338. Eyes of the Deep (2)
338. Eyes of the Deep (2)
- 1 -
Kaitna Port was a barren place.
In the days when it belonged to Duke Driaz, the port of Viscruz to the north occupied a more open location, so there was no reason to develop it.
And after most of the County of Cheoks, including Viscruz, passed into Leophere's hands, the Duke simply lacked the resources to develop this place.
But now that both ports were in Leophere's hands, this port was rapidly coming back to life.
That was because Libertas had taken note of this port, nestled within a narrow strait and safe from external threats.
"Pull that side!!"
"Everything must be loaded by morning!! Move quickly!"
Four days before Esther offered her greetings to Libertas alongside Leticia.
This place, designated as the military port for Leophere and the alliance, had its harbor rapidly overhauled even before the city itself had fully regained its function.
Now, a month after Duke Driaz raised the white flag, Kaitna had taken on the appearance of a proper port and was abuzz with activity.
"The Asphodel is ready!!"
"The Narcissus is ready, too!"
And at that moment, three large sailing ships were prepared there.
These three vessels, named 'Lily,' 'Asphodel,' and 'Narcissus,' were built in the small kingdom of Kiza with the support of Hysen. They were the ships nicknamed the 'Black Goddesses.'
Not only were their hulls entirely constructed of Mistheim ironwood, which was now the property of Orbis, but their figureheads were also statues of goddesses carved from that very same black wood.
The goddess statues made of black ironwood boasted an art form of supreme beauty.
"All preparations are complete."
Among them, the captain of the 'Black Lily' approached the three women standing at the bow and reported respectfully.
The white-haired woman among them glanced back at the captain and answered languidly.
"We set sail as soon as everyone is aboard..."
"Aye-aye!!"
And so, the three warships slid out of the port.
When they first began to depart, there were three, but by the time they entered the open ocean in earnest, two more ships had already joined the formation.
- Uuuuuu...
From the newly joined ships came sounds like the wailing of ghosts, but their exteriors looked just like the first three vessels—mere black sailing ships.
"It unsettles me every time I see them..."
"Those are really crewed by living people, right...?"
They were vessels originally meant to be called 'ghost ships,' built by Wepar around a core granted by Libertas.
The ghost ships Wepar had created had exteriors too sleek and beautiful to ever be called 'ghost ships,' but the ominous and eerie presence they gave off could not be hidden at all.
And so, the three warships and the two ghost ships sailed into the distant sea.
Ssssss...
The Central North Ocean was normally a calm sea, but the further northwest the ships steered their course, the more volatile it became.
Dark clouds began to gather in the sky, and the waves grew increasingly rough.
What was even stranger was the movement of the sea creatures.
Suddenly, massive schools of fish were leaping above the surface madly, or deep-sea fish never usually seen were circling the ships anxiously.
"Was this area always such a turbulent sea?"
"No, it's not. They say the seas around here are prone to whims, but this area was quiet even when storms did brew."
The captain shook his head at Saya's question.
By now, there was fear on his face.
"That's why everyone is uneasy. This last happened when my grandfather was still active... Back then, it was a time when anyone who ventured even a little further out to sea simply disappeared."
"I see."
Saya locked eyes with the other two women.
"It seems your information was true, after all."
"Didn't I tell you so."
Shue looked back at the sea indifferently, and Wepar nodded her head.
Splash — !
And so, the fourth night came.
Saya stood alone on the deck, staring out at the pitch-black sea.
Across the rough waves and wind, a very faint but unmistakable 'sound' came through.
A vibration of extremely low frequency that made every cell in her body tremble.
It was a deep and massive reverberation, as if resonating directly from the heart.
"You heard it?"
Shue, who had approached unnoticed, stood beside her.
She too had her eyes closed and was concentrating on that ominous vibration.
"... They're coming."
Tak!
Shue's pupils held a blood-red flame.
Glaring at the pitch-black surface of the sea, she muttered coldly.
A killing intent flickered from the sharp corners of her eyes, and a red power began slowly seeping through her snow-white hair.
Dallang — Dallang — Dallang — !
When Saya rang the magic bell hung at the bow three times, everyone who had been taking turns napping on the three sailing ships snapped awake.
- 2 -
While the fleet headed into the deep sea, at the Narcissus Palace of the Hylash Royal Family.
After meeting with Libertas, Leticia sat in the drawing room alone with Esther, looking down at her still-trembling hands.
Even after the room's occupant had vanished, the trembling ingrained in her body did not easily subside.
"How was it? Leti."
Esther's calm voice broke the silence.
"Your impression of meeting our Master in person."
At the gentle touch stroking her hair, Leticia barely managed to lift her head and look at Esther.
The reverent, awe-inspiring presence in human form she had seen in the meeting room just moments ago, and the emotions she had recalled while looking at her, came to mind one by one.
Fear, awe, and even a complex mix of inexplicable attraction.
"...It was as if I were meeting the Goddess of Heaven who once gave me revelations. But..."
Yet confusion filled her eyes.
It was because of the paradoxical fact that she, who had once worshipped a Goddess she thought to be unique, had felt awe before a being who denied that Goddess.
"...It was deeper, and higher."
"It was. That being is not the same as the Goddess the Celestial Religion speaks of."
Esther gently patted her shoulder with a smile full of deep understanding.
"She is a living sun, one who shines upon the world by her own will. One who illuminates those who possess will."
One who adds strength to light through one's own will, not through submission to an external absolute being.
As her teacher's voice seeped into her ears, Leticia felt the trembling in her heart grow stronger.
That trembling didn't make her tense; it was something that moved her, something that made her feel even more awe-struck and deeply grateful.
Nevertheless, there was a crisis that could not be ignored.
