“So, what’s our next move?”
Ronald bent down, his gaze piercing through the ice beneath his feet to stare at the biting lake water below, asking with concern.
“Give me a moment; I need to prepare a bit.” After speaking, Midir began to walk in circles around that section of the lake. The frozen area beneath his feet quickly formed a ring about ten meters in diameter.
As his pace quickened, the surrounding lake water was frozen layer by layer, forming a deep well made of ice.
Once he was certain the ground beneath them was completely solid, Midir slowly extended his right hand, palm upward toward the water inside the well, and gave it a light wave.
As if gripped by an invisible giant hand, the surface of the water actually began to rise slowly.
Even as it passed the level of the ice, the water did not overflow. Instead, it maintained its cylindrical shape and continued to float upward. Within a few minutes, the water—originally over ten meters deep—completely left the bottom of the well, transforming into a massive, crystal-clear sphere of water suspended in the air, looking just like a soft jelly.
Midir looked down at the scene below. The silt at the bottom of the lake was laid bare, having lost its moisture. While it couldn't be called completely dry, it was more than enough for someone to move around on.
He waved his arm again, and the giant sphere of water seemed to take on a life of its own, slowly drifting toward a distant part of the lake that hadn't frozen yet. Finally, it merged gently back into the water, restoring the lake's tranquility.
“It should be fine now. Let’s go down and take a look!” After signaling to Aila and Ronald, Midir was the first to leap into the earthen pit that had been created by the ice well.
“I say, Ronald, do you know anyone else who can do something like this so effortlessly?” Aila asked hesitantly, looking at the large pit before them.
“No, but at least you know one now, don’t you? Come on, stop thinking about it!” Ronald shrugged, offering no further comment, and followed him down.
“Fine... How does this Midir guy feel like he’s getting more and more mysterious?” Shaking her head to toss the strange thoughts to the back of her mind, Aila also made a graceful leap downward.
The lake bed, which should have been slippery and viscous, had now turned into soft sand and soil. No. 23 was stuck diagonally in the mud, with more than half of its body exposed.
Ronald climbed up along its arm and entered the tilted cockpit. He began checking the conditions inside, even tossing out two fish that were still flopping around.
Not long after, a low hum vibrated from No. 23. As its arms began to move, it started to slowly pull the parts of itself that were stuck in the mud free.
“Speaking of those two dragons yesterday, what do you think was going on with them? From the Red Dragon I fought, I could sense a kind of chaos. To be honest, it felt a bit like the Void Demons controlled by Agarechi.”
Midir watched No. 23 slowly break free as he voiced his doubts to Aila.
“Didn't Ronald say that Void Energy isn't very effective at controlling complex, large organisms? A dragon's magic resistance is surely much stronger than a human's. If she really could control them, we probably wouldn't have been able to stop her if she’d brought a few dragons along back then,” Aila said, offering her own opinion after thinking it over.
“You’re right, but I still feel like those two dragons were influenced by something. Besides, their flight path yesterday was in the same direction as ours. I’m wondering if we’ll run into them again. What if they attack us again without a word?”
“What else can we do? We fight! Yesterday, I really had no other options in the sky, but if I meet those ambush-loving bastards on the ground, I’ll definitely teach them a lesson!” As she spoke, Aila swung her small fists, making a punching motion in the air.
As the two discussed, No. 23 finally broke free from the mud's grasp and stood fully revealed before them. At that moment, Ronald’s voice came from the cockpit, sounding somewhat serious.
“There is no doubt those two dragons were problematic. You should know that pureblood dragons speak the Common Tongue, yet they showed no intention of communicating yesterday. That is extremely strange. Also, Mr. Midir, please lend a hand. No. 23 cannot fly out of this deep pit on its own right now.”
Midir walked forward and saw that the propulsion unit on the back right side was covered in scars. A prominent claw mark announced what it had endured.
Combined with being submerged in water overnight, dangerous electrical sparks were now flickering continuously on its back. The remaining left thruster clearly couldn't support a vertical takeoff on its own.
“What do I need to do?” Midir asked after circling the iron man.
“Just use wind magic to provide a balancing force on my right side. The output from one thruster is barely enough to break free.”
With the intervention of Midir’s mana, No. 23’s body finally managed to rise in balance, slowly leaving the lake bed and landing on the still-solid ice.
Aila watched this scene and couldn't help but sigh. “I never used to think magic was this convenient. Shouldn't there be... complex magic circles, chanting, and all that? Why does it feel like I’ve been constantly relearning what a mage is ever since I met you?”
“Shouldn't magic have been invented for the sake of convenience in the first place?” Midir replied.
After a brief adjustment, the three of them used the wind to rise into the air again and flew toward the shore. When No. 23’s massive red body landed on the gravel of the lakeshore, both Midir and Ronald let out a long sigh of relief, finally letting their hearts rest.
Once back on land, Ronald immediately threw himself into a comprehensive inspection of No. 23. Having been submerged in lake water overnight, various systems within the mecha were malfunctioning to different degrees and needed urgent repair to ensure the smooth progress of their subsequent mission.
Faced with this pile of technical problems, Midir and Aila were full of concern but could only express their inability to help.
They turned to preparing lunch instead. Aila laughed as she mentioned the two large fish Ronald had 'rescued' from the cockpit, not forgetting to tease him.
“Using such a massive lure to fish is truly an unprecedented experience. We can’t let this gift from nature go to waste.”
Meanwhile, Midir used the time to meticulously tidy up the small cave where they had spent the previous night.
He cleared out the excess debris, used earth magic to level the floor, and even brought in some dry grass and branches, quickly making the small space much more comfortable.
However, as the afterglow of the sunset bathed the land, Ronald returned to the cave covered in oil and looking slightly exhausted, bringing some less-than-optimistic news. The maintenance of No. 23 was far more complex than imagined, and it likely wouldn't be fully operational again anytime soon.
Rate on N.U.
