Ch.235About Those Strange Companions (3)

The sky whales live by eating stars.

Whales that feed on the remnants of broken stars and starlight left the sea for the sky. They chose to swim not in the blue sea, but in the pitch-black night sky, the dark sea.

There was a whale that led them.

And there was one who guided that whale to the sky.

A dreamer who pointed to the sky, shouting that humans could reach the stars. A navigator who sailed a single ship and migrated whales to the sky. A king who planted his flag in the sky where no one had ever claimed territory, building his own kingdom.

The world called him this:

The Heavenly Meteor, Icarus.

“That’s not wrong, but it’s a very old story. That’s what they called him about 900 years ago.”

Merlin once said that.

“No one would even remember the name Icarus now, I bet. The Heavenly Meteor became a specter about 700 years ago. Among today’s constellations, the Heavenly Meteor is… well, how should I put this?”

Wondering how to explain, Merlin snapped her fingers as if the right word had come to mind.

“He’s treated as a kind of natural disaster. An extremely annoying natural disaster that no one wants to get involved with.”

Recalling those words, Najin looked up at the sky. One, two, ten… about thirty whales were falling in a group.

Sparkle.

The bodies of whales that lived by swallowing stars were filled with starlight, and the sight of these light-scattering whales falling looked just like a meteor shower.

‘It’s quite a spectacle.’

It was a magnificent sight. If those whales weren’t falling toward him, he might have been able to admire it purely.

‘This isn’t going to be easy from the start.’

Najin drew his sword. Before, when he first looked up at the Heavenly Meteor’s sky whales while traveling with the Helm Knight, he had no idea how to deal with them.

But not anymore.

Quite some time had passed since then. Najin had grown stronger and learned how to cut down massive beings. He couldn’t cut down all dozens of whales pouring from the sky, but he could at least cut down the one whale about to crash into him.

Just as Najin was about to move.

“As I said.”

Najin’s companion, Merlin, who shared his thoughts and knew what he was thinking, grabbed his wrist.

“The Heavenly Meteor is a natural disaster.”

‘That’s what you said. So what?’

“No one sincerely fights a natural disaster, right? When a storm comes, you don’t fight it—you run. Of course, a transcendent being might be able to cut through a storm, but still.”

Merlin pointed to the sky.

“The Heavenly Meteor is like a natural disaster even to transcendent beings.”

‘That’s—’

“Don’t try to fight it. Run. Right now.”

She shrugged her shoulders.

“To kill the Heavenly Meteor, you’d need to be at least as strong as me.”

Is it really that powerful?

Najin didn’t immediately understand Merlin’s words. Sure, it looked strong, but if asked whether it was completely unbeatable, that didn’t seem quite right either.

‘Are those thirty whales really that strong?’

“Thirty?”

Merlin laughed.

It was a laugh of disbelief.

“Not three hundred thousand?”

That’s when it happened.

BOOOOOOOOOOM…

The sky vibrated. The ground shook. A strange sound like both a bell and an animal’s cry covered heaven and earth. Najin frowned and covered his ears. Even with his palms over his ears, the sound leaked through.

And when the sound finally stopped.

Splash.

Ripples formed in the sky. Najin raised his head to look up. Perhaps it was a sea. The undulating night sky could indeed be called a dark sea.

Splash, splash, splash…

Whales swimming in the depths of the dark night sea leaped above the surface one after another. Waves formed. Foam rose, and the night sky splattered like paint.

Only then did Najin realize.

The thirty whales were merely sunbathing on the surface, while whales are creatures that live in the deep sea. And now, all those deep-sea creatures were surging upward.

Tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands.

Hundreds of thousands of whales.

The cries of the whales made heaven and earth tremble.

“The Heavenly Meteor.”

Merlin said.

“The star that swims through the sky.”

The sky’s dictator, master of the sky whales.

His army fell like meteors.

2.

Swallowing the curse that rose to his throat, Najin quickly turned his head. At least he wasn’t alone here. With two transcendent beings present, there must be some way to…

“We’re fucked.”

“Excuse me?”

“We are fucked, Najin.”

Najin blinked. Juel, who had been standing beside him, far from swinging his sword, was putting the drawn blade back into storage in the air. All while muttering that they were fucked. Of course, saying “we’re fucked” with such a remarkably calm expression didn’t convey much urgency.

“The Heavenly Meteor greatly dislikes having his territory invaded. However, it depends on his mood each day. When he’s in a good mood, he doesn’t mind people passing through, but when he’s in a bad mood, he drops a few whales as a warning.”

Najin glanced up at the sky.

This was definitely more than what could be called “a few.”

“And it seems the Heavenly Meteor is in quite a foul mood right now. I suspect someone has provoked him. Probably the Empress of Bliss’s doing.”

After saying this, she turned around.

“Najin.”

“Yes?”

“Are you a fast runner?”

“I can run decently enough.”

“Good. I’ll go ahead.”

Then she started running at full speed.

Watching Juel’s back as she instantly ran far away, Najin blinked. What is this sense of déjà vu? It feels like I’ve experienced a similar situation before.

“Hmph. To think that the murderer known as a battle maniac would run away with her tail between her legs? Even a passing dog would laugh.”

The Sacred Host clicked her tongue as she watched Juel flee.

“Is that the infamous Heavenly Meteor? How ridiculous. What can such beasts do? They can’t even scratch my body. My body is made of starlight, after all.”

“They’re whales that devour stars.”

“What?”

“Stars are their main diet.”

The Sacred Host blinked. Soon, her complexion turned deathly pale.

