Chapter 645

“Ugh!”

Undine propped herself up by leaning on her trident like a walking stick and stood back on her feet.

‘What on earth just happened!’

To strike at Leo, Undine had mobilized the waters of Lake Rumeria.

This particular island, situated right in the center of an immense lake, provided Undine with an incredibly advantageous setting for combat.

‘I never expected to finish him off with a single strike.’

Undine bit her lip hard.

She wasn’t underestimating Leo at all.

As a spirit of the deep sea, she made her home in the lowest depths of the ocean, but that did not mean she ignored the current events of the world.

Far from it, Undine paid closer attention to the affairs of the world than most.

Undine’s ultimate ambition was to rise as the most powerful spirit in existence.

And if she wanted to etch her name permanently into history as such a spirit, there was one absolute requirement.

‘A Pledger.’

No matter how immense the power of a Great Spirit, it cannot secure a place in history entirely on its own.

It is the champions who find their names recorded in the Hero Records, not the spirits who have sworn oaths to them.

The sheer weight of a hero’s influence was perfectly evident just by observing Lael.

Lael, the spirit of brilliance, had vanished from historical records for thousands of years.

With no pledger to bind her, she had remained a mere observer throughout the countless conflicts against Tartarus.

Yet, simply because Lael’s chosen pledger had been Rodia, the Dragon of Genesis, Lael had been treated as an absolute exception for three millennia.

Then, decades ago, came that lowborn spirit of purification.

Even now, that entity was praised as the most dominant spirit, but the very moment Lael was brought up, she was immediately overshadowed.

Undine found that completely intolerable.

For that exact reason, she had waited patiently for a vast stretch of time, searching for a pledger worthy of her stature.

And the individual she finally discovered was Leo Flobe.

Admittedly, he was not the type of spirit user that a Great Spirit would typically favor.

After all, Great Spirits held a natural disdain for playboys.

Yet Leo was a contractor so remarkably captivating that such a flawed background ceased to matter.

That was why she had offered a pledge, under the strict condition that he sever his bonds with all other fantastic beasts and spirits.

Because he was Leo, she fully anticipated that he would be a difficult person to handle.

‘But what in the world is this!?’

Her opening assault had been neutralized with a single blow, right on a battlefield where she, as a water spirit, possessed a supreme geographical advantage.

Even if it involved spirit magic channeled through Ista, another Great Spirit, the result was still staggering.

‘Even with a spirit user guiding them…!’

A summoner is a practitioner capable of drawing forth the inherent traits of fantastic beasts far past their natural boundaries.

However, when dealing with the caliber of a Great Spirit, the threshold of the summoned entity is already extraordinarily high.

Consequently, pulling out those restricted capabilities is an equally monumental task.

This reality was precisely why the majority of Great Spirits maintained such a prideful demeanour.

Even if a contractor’s presence grants a spirit greater power than normal, in an environment where the terrain advantage is so heavily lopsided, the battle should normally tilt toward equilibrium.

Just as Undine was preparing to once more summon the full might of her spirit magic.

Flash—

“…?”

A sudden gleam of light burst directly before her eyes.

In that exact instant.

Whoosh—!

“…!”

Leo, who had closed the distance without triggering any of her senses, was already driving his foot straight toward Undine’s face.

Bang—!

Undine’s head shattered instantly, dissolving outward.

Droplets of water sprayed violently in every direction.

Being a spirit, she didn’t suffer a fatal injury, but avoiding the sheer force of the impact was completely out of the question.

Shhhwiiing—!

The water droplets, scattering through the air, instantly sharpened into deadly icicles.

Hundreds of frozen projectiles launched an assault on Leo from every conceivable angle.

Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh—!

Vibrant blue flames burst forth across Leo’s entire frame.

Hiss-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s—!

The frozen water needles that made contact with Leo were immediately caught in the barrier of fire and turned to vapor.

“Ugh!”

Undine rapidly created distance between herself and Leo, slamming her trident deep into the earth.

Gurgle-gurgle-gurgle… Splaaash—!

Radiating outward from the point where Undine’s weapon pierced the ground, the terrain began transforming into a massive body of water.

“I will submerge this entire island!”

Her intent was to reshape the battlefield into an environment perfectly suited to her strengths.

“Not even a purification spirit possesses the capacity to dry up all of Lake Rumeria!”

The corners of Undine’s mouth curled upward into a smirk.

Her claim was entirely accurate.

Lake Rumeria spanned such a massive area and contained such a vast volume of water that it could easily be mistaken for an ocean.

