Ch.791Whale Hunting

I was doing something crazy, like a madman.

If others had seen me running with Demian tucked under my arm like a lance, they might have been horrified, thinking I’d gone insane. It was a sight that could only be described as madness.

Of course, I wasn’t insane, and using Demian as a lance wasn’t madness either.

It was simply an extraordinarily unusual idea that ordinary humans couldn’t comprehend—the best solution I’d arrived at after racking my brains.

Think about it. To wound the Starlight Whale, I needed the power of a holy sword, but I couldn’t wield one myself. Only Demian could draw the holy sword and manifest its power.

So what should I do?

After much deliberation, when I saw Demian’s body swaying back and forth from the earthquake caused by the Starlight Whale, a lightning-like realization struck me.

That’s it.

While I couldn’t wield the holy sword myself, wouldn’t carrying Demian with the drawn sword be essentially the same as wielding the holy sword?

Though I couldn’t be certain, it was worth trying, so I bestowed upon the quietly unconscious Demian the honor of becoming my weapon.

“Grrrr…!”

The white horse with blade-like horns galloped, shattering the earth with its hooves.

The wind rushed against us. Perhaps thanks to my joke about setting its tail on fire if it slowed down, Cascador was running at a storm-like speed.

I held the reins between my teeth and changed direction to avoid explosion magic as I charged toward the Starlight Whale, gripping Demian’s body under my arm tightly enough not to break his spine.

—-

After acquiring Demian as a weapon, I pondered how to use him.

At first, I thought I could swing him like a sword… but after a moment’s reflection, I realized that would be undeniably insane.

Considering my strength, if I were to grab Demian’s ankle or shin like a sword handle and swing him, his body would be shattered before we even reached the Starlight Whale.

The moment I swung, all of Demian’s leg bones would be crushed, and when the holy sword’s tip touched the Starlight Whale’s hide, Demian’s spine would split, possibly causing his entire upper body to burst.

The holy sword might withstand such impact, but Demian’s physical body was made of ordinary human bones and flesh.

No matter how I thought about it, swinging him was impossible.

So, I had to choose thrusting instead.

Rather than swinging Demian like a sword, I could firmly secure him to my body and thrust at the enemy, allowing me to absorb most of the recoil.

That’s why this weapon had to be called Demian Lance, not Demian Sword.

Isn’t it brilliant? An ingenious yet surprisingly rational idea? Even the celestial Elpinel would be amazed, never having imagined such a use for Demian.

—-

And so, now.

Mounted on Cascador, who was running at wind-like speed, I aimed Demian at the Starlight Whale’s flank.

My regenerated coat fluttered wildly, and a couple of iron chains wrapped around Demian loosened and flapped like tails.

“――!”

Perhaps sensing the holy sword’s energy as a threat, or simply deciding to kill first and ask questions later.

The Starlight Whale’s flank. The Milky Way that seemed to substitute for its spine swirled into a single point, and—

– Kwaooooo!

A beam of black light shot toward me, carrying a devastating force that could tear my body apart with just a graze.

“What the…!”

A whale shooting beams from its side instead of its mouth? Isn’t that a bit much?

The beam approached with lightning speed. It was too late to dodge, and while I might withstand it, neither Demian nor Cascador could survive such an attack.

Even if I activated Defying Fate, it wouldn’t make Cascador faster, so I’d have to jump off like dismounting. In that case…

My brain, stimulated by instinctive danger, rotated at dozens of times its normal speed to come up with a solution.

-I have to destroy it before it hits.

It was impossible to block it with Karma of Murder tentacles. To counteract it, I needed an attack with output matching the creature’s beam.

So… something like a Karma heat ray.

My right arm was holding Demian, and my left arm was supporting Demian’s head, so I couldn’t use them. My mouth was holding the reins.

So, there was only one part left.

Well, they say true heroes kill with their eyes, don’t they?

Though I’m not sure who said that.

“Kenaz!”

I glared at the approaching black beam with wide eyes, concentrating the power of Karma of Murder in front of my right eyeball and overlaying it with runic flames.

– Whoosh!

A crimson flame sphere blocked half my vision.

I compressed it again and again until it was the size of an eyeball-

And released it toward the approaching dark mana beam, like letting go of reins.

– Kwaooooo!

The ultra-high-temperature Karma flame, compressed to its limit, shot out as a beam of heat.

A strike that consumed all my remaining Karma of Murder as fuel.

As Hersella’s voice, which had been whining endlessly in my head, was completely erased, the blood-red heat ray and the black beam collided like a star and a meteor.

