Chapter 234: You can do that. (1/2)
On a clean and quiet beach, a middle-aged man was tying the rope attached to his boat to the dock. He was about to take the fruits of his work back to home when he felt the ground quake. He looked down in a stupor. Then, he started hearing sounds matching the vibration going through his legs.
The water of the sea behind him became agitated and some big waves were formed. He stared, immobile, for a few minutes as the sounds kept echoing stronger over time. He stayed there until he saw two pointy objects sticking out of the water. He shuddered and watched as a large object resurfaced and pushed the water away.
He paled and almost fainted on the spot. A giant monster standing on his two feet emerged. His draconic head, human body, runic robe, and feathered wings completely stupefied the small man. It wasn't over though. Just after, he witnessed three dog heads surfacing as they shook from left to right to get rid of the water absorbed by the fur. In just a few seconds, there was now a three-headed hound standing along with the tall demon.
The middle-aged man was shivering without rest at that point.
”Arima: 'Let's swim'. Also Arima: walks at the bottom of the sea… Makes sense.”
He suddenly heard a human voice and looked at the source. A man in a white coat had also just come out of the water. That contrast with the two other monsters jolted the man's mind and gave him enough strength to flee. He threw his fish on the ground and ran away as fast as he could while doing his best to not scream. But the astonishing fact was how fast he was running. Maybe he could be compared to a sixth level with that speed.
Also, only when he started running did the three people notice him.
”Who is that?” Chulainn tilted his heads and raised his voice.
”Who knows. He must have been scared by your terrifying faces,” Flavio squeezed his coat to get the water out.
Chulainn growled then gazed at Arima. ”So? Would you care to explain to us why we can't use magic at all?”
Arima looked back at him and his pendant clinked. His body temperature was incredibly high compared to other creatures and the water on him was already evaporating.
”Well, in short, we are not compatible.”
”Compatible?” Flavio frowned. ”To what?”
”The magic circuits here,” Arima responded and looked at the sky. ”This Reality is not really different from our own. I can't say about history or mythology, but the eco-system is practically the same and even magic is similar.”
”And even if the worldly energy is something we don't know about, that's not a problem since it can be used everywhere. That's why it's called 'worldly'. So, we can use mana in this Reality but the problem is that we can't connect to the circuits. Because our soul is not compatible. The reason is that this Reality's circuits are literally, not the opposite, but the anti of ours. An easy way to picture it is that the circuits used in this Reality to cast fire are the ones for water in our world.”
Chulainn scowled. ”Basically, are you telling us that we can't use our magic at all?”
”Not exactly, we can use it, but only inside our body. Our bodies have the imprint of our home Reality. We can use reinforcing magic for instance but anything that is projected outside of our body is impossible. We also can recover mana. Well, at least you two can since I personally don't need an external source of energy.”
Flavio scratched his hair. ”But even so, we're insanely weakened here. How are we going to fight the followers of God and Devil?”
Arima snickered. ”You're entirely right. And you still don't know everything too”
”What?”
”The standards in this Reality are way higher than ours. You saw that regular fisher too, right? In this world, humans are different, maybe they're even completely different biologically compared to us. They're all stronger in both magic and physical aptitude. An infant here could beat a normal teen back in our Reality.”
Flavio's jaw dropped. ”…are you serious?”
”Absolutely.”
Silence fell and Chulainn grunted. ”So what? We're doomed to fail?”
Arima laughed. ”No way. There's a reason why I told you to change into that form too. Most likely, while we're in this reality, we will not be able to transform. So, we had to take our strongest form when coming.”
”…Does that make any difference?” Chulainn retorted. ”I'll remind you that I'm far from the level of a Guardian or a Pillar. I'm just a small Hellhound.”
”Don't worry, I still should be able to use life hunt. So, I'll give some life force to you later. It's useless for me and Flavio, but I think you can get close to Guardian level existence by doing that.”
Chulainn fell silent. ”…you still haven't told us how we are going to win. Me getting stronger will not allow us to overcome the handicap of losing magic.”
”It's quite simple. We just have to use magic which doesn't require us to project it outside. For example, you and I can use a fire breath without any problem since everything happens in our body. That's one of the reasons I chose you to come; you can generate fire with your flesh by just channeling mana. And if the occasion comes by, I can even control it myself to attack since it's a fire holding the properties of our Reality.”