The Siren's Song and the Leviathan
The two of them stood in the shallow sea wearing nothing but swimsuits. Since I was watching from behind, all I could see were their backs. “Damn…” It wasn’t their lower halves that left me speechless—it was the sheer majesty of their chests. The designers behind those suits were absolute geniuses. How does someone even come up with the idea of strategically cutting fabric to create slits that make a person look this seductive? The tantalizing glimpses of their backs and waistlines were driving me crazy. It was a shame the sun wasn’t directly overhead; the lighting would have made the view even better.
“Snow leopard tails are surprisingly thick.”
Even soaked in water and plastered flat, Miya’s tail still looked plump and full. I’d assumed it was just fluffy fur, but apparently not. Did she hear my muttering? Her ears perked up atop her head, and she glanced back at me. Then she grabbed her tail and pulled it forward. We were pretty far apart, yet she’d still caught it. She really did possess physical abilities far beyond human limits.
Is she embarrassed?
Come to think of it, for beasts, fur was basically clothing. But when it got wet and clung to the body, revealing every curve? Yeah, that would be embarrassing for any girl, human or not. I’d have to be more careful next time.
While I was thinking that, the two of them started talking. It looked like Asne was speaking and Miya was listening, nodding along. Then Asne stepped forward.
“La~ lalal lalala~ lalala lalala~”
A soft, melodic hum spread through the air. The moment I heard it, I could tell something was happening. But my low rank meant I had no idea what exactly it was.
Miya, standing right beside Asne, had her ears and the fur on her tail standing on end.
“If I could flow like the wind, I would reach your side~”
Soon enough, I understood what was going on. The horizon began to churn violently in time with her song. A massive whirlpool formed, and inside it, a gigantic shadow appeared.
“If I could shine like the moon, I would illuminate you forever~”
With Asne’s song and hand gestures, a waterspout erupted from the whirlpool. Moonlight acted like a spotlight, freezing the center in place. It was as if time itself had stopped there. Even from a distance, the sight sent shivers down my spine. Now I understood why Miya had been so terrified of Sirens.
The seawater forming the spout, the massive whale-like creature inside it—everything hung suspended in midair. It was too surreal to be real.
This is insane…
When I first awakened, I’d seen a huge shadow from afar. That must have been this whale-like monster. The same one whose cry alone had made me tremble from so far away. And now that terrifying beast was frozen in the air by Asne’s song and gestures.
It was like magic, completely ignoring the laws of physics.
“La~ lalal lalala~ lalala lalala~”
The humming continued. This time it seemed to be a buff—Miya’s body began to glow faintly.
“Haaaaah!”
With Miya’s battle cry, a line of pure white light shot out from where she stood. It sliced straight across the sea, then bent at a perfect right angle behind the whale and soared into the sky.
Whoa…
Even from this distance, I could see Miya’s eyes glowing pure white. They were the same eyes a predator makes when hunting. If I hadn’t been her lord, if I were mere prey, I wouldn’t have been able to move a muscle. That piercing gaze cut through the darkness.
BOOM—!!!
KWAAAAANG—!!!
The sounds echoed like thunder, ringing both behind and in front of me. My body trembled. The loud noise from behind and the one from the front—something felt off. A chill ran down my spine, so I turned around.
What I saw was a whale slammed into the side of a mountain. A massive crater had formed, dust billowing around the creature. And the shattered mountain… was beginning to collapse toward me in a landslide.
Faced with a natural disaster no human could stop, my brain simply shut down. As I stared at yet another impossible sight, I felt a hand grab me.
“Hyaaak!!! Minsoo, I’m sorry!!!”
The scenery flipped in an instant. The landslide that had been about to bury me grew distant. For a moment, I was flying through the air. Miya had grabbed me and leaped, and gravity pulled us back down, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. Actually, it was kind of fun.
“Oh… I almost died.”
“Hyaak! I’m sorry! It’s hard to control my strength…”
Miya was flustered and babbling. Beside her, Asne was watching me nervously.
“I’m fine, so calm down and tell me what happened.”
“Aww… well, you see…”
I calmed the still-flailing Miya and asked. The problem wasn’t complicated. Her power had suddenly become ridiculously strong, making it hard to control.
“So you were just trying to knock it toward the shallow sea… and it flew all the way over there?”
“Uung…”
“Asne’s buff is no joke…”
“I tried it for the first time, so I didn’t expect this. I almost harmed your precious body, my lord. I’m truly sorry…”
“I didn’t get hurt, so there’s no need to apologize like that.”
