Editing Leviathan:Volume 6 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 2===

"Let's see..."

Hal took a deep breath and began to organize his memories.

"I remember after the fight with Hannibal, Solomon's legacy, the Rune of the Ring, had appeared together with the seventy-two serpent souls and they were releasing magical power over our heads."

His thoughts grew more and more lucid.

"Next, the Ring said to us in an extremely deep voice..."

Something about accepting King Solomon's invitation.

As one would expect, the reason why the attack struck Hal directly without him being able to defend against the magical power released by the Ring was because an instant before that, his deathmatch against the strongest dragon king had just concluded.

Right now, he was imprisoned inside a mysterious gray space.

A world of gray as far the eye could see.

The scenery remained constant all the way to the far end of the horizon. Nothing resembling an exit was in sight.

"Is this a prison for locking away Shirasaka and me?"

Hal muttered quietly, holding his sleeping junior in his arms.

But he mustered his determination and deliberately laid Hazumi's delicate body on the ground.

Like Hal, who was sitting on gray air, the sleeping Hazumi also floated in the air. She happened to hover at Hal's feet.

Given this incomprehensible situation, the space must have been created by magic no matter how you looked at it.

''In other words, I should use this to counter it''&mdash;Hal summoned his "magic wand" to his right hand.

Rather than a retro sci-fi blaster, it was his usual steel-colored magic gun.

"I wasn't killed in my sleep&mdash;" said Hal to the magic gun.

"I guess that's because Solomon-senpai doesn't have enough power to do that?"

"You are probably correct."

Residing inside the magic gun, the former dragon queen, Hinokagutsuchi, replied.

Her tone was slightly sarcastic as usual and sounded quite malicious.

"What a wise idea, ambushing a fierce tiger in its sleep... However, if one were to step on the tiger's tail by accident, they would be torn apart by the awakened tiger's claws in a single swipe."

"In that case, might as well let it sleep&mdash;Is that what he's thinking?"

"Precisely. Solomon has a trickier captive. He cannot afford to spend all his power on you."

A trickier captive?

Hal tilted his head then had a flash of insight.

"Hannibal!?"

On further thought, the red dragon king should be exhausted just like the rest of them.

This meant that Hal had to take the strongest dragon's presence into consideration when planning his escape and counterattack...

While Hal was putting his mind to work, Hinokagutsuchi said, "Have you noticed, brat? Your trump card was stolen again."

"Huh?"

Now that she mentioned it, Hal hastily focused his consciousness on his own chest.

The heart beneath was specially crafted. It was the organ created by merging with the heartmetal belonging to Hinokagutsuchi&mdash;the dragon queen&mdash;in the past.

It was also linked to her dragonoid body...

Indeed. The dragon king-class husk of the Crimson Queen which obeyed Haruga Haruomi's orders.

However, Hal could not sense the queen's presence at all right now.

"Solomon-senpai got me again."

During the battle against Hannibal, Solomon's ghost and the Ring had stolen the Crimson Queen from Hal, taking perfect control of her. The same situation had happened again.

"A practically equal opponent is such a hassle."

It was a back and forth battle with both sides taking advantage of each other's openings.

The thrill and experience was different compared to an intense showdown against a dragon king, far stronger than himself.

However, Hal was not really the type to indulge in the pleasures of battle itself. He grumbled and bit then sighed lightly.

No matter what, he had to escape this place and awaken Hazumi.

"Although fighting a second round isn't really my thing..."

No helping it. Hal touched the magic gun and used Dispel magic.

It was definitely no easy task to overcome the magical power belonging to Solomon, the great ancient sorcerer, but with Haruga Haruomi at a comparable level right now, it should not be impossible&mdash;

Certain of this, Hal extracted magical power from his own heart.

In the next instant, the surrounding scenery changed.

Hal's location was no longer the unnatural gray space.

He had moved to a stone hall with gigantic pillars of white stone standing upright all over the place. Described using an experiences from Earth, it looked very similar to marble.

"It reminds me of Islamic mosques..."

The architectural style was unlike any in modern Japan.

The ceiling glowed faintly, serving as illumination.

Hal's official assistant was lying on the stone floor. The girl went "mm..." adorably and slowly opened her eyes.

"Senpai... Where on earth are we...?"

"Probably Solomon-senpai's ark that we awakened&mdash;Somewhere inside it. Anyway, we need to start planning our escape."

He nodded at the still drowsy Hazumi.


"It's like a temple..."

Hal said quietly.

Several minutes earlier, after explaining the situation to Hazumi, he had decided to take a quick tour.

This was inside the building made of white stone. There was not a single person nor did he encounter any wild beasts or monsters. It was quite all around.

Precisely because of that, this place felt rather holy.

While the two of them were walking aimlessly along a passage like this&mdash;

"Well, this is the mansion belonging to Solomon-senpai the great sorcerer of legend. Calling it a temple wouldn't be wrong."

"Umm, Senpai..." 

Walking next to Hal, Hazumi asked, "I remember that King Solomon was the king of Israel... Wasn't he?"

"Yeah. But that Israel refers to the ancient kingdom founded by the ancestors of the Jews, the Kingdom of Israel. Of course, it's different from the Israel in the modern Middle East."

According to the Old Testament of the Bible, the first monarch of this kingdom was King Saul.

The one