Liam’s eyes widened as he watched Ryan do exactly that. The bomb exploded, and in a large circle around it, cracks spread through the stone brick floor. The massive boss monster quickly approached as Ryan lured it into stomping, and he then swiftly rolled out of the way. As the boss monster stomped down, the floor cracked more, and a fountain of water spouted out.

  “Ah!” Liam let out, as he now understood what he needed to do. With the enemy covered in water, he would be able to use one of the hero’s abilities to get rid of the monster’s armor. Ryan glanced over toward him.

  “Want to do the rest?” Ryan asked, and Liam nodded. Pausing the game, Ryan handed it back over, and Liam took a deep breath. He unpaused and promptly proceeded with the rest of the fight. It took him a little bit to properly get the timing right to repeatedly make the monster destroy the floor, but he got the hang of it soon enough. And with that, before long, Liam was able to finally beat the boss that he’d been trying to beat for a while now.

  As the monster went down, he practically shook with excitement. “Finally!” he exclaimed, looking over at Ryan. “Look, I did it!”

  “You sure did. Congrats, bud,” Ryan said with a smile, pushing himself off the blanket as he noticed the others looking in their direction. With how loud Liam’s excitement was, that really wasn’t a surprise. He had been sitting there silently the whole time, doing his own thing. It was probably the first time that Silvia and Yanna’s parents actually heard Liam say something. And especially to Dimos, that seemed to be a pretty confusing sight. After all, what this vampire boy was doing right now was exactly what any kid his age would do. If it weren’t for his vampiric fangs, it would be almost impossible to figure out he was anything but a regular kid.

  [Jester’s Excitement has risen slightly]

  Looking at the message that popped up in front of his eyes, Ryan was left utterly confused. What exactly happened that made Jester excited this time? According to the albeit completely one-sided conversation Ryan had had with him, Jester’s excitement would rise whenever Ryan felt some strong emotions. Anything that made his heart race would be enough. And sure, he felt pretty happy that Liam was so excited, but—

  “Oh, by the gods,” Ryan groaned loudly. “Is that it? Did I misunderstand? It’s not just when I get excited but when others around me are excited as well?”

  With an annoyed expression, realizing that he had wasted a lot of time with this, Ryan got up and walked over to Silvia.

  “You grew up here; do you know where the most people will gather for the show tonight?” he asked, and Silvia briefly thought about it.

  “Uhm … I think there’s a lot of people anywhere, to be honest. But if it’s the busiest, then … Well, if it’s the same as usual, that would be on top of the lake later.”

  Ryan raised an eyebrow. “On top of the lake? What do you mean?”

  “Did you not see any videos or pictures about it? As part of the show, people can walk onto the lake through some kind of magic. And honestly, most people do; it’s always so cool and fun. It’s also the best place to see the rest of the show!”

  A smile formed on Ryan’s face. If that was the case, then the answer to what he was wondering was simple. He just had to go join everyone on top of the lake later. Hopefully, the excitement from everyone around him could be enough to finally wake Jester up, and if not, he might have to figure out something else. Maybe he could go to a real amusement park, not just the abandoned kind that had turned into a dungeon over the years. Either way, he wouldn’t need to put himself in danger to try and awaken Jester, which was something he felt a little apprehensive about.

  “Alright … Thanks. So, until then …” Ryan held out his hand, finally letting the spirits out of their domains, at least the two of them who were interested to. Gregor stayed in the domain and just kept drinking while tinkering with something. Last night, he had apparently finished properly analyzing some of the guns that Runar had given to him and was now trying to turn what he learned into a new blueprint, though Ryan had no idea what that was actually all about.

  However, Maximus and Gaia seemed more than happy to join, though Ryan made sure to summon Maximus on the blanket. While Gaia would be fine there on the sand, Ryan didn’t want anything to get stuck in the folds of the knight’s armor or maybe even inside of his body. It would probably be left behind when Maximus entered his domain again, but Ryan didn’t really want to risk anything.

