--A loud laughter echoed through Leafous Highway.
The white whale, swimming leisurely through the air with its massive body, let out a high-pitched noise from every open mouth on its body. Unlike its earth-shaking roar, the sound leaking from its countless mouthparts of different sizes was sharp enough to tear at the wind.
Subaru couldn't bear the sensation different from that of having his eardrums hit, the revulsion that made his whole body goosebumps.
With such a grand preemptive attack, and the efforts of Wilhelm and the beastman mercenary army, the damage inflicted on the White Whale was by no means small.
The total firepower would be enough to kill Subaru a hundred times, and if we were to compare it to magic beasts, it would be enough to annihilate a pack of Ulgarm ten times over.
He was hit by it over and over again. Even if it wasn't enough to bring about a final defeat, he had expected that he would sustain a fair amount of damage and fall to the ground, but――
"Oh no, the fog...!"
While letting out shrieks from its entire body, the white whale's countless mouths simultaneously spewed out "fog." Over a wide area of the highway, the fog that fell from the sky began to invade the world, gradually changing the view into a whitish one.
This is the true power of the 『Mist』 demonic beast.
The road was filled with mist, obscuring visibility and preventing individual coordination. And above all, their white bodies, so large they had to be looked up at, melted into the white sea of mist and disappeared.
「That's a lie…!?」
"--Subaru-kun, please entrust your life to Rem!!"
As Subaru's throat trembled in shock, Rem leaned forward and cried out. In response, Subaru sank deep into her waist as she sat in front of him, embracing her.
The earth dragon turned with Rem's swift rein control, cutting through the ground as it began to sprint. Ferris, who had been beside him until a moment ago, also made a sharp turn and pointed the earth dragon's head towards the mist. If the White Whale had entered combat mode, a counterattack was inevitable. Naturally, injuries were inevitable. And if that happened, that would be the chance for the man known as "Blue" to show his skills--
Immediately after,
"--Everyone, evacuate!!!"
An angry roar echoed from the other side of the mist, warning him as he was about to dive into the white darkness. There was no mistaking the voice he heard - it was Crusch's. Before Subaru could raise his head to ask what it was,
"Whoa!?"
With a split second of judgement, he changed the direction of the earth dragon's movement, his body swinging around from the centrifugal force to the left. Ahead of him, Ferris' earth dragon made a similar sharp turn to the right. Subaru and the others split up on either side, and right in the middle of them - a dense, heavy mist blew through in an instant.
The mist was so widespread that it obscured their vision, and if they had been even a moment slower to dodge, there was no doubt that they would have been engulfed along with the earth dragon.
If I hadn't seen it in front of me I might have laughed it off, thinking it was all a big deal just to avoid the fog, but when you actually see how strange it is, it's impossible to even make a joke out of it.
The mist melted the ground of the plains as it caressed them, digging into them and literally dispersing everything in its path.
If I had been hit by that, I would have been wiped out into the world.
"This is the real 'Fog'..."
The extermination team had been briefed in advance about the terror of the White Whale, and one of these was the destructive power of the "fog."
There are two types of mist that are emitted from the mouth of the White Whale: one is a diffusion type mist that is used purely to cover the field of vision and expand the range of its movements, and the other is a vanishing type mist that has just vanished a large area of land right in front of its eyes.
The latter is what the White Whale uses as a means of attack, and the terror of the fog is of course the indefensible power and damage it can cause, but the real threat lies elsewhere.
"---Now!!"
With a flash of determination, a brave voice reached them from beyond the mist, and in the next moment the mist that had been obscuring their vision was suddenly dispelled.
Looking at the clear view, Crusch was standing on the back of the earth dragon, her arms swinging off. She was probably using an invisible blade to cut through the thick mist and secure her field of vision.
She roughly wiped the sweat from her forehead, sat down on the back of the running earth dragon, and looked around. As if to point out her presence, the scattered extermination forces gathered around her, and Crusch spoke to the group of people running at the front,
"--How many were killed?"
"Our unit has twelve members - three short."
"...Who did it?"
"I don't understand...!"
The older platoon leader responded to Crusch's question, then shook his head at the next question.
