Strongest Warlock - Wizard World Irregular

"All my subjects, listen to me! Bring me that Salmon, dead or alive!"

A giant magic circle lit up above the heavens as Celestia cast a spell from within the Sacred Altar.

A second later, a red beam of light rose up toward the sky, pointing at Ethan\'s current location.

All of the Fairies, Pixies, and High Pixies, who were busy attacking the invaders, ceased fire and flew toward the direction of the moving red pillar en masse.

Their numbers were so great that they looked like a shimmering wave of blue lights in the darkness. If it were ordinary times, the people in the domain would have appreciated such a scene.

But, knowing that this phenomenon was caused by countless bloodthirsty fairies, the only thing they could do was breathe a sigh of relief after these fairies left them alone.

A third of those who had participated in the expedition had already perished, and if the Fairies hadn\'t withdrawn from their battlefield, more would have joined their ranks.

Nicole, Henry, Rowan, Lyall, Conall, and Nika, who heard the Fairy Queen\'s order, all looked in the direction of the red pillar with grim expressions on their faces.

They were now left with two choices—to either stay in hiding, or leave the tall grass in order to support Ethan.

"We need to go and save him," Nicole said.

"No," Henry replied. "We will stay here."

"But Ethan\'s in trouble."

"And that\'s all the more reason why we must stay here. Can\'t you see? The red pillar is going opposite from our location. It means that Ethan didn\'t want us to be targeted."

"But he\'s outnumbered," Nicole insisted. "All the Fairies under Celestia\'s control are after him."

Henry shook his head. "If it\'s just the Fairies surrounding him, then they won\'t pose a threat to Ethan. Nicole, have you seen him use his full powers?"

Nicole was about to say yes, but she held herself back.

Thinking twice, she still might\'ve not seen Ethan use his full powers. Back then, she thought that his Partial Resonance was his ultimate trump card.

But she had a feeling that her sparring partner had still not shown her his full powers.

"He\'s right," afformed Conall, who was listening to the conversation. "I\'ve seen Ethan use his full powers. If it\'s just Fairies, he won\'t have a problem against them. Also, his element is water so…"

"His element is not water," Lyall interjected. "It\'s seawater. Lily told me about it when the two of us had a girl talk."

"Is there a difference?" Conall arched an eyebrow.

"Of course, there is, Brother," Lyall answered. "Seawater is salty, and fresh water isn\'t salty, right? Which means that although he is surrounded by water, it\'s still not fully under his control. He\'s only able to wield it because there\'s no one with higher mastery of it around him.

"But this is the Water Fairy Queen we are talking about. Her power gives her dominion over rivers and lakes. She can even conjure storms. If it were a direct clash between the same element, the one who had higher proficiency in it would win most of the time."

"… Then, should we help him?" Rowan asked.

At the end of the day, Ethan was still his sister\'s lover. Since he doesn\'t want Luna to be sad, he would at least do his best to ensure that he comes out of this dungeon alive.

"No," Lyall replied. "If we want to help him, all of us need to stay put and keep ourselves safe. That\'s the best help we can give him."

While Ethan\'s group had finally decided to keep hiding, the Trout found himself surrounded on all sides by countless Fairies.

"Haha! We got you surrounded!" a High Pixie shouted.

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"""That\'s right!"""

Seeing that he was indeed completely surrounded, Ethan started to come up with a plan in order to escape his current situation.

As much as possible, he wanted to avoid harming the Fairies because they reminded him of Ruby and the rest of the Fairies in Brynhildr Academy.

Also, the fairies were currently under the control of Celestia and were merely acting on their orders.

Aside from that, Aria was begging him not to hurt her sisters, which forced him to come up with a plan that would not end in bloodshed.

To his surprise, the answer came to him very easily. It made him wonder if it was Mimir\'s Legacy that allowed him to quickly think of a way to divert the Fairies attention.

Although he wasn\'t sure if this was going to work, he decided to give it a try.

Ethan jumped up out of the water and increased his size up to a meter long.

Since his location was already compromised, there was no need to hide anymore.

"Do you wish to surrender?!"

"Answer or we will attack!"

"I eat raw fish too, you know?"

Ethan, who already knew the weakness of Fairies, looked at them with a fearless gaze before asking them a question.

"Hey, beautiful Fairies. Do you like sweets?" Ethan asked. "I have many sweet things you can eat. I\'m sure that none of you will be disappointed."

"Um?"

"Did he just say sweets?"

"Oh! Isn\'t he the Salmon who gave us candies earlier?"

"Candies? What\'s that?"

"It\'s something very delicious!"

"Is it food?"

"Yes, it\'s food!"

A High Pixie wavered after hearing that it was something sweet and delicious. However, she was given orders by her Queen, so she prioritized the order given to her.

"I don\'t know about the sweets you are talking about," the High Pixie shouted. "But you are coming with us whether you like it or no—"

Before the leader of the Pixies could even finish her words, Ethan unleashed hundreds of candies in her direction, making the High Pixie subconsciously catch one of them.

The High Pixie looked at the colorful candy in her hands, which was a quarter of her body size before giving it a lick.

"S-Sweet!" the High Pixie muttered, making all the other Fairies, who had also caught the candies, give them a lick.

"Wow! This is good!"

"Is this candy?"

"Delicious!"

"Hey! Give us more!"

"That\'s right! Give us more!"

"""Candy!"""

Ethan, who always carried bags of candies numbering in the hundreds, didn\'t hesitate to scatter them toward the sky.

All the Fairies who saw the countless colorful candies didn\'t hesitate and entered a grabbing frenzy, similar to what happens when you throw pieces of bread on a lake filled with fish.

Of course, Ethan didn\'t forget Aria. He gave the little fairy a candy as well, making the latter forget her worries as she happily licked the candy in her hands.

Perhaps due to her orders being overridden, the eyes of the Fairies reverted back to their regular color, breaking free from Celestial\'s control.

"So sweet!"

"This Mr. Salmon is a good salmon."

"Yes! Must protecc!"

""Right!""

Hearing their reaction, Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, this move allowed him to avoid the worst-case scenario.

But before he could enjoy his victory, his body was suddenly frozen in place, preventing him from moving.

Perhaps knowing that he was in danger, he immediately spat out Aria from his mouth, making the small fairy plop toward the water.

A second later, Ethan disappeared from where he was, making all the Fairies gasp in shock.

When he regained his senses, the Salmon found himself bound by countless water chains. He stared at the Water Fairy Queen, who was looking at him with disdain.

"You really thought that you could get away from me, huh?" Celestia sneered. "Well, I didn\'t notice it earlier, but it seems that you\'re also under a transformation spell similar to that worm over there."

Celestia glanced at Vincent, who was trapped inside a bubble prison, unable to go anywhere.

"You\'ve taken something very important from me. But, since you\'re already here, how about you show me your true form?" Celestia snapped her fingers, making Ethan feel as if his entire body was being crushed by countless rocks.

A moment later, his transformation was broken, causing him to revert to his human form.

Celestia glanced at the naked young man with a devilish smile on her face.

She admired his long blue hair, which was fluttering in the breeze, for it reminded her of someone she knew in the past.

However, the smile on her face stiffened when she saw his face.

"L-Llyr?!" Celestia\'s eyes widened in shock because she couldn\'t believe what she was seeing.

However, her surprise suddenly turned into a fright when she realized that the young man\'s body was covered with blood after she forcefully broke his transformation, causing him to suffer serious injuries.