With Undine anchoring her power to the depths of Lake Rumeria, it was practically impossible for even Ista’s might to vaporize the entire expanse.

“I am going to make you bitterly regret turning me into your adversary, Leo Flobe!”

In response to Undine’s grand declaration, Leo offered a completely detached reply.

“I don’t actually have any desire to be your enemy.”

“Don’t speak such nonsense! You were the one who launched the first strike!”

“Well, you were the one who started a dispute with her first.”

Leo lightly tapped the empty air with his index finger.

Lael, currently compressed to the size of a human palm, moved her head side to side right beside Leo’s finger.

“Furthermore, I never had any intention of binding myself to just one pledger from the very start.”

Leo gave a casual shrug.

“If you had been told this beforehand, wouldn’t you have initiated an attack against me regardless?”

“…”

Undine fell completely silent at Leo’s deduction.

It was true; if he had turned down her terms, she fully intended to strike him down for his insolence.

“So, returning to the matter at hand. Are you willing to form a pledge with me?”

“You absolute playboy!”

“Anyone listening to you say that would get the wrong impression.”

—It is an undeniable fact that he acts like a playboy, uttering such phrases while his current pledgers are standing right here.

—I find myself in agreement with the old crone this time around.

Lael delivered a swift kick to the flank of Ista, who had materialized right beside her.

—Peep-peep.

—In all honesty, who would ever find that appealing?

—Out of everyone here, only Lady Elsi truly comprehends our master.

The fantastic beasts unanimously threw their support behind Undine.

Leo let out a soft click of his tongue at the commentary from his summoned companions.

Then, shifting his gaze back to Undine, who was still radiating clear enmity, he spoke up,

“Regardless of the circumstances, I require your strength.”

For any spirit user, a potent spirit serves as a formidable instrument of war.

Naturally, securing a contract with a mighty spirit does not automatically guarantee that the caster becomes invincible.

Furthermore, for a standard spirit user, even if they have successfully bound a Great Spirit, taking on a contract with an additional Great Spirit fails to grant them greater power.

Under normal conditions, managing the raw energy of just a single Great Spirit is an overwhelming task.

‘But that limitation applies only to an ordinary spirit user.’

Leo was a Great Hero and held the reputation of being the second most formidable summoner across the entire chronology of summoning arts.

The greater the number of Great Spirit-level entities Leo commanded, the more his personal strength multiplied.

Fiora, Kilian, Arty, Lael, and Ista all voiced internal complaints regarding Leo’s tendency to contract with numerous fantastic beasts, yet they chose to hold their tongues because they recognized that Leo possessed the unique capacity to govern them flawlessly.

Consequently, for Leo, securing pledges with Great Spirits was an absolute necessity to steel himself for the conflicts yet to come.

“I refuse!”

“It would be far wiser for you to agree to this arrangement willingly.”

Leo offered a gentle, amiable smile.

Undine let out a mocking laugh at his suggestion.

“And what exactly do you plan to do if I refuse to cooperate willingly? What power do you have to force me!?”

“I have quite a few options at my disposal.”

The corners of Leo’s mouth curved into a sharp grin.

Crackle—!

All of a sudden, a massive maelstrom began to take shape directly in front of Leo.

Witnessing the phenomenon, Undine’s posture stiffened instantly.

The staggering volume of water that Undine had been actively pulling into the area was suddenly being dragged down into the earth.

‘It’s as though a bottomless chasm has suddenly opened beneath us…’

Shing-shing-shing-shing-shing—!

Snap—! Snap—!

Without warning, dark, shadowy chains tore through the rushing waters, bursting upward to bind Undine’s arms and throat securely.

“Spirit of the Abyss!”

Undine stared with wide, shocked eyes at the somber-eyed entity that had caught her completely off guard and pinned her down.

It was Ignit, the Spirit of the Abyss, who had established his presence within Lumern.

Lael looked equally startled by the development.

—At what point did you establish a pledge with Ignit?

“I never formed an official pledge; I merely initiated a summoning, and he chose to answer my call.”

—…You have accumulated far more parasites since I last checked, Leo Flobe.

—Who are you calling a parasite! If you intend to pledge yourself to Leo Flobe as well, then I am technically your senior who arrived long before you! Show me the proper deference!

—You still retain that insufferable trait of flaunting those repulsive muscles and acting arrogant.

—And you are just as pitifully scrawny as you have always been!

Kilian folded his arms, casting a judgmental look at the Great Spirit of Darkness and the Great Spirit of Fire, who were radiating intense hostility toward one another.