It was an exchange that made no sense. The platoon leader knew the number of members in the unit, but he still didn't know the backgrounds of the members who had dropped out.
However,
"We have fourteen men, one has dropped out."
"There are two of us. Also unknown."
"Six of us... I'm sorry! We were deep inside and couldn't avoid the fog...!"
Similar reports came in one after the other, but none of the platoon leaders could remember the names of their missing comrades.
This abnormal situation is what is truly frightening about the "fog" controlled by the White Whale.
"The fog of annihilation...!!"
Literally, if an entity is enveloped in the "Mist" and disappears, they disappear completely from the world.
Although the facts remain as to who had disappeared, no one remembers them. That was the true intention behind Crusch's decision to have each platoon of the extermination squad consist of exactly fifteen members.
If a platoon is hit by the Fog and loses members, it is no longer possible to know who has been killed. The number of members in the platoon is kept constant in order to recognize the fact that there are missing members.
When Subaru encountered the White Whale in the previous world, a strange phenomenon occurred.
It was when Otto, the traveling merchant who had accompanied her, wiped from his memory all memories of his fellow merchants and Rem, who had been held up behind. At the time, she had assumed that Otto had been so scared that he had wiped out inconvenient memories, but if she considered that this was due to the influence of the White Whale's "Mist," it all made sense.
The mist had wiped Rem and her colleagues from the world, and they had all been wiped from everyone's memory. When they returned to the mansion, even Ram, her twin sister, had forgotten about Rem.
And yet, once again,
"I'm the only one who remembers..."
Shocked, Subaru spoke the undeniable truth.
Subaru alone remembers the missing peddler, and Rem, who sacrificed herself to allow Subaru to escape, just as Subaru had not forgotten about that loop.
The veteran soldiers who served as the captains of each platoon had gathered around Crusch - two of the fifteen faces had already been replaced with different ones.
The original platoon leader had disappeared due to the "Mist", and everyone's perception had been changed to that of the second in command. Therefore, no one noticed the sudden reassignment.
This abnormal situation made Subaru realize once again that the foggy beast had a strong connection with the 『Witch』.
The dark hand that binds Subaru to this world is probably not unrelated to it.
"Now that they've slipped into the mist, we don't know where they'll start erasing us again. It's not a good idea to stay close together. Let's spread out and use the mist-clearing crystals."
Looking around at the assembled members of the extermination force, Crusch brought the discussion to a brief close. As they all nodded in agreement, Subaru widened his eyes when he noticed that Wilhelm and Ricardo were nowhere to be seen.
--Could it be that even those two had vanished?
"You've returned, Wilhelm."
However, Subaru's inner terror was denied as a shadow appeared from beyond the mist.
Slowly clearing the shadows from the depths of the mist was Wilhelm, swinging his blood-stained sword from the back of an earth dragon. Covered in blood and looking dreadful, he wiped the blood from his face with his sleeve as he joined us.
"I got ahead of myself. --The extent of the damage is..."
"A total of seventeen people... roughly an entire platoon has been wiped out. It is no longer possible to properly uphold the honor of those who fell."
Disappearance is literally the erasure of existence.
These people, no longer in anyone's memory, leave only a void as to whether they were ever there.
Where will the bonds, feelings, and love that must have existed there before disappear to?
Looking closer, a flock of ligers appeared from behind Wilhelm, among them were Ricardo and the two vice-leaders riding a large liger. It seemed that the group that had been fighting as if they were clinging to the white whale, just like Wilhelm, had suffered fewer casualties.
"A troublesome mist has appeared. I'm not sure how many mist-clearing crystals I have. If I use them at the wrong time, it'll be the end."
"If we launch another concentrated attack with the same force, he will surely fall to the ground. Since we have lost sight of him, now is the perfect time to use it to avoid a surprise attack. Any objections?"
Everyone silently expressed their approval at Crusch's words.
She nodded in response, then looked at the support team led by Ferris,
"Ferris. Launch the Mist-clearing Crystal. We only have enough for two. Handle it with care."
"The preparations are already complete. At any time, upon your orders."