Tap tap tap.

Watching the Sacred Host start running after Juel, Najin slapped his forehead. He couldn’t help but sigh at the sight of these supposedly reliable transcendent beings.

‘Well, who would face hundreds of thousands of whales anyway?’

“I could.”

‘Ah, yes.’

Najin also started running after Juel. As whales began crashing into the ground in the distance, causing earthquakes, Najin escaped the Heavenly Meteor’s territory.

“We’re not running away.”

“We’re charging in the opposite direction.”

Recalling the Helm Knight’s teachings, Najin charged forward vigorously. After running for quite some time and finally escaping the whales, the three collapsed on the ground.

“What are we going to do about that?”

The Sacred Host sighed.

“According to the map, there’s no way around it? We must pass through the Heavenly Meteor’s territory… At least to my eyes, there’s no way to break through that.”

She was right. Najin also didn’t think they could pass through that place where hundreds of thousands of whales were rampaging.

“It looks that way to me as well.”

Juel nodded.

“I expected the place hiding the Empress of Bliss’s closest aide’s weakness would be well-guarded, but… I didn’t expect her to utilize the Heavenly Meteor. This is troublesome.”

“Is the Heavenly Meteor an ally of the Empress of Bliss?”

“No, he is not.”

Juel stated firmly.

“The Heavenly Meteor is an uncontrollable entity. A kind of natural disaster with no rationality. It seems unlikely that a control freak who tries to control everything around him would follow someone else’s orders.”

“I’m certain of that too. The Heavenly Meteor was a control freak and dictator even when alive. That would be the same now that he’s a specter unconsciously repeating his lifetime behaviors.”

So what should we do? To reach La Mancha, they had to pass through that place. Najin pondered all the information he had been given. Heavenly Meteor, control freak, whales, dictator, specter… Specter? Najin frowned.

“Wait a moment.”

Najin said.

“The Heavenly Meteor is a specter, and specters naturally target stars, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“And the whales led by the Heavenly Meteor are also whales that devour stars.”

“That’s right.”

“Then couldn’t we use stars as bait to lure them away?”

At Najin’s suggestion, Juel stroked her chin.

“That’s a reasonable hypothesis. A strategy worth trying. But there’s one problem.”

Juel pointed at Najin and herself.

“Even if we shine with all our might, we won’t be able to attract the attention of hundreds of thousands of whales. For this plan to work, we need starlight strong enough to illuminate the entire area, which would require Excalibur or a being with a massive amount of starlight…”

“Ah,” Juel sighed briefly.

Her gaze turned to the Sacred Host.

“…We need a being with a massive amount of starlight. For example, a being whose entire body is made of stars.”

“Seems like we have one right here.”

“I believe so too.”

Najin and Juel’s gazes turned to the Sacred Host. Busy dusting off her dirt-covered hair and not listening to their conversation, the Sacred Host tilted her head. She frowned.

“What’s with those looks? It’s making me uncomfortable.”

Here it was.

An incredibly shiny bait.

3.

“I’ll curse you! I’ll curse you all!”

“Please be quiet.”

“You’re being noisy, Sacred Host.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

The Sacred Host screamed and struggled. But when Juel quietly placed her hand on her sword hilt, the Sacred Host hiccupped and stopped resisting.

Tightly.

Juel tied a rope around the Sacred Host’s body. It was an incredibly tough, endlessly stretchable rope used by the Order to bind criminals. After tying the rope around the Sacred Host, Juel stretched her body.

“Why am I being treated like this? I am the Sacred Host. The idol of the Order, the great one worshipped by countless believers…”

Ignoring the whimpering Sacred Host, Najin and Juel exchanged glances. They got into position.

Can humans fly in the sky?

The two were about to answer one of humanity’s age-old questions right here and now.

BOOM.

Juel started running, stomping the ground forcefully. The Sacred Host, tied to the rope, was dragged along with Juel’s movement. With the Sacred Host rolling on the ground like a ball, Juel entered the Heavenly Meteor’s territory first.

BOOOOOOOOOOM…

The moment Juel entered the territory, the whales began to fall again with their cries. Just as the whales began to seriously lower their altitude, Juel swung the rope in her hand in a circle.

Kuhuk.

With a sound of breath being forced out, the Sacred Host’s body at the end of the rope drew an arc. Her body curved following the whip-like motion of the rope.

Then, THWACK.

Juel hurled the Sacred Host high into the sky. The unrestricted rope stretched out. A transcendent being’s strength was truly amazing—the Sacred Host rose to a great height, but… in Najin’s view, the altitude was still a bit lacking.

So he decided to give her a push.

Penetration.

Najin focused not on piercing but on creating a storm with his Penetration technique. The storm pushed the Sacred Host’s body, allowing her to fly even higher.

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH…

The Sacred Host’s screams grew distant.

Thrown high into the sky, the Sacred Host, with tears in her eyes, released starlight. Her body was made of starlight, forged as a star.

The Sacred Host.

True to her name, the amount of starlight contained in her body was enormous, and when she deliberately released starlight, the entire area turned white.

A flash of light burst high in the sky.

The whales that were falling toward Juel and Najin paused with a jerk. Then their heads turned back to the sky. For these star-devouring creatures, an irresistible prey was shining.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The whales began to surge back into the sky. Leaving behind the whales lured by the bait, Najin and Juel ran. The Sacred Host was an excellent decoy.

‘So that’s why they requested cooperation from the Order.’

The Empire’s First Seal had it all planned out.

Najin was impressed by Gerd’s foresight.