Why would a seasoned adventurer team hire a support wizard—much less an outrageously expensive one?
A simple suggestion from their agent would never have been enough.
The truth was far less flattering. The Horizon Striders had felt inadequate for this exploration.
Professional teams survived because they understood their strengths—but more importantly, their limitations.
A lightless environment? Nira could guide them through any labyrinth of darkness.
A horde of enemies? Few things survived long under Kade’s area control.
Cunning beasts? Cassia had an uncanny ability to find weaknesses in any creature.
But a world covered entirely by water… That was not their forte. Confined to a boat, most of their specialties were restricted—if not completely nullified. Mobility became limited. Positioning disappeared. Even their usual combat formations were compromised.
For the first time in years, the Horizon Striders had seriously considered doing something unthinkable.
Declining the run.
That was when Tessa had appeared with a solution.
Hire a support wizard.
Someone versatile enough to compensate for their weaknesses in an aquatic environment.
Ideally, they would have hired a proper water mage. Unfortunately, independent ones were extremely rare—especially ones without an existing team. In the end, the only viable option was Arin Synt, the premium service wizard.
Up until that moment in their short expedition, Arin had already demonstrated some of the convenience his magic offered. He had saved them travel time and kept their members in good condition. But usefulness alone was not enough to justify half the expedition profits.
What they needed was something vital. Something that could save their lives.
And that realization came suddenly. Because now the Horizon Striders were experiencing exactly what it meant to become sitting ducks.
Beneath the endless surface of water, anything could approach unseen.
And one sudden strike…
…was all it took.
Arin observed the unfolding situation with cold calmness. This was the perfect opportunity to test [Void Barrier] under real conditions.
As his strongest general-purpose defensive spell, it required only a couple of seconds to cast—but it absolutely depended on the amplification effect of his staff. The spell did not hesitate to exploit the physical isolation properties of void. But its true brilliance lay in the aetheric concept behind the element.
Void was not simply emptiness. It was antithesis. Anathema.
The barrier briefly separated the protected space from the surrounding reality itself—if only for a handful of heartbeats.
As the caster maintaining the spell, Arin felt the violent ripple travel across the barrier.
And he understood immediately. The attack had been heavy. Much heavier than anything his lesser shields could have endured.
The impact force alone was considerable—but that was not the real danger. What truly impressed him was the pressure manipulation surrounding the strike. The creature had used water compression to reinforce the impact. A perfect blend of physical force and magical control.
Amid the crashing roar of displaced water, Arin finally spoke.
“It’s not a low-rank beast.”
His calm voice cut through the stunned silence.
“To generate that kind of impact… it must be large. And it also manipulates water.”
The words snapped the team out of their paralysis.
Cassia cursed under her breath.
“Damn it.”
She had been distracted—an unforgivable mistake for the team’s battle analyst. Forcing the self-criticism aside, she quickly regained control.
“How fast?”
The question was short, urgent, and precise. Arin answered immediately.
“At least three times faster than our boat.”
His eyes flicked toward the turbulent water.
“The final lunge was probably twice that. The impact felt comparable to a Bullkin charge.”
Cassia frowned deeply.
“The speed and aggression suggest a Sharkin…”
Her voice trailed off.
“…but Sharkin shouldn’t be able to manipulate water.”
The implication hung heavily.
The barrier collapsed a moment later. Water cascaded down around them, splashing loudly against the hull.
Cassia no longer hesitated. Caution was a luxury they didn’t have.
“Unknown aether beast,” she declared.
She paused briefly—allowing someone to object.
No one did.
“Large. Minimum five hundred pounds. Possibly closer to eight hundred.”
Kael’s grin vanished as he tightened his grip on his twin swords.
Bran let out a slow hiss.
But Cassia continued.
“The Guild didn’t tag it, which means it was hiding deep. Very deep.”
Her mind raced through possibilities.
“Fourth rank at least… but probably not sixth.”
She glanced toward the water again.
“If it were sixth rank, someone would have seen it already.”
Another short pause.
“It dumped most of its energy into the first attack.”
Her eyes sharpened.