Ferris slapped his chest and Crusch responded by pulling her chin back. Before the battle began, she once again looked around at everyone's faces, and,
"Now begins the crucial moment! The feeling of our attacks working on the White Whale is proof enough! It certainly is powerful. It's a mystery. Our deaths will be the worst, and we may not even be remembered by anyone. But!"
Crusch drew the sword at her waist - the treasured sword of the Karsten family - which would have been useless to her as she unleashed barehanded slashes - and raised it into the air. She loudly called out,
"For the sake of the dead whose names did not leave their mark on the gravestones, and for the sake of the weak who will be exposed to the threat of the fog in the world to come, we will defeat him no matter what the sacrifice - follow me!!"
"----oh!!"
Each raised their weapon into the air and shouted in unison.
An incredible surge of morale shook the fog, igniting the fading fighting spirit and making it furious.
"Launch the Mist-Bearing Crystal!"
Following Crusch's orders, the men under Ferris's command all raised their cannons at once - and immediately afterwards, a crystalline stone was shot up into the air, accompanied by an explosion, beyond the mist.
"The fog is clearing――!!"
The light that spurted out from the shattered crystals instantly dispelled the fog that had enveloped their field of vision, though it wasn't enough to dispel all of the fog that had enveloped the plain on all sides.
It merely made the whole thing fade and eliminated the situation that made it difficult to even ensure visibility. However, that alone can be considered a sufficient effect.
--The "fog" emitted by the White Whale is apparently a mutated form of mana that the White Whale possesses.
In short, the directional, visualized mana was being dispersed and hit the "Mist". Mist-Bearing Crystal was a nickname, its correct name was Exorcism Crystal - an item that, when possessed, had the function of acting as a one-time substitute against magical attacks.
By shattering multiple crystals at once, the effect was as shown here. If the atmosphere wasn't filled with mist, it would be a risky gamble as it would weaken the power of even our own magical attacks.
"Not enough to clear all the mist, huh?"
"In return, it won't affect our magic either. Rem is also perfectly safe."
Rem clenched her fists and replied, the horns on her forehead glowing.
Feeling the mana that surrounded her, Subaru nodded in agreement as he noticed Rem beginning to refine her magical power once again.
"--Now! I can't be scared. We haven't been of any use up until now. It's about time for us to take action!"
"Yes! Let's go!"
The reins clanged beneath the earth dragon's neck, bouncing and swaying in time with its neighing.
Grabbing onto Rem's waist on the back of the running earth dragon, his eyes roamed the clearing mist above in search of the white whale.
The extermination squad, which had dashed out at Crusch's command, scattered as they looked around for the giant's body, and the tension of not knowing when the battle would begin made their mouths dry.
The appearance of the White Whale is still unknown. It is similar to the feeling I had when I was waiting for the White Whale to appear in the darkness of the abyss before the battle began.
"--fog"
Suddenly, a bad feeling ran through Subaru's mind.
It wasn't like he had any particular reason for being worried. He had been thinking about the effects of the fog-clearing crystals, how to use magic when the effects had worn off, and even the situation from his previous encounter with the white whale, and so the anxiety had just suddenly welled up inside him.
--Although its effect is different from the vanishing fog, if the fog covering this area was also spat out by the White Whale, does it really only pose a threat because it disrupts visibility?
But before the question could be put into words,
"----!!!"
A high-pitched roar echoed through the thinned fog of the Leafous Highway, moving faster.
And the madness is contagious.
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
The first thing that changed was the group of earth dragons running alongside them.
The high-pitched roar was different from the white whales that had roared up until then; it was not a low roar that rumbled the air, but rather it was accompanied by an unpleasant sound, as if sharp claws were clawing violently at one's eardrums.
Subaru cleared his throat at the violence of the sound, so violent that goosebumps rose up his back, and even Rem's body stiffened, when suddenly Subaru noticed something strange.
"Hey! What's wrong?"
The earth dragon running next to him was throwing its rider off with a flapping noise.
Hearing Subaru's scream and realizing something was wrong, Rem made the earth dragon turn around and head in that direction. Having lost its rider, Subaru made his way through the earth dragon, running around in confusion, to where the men had fallen.
