Mistress Of The Evil Forest

Case 46: North Zircon Conquest – Blue whale under the moon.

''Hm...''

Sitting around the hot spring, we're currently enjoying a short break. The capybaras all immediately snug up to us, which is very bold of them, considering they're all around level 10.

According to Chloe, these creatures have the ability to eliminate ill intent of all kinds when in sight, so we should not be worried about getting ambushed. What magical animals.

In any case, the scene here is certainly mesmerizing. A hot spring in a snowy land, under the bright moon, no less.

While I'm thinking that, a telepathy is suddenly sent to my head.

''...!''

''Aurora?'' Chloe calls.

''...The saintess came to your room.''

''Crap. She actually came.'' Chloe sighs heavily. ''How'd it go?''

''She didn't find anything.'' I reply. ''Peln managed to handle it.''

''That's good. I was right preparing for it.''

''Mhm.''

For this trip, Chloe prepared an item that could be used to make it seem like she was sleeping in her room, in case anybody checked in on her while we were away. Peln can guard there as well, she doesn't need any sleep.

At first, I didn't see why Chloe was so adamant about doing all of this, but now I know. The saintess is truly unpredictable. Good thing I had the real Ring of Fortitude on Peln's toe and the fake one on her hand. This is the advanced trick that I found out myself—you don't absolutely need to wear it on your finger for it to work.

Nevertheless.

''Hm... I think this is enough.'' I stop petting the capybara and stand up. ''Let's go.''

So we bid goodbye to the capybaras and continue our journey.

Gradually, we are getting closer and closer to the heart of North Zircon. By this point, the snowing is more similar to a snowstorm rather than just heavy snow. It is affecting our visions a bit, but manageable.

''Phew...''

When the indicator on the map shows that we are just a step away from our destination—

——————————!!

A pleasant, almost gentle wail rings through the space. At the same time, the bright moonlight that is illuminating our ways seems to be completely blocked by something.

''...Are you serious?''

Looking above, the ridiculous sight of a giant whale swimming lazily through the air greets me. Its body is big enough to give the HQ castle back at the academy a shot for its money, and it is easily blocking the whole moon.

With greyish-white skin and again, a pair of crystal-like blue eyes, the whale can easily be misunderstood as some kind of mythical creature. Which I'm not surprised if it is.

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Name: Sapphire             

Race: Zircon Blue Whale                   

Title: The left hand of Blizzard's Chosen One

Level: 45

HP: 340/340                    MP: 254/254

STR: 6.5                     INT: 6.2

AGI: 5.9                    STA: 6.3

Skill: [Blizzard's Blessing], [Wind Magic Lv.7], 
[Water Magic Lv.7], [Inspect Lv.6],
[Ice Resistance Lv.6], [Auto Regeneration Lv.6], 
[Status Condition Nullification Lv.3],
[Language Lv.3], [Parallel Thinking Lv.3].

State: Normal.

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''Holy crap, that auto-regeneration is fat.'' Chloe exclaims with a dissatisfied voice.

''Mhm. This will be a pain to deal with.'' I reply.

Firstly, debuffs will most likely not work on it. Ice and light magic... Probably not either. If so...

''I think we need to use my gauntlet.'' I speak up.

If we try the brute force method, I think we can defeat it, but our MP will suffer. So the only reasonable way is to use the Gauntlet of Severance.

By this point, the whale has already cast upwards of dozens of spells in the air, ready to launch them all at us. 

Let's do this.

''Skely and Chloe, cast a spell to temporarily distract it for me.'' I unsheathe my sword. ''Mister Slen and Smiley will protect the two while they're casting, Ariel, you're behind as well.''

'''' Roger. ''''

AUF—!

After receiving confirmation from all of them, I promptly run to the side. This is mainly to divert some of the whale's spells to me.

''Phew...''

I tighten the grip on the Blackstar and begin to infuse mana into it. The long and glossy black blade gradually sees a dramatic rise in temperature, evident in the transition to a bright orange color of the material.

PUFF—!

With a sudden burst, intense fire engulfs the whole blade. I hope it can endure this level.

——————————!!

Accompanied by the gentle wail are a hell of magic bullets—giant ones. Wind magic mixed with water magic rapidly rains down onto both me and my conquest party members. Luckily for me, I can dodge all of them by keeping running, and my high INT stat allows me to cast magic normally while moving at high speed, unlike others.

Meanwhile, loud booms can be heard as Mister Slen uses his tentacles to rapidly bash away the magic bullets, each of his things is like a whip—violent and terrifyingly fast.

It seems Mister Slen is holding pretty well. I certainly underestimated his tentacles.

Deciding that bombing us like this isn't enough, the whale promptly cancels all of the small spells and begins casting a giant one. The amount of MP that it is pouring in is quite mind-boggling. I need to hurry up.

The Blackstar begins to burst out even more flame as I dedicate more and more MP into the infuse. I then shoot myself into the air, both with my legs and [Flight].

Just in time, Chloe and Skely's spell has been completed. The result of their combined effort is a huge fire dragon head flying fearlessly toward the giant. Even then, the spell's size does not match the whale at all.

The blue whale postpones its spell for a bit to squeeze out a thick shield of water. The fire dragon, unfortunately, is quickly stopped by the shield. But that's reasonable, considering the level difference and the unfavorable environment.

At this point, I with my giant flame sword have come quite close to the whale, more precisely, the tail. Its body from this distance is certainly intimidating, especially when its eye, which is bigger than my whole body, turns to me like that.

As if to mock me and flaunt its defensive capabilities, the whale deploys one more wind shield to completely eliminate my damage-dealing options. 

Well? Let's see who wins.

I aim my flame sword at its body.

Gauntlet of Severance, set to twenty meters.

——————————!!

In an instant, the blazing blade of the Blackstar disappears, and a painful wail can be heard from the cheeky whale. 

BOOM—!

With an audible explosion, I launch myself toward the head of the creature with [Flight] while maintaining a consistent distance between us, making sure the flaming blade is cutting through its organs and flesh nicely.

A faint line of bright orange appears, running from its tail and following me closely.

The magic spell that it is casting and the shields are all promptly canceled as the whale struggles around.

After flying for an estimated four seconds, I finally arrive near its head. As I look right into its giant eye, I fling the handle of my sword horizontally, making the severed blade come out of its mouth. Blood, burned flesh, and unburned flesh alike find themselves flying out of the whale's mouth.

Right after, the duration of the gauntlet expires.

[HP: 43/340]

''I win.''

I raise my sword to deliver my final strike.