“I’m not sure how this will do. Come forth, Undine.”
Blue mana burst forth from Professor Pyuteori’s fingertips as if exploding outward.
The droplets of water floating in midair gathered in an instant into the shape of a person, and Undine, a water spirit exuding a beautiful yet chilling aura, descended onto the field.
Around Undine, the damp air settled heavily.
It was an overwhelmingly dense water-attribute aura, incomparable to the Aqua Slime that had just been scattered.
“Taesan, be careful.”
Yustia cried out urgently as she flipped open her notebook.
Her gaze swept quickly down the page.
“Undine is difficult to completely destroy with simple blows or shockwaves alone. Even if you break down its form, unless you destroy the core that serves as its true body, it will absorb moisture from the surroundings and regenerate endlessly.”
Anxiety tinged Yustia’s voice.
“On top of that, it has the ability to fill the surroundings with water, slowing its opponent’s movements and creating an underwater environment favorable to itself. It’ll be a far more troublesome opponent than the familiar Evan summoned.”
I lightly clenched and unclenched my fist as I stared at Undine.
Simply breaking through once wouldn’t be enough.
I needed a decisive blow that would sever that cycle of regeneration.
“Where is this core?”
At my question, Yustia lifted her eyes from the notebook and examined Undine’s form.
“Normally, it’s located near the heart or head, but Undine can freely shift the core’s position according to its will. You have to aim for the fleeting moment when its form collapses after you strike it.”
“Got it. Aim for the moment its form breaks down.”
I drew in a deep breath and lowered my stance.
The pillars of water rippling around Undine coiled like snakes, ready to pour down toward me.
Professor Pyuteori watched us with his arms crossed, his gaze relaxed.
“Perhaps because you are a child of Rosenhart, your fundamentals are remarkably solid. But what matters more than knowledge is how you control that fleeting instant on the Battle Field. Now then, shall we see whether that knowledge works in real combat as well?”
No sooner had he spoken than the air around Undine rippled, and a heavy water pressure bore down from all directions.
The enormous droplets floating in midair transformed in an instant into sharp ice spears and rained down toward me.
“I’m going.”
I kicked hard off the ground and threw myself toward the cascading ice spears.
Kwa-ga-gang—!
The powerful shockwave created by my fist thrust through the air crushed the ice spears into powder in one blow.
Taking advantage of the shattered ice fragments scattering in every direction, I charged toward Undine’s main body without slowing.
Shiiik—!
Undine’s arm stretched out, transforming into a massive whip of water that lashed toward my waist.
It was a fluid yet destructive movement.
I bent my upper body low to evade the whip and, at the same time, slipped in beneath Undine.
Puh-eok—!
My fist struck Undine’s form, but instead of the dull sensation of impact, only a soft, yielding resistance remained at my fingertips.
The struck area caved in and its form distorted, but Undine instantly absorbed moisture from the surroundings and restored its original shape.
“Even if you break its form, it’s useless if you can’t find the core!”
Yustia’s urgent shout came from behind me.
As expected, simple physical destruction offered no chance of victory.
A cold light filled Undine’s blue eyes as it began to deploy a wall of water once more.
I had to find a way to break this tenacious cycle of regeneration.
“Haap!”
With a shout, I unleashed a powerful shockwave that tore through the air and shattered Undine’s form once again.
Spray scattered in all directions, obscuring my vision like a thick mist.
Kwaang—!
My successive punches burst apart portions of Undine’s body, but the fragmented droplets stopped in midair before they could touch the ground, then gathered back around Undine at terrifying speed.
“Taesan! The core is moving!”
Yustia’s urgent cry rang out from behind me.
Sure enough, each time my blow connected, I could see a faint blue light rapidly shifting from the upper body to the lower part, and at times behind its back.
But with my physical speed alone, accurately tracking and destroying that fluid core was too much.
“You’re fairly skilled at pressuring an opponent with overwhelming force.”
Professor Pyuteori evaluated me in a relaxed voice.
“But if you can’t keep up with Undine’s regeneration speed, it ultimately becomes nothing more than a battle of stamina. And in a battle of stamina, the one at the greatest disadvantage is someone like you, who receives no support from mana.”
The professor was right.
Under my relentless attacks, Undine lost its form and collapsed again and again, but against that stubborn regenerative power, all I was doing was increasing my own exhaustion.
My breathing gradually grew ragged.
Shiiik—!
Undine’s arm, which had been severed in half, had already turned into a massive water spear and shot toward my solar plexus.
“Kgh…”
I deflected the water spear by a hair’s breadth, but the dull pain that traveled up my wrist made my brows furrow.
My movements, worn down by the endless regeneration, had slowed for an instant.
