༺ Sea King (1) ༻
“…Mm.”
While I fiddled with an object similar to a PDA, I let out a sigh.
To put it simply, this was something similar to a newspaper. However, instead of using paper, they used an ‘electronic device’ instead, completely on brand with the technological capabilities of the Tribal Alliance.
There was an article written on it that said the Tribal Alliance Chieftain, Alan Ba-Thor, himself would come to the Forge of Struggle to inspect and visit.
The news made headlines on all the channels, meaning it was undoubtedly important news.
‘She must be getting anxious.’
Superficially, it might sound like it was just news about a prestigious individual visiting the academy, but Tatiana always followed him closely behind, so I couldn’t let my guard down.
It wasn’t my intention, but it seemed she had gotten quite nervous after Eleanor completely fucked all her plans up.
Getting Alan to make a move was a type of ‘insurance.’ She got hit over the head by Eleanor once already, so she undoubtedly called him over to ensure that she could deal with me once and for all.
After all, if Eleanor were to try to kill her with all her might, he had enough capabilities to at least buy her some ‘time.’
“…”
Well, that was what she thought, anyway.
The Grey Devil’s Vessel in her berserk state was the Final Boss of the game, you know? Did she seriously think that she could stop her with merely that much?
Though, from my perspective, that was a little meaningless since I was against using Eleanor’s power, whether I liked it or not.
Not just because I didn’t want to get married, but also because the fusion rate increase itself was a precondition for calling forth new Fragments.
Speaking of, the third fragment… It had the most significant impact among all the main events of the scenario. It wasn’t by chance that it was placed randomly behind the scenes.
Anyway…
[ Main Quest ]
〖 Chapter 3: Apostle of the Reverse Sea 〗
< Quest Info >
[ 5 days left until the ‘Great Duel’ incident! ]
[ The boss battle follows immediately after this incident! ]
The good thing for me was that as long as Tatiana adopted such a ‘cautious’ attitude, she wouldn’t be doing shit like sending assassins or summoning something during this period of time.
She had already tried to use her full power to confront me before witnessing Eleanor’s strength and freaking out. As such, she wouldn’t be thinking about killing me in earnest until the means to counteract such power were in place.
“…”
And during that moment of respite, it was the perfect time to improve my specs.
With such thoughts, I looked at Riru, who was performing the traditional ancestral rites of the Tribal Alliance.
On top of the coastal cliffs, a bare landscape consisting only of dead grass that had long dried up and withered, she had lit a fire and was burning necklaces with it.
“Please open the path, Sky.”
Riru, who closed her eyes and murmured, quietly placed another necklace on the fire.
“So that the warriors can return home.”
Previously, these necklaces were carefully kept in the run down house that Riru had built.
The purpose of those was as identity cards for the Tribal Alliance warriors.
This place was one of the few places in the dome-shaped Forge of Struggle that had a clear view of the sky. And as you’d expect from such a place, the smoke produced from all the burning scattered directly into the air.
“…”
Riru, who raised her head silently, watched the scattering smoke.
For a while, she stared at that sight without a word. It looked like she was holding back tears.
Considering the setting…
These should be the belongings of her clan members who had died instead of Riru and Kasa in order to save them on the night that Alan Ba-Thor applied for a ‘Great Duel’ to take over command from the previous Chieftain, Kasa.
The reason why she insisted on returning to the Tribal Alliance was so that she could perform this ritual, to honor the warriors who weren’t even able to be properly buried in their homeland.
After all, there was a widely held belief that warriors, who weren’t given proper funeral in the land of their respective tribe, could not return to the ‘Homeland of Warriors’ that dwelled in the sky.
“…”
And as that smoke spread…
I glared intensely below the coastal cliff.
[What are you doing?]
“Memorizing.”
[Memorizing? Memorizing what?]
“The path.”
[…Path? What path? There’s nothing there but the sea, though?]
“There’s something like that. And it’s all here.”
I could feel Caliban giving me a confused look from inside the amulet. It was understandable. After all from the outside, it looked like there was nothing there except the crashing waves. Not to mention that it seemed like I was staring at the tides as well.
However, I wasn’t spouting bullshit. There really was a path there.