  Over the next few hours, the group spent the rest of the day celebrating Goria’s day. They ate together, hung out, played around with water guns or balloons, and just enjoyed the holiday together. But it wasn’t too long until it was time for the true event, which so many people had gathered by the lake for. The formerly so-clear sky was now covered in thick, dark clouds. Rain droplets were starting to fall from those clouds. On every other day, this would be something to ruin the fun, but today, this was part of what everyone was here for.

  Goria was the Great Spirit of Water. Rain was one of her domains. Though he wasn’t sure if it was because of some wide-range magic that was cast all over the place or because Goria herself tried to join the celebrations, Ryan couldn’t remember a single time in his life when it didn’t rain during the third day of spirit week. Some years, it was nothing more than a shower, and other years, it was the strongest storm of the summer, but rain was always a part of this day.

  Of course, everyone came prepared for this as well. Those who were more prone to getting sick from the rain would wear jackets and carry around umbrellas, and almost everyone carried a towel or two with them as well as some method of warming up. In Ryan’s case, there wasn’t much of a need for him to keep warm. He never really got sick after staying out in the rain; plus, today was a rather pleasant day, so even the rain wasn’t all too cold. And even if he did end up a bit cold later, the group had some heating stones with them.

  As the rain properly started up, it seemed to be time for the show to begin alongside it. Looking at the lake, from under the surface, light seemed to shine out, more than there already was. Particularly now that it was getting a little darker, the light from the town at the bottom of the lake was becoming visible. Since the water was kept clean with magic to ensure that everyone living in the lake and the larger river itself could be safe and healthy, during the night, especially when some kind of festival or celebration was happening, you could see the hustle and bustle from the town shine through.

  And now glowing bubbles were floating up from the bottom of the lake. Rays of colorful light shone out from inside. Apparently, the show in the actual submerged town was supposed to be at another level of beautiful, but that was an extremely limited space, so most people opted to stay outside. Ryan didn’t love being stuck in a place with a crowd, so there was no way he would go down there, though he could probably hold out for a while in the place he was about to go.

  Ryan watched as the bubbles reached the surface of the water, forming a layer of foam on top as they burst into hundreds of smaller ones. The foam let off a soft, ethereal glow, and each bubble lit up momentarily as one of the raindrops hit it. Watching from a distance, Ryan saw people walk onto the water, specifically the parts where the seafoam had gathered. The places they stepped on lit up softly as well, and as more and more people joined, the whole lake seemed to let off a soft shine.

  Ryan watched as Silvia and Yanna made their way toward the water as well, and took a deep breath, following after them.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Toad

  As Ryan’s foot pushed down, the foam began to let off a soft glow that only grew stronger as he put more weight on it. It felt unusual to walk on this, as the bubbles did give to some degree, almost like walking on a bumpy rubber mat. Either way, seeing how confidently the others were walking, Ryan knew that there was nothing to really worry about.

  Gaia and Maximus were back inside of their domains, since Ryan was going to be too far away from where they could wait otherwise. Not just because he didn’t know if they would actually not get wet, but also because of the crowd that was forming on top of the lake; Ryan didn’t want them to get caught up in anything. As the dark lake was suddenly filled with a rainbow of light, the crowd came together, reaching the place on the lake where most of the bubbles seemed to converge. As more people gathered, the show also continued. Besides the small bubbles that formed the foam, there were some that were pushing their way through that layer, softly floating up into the sky. But they weren’t just regular bubbles; rather, they were parts of the lake that seemed to be lifted out. Ryan could actually spot a few that carried a few very confused fish in them.

  Not long after Ryan reached the middle of the lake, the bubbles that were carried into the air had become so numerous that it was hard to see what was beyond them. Their water reflected the light from the glowing foam, almost appearing like they themselves were letting off a soft light. But as time went on, the bubbles carried out from the water only became larger, carrying more water with them. There were some people who were almost waiting for the larger bubbles, jumping into them, swimming in the orbs of water. From down below, there were actually some aquarian folk who were brought along for the journey, happily waving at the crowd that had been waiting on top.

