Level 1 Strongest Sage ~

— Huh?

W-Why… How can he use fire attribute magic underwater?

In this world, there were some beings who possessed some power, such as the Fire Spirit King, and they could use fire magic underwater.

The spirits who lived in the water would immediately leave the area for fear of the Spirit King’s presence. It was possible to have a fire that would never go out despite being in the water because of that.

Was Halt an existence akin to a Spirit King?

… Well, that’s not impossible.

I hope he was. It would be a disaster if he weren’t.

After all, he’s a Bakemono that could move faster than me, THE Sea God, underwater.

“Uhm, Sea God-sama. Can you please fight this?”

Halt wanted to test the magic that he just conjured.

“Fine with me. Let it fight against my magyou.”

The amount of magic within the flaming knight was already the highest level of magic ever created by a single person from the human race.

However, there was no way that knight, with that sort of appearance, was faster than my spell underwater.

It was amazing that he was able to conjure a fire attribute spell underwater, but Halt was still a kid like his appearance since he didn’t know the concept of ‘right guy for the job’.

“By the way, are you okay with just one?”

The magyou was considerably less since most of them attacked Halt, but there were still a few hundred of them left.

In contrast, Halt only created a single knight wrapped in flames.

“I already experienced the speed of Sea God-sama’s magic. It’ll probably be alright.”

…Hoh.

How cheeky of you for underestimating me.

He apparently thought that that was the fastest my spell could go.

— Eh, wait a moment.

Halt couldn’t possibly create a spell with that much power easily.

He was probably just bluffing.

He must’ve spent all the power he had in creating that one.

Then, kneel in awe before my spell that had been enhanced for speed and coordination!

—***—

Eh, eh?

… Seriously?

The several hundred magyou had been completely annihilated by the flaming knight in just under 10 seconds.

The flaming knight moved the same way as Halt. Not only that, it didn’t have any sense of fear, since it was a being created out of magic.

Halt was already a Bakemono as he is, but he apparently limited his speed for fear that he was moving too fast.

That limit didn’t exist for the flaming knight. It was way faster than Halt.

Waayy too fast.

I’ve already seriously poured my power into accelerating the magyou, but they couldn’t even touch the flaming knight — almost all of them were already destroyed before they could.

Before I could even conjure more magyou, Halt’s flaming knight had already set its eyes on me as its next target.

Unfortunately for him, I’m going to turn the tables on this one.

I am a deity of this world.

Me losing against Halt in terms of speed was also because I was restraining my true powers as deity.

Moreover, I am far stronger in battles when I’m using my own body compared to when using magic.

And so, I decided to take Halt seriously.

—***—

W-Wait!

Waitwaitwaitwait, WAIT!!!

“Ugh, wait— I already told you to wait, you brat!!”

I tore the flaming knight’s core while dodging the spear made of fire.

The fire was powerful enough to burn my skin despite shielding my hand with a water attribute magical barrier.

“Ahhh, so close! Just a bit more and it would’ve hit Sea God-sama…You all, avenge the fallen guy.”

Halt ordered.

As if to answer him, a thousand flaming knights surrounding me attacked.

Are you stupid?! This is impossible!

I’m a deity, you know?!

Why are you so intent on killing me off?!

And just how the heck can you use that much mana?!

There’s no way a single person can have that much, no matter how you think of it!

Halt had conjured a thousand flaming knights when just one of those could annihilate my magic on its own.

Afterward, I managed to defeat around a hundred of them after a series of great feats.

However, it didn’t feel as if the flaming knights before me became less.

No, it’s not as if — they really didn’t decrease.

Halt was conjuring as many knights as I defeated.

There was no end to it no matter how much I slayed.

“#$^&&$(@#()*)@#( you!!!”

I unleashed the true power of a deity and released the most powerful spell I ever had and fired it towards the thousand flaming knights, engulfing Halt, the mage behind all this magic.

I was already hell-bent on killing Halt.

I decided that it was better to do that.

If this Bakemono could corner me, one of the Four Great Deities of this world, to this extent, then it would be better to obliterate his existence.

The topography of the ocean floor changed.

My spell destroyed everything.

The shrine was badly destroyed, but no one was probably hurt since the shikigami and the mermaids already evacuated this place even before the battle started.

“How’s that! W-with this —”

The whirling sand began to clear.

The thousand flaming knights had been completely eradicated, but —

“Sea God-sama, that was one powerful spell!”

“What?!”

Halt was unscathed.

He hardly moved from where he stood.

And behind him, an endless sea of flaming knights lined up.

The ginormous army of flaming knights illuminated the depths of the sea brightly.

“All 1000 had been defeated, so I made ten times more! There are 10,000 now!”

The Demon King — the Demon King stronger than a deity — led his colossal army with a smile.

“Ugh, sorry. That’s impossible. Yup. Absolutely impossible. Halt… I give up.”

It was the first time in my entire life — the first time since I was born into this world as a deity — that I declared my defeat.