Ch.109109. Tribal Chief Meeting (2)

●

[You’re out of your mind. Ha!]

I turn my head toward the voice.

Barol Ger-Do.

He’s clearly someone who holds a grudge against me, probably because of what I did to Krun earlier.

He’s been saying nothing but unpleasant things to me for a while now.

[Hand over the entire academy? What does that even mean? Are you asking us to sell it to you? A place that’s practically the cradle of the Tribal Union?]

Coming from Barol, it might sound like he’s just being difficult, but this is one reaction I can understand.

The Tribal Union itself is a community with few members, so they’re obsessed with training each individual to be elite. It’s no coincidence that their chief, Hatan, also serves as the academy’s director.

So, well, I don’t really need control of the entire academy.

“Proxy authority would be sufficient. Permission to use facilities, authority to deploy personnel, permission to remove equipment… anything really.”

The academy of the Golden Triangle is itself one of the major triggers in the scenario. And to maximize its use, the person who should become its ‘owner’ is already determined.

And that person isn’t me.

“Just for a few hours from now. That should be enough.”

After adding those words, silence filled the room.

From their perspective, it’s an absurd request either way.

[…Setting aside the absurdity of your demand.]

Just look at what follows.

One of the chiefs spoke with an incredulous voice.

[What threat is supposedly approaching? Without explaining that, this is nothing but a frivolous demand.]

“I can show you that right away without having to explain.”

[…What?]

“Would you like to make a bet?”

I answer the chief who spoke.

“Soon, a disaster will occur that no one here will be able to properly handle. So.”

When making statements like this, confidence is key.

You need to speak with such a straight face that not a drop of blood would come out even if someone stabbed you—that way, the other party might at least wonder what makes this guy so confident.

“If what I show you is a ‘crisis that even the chiefs cannot handle,’ and if I eliminate it right here, then you’ll listen to me. How about it?”

[…So.]

Utad Han-Chai, who had been quietly listening to me until now, spoke with an incredulous voice.

[You’re saying an unprecedented threat that even the technology of the Crucible of Struggle couldn’t detect is about to arrive. Only you know about it. And only you can stop it.]

“Yes.”

[…And you can instantly eliminate it right here?]

“Yes.”

Indeed.

The faces of all the chiefs who heard my words changed in various ways.

Some suspicious, some astonished, some laughing in disbelief.

Barol Ger-Do, who had been hostile toward me from the start, looks absolutely furious.

[…Not even worth listening to.]

Barol spat out.

[Nonsense not worth reconsidering. Did getting the Great Hunter title by luck make you lose your mind?]

“Let’s talk sense here. How could anyone get such a title by luck?”

[…]

“Have you ever touched even a hair of one of the Arcane Realm Rulers? Are you so blinded by selling drugs and committing crimes that you can’t see straight?”

I throw his words right back at him.

It’s a deliberate attempt to get under his skin.

Blood doesn’t lie—Krun Ger-Do’s shallow personality is almost entirely inherited from his father, Barol.

Just one pathetic provocation like this should be enough to hook him, I’m sure.

[…]

See?

Look at him, seriously offended by that one comment.

[…You mentioned a bet, you bastard.]

Barol growled in a deeply sunken voice.

[If you fail, what are you willing to wager?]

His eyes flash with malicious intent. He’s probably trying to scheme something to put me at a disadvantage, but…

“Take my life or whatever you want.”

What I want is precisely this situation where he makes such a challenge.

[…What?]

“I’ll do anything you want. If you don’t believe me, we can go through a formal oath process.”

As I answer that way.

Hatan, who had been quietly observing the situation, smirks, and Utad sighs.

By saying this, the bet has been ‘established’ without giving other chiefs a chance to intervene.

So definitively that there’s no way to back out later.

[…You must be quite confident, bastard.]

Indeed, even Barol who initially brought this up seems taken aback. He’s trying not to show it outwardly.

He probably didn’t expect me to so readily declare that he could take whatever he wanted.

“I am confident. But let’s put the conversation aside and get straight to the bet.”

