Calamity
“Noriel, have you ever seen anything like this?”
“...No. First time. At least around this village.”
On the way to Dohesi’s house.
The commotion at the village entrance had made me glance over. That was a mistake.
Through the crowd, I saw something I should never have seen.
I should’ve just kept walking.
Looked like dinner was off the table.
“I’ve been a hunter in this village my whole life, and I’ve never seen anything like it.”
What we were staring at was the corpse of a wild boar sprawled across the ground.
The especially bizarre part wasn’t that it had been torn apart or left to rot.
Melted was the better word.
Its hind legs had turned into a quivering jelly with no discernible shape, while its exposed ribs and internal organs looked as if they had been in the middle of melting before the process suddenly stopped.
Was there really a monster in that forest that fed like this?
It was no wonder the men had gathered in broad daylight, all of them pale with shock.
“You think it’s connected to how vicious the wolves have gotten lately?”
“Might be a new kind of monster. Damn…”
“I already sent a request to the guild, but we’ll need to increase patrols for a while.”
It must have been an unbearable sight.
Even the old men kept clicking their tongues in disgust.
“...”
I stared silently at one part of the carcass.
My gaze had caught on the sticky black mucus clinging between the melted chunks of flesh.
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen it. In fact, I probably knew it better than anyone else here.
Could it really be appearing already?
A chilling suspicion.
“...No way. It can’t be.”
I instinctively denied it… but decided to stay alert anyway.
This wasn’t something I could just brush off as a simple mistake.
I took a deep breath.
First, I needed to go over the latest outside news again.
I turned on my heel and deliberately stretched with exaggerated flair.
It was to shake off that disgusting scene and the uneasy feeling it left behind.
When I looked up at the sky, the colors of afternoon had already begun to seep in.
Of course, the Eye of the World was still there beside the sun, staring directly at me.
“That bastard never gets tired of watching me like th—”
A twitch.
“—!!? It moved…?!”
For a split second, the massive pupil jerked.
More precisely, the gaze that had always been fixed on me had briefly swept somewhere else before snapping back.
The time it had looked away was maybe three seconds.
What the hell?
What was that?
Had that ever happened before?
It had never once taken its eyes off me.
Did it see something?
I reflexively turned my head in the direction it had glanced.
That direction was the Pielses Great Forest surrounding the village.
“...What the hell is that?”
My eyes, which had followed its gaze, froze solid.
Something was surging upward toward the sky.
“Hmm? Is it already getting dark?”
“Dark? It’s barely past noon.”
“...Then am I going senile and seeing things?”
The elders who had been staring at the corpse slowly lifted their heads one by one.
A thick, damp shadow had fallen across their faces.
“No, you’re not seeing things. I can see it too… clearly.”
The Pielses Great Forest.
It was the vast wilderness spread out before the village.
In terms of sheer size, it could easily cover dozens of villages and still have room to spare.
But now that enormous sea of trees was screaming as it was devoured by a boiling black swamp.
The jet-black wave didn’t just swallow the entire forest whole—it rose higher than most mountain ranges, stretching toward the sky.
No. That wasn’t quite right.
“...Is it looking down at us?”
That was the feeling I got.
That overwhelming mass was staring at our tiny village.
The way a person might look down at an anthill at their feet.
I felt the blood in my entire body turn ice cold.
A nauseating shiver ran down my spine.
“Oh, please.”
I had hoped it wasn’t.
I had tried to dismiss it as a hallucination.
The appearance of a Calamity was supposed to be a story for a much, much later time.
The future twisting? That was possible.
But this was far too early. Abnormally so.
“Uh… uh…”
One of the elders nearby collapsed as his legs gave out.
The helpless groan snapped my paralyzed mind back into focus.
“Dohesi.”
I shoved past the dazed men and kicked off the ground hard.
My body shot forward before I could even register my own surprise.
“Noriel?! Where are you going?!”
“Everyone, evacuate right now!!!”
I had to.
I had to run with desperate urgency right this second.
Otherwise, the corpse rolling on the ground would be what we looked like next.
* * *
They called it the Seven Calamities.
They called it the Second Tribulation.
They called it the Gluttonous Outer God.
Wibleim.
A being so dangerous that it earned the title of Calamity, far beyond any ordinary monster.