"Are you okay? If you fall off your horse, it's not just an injury..."
Concerned about the extent of his injuries, Subaru called out, his words trailing off.
Their condition after falling was not one that allowed them to assess the severity of their injuries.
There was a man foaming at the mouth, rolling his eyes and convulsing. There was a man groaning and drooling, desperately clawing at his own arm to draw blood. There was a man clenching his jaw until his teeth shattered and slamming his head into the ground to endure the pain.
Symptoms are inconsistent but sometimes obvious.
"this is..."
"Directly to the mind... It's similar to mana sickness, but much worse...!"
Rem answers in pain, hand on her forehead.
Seeing her like that, Subaru muttered softly, "Mana sickness..." and then he suddenly raised his head and looked around him - at the fog,
"Could that be the effect of this fog...?"
The enemy forces are surrounded by fog that completely covers their vision, and an unavoidable abnormal magic attack is applied to the entire group. --The power and results are as you can see.
It was hard to believe that the only casualties were those around Subaru. In fact, looking as far as the eye could reach, groups of people had stopped in their tracks in the same way,
"I guess there are people who can withstand it and people who can't... I don't feel anything though."
"Rem is a bit overwhelmed by the excessive mana density... she's calming down now."
Leaving Rem to take a deep breath, Subaru dismounts from the dragon and heads down to the group, who are still under the influence of the mist. He tries to get them to at least stop harming themselves, but...
"Oi! Stop that! It hurts...ugh!"
"Ahhh! Aaahhhhhh!"
He put out his arm to try and stop him, but his upper arm was scratched mercilessly. Subaru groaned in pain as the flesh was shallowly dug, and quickly jumped back to put some distance between him and the man. Instead of pursuing him any further, the man resumed his attack. Blood splattered and sobbing sounds echoed throughout the room.
「Speaking of pain, isn't this pretty dangerous? If you're not careful, it won't stop until you die!」
"Subaru! Are you hurt?"
"It hurts a little bit, I might cry, but it's nothing serious! More importantly, if we don't do something about this, everyone will destroy themselves! Can't we do something about it?"
I asked Rem, who had calmed down, but when she saw the knights writhing on the ground, she shook her head with a difficult look on her face,
"Unfortunately, I wonder how effective Rem's treatment will be... If it were just a simple external injury that would be one thing, but this is directly interfering with the inside through the gate. To deal with such strong mana contamination, it would take a skill on the level of Felix..."
"In the first place, how much of this mental contamination can you resist? Almost everyone here is wiped out except for me and Rem!"
The group heading in the same direction as Subaru and his friends had been almost completely wiped out - only the platoon leader and two others appeared to be safe, and just like Subaru and his friends, they were frantically trying to stop their comrades from harming themselves. With over half of the group of ten people contaminated, the effectiveness of the attack was unclear.
"If Ferris, who is the most important person in the world, gets contaminated, then we'll be completely screwed, what will we do...?"
If this was the case with just Subaru and the others, then if the rest of the platoon was in a similar state, then it was hopeless. With the mainstays like Crusch and Wilhelm, and key support like Ferris gone, there was really nothing that could be done.
"Those who can move, bring the injured to the roots of the great tree! We have no choice but to use some force!"
Crusch's voice rose once again from beyond the thick fog, followed by a succession of responses. It seemed that she was not affected by the contamination, but she was still trying her best to contain the situation.
He changed his tactics immediately after ordering an all-out attack. He could hear the frustration seeping out of his voice, and even felt anger welling up inside him at the way the White Whale had handled the situation, not even immediately putting them in a fighting state.
"I've heard that it's easier to destroy a battle line by injuring people than by killing them... but who would have thought that a monster would do that?"
"Felix-sama seems to be okay. If his treatment can reach the whole body, we should be able to remove the effects of the contamination at the very least…"
Subaru understood what Rem was trying to say.
The important thing was that Ferris' hands would be occupied, and would be split up to retrieve the injured. And above all else――
"We don't have much time. We can't just sit around waiting for the whale to attack while Ferris gets his treatment to everyone."