Undine did not miss that opening, whipping the water pooled on the floor like a lash to bind my ankle.
The swamp-like helplessness unique to an opponent unaffected by physical strikes was slowly coiling around my entire body.
If I couldn’t break through, I would have no choice but to slowly dry up and die inside this underwater prison.
“Hoo……”
A rough breath escaped between my lips.
Far from counterattacking, I was hard-pressed just to avoid the barrage of attacks.
Kwa-deuk—!
A pillar of water coiled around my ankle and tried to tear my movement apart by force, but the severed stream soon entwined from another direction like a snake, gnawing away at my mobility.
“Where did that momentum from earlier go? To think your breathing would fall apart under this level of pressure.”
Professor Pyuteori’s leisurely voice echoed across the field.
In time with his gesture, Undine’s form rippled greatly once more, and this time, massive walls of water surged up from all directions, completely cutting off my escape.
Shiiik, shik—!
I barely twisted my body to evade the water bullets fired from every side, but a stream of water that slipped through a momentary gap slammed into my shoulder.
“Kgh……!”
With a dull rupture, my body staggered violently.
A bone-chilling cold spread rapidly from the point of impact.
“Taesan!”
Kwaang—!
“Acceleration! Wind Shield!”
Along with Yustia’s urgent cry, I felt a light current of air wrap around my body.
At the same time, a faint shield of wind unfolded in front of me, dispersing the pouring water pressure for a fleeting instant.
“Now, Taesan!”
Not missing that brief opening, I used the acceleration from the Wind Shield to plunge into Undine’s embrace.
I clenched my fist tightly and drove all my body weight into a blow against Undine’s abdomen.
Puh-eok—!
With a dull burst, Undine’s upper body distorted greatly and exploded.
My eyes darted quickly through the spray scattering in every direction, but it still wasn’t enough to pinpoint the location of the blue-glowing core.
Undine’s half-destroyed form was already greedily absorbing moisture from the surroundings and restoring itself to its original state.
“Kgh……”
Unless I burst apart Undine’s entire form with a single strike, I couldn’t escape this swamp-like cycle of regeneration.
“For an attack supported by the summoner’s magic, it lacks decisive power.”
Professor Pyuteori’s gaze was like that of a predator leisurely waiting for my stamina to run out.
“Taesan! You have to burst it apart in one go! You need an impact so massive that it won’t even have a chance to move the core!”
Yustia’s voice rang across the field.
She was right.
With partial strikes, I couldn’t chase the core’s path of movement.
Then there was only one method.
I drew in a deep breath and concentrated the residual current of the Wind Shield toward my legs.
From the tips of my toes to my thighs, I pulled my muscles taut to their limit.
In the fleeting instant just before Undine fully restored its form and forged a massive water spear—
“Haaaaap!”
I leaped into the air, adding the rotational force of my entire body as I drove a kick downward toward the crown of Undine’s head.
Kwaaaaaang—!
The instant the tip of my foot collided with Undine’s form, the massive shockwave it unleashed shook Undine’s entire body as if a bomb had gone off.
With a roar that seemed to tear apart even the surrounding air, the moisture composing Undine lost its form and shattered to pieces.
“…Found it.”
In the middle of the curtain of spray exploding in every direction.
A dark-blue bead, having lost its form for a fleeting instant and falling toward the ground, came clearly into my sight.
It was Undine’s core.
“Now!”
Carrying the momentum of my leap, I threw myself toward the blue core exposed defenselessly amid the scattering spray.
Kwa-deuk—!
My fist split the air and struck Undine’s core dead-on.
With a heavy crack, fine fractures spread across the core like a spiderweb.
“Ah……!”
The blue light flickered violently, and the moisture that had composed Undine scattered into the air as if evaporating all at once.
Soon, a blue summoning circle appeared on the floor, and even the cracked core was sucked into it without a trace.
The damp mist that had filled the field lifted as if it had been a lie.
“……”
Professor Pyuteori’s previously relaxed expression stiffened for an instant.
I saw the hand he had been holding behind his back twitch and tremble.
“How could he have such speed…”
There was unmistakable bewilderment in the professor’s voice.
“I thought he was only strong, but to collapse that overwhelming mass in a single blow and track the core precisely… The variable of an otherworldly human summoned beast is far greater than I expected.”
“Taesan!”
Yustia’s shout, mingled with delight, reached my ears.
She hurriedly ran onto the field.
“You did it! Undine was…… Ugh, are you all right?!”
The moment her voice drew closer, the tension that had been pulling my entire body taut released all at once, and a terrible fatigue surged over me.
“Krgh…”
Because I had endured Undine’s cold with my bare body and drawn out my strength to its limit, every joint in my body prickled as if burning.
The strength left my legs, and I sank heavily to the floor.