In the original story, it was also known as the Black Sea.
Once fully grown, its body was so massive that a single glance could barely take in its full width. One casual movement from it could grind an entire village to dust like a toy.
That was why the nations of the continent, despite constantly fighting for supremacy, would set aside all their grudges the moment the Calamities began to stir and unite against them.
Because in the face of these things, the very concept of “human” became meaningless.
—Then why?
Why now?
“No. Don’t think about it.”
I shook my head violently and quickened my pace.
What was the point of dwelling on that right now?
Every scrap of thought had to be directed toward survival.
Finally, after rounding the last corner, a small shop came into view.
It was the tavern run by Auntie Hiko.
At this hour, the old men would usually be gathered there chatting, but not a single soul was in sight.
Probably because of the shadow swallowing the entire village.
“Dohesi!!”
Bang—!
I flung open the shop door and burst inside, but the place was empty.
Had they already evacuated?
The moment I bit my lip in anxiety, two familiar silhouettes appeared through the window.
Auntie Hiko with her messy golden braid and Dohesi standing beside her.
I spun around and hurried behind the building.
Both of them were staring blankly up at the sky, heads tilted back.
Frozen in place would be more accurate than simply looking.
“Auntie Hiko! Dohesi!”
“Noriel… how did you…”
“...What… is that…?”
With unfocused eyes, they simply gazed at the apocalyptic scene.
I wanted to answer her trembling question, but there was no time.
“Explanation later. We need to run. Head to the back of the village right now, get on the horses with the others and move.”
“Wait, Noriel.”
“I’m sorry, we don’t have a second to spare. We have to move—”
“That’s not what I mean. Look over there…”
Auntie Hiko’s deep green eyes slowly slid in one direction.
When I hurriedly followed her gaze, I finally understood why the two of them had been frozen.
“...You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
Behind the village, every single thing in sight was covered by a vast black sea.
It meant the entire radius was nothing but Wibleim’s body.
“H-How… big is that thing?”
Were we already too late?
...No. There had to be a way.
Even if the forest was surrounded, there had to be shallower sections. With Dohesi’s magic—
Whoooong.
Then.
A heavy, ominous sound like air being violently compressed.
It came from the direction of the forest.
—Thud. Kwaaaaang!!
“Kyaa, kyaaaah!!”
“Ugh!”
A deafening roar as if an enormous mass had slammed down.
At the same time, the ground shook violently, throwing us all to the floor.
“A-Are you kids okay?!”
A spine-chilling premonition flashed through me.
I barely managed to get up and turned toward where the noise had come from.
“...A tree?”
What I saw in the distance was a massive tree, easily taller than ten men.
It had been ripped out by the roots, hurled through the air, smashed through a village house, and buried deep in the wreckage.
“Why is that…”
“Noriel, can you see that…?”
I looked up at Dohesi’s trembling voice.
“......”
The forest had been overturned.
Countless trees—so many it seemed like an illusion—were being dragged into the air, tangled in writhing black tentacles.
The creature was snatching up those enormous masses like pulling weeds and—
—hurling them straight at us.
—Boom! Kwaaaang!
“...What the hell is that thing doing?”
Why wasn’t it just crushing the village? Why was it doing this instead?
“I-I heard about this once. Intelligent monsters drain their prey of the will to resist before swallowing them whole…”
Intelligent?
No. That thing had never possessed any intelligence.
I clearly remembered that in the original story, it had no capacity for thought whatsoever.
Then a single slender possibility crossed my mind.
The reason it could be born at such an absurdly early time.
The only being in this world capable of intentionally manipulating the Calamities.
“...”
Was there even any point in me struggling like this?
“!? Noriel—!”
“Hey, get out of the way!!!”
In that brief moment I had been lost in thought, a massive tree was already hurtling right in front of me.
It was so close I could see every vein in the leaves with the naked eye.
Oh.
I’m going to di—
“You stupid idiot!”
“?!”
A powerful impact suddenly slammed into my side.
Before I could even think who, Jack’s face filled my vision as he stared directly at me.
—Kwaaaaang!!!
Crunch.
Thud.
“Ugh…?! Wait, Uncle!!?”
I scrambled to my feet in a frenzy and began madly digging through the dust cloud where the impact had struck.
The pain of my fingertips tearing open.
