"Huh?"
Irene, who felt a sharp pain, finally reacted.
The expression of surprise on her small face intensified further.
How did this guy even get here?
The messenger who went to Rhodes Island only returned a few days ago, so how did he manage to travel all the way from Ursus to Iberia?
Did he teleport or something?
However, Steven couldn't afford to care about the shocked expression of the little bird in his arms.
Mainly because the sea monsters surrounding them clearly weren't about to grant him any more time to catch up with Irene.
The lantern in Irene's hand had already completely extinguished, and those sea monsters certainly weren't concerned about how Steven appeared there, which can be seen by how they all instantly surged towards him.
In the next moment, a blade of light, as if capable of splitting heaven and earth, flashed past.
Steven's originally empty hand is now not so empty anymore, right now, he's gripping the hilt of a katana.
With a crisp sound of the blade being sheathed, a large number of monsters halted in front of Steven, their bodies neatly severed at the waist.
Within a mere blink of an eye, the area before Steven had been cleared into an open space covered by stacked corpses.
Yet, the young man didn't appear particularly pleased.
Instead, he frowned while glancing down at the floor, which seemed like a grotesque combination of moss and slime.
[Nethersea Brand Corrosion I]: Your body and spirit are being eroded by the Abyssal marks, gradually transforming you into another kind of creature…
It's quite a peculiar Status Ailment.
Although it couldn't compare to the Domain brought about by the Collapsal, this one was more disgusting.
At the very least, Steven currently felt his body being sticky all over, which made him feel extremely uncomfortable.
"So, you're telling me you've been set up by someone? Make sense, your situation doesn't look too optimistic. No wonder you've missed me so much."
Having dealt with the first wave of enemies and bought a little bit of time, Steven finally casually took out a bottle of diluted healing potion and handed it over to the girl in his arms, who was already extremely weak, while not forgetting to tease her a little.
"'Missed you' my foot! How haven't you been beaten up yet because of that mouth of yours?"
Irene weakly accepted the potion from Steven and took a sip.
Despite her words, she trusted the young man in front of her completely—this kind of annoying talk was definitely his trademark.
Besides, after pinching her waist earlier, this guy hadn't even bothered to move his hand away.
Did he not know a girl's waist wasn't something you could touch so casually?!
If her strength hadn't been completely drained, she would definitely have found a way to land a punch on his face.
"Be careful, there's something strange about the stuff on the ground, and these creatures are targeting me specifically."
After the initial banter, Irene seriously explained the current situation to Steven, reminding him to pay attention to those suspicious things on the ground.
If it weren't for these things, she wouldn't be in such a sorry state.
Even with Steven's arrival, she was still affected by the effects brought by these things, feeling increasingly uncomfortable...
Irene, who initially wanted to say she felt worse and worse, suddenly blinked.
Just a few seconds after drinking the potion Steven gave her, she realized that the uncomfortable feeling had suddenly eased significantly.
Not only that, but she even felt her physical strength fully restored.
What exactly did this guy just give her to drink?
How could it possibly have such a terrifying effect?
The corner of Irene's mouth twitched slightly; for a moment, she didn't even know how to react to the current situation.
This guy carried way too many mysterious things.
Putting his strength aside, just this potion alone would be enough to make the entire Inquisition treat him as an honored guest.
How many inquisitors had died due to being overwhelmed by monsters' endless waves? Human strength would always run out eventually, yet the recovery effect of his potion right now was horrifyingly strong.
At least Irene felt that if she were put down now, she could easily hold out for a few more hours—and that was after only taking one sip.
"Well, the problem isn't big anymore. Do you have any of them you want to judge? If not, I'll kill them all. You shouldn't have any objections, right?"
Steven glanced at the sea monsters reorganizing themselves and forming another wave to surround them, squinting his eyes with a smile as his hand grasped the hilt of [Yamato].
"Do you think, in my current state, I'm qualified to raise objections? I just want to ask, can you move your hand away from my waist now? Put me down, I can move by myself again."
Irene shot him an annoyed glance.
She was undoubtedly grateful to Steven for descending like an angel to rescue her, but only on the premise that he would stop touching her waist.
Before, she didn't have the strength, so it was excusable. But now that she had recovered, he was clearly taking advantage.
"Ah, wait a bit longer. Let me clear out the terrain first."
Steven shook his head.
Not only did he not remove his hand from the girl's slender waist, but he even tightened his hold around her slightly.
Just when Irene was about to land a punch on this shameless rascal's face, she noticed Steven didn't have an expression of enjoyment but instead wore a serious look.
