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“Neither your magic nor your body will move how you wish.”
As I fell to my knees, Baltzarond moved in front of me in an instant. He hadn’t used any magic—only his natural speed.
“Hmm. I do feel a little sluggish,” I noted.
“This miniature world we’re in now is located deeper than your miniature world. The power of everything, therefore, is on a different scale. Strength, speed, tenacity, magic—everything. The pressure of even one atom of air here will weigh you down. The kind of magic that on your shallow-level world would end entire planets, cast here wouldn’t even scratch the ship,” he said in an admonishing tone. He wasn’t trying to kill me, but to coerce me to surrender.
“In your world, that man over there must be powerful,” Baltzarond continued, pointing at Lay. “But in our earlier match, I went easy on him. I went easy on him, and he still couldn’t keep up with my speed. If I, Baltzarond, was serious, that world of yours would have been destroyed. Forgive me for saying this bluntly.”
His figure blurred for a brief moment, moving behind me. I caught the kick he used with my hand, sparks of magic power flying.
“But you are mere frogs sitting in a well.”
My body went flying, crashing into the body of the ship.
“Witness the sea, Anos Voldigoad. Cast aside your weapons and surrender. That is the only thing a being from the shallow world can do.”
“Hmm.”
I slowly got to my feet. I had crashed into the ship with quite an impact, yet it wasn’t even scratched. The objects of this world did seem sturdier than ours.
“So a spell that can destroy a world won’t even scratch your ship, is that right?” I asked, sending magic into my right foot. Black particles formed a spiral, shattering the ice. “What good news. Since you seem so confident in your speed, let’s have a little race.”
I started running along the deck of the ship, but on the very first step, a thunderous explosion occurred under my foot.
Shouts and groans from Baltzarond’s soldiers erupted all throughout the ship—the vessel carrying us had snapped in half and broken apart midair. It hadn’t been able to withstand the force of my first step.
Their screams and shouts of alarm echoed through the air.
“Wha— It can’t be! The Silverwater Ship Nepheus is...!”
“What just happened?! Did anyone see?!”
“To do this with one step!”
“Impossible! Simply impossible! How could someone from the shallows be able to harm this ship?!”
“Forget all that and focus on repairs! At this rate, we’ll overturn and fall!”
“I’m trying! But the engine is severely damaged!”
“Watch out! The Cloudrift Mountains are approaching!”
“E-Evade! Turn now!”
“It’s no good, the rudder won’t respond—”
The Silverwater Ship Nepheus fell, crashing into the mountains that peeked out from the clouds. The ship body became a crumpled heap, falling apart on impact. Soldiers were sent flying into the air, colliding into the mountainside like a rain of boulders.
“Guh!”
Baltzarond straightened himself midair and landed on his feet. His sharp glare was directed at a cloud of dust.
“Bwa ha ha. My apologies. I thought we could have a footrace, but your ship was much more fragile than you said it was,” I said, appearing from the dust with Lay and Shin.
“That...power...” he muttered with a grim expression.
I smirked back at him. “Did you think that a small well would hold a small frog?”