“That’s what I’ll do,” he said. I did shake my head though. Having an intellectual-magician type like Ethnobalt learn the same martial arts as Rishia really seemed like a waste, coming from a former geek and gamer.

It being its own world, the rules in Kizuna’s world were different. The only way to find out if application to magic was possible was to experiment with it. In either case, though, there was no harm in him being able to handle himself in close combat.

The killer whale sisters therefore led the way to leveling us up in the ocean.

“We came hunting before the war with Faubrey, didn’t we, Little Naofumi? Let’s push past even that point this time,” Sadeena suggested.

“Sure. We can handle it,” I replied. Once we arrived at the hunting ground, I started to cast All Liberation Aura. Just like when we finished off Takt, I used the X version. That meant we could definitely handle this. It was support magic so strong that the old Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu would have called it cheating for sure. Activating this turned most monsters into little more than wood to be chopped.

Living wood, though, so I still wasn’t going to risk any messing around.

“All Liberation Aura X!” I placed support magic on everyone who had come with me.

“This is . . . quite incredible. I should be a low level, having crossed from another world. Having this level of power is quite astounding,” Ethnobalt said, dressed in his costume, clearly quite impressed. “I should think using this power should allow us to easily aid Kizuna.”

“I hope so too,” I replied. I really just hoped we could hop over there, resolve their problems, and come back.

As we had this discussion, Sadeena and the others were speeding through the offing with us on their backs.

“Time to dive! Everyone hold on tight!” Sadeena said. Ethnobalt gasped as both of the sisters plunged down deeper and deeper toward the hunting grounds, with us still on their backs. They were going so fast! Multiple times faster than during our hunting trip prior to leaving for Faubrey, taking us down really deep in mere seconds. It was like being blasted into the deep by a rocket engine.

“Killer whale sisters! Stop!” I barely managed as Ethnobalt and Ruft started to writhe and moan. “Think about the water pressure—and whether we can all handle it!”

“Oh my! I’m quite surprised by this speed as well!” Sadeena replied.

“Wow . . . you guys are too light!” Shildina added. That sounded worth investigating. I deployed my Shooting Star Wall, just to be sure.

This was a skill housed in the Shield of Compassion that Atla had bequeathed to me. The effect of this high-functioning skill was to deploy Shooting Star Shield on everyone I considered allies within a certain radius around me. It was even better if they were in some sort of formation, really giving a boost to the effects of each individual shield.