"I think I need you two to know some things about me before we go to the underwater civilization," Julian said to Yami and Vanessa who were in a room in the resort.
Julian felt like it was time for some of them to know about his background since he would be searching for the weapon his ancestors kept in the underwater temple.
"Captain Yami already knows about the Ragnvindr but I will still explain again"
Giving a short explanation about who the Ragnvindrs were, Julian began to narrate the story of his life so far.
From his being sent to the future a thousand years into the future, his powers, the incidents in the dungeon, and his relationship with the Witch Queen.
Powers that didn't make sense about Julian had now begun to make sense.
What surprised Yami was the lack of any information about the Ragnvindrs.
He had read about Elves, Dragonoids, Demons, Devils, and Dwarves but never heard about Ragnvindrs which made him wonder what kind of enemy they faced.
'Direct descendants of the God...this title suits if his powers are taken into consideration' Yami thought.
Unlike Yami, Vanessa had a hard time swallowing the description of the Witch Queen that Julian gave her.
She didn't know how to process that information.
But one thing that made her happy was that Julian was her relative.
"In one of my trips to the museum, I found a text related to something left by my ancestors in the underwater city.
So I am telling you in advance that I may be able to help to search for the stone as I would be busy"
**************
Night:
All the Black Bull Members and Charlotte gathered at the beach.
"Everyone ready ?" Noelle asked spreading out her mana.
[Water creation magic: Sea Dragon's Cradle]
Mana erupted from Noelle and started to take the form of a giant rotating orb of water that covered everyone present there.
Charlotte and Yami looked at Julian who forcefully stabilized the orb giving Noelle an easier time in moving the orb.
"Let's go, Noelle," Julian said.
The water orb kept going deeper as the pressure of the water and attack from chaotic mana increased but the water orb was completely untouched as two hundred meters around the orb was completely stable due to Julian's mana zone.
After going about three thousand meters deep, Julian asked Noelle to stop the movement of the orb.
"Why did you ask me to stop?" Noelle asked confused.
"Just wait and see for yourself, " Julian said as a few seconds water currents enveloped the water orb, and began carrying it with them.
Earlier Julian had dragged Kahono's consciousness into his mind space, he could read her memories too. From one fragment of memory, he knew the fastest method to get to the underwater temple.
The people of the underwater temple are blessed with the power of the water spirit Levaithan making them able to breathe underwater freely and become expert swimmers.
There is a specific set of water currents that acts as a mode of transport for them.
As the water current took them deeper, a different world seemed to have opened to everyone.
The underwater was not dark but surprisingly well-lit by light-emitting plants and rocks everywhere.
The beauty of the flora and fauna there seemed out of the world.
There were numerous species of aquatic life living in harmony.
Even Sea monsters like a three hundred meters long sharks could be seen swimming around.
[Pretty interesting variety of food I must say] Kirin commented.
But one interesting thing that everyone could figure out was that all of the aquatic life ignored them ever since they entered the water current.
"This water current is one of the main modes of transport for people of underwater temple.
There is a law in the ocean to not attack anything that goes through this current….
Don't ask me how I know this information, I am not going to answer " Julian said.
Finally, after an hour more of travel, they noticed a giant mana barrier.
The chaotic mana around the barrier would crush the water orb even with its mana zone of Julian.
"Now what to do with this...."Yami said as he looked at Asta.
Asta immediately had chills knowing well that Yami looking at him meant he was going to get thrown at the barrier.
'Since I am a Ragnvindr, the barrier must open for me'
With this though, Julian unleashed the full power of his mana pressure at the mana barrier.
As expected a hole was created as soon as Julian's mana pressure made contact with the barrier sucking the orb and transferring it to a platform.
Noelle canceled her spell as the entire underwater civilization was visible.
The land was filled with fresh air without water.
Everywhere their eyes went they saw mushroom-like structures arranged in different patterns.
A lot of them had their tops cut in a specific pattern where crops grew.
At the top, a glowing ball of mana could be seen acting as the Sun and acting as a source of light.
Finally, they looked at the civilization which was no less than the capital city in size.
While everyone was admiring the view, people with sensing abilities sensed five people rapidly approaching their location.
Swoosh!
Five black shadows wielding spears jumped onto the platform and pointed their weapons at the Black Bulls.
