Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Terror of the Ice Snow White Whale
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Eternal Ice Zone, 4th Hierarchy Upper Level.
Several figures raced across the snow desert.
They were none other than the Meteor 4th Knights.
Leading them was the captain of the Meteor 4th Knights, Dratein Glasis, who was gripped by an unpleasant mood.
"Airi, are you sure there's still no contact?"
"Yes, no response."
Dratein bit his lip.
Malec was a loyal knight.
There was no reason for him to avoid contact.
That meant he wasn't avoiding it—he simply couldn't receive it.
And there was only one reason Malec wouldn't be able to receive contact.
'Did that bastard get taken out by them?'
A skilled knight who had broken through to the 5th Hierarchy?
Dratein couldn't accept it.
This only made him more anxious.
"Um, Captain."
At that moment, Eric—the last of the three vice-captains—called out to him.
"Maybe Vice-Captain Malec ran into something else? Like a Calamity species."
The Tower was dangerous.
It always carried variables, and Calamity species were perilous.
Even veterans could find themselves in crises from time to time.
Perhaps a variable had arisen.
"Right, that's it! That makes sense!"
Dratein rejoiced, seeing it as spot-on reasoning.
To him, this explanation was far more believable.
It didn't make sense for Dante and Havel to have gone ahead first.
And for Malec to have fallen too!
'No way!'
Dratein convinced himself.
He was engaging in denial, unwilling to believe the truth.
"Eric, you're right. Something must have happened to Malec."
Eric seized the opportunity to flatter him.
"Yes, we should hurry to rescue him."
Eric's eyes gleamed.
It was just like him, always scheming for promotion.
Volants, however, wore a troubled expression.
He knew the price for feeding false hope would be steep.
"I see it!"
One knight shouted then.
A forest thick with ice trees.
The Ice Snow Forest.
It was unmistakable.
The very Ice Snow Forest where Malec was supposed to wait.
"Head in immediately. Everyone, battle ready!"
Malec was in danger.
There had to be a powerful Calamity species inside.
The entire knight order drew their swords and entered the ice forest.
They trampled the icy ground and pressed forward for a while.
Bwooooooooom!
Something massive bellowed.
Dratein, leading the charge, halted.
"Everyone, stop."
They all froze at his command.
That sound from moments ago felt ominous.
'Where did that come from?'
Though he had caused this mess by ignoring Havel and Dante.
Dratein wasn't lacking in skill by any means.
The problem was that his mind was so filled with thoughts of them that his judgment had grown narrow.
He hadn't earned the 4th Knights captain position solely due to family ties.
Even among the Glasis, he was a promising talent.
Thus, his senses mercifully sharpened at the sound.
"It sounded like a whale. Does anyone have info on that noise from the 4th Hierarchy?"
Regaining his composure, Dratein asked.
But the knights only murmured; no one answered.
It was a sound none had heard before.
'A whale in this snow desert?'
Dratein's brow furrowed at that moment.
"Captain!"
A knight pointed ahead and yelled.
When Dratein looked, his body stiffened.
There stood a frozen corpse.
And on its chest was the emblem of the Meteor Knights.
One of Malec's squad members.
Dratein rushed over.
As if frozen in shock at what he saw.
The corpse's eyes were wide open.
"...Something really happened."
The idea that Calamity species blocked contact was just denial leading to escapism.
But it seemed something truly had befallen Malec.
Bwooooooooom!
Then the whale's cry echoed again.
This time, much closer.
Dratein was certain.
This was the Calamity species that ambushed Malec's squad.
"Airi! Pin down the Calamity species' position! Vice-captains, form up against a high-grade threat!"
The Meteor Knights moved like clockwork at Dratein's order.
Airi, in charge of intel and scouting, quickly located it.
Her face soon drained of color.
"I-it's below us!"
"What?"
As Dratein questioned her.
Rumble rumble gruuumble!
The ground shook, drawing all eyes downward.
Then.
Kabooooom!
The Ice Snow Forest floor collapsed as a massive whale burst upward.
Bwooooooooom!
The pure white Ice Snow White Whale let out its cry.
Larger than any seafaring ship.
The Ice Snow White Whale had appeared.
"Aaaargh!"
"Gah?!"
Those struck head-on by the Ice Snow White Whale flew into the sky and plummeted.
Most died instantly from the impact; even survivors perished from the fall.
Among them was Vice-Captain Eric.
A futile end for one blinded by ambition.
But it wasn't over.
The whale floating upward.
Meant it was turning to dive back down.
"Second wave incoming! Brace!"
Dratein's voice tore through the air.
As the massive whale's shadow blanketed the Ice Snow Forest.
Kabooooom!
Another tremendous quake shattered the forest.
The whale vanished beneath the snow desert in an instant.
Dratein, barely enduring the vibrations, looked up.
Where the whale had gone, only the battered remnants of the Meteor Knights remained.
He had never witnessed a Calamity species of that size.
No way to prepare for it.
"Everyone okay? Move the wounded! We're pulling out now!"