—Honestly. Why is it that Great Spirits are always incapable of getting along? We fantastic beasts possess such exemplary cooperation. Isn’t that right? Chubby bird? Pervert?

—Peep!

Clack—!

Fiora without a second thought struck Kilian’s temple with her sharp beak as punishment for labeling her a chubby bird.

—You crazy bird!

—Fi-Fiora! Directing that lethal beak strike toward me of all targets!

“…”

Leo raised a hand to press against his throbbing forehead.

‘My admiration for Lysinas grows deeper than it ever has.’

The entities pledged to Lysinas were every bit as troublesome, if not entirely more chaotic, than the companions Leo currently managed.

As a practitioner of summoning magic, he felt an immeasurable disparity between his current standing and that ancient master.

‘Did he resort to physically striking them whenever they grew unruly beyond his sight? Knowing his aggressive temperament, he seems entirely capable of doing just that.’

Entertaining notions that would have driven Lysinas to assault him had he been within earshot, Leo walked toward Undine.

“Ugh!”

Undine, thoroughly restrained by the oppressive might of Ignit, bit down hard on her lip.

Ignit, the Spirit of the Abyss, commanded the specific trait of suppressing external power.

On top of that, it wasn’t just Ignit holding her down; Lael and Ista were actively applying pressure to neutralize Undine’s energy as well.

Regardless of how immense a Great Spirit’s personal power might be, if three entities of an equivalent tier were fully committed to restricting her movements, she had zero prospects of escaping confinement.

Breaking free from these bonds in her current state was an impossibility.

“So? Do you still harbor objections to entering a pledge with me?”

“Don’t make me laugh! Do you truly believe I am cut from the same cloth as these commonplace summoned beasts?!”

At Undine’s defensive yell, the group of summoned entities, who had been bickering amongst themselves a second prior, froze instantly.

The collective attention of the six summoned beasts, who represented the ultimate aspiration and peak achievement for any summoner, shifted entirely toward Undine.

—Did you just categorize us as commonplace?

Lael glided forward until she was positioned directly in front of Undine’s face before demanding an answer.

“Get away from me! You are a low-tier creature! Being near you makes me feel cheapened!”

Hearing those words, Lael turned her gaze back toward the rest of the beasts currently bound to Leo.

The Great Spirits and the Three Great Fantastic Beasts were all proud creatures possessing intense individualistic traits and immense self-worth.

It was only natural for chaos to ensue whenever they were forced into the same space.

True coordination was practically a myth among them.

Yet, even under these chaotic conditions, there were specific moments when their actions aligned perfectly.

That rare alignment occurred whenever a mutual adversary manifested from the outside.

And Undine had flawlessly managed to position herself as that mutual adversary.

—It appears that we are all completely aligned on this matter.

Ista expanded back to his true, towering dimensions.

Griped in his hand was a massive bludgeon composed entirely of roaring flames.

The display of him tightening his grip and flexing his massive arms while holding the weapon was intensely intimidating.

—Resorting to physical violence is not my preferred method. Yet on certain occasions, this approach works wonderfully.

Within Arty’s grasp materialised a pristine white mace forged from crackling lightning.

—Maintain your grip firmly, Great Spirit of Darkness.

Kilian let display a sinister, mocking grin.

—When Leo suggested that physical force was the most effective method for convincing Great Spirits, I vehemently disagreed. Perhaps we should find out if it truly yields the desired results?

Lael let out a subtle, dangerous smile.

—Peep. Peep.

Fiora also began spreading her wings in an intensely confrontational manner.

“Wh-what are you intending to do? Stay back! Do not come any closer to me!”

Undine, picking up on the threatening shift in the air, shouted out with a thoroughly terrified expression.

Leo stood watching her terrified response, debating his next move.

Flash—!

“Hmm?”

An immense surge of magical energy radiated from a great distance away.

‘It’s the fourth and fifth-year students.’

Having completed their strategic positioning, they were locking their highest-tier spells onto Leo.

‘Senior Runba is still engaged in combat with Elsi.’

Zing—!

An intricate array of magical symbols materialized beneath Leo’s feet.

Flash— Craaash—!

A massive column of roaring flame erupted toward the sky.

As the inferno gradually dissolved away, Leo, who had taken the brunt of the spell, tilted his gaze upward.

“They certainly put together a solid plan.”

The fundamental composition of this magic was visibly altered compared to their earlier attempts.

He could clearly sense that their tactical approach to handling him had evolved dramatically after just a single skirmish.

The corners of Leo’s mouth swept upward into an amused smile.

“Exactly how much have you improved since our last exchange… let’s find out, shall we?”