All of them didn't appear to be humans but a mixture of humans and sea creatures.
Their spears were made from unknown materials but their armors were made of sea stones, one of the rarest and hardest materials known.
Some had skin like a shark while some had arms like a crab.
[Ehh! So scary~]
"" Outsiders are not welcome here"" All of them said together flaring their mana.
Julian could sense more and more mana signatures coming their way and slowly surrounding them.
""We don't know how you found this place but this place is not for land dwellers.....leave or face heavy consequences"".
More and more similar creatures jumped onto the platform pointing their spears at the Black Bulls.
The way all these people carried themselves spoke discipline.
Yami and Charlotte were perfectly calm but some of the Black Bulls were in panic.
"Don't do anything, let Julian handle things here" Yami commanded.
He made eye contact with Charlotte telling her that he would explain things later.
"That was an interesting welcome but I am not here to leave " Julian's overwhelming mana pressure washed over the army as all of them found their world dark.
Two red menacing eyes surfaced from the darkness sending chills down their soul.
"Inform the elders…..
I….Julian Ragnvindr is here" a voice echoed in their souls.
***********
The tension in the air disappeared in the next second all of them stabbed their spears to the ground and got on their knees.
"" Forgive our rudeness, O descendant of our savior...sir Julian Ragnvindr.""
The Black Bulls had their eyes popping out with shock seeing what just unfolded.
Although Charlotte was hearing the name Ragnvindr for the first time, somehow that name sounded familiar.
All of the soldiers created two lines on either side of the platform while one person who appeared to be the leader kneeled in front of Julian.
"Our elder is expecting your arrival…..
Please follow us"
Julian nodded and started walking. Secre didn't wait and started walking beside him.
This reminded her if she was walking beside a king around him his subjects were lined up.
"We are running out of time.
I will explain later, just follow me for now" Julian said to the Black Bulls seeing their confused faces.
With the head soldier leading, everyone finally entered the city.
The houses in the city mostly came in a similar pattern which looked like sea plants but most importantly, all of them were made from sea stones.
All of them had figures of sea creatures carved on them with the most common being a sea horse.
Sea stones are rare mineral which is generally black in color and soft but becomes white and one of the hardest substances when it comes in contact with water.
Once they become white, they cannot become soft again.
As for the citizens, most of them were fishermen.
Julian believed them to be a mythical race but it turns out they actually exist.
Some looked like a mixture of humans and octopuses, while some looked like a mixture of humans and turtles.
Finally, the ones that attracted Julian's attention the most were mermaids.
Just as the rumors about the Moon chase festival said, their beauty was out of the world.
Even people like Luck who never showed interest in women couldn't turn away his eyes from them.
Apart from the fishermen, Julian could see humans living there too.
Some citizens looked at the newcomers with curiosity, excitement, and respect.
"A lot of us regularly travel to the upper lands in disguise so we know about the Magic knights and Black Bulls.
Sir Julian even your accomplishments are talked about a lot, especially your fight against the five-headed dragon" the guard informed Julian.
"That explains the stares"
After walking through the city, we reached the tallest structure.
There were sculptures of two mermaids on the doors while a giant eastern dragon coiled up around the structure from top to bottom.
"This is the farthest I can go.
Our elder is waiting inside" the guard informed Julian and bowed down before leaving.
As soon as Julian opened the gate, a giant shark opened his mouth to gulp him down.
Julian was unfazed and just moved his finger as a condensed blade of light sliced the shark from the middle.
The corpse of the fight burst into fragments of mana and got absorbed into the floor.
'A recorded illusion with a solid presence.
Just like the dragons in Alric's dungeon. '
As the illusion cleared up, an old with long white hair and a beard along with five masked people came into Julian's view.
" Welcome to the underwater city !! " everyone said in unison.
The old man came forward and introduced himself as the high priest and elder of the city of Watatsumi "It has been nearly 16 years since we received a visitor from the outside.
We were waiting for your arrival, especially this young man " he said while looking at Julian.
"This is the first time after a thousand years a Ragnvindr visited this place"
One of the people beside the old man removed their mask making Asta and Noelle widened their eyes.
" Kahono !?"