"In the worst case scenario, the White Whale may swallow us all whole in its mist. I don't want to believe it's that intelligent, but... since we've created this situation, I can be optimistic."
"It's possible that he's acting on instinct... but either way, the hunting methods of the wild are not to be underestimated."
Crusch is prepared to take on the risk and assemble a subjugation force, and is prepared to have Ferris heal her.
Of course, they must understand that they have to come up with some kind of solution to buy time. I think it will be quite difficult to come up with anything effective, though.
"--Phew."
Exhale deeply and empty your lungs.
As I removed as much oxygen as I could from my body, my chest naturally became cramped - and I could feel my heart beating slowly and steadily.
I chuckle wryly to myself, realizing how calm I am, unexpectedly.
Always swept away by the situation, tossed about by the events before him, his heartbeat would go out of control as if reflecting Subaru's feelings.
So why am I feeling so calm now, facing this decision?
"...Even if it's borrowed, courage is still courage."
Smacking his chest, Subaru took a deep breath. He stopped for a moment, closed his eyes, then opened them as he exhaled. He faced forward. In front of him, Rem, riding on an earth dragon, was looking down at him.
As if waiting eagerly to see what Subaru would say, what he wanted.
"Rem, please accompany me to the most dangerous place."
"Yes. --As far as you want."
Rem accepts Subaru's request without hesitation and even smiles.
Subaru heard this and ran over to the earth dragon, leaping astride its back, and went to restrain the remaining knights who were restraining their rampaging comrades.
"Rem and I will attract the White Whale. In the meantime, you guys can get treatment from Ferris. Leave the ones who seem fine with Ferris and then join us!"
"Attract them?! How on earth could you do that..."
"This is how you do it."
Smiling at the veteran soldier who raised a voice of doubt, Subaru took a deep breath and cleared his throat,
"--- Anyone who can hear, cover your ears!! Anyone who can't hear, leave them where they are!!"
The full force of his voice echoed through the mist.
Rem listened to Subaru's roar with a comforting air, then put her hands over her ears. The knights nearby quickly covered their ears, and the rest of the extermination squad, who were within earshot of Subaru, had probably done the same.
Just as Subaru had requested during the pre-operation briefing.
and--,
"---I am 'death.'
The moment he spoke, a rising fear gripped Subaru's heart.
If his plan failed, and that dark demonic hand reached out to his comrades, to Rem before his eyes――
However,
--I'll give you my heart, so lend me your hand!!
Subaru opened his eyes wide, suppressed his weakness, and shouted in his heart――and immediately afterwards, it happened.
"i love you"
It was a small, weak, frail voice whispering in your ear.
But what is the heart-pounding, passionate emotion that is contained within it?
Subaru couldn't contain the emotion, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. He followed the shadow of the fading voice, and was overcome with the urge to immediately embrace it in his arms.
In the overwhelming heat of love that filled his entire body, his consciousness burned pure white――
"--He's back."
After that fleeting encounter, Subaru's consciousness awakens to the real world.
The sensation that had dominated Subaru's consciousness until just before faded away, and he could no longer remember what emotions he had felt at that moment. All that remained was a strange sensation, as if the intense pain he had been prepared for had not come.
"Rem, how is it? I can smell like a witch..."
"Yes, it stinks!"
"That's exactly what I was aiming for, but isn't that a bad way to say it!?"
With Rem's approval, his aim is accomplished, though he is still not entirely satisfied.
Subaru clenched his fists and looked around.
"We'll leave here immediately! We'll try to stay away from the roots as much as possible, so please find a good place to meet up with Crusch and the others!"
"I-I understand! I wish you good luck!"
"For each other!"
After being sent off, Subaru tapped Rem on the shoulder and the earth dragon sprinted off.
At the moment, Subaru's body was emanating a fresh lingering scent of the witch - a scent that, on paper, is full of contradictions. The question, however, was how effective this would be on the White Whale.
"When I think back to Urgarm, it was effective enough to cover the entire forest, but I wonder how it will be this time...to be honest, it's still unknown."
