71. Leviathan
71. Leviathan
Yuma's group and the Mulren tribe warriors returned to the island.
Yuma had to move as soon as he got back.
Because there were people waiting for him.
Before departing from the Imperial Princess's Palace, the elite warriors of the White Night Clan, who had requested aid through Cassiela, had arrived.
The number of White Night Clan members who set foot on Mulren's land was a mere 30.
But they were not beings to be judged by numbers alone.
Pure white coats fluttered in the cold air.
Of the 30 who arrived, 2 were Sword Masters.
The rest were Advanced Experts.
The White Night clan of swordsmen, once crushed under their burden.
A clan that could be called the Sword Clan, born with a talent that reached the very limits of human potential in swordsmanship.
Such were the swordsmen of the White Night Clan.
The men of the clan were still young. Who knew how many more transcendents would be born from them.
And there was a single being whom they followed blindly.
That being was not Luke, the clan head.
It was Yuma.
They knelt before Yuma, who had freed their clan from their burden.
"We apologize for being late, our benefactor."
Yuma's blue eyes slowly scanned the White Night Clan members.
"No. You arrived at a very opportune time."
Yuma continued speaking.
"We'll be entering battle again soon. Keep yourselves limber."
"Understood."
Durek, one of the Sword Masters of the White Night Clan who came as reinforcements, answered on behalf of the clan.
After the White Night Clan's greeting to Yuma ended,
Bel ran toward the men of her own clan.
"Raul!"
Bel ran toward one man with red hair.
"Bel!"
Bel was quite happy to see the arrival of a close friend of the same age from her clan.
"You had a rough time getting here, didn't you?"
At Bel's words, Raul shook his head.
"Rough time? Nah, it was nice seeing the sea."
Raul, who had been trapped in the Land of White Night, seemed deeply impressed by his first sight of the sea.
"What about Haven oppa?"
Raul chuckled at Bel's concern for her sibling.
"Haven went sightseeing for a bit, then headed back into the Land of White Night to receive sword training from the clan head. He's still growing. You can look forward to when you see him next."
At the words of Haven's friend Raul, Bel's eyes widened.
"That's a relief."
"Yeah, it's a relief."
Raul carefully looked at Yuma's back as he spoke.
"How is Yuma-nim?"
"Well, he's consistent as always."
"Right, right. I heard. They say he just swept away the sea dragons again."
From the perspective of the White Night Clan, who had witnessed Yuma fell the Giant King Ades in a single strike, there could be no worries about Yuma.
***
Yuma had just finished checking something out on the sea.
It was one of the items contained in the divine pouch left behind when the god Inkrinew died.
The pale blue eyes of Tisha, who was practicing magic even right after finishing a round of battle, and Cloné's golden eyes stared intently at Yuma.
Tisha's mouth slowly opened.
"...Is that also one of Yuma-nim's powers? An authority?"
Yuma shook his head.
"No, this is just a good item."
An item.
After confirming the item worked properly, Yuma put it back into the divine pouch.
***
Two days later.
The Mulren tribe warriors started to move again.
Because urgent news had swept across the sea that the black haze and fog had begun to creep and writhe once more.
"Let's go."
Yuma and his party finished preparing to ride the same gigantic silver seahorse, Silvilia, as they had two days before. If there was a difference from two days ago, it was the size of Yuma's party.
Including the White Night Clan and Tisha, 35 people advanced forward, following the hundreds of Mulren tribe warriors marching far ahead.
Chwaaaaa──
The densely packed Mulren tribe warriors began to halt all at once.
Yuma stopped again beside the Mulren tribe king, Yerkur.
This time, even more [Sea Serpents] poured out from the very beginning.
Woowoowoong!
Intense flames blossomed on the swords of the White Night Clan's three Sword Masters, including Bel.
Chwaaaahhck!!
Long Sword Auras cleaved across the sea.
The Sword Auras began hunting the [Sea Serpents] in an instant.
The density of the Sword Aura.
The gap between Expert and Master was stark.
Yuma looked at the [Sea Serpent] baring its fangs before him and thought again.
'It certainly doesn't seem to be an intelligent life form.'
Seeing as it bared its teeth again, after its comrades were so mercilessly slaughtered yesterday.
Kaaaang!
A golden circular wave denoting a successful parry flashed.
<Absolute Counter>
Kwoaaaahhh!!!
The [Sea Serpent] that bared its fangs died instantly.
This time too, close to fifty red eyes could be seen within the fog.
One thing, the fellow's mindset seemed different from two days ago.
Krrrrrrr...
The fellow cried out.
Then, the thirty or so [Sea Serpents] that had moved beyond the fog began to retreat.
Krrrrrr...
And the fellow approached.
It sent its subordinates away. And advanced forward itself.
The body dimly visible beyond the fog was truly gigantic.
Its size could be predicted to be comparable to the Black Dragon, [Elkham-Akreon], faced in the County of Rubelt.
Just its approach made the Great Sea quake.
'That bastard.'
Had it been wary of <Absolute Counter - Disaster Split> and thus made the [Sea Serpents] retreat?
Was it considering that it too might die by that unidentified power?
If it had withdrawn its subordinates in consideration of the Disaster Split it had witnessed beyond the fog two days before, it meant this Leviathan was a far more intelligent lifeform than expected.
Saaaaaaa!
The fog dispersed.
And the fellow fully revealed itself.
Perhaps because it was striding over the sea, it looked even larger than the Black Dragon, which had approached 100 meters in size.
[Lv.426] Leviathan
Race: Sea Dragon (海龍)
State: Demigod (半神)
Characteristics: An entity serving as the subordinate of an unknown god. It possesses an ego, but its intelligence is only slightly higher than that of a whale.