The two of them fidgeted anxiously as they looked at me. There was apparently a clause in the Summon Inhabitant skill that prevented them from harming each other, and it seemed incredibly powerful. Even though this was just a little accident, they couldn’t simply brush it off.
That clause is ridiculously advantageous for me. I’m basically untouchable.
I couldn’t harm my inhabitants. The worst I could do was give them weird food or an uncomfortable bed—petty stuff like that. On the other hand, Miya and Asne could do whatever they wanted to me with just a flick of a finger. And they were extremely conscious of that fact. It was a completely one-sided rule.
“It’s really fine, so stop worrying… For now, can you take me back to land? My feet are about to freeze off…”
“Ah! Sorry! I’ll take you right away!”
Miya and Asne were perfectly comfortable in their swimsuits, but I wasn’t. The seawater reaching my ankles felt like ice. If I stayed any longer, I’d probably get hypothermia, so I asked them to bring me back to shore. Miya grabbed me again and hopped back to land, with Asne following close behind.
“And what about that thing… what should we do?”
The whale-like monster embedded in the mountain. I wondered what to do with it.
“Should we take out the master stone…?”
“Can you do it?”
“Yeah…”
Miya’s ears and tail were still drooping. She looked so cute and pitiful that I unconsciously reached out and stroked her head. Her hair was wet from the seawater.
“It’s really okay. Alright?”
“Uung… I understand…”
Even when I gently squeezed her surprisingly soft ears, she only looked at me nervously. When I kept petting her and telling her it was fine, her expression finally relaxed a little.
“M-me too… um… eep…”
A flash of blue hair appeared at the edge of my vision. When I turned, Asne was looking at me with an anxious expression.
Does she want me to pet her too?
“Asne, you were surprised too, right? It’s okay.”
I carefully stroked her head. Her ears turned bright red instantly, but she didn’t pull away.
So there I was, petting both of them with each hand. I felt less like a lord and more like some kind of Casanova. The only downside was that both of them were still wet from the seawater. Their hair would probably feel incredibly soft if it were dry and fluffy, but right now it was slightly coarse. And freezing cold. Wet hair in sub-zero weather—my hands felt like they were going to freeze solid.
“So what do you call that monster?”
“Minsoo, is this your first time seeing a water dragon?”
“Water dragon? That thing?”
No matter how I looked at it, it was a whale, but Miya called it a water dragon.
“Among water dragons, it’s on the weaker side. It’s called a Big-Mouth Saw,” Asne explained.
“Big-Mouth Saw?”
“Yes. You’ll understand once you see it. Miss Miya, let’s extract the master stone.”
“Ah, okay!”
The two of them moved with renewed focus, their minds apparently recovered. Asne grabbed the whale-like creature’s face and lifted it. Its mouth opened with a loud crack.
“Oh… so that’s why it’s called Big-Mouth Saw?”
It had an enormous mouth like a whale, but inside were rows upon rows of teeth like circular saw blades. Anything caught in there would be shredded to pieces. Miya slipped inside that mouth. Soon came the sounds of slash, slash as blood began to pour out. She must have gone inside to find the master stone.
“I should prepare some water for her to wash up.”
I could imagine what it was like in there. So I bought some bottled water and set it aside. Before long, Miya emerged covered in blood.
“Minsoo! I got the master stone!”
I’d heard that master stones above 9th grade were big, but this one was enormous. It was literally bigger than Miya’s upper body and completely hid her from view.
“…Let’s get you cleaned up.”
“Uung?”
“Put that down and close your eyes for a second.”
“Okay!”
I opened a 2-liter bottle and poured it over Miya’s head. The blood and seawater mixed together, making it hard to rinse off. Still, I poured carefully and used my hands to help wash it away.
“Puuha~ That feels good~”
She looked like a drowned rat, but Miya seemed to be in a great mood.
“Asne, you feel gross too, right? Come here.”
“Nyehet…!”
Asne started to reply to my gesture but must have bitten her tongue, because she flinched. Tears welled up in her large, round eyes.
“Close your eyes too, Asne.”
She stood in front of me and squeezed her eyes shut. Since she wasn’t covered in blood like Miya, it rinsed off easily.
“Huaa… This water is incredibly clean… It feels wonderful…”
Asne’s face lit up with happiness as I poured the water over her.
After washing both of them, I looked down at the master stone on the ground.
11th-Grade Master Stone
“Huh?”
I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. But even after blinking and looking again, the same thing was there. Until now, the highest-grade monster we’d defeated was 9th grade. But the master stone in front of me was 11th grade.
“Holy crap…”
I was so stunned by the displayed rank that I forgot how to speak. I just stood there with my mouth hanging open.