Saying that, I approach the console embedded in the center of the table and operate it.

This place serves as both a conference room and a command control center. Using the nearby equipment, you can get an excellent view of the surroundings of this academy.

“Now, it won’t be long until what I mentioned appears.”

I check the time.

And examine all the video cameras that can be mobilized nearby.

[…Is that right?]

As I’m doing this, Calivan Chrysanyx’s voice comes through the Soul Linker.

[That Tatiana woman said she’d give you just one day. Isn’t there still plenty of time until then?]

‘…If you were going to stop me, why didn’t you do it earlier instead of now?’

[Because I know you’re not the type to do something like this without thinking.]

I’m glad he at least knows that much.

I sigh inwardly as I respond to Calivan.

‘The statement itself was too vague.’

[What?]

‘She said she’d give me a one-day grace period. That just means she’d refrain from trying to kill me for one day. Just that one thing.’

Considering how subservient Tatiana is to the Luminary, I’m practically a thorn in their side as the focus of their attention.

Even if she’s instructed to wait a day, she’s likely to interpret such instructions quite broadly to try to kill me somehow.

In that sense.

It didn’t take long to find what I was looking for using the console.

The place I’m showing on the screen is the middle of the sea near the Crucible of Struggle.

[…Wait. What is that?]

And there.

A massive ‘hole’ reminiscent of a giant sinkhole was forming.

Containing endless darkness.

●

In fact, sinkholes deep and wide enough to swallow several buildings are not uncommon sights on land.

But for something like that to appear in the middle of the sea.

It’s clearly not a normal phenomenon.

It’s such an alien sight that it feels like a ‘path’ is being opened from here to somewhere else through the sea.

-…

And from inside it.

Something begins to ‘crawl out.’

A cephalopod creature covered from head to toe in pitch-black tentacles.

But its size is absurdly enormous.

No joke, it seems comparable in size to a modern battleship.

[…A kraken? No, but…!]

“It’s not an ordinary kraken.”

In response to one chief’s exclamation of shock, Hatan also groaned, clutching his head.

“The fact that its body is completely black means it’s a cursed magical beast. These aren’t the ordinary ones that inhabit this area.”

An ordinary kraken is classified as one of the large magical beasts.

It’s incredibly powerful, but Hatan is a hunter who has hunted one alone before. If he formed a hunting party, he could handle it without much difficulty.

But.

“…Magical beasts with such intense ‘attributes’ usually come from another dimension, and they’re typically several times more powerful than their normal counterparts.”

Hatan gritted his teeth as he said that.

“Even I would likely be unable to hunt that.”

[…]

[…]

At those words, all the chiefs fell silent.

A magical beast that even Hatan, called the greatest hunter of the age, cannot defeat.

If this person can’t do it, then no one in this room can face that thing.

And it doesn’t end there.

[…Damn it. Not just one?!]

As that cry erupts.

A second.

A third.

Multiple creatures are crawling out of the sinkhole.

The number exceeds a dozen.

What’s in there is

‘…This is Phase 1.’

These creatures are what you might call the ‘advance party.’

The Apostle of the Inverted Tide boss battle basically takes the form of a ‘defense.’ It involves fending off magical beasts that continuously attack from all sides of the sea around the Crucible of Struggle.

These are just the first wave.

[…You really did prepare something.]

‘I told you. She only said she’d refrain from killing me for a day.’

Preemptively attacking the Crucible of Struggle and killing all the ‘surrounding people’ who would be my driving force for surviving the battle is excluded from that.

As long as they don’t kill me directly.

They probably began the summoning ritual for those creatures right after showing me Allan’s condition.

So I knew it would open right about now.

When people keep experiencing similar things, they eventually develop a resistance.

< Quest Info >

[ Main Quest ] 〖 Chapter 3 – Apostle of the Inverted Tide 〗

[ 15H remaining until the ‘Great Duel’ event! ]

[ The boss battle will begin immediately after this event! ]

Before, I firmly believed what was written here and got thoroughly tricked by the Luminary once.

