Scorpius and the others passed by Ganymedes and proceeded on through the curtain behind the throne. This castle seemed to be laid out so that anything past the throne was the king’s private area, where no one else was allowed. It was simple to understand.

  As for Aquarius’s location... That was easy to figure out as well. She was in the back of the room they’d just entered. There, a giant water pitcher stood completely in plain sight. She didn’t even try to hide. The pitcher was about three meters tall. It was big enough to seem tough to carry around, but it wouldn’t be much trouble for anyone here, given their levels. After all, their master was Lufas, who could lift and throw a 170-meter-long dragon with a single hand.

  “It’s been a while, Aquarius. Come out here.”

  It took a while for a response to come, but eventually a young-sounding girl’s voice came out of the pitcher, responding to Scorpius’s call. “Hmm? Oh my, those are some nostalgic voices, aren’t they?”

  Her face popped out of the opening in the water pitcher, and just by physical looks, she seemed to be only twelve. She was wearing some strange cherry blossom-pink clothes—they were traditional clothes from a country that had existed over two hundred years ago called Wakoku, and it was called a kimono. She was also wearing a hairpin that was modeled after a sakura bloom. Her hair was a deep navy blue, and her eyes were also blue. At first glance, she was a cute and lovely little girl, and a smile like a blooming flower formed on her face after seeing her old comrades.

  However, not having a person’s appearance match up with their actual age was par for the course by now, and there were many such cases among the Twelve Stars. Aquarius was one of those examples as well; she did not look her age at all. In fact, it wasn’t certain if the concept of aging even applied to her. After all, she wasn’t a monster or a person at all. She wasn’t even a golem. She was a tool with a will made by the Goddess... In other words, she was an item.

  Her official name was Sacred Artifact: Empress of the Sea, Aquarius. Even the face and body she was peeking out of her pitcher with were simply things made of water in order for her to be able to communicate with others easier. Her true body was the pitcher.

  “Oh my, oh my. If it isn’t the actual lesbian scorpion, the fool crab, and the sheep brat. Man, you’re makin’ me nostalgic! Behind you all is... Uh, who were they again?”

  “I’m Fenix!”

  “I’m Hydras!”

  “Oh, that’s right!” Aquarius said. “The grilled chicken and the blue snake!”

  “I’m a phoenix!”

  “I’m a water dragon!”

  Also, Aquarius was patently unable to remember people’s names, possibly because she was an item. That was why she tended to call people by their races rather than their names, whether they were friend or foe. It was so extreme that she even referred to Lufas as “owner” rather than by her name. Luckily, though her speech was rather rude, she wasn’t as wild and violent as Leon. In fact, she was rather friendly to just about anyone and was in the section of the Twelve Stars with a more moderate temperament.

  Aquarius rested her elbows on the rim of her pitcher, laughing throatily as she talked. “So, did you all need somethin’? You came all the way here, after all. I’ll at least treat you all to food.”

  “Ahhh... Yeah. That’s great and all, but we didn’t come to play. Actually, Miss Lufas has returned, so we came to bring you back.”

  Aquarius paused, then said, “Ahhh... ’zat so? So it’s already been two hundred years... Time flies, don’t it?” Aquarius didn’t show much surprise at the news. In fact, she seemed like she’d known this would happen from the start when she spoke.

  Seeing that, Scorpius couldn’t help but experience a fairly heavy amount of jealousy. Lufas had never said a word to her about her revival, but Parthenos, Pollux, and Aquarius all knew. She knew why this was. Lufas had probably wanted to keep her revival a secret, even from her friends, but if she had, then she couldn’t have relied on those who were sealing the ouroboroses to remain there. They might have left their post or even, in the worst case, proceeded to attack humanity themselves, so she had only told a select few in order to make sure that didn’t happen. Scorpius knew that, but knowing didn’t make her feel any better.

  “But now’s not a great time. Could you wait a bit?”

  “Did something happen?”

