Nido Tensei Shita Shounen wa S-rank Boukensha Toshite Heion ni Sugosu ~ Zense ga Kenja de Eiyūdatta Boku wa Raisede wa Jimi ni Ikiru ~

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

A few days after starting our flight magic training, Mr.
Burn and Ms.
Mayleen returned from the castle.
We also returned to Good Luther MK.1 and listened to an explanation about our future plans.

“Detailed discussions have concluded, and a joint investigation between our country and Vertino will take place.”

Yes, everything is going according to plan so far.

“From here, let me explain.”

Ms.
Mayleen stepped forward and spread a map on the table.

“A few weeks ago, that monster was discovered in our country.
At first, everyone was surprised when a sudden black island appeared on the route.”

She pointed to a spot on the map and drew a circle.

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

Gyro and the crew members who had also encountered the Megalowhale nodded in agreement with Liliera, who had encountered it.
But Mr.
Burn and the vice captain had a subtle expression.

“We sent a ship to investigate the island, but it was attacked and sunk by a giant whale monster that suddenly appeared.”

“Huh? The whale monster, you mean the Megalowhale, right? Then what do you mean by the island?”

Everyone was confused by the inconsistency in the story, but Ms.
Mayleen’s explanation was not wrong.

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

Ms.
Mayleen continued her explanation while tapping the map with her finger.
“And then the black island rose up, and when we saw a large crack with a red color like flames, we were shocked.
In the next moment, the research ship, which had been destroyed with a tremendous noise, was swallowed by the red crack.
That’s when we realized it was a living creature.”

“It swallowed the ship?”

“How big is it then?”

Everyone exclaimed with similar voices.
The Megalowhale they had seen before was about 3 to 4 times the size of Good Luther MK.1, and its size was about 1.5 to 2 times larger.
But if it can swallow a ship, its mouth would get caught on the mast.

“After that, we investigated the island and determined from its shape that it was the parent of the whales in the surrounding area.”

“The parent of the Megalowhale…?”

Everyone was shocked and speechless.
The Megalowhale is a large monster that can grow up to 5 kilometers in length.
In fact, the juveniles of the Megalowhale that everyone had encountered so far were considered to be the rare ones.

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

Liliera, who was the only one listening to my explanation, held her head.
Yeah, even if you hear about it, there are things that you can’t truly understand until you see them with your own eyes.
The juveniles of the Megalowhale give the impression of being the size of adults just from their appearance.
Moreover, the Megalowhale is a creature that lives in the open ocean, so there are probably people in the inland who don’t even know its name, and even in coastal countries, there are probably many people who have never been to the open ocean.

“Fortunately, due to its massive size, the parent whale cannot approach shallow waters.
Therefore, the threat level of the parent is low, but we are having a difficult time dealing with the children, who attack merchant and fishing ships.”

For fishermen and merchants who cannot fight, mischievous children are not just a cute story.

“Can’t you prioritize defeating the children?”

Ms.
Norb’s words made Ms.
Mayleen shake her head with a troubled expression.

“If we try to attack the children, the parent will retaliate by spouting a mixture of rocks and water.
Although it doesn’t actively attack, it seems to counterattack to protect its children.”

It’s the Megalowhale’s bone rock attack.
Even the attack of the Megalowhale’s juveniles is a threat to normal ships, so the parent’s attack is even more dangerous.
In terms of size, that is.

“If we attack the parent, the children get in the way, and if we try to attack the children, the parent attacks.
It’s a dead end.”

“Since it’s on the sea, we can’t approach stealthily, and even if we try to attack under the cover of darkness, we will still be discovered.
We are in a situation where there is no solution.”

Ms.
Mayleen put her hand on her forehead with a troubled expression.
Hmm, I think it would be fine if the military just launched a full-scale attack, but I wonder if there is some problem?

“At this rate, we won’t be able to investigate that tower.”

“Tower?”