“That means it’ll be slower for a while. Well… slower than before.”
She tapped the side of the boat.
“And it shouldn’t be able to manipulate water again for a few minutes.”
A collective breath escaped the group. The tension loosened slightly.
Six pairs of eyes scanned the rippling lake surface.
But Cassia’s expression remained tight. Her mind was still working.
Then suddenly—
Her eyes lit up.
“Kade.”
She turned sharply toward him.
“With visual contact… can you hold it?”
Her voice carried a forced optimism.
Kade stiffened slightly.
“I—”
The hesitation lasted barely a second.
Cassia cut in immediately.
“Just a few seconds!”
Kade straightened, pride flaring.
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“…Yes.”
He adjusted his stance.
“I can manage that.”
Cassia turned toward Arin.
“Can you bait it to the surface?”
Her tone carried absolute confidence.
Arin smiled calmly.
“Of course.”
Nira reached for the bow strapped to her back.
“Should I shoot it?”
The question carried an unusual trace of uncertainty.
Cassia shook her head. Instead, she extended her hand toward Bran expectantly.
“What?”
The massive man blinked and instinctively leaned away.
Cassia smiled. For a brief moment, there was a hint of playful mischief in her eyes.
“Explosives.”
Her grin looked slightly terrifying.
Bran froze. Then realization struck.
“Oh.”
He immediately turned toward their cargo pile and began rummaging through a reinforced container.
A moment later he carefully pulled out two small glass vials filled with pale red liquid. Even from a distance, Arin could sense the unstable aether inside them.
Bran handed them over cautiously.
Cassia grabbed one.
“Keep the other,” she said.
She pointed toward the lake.
“Throw it when I signal.”
Bran nodded eagerly.
“Yes, ma’am!”
He gripped the vial like an excited child holding a firecracker.
Meanwhile, Arin observed everything with quiet interest. He studied their reactions, their coordination, their decision-making.
As someone aspiring to become a true adventurer—not just a hired support—he wanted to accumulate experience.
Still, he didn’t interfere. Denying them the opportunity to execute their own strategy would likely be unwelcome. He was here to support them, not command them.
However…
He also never forgot an important detail. He wasn’t part of the team. Which was why he quietly prepared a contingency spell.
Just in case.
Cassia scanned the group one last time.
“All ready?”
She received nods all around. Finally, she turned toward the wizard.
“Bring it up.”
Arin sighed softly.
Reluctantly, he unbuckled the beautifully crafted grimoire from his belt. He would have preferred not to use it this early in the expedition. The enchanted book was far more than a simple casting aid like his staff. It was something entirely different.
And using it was… a small admission of weakness.
The grimoire stored spell matrices that he could not cast directly. Either because he lacked sufficient practice…
Or because his attributes were too low.
It was one of the most painful limitations of the Low-level Wizard class. His attributes would never grow.
But why was he using it now?
Because Cassia was correct. The creature had exhausted its aether reserves during the first attack. And without active magic, it no longer appeared clearly on [Aetheric Senses].
Normally, Arin could still track it by observing how the surrounding aether currents shifted as it moved through the water. But the defensive cast had disrupted his perception. He had briefly lost track of the creature.
The silver lining?
He could confirm the beast was recoverying and not manipulating water for another attack.
For now.
Sadly, he had to find the beast first before dragging it to the surface.
Grimoire in hand, he flipped quickly through the pages until he reached the modified spell he needed.
The original spell, the medium-level [Sonic Relay], had been designed to transmit voice messages across great distances. Arin had simplified the structure and converted it into a detection spell.
His version was called [Sonic Scan].
Instead of carrying words, it retrieved a location point.
Arin rested his palm over the page and let his consciousness sink into the etched spell circles.
The moment his will touched the matrices, the ink ignited in faint aetheric brilliance. The runes lifted from the parchment like glowing embers, circling his hand as he pointed toward the lake.
Click.
The soft snap of fingers sent the spell cascading outward.
Invisible waves spread through the water, vibrating through the depths like a pulse.
The boat rocked gently as everyone watched in tense silence.