  “Yeah... I guess it did. I’m sure all of you already know I’m sealing the Fire ouroboros, but it’s a pretty light sleeper. Every twenty years or so it creates an avatar to wander about like a sleepwalker. Not only that, but because it’s half-asleep, it burns up anything that’s near it. It’s a lot of trouble.” Aquarius seemed annoyed as she talked, eventually heaving a sigh. “Well, it calms right down as soon as the avatar’s destroyed, and in the end, it’s just a half-asleep avatar, so it’s not all that strong. Still, it’s part of an ouroboros. Of course, it’s stronger than any old monster or devilfolk.”

  “I see. Meaning you can’t leave until it’s defeated. No wonder you had so much trouble with Pluto.”

  “Oh yeah, that. Well, he would have proven to be a bit much for my carrier. My carrier probably wouldn’t lose one-on-one, but an army that big would be a bit too much for him,” Aquarius said as she looked at Ganymedes. She wasn’t exactly blaming him for it or anything, but Ganymedes still flinched. “Anyway, enough about that. He was just a small fry who didn’t matter even if he was left alone.”

  “Heyyy, then doesn’t that mean we just worked for nothing?”

  “Ha ha ha! Sorry, sorry. Oh, getting back on track... It looks like you brought in some replacements for me, but the grilled chicken and blue snake there won’t stand a chance. I can’t come with you unless we take care of this. Sorry ’bout that.”

  Hydras and Fenix were by no means weak. In fact, they were very strong monsters. One was a phoenix, the strongest of the bird-type monsters, who had very strong regenerative abilities as well as high firepower. The other was a dragon, well known as the strongest race with their strong physical and magic attack abilities. Either one of them held the power to change the face of this planet, if they so chose, but even then, Aquarius had judged them as insufficient.

  “Then W E will help you exorcise this avatar,” said Karkinos.

  “Huh? I mean, that’d be great, but... Are you sure?”

  “Y E S. W E need to fulfill our duty of bringing you back. We will help you, if that’s what’s necessary.” Karkinos winked before turning to look at his comrades behind him.

  Aries nodded. Hydras and Fenix likewise indicated their willingness to help. The only one who looked unhappy was Scorpius, but even she seemed to have realized that this was the best option. Reluctantly, she spat out, “Just do what you want.”

  “Okay. Then let’s all get to it tomorrow. It’s time to put that pesky dragon back to sleep,” Aquarius said happily. Aries and the others joined her in her laughter as well.

  It seemed that this mission would end without them having to fight another member of the Twelve Stars.

  The next day, Aries and the rest were led underground, but rather than the castle’s basement, it was more like the subterranean level of the whole of Nectar. Under the land of ice lay a surprisingly huge cage of ice, and it was so cold any normal person would quickly freeze to death, even with cold-weather clothing. It was one hundred degrees below freezing in the cage, but not only were the Water-aligned Hydras and Aquarius fine, even Aries and Scorpius seemed fine. Once again, common sense didn’t apply to monsters of sufficiently high level.

  If they were frail enough to fall to this cold, they would never be able to withstand ice magic unleashed at them by enemies. Even if it was the element they were weak to, Aries and the rest would never be taken down by mere temperature. They did feel cold, and none of them wanted to stay here too long, but that was it.

  Ganymedes walked in front while carrying Aquarius, followed by the group of five led by Aries. Eventually, they reached the deepest part of the ice cage, and they finally lay eyes on it.

  “So that is an ouroboros...”

  “This is ridiculous. Just its snout is bigger than me in my true form!” Scorpius exclaimed.

  It was absolutely enormous. Too enormous, even. They could only see the tip of its head, just from the nose on. Everything other than that was buried underground; they could literally only see a small part of it. However, even that small part was bigger than Scorpius in her monster form. The true scale of this creature beggared belief.

  I see. No wonder it has to be sealed. It’s not a question of strong or weak; we wouldn’t even get a turn with this thing.

  “Hey, are you sure the seal works? I heard from Miss Lufas that this isn’t something you can actually seal, so you’re just making sure the surroundings don’t change so they think that the world is still at peace and stay asleep...”