  Ryan could see the happy expressions of everyone around him as they looked at the beautiful sight surrounding them. But this was still only part of the show. The bubbles continued to float upward in a spiral, finally reaching a peak what seemed to be hundreds of meters in the air.

  The light from the lake was reflected upward, shining through the bubbles and glittering like the stars as the raindrops fell on them. And that rain itself was also starting to feel different, as if the droplets were a bit too slow. Before long, that became even more blatant, and the droplets were just floating there. Just by blowing in their direction, you could push them away like gravity had just completely turned off for them.

  When the droplets began to move toward the bubbles, bouncing up and down from them in every direction, they bubbles began to give off soft metallic percussion sounds like that of rain drums, and a melody sounded out through the area.

  It was truly a sight that you couldn’t see every day. Massive amounts of magic and a ridiculous degree of control were needed to achieve something like this; that was obvious to anyone even if they had no idea about magic at all. The view from outside the lake must already be amazing, but standing there below the bubbles and droplets was a whole other experience that Ryan couldn’t compare to anything else he had ever seen. And that seemed to be the case for almost anyone standing there beside him. Both Yanna and Silvia had a glitter in their eyes that even they rarely showed, though they were already on the more easily excitable side of things.

  [Jester’s Excitement has risen considerably]

  And it seemed like Ryan was the only one who thought so. For the first time, the message read considerably instead of slightly. This meant that they were on the right track. There had to be something else there, right?

  Leaning over toward Silvia, he whispered into her ear, “Jester’s nearly there; is there anything else?”

  The elf raised her brows, racking her brain, “Uh, I … Right, yes! There was one last thing! It only happens every four years, but the spirit of the lake is coming out to join the celebration!”

  Ryan smiled lightly. “Really? Hell, yeah, that should—” he started, though the moment he said so, a bad sensation filled the pit of his stomach. “Hold on, just … No …”

  He let out a long groan as he watched something appear from underneath the water. It was mountainous and dark, with bulging warts all over its body. A massive toad covered in algae poked its head out, and people smiled excitedly. Ryan turned to Silvia. “Is that what the spirit is supposed to look like?”

  Silvia nervously shook her head. “I don’t … I don’t think so? Is that …”

  “Aaargh fuuuck,” Ryan yelled out, frustrated, as the people directly next to him stared right at him. “What’re you lookin’ at?”

  The bubbles at the top of the spiral started to act weird. Silvia had explained what was supposed to happen a little bit earlier, and apparently, the bubbles should just carefully lower back into the water, softly letting down anyone that might be swimming in them. But now they were quaking rapidly, falling apart. The rhythm of the rain drums was starting to distort, and rather than being a calming, natural melody, it was a forceful song that seemed to assault the senses. Slowly but surely, everyone realized that something was going on. With how heavy the air was getting, there was no way that it wouldn’t be obvious even to those who didn’t have Ryan’s intuition.

  And then the water came crashing down, all at once, as if gravity had returned to all of it. The foam underneath the people on the lake gave way, and Ryan soon found the glowing foam clinging to his skin.

  He didn’t know what was going on, and the situation was getting worse by the second. People were panicking, trying to kick at the water to swim back to shore. Ryan felt some people hitting his shoulder, and someone even kicked his face, and more than one person pushed him down under the water in a panic.

  Ryan was also starting to freak out as the air in his lungs was forcefully pushed out by his body, but he could feel Tiar’s calming squeeze on his arm. A symbiote was a being closely connected to water. They were born within it, and they held its essence deeply. Maybe that was why Tiar’s influence was enough to let Ryan calm down. He soon saw his friends beside him. Yanna seemed to have regained her composure rather quickly and was trying to figure out where Ryan and Silvia were. Ryan himself forcefully pushed through to the surface and gasped for air.