When they encountered the White Whale in the previous world, the White Whale relentlessly targeted Subaru, who had moved to Otto's dragon carriage. Considering that Subaru had not made any statements about witches at that point, Subaru now had a stronger smell than before, and should have been the perfect prey for the White Whale, but--
Or so I thought.
"--!?"
The advancing earth dragon suddenly raised its head as if it had noticed something, and then turned around on its own accord―― Subaru, nearly blown away by the centrifugal force, let out a cry of "Ugh!" and hastily grabbed Rem in front of him,
"What the...?"
"It's the White Whale!!"
Right next to Rem, who was pressed closely against her, as she screamed, a giant mouth cavity suddenly appeared, piercing the mist.
Just in time to avoid Subaru and the others who had strayed from their course, the white whale glided slightly to the left, its jaws chewing up the earth and swallowing whole the grasslands in its path.
It brushed past the rock-like tough exterior, and as it passed right beside them, the white whale raised its jaws and emptied everything in its mouth into its stomach in one go.
The beast then confirmed that its target had not been mixed in with the food it was chewing, and turned its massive body around, pointing its head towards Subaru and the others, who were retreating with all their might.
And the roar follows.
"Whoooooaa!?"
The pressure of an overwhelming mass approaching from behind.
Subaru screamed as the dragon on his back kicked the ground with all its might, feeling the pressure on his back nearly crushing him. However, the speed of the white whale chasing him was extraordinary.
Its mountain-like body swims through the sky, and with momentum that seems to outpace the wind, it closes the distance in an instant.
The white whale approaches rapidly, with enough force to swallow the world.
His nose was so close, I could almost feel his breathing on my back.
"Rem!!"
"Ulhuma!!"
In response to Rem's chant, three spears of ice simultaneously thrust out from the ground.
It hit the white whale that was chasing Subaru and the others from underneath, hitting its underbelly which was relatively soft even within its tough outer skin - impaling it and trying to stop it from moving.
However,
"It won't stop――――!!"
The ice spear, as thick as a hundred spears bundled together, was snapped at its base, and a high-pitched sound resounded as the crystals shattered. At the same time as it was destroyed, the ice spear was converted into mana, and blood spurted from the White Whale's wound, which now had nothing to seal it, but its movements continued unabated.
Where is the limit of his endurance, having been injured and bleeding so much, yet still remaining in excellent condition? Once again, I am horrified at the high hurdle of the difficult task of defeating the White Whale.
but,
"Unlike when we faced Urgarm, this isn't a one-on-one fight!!"
"----!!"
Subaru holds up his middle finger, taunting the White Whale, who has put some distance between them. The White Whale, not understanding the meaning of Subaru's gesture, opens its mouth and roars as if angry.
That giant body,
"Riiiiiiiiiiii!!"
From the side, Wilhelm leapt onto his back and slashed, splitting him vertically.
Wilhelm's blade landed in the center of the white whale's back, piercing deep into the flesh, and fresh blood spurted out from the open wound, creating a bloody mist.
And then, two ligers head for the back of the blood-soaked white whale. Riding on its back are adorable kitten beastmen who look just like it.
"Big sis, match it!"
"Here we go, Hetaro!!"
The Ligers rose up on its back, crossing from both sides, and Mimi and Hetaro jumped off its back, took each other's hands, and placed them on top of the wound Wilhelm had made. Then, they looked at each other and spoke at the same time,
"circle--!"
"teeth--!!"
Immediately afterwards, the White Whale begins bleeding again from the wounds all over its body, and its huge body shakes violently, causing it to lose altitude in an instant.
The white whale writhes in agony, yelling as if it is trying to endure the pain, and barely manages to avoid falling. The twins on their ligers jump off its back, gasping for breath,
"Trump card execution!"
"Commander, please!"
"Yeah yeah, leave it to me! If those little guys did their best, I have to do my best too!!"
Taking the place of the two who disembarked, a large liger climbed up the white whale's body from the tail.
Along the way, Ricardo's Liger ran like the wind, tearing at the rock faces with his hatchet, while the mist closed in on him.
Aiming at Wilhelm and Ricardo, who were on top of it, was a thick mist that was being exhaled from the countless mouths that opened up on the White Whale's body. This was an even darker color, and could be thought of as the "Mist of Vanishing", which erased anything it touched from existence.
The speed itself wasn't so fast that it couldn't be dodged, but the more it spread, the more bullets it fired. Ricardo's Liger twisted as if struggling, and Wilhelm also dodged the mist with quick movements, while the machete's blows and sword slashes continued to dance on the white whale's back.
A vertical slash sliced through the mouth that was letting out a distorted laugh, and the machete ravaged the inside of the mouth, destroying its function. The Liger's claws were also weak, but they were able to hold back the attack, and on top of that, the cannons of the beastman mercenary group had caught up and were once again bombarding the whole body with magic ore.
The White Whale was once again being pushed back by the attacking force of the extermination squad. It twisted its huge body and its mouth began to prepare to spit mist.
"Rem!!"
Rem had already sent the earth dragon flying before Subaru could call out, and Subaru, smelling of the witch, was running around right in front of the white whale's nose. The white whale's concentration was disturbed and it reflexively turned its head towards Subaru and the others - and its plan was thwarted by a slash.
「――――!!」
"Don't be so cruel as to look away. I've been head over heels in love with you for the past 14 years."
The stab pierced the white whale's forehead, and Wilhelm's movement stopped as the blade dug into the hard part. However, he immediately gave up on the third sword, kicked the handle of the sword he had let go of with all his might, stabbing the blade even deeper, and holding the fifth sword he had drawn to his right, he turned towards the white whale's back while slicing its head into pieces with the blades of both hands.
He literally silenced the mouths along the way with his blade, one after the other, and joined Ricardo, who was rampaging around with his Liger running in all directions. The dog-faced beastman was laughing with a gleeful look on his face as if he was drunk with blood,
"This is getting fun! It's stronger than I thought, but it's no big deal!"
"No... it's a bit too weak."
Wilhelm replied softly to Ricardo, who was cheering with joy, and bit his lip as he continued to step lightly on his back.
Ricardo raised his hatchet and tore off the protrusion on the White Whale's back, then plunged the flat tip into its inside and dug it out. He closed one eye,
"What, are you worried?"
"My wife was attacked by a monster of this magnitude... It's hard to imagine that the Sword Saint would have fallen behind. Even taking into account that he managed to get the initiative and that they weren't separated by the mist at the beginning..."
As Wilhelm was swinging his blade and thinking about it, the White Whale suddenly made a large movement.
The white whale had been writhing about, trying to pull Wilhelm and the others off of its back, but suddenly it changed direction. It turned its head upwards, and instantly gained altitude and took to the sky.
As the foothold began to tilt sharply, Ricardo instructed Liger to skillfully run down the rock face, and somehow managed to escape before they reached a dangerous height. And then, Wilhelm,
"Before I get off, I'll get another one--!"
The old swordsman turned his body and leapt over the giant with a nimble movement.
Wilhelm dived downwards and climbed upside down along the white whale's body as it rose upward. Shifting his weight, he forcefully controlled his position as he thrust his blade into the air. With movements based on years of experience, Wilhelm ran down the white whale's body, and when his slash reached the target, it swung vertically - and one of the white whale's dorsal fins, with its numerous mouths floating on the surface, was blown away from its base.
「――――!!」
Hearing the white whale's scream, Wilhelm kicked the rock face and headed towards the ground.
Falling from an extremely high altitude would normally be a fatal situation, but just before hitting the ground, Wilhelm pulled something out of his pocket and threw it straight down―a small blast from the magic ore created a wind from directly below, slowly slowing Wilhelm down and causing the earth dragon to swoop down from the side.
"Wilhelm-san!!"
"――――"
Subaru called out to Wilhelm to make sure he was okay, but Wilhelm paid no attention to him, tilting his head straight up and looking upward.
Subaru was drawn to looking upwards and caught sight of the tail of a white whale swimming high in the sky.
The blood dripped from the severed dorsal fin and poured down like rain with violent force, staining the grass on the plain crimson red, but Wilhelm remained silent, his fighting spirit not waning.
Subaru certainly didn't think the White Whale would escape like this, but its goal in heading into the sky remains unknown at the moment.
The beastman mercenary groups also began to gather, and the situation of the injured gathered at the base of the great tree became precarious.
"Coming"
Wilhelm muttered softly as he looked up at the sky.
The sight of the old swordsman narrowing his eyes and adjusting his sword in both hands instantly raised everyone's vigilance to the maximum. Then, they held their breath, waiting for his move - and then they regretted it.
They should have dispersed immediately, without waiting for the white whale hovering overhead to take action.
"--The mist is falling!!"
Shouting at the top of her lungs, Rem silently turned the earth dragon around in one move and withdrew from the front line.
The surrounding earth dragons and ligers also took off running, but they no longer had the time to look up to check that the others were safe.
--The 『Vanishing Fog』 was swelling up with enough force to cover the entire sky, and was falling towards us.
It was so long that it looked as if the clouds themselves were falling, and the only way to avoid it was to flee from its range. Even if they tried to use rocks and trees as shields, their resistance was powerless against the destruction that consumed them whole.
All I could do was run, praying that I would make it in time.
Even looking up is terrifying, as all you can feel is the oppressive feeling of silent demise approaching from above.
He clung desperately to the earth dragon's back, lowered his posture and ran as far as he could.
"Did it come out?!"
A ray of light shone through, as if from beneath the dark clouds, and Subaru turned his head to look behind him.
On the ground that is crushed by the mist, several shadows are swallowed up before they can reach the mist.
The man, who had been trying so hard to imprint fear and anger onto his face, was suddenly swallowed up by the mist and disappeared.
The Earth Dragon vanished, falling to the ground and dissipating into mist, leaving nothing behind. No one remembers it, not even its name. Only Subaru remembers its death.
"Uh... Ah."
Subaru let out a small groan, and in front of him were people scattered far away by the mist.
Their numbers were clearly much lower than they had been in the previous offensive. The members of the extermination force, as well as the beastman mercenary corps, were not left unscathed.
At the very least, Subaru thought, looking around at his main force.
"Ville..."
I managed to hook one hand around the back of the earth dragon and spotted Wilhelm, who had escaped from the mist. I was about to call out to him when I noticed him.
--From the other side of the thick fog, a monster with its mouth wide open approached Wilhelm.
"Run――!!"
"Wha――?!"
Subaru's shout and Wilhelm's realization of the threat approaching from behind were almost at the same time. However, his reaction was already too late.
The white whale's mouth approached silently and swallowed Wilhelm and the earth dragon together with the land.
The ground was scraped away, and an entire five-metre square area was gouged out, all inside the white whale's mouth.
"a..."
Faced with that shocking sight, not only Subaru but even Rem was shocked and speechless.
Knowing how determined his old man was, his sense of loss was extraordinary. Above all, the situation was only getting worse with the loss of their main fighting force.
"no good!!"
Then, a different voice was heard, this time from nearby.
Before he could react to the voice, Subaru and his companions' earth dragon was blown away by a Liger that had crashed into them from the side with ferocious force.
"Whoa!?"
The dragon roared as he collapsed to the ground, grimacing in pain as he was hit here and there. Judging from his voice, it was Ricardo who was the culprit behind this sudden outrage, but before he could ask what his true intentions were,
"----!"
Suddenly, Subaru saw red flowers scatter before his eyes.
"picture?"
The liger's mangled corpse, its flesh scattered everywhere, tumbled across the plains. The large beastman that should have been straddling it disappeared, leaving a huge amount of blood behind.
Swinging its tail, covered in Ricardo's blood, the white whale swung its massive body as it swam through the air.
He was protected, and what happened to Ricardo, etc.
Many questions came to Subaru's mind, but a fact he couldn't ignore spoke to him more than anything.
The white whale swam before his eyes, swatting away Ricardo with its tail. And then,
"That's a lie..."
Looking back, he saw the white whale that had swallowed Wilhelm and the ground inside him begin to chew.
In front of me, behind me - I looked up and saw the shadows of fish still shadowing the sky.
--The three white whales shook their mouths all over their bodies and laughed loudly, stirring up despair.
Slowly, slowly, Subaru felt despair tighten around his heart once again.