Volume 1 - CH 112.1

Chapter 0112 Hassan Sabbah (Part 1)

Translator: Tseirp

The interior of the building was very quiet.

Ryo felt that the building was large even when viewed from the outside, but the impression he got inside was the same too, with wide corridors and more impressively, a very high ceiling.

The impression was more like a monastery from Earth than a Lord’s mansion.

“Usually, the innermost room would be the most important location.”

The design of the building was indicative of a religious setting.

It was, after all, an assassination 『cult』.

Religion, monastery, it was no wonder it had that kind of image.

As he continued down the aisle, he encountered a conspicuous large double door.

“This probably leads to the final room.”

Ryo made a guess.

That said, with the shape of the structure, it was unlikely that there was nothing behind that door.

“<Icicle Lance>”

A very thick ice spear, with a diameter of 1 meter or more, formed.

The icicle lance that was closer to an ice pillar smashed through the door.

At the same time, Ryo rushed into the room and checked the inside.

There was a huge stone platform in the center at the back and there was someone on it.

(His Highness! <Ice Wall>)

He created an Ice Wall to protect Prince Willy … he tried, but he couldn’t.

His magic activated. In other words, it was not magic nullification.

It was not erased after it was created.

In other words, it was not deprivation of magical control as used by the sea monsters.

His magic activated, but when the ice wall was about to be formed, it started disappearing from the side where it was being created.

“It’s interesting to see an intruder at this timing. Of course, you probably came to save the prince, but he can’t be protected by magic.”

A man with long white hair and a white beard, who was working a short distance away from the stone platform, said to Ryo.

“Can you tell me why I can’t?”

“I refuse.”

Ryo politely asked, but the man refused.

“Is that so? <Ice Wall Package>”

Ryo created an ice wall around the man to bind his actions.

“<Sand Wall>”

Sand mixed with the forming ice wall and the formation failed.

Eventually, the ice wall scattered without forming.

“Mixing magic into the formation of the opponent’s magic and interfering with it … I had never thought of that idea.”

Ryo was really impressed.

However, at the same time, he shuddered.

He realized that technique would only be possible if he could cast magic at a terrifying speed.

It took less than a second for Ryo to complete his chant and create an ice wall.

Ryo’s magic was swift.

However, the opponent activated his own magic after understanding Ryo’s magic, and more importantly, he mixed it into Ryo’s ice wall formation … his speed was exceptional.

“I don’t have a patent, so you can use it.”

The man spread his hands and showed a gesture for Ryo to do as he pleases.

He said a conclusive word … 『Patent』.

Of course, Ryo wanted to assert that 『Phi』 doesn’t have the word 『Patent』 … but he realized that he might just not know.

Yes, Ryo still didn’t know much about this world.

“Patent …”

Still, Ryo murmured unintentionally.

“Oh, I’m sorry. It’s a word that a person who’s going to die doesn’t need to know. <Stone Lance>”

In an instant, six stone spears formed around the man and fired towards Ryo.

“<Ice Wall 10-layers>”

This time, an ice wall formed in front of Ryo without getting disrupted and all six stone spears were repelled.

“Hmm. That ice wall is pretty hard, isn’t it?”

The moment the man spoke, a huge rectangular stone fell on Ryo from above.

A person watching from the side might even mistakenly think that the ceiling had fallen instead.

A resounding crash and soaring dust.

(<Ice Wall 10-layers>)

Before the dust settled, this time an Ice Wall formed above the man, parallel to the floor, and fell freely.

Another resounding crash. Soaring dust and … shattered pieces of ice.

Everything that was dancing in the air in the room disappeared and two men stood there as if nothing had happened.

On one side, he chopped up the huge stone that fell with <Abrasive Jet>, as if nothing had happened above him.

On the other side, he created an ultra-hard stone cone centered on himself, piercing and breaking through the falling ice wall.

“It’s really a shock to see my ice wall broken by stone.”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen my stone wall sliced with water.”

Both Ryo and the man grinned.

“First, I’ll try crushing from the front? <Stone spear fangs>”

“<Laminated Ice Wall 10-layers>”

Stone spears were fired from both of the man’s palms.

However, not only that, many magic circles appeared around the man and stone spears were fired from those as well, heading toward Ryo.

The scene was a magical battle seen in anime and games.

Ryo was a little impressed by the man’s magical battle method while blocking the stone spears that were approaching by continuously layering ice walls.

(Even that Explosive Blaze Magician and Akuma Leonor didn’t create such magic circles … It’s really cool!)

Coolness was an important factor. In anything.

“It’s amazing how you can continuously generate that ice wall. Are you not afraid of running out of magic?”

“Nope. More importantly, that attack using floating magic circles. It’s cool!”

Although they were aiming for each other’s lives, there was no such atmosphere in their conversation.