  “Ryan, did you see Silvia?! Where’s Silvia? She—” Yanna asked anxiously, and Ryan immediately dove before she was even able to finish her sentence. Luckily, the foam was still letting off its glow, even if it had weakened considerably, and was lighting up the surrounding area. Spotting Silvia, Ryan dove farther down. Silvia wasn’t moving, sinking deeper into the water.

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her up, trying to find a gap between the people pushing each other away. Once at the top, Ryan pushed Silvia toward her sister and looked into the minotaur’s eyes. “Bring her to shore! And then find my bag; I have a small bottle in there with a greenish copper color! Tell Runar to get it to me somehow!”

  “Runar? Your uncle? But—”

  “Just do it!” Ryan didn’t give her time to question him as he turned around, swimming toward the massive toad that had to be the cause of all this. It was just sitting there on top of the water, menacingly staring at the havoc that it was causing. The spirit of the lake was already corrupted. Ryan figured that Richie would have done something to spirits beside just Maribelle, but didn’t expect he would do it right before today. This was probably the worst place something like this could happen.

  “Fuck.” Ryan swam toward the toad as fast as he could. He would need to somehow cure it, but he wasn’t sure if he could do the exact same thing as before with Maribelle. Or, rather, he was fairly certain he couldn’t. Even if he could douse the toad in the cure once he got his hands on it, it was raining, and in the worst case, it could simply submerge and effectively make Ryan waste part of the cure. If only it weren’t raining. Toads absorbed things through their skin incredibly easily, so the cure should be pretty effective otherwise.

  Whatever the case, Ryan was fairly certain that the corruption couldn’t spread through touch anymore. Otherwise, Richie would have infected anyone that he came across. Not to mention that though the toad spirit seemed clearly corrupted, there was none of that black gunk that Ryan knew he needed to avoid.

  Basically rolling a die, Ryan grabbed the side of the toad’s body. Its body felt disgusting, beyond just the bumpy sliminess. Mentally, it felt like he was pushing his hand into a dirty trash can in a bathroom to the point he wanted to throw up. Corruption really felt disgusting. Even so, Ryan had to do his best. He climbed onto the toad’s body, and by the time he got out of the water, the bulging eye on its right side was staring at him.

  The toad shook its body, trying to get Ryan off, but he simply dug his fingers deeper into its soft skin. It pulled back in pain, just shaking harder than before, and slowly but surely, Ryan was sliding off.

  “Gaia!” Ryan exclaimed, and the Golem almost immediately stepped out of her domain, appearing on the toad spirit’s back at double her normal size. Ryan watched as the toad’s legs sprawled out, and Gaia quickly pulled him up onto the spirit’s back. For now, if he could pin it down like this, that was great, but he had to make sure to unsummon Gaia right away if things got worse.

  Looking into the distance, Ryan was trying to find Yanna to see how close she was to reaching the beach, but it was too dark to see anything at all. Some people had turned on torches or other lamps, but that wasn’t enough for Ryan to be able to tell what was going on there.

  But there was one thing that he did soon spot, and that was a light, distant glow that was clearly of magical nature. Feeling in his gut that he had to hurry, Ryan regained his composure and jumped up, stretching his hand up as far as he could. And as if guided there, the glass bottle with the concentrated cure landed in his hand immediately.

  Ryan fumbled with the bottle’s cap. His hands were too slippery from the toad’s slimy body; he wasn’t able to open it up.

  “Godsdammit!” With an angry yell, Ryan tried to use his teeth to turn the cap, but as he was trying, the toad spirit was starting to fight back more actively. It pushed itself off the water as if it were solid ground, trying to shake Gaia and Ryan off. He could already feel himself lose balance, and that was definitely going to be worse for Gaia, so he pulled her back into her domain. Once her weight disappeared from the toad’s body, it jumped into the air. It clearly hadn’t intended to do so, but with a two-meter-tall Golem suddenly disappearing from its back, its attempts to get back up were rather overwhelming.