I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 511: Pho’s Strength

The minotaurs charged again, their hooved feet pounding muddy ground as they closed the distance with renewed aggression.

This time, their formation was tighter and more coordinated, as if they had learned from their previous death.

Warren’s hands moved in different patterns, summoning the same technique but preparing to maintain it rather than release all at once.

The water sphere formed before him, growing larger this time.

Four feet in diameter rather than three, containing enough compressed liquid for multiple volleys.

It separated into needles, the projectiles forming in the air around Warren like a swarm of lethal insects.

A shadow fell across Warren from above, blocking the rain.

He threw himself sideways on pure instinct, water magic propelling him away from his previous position with explosive force.

Something massive struck the ground where he’d been standing, the impact sending shockwaves through mud and creating a crater that swallowed several approaching minotaurs.

Warren rolled to his feet in a crouch, his blue eyes tracking upward to identify the threat.

A demon stood in the crater, easily eight feet tall, his body covered in bluish skin that gleamed like polished ice in the scattered torchlight.

Massive shoulders supported arms thick with corded muscle, and in his right hand, he gripped an axe that looked like it had been carved from a glacier.

Blue ice formed into a weapon, its edge sharp enough that the air around it crystallized from proximity to such extreme cold.

The entity’s luminous eyes followed Warren with meticulous precision, indicating an intellect far surpassing that of typical beings.

And scattered around the crater, shattered into thousands of glittering fragments, were Warren’s water needles.

The axe swing had destroyed them mid-formation, breaking the technique before it could even launch toward its targets.

”Pho,” Warren said, recognizing the entity from Council intelligence reports. ”The Deathfrost Demon. Floor 24 boss, disaster-class threat, known for ice manipulation and physical combat prowess.”

Pho’s lips pulled back, revealing sharp teeth in what might have been a smile. ”You know my name. Good. Makes this more interesting.”

The minotaurs stopped their charge immediately, forming a perimeter around the two combatants rather than engaging.

This wasn’t their fight anymore.

Their master had sent someone else to handle the water mage.

Warren assessed his opponent rapidly. Pho’s size showed his enhanced strength that would make physical blows devastating.

The ice axe demonstrated a level of magical sophistication capable of creating permanent structures rather than transient manifestations.

His casual destruction of Warren’s technique demonstrated both exceptional speed and power sufficient to disrupt a SS-rank mage mid-formation.

’I can handle this,’ Warren thought, water mana flowing through his channels in preparation. ’Disaster-class is within my capabilities. I’ve killed entities at this level before. I just need to be careful, use superior technique and experience rather than trying to match raw power.’

His hands moved in flowing patterns that drew on decades of refined practice, and water responded with obedience.

Complex structures formed around Warren like living architecture. Water compressed into solid barriers that looked like translucent shields, each one layered behind the other to create overlapping defenses.

They flowed and shifted, liquid maintaining its fundamental nature while being dense enough to stop physical attacks.

The outermost layer could absorb kinetic impacts, the middle layer could redirect magical energy, and the innermost layer served as a final defense if the first two failed.

Pho charged, his massive frame covering ground with speed that belied his size.

Each step cratered mud, his weight and momentum creating minor shockwaves.

The ice axe rose above his head in both hands, prepared for an overhead strike that would split Warren in half if it connected.

The axe came down with force that made the air scream.

Warren’s outermost water barrier caught the blade mid-swing, the compressed liquid absorbing the impact’s kinetic energy before channeling it sideways along the barrier’s surface.

Pho’s momentum, instead of driving the axe through Warren’s defenses, was redirected horizontally, sending the demon stumbling past Warren’s position as his own strength worked against him.

Warren wasted no time on a counterattack. His combat experience in recognizing the opening.

His right hand thrust forward, fingers extended like a blade, and water mana responded instantly.

A lance of pressurized water shot from his palm.

A projectile no thicker than a spear shaft but compressed to pressures that could punch through reinforced steel.

The lance moved faster than sound, creating a sonic boom as it crossed the distance to Pho’s exposed back.

The attack was aimed precisely at the demon’s spine, targeting the gap between ice-reinforced ribs where flesh would be most vulnerable.

Pho spun with impossible speed for something his size.

His ice axe came around in a horizontal arc, the blade intercepting Warren’s water lance mid-flight.

Upon contact with the water, the projectile rapidly froze, solidifying almost instantaneously. The axe’s momentum subsequently fractured the frozen lance into numerous crystalline fragments.

”Fast,” Pho observed, his expressionless gaze approving of Warren’s actions. ”For a human. Most can’t react to my speed at all.”

”Most humans aren’t ninety-two years old with SS-rank water affinity,” Warren replied, his hands already forming new patterns for his next technique.

They clashed again, this time with Warren taking the initiative.

He created a whip of pressurized water, the liquid weapon extending twenty feet from his right hand and moving with serpentine flexibility.

The whip’s surface rippled, each section compressed to different densities that would allow it to function as both cutting edge and bludgeon depending on how it struck.

Warren lashed the whip toward Pho’s legs in a sweeping horizontal strike, trying to entangle the demon’s ankles and restrict movement.

If he could get Pho on the ground, eliminate the height and reach advantage, the fight would shift dramatically in Warren’s favor.

His ice axe came down vertically, striking the muddy ground with explosive force. The impact sent a wave of ice spreading outward from the point of contact.

Aggressive crystallization that turned mud to solid ice in expanding ripples.

The frozen surface caught Warren’s water whip before it could reach Pho’s legs, turning liquid to solid and robbing the technique of its flexibility.

The whip, now frozen into a rigid arc, shattered under its own momentum as Warren tried to redirect it.

Warren abandoned the failed technique immediately, his tactical mind already three moves ahead.

He thrust both hands toward the ground beneath Pho’s position, and water mana flooded downward into the earth.

Geysers erupted around the demon. Eight simultaneous eruptions of pressurized water shot upward from multiple points.

Each geyser was positioned to create crossfire, eliminating space for him to dodge and forcing Pho to either take hits or find some way to defend against attacks coming from all directions.

Pho jumped, his enhanced strength carrying him fifteen feet straight up, clearing the geysers’ effective range in a single bound.

While airborne, his right arm cocked back, and he hurled his ice axe like a throwing weapon.

The massive blade spun through the air, creating a whistling sound, moving toward Warren with lethal velocity.

Warren’s hands came together, water mana responding instantly. A circular barrier formed in front of him.

The disc caught Pho’s thrown axe, redirecting its trajectory.

The ice axe spun off at an angle, embedding itself in muddy ground twenty feet away. Its blade sank deep into the earth, the impact creating cracks that spider-webbed outward from the insertion point.

But Pho was already descending from his jump, both fists extended downward.

Ice formed around his hands. Thick gauntlets of frozen death that would pulverize anything they struck. His descent was controlled, aimed directly at Warren’s position.

Warren rolled to the side, abandoning his defensive position in favor of mobility.

Pho’s ice-covered fists cratered the ground where he’d been standing, the impact sending mud and stone flying in all directions.