The next moment, a thunderous sound shook heaven and earth as black steam spread like a wave.

The dark mana beam, penetrated by the Karma flame ray, burst like a snowman hit by a rock and scattered like mist.

Beyond mere cancellation—complete destruction.

The Karma flame ray, having penetrated and dispersed the dark mana beam, continued forward without diminishing and bored into the Starlight Whale’s flank like a comet.

And then.

“―――――――!!”

The Starlight Whale literally convulsed and twisted its body. As if struck by pain it had never even imagined in its lifetime. It was an astonishing and shocking sight.

“…Huh?”

So much so that I let out a dazed groan, even dropping the reins I’d been holding in my mouth.

And for good reason-

– Chiiiiiiiiik…!

Beyond the Starlight Whale’s flank, which couldn’t be wounded by Durandal’s slash or Karma blades, the scenery of the opposite cliff was clearly visible.

…This can be penetrated?

I was perplexed by my own success in landing an effective hit.

The only difference from previous attacks was the overlay of runic flames. Just that alone, yet it penetrated the flesh of a void creature that supposedly could only be wounded by a holy sword. How could I not be surprised?

Knut had mentioned that the runic seal engraved on me seemed somewhat different from existing seals… but I never imagined it could do something like this.

…If I’d known, I would have used it more sparingly.

Not knowing this was unavoidable, but I regretted having lavishly used the power of Karma of Murder and runic flames on miscellaneous monsters.

Well anyway, for me, this alone was as good as a stroke of heavenly luck.

“――!”

Thanks to it, I could approach the whale in an instant.

“Eat this-!”

I thrust Demian’s holy sword like a siege hammer into the wall of night sky before me, carefully controlling the depth so Demian’s head wouldn’t be pushed in too.

And then.

– Poooook!

As expected, the pure white blade pierced through the Starlight Whale’s outer skin like an awl.

“―――!”

The Starlight Whale opened its mouth wide and let out a roar like a scream, shocked by having its flank pierced again.

“Ahahahaha!”

I laughed joyfully as I tore into the penetrated skin of the Starlight Whale with the holy sword, holding Demian’s body in an embrace to prevent it from breaking.

The monster’s flesh was ground like minced meat. Like a black hole in the purple night sky, cosmic-like contents poured out from the widening gap.

And so, I meticulously tore apart its body.

– Pueok!

Even after the wildly thrashing Starlight Whale smashed Cascador with its tail, I continued.

Until the Starlight Whale, which seemed over ten meters long, shriveled up pathetically like a deflated balloon.

I even blasted it with runic flames occasionally, which drove it absolutely crazy.

Whether because it wasn’t Karma flame or just weaker in power, it couldn’t penetrate or melt the creature’s body, only causing surface burns.

Seeing how it couldn’t properly respond even as I mounted its body and slashed away, it seemed like it didn’t know how to fight, probably having never been hit before.

Well, with an invincible body, it could have swept away most enemies by simply pushing forward, so its crude fighting style was understandable.

How to dodge, how to counter effectively—it had probably never considered such things.

Its racial trait of nullifying damage and its magic abilities, so fast and powerful that even decent heroes would struggle to respond, had ironically hindered the development of its fundamental skills.

—-

After about a minute had passed.

– Chwaaaak!

Suddenly, the chains of light wrapped around Demian’s body burst and scattered, emitting a dazzling holy light.

“…Huh?”

They slapped my cheek like a hard smack, knocking me away as I was opening up the Starlight Whale’s back skin with my mouth corners pulled up to my ears.

“Kek!”

It was probably an accident rather than intentional, but the slap was so fast and powerful that I had no time to react.

“That hurts, you shiny bastard!”

Shocked by the sudden impact, I lost my grip on Demian and was thrown off the whale’s back into the air, hurling blasphemous curses at the pure white tsunami of light that shone like the sun manifested on earth.

Until the spreading tidal wave of holy light washed over my body and passed.

And then.

– Kwang!

“Kuk!”

My body flew in a parabolic arc and crashed into the ground. A short groan escaped me at the tingling pain in my spine.

Seriously, what kind of misfortune is this?

I lightly shook my dizzy head to shake off the dust, then pressed the side of my head with my right hand and sprang up, gripping the shattered ground from the impact.

– Kwaduk!

Rock fragments shattered into pieces under the suddenly strengthened grip of my hand.

I glanced down at the stone powder on my hand and lightly flicked my fingers a couple of times.

Tak. Tak.

As the powder stuck like dust fell away, my newly grown left hand revealed clean skin.