I did not request this to Tatiana first for no reason.
The way to increase my Endurance stat and essential hints on how to split open the chapter boss’s head were all here.
‘Inside’ of those raging waves.
The reason why I came here was to examine that. After all, I could only see them from here.
“…Thank you.”
And as I was doing so…
Riru, who had sat and watched the bonfire for a long while to make sure all the necklaces turned into ashes, suddenly spoke up.
“If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to fulfill this….wish within such a short period.”
“…”
She wasn’t wrong.
Considering the progress of the original game, the fact that Riru had been able to come here in the first place was impossible without receiving Luca’s necklace.
If I didn’t intervene in the middle, there was a high possibility that it would not have actually happened.
Although it was fortunate that this seemed to have at least immensely lessened one of this person’s emotional burdens…
“What are you going to do from now on?”
To my question, Riru went silent once again.
After thinking for a long while in this deep silence, she spoke again with a determined voice.
“…I will seek revenge.”
“On who are you referring to?”
“On all those related to the deaths of my clan.”
Riru continued with an icy voice.
“I will kill them all with my own hands. It’s my natural right in order to honor those who had died unfairly one last time.”
I had no intention of disagreeing with her words.
Those were probably virtuous and innocent people. Not to mention that they were her family.
It was a truth that if someone wished to kill others, they had to dig two graves. Those who kill should also pay the appropriate price to match such actions.
‘…No, but wait. Wait a minute.’
Cold sweat started to appear on my body. I looked towards the blue aura surrounding her body. It was undoubtedly the Devil’s Aura.
I swear to fucking God. This was practically a disease at this point. How could she pour out something like this whenever she got pissed?
“Well, I’ll help with that as well.”
Saying that, I grabbed Riru’s hand.
“Let’s stay strong. After all, I, too, have a promise with Kasa.”
“…”
Riru opened her eyes wide and looked at me and my hand that grabbed hers in turn.
“W-Why are you holding my hand out of nowhere?!”
Her face flared red as she pushed my hand away.
When I saw the Blue Devil’s Aura scattered to the surroundings, I let out an inward sigh of relief.
I swear, the more I saw her, the more I felt like she really didn’t have any tolerance for making contact with men.
While I stayed with her, whenever she looked like she might get angry, I deliberately did this to soothe her.
“…”
Sometimes, I felt a bit pitiful about my own circumstances, but…
Well, there was nothing I could do.
If I wanted to survive, I had to just suck it up and live with it.
[Ah. Ah. This is a broadcast from the central control room.]
As I wallowed in my sadness, a voice echoing far and wide, as if using a loudspeaker, reached us.
[A rainstorm is approaching. According to the shamans, it is the largest one in recent times.]
Certainly…
The sky looked incomparably gloomy and cloudy. It seemed like there would be a huge thunderstorm happening shortly.
If the people in this place weren’t batshit insane, they would probably tell everyone to stay inside quietly and not make any trouble. However…
This was the Forge of Struggle. Whenever even a glimpse of an opportunity presented itself, they would throw their students into extreme situations.
[As such, all students assemble at the plaza near the coast now. That’s all.]
What the fuck did I even expect?
With a bitter smile, I got up.
This was an event that officially announced the start of Chapter 3.
An announcement that signaled the beginning of the ‘Hunter’s Night’.
“…”
The problem was her.
With such thoughts, I looked towards Riru.
It wasn’t for no reason that I had mentioned before that the key to clearing Chapter 3 was guiding the violent side of this person.
When considering how the Tribal Alliance was treating Riru right now and her personality…
During the progress of Chapter 3, it was basically confirmed that Riru wouldn’t be able to suppress her anger and would pick a fight here and there.
In the original game, this problem would only cause slight bumps to the game progression, but in our current situation, I also had to deal with the Blue Devil, who’d explode in anger at the slightest form of provocation.
Basically, what it meant was; to make sure that she didn’t end up in a berserk state like Eleanor, I had to stick to and babysit her as much as humanly possible during the entire progression of this chapter.
In other words…
First, let’s organize everything I had to do in the next 5 days.
…That was it.
Thinking about this list made me sigh involuntarily.
‘Will it go well?’
