Chapter 54: The Black Tower, the Pillar of Tide, and the Pillar of Light

Several days after starting flight magic training, we heard that Barn-san had returned from the castle with Mayleen-san. And so we also returned to the Good Loser and ended up hearing an explanation about the plan from now on.

“The detailed meeting is finished, and it has been decided that a joint investigation by our country and Vertino will be conducted.”

Yup, so far, it’s just as planned.

“From here, I will explain.”

Mayleen-san stepped forward and spread a map on the table.

“That monster was discovered in our country several weeks ago. At first, everyone was surprised that a black island had suddenly appeared on the sea route.”

Saying that, she pointed to one spot on the map and drew a circle.

“That monster was certainly big, but isn’t calling it an island an exaggeration?”

Gyro and the crew members, who had also encountered the Megalo Whale, nodded in agreement at Liliera’s words. However, only Barn-san and the Vice Commander had complex expressions.

“We dispatched ships to investigate the island, but they were attacked and sunk by a giant whale monster that suddenly appeared.”

“Hm? A whale monster, you mean a Megalo Whale, right? Then what’s this about an island?”

Everyone was confused that the story wasn’t matching up, but Mayleen-san’s explanation isn’t wrong.

“Yes, we also thought it was an island at first. And immediately after the investigation ship was destroyed by the whale monster, the island shook violently.”

Mayleen-san continued explaining while tapping the map. “And the black island rose up, and when one end of it split open widely and a color red like flames was visible, we were shocked. The next moment, the destroyed investigation ship was swallowed by the red crack with a terrible sound, and by that, we knew. That it was a living creature.”

“It swallowed a ship?”

“What kind of size is that?”

Everyone muttered similar things. The Megalo Whale everyone had seen was about 3-4 times the length of the Good Loser, and perhaps 1.5 to 2 times its size. But if it swallowed it, the mast would surely get caught in that mouth.

“After that, we investigated the island, and from its shape, which could be confirmed from afar, we judged it to be the parent of the surrounding whales.”

“A Megalo Whale’s… parent?”

Everyone present was stunned silent. Yes, Megalo Whales are large monsters that grow up to 5km in total length. Rather, the Megalo Whale fry everyone had encountered so far could be said to be the rarer existence.

“…Come to think of it, Rex-san mentioned something like that before. I can’t believe it was really that big.”

Liliera, the only one among them who had heard my explanation, held her head. Yup, even if you hear about it, there are many things you can’t truly grasp until you see them with your own eyes. Those Megalo Whale fry, from their appearance, probably give people the impression of being adult size. Above all, Megalo Whales are creatures of the open ocean, so people inland probably don’t even know their name, and even in seaside countries, many people who don’t go out to the open ocean probably don’t know them.

“Fortunately, this parent whale cannot approach shallow sea areas due to its huge body. Therefore, the threat level of the parent is low, but the children attack merchant ships and fishing boats, so we are in great trouble.”

For fishermen and merchants who can’t fight back, rowdy children probably isn’t such an endearing story.

“Can’t you prioritize defeating the children?”

At Norb-san’s words, Mayleen-san shook her head with a troubled face.

“About that, if we try to attack the children, the parent counterattacks by spouting tide mixed with rocks. It seems that even if it doesn’t actively attack, it will counterattack to protect its children.”

The Megalo Whale’s bone-rock attack. Even the child Megalo Whale’s attack is a threat to a normal ship, so it goes without saying the parent’s attack is even more dangerous. Specifically, the size.

“The children are in the way of attacking the parent, and if you try to attack the children, the parent attacks. A stalemate.”

“Since it’s on the sea, we can’t approach stealthily, and even if we try to attack under cover of night darkness, we are still found, leaving us in a situation with no options left.”

Mayleen-san put her hand to her brow with a completely troubled face. Hmmm, I think it would be fine if the military just launched an all-out attack, but is there some problem?

“At this rate, we can’t even investigate that tower.”

“A tower?”

Just then, Mayleen-san let slip something strange. A tower? What tower?