Ms.
Mayleen blurted out something strange.
What does she mean by tower?

“Yes, on that island, there is a large tower standing on the back of the Megalowhale’s parent.
At first, we mistook that creature for an island.”

“A tower on the back of the Megalowhale?”

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

“Rex, do adult Megalowhales have protrusions on their backs like that?”

“No, I’ve never heard of it.”

While responding to Liliera’s question, I became curious about the existence of the strange tower.

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

“No, it was clearly an artificial structure.”

Ms.
Mayleen answered firmly to Ms.
Mina’s question.

“A tower growing on the back of the Megalowhale… I’m curious.”

“Could that tower have brought it here?”

“There is a possibility, and that’s why we were considering landing… ”

I see.
So, instead of unilaterally subduing it, they were considering landing because they were curious about the tower’s existence.

“That’s the situation.
Do any of you have any good ideas?”

Mr.
Burn turned to us and asked.
Well, he’s speaking to everyone, but why is he looking at me?

“Um, maybe it’s not possible to get close by ship?”

“Are you suggesting we swim there?”

“It’s too far to swim all the way to the parent monster.
And if we are spotted by the children while swimming…”

“No, no, not that.
I mean up there.”

“Up there?”

Mr.
Burn and Ms.
Mayleen tilted their heads in unison.

“Yes, why not fly there using magic?”

That’s right, one of the magic users belonging to the military could fly from above and attack the parent of the Megalowhale from its back.
It’s as simple as that.

Since Vertino is close to the capital, it should be easy to call a magic user who can use flight magic from the court mages.

They may have a lot of pride, but this time, there is a monster living in an important sea area of the country, so they need to take action.

Well, even if they are not court mages, there should be a few magic users with wind attributes who can use flight magic.

“Wait a minute.
I’ve never heard of flying with magic.”

Huh? What are you talking about?

“There are plenty of magic users who can fly, you know.”

I floated in front of Ms.
Mayleen.

“Huh!? Is that true!? No way!?”

“And they can too.”

I pointed to Gyro and the others, and everyone floated in the air.

“We can flyyyyyy!”

And Ms.
Mayleen’s scream echoed in the blue sky.
Maybe the people from the navy like Ms.
Mayleen have never seen flight magic before? Since they are from a coastal country, they might prioritize water magic users?

Among the magic users serving organizations, there are many who form factions with other magic users of the same attribute, so maybe the military faction of navy personnel doesn’t get along well with wind attribute magic users.

“Oh, I’m surprised.
So, magic users can fly.”

Well, Gyro and the others are not magic users.
And from Ms.
Mayleen’s words, it seems that they didn’t even know about the existence of flight magic.
As members of an organization, they should at least exchange information about what kind of magic they can use.
This is why people like Ms.
Mayleen who can’t use magic end up being inconvenienced.
This unnecessary factional consciousness is also one of the reasons why I don’t like being affiliated with a country.

“So, if we go from the sky, we can easily avoid the Megalowhale’s juveniles.”

“Understood.
Then I leave the investigation of the tower on the back of the Megalowhale to you.”

“Understood.”

“Good luck, boys!”

“Yeah! Leave it to us!”

Gyro responded energetically to Mr.
Burn’s encouragement.

“Well then, we’ll go investigate the Megalowhale.”

“Please take care!”

We were ready for the investigation and took off from Good Luther MK.1.
The ship sent us off at a position just before heading out to sea.
This was to extend the flight distance for Gyro and the others who were not yet accustomed to flight magic, and it was the closest distance where the Megalowhale wouldn’t attack the ship.

“Alright, let’s go, everyone!”

“Yes!”

Everyone floated into the air following me.

“If the Megalowhale’s juveniles spot us, they might attack with water spouts, so let’s try to maintain a high altitude!”

“Got it!”

As we ascended to a certain distance, a black shadow appeared beyond the sea.
The distorted teardrop shape was moving slowly.