The problem was that whales boasted the highest level of intelligence among fish species.
Demigod-level combat power coupled with a whale's intelligence could not be ignored.
Rather, it was sufficient to sit at the very top of the food chain.
Leviathan struck the sea with its giant tentacles.
It wasn't even a particularly powerful strike.
Chwaaaa sh─!!!
But the Great Sea showed a literal anomaly.
Yuma's eyes suddenly widened.
Kwarararararak!!!!
The sea began to heave.
As if it were a living thing.
The ferociously moving currents of the Great Sea bared their teeth at Yuma.
A wave that could be called a pillar of water surged up.
'Not me.'
He could immediately tell it wasn't aimed at him.
Kirururuk!
It was a ferocious wave that rose up targeting the Silvilia he was riding.
Jjeoreoreoreoreong──!!
Yuma's body was flung into the air along with Silvilia. And launched far off to the rear.
Far enough that the distance to that gigantic Leviathan seemed clearly vast.
'Well then.'
─Damn it.
Yuma literally felt his body float in the air.
Balmung deployed aurora-shaped protective magic enveloping the entire body of its master, Yuma.
Just before Yuma's airborne body crashed into the Great Sea.
-Deploying barrier magic for landing purposes, Master.
Balmung unfurled a defensive barrier over the horizon.
Resulting in Yuma and the Silvilia he'd been riding until now landing on the platform.
Yuma could see the countless tentacles Leviathan was jabbing downward.
He felt he understood why Leviathan had flung him so far away.
It intended to first hurl him, who launched attacks of an unknown nature, out of the equation.
Then it looked intent on killing the remaining Mulren tribe and White Night Clan first.
Kiruruk-
"Let's go."
Yuma mounted his Silvilia again and advanced forward.
Chwaaaa
'Hold on.'
Yuma looked at the ultramarine monster with the dragon's head, Leviathan.
That attack extending countless spear-like tentacles.
'If they stick to what we practiced, they should at least be able to hold out.'
Demigod.
A demigod.
An opponent upon whom it wasn't just hard to land a killing blow, but even an effective hit.
Even a Sword Master's Sword Aura would not easily cut through that ultramarine hide.
But he deemed that blocking its attacks, at least, was possible.
At least until he could reach the very front lines again.
Yuma trusted the 30 elite knights of the White Night Clan he had summoned.
He trusted the power of that defensive formation which had survived for generations against the Giant King Ades.
And he also trusted the power of the nearly thousand visible Mulren tribesmen.
Because the Mulren tribe he had observed for over two weeks were not beings who'd spent their time idly.
***
The Mulren tribe members, primarily characterized by skin tones of sky-blue hues, whether warriors or mages, all placed their right hands beneath the water's surface.
Saaaak...
Golden aura currents spread beneath the water's surface.
Those currents awakened the will of one of the marine creatures dwelling in the sea.
A marine creature shaped like a turtle.
Over 500 [Arkelron] heaved their bodies reaching nearly 10 meters and looked up at the water's surface.
-We must protect the sea together.
That was the shared thought the Mulren tribe communicated while requesting the Arkelron's aid.
The giant sea turtles, Arkelron, synchronized with the Mulren tribe's desperate plea.
On the surface, the Arkelron gathered vertically to create a wall.
Tudududududu!!
The massive, densely packed shells of the Arkelron completely blocked the giant tentacles extending under the water's surface.
Above the surface, over 50 giant tentacles with blade-like claws menaced threateningly, but not a single one was able to breach the invisible veil.
Jjeoreong! Jjeoreoreong!!
They were being completely, utterly blocked.
Sword Aura blazed intensely on the swords of the White Night Clan warriors riding the seahorse, Silvilia.
Sword Veil (劍幕).
The veil composed of Sword Aura overlapped with the <Veil of Water> deployed by the mages, wholly blocking the tentacles' approach.
"Maintain the battle line!"
The voice of the Mulren king followed.
"Rotation!"
The mages who had scraped out every last drop of mana switched places with resting mages.
"Deploy something like a barrier on the sea floor. So we can step on it and leap up."
"Understood!"
Emboldened by the certainty that they had pushed Yuma far away, the dragon-headed Leviathan once again sent its subordinate [Sea Serpents] out from beyond the fog.
Swswswsw!
Protective Battle Aura surged over the entire bodies of the three White Night Clan Sword Masters, including Bel.
Kkwajik!
The three Sword Masters stepped on the barrier the Mulren mages had deployed on the surface and leaped up.
Sseogeogeok!
And they cleaved through the heads of the [Sea Serpents] with their Sword Aura.
"Kuaaahh!"
Two from the White Night Clan and three Mulren tribe warriors were gravely injured, but no other damage was apparent.
Over the violent sea, the sword-light of White Night flashed innumerably.
In contrast, all fifty-plus [Sea Serpents] that emerged from the fog under Leviathan's command were killed.
It was the result of the desperate struggle of the three Master-level Mulren tribe members, including the Mulren king, and the three Sword Masters of the White Night Clan.
And of the slashing strikes fired by the remaining warriors.
The sea was dyed red.
"You held out well."
A voice came from the rear.
Yuma was there.
Cheom... beong
Yuma was walking on two feet.
Creating small, clear ripples.
Cheom─beong
He was literally walking on the sea.
Nobly striding across the blue Great Sea, without the aid of a barrier or the like.
Hestia blankly opened her mouth.
"Th- The God of War walks the sea─!!"
Yuma let Hestia's words, which sounded strangely dangerous, flow past him, and continued his lofty stride.
Cheom─beong
The ripples were gradually widening.