As always…
This will be a long week. Who knows if I could eat or sleep properly this week…
At a coastal area battered by rain and wind like a storm.
Outside the platform of the Forge of Struggle leading to the external facilities, numerous wild-like people stood naked below such weather.
Whether they were male or female, they all had copper-toned skin, as if they had been tanning, and healthy bodies.
“…”
What the fuck? All of them had insane builds.
No matter how much I worked out, I could never reach that level.
“Assemble!”
Hatan U-Jul.
He was the Dean of the ‘Hall of Hunters’, a school specialized in hunting Demonic Creatures, so it was only natural for him to directly participate in this kind of event.
“Normally, this time of the year would mark the beginning of the new semester and I would give a brief introduction, but… This is the Forge of Struggle. You guys don’t need such things, do you?”
Hatan let out a wild smile as he continued.
“Let’s keep it short and intense from the very beginning of the new semester. It’s been a few years since we had a Hunter’s Night, you bastards. It’s the time when the most honorable warriors shine!”
In response to these words, thunderous cheers and applause erupted from the crowd.
It was as if a festival that they had been sincerely waiting for had finally appeared before them. In the face of such an atmosphere, the students from the Empire looked around with bewildered expressions.
I mean, shit. There was a storm raging so intensely that it wouldn’t be strange for anyone light enough to fly away. What were these fucking lunatics so excited for? Why were they practically getting off on this shit?
“All of you guys here know what a Hunter’s Night is, but since we have guests from the Empire, I’ll explain it briefly.
With that, Hatan tossed a metal sphere into the air.
It was a hologram drone. A general overview of the itinerary for what would happen here was clearly organized and projected in the format of a video.
“Among all the nations of the continent, the Tribal Alliance is the place where Demonic Creatures appear the most frequently. So, excellent warriors are no different from excellent hunters. Our entire academy is a facility that focuses heavily on educating how to hunt Demonic Creatures.”
Then, the video on the hologram changed.
Burning volcanic regions. Huge snowfields raging with blizzards. Jungles akin to a dense forest. And the stormy coast where we were standing at this very moment.
Each of these areas were famous for being the most barren and harsh regions. And above all, they were the habitats to the most notorious Demonic Creatures.
“The Forge of Struggle has artificially recreated the ecosystem of these Demonic Creatures inside the academy itself with the aim to prepare for facing such Demonic Creatures. To provide an experience as close to real combat as possible.”
The explanation continued.
“And the Hunter’s Night… Is the most ‘difficult period of time to hunt’ all of the Demonic Creatures nearby the academy. Some have special abilities added, some simply have their combat power amplified, and there are even bastards who won’t die no matter how many times you kill them.”
The video on the hologram continued to play, displaying the appearances of various Demonic Creatures.
A Demonic Creature that turned transparent. A Demonic Creature that had its claws and leather hardened several times more than usual. A Demonic Creature that regenerated even its severed head.
“This event, which will last for several days, is a significant occasion where the most excellent hunters in their respective environments will receive the highest honor that the academy can bestow. It is not an exaggeration to say that this is one of the most important periods of time. Understood?”
The Empire students glanced at each other.
How could they possibly not understand?
To put it simply, the entire academy would turn dozens of times more dangerous than usual during this period of time.
“…Then why were we being called outside? Shouldn’t we be in a safe place inside the aca—”
“Nonsense.”
Hatan let out a smirk.
A smirk that made him seem like the incarnation of ferocity itself.
“It’s precisely at times like these that we should be more active in killing those fuckers.”
“…But isn’t the risk of dying much higher? The basic strategy when going about a Demonic Creature Conquest is to target the time when they’re weaker to minimize casual—”
“What are you even saying? The greater the risk, the greater the reward.”
“…”
The Empire student who was trying their best to argue fell silent at such words.
It seemed that they were only now realizing that the people here had a completely different mindset than them.
This place was originally like this; a place where only the nutjobs obsessed with fighting survived. They were taught to rush in head first. The stronger their opponent was the greater their fervor.
It wasn’t for no reason that the students of the Empire, who approached everything with a rational mindset, were looked down upon and got shit on by these people.