  “Oh? So that’s how the others do it. But too bad for you, that’s not what we’re doing here. Rather, such a laid-back method wouldn’t work here. As I said before, this one’s a light sleeper.”

  Aries was remembering how the Ouroboros of Heaven was sealed. Lufas had explained how it worked after they’d seen it, and the seal wasn’t actually something that could even be called as such. It was simply maintaining the surroundings. However, the seal for the Ouroboros of Fire was clearly different. The surroundings had changed drastically.

  Aquarius answered the question while playing with her hair. “My method is simple. Just cool it as much as possible to sap its energy and liveliness. This one’s really easy to understand. Get it? When it’s hot, it overflows with energy, but when it’s cold, it hibernates. That was why I was given the job, given my alignment.”

  Aquarius looked forward and spoke as if it was a huge bother. She was gazing at a single young man who was standing in front of the dragon like a ghost.

  “Even then, it still sends out half-asleep avatars like this though.”

  “So that’s an avatar?” Karkinos asked.

  “Yeah, no doubt,” Aquarius said in confirmation.

  As always, the Water Bearer had her upper half sticking out of the pitcher, not intending to move by herself at all. Amazing that Ganymedes never gets tired. Karkinos felt a little sympathetic towards him.

  “So the avatar is still human shaped even though it’s so big?” asked Hydras.

  “I’m not sure why that is. Apparently, the Avatar skill always produces human-shaped ones. There are four types though. Spirits born from divine power, or fairies which evolve from spirits. The devilfolk, who spring forth from mana. And lastly, those made by borrowing the wombs of people and inserting a part of their soul into it so that their avatar is naturally birthed. The most troublesome one is the last. Unlike other avatars, they’re actually living, so they’re indistinguishable from normal people. Not even Observing Eye can identify one,” Aquarius replied.

  Spirits and fairies needn’t be expounded on further. Pollux and Castor were counted among their number. The devilfolk could not strictly be called avatars. They weren’t clones of someone else, but magic spells with a will, after all, and the last one currently held no examples. In truth, though, Aries and the others had only recently been in contact with one...

  “And that one is?” Fenix asked.

  “Ah, the first type. Basically a spirit,” Aquarius responded.

  Even while giving that commentary, Aquarius’s sight never strayed from the Fire ouroboros’s avatar. It showed no signs of moving yet, but as soon as they attacked it, the thing would respond. However, that also meant that as long as they did nothing, they would have some time to lay on some buffs.

  Aquarius activated her unique skill, targeting Aries and the others. “Skill: Sadachbia.”

  Sadachbia, the hidden lucky star—its effect was to bestow a special buff called “Lucky Star.” Those under the effects of the buff would be able to “luckily” dodge a set number of attacks. It was a skill that buffed dodge, basically guaranteeing a dodge for allies. Of course, this skill was by no means all-powerful. Those who could throw out continuous attacks at ridiculous speeds, like Benetnasch, could quickly eat through the Lucky Star’s effects, and Libra’s Brachium would hit those with the buff directly, ignoring the buff.

  Also, skills had a priority. If a sure-hit skill clashed with a sure-dodge skill, for example, the higher-level one with better priority would be the one to take effect. Sadachbia had a low priority in exchange for being able to take effect multiple times. Its weakness was that basically all sure-x skills would go right through it. Even so, it was plenty strong, even unfairly so. There was no doubt that its power as a support skill was great.

  “Now then, it’s our first fight together in a while. I’m counting on all of you!” said Aquarius.

  “Understood! Let’s go, Fenix!” said Hydras.

  “Right!” Fenix shouted.

  Their spirits were high. Leading the way was the job of the underlings. The red-and-blue monster duo jumped forth in unison, charging at the Fire ouroboros’s avatar.

  4

  Faced with Hydras and Fenix charging at him, the Fire ouroboros’s avatar showed no reaction. It was unclear whether he considered them unworthy of even reacting to, or if they were too fast for him to react to. Either way, it was good for the pair of them, since he wasn’t moving. Fenix gave the Avatar a sharp glare as he charged in.