They couldn't fight something like that.
Malec or not, the Meteor Knights would vanish first.
"C-Captain, doesn't something feel off?"
Volants voiced his doubt then.
"Off?"
"Yes. Malec's squad member was frozen solid, right? Not crushed or fallen to death!"
Dratein's face hardened.
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
The Ice Snow White Whale was terrifying in size.
But its weapon was sheer mass.
Not freezing corpses.
So what had done that to him?
"...There's more."
Cold sweat dripped from Dratein's chin.
"More Calamity species! Check the surroundings!"
Dratein sensed crisis.
The Ice Snow White Whale alone was trouble.
But another that truly endangered Malec?
Things were stacking impossibly against them.
He thought they had mapped the 4th Hierarchy.
Yet another variable erupted.
"Eek!"
It happened then.
A knight's scream rang out.
There, another frozen like the corpse.
His heart stilled, exhaling pale frost from his mouth.
His eyes bulged wide.
As if witnessing something horrific.
Identical to the earlier body.
It was clear.
Seeing something triggered it.
Dratein intuited.
"Everyone, close your eyes now! Looking freezes you! Eyes shut, get out of the forest!"
Dratein shouted that and bolted.
No time to mind his men.
Escape was priority.
But running blind was harder than imagined.
Especially in a dense ice tree forest.
"Agh!"
His heightened hearing caught a scream.
Eyes closed, Dratein couldn't see it.
"Gaaaaah!"
Another scream echoed.
Dratein grew frantic.
The footsteps trailing his screams were dwindling.
No sight meant ruined direction sense.
He couldn't even gauge if he moved right.
"Gaaaaah! C-Captaiiin."
Then Volants screamed.
"You okay?!"
Dratein couldn't hold back and yelled.
No reply came.
Silent space.
Soon, only his footsteps remained.
Dratein swallowed hard.
Gulp.
The sound was so loud it startled him.
"Damn it, rotten... what the hell is it?"
Tears streamed from his closed eyes.
Totally consumed by terror.
His legs trembled.
Ready to give out any second.
Would he be next?
Then.
"You look pathetic."
A familiar voice rang in his ears.
Recognizing the owner, rage seized Dratein.
It was Havel—the one he'd bet against.
"You bastard, this your doing?!"
Dratein whipped his head around, eyes shut.
Fearing it might be a Calamity trick, his rage boiled, yet he dared not open them.
No answer came.
This only heightened his anxiety.
Anything would do now.
He craved a human voice.
Silence terrified him.
"Want me to save you?"
Havel's voice came again.
"Save, save me! Please, save me now!"
Dratein clung to it.
"But you'll pay the price—you know what."
"Price!? Not enough with the friendly match win—you want more?!"
"Forgot you ordered the Meteor Knights to wait in the Ice Snow Forest first? Why should I save you for free?"
Dratein's body shrank back.
He had given Malec orders, after all.
"Sorry. I'll apologize for that. Please!"
Dratein dropped to his knees, groveling.
No pride left.
Dying meant everything over.
He didn't want to die.
"Then promise to announce it publicly yourself."
"P-Promise?"
"How the Glasis pulled dirty tricks in the friendly match."
Dratein gulped.
Admitting that meant excommunication from the family.
Death or exile.
Both filled his mind.
"Don't wanna say it, huh."
Havel sounded like he was turning away.
"Damn it, fine, I admit it! All of it! I'll announce it! Please, I beg you. Save me. I was wrong."
But Havel's voice didn't return.
Too late?
His anxiety doubled.
"Hey, hey! I said I'll do it! I will!"
Dratein flailed to find Havel.
Death felt like a scythe at his neck.
All senses but sight mobilized.
"Please, please."
Ironically, Dratein awakened something new then.
The Glasis family's inherited ability: Discernment.
A power piercing the truth of what is seen.
The unique trait of Glasis blood.
Desperately thrashing before death, he unlocked it by chance.
Yet even that failed to locate Havel.
"I was wrong..."
"The friendly match will continue."
Havel's voice returned.
Tears and snot smeared across Dratein's face, he lit up with joy.
Extreme stress had wrecked him.
"I'll do anything! Friendly match or whatever, I'll do it!"
As he cried out, his body suddenly floated up.
Before the panicked man could scream, he hit the ground rolling.
"Open your eyes now."
Having relied solely on Havel's voice through death's terror.
He couldn't defy it.
Dratein finally opened his eyes.
Havel's back came into view.
But he regretted it instantly.
"Hic, hiik!?"
The freshly awakened Discernment.
p> Unfamiliar to wield, it glimpsed Havel's fragments.
There lurked a monster.
A colossal being whose head vanished into the clouds no matter how he looked up.
Dratein convulsed in seizure.
Terror worse than death choked him.
No will to resist remained in Dratein.
Glimpsing Havel's essence shattered his spirit.
Havel ignored it.
"Soon, you'll have to keep your promise. Prepare yourself."
With that, Havel kicked off the ground and leaped away.