Chapter 9: Gateway.
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"Uncouth man from another world. Are you ready?"
Turning his head back, seeing everyone on board the fleet and already starting to set sail, Richard nodded to Philippa Eilhart. But before that, he couldn't help but ask Margarita, who insisted on staying beside him, "Are you sure you want to stay here? Because I want to engage in a fight with that humanoid elemental."
Before Margarita could assure Richard that she would follow him anywhere, even to help fight the humanoid ice elemental monster, she saw Philippa raise an eyebrow and smirk slightly in amusement. Not wanting to give her friends a topic to tease her about, Margarita changed her response and said, "In that case, I will just stay right here, in case you need a portal."
Nodding his head, seeing Margarita had already made up her mind, Richard then noticed the protective barrier being taken down. Without wasting any time sending the blind woman off, he instantly dashed forward using the Second Form of Whirlwind Dragon, gliding and finishing off dozens of hound monsters, both mutated and not. Noticing that the remaining opponent in the area was the Ice Elemental, Richard finally changed his stance to the Fifth Form of Raging Whirlwind.
With his motivation shifted from saving to killing, his effectiveness in mowing down enemies greatly improved. As a result, many buildings and streets of Novigrad burned down due to stray attacks from the flames he conjured. He deployed the First Form when he wanted to relax, the Second Form to move in a certain direction, the Third Form when attacked by ice projectiles, the Fourth Form against groups of elementals, and the Fifth Form as his main method of attack.
Fifteen minutes later, gazing back and seeing that the fleet was far enough to avoid the monsters' projectiles, Richard set his sights on a distant humanoid Ice Elemental. Despite seeing many hills of Wild Hunt soldiers' corpses caused by that Ice Elemental monster from the same universe, which instilled fear among the people of this world, Richard remained confident. No opponent had yet resisted a single stroke of his blade. Perhaps in the future, there would be such a contender, but for now, the foes in front of him were no match for his power.
Sadly, when his figure became visible to the humanoid Ice Elemental, the creature immediately stood up from its throne and retreated into the portal, avoiding a duel. Arriving at the portal, which was still pouring out monsters from the world of Aen Elle, Richard saw the Ice Elemental quickly disappear into the crowd. Observing that the foe decided to retreat because it knew it couldn't defeat him, Richard couldn't help but sigh in lamentation.
Then turning his gaze to the large portal that was expanding rapidly, he performed the Fourth Form: Whirl of Blue Sky, intending to close the gate between the worlds. Since the presence of this gateway was like a sword of Damocles hanging over them.
Slash, BOOM!
Thrown back hundreds of meters into the air and landing with a loud thud, Richard checked his injuries. Fortunately, due to using the Fourth Form that enhances his defense and physical capabilities, he only sustained a scratch. After assessing his injuries, he looked up at the gateway, wanting to see the result of his attack.
But seeing the gateway still standing firm and continuing to open and grow larger, pouring monster after monster, Richard decided to try again. This time, he relied on pure physical strength, amplified by the force of the earth element. Abandoning the area-of-effect attack using elemental powers, he focused solely on hacking the portal to pieces with pure physical force, enough to create a small earthquake. Sadly, even with that effort, he couldn't close the portal and was thrown back once more.
Recognizing the shortcomings of his abilities, Richard decided to seek out the magical lady, who was still patiently waiting on the dock. Using his Second Form to move quickly, slashing monsters in passing, he arrived where Margarita was. Killing the Ice Elemental trying to destroy Margarita's protective barrier, he asked, "Margarita, can you close that big portal?"
Looking at the passage transformed from a normal portal into an Ard Gaeth due to the Conjunction shifting the balance of Order Magic, Margarita answered and explained.
"No... Not yet, at least. I have yet to fully comprehend the inner workings of Ard Gaeth. But don't worry. I predict the gateway will cease expanding at a certain point and then close on its own. Since, the proximity of other universes drawn closer to the Continent restricts the development of each universe, preventing each of their worlds from merging. So, you need not worry."
Nodding in silence and looking at the large portal, Richard decided to abandon his efforts to close the gateway between worlds and perform other disaster relief actions. Instead, he focused his attention on finding the person who caused all of this, which had become his motivation since his arrival in this world. He speculated that his arrival might be tied to her at the very least.
Turning to the delectable sweet-scented Margarita, especially after her gesture of staying beside him, he asked, "Do you want to see how I get to the ship?"
Intrigued once again wanting to see Richard's powers, which felt more like Order magic or in layman's terms, more like science, Margarita nodded and said, "Sure," while secretly casting all analytical spells that she can think of to better understand his abilities.
Noticing this, Richard just shook his head. Every sorceress he had met so far—whether student, adept, or full-fledged sorceress—shared the same curiosity. Perhaps because his power was beyond their imagination, they avoided openly asking him about his abilities, fearing they might offend him. Especially after witnessing the display of power that made every mage nervous just thinking about it. Still, he didn't mind them secretly studying his abilities, since he, too, scrutinized them with his Transparent World, trying to understand them, creating a win-win situation.
"Curious?"
"You could say that."
"Want to exchange notes?"
"Gladly."
Smiling back at beaming Margarita, Richard then turned his gaze to the distant sea where the fleet was located. Inhaling and exhaling deeply, he closed his eyes to tune his element. From a rejuvenating flame that brought vitality to his entire constitution, it now became a wave of water guiding his actions into a correct flow of posture and fluidity of movement. The First Form, once just a technique, now became something new that could carry him to the distant fleet.
Landing on the sea, he then ran nimbly on top of the water using his newly created water element breathing pattern, the First Form named Splashing Water Flow.
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