"But... the Holy Kingdom is still..."
"Yes..."
Tension flickered across Leticia's face again.
She knew the Holy Kingdom's power best. Even if not as well as Esther.
"They do not acknowledge any being outside the system they themselves have built. Many of the indigenous faiths of this world vanished under the name of heresy."
'But,' Esther paused, then clasped Leticia's hands and whispered.
"Believe in your path. Follow the light of will that you believe in. There's no need to be afraid. For you have bathed in her sunlight. You have come under her shadow."
'The true sun...'
Leticia repeated the word inwardly.
Light and shadow. Salvation and destruction. Divinity and heresy.
It felt as if every concept she knew was being mixed together and reconstructed in a new form.
It was frightening, but at the same time, an unknowable sense of relief and anticipation was welling up.
She couldn't possibly guess just where the path she now stood on would lead.
"But... where could she be going so suddenly?"
In the midst of that deepening emotion, she recalled Libertas's appearance, who had hurriedly wrapped up their conversation and risen from her seat at the very end.
Seeing the worry and admiration rising in Leticia's eyes, Esther's eyes twinkled with benevolence.
"It's alright. That person is..."
The Saintess raised her gaze and looked to the northwest.
"...not one to leave her subordinates in the midst of a crisis."
To somewhere, where her comrades' battle must have begun.
- 3 -
Chwaak — !!
- Hwiooo —
It was enormous tentacles that tore through the sea surface and shot upwards.
The body of a gigantic whale-like monster, shrieking in agony, was being gruesomely torn apart as it was entangled by dozens of tentacles.
Kwadeudeuk — !!
The horrific sound of flesh and bone rupturing echoed across the night sea.
The sight of the great tentacles dismembering the body of their victim alive was as overwhelming as a scene from a myth brought to life.
- Hwioo...!
The final death scream of the whale monster, which would have once reigned as a predator of the sea, scattered vainly before the true monster of the deep.
In the center of it all, over the dark-red waves stained with blood and innards, something gargantuan was slowly rising from the ocean depths.
Chwaaak — !!
At first, it felt as if a huge undersea mountain range was rising up.
The entire ship creaked under that pressure.
What was being revealed there was a size beyond human imagination, and...
Dozens of eyes.
"Hup...!"
"Th-that is..."
Those on the deck of the Black Lily who watched that spectacle each swallowed their breath.
A size and majesty that far, far surpassed human comprehension.
"That is... Gertrude."
Wepar murmured in a low voice.
In her pitch-black eyes, fighting spirit swirled alongside awe.
As a mermaid queen, she had distinct feelings about witnessing a being who vied for the mastery of the sea.
The target they had to hunt.
But that colossal body did not suit the word 'prey' at all.
Unless one meant a predator or a sovereign.
"There are far more than expected... Even those light signals didn't manage to detect these."
Shue clicked her tongue with her arms folded.
Earlier, the maximum number of kraken Wepar had predicted was five, and the scale of the other sea monsters following the kraken had never been assessed.
They had brought forces with a buffer in mind, but to face ten kraken, and then face the Great Mother behind them—the situation was severely lacking.
But her white hair was already dyed red, like a blazing flame.
She would not retreat.
Because there was someone who looked after her.
"What I observed was merely 'signs.' Would it not be unreasonable to ask me to predict the size of such a being?"
Wepar retorted calmly, drawing up mana throughout her body.
Scales sprouted from the waist of her revealing outfit, and a blue light glinted in her eyes.
Her originally red hair turned violet as it received the deep blue power.
"You'd better confess your mistake to our Lady..."
"... Understood."
"Hoo."
Between them, Saya silently moved her hand to the scabbard at her waist.
A golden flash began cutting through her black hair.
Hwareuk! Pajijeut!
The three women's mana reached its peak.
At that moment, the enormous eyes of the Great Mother of the deep, Gertrude, all turned toward the fleet at once.
Dozens of eyes, each the size of a small ship.
In the gaze of the one who ruled the deep sea was the cruelty of eons and all of the ocean's ruthlessness.
"H-hiiik...!"
"How do they expect us to catch that...!"
With just that gaze, the ordinary sailors on the deck were collapsing in terror or were on the verge of losing their minds.
Even the elite monster soldiers trembled from the instinctive pressure.
- Kuoooo...
She let out a low roar.
It was not a direct attack, but the cry alone caused the surrounding sea to heave violently.
Cheombeong! Chwaaaak — !
As if answering that call, the surrounding sea began to boil all at once.
Other colossal forms, which had been writhing and crawling in the deep, shot up to the surface of the water.
"Kraken — !!"
Though smaller than Gertrude, they were still kraken many times the size of a battleship.
- Keuaaaa — !!
The ten kraken threw their bodies into the sea simultaneously.
Peoeong — !!
Chwaaak!!
The sea surface bulged and began surging toward the ship.
The black wave approached as if the sea itself had become a giant monster seeking to swallow them whole.
At the same time, Gertrude smoothly flipped her massive body and slid into the depths.
Like a predator casually disappearing after tossing prey to her children, or perhaps as if to test the power of these strangers.
"Where do you think you're going...!"
Teoeong!
Gnashing her teeth, Shue, whose hair was now fully stained red, kicked off the deck and leaped into the air.
Saya also flew up, following behind Shue. Wepar gave orders to the two ghost ships while simultaneously drawing up her mana and beginning to control the seawater.
Kwareureureung —— !!!
The moment the massive tentacles, numbering in the dozens—perhaps over a hundred—erupted from the sea, a blazing red explosion and dazzling golden lightning came crashing down from the sky like thunderbolts striking the earth.
The first gate standing before the Great Mother of the deep was her blood kin and subordinates, the kraken.