And the lesson I learned then was.

No matter how well you plan according to the information written here, variables can always emerge.

“…”

But one thing I want to point out is.

They’re not the only ones who can create variables that hit from behind.

With that thought, I switch to the system window.

!!!!!!!!!!!Demon Alert!!!!!!!!!!!

[ ‘Demon-related’ emergency event occurring! ]

[ This is a highest priority event! ]

[ If you don’t act correctly within the time limit, you will die! ]

[ This event is related to target ‘Riru’! ]

[ Devise countermeasures for survival immediately! ]

Yes.

Like this, for example.

-…! …! …?

The krakens, which had been approaching the Crucible of Struggle while making strange noises, suddenly hesitate.

They must feel something approaching from behind.

Probably.

Even these creatures, so powerful that even Hatan would give up on them.

They momentarily stop moving, instinctively sensing a ‘threat’ approaching—something so powerful it makes them pause.

[Wait a minute.]

One of the chiefs spoke in a voice drained of spirit.

[…That’s a person, isn’t it?]

Indeed.

It’s a person ‘running’ on the surface of the sea.

[…]

[…]

Everyone in the room fell silent at this incomprehensible, bizarre scene.

How should this be described?

It’s not something that can be explained within the realm of good athletic ability or skillful use of special powers.

It’s like someone single-handedly twisting the laws of the world.

Kicking off the water’s surface as if it were solid ground, running at a terrifying speed.

The running is so intense that each footstep creates a tidal wave behind.

And as far as I know.

There’s only one being capable of creating such a spectacle.

What envelops the person running on the sea is a ‘blue’ energy that’s explosively erupting, enough to cover the entire screen.

“…”

Yes.

That’s Riru, absolutely furious.

The person I dropped in the middle of the sea using the magic stone I received from Faynol.

I deliberately calculated it so that those magical beasts would be positioned in the ‘path’ she would take to find me.

“Now.”

While everyone is stunned by this sight, my voice drops.

“I’ll now proceed to deal with those magical beasts.”

“…What?”

Ignoring Hatan’s bewildered voice, I snap my fingers.

“Yep.”

And simultaneously.

-!!

–!!!!!!!!!

The nearby krakens open their mouths wide and charge at Riru. Several house-sized magical beasts rush toward her at once.

It’s truly a desperate crisis.

“…”

Well, I mean.

For the magical beasts.

“Get out of my waaaay–!!!”

Riru charges forward with a roar.

And.

All the krakens that collide with her.

Are ‘pulverized.’

Like eggs hitting a rock.

It’s a scene that defies common sense, making the size difference between the two sides unbelievable.

[…!]

“…!”

Everyone in the room gapes in shock at the sight.

Even I, who knew this would happen, break out in cold sweat at the sheer power—it’s only natural.

That’s brutal.

That’s the Blue Demon’s power [Pulverize].

While wielding demonic power, she can tear apart anything that touches her body like that.

Regardless of the opponent’s size, defense, or durability.

Just by touching them.

“…”

On the positive side.

This lets us skip Phase 1.

Though the battle still remains, we don’t need to fight those terrifying magical beasts right now.

And the negative aspect that can’t be hidden even with such thinking is.

“Darwood Campbeeeeeell—–!!!”

As I’m thinking this, Riru screams with a thunderous voice on the screen.

In response, the blue energy surrounding her body erupts even more explosively.

“Come out right now-! I’ll kill you—–!”

I quickly turn off the screen before the sentence is completed.

Then I turn to the astonished chiefs.

“…I won the bet, right? I fulfilled everything I said.”

I eliminated a threat that none of the humans here could have handled. While standing still in this room.

That’s a clear fact.

[You did fulfill it, but.]

“Yes.”

[That thing is coming to kill you now, isn’t it? Can that really be considered your ability-]

“But I eliminated the threat, didn’t I?”

[…]

“I am the cause, that’s true.”

If you’ve already made a promise, don’t change your words.

Hurry up and hand over full authority of the academy.

●