Ignoring it, I barely managed to shove aside one of the massive fragments.
The metallic stench of blood hit me first.
Beneath it lay Uncle Jack, his entire body drenched in red.
Half of his body had already been horribly crushed.
Ah.
Fuck.
“Dohesi!! Get the old man from the infirmary right—!”
“Cough… don’t… call anyone…! I know… my own body… better than anyone…!”
“What the hell are you saying?! We have to do something—”
“—Noriel!!”
Uncle Jack grabbed my collar and yanked my face close.
“While you can still… hear me nagging… listen properly…”
This man.
Even at a moment like this.
Uncle Jack gave a weak chuckle at my stunned face and let go of my collar.
“At least… hear my last words, you brat.”
“...”
“Noriel… don’t lie to yourself. In the end, the person who knows you best is you…”
It was the same lecture he always gave.
And this would probably be the last time.
“After you left earlier, I finally realized why your face always bothered me so much… You look just like I did when I was young.”
“...”
“Do whatever you want. If a guy like me could make it this far, there’s nothing you can’t do…”
He forced a bitter smile, ignoring the blood spilling from his mouth.
“Noriel.”
“Yes.”
“Go to the village entrance… The people are gathered there. Go and do whatever you can.”
“Uncle.”
Thud.
A heavy fist tapped against my chest.
“You can do it, Noriel.”
A strange emotion.
It welled up inside me. Something caught in the back of my throat.
I had always thought I wasn’t that close to Uncle Jack.
He was a quiet man who spent all day fishing.
Sometimes we drank together. When I complained, he would just listen in silence.
I had believed that was all there was to our relationship—just those fleeting moments.
...
Maybe I had relied on him more than I realized.
‘Noriel, never give up on what you want to do.’
Just how deeply had those words seen through me?
“You always say the same thing. You never get tired of it.”
This time, there was no answer.
“...”
I suppressed the emotions trying to break through.
This wasn’t the time.
I gently placed Uncle Jack’s hand back on his chest and stood up from the ground.
My feet turned toward the village entrance.
What I had to do.
What I needed to do right now—
“Wait, no. Don’t go.”
“...Dohesi.”
She had jumped out and blocked my path.
Her small, hunched shoulders were trembling.
“...I understand what Uncle said…! But what the hell do you think you can do out there…?”
“How would I know until I try—”
“It’s the same as saying you’re just going to die!!”
It was a scream.
Only then did I realize her voice was thick with sobs.
Who wouldn’t try to stop me?
Walking straight into a disaster like that.
But if even I gave up, we would lose everything.
And that was something I refused to accept even in death.
“I’m not going there to die.”
“...What?”
“I’m not going to die. I have to struggle at least. It’d be too unfair to end up getting chewed up by something like that.”
I placed my hand on Dohesi’s head.
She flinched slightly but didn’t pull away.
“I have a plan, so don’t worry.”
“Liar.”
“Huh…?”
“It’s a lie. You said the same thing before and never came back.”
Wait, wasn’t she about to let me go?
“...No, I’m serious this time.”
“You’re trying to brush me off again. No, Noriel. Please don’t go—”
“—I’m sorry. Take care of Auntie and Uncle for me.”
I patted her shoulder and ran before she could answer.
Her scream immediately latched onto the back of my head.
Even if I came back alive, I probably wouldn’t get away with just a few hits.
I poured more strength into my legs.
I didn’t want my resolve to waver.
Yes. I wasn’t going there to die.
“Ah.”
In truth.
I was feeling a tiny spark of joy.
As I ran, I took in the sight of Wibleim, the one who had caused this unprecedented disaster, filling my entire field of vision.
‘Noriel, I know you want to see the world.’
Look.
That is the world.
—.
I soon reached the village entrance.
The elders who had somehow gathered what weapons they could were there.
“That’s why I’m saying! We need to evacuate first!”
“Where are we supposed to go?! There’s nowhere to run!”
Chaos.
Shouts flew back and forth without pause, and no consensus could be reached.
This was the reality of a remote village with not a single proper soldier.
“Just a moment.”
I stepped between them as the situation grew more urgent.
“Has anyone here ever set a really big fire before?”
“??”
“...You know, like a bonfire or something.”
“???”
Perhaps.
This was the only act of defiance we could manage.