“Yes, on the back of that island, the Megalo Whale parent, stands a large tower. Seeing that, we mistook that creature for an island at first.”

“A tower on a Megalo Whale’s back?”

What is that? I’ve never heard of such a thing.

“Rex-san, do adult Megalo Whales have such a protrusion on their back?”

“No, I’ve never heard of it.”

While replying to Liliera’s question, doubts about the strange tower rise.

“Is that really a tower? Not part of its body?”

“No, it was clearly artificial, apparently.”

Mina’s question was answered flatly by Mayleen-san.

“A tower growing on a Megalo Whale’s back… I’m curious.”

“Maybe that tower brought it here?”

“Seeing that possibility, we were also attempting to land, but…”

I see. Because they’re curious about the tower’s existence, they were thinking of landing instead of just unilaterally subjugating it.

“That’s how it is. Gentlemen, can you think of any good methods?”

Barn-san turns towards us and asks. Or rather, even though he’s saying it to everyone, why is his gaze on me?

“Umm, isn’t it because you approach by ship that it’s no good?”

“Meaning, swim there?”

“It’s too far to swim to the parent monster. Besides, if we’re found by the children while swimming…”

“No, no, not that. Above.”

“”Above?””

Barn-san and Mayleen-san tilt their heads together.

“Yes, isn’t it fine to just fly there with magic?”

That’s right, it’s just a matter of having someone like a mage belonging to the military reach the Megalo Whale parent using flight magic from the sky, and attack from its back.

Since Vertino’s royal capital is nearby, it should be easy to summon a mage who can use flight magic from, say, the Court Mages.

They are extremely prideful, but this time monsters are living in the country’s important sea area, so they’ll have to get over themselves.

Well, even if not a Court Mage, there must be some wind attribute mages who can use flight magic.

“W-Wait a minute. I’ve never heard of flying in the sky with magic.”

Eh? What is she saying?

“I think mages who can fly are common, you know. Look.”

I float up into the air in front of Mayleen-san.

“Eh!? No way!? Eeh!?”

“And them too.”

Saying that, I point at Jairo and the others, and everyone floats up into the sky.

“Th-They’re flyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!?”

And Mayleen-san’s scream echoed in the blue sky. Could it be that Mayleen-san and the other naval personnel have never seen flight magic? Since it’s a seaside country, and the navy at that, maybe they favor water magic users?

It’s not uncommon for mages serving organizations to form factions with mages of the same element. The naval faction soldiers might be on bad terms with wind attribute mages.

◆

“I-I’m shocked. Mages can fly in the sky.”

Jairo and the others aren’t mages, though. And from Mayleen-san’s words, it seems she really didn’t know about the existence of flight magic itself. Since they are members of an organization, it would be nice if they exchanged information about what kind of magic each other can use. In times like this, people like Mayleen-san who can’t use magic are the ones who suffer. This kind of useless factionalism is also why I hate belonging to a country.

“That being the case, if we go from the sky, we can avoid the Megalo Whale fry without problems.”

“U-Understood. Then we would like to entrust the investigation of the tower on the Megalo Whale’s back to you.”

“Understood.”

“Counting on you, youths!”

“Yeah! Leave it to us!”

Gyro replies energetically to Barn-san’s encouragement.

◆

“Well then, we’re off to investigate the Megalo Whale.”

“We’re counting on you!”

We, ready for the investigation, took off from the Good Loser. The ship sees us off at a position just before going out to the open sea. This is to increase the flight distance for Jairo and the others who are not yet used to flight magic, and this area was the last possible distance to take the ship out without being attacked by Megalo Whales.

“Alright, let’s go everyone!”

“””””Yes!”””””

Everyone floats into the sky after me.

“There’s a danger of being attacked by spouts if the Megalo Whale fry find us, so get as high as possible!”

“Understood!”

When we ascend to a certain altitude, a black shadow is visible across the sea. That distorted teardrop shape was moving slowly.

“That’s the Megalo Whale parent.”

“Is that the real Megalo Whale?”