***********
While Noelle and Asta talked with Kahono and the two captains to the old man regarding the Magic stone, one of the people beside the old man asked Julian to follow them.
Secre decided to follow Julian too.
The person who asked Julian to follow him removed their mask to reveal an old woman.
"Pleasure to meet you, sir Julian…..
I am the high priest's wife and I am responsible for the rituals and festivals around the city"
While walking Julian kept looking at the interior of the temple which had different sculptures of warriors.
At the end of the hallway, there was a floating orb of water in front of the statue of the Human God.
He was the same person from whom the Ragnvindr bloodline started.
The old woman touched the orb as her eyes glowed blue.
Julian could see dragon-like scales appear on her hands as she touch the orb.
'She is not completely human too'.
The floor below them lit up as they found themselves teleported to a different location.
Three of them found themselves in what appeared to be the throne room.
Kirin became completely quiet after coming to this room. He would not answer no matter what Julian said so he stopped trying.
There was a blue eastern dragon who curled up around the golden throne with its mouth open.
From its mouth fountain of water flowed and got collected at the base of the throne but it never overflowed.
"This is the source of the water current that we use to travel between the lands and different parts of the ocean.
This water is the purest form of water having the blessing of Leviathan.
It has the power to cure every kind of illness. "
Sitting on the throne was a handsome man whose one hand was holding a spear.
Around the throne were various armor-clad warriors each wielding a spear.
" Thousands of years ago when the world was enveloped in war, a member of the Ragnvindr clan made a contract with the water spirit Levaithan and created a safe space we now called the city of Watatsumi.
The statue you see forwards was our founder Altante Ragnvindr.
Aside from him, different Ragnvindrs though generations gathered us fishermen who were hunted down by other races to this place.
We were taught to speak the human tongue, fight,blend with the people at the surface, and survive.
The other statues you see were the statues of the first warriors he trained under him.
The only thing we were asked in exchange was to protect the legacy of Atlante Ragnvindr which was the doorway to a world solely created for the Ragnvindrs.
Altante during his prime separated a part of his soul and sealed it in a dimension to training the future generations in the way of combat.
Many clan members of the Ragnvindr clan came to this place for training but the last person who came here was one thousand years ago.
After that, no one came so we went to investigate and found that the clan of our benefactor was erased from history.
Around that time the barrier that protected the city weakened and reached the state you see now.
My ancestor believed that somewhere the Raginvidr clan was still alive and one day will come to this place and take revenge for the death of their kin ." she paused.
" Seeing you here felt like I completed the objective of my life . " she said with tears of happiness rolling down her eyes.
Julian gave her some time to compose herself and asked.
"How do I access the legacy ?"
"Drink from the fountain of leviathan and put a drop of blood on Atlante's spear.
The girl should do it too.
Although she is not a Ragnvindr, her soul is connected to you " the woman said as she could see the connection between Julian and Secre through her eyes.
"How do you know about our connection ?" Secre asked.
"Eyes of Levaithan....
Every generation, the water spirit leviathan on the day of coming of age blesses the priestess with his power to keep an eye on the entire civilization and see things that cannot be seen normally.
With these eyes, I can say that you are affected by the curse of forbidden magic that affects your humanity.
And the presence of the lightning spirit inside sir Julian" the old woman said with her glowing blue eyes.
Julian just smiled and drank some water from the fountain.
He looked at Secre and dropped their blood at the spear at the same time.
Julian's vision started going blank as a bunch of notifications started popping up.
[Blessing of water spirit Leviathan acquired
[Water Magic acquired ]
[Disease resistance acquired]
[Sea Dragon series spell unlocked ]
[Growth of Tree of Origin increased ]
Julian opened my eyes and immediately closed them as he felt direct rays of sun falling on his face.
Kirin was there beside Julian in his human form as tears dropped from his eyes.
"M-Master….."
Hearing Kirin say that Julian opened his eyes and stared at the handsome man in front of him.
The man had the red eyes of Ragnvindr and black hair with strips of golden. He had black dragon scales over his arms and wore a white cloak.
The man looked at Julian and said something that Julian never expected someone to say.
"Welcome to my abode…..Julian Ranvindr.
I am Altante Ragnvindr…..your ancestor...and the person who was reincarnated into this world by the human God before you "
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
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