Swept away by the massive waves, Kazuma let out a miserable scream. "Help! Murder! Crazy Aqua is out there!
"Idiot Aqua! Stop! Cut it out! You want to create a sea here or what?!"
"Ugh! That's way too much!"
Kazuma was on the verge of tears.
Why was he so unlucky?
Why did he end up with such a useless teammate like Aqua?
"I should blame myself! Yep!"
"I was really wrong! I should never have forgotten that Aqua is an idiot!"
Kazuma was full of regret.
"Let it all be destroyed! Only by washing everything away with my sacred water can I cleanse myself of this filth!"
"Only then can I wash away this humiliation!"
"Monsters! Be drowned in the infinite wrath of Aqua, the great Water Goddess!"
Aqua showed no intention of stopping. If anything, she was pouring even more magic into her spell.
The waves were already flooding a radius of over a thousand meters. If no one stopped her soon, even the nearby villages would suffer catastrophic destruction.
Renzo immediately flew over, using his psychic power to scoop up both Aqua and Kazuma from the water. Then, he made an offer: "Enough! Stop it, Aqua! I'll buy you a whole case of premium Bubbly wine!"
Aqua's eyes immediately lit up as she looked at Renzo with eager anticipation. "Really? You're not lying to me?"
"...You...forget it."
He didn't even have the energy to complain anymore.
One second she was ready to flood the world, and the next she was satisfied with a case of wine?
"Of course, it's real! Don't you trust my credibility?"
"Money is just a number to me. I can have as much as I want!"
"I'm not interested in money."
Renzo said this with an air of complete indifference.
A case of top-tier Bubbly wine only cost about ten million Eris—he could earn that much just by selling a single piece of gear.
"Alright then! I accept! I'll spare these monsters!"
Aqua made a show of looking at the water below before finally stopping her magic. The massive magic circle in the sky quickly shrank and disappeared.
"That won't be enough!"
The water below had already started rushing towards Axel.
After all, the city was located on lower ground.
Renzo immediately drew his sword again, unleashing his full aura. A terrifying pressure spread across the surrounding thousands of meters, making every monster within range tense up in fear.
Even in the distant Axel city, the adventurer's guild's magical warning system went into a frenzy.
"An A-rank energy signature in the western suburbs? How is that possible?!"
Luna, seeing the alert level displayed on the system, cried out in shock. "This is supposed to be a beginner town! A-rank is way too much!"
Renzo sensed the alert in Axel but didn't bother paying attention to it. Instead, he focused all his energy, pushing his swordsmanship to the limit. He unleashed more than ten slashes in the blink of an eye.
Each slash was over ten meters long.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
The slashes landed in a straight line ahead of the flood.
They carved a massive trench, three to four meters wide and hundreds of meters long, directly into the ground. The floodwaters rushed into the trench, diverting into a nearby river.
"Whew! Finally handled it!"
Seeing the flood successfully redirected, Renzo let out a breath of relief, sheathed his sword, and shook his slightly numb right hand from exertion.
Then, he descended to the ground with Aqua and Kazuma, removing the psychic barrier around them.
Both of them had witnessed Renzo's insane swordsmanship firsthand, and now they were completely dumbfounded.
Kazuma didn't hesitate. He dropped to his knees and performed a full-on dogeza, bowing his head to the ground.
"Boss! Please teach me that move! I beg you!!"
Renzo twitched. "..."
This guy…No shame at all!
Aqua clasped her hands together, her eyes sparkling as she gazed at Renzo. "I knew it! The job of defeating the Demon King is yours!"
Renzo ignored Aqua completely and instead crushed Kazuma's excitement with a reality check.
"That was just a basic slash. Once you master Water Breathing to its highest level and get your physical strength up, you'll be able to do it too."
"Now get up! Don't embarrass me! We haven't finished the mission yet!"
He wasn't lying—Water Breathing improved physical abilities, and its sword techniques were solid foundation skills.
Once Kazuma reached the level of a true swordmaster, he'd be able to unleash flying slashes of his own!
...They just wouldn't be anywhere near as strong as Renzo's.
After all, Renzo had an insanely powerful body, swordsmanship insight from his past life, and, most importantly, sword intent.
"Wait... wasn't our mission..."
Kazuma started to say something but stopped halfway, pointing to the area where they had fought earlier.
Then he noticed—the entire landscape had changed.
And more importantly, the four giant toad corpses were completely gone.
Kazuma froze. The next moment, he turned to Aqua and roared, "Aqua! Look what you did! All the monsters we killed are gone! We have to start over!!"
The thought of facing more giant toads made Kazuma's legs tremble.
"Uhh… well! I'm just a healer! Leave the monster hunting to you and Renzo! I'll just support you guys!"
Aqua frantically shook her head like a rattle drum. No way was she going to fight again!
She finally realized how stupid she had been!
A high priest trying to fistfight Giant Toads? She must have lost her mind earlier!
She swore she won't repeat such a mistake again.
Where was this attitude earlier?!
You even made fun of me for being scared!
"Kazuma! Get to it! Conquer your fear! With your current strength, taking down a few toads should be easy! Believe in the results of your past half-month of training!" Renzo encouraged him.
After all, Kazuma needed to fight to level up.
And if he didn't level up, how would he get enough skill points to become Renzo's test subject?
Kazuma snapped to attention. 'That's right! If I could survive those hellish training sessions, why should I be afraid of a few big frogs?'
"Inhale... exhale..."
He took a deep breath, then unsheathed his sword and cautiously approached a giant toad that had just emerged from the ground.
This time, he was smarter. Instead of attacking head-on, he circled around to the toad's back.
"Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!!"
He dashed forward and swung his sword in a swift, clean motion.
The blade sliced deep into the toad's back, near its head, leaving a long, bloody wound.
The giant toad let out a pained cry before twisting its massive body in rage, trying to retaliate against the tiny pest that had ambushed it.
But Kazuma wasn't about to let that happen.
Now that he had calmed down, his movements were far more precise. The moment the toad began to turn, he stepped onto its back, flipped through the air, and landed right on top of its head.
"Water Breathing, Eighth Form: Waterfall Basin!"
With a powerful downward strike, he brought his sword crashing down onto the toad's skull.
The toad, not exactly the strongest of monsters, couldn't withstand the consecutive attacks. It groaned before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.
Kazuma exhaled deeply, his heart still racing. But just to be sure, he stepped forward and plunged his sword straight into the toad's head, finishing it off completely.
True mastery of caution.
With his first kill under his belt, Kazuma realized something—these toads weren't as terrifying as he thought!
As long as he didn't rush in recklessly, picked the right angles, and struck at the right moments, the breathing techniques and sword moves Renzo taught him were more than enough to handle these monsters!
"Not bad, Kazuma! Keep going! You need to take down at least ten today!"
Renzo praised him from afar before casually adding the next challenge.
"Wait, what?! Ten?! Why?!"
Kazuma's face turned pale. That was double the quest requirement! He immediately protested, "Isn't the quest only five?! And that's for all three of us combined!"
"Besides, now that I think about it, doesn't the guild track quest progress through our adventurer cards? Even if the bodies got washed away, the kills should still count! The monster corpses don't actually matter, right?"
At that moment, Kazuma felt like he had just been scammed.