Then she saw Steven suddenly holding a bucket filled with a liquid emitting intense heat.
And when Steven poured that bucket of glowing orange-yellow liquid onto the ground beneath their feet, Irene finally understood why he said to wait before putting her down.
First, Steven somehow produced a few stones to elevate himself. Then, that strange liquid began spreading around him in a manner completely defying reality.
Though it appeared to be just one bucket, it spread to cover an area of dozens of square meters.
Furthermore, a powerful heat surged upward, immediately letting Irene recognize exactly what that liquid was.
How did this guy manage to carry molten magma in a completely liquefied state around with him? This was nearly beyond the limits of magic!
If Steven had used some Originium Arts, Irene wouldn't have been so surprised. But this guy genuinely just pulled a bucket from somewhere and poured it down casually.
"You—"
"Sigh, it's an Originium Art. If you can't comprehend it, it just means you haven't seen enough of the wider world."
Irene didn't even need to finish before Steven had already guessed what she was about to say, casually deflecting her question with the all-purpose excuse of "Originium Arts."
Although Irene clearly heard the perfunctory tone in his voice, she was helpless against it. If he didn't want to explain, what could she do?
But the effect of this bucket of magma was astonishingly impressive. The strange slime-like substance originally covering the ground instantly turned into smoke upon contact with the magma. Even the parts not directly covered ignited and eventually vanished from the surface.
As for those sea monsters that tried to rush forward, it went without saying—any of them that touched the magma immediately burst into flames, reduced to charred remains amidst anguished cries.
"Just as I thought. There's no carpet that can withstand magma."
Steven shrugged. He had enjoyed using magma against parasitic fungus carpets in the past, and now it was even more effective against this so-called Nethersea Brand, which seemed extremely vulnerable to fire. It had absolutely no resistance to magma.
Still, he wasn't interested in just using magma alone to deal with enemies. After all, it indiscriminately damaged both friend and foe, not to mention it granted neither kill count nor item drops.
After confirming he'd cleared out a large area free from that strange carpet, Steven finally recollected the bucket of magma and jumped down from the temporarily built stone pillar.
Irene's eyes widened in shock as she watched Steven casually take out an empty bucket and recollect the magma covering the entire ground.
At this moment, she felt the proverb "spilled water can't be gathered back" was a complete joke, as what this guy did utterly defied every law of physics known to humanity.
The ground, having been covered by magma, still retained residual heat, but at least the Nethersea Brand had disappeared entirely.
Steven then casually placed Irene down to one side before turning his attention toward the remaining sea monsters, which now showed evident traces of fear toward him.
"Don't look at me like that. Come on, attack me. Where's your dignity as monsters?"
Rather than seeking out monsters himself, Steven preferred when they actively came to him. After all, it saved him a lot of effort, didn't it?
He beckoned provocatively toward the group of sea monsters, and the next moment, they cooperatively charged toward Steven, waving their various tentacles and weapons.
Irene nervously gripped her lantern and pistol, but when Steven extended a hand toward her to signal her not to intervene, she could only abandon her thought of attacking.
If Steven acted like this, then she naturally had to trust him.
Although she couldn't be sure about many things, Steven's strength was absolutely unquestionable.
Even Saint Carmen had mentioned he might not necessarily be this mysterious youth's opponent.
And in the following moments, Steven clearly demonstrated to Irene that Saint Carmen's guess wasn't mere speculation.
Irene couldn't even clearly see Steven's movements—it was as if the space where the monsters stood had suddenly frozen.
Countless white slash marks appeared within the space itself, separating it into numerous fragments.
Yet, in Irene's eyes, Steven simply seemed to grip the sword's hilt lightly, pushing the strange, long blade slightly out of its sheath, before smoothly sliding it back in.
Only after another crisp sound of the sword fully sheathing did a shower of blood and monster limbs burst forth before him.
This scene, filled with brutal beauty, caused Irene to rub her eyes subconsciously, doubting whether such a spectacle was truly something a human could create.
Wasn't this guy just outrageously strong?
<+>
If you want to see more chapter of this story and don't mind spending $5 monthly to see till the latest chapter, please go to my Patreon[1]
Latest Chapter in Patreon: Chapter 214: It Made Me Feel Like I Wasn't Alone[2]
Link to the latest chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/arknightcraft-129691441[3]
https://www.patreon.com/collection/55713?view=expanded[4]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/collection/55713?view=expanded
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/arknightcraft-129691441
[3] https://www.patreon.com/posts/arknightcraft-129691441
[4] https://www.patreon.com/collection/55713?view=expanded