanting to die.
　Or maybe it was a desperate mind.
　That will be over soon.

　.........................
　Eventually, I stopped thinking about anything and just cut my enemy like a machine.

　And just when I was about to kneel down, I was suddenly sprayed with cold water from my head.

(Attacked!)
　However, I wasn't hurt at all.
　A water magic method that is unkillable, or rather, I'm not sure if it's an attack or not.
　The user was a friend of my childhood friend.



　◇



We'll take care of these wards in the meantime.
　The expression on his face as he said this has not changed.
　It's the same face as when he rescued me in the first year of junior high school when I was in trouble.

Can you break these barriers, Takatsuki-kun?
　I tried many times to break the boundaries.
　And there must be a lot of good wizards outside, including President Ewain and others.
　Even so, they hadn't come up with any breakthroughs for an entire day.

　Takatsuki-kun's reply was not an answer to his question.

''Sakurai-kun, just grab my body at random.
What?
Come on, come on.
Okay, okay.
　I squeezed Takatsuki's shoulder.


　When he said that, Takatsuki-kun raised his left hand high.


''Water Magic, Great Waterfall.''
Wow!


　The next moment, a flood of water, as if the pool had been overturned, ripped over the entire area.

　And it continued on and on.

　In the blink of an eye, the place we were in was swallowed by the water.
　Oh, we're drowning!



　--Water Magic and Underwater Breathing
　--Water magic and underwater conversation



　Such a voice reached my ears.

(Sakurai-kun, can you hear me?)
(...oh great. (This is the kind of magic that exists.)
　I learned underwater breathing when I was attacking the Great Maze, but I didn't know there was a magic that allowed me to talk.

　By the way, Takatsuki-kun also uses a spell called the Great Waterfall that generates a large amount of water.
　It's a combination of three spells.
　Wizards who could handle all three spells at the same time were rare, even in the Order of the Sun.
　At that time...

(Takatsuki-kun!　(The enemy is coming!)

　There was a demon approaching us with agile movements, even though it was in the water.


　--Water Magic, Water Flow


　Takatsuki let loose a spell without looking in that direction.
　The demons were swept away while being conquered.


(Is it possible to fill the warding with water soon? The water generated by magic is treated as a magic attack? (Absorbed by the warding.............................just as expected)
　Takatsuki-kun is scratching his cheek with his fingers while smiling thinly.
　But isn't that a bad idea?　

(Takatsuki-kun, there's no point in being absorbed by the wards...)
(Don't worry, we just need to keep producing water before it's absorbed.)
(...can you do that?)
You can. Yes, with spirit magic.
　Doh!" said Takatsuki, triumphantly.
　Ah, this face of mine is so happy.
　It's the face Takatsuki makes when he plays a prank.


(Well, I guess it's time to move on.)
(Next?)
　What are you doing?



　--Water Magic, Deep Sea



　As soon as I heard those words, I felt a chill run down my back.
　This magic........is the magic that Takatsuki-kun used on the lightning hero in Highland.

(Sakurai-kun, don't let go of my hand.)
　I shook my head, shaking my head in a jiffy.
　And then I heard Takatsuki-kun's voice - albeit through water magic - and I heard



　--10,000 meters deep.



　The length of this world is not measured in meters.
　That's why this magic must be original to Takatsuki.
　As I recall, the deepest ocean in the original world is the Mariana Trench.
　Its depth is about 10,900 meters.
　That is to say, 10,000 meters of deep sea is almost the deepest in the world.

　I don't know much about it because I'm not a science student, but I think it was calculated that one ton of weight is added to one square centimeter of water.
　No creature can survive in such a situation.
　I used the 'Searching' skill.

　There were no demons alive in the warding.......

(That's Takatsuki-kun........)
　I was worried.
　This is the fifth magic.
　And it's such a big magic.
　Will the magic power and control be okay?

(Oh, the demon that came into the wards did it on its own. (Lucky me.)
　I heard Takatsuki's excited voice.
　Ah, it seems to be totally relaxed.

　Then we waited in the water for a while, but the demons couldn't get to us in the first place.
　Peaceful time came.


(I'm bored.)
　Takatsuki-kun stretched as if he was bored.
　Naturally, he continues to use the 'Water Demon Method, Great Waterfall' and uses the 'Water Demon Method, Deep Sea' to defeat the demons that come in.
　Normally, this would require a ridiculous amount of concentration....


(Takatsuki-kun, what do we do after this...?)
　It doesn't change the fact that we can't get out of the ward.

　Takatsuki-kun spoke in shock.

(Let's wait for twenty-four hours for now.)
(Twenty-four!)
　I almost let go of my hand in surprise.
　That would mean a whole day, wouldn't it?

(According to the miko Esther's prediction, Sakurai-kun won't be able to get past this night, so I guess preventing that would change my prediction...)
(But no amount of twenty-four hours...)
　There's no way I could concentrate that much.

(If it were a game, I could go three ways...)
(....)
　Come to think of it, that's right.
　Takatsuki-kun's statement that he hadn't slept for three days was really three days.


(Since I'm bored, let's make small talk, Sakurai-kun.)
(Now!)
　I was confused by the gap between the desperate comfort of just a few minutes ago and the desperate comfort of just a few minutes ago, and I racked my brain to see if I should say something.

(Well, then, it's about the time I fought an old dragon (Ancient Dragon) in the Land of Earth before...)
(Oh, nice!　(I'd love to hear that!)
　Takatsuki-kun took a bite out of it.
　Afterwards, he asked me about the story of Takatsuki-kun's rampage in the Land of Fire.
　He asked me a lot of questions about my fiancé, and I wondered what was going on, but he told me, "Lately, I've been getting easily swept away in women's relationships...I'm trying to be a hard-core guy.
　I don't think it's best to ask me that.


　We continued to talk about that for a while.


　At that time - I heard a crack in something.
　What is this?

(Takatsuki-kun!)
(What, that was quicker than I thought.)
　The wards are crumbling.

(How in the world did they get those wards...)
(I think they've simply exceeded the maximum they can absorb.)
　Without a care in the world, Takatsuki-kun said.

　Warding breakers.
　It seems that there are two main methods for doing so.
　The smart way to understand the magic formula of the ward and break the formula.
　The other method is a brute force method where you smash a powerful magic into a powerful ward head on and break it.
　It was the latter that Takatsuki-kun took.


(I thought it would last a little longer...)
　I felt a sense of discomfort.
　The way Takatsuki-kun said it, it was as if I should have had a ward....


''Sakurai-kun, it's your turn.　
Yeah.
　The reason was immediately obvious.
　The warding collapsed and the water generated by Takatsuki-kun rose to the heavens in the form of a giant dragon.
　For the first time in a day, the sky was covered with black clouds.

　However, there was something more striking than that.
　A huge silver beast was standing in front of us.

　Its appearance was familiar.
　However, that silver beast that we remembered was much older.
　It wasn't as youthful as the giant beast in front of us.



　--'King of the Beast' Zagan.



　According to what I heard from Takatsuki-kun within the ward.
　There was a Demon King there who had inherited power from his predecessor and replaced him with a stronger one.