A few seconds later, Arin felt it.
A ping.
The feedback arrived as a faint ripple in the surrounding aether, followed by a subtle tingling sensation in the back of his mind.
Target acquired.
Without wasting time, Arin closed his eyes. He focused on the distant location the spell had revealed and traced the aether connection back to its source.
The expenditure made his jaw tighten. His reserves were never generous.
Once his mind reached the target point, he began drawing a new spell matrix directly into the water.
The beast noticed immediately.
But Arin was faster.
“[Air Bubble].”
The gem atop his staff flared as the spell solidified.
Deep beneath the surface, a rapidly expanding sphere of compressed air formed around the creature, trapping it inside along with a small pocket of surrounding water.
Arin’s grip on the staff tightened. The spell strained violently under the beast’s movements. His already meager reserves began draining rapidly as the construct struggled to maintain its shape.
He had expected resistance. But the creature was huge.
To lift something that large, the spell needed more than just containment. He had to continuously inject air into the sphere to increase buoyancy and force it upward.
His reserves.
The [Aether Wheel].
Even the amplification gem in his staff.
All three sources poured energy into the spell.
There was no alternative. The beast was simply too heavy.
One…
Two…
Three…
The seconds crawled by. Arin’s concentration remained completely locked on the rising construct.
The boat rocked slightly as the others watched the water anxiously.
Finally—
Ten long seconds later, Arin released the connection and slumped back against the bench, breathing heavily.
“There,” he said, pointing toward a patch of water roughly twenty meters away. “It’s going to surface there.”
Everyone turned instantly.
“When?” Cassia asked sharply.
The water stirred.
Arin exhaled.
“…Probably now.”
The surface suddenly bulged upward. The air bubble burst violently as it reached the open air, vanishing with a loud pop. And something enormous followed it out.
The creature thrashed wildly as it broke through the surface.
It was a massive fish nearly three meters long. Its body was thick and muscular, covered in dark blue scales that shimmered like polished stone. A broad, flattened skull extended forward into a blunt ridge, while its mouth opened into a terrifying array of serrated teeth designed for crushing prey. Two dull silver eyes rolled wildly in their sockets. The creature’s thick tail whipped violently, spraying water in every direction.
“Kade!” Cassia shouted.
But Kade was already moving.
“[Gravity Lock]!”
With both arms extended, the controller clasped his hands as if grabbing an invisible object.
At the exact same moment, the massive fish jerked violently. The unseen force pinned it in place just above the water’s surface.
The beast did not accept captivity quietly. It twisted violently, thrashing with terrifying strength.
Kade’s arms immediately began to tremble. Sweat beaded on his forehead as the gravitational field strained to restrain the struggling monster.
“Let’s hit it together,” Cassia said quickly, glancing at Bran.
“On my count.”
Both of them shook their vials vigorously. Inside the glass, the pale red liquid began bubbling rapidly until it glowed like molten embers.
Bran’s grin stretched wide.
“I love this part.”
Cassia narrowed her eyes at the locked beast.
“Now!”
Both vials flew through the air. Cassia’s throw a fraction of a second ahead of Bran’s.
Kade released the gravity hold.
The creature had barely begun to move when—
BOOM!
The first vial shattered against the fish’s midsection.
An instant later, the second exploded directly above its skull.
The reaction was immediate. Violent red fire erupted outward, engulfing the creature in a roaring burst of heat. The explosion sent a shockwave across the lake surface, throwing water high into the air and rocking the boat hard enough to make Bran grab the railing.
Steam and smoke billowed outward as the flames devoured oxygen and water alike.
For several seconds, the entire area was hidden behind a curtain of fire and vapor. Then the flames slowly died down.
The water rippled violently beneath the fading smoke. The team stared in tense silence.
Bran leaned forward.
“Did we—”
A massive shape drifted slowly to the surface. The fish floated belly-up, motionless.
“It worked!” Bran shouted triumphantly.
The group relaxed instantly.
Kael laughed loudly.
“Well,” he said, sheathing one blade, “that was quick.”