Even Riru, who was called a mad dog in Elfante, wasn’t considered that violent here. Did I need to say anything more?
“Well, I’ll at least provide you with the most minimum safety measure. If you feel like you’re about to die, call me. I’ll come to rescue you.”
With that, Hatan looked around at the students with a chilly gaze.
“Of course, for the bastards that don’t even have skills nor balls… I believe they aren’t worth staying at this academy anyway. It’s safe to say that they will receive the lowest possible score.”
“W-Wait a minute please. The scores we receive in the Forge of Struggle will also convert to our grades back at our academy…”
“So?”
“…”
“Then, you guys just need to hunt. What is the problem?”
At his nonchalant response, the Empire students turned pale, but Hatan didn’t seem to care as he continued to speak.
“And the first part of the Hunter’s Night is ‘Sea Hunting’. The one who catches the strongest creature first will earn the greatest honor!”
Hatan pointed to several boats anchored near the coast.
The boats were equipped with harpoons, nets, and other miscellaneous hunting equipment.
“We have already prepared the boats for you. Now, get going!”
With these words, the students from the Forge of Struggle each let out a roar before beginning to divide into groups and board the boats.
On the other hand, the students from the Empire wore incredulous expressions and remained still.
“…Is that it?”
Beside me, Talion spoke with a dejected voice.
“Without explaining how to use the boats, how to find Demonic Creatures to hunt, what to do if we find them, or anything?
“Why would they need to tell us that?”
Riru, who was with me, responded with an even more incredulous voice.
“The quickest way to become proficient in hunting is to clash and gain firsthand experience. After all, learning from your mistakes after failure is the best way to learn.”
“So she says.”
I chuckled and patted Talion on the shoulder, as his expression seemed to say, ‘What kind of dogshit are you even on about?’
These guys were the only ones here who could be in my team right now.
After all, Eleanor, Iliya, and even Yuria and the Saintess all claimed to be busy and had forcibly excused themselves.
“…”
I had no idea what they were so busy with that they were immersing themselves with their own things after coming all the way here, but…
In the end, Riru and Talion were the only two that were suitable enough to go with me.
“Even if you don’t know about Sea Hunting, it’s just hunting while riding on a boat for a day. It’ll be insanely fun.”
While walking towards the boat with me, Riru grinned as she spoke.
The way her pupils were practically sparkling showed that she was beyond excited.
As if she felt my gaze, Riru then tilted her head before questioning me.
“Why are you looking at me like that?
“Nothing. I just felt like you really belong in the Tribal Alliance.”
“Huh?”
“You look happy here, compared to back at the Empire. You were literally angry 24/7.”
“…Are you tooting your own horn or something? When you’re the one who brought me here?”
Riru grumbled as such before scratching the back of her head in silence.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but it kind of looked like her face had reddened just slightly.
“…? What.”
When I turned towards Talion, who kept tapping at me from the side, this time, it was this bastard’s eyes that were sparkling as he had his fists tightly clenched.
“As expected of Senior Brother.”
“…”
“I did feel like you had your eyes on her last time, but as expected, you immediately started your conquest to add another—”
“…You’ll steer the boat.”
As punishment for speaking such nonsense, I handed him the hardest role on the boat.
“…I have to steer the boat for an entire day alone? It is possible, but still, it seems a bit—”
“I don’t have any intentions of staying out for that long either. Let’s catch a big one as fast as possible and return.”
“I like that. Catching a big one and returning, you say? What do you want to go for? A Kraken? A Giant Sturgeon? Or-”
“We aren’t going there just to hunt, Riru.”
“…What?”
At the bewildered Riru, I responded with a chuckle.
As slightly shown before, Chapter 3’s Apostle of the Reversed Sea was connected to the ‘Existence of an Ancient Era’ that was under the sea.
Just as the name implied, the bastard was outrageously strong.
And in order to clear the chapter without the help of a Devil….
It was also necessary for me to make contact with an existence that was fairly ‘outside of the norm’. And this was the task I had to continuously do throughout the duration of the Hunter’s Night.
There were things that were only possible when those Demonic Creatures were particularly strong, you see.
“We are going to go meet the king of this sea.”
For now…
I needed to start with the sea, the homeground of that bastard.
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