“Hoho, so you understand the greatness of this! Isn’t it great! No one appreciates its greatness, not even my disciples. It’s sad … Hey, why don’t you become my disciple? You should be able to inherit this technique.”

“No, it’s a little bit too much to join the Order of Assassins …”

The man offered to take him as his disciple for some reason.

On the other hand, Ryo naturally didn’t wish to pursue coolness at the cost of becoming an assassin.

“Muu … what a shame …”

The man showed a face of disappointment.

“In that case, I will go next. <Water Jet 256>”

The 256 water jets appeared around the man and moved in random orbits, chopping everything.

“<Floating Stone Wall – Active>”

Countless palm-sized stones moved around the man at a terrifying speed and clashed with the water jets.

The water and stones that collided neutralized each other and both disappeared.

Within seconds, the 256 water jets were extinguished by stone suicide bombers, leaving the man unharmed.

“Defending against it in such a way …”

Ryo was kind of impressed.

The 256 water jets moved in random orbits.

To be honest, even Ryo couldn’t think of a way to defend against it, but … the man neutralized it by colliding countless stones with the jets.

Just like using Fire Javelin against Icicle Lance.

Striking the water jets with stone gravels to erase them.

That may be the most feasible way to defend against them.

“Fufufu, isn’t it pretty amazing? It was quite difficult to prevent the stones from colliding with each other. With this, I can prevent attacks that rely on numbers, just like what you tried. Once the body trains a skill, it will remain even as you age. Technique doesn’t deteriorate, right?”

The man proudly explained.

“What a wise saying. But I believe that would have required considerable magic control and training …”

“Sure, I used to spend all my time training. But now it’s not that difficult. That’s because of alchemy. It’s a combination of Earth-Attribute magic and alchemy. Are you an unconventional Water Magician too?”

“So that’s alchemy … I’m purely a Water-Attribute Magician. As expected, alchemy intrigues me.”

“That kind of control using pure magic … I’m more interested in you.”

The man responded to Ryo’s answer as if he was half astonished.

“Oh, I’ll ask you one last time, are you really unwilling to be my disciple? If you want me to return the prince there, I can return him to you unharmed. He’s necessary for my eternal life, but if I can raise you in the end, I can accept my death. How about it?”

“Unfortunately, I have no intention of becoming an assassin.”

Ryo wanted the man’s alchemy and other techniques just a little bit, but that thought only lasted for a moment.

He had no intention of becoming an assassin.

“I see, what a shame. Then I’ll be serious. Die. <Meteor Bomb>”

The man chanted, but nothing happened.

(It failed? No, what did that guy say? “Meteor … Bomb?” No way!)

Ryo looked up and chanted.

“<Abrasive Jet 128>”

He sliced through the ceiling of the building with Abrasive Jets.

“<Active Sonar>”

Objects were approaching from the sky … there were four meteorites.

“That’s just an attacking relying purely on mass!”

Ryo shouted.

“I knew you’d notice.”

The moment he heard that voice from behind, Ryo reflexively twisted, jumped away, cushioned his fall, and immediately stood up.

At the same time, he took out Murasame from his waist, formed its blade, and looked back.

The moment he heard the voice, he was stabbed in his back, but the Ice Armor and the robe of the Fairy King seemed to have prevented the fatal injury.

And in the place where Ryo stood, there was a man holding a slightly curved single-edged sword, tilting his neck.

“You avoided it … it was a sword strike imbued with an attribute, but it seems that the robe prevented it … would it have been better to use a normal sword without attribute instead … interesting.”

“So those four meteors were decoys while close combat is your favorite?”

“Yes, that’s right. Of course, if I’m against an army or destroying a city, it’s effective to drop it, but if I drop it here, the prince might get caught in the blast. So I decided to go with close combat. You won’t say something like you’re a Magician so you can’t fight in close quarters, right?”

The man said and laughed.

“Right, you are the head of the assassins, so naturally you can fight in close quarters.”

Even as Ryo talked, he kept Murasame pointed at the man.

“Of course. They were raised by me. More importantly, you … black hair and that stance, you resemble the people from my hometown … and that ice sword? Isn’t it curved?”

“Are you only noticing it now? I’m from another world like you. And you seem to be Japanese … although I’m not too sure about that.”

When Ryo said so, the man opened his eyes wide and looked truly surprised.

Both were silent for about 10 seconds.

It was the man who opened his mouth first.

“I’ll verify this first. Is it your purpose to kill me?”

“No, my purpose is to rescue the prince.”

A man asked and Ryo answered.

The man nodded and sheathed his sword.

“If so, I won’t fight you. You can take the prince.”

“Huh?”

The development was a surprise for Ryo.

He thought that the man’s sword strikes would dull if he revealed that he came from a different world like him, but … he didn’t expect the battle itself to end.