“That’s the parent of the Megalowhale, right?”

“Is that the real Megalo Whale?”

“Are those black dots around it the children we saw?”

Mr.
Norbu compares the Megalo Whale and its offspring while sweating nervously.

“Well then, let’s go.”

And then, it happened.
Suddenly, several of the Megalo Whale’s offspring let out a loud roar and began spouting water.

“What’s wrong with them!?”

“Look, there’s a ship over there.”

Everyone looked in the direction pointed out by Meguri-san, and indeed, there was a ship there.

“Is it a ship of merchants who ignored the country’s warning? Honestly, they brought it upon themselves.”

And then, Mina coldly remarked.

“But that’s only the merchants’ employers’ problem, right?”

“Rex?”

Indeed, while the merchants who sent out the ship brought it upon themselves, the crew members who were working had nothing to do with it.

“Just wait a little bit.”

“Huh? Are you planning to go help?”

“Yes, it’s just to buy some time for them to escape.
Please go ahead!”

I descended in altitude and jumped between the merchant ship and the Megalo Whale’s offspring, casting a spell.

“Hydro Geyser!!”

A huge geyser erupted from directly beneath the leading Megalo Whale offspring, flipping its massive body over.
The Megalo Whale offspring let out a surprised roar, but I didn’t hurt them, just flipped them over.
Depending on the results of this investigation, we might be able to drive the Megalo Whales back to the open ocean without fighting them.
If that’s possible, there’s no need to forcefully kill them.

With the leader flipped over, the following ones were held back and couldn’t move.

“Please return to the port now!”

As I approached the ship, I told a crew member who was nearby to go back.

“Th-thank you! I’m saved!”

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

“That should do it.”

Just as I thought that, the Megalo Whale offspring all started roaring.

“Huh? I remember that the Megalo Whale offspring’s roar means…”

I remember, it was a sign for calling for help from their parents.
The moment I remembered that, a tremendous roar resounded over the ocean.
The atmosphere trembled, and the sea surface rippled greatly.

“Uh-oh.”

By the time I thought that, it was already too late.
Far in the distance, a large blue pillar rose in the direction where the Megalo Whale’s parents were.

“It’s the parent’s spout!”

Yes, the Megalo Whale’s parents responded to the cries for help from their children and spouted water.

The water reached high into the sky, and when it reached its peak, it spread out towards the surroundings like the cap of a mushroom, falling down.
It also scattered countless large bone rocks.

If this continues, Gyro-kun and Burn-san’s Good Luther MK.1 in the sky will be caught in the crossfire.
In the worst case, there is a possibility of damage to the towns along the coast.

“It’s bad if there’s damage to a wide range of civilians! We have to destroy it before it reaches its peak!”

I quickly and with maximum power cast a spell before the spout from the Megalo Whale’s parents reached its peak.

“Lightning Pillar!”

A circle of light appeared in front of me.
The circle of light, with a diameter of about 50 meters, extended towards the sky as if a tower of light was stretching towards it.

The tower of light surpassed the spout from the Megalo Whale’s parents and the water collided with it.
The Megalo Whale’s water hit the tower of light as if piercing through it, but instead of surpassing the tower of light, it stopped right there.
But it didn’t stop completely.

The tower of light was a cluster of superheated lightning.
The water and bone rocks from the Megalo Whale evaporated due to the intense heat of the lightning tower.

I slowly lowered the tower of light.
As I did, the spout from the Megalo Whale’s parents gradually became thinner.
It seemed to be the end.
And when the spout completely disappeared, I released the spell and returned to where everyone was in the sky.

“I’m back! The crew of the merchant ship is all safe!”

I called out to everyone who had gone ahead.

“……..”

However, for some reason, everyone was silent and looking at me with wide eyes.
I wondered why, with their eyes opened wide.

“What’s wrong, everyone?”

“……..”

“What?”

“What the hell was that just now!?”

What? It was just a higher-level lightning attack spell.