Once the smoke cleared, they cautiously rowed closer to inspect the corpse.
The creature had been badly burned along its sides, but the damage hadn’t penetrated deeply through the thick scales. The explosion near the head, however, had torn open part of the skull. Charred flesh exposed the blackened interior.
“That second vial did it,” Cassia said, crouching near the edge of the boat. “Direct cranial impact.”
She studied the creature critically. Then, frowned. The next step was harvesting.
Unfortunately, the beast’s size made things difficult. The fish was nearly four times larger than their boat’s cargo capacity. There was no way they could haul it aboard.
Fortunately, the risk of attracting other predators was minimal. This area had been heavily explored.
With the portal active for over a month, adventuring teams had stripped most nearby hunting grounds clean.
Or at least they should have.
“This thing must’ve been hiding deep,” Cassia muttered. “Too deep for scouts to notice.”
Without smaller prey nearby, the creature had likely surfaced in desperation.
And found them instead.
Cassia began positioning her tools, preparing to butcher the creature piece by piece while the others maneuvered the boat around it.
But she hesitated.
Then stopped.
Then moved again.
Then stopped again.
No angle satisfied her.
Bran scratched his beard thoughtfully.
“We could take it back.”
Cassia looked at him.
“All of it.”
“That’s too—”
She stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes widened.
Then she slapped Bran’s shoulder enthusiastically.
“You know what?”
She grinned broadly.
“For once, you’re right, big guy.”
Bran blinked.
“…I’m usually right.”
The others watched in confusion. Cassia turned toward them, practically glowing with excitement.
“This,” she said dramatically, pointing at the floating monster, “is an unregistered beast.”
She paused for effect.
“Which means we’ll get a massive bonus for delivering it.”
Another pause.
“…as intact as possible.”
That settled the matter.
They secured ropes around the corpse and tied it to the stern of the boat. Then they turned back toward the portal station.
Arin had mostly recovered by that point, so he quietly recast [Water Skin] and [Gale Descent], pushing the boat forward at high speed.
Once they approached the outer patrol range, he gradually reduced the spell output until Kael and Bran could reasonably match the speed by rowing. The performance continued all the way to the cordoned harbor area when he dropped the spells entirely.
By that point, several Guild patrol boats were already approaching. The officers had clearly noticed the massive corpse trailing behind the small expedition vessel.
As they got closer, the reactions were immediate.
“What in the—”
One officer stood up abruptly.
“Did they kill that thing?!”
Another leaned over the railing, eyes wide.
“Hold on… that species isn’t in the registry.”
The patrol boat accelerated.
When they confirmed the discovery, the mood shifted instantly. Excitement replaced disbelief.
“You found a new species?!”
Within minutes, the fish was hoisted onto a larger floating work platform used for heavy harvesting operations.
The moment the Guild harvesters began inspecting the corpse, however, complaints immediately followed.
“Burn damage everywhere.”
One harvester clicked his tongue.
“And it’s already starting to decay.”
Another pointed at the shredded fins.
“Dragging it through the water didn’t help either.”
Cassia crossed her arms defensively.
“You’re lucky we brought it back at all.”
The harvester sighed.
“Fair enough.”
After a few minutes of examination, a Guild officer approached Cassia.
“As the discoverer,” he said formally, “you have the privilege of naming the species.”
Cassia turned toward her teammates, who were resting further away to escape the awful smell.
“What do you think, Bran?”
Bran blinked.
“Huh?”
“You delivered the killing blow.”
Understanding slowly dawned on him.
“Oooh…”
He scratched his beard thoughtfully.
The entire platform waited.
A full minute passed.
Then Bran smiled proudly.
“How about… Hammerfish?”
Everyone stared at him.
Even the harvesters paused their work.
Bran frowned defensively.
“Hey!”
He pointed at Arin.
“You said it hammered against the barrier pretty hard.”
He crossed his arms.
“So what’s wrong with calling it Hammerfish?”
All eyes turned toward Arin.
The wizard simply shrugged.
“…It did hammer the barrier.”
And just like that—
The species was officially registered as Hammerfish.