  Among the skills he had, there were several that were obtainable only by monsters. His glare was one of them, and it was named “Binding Eye.” Its effect was to lower a single target’s defense and render them unable to move for a short period of time.

  On top of that skill, Fenix raised his arms, summoning a vortex of fire from under the Avatar’s feet. It was the Fire element spell “Flare Tornado.” The spell wasn’t especially powerful, but it dealt multiple ticks of damage and bound the enemy in place until the spell was over. Even so, the damage would be minimal, since the enemy was the Ouroboros of Fire, the pinnacle of all Fire-aligned beings. Fire-aligned attacks would have no meaning to it. In fact, the Avatar absorbed the flames and regained HP; it had the opposite effect, so the spell was purely in order to stop the Avatar. Hydras was the real threat.

  “Tidal Wave!”

  Tidal Wave, which was a high-ranking Water element spell that the Wise King Megrez was most proficient in, manifested a tsunami of water flowing in a specified direction from nowhere. It was a wide-area-of-effect spell that aimed to crush the enemy. The Water spell had excellent power and scale while keeping a fairly low cost to use, and so was an excellent spell to use as a main means of attack. It wouldn’t be too much to say that proficiency in this spell determined a Water mage’s true worth.

  The tsunami raged forth, threatening to swallow up the entire area of this by no means small cage of ice, which was fifty meters tall, one kilometer long, and eight hundred meters wide. Aquarius had erected a barrier around the group and defended against it completely, but the Avatar was swept away by the fierce torrent of water with no resistance. The tsunami seemed like it would keep going and hit the main dragon body, but Aquarius shut that possibility off with a barrier as well.

  “You idiot! Don’t hit the main body! What if it wakes up?!”

  “S-Sorry!” apologized Hydras.

  Shaking the dragon awake in the process of trying to put it back to sleep was like putting the cart before the horse. Hydras meekly took Aquarius’s scolding, lowering his head in shame. Seeing that, Fenix made to insult him and laugh, but before he could, Hydras raised his head again and the opportunity was lost.

  However, the Avatar still wasn’t moving, even after their attacks. As always, it was just standing there.

  “This bastard. He’s making fun of us.”

  “’S he tryin’ to say that our attacks aren’t even worth dodging? Well, I’m happy to break that confidence into pieces!”

  After seeing the Avatar completely unaffected, the two of them charged forth once more in irritation, landing simultaneous kicks. The blows were powerful, proven the other day during their assault on the devilfolk city when they had managed to topple an over-fifty-meters-tall high-rise building in one blow and still had the resultant pressure wave destroy several buildings behind it.

  The Avatar was hit with two of those kicks at the same time too! They both struck the Avatar’s face with perfect timing, but at the moment of impact, the pair’s faces twisted in shock.

  What the hell...? thought Fenix. He’s so solid!

  And heavy too! We hit him straight on, but he wasn’t lifted into the air even a little! Hydras thought.

  It would be hard to describe the strange response that ran through their limbs when the kicks impacted. A layperson would say something like, “It was like kicking steel,” but ironically, the two of them could kick through steel as if it were a sandcastle, so they were unable to find a sufficient comparison. That was just how solid and heavy the Avatar was. But it seemed they managed to at least make it pay them a little attention.

  The Avatar, which had up until now not moved at all, casually grabbed both their legs.

  “Whooaaarrgghh?!”

  “C-Crap... This power!”

  Their legs crumpled under a surprisingly strong grip as their bones broke. The two of them instantly realized that escaping would be impossible, so they chopped their own legs off with their hands and leapt backwards to open up distance. Immediately after, Fenix’s stump spat fire as his leg regenerated, while meat simply swelled from Hydras’s stump as his leg also restored itself.

  The Avatar followed up by swinging down his hand in a chopping motion and releasing an invisible blade. But thanks to the effect of Sadachbia, the invisible blade bent its path as if it was trying to avoid the two of them, and the attack missed.

 

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