“The black dots around it are the children we saw, right?”

Norb compares the Megalo Whale and its fry while dripping cold sweat.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Just then. Several of the Megalo Whale fry suddenly roared and began to spout water.

“What’s wrong with those guys!?”

“Look, there’s a ship over there.”

At Meguri’s point, everyone looked in the direction the Megalo Whale fry were heading, and indeed there was the figure of a ship.

“I wonder if it’s a merchant ship that went out ignoring the country’s warning? Honestly, they brought it on themselves.”

Mina spat coldly.

“But that only applies to the merchant who’s the employer, right?”

“Rex?”

True, the merchant who sent the ship out brought it on himself, but the crew members working on it are unrelated.

“Please wait just a moment.”

“Eh? Are you perhaps going to save them?”

“Yes, just to buy a little time for them to escape. Everyone, please go on ahead!”

I dived between the merchant ship and the Megalo Whale fry while lowering my altitude, and released magic.

“Hydro Geyser!!”

From right under the leading Megalo Whale fry, a giant geyser erupted, flipping its huge body over. The Megalo Whale fry let out a surprised roar, but I just flipped it over, so I didn’t injure it. Depending on the results of this investigation, we might be able to drive the Megalo Whales back to the open ocean without fighting. If that’s possible, there’s no need to kill them unnecessarily.

Because the leader was flipped over, the followers were blocked and their movement stopped.

“Return to port now!”

I approached the ship and told a nearby crew member to return.

“S-Sorry! We’re saved!”

The crew member hurriedly ran to the helmsman, and the ship drew an arc and fled towards land.

“And that’s that.”

Just as I thought that. The Megalo Whale fry all started roaring together.

“Huh? If I recall, the Megalo Whale children’s roar is…”

If I remember correctly, it was a sign to call the parent for help. The moment I remembered that, a tremendous roar echoed over the ocean. The atmosphere trembled, and the sea surface undulated greatly.

“Crap!”

By the time I thought that, it was already too late. Far in the distance, in the direction of the Megalo Whale parent, a large blue pillar rose up.

“The parent’s spout!”

Yes, the Megalo Whale parent responded to the children’s cries for help and spouted.

The spout extends high into the sky, and when it reaches its apex, it spreads out towards the surroundings like a mushroom cap and falls. Scattering countless bone rocks as large as houses.

At this rate, Jairo and the others in the sky and Barn-san’s Good Loser will get caught in it. In the worst case, there’s a possibility of damage to the coastal town.

“Having widespread civilian casualties is bad! I have to destroy it before it reaches its apex!”

I released the fastest and largest magic before the spout ejected by the Megalo Whale parent reached its apex.

“Lightning Pillar!”

A circle of light is born in front of me. The circle of light, reaching about 50m in diameter, extends as is to the far reaches of the sky, looking just as if a tower of light were extending towards the sky.

The tower of light extends beyond the top of the spout ejected by the Megalo Whale parent, and the spout collides from directly below. The Megalo Whale’s spout hit as if to pierce the tower of light, but far from exceeding the tower of light, it just stopped. But it didn’t stop.

The pillar of light is a mass of ultra-hot lightning. The spout and bone rocks ejected by the Megalo Whale were evaporating due to the ultra-high heat of the lightning tower.

I slowly lower the tower of light. Then the pillar of tide also lowers accordingly. In the place where the tower of light passed, fog is rising. It’s steam from the evaporated tide.

As I slowly lowered the pillar of light, the Megalo Whale parent’s pillar of tide gradually thinned. It seems to be stopping. And when the pillar of tide completely disappeared, I also released the magic and returned to everyone in the sky.

“I’m baack. The merchant ship people are all safe.”

I called out to everyone who had gone ahead.

“””””……”””””

But for some reason, everyone is staring at me silently. Their eyes wide open for some reason.

“What’s wrong, everyone?”

“””””J…”””””

“J?”

“””””Just what was that crazy thing just now!?””””””

What do you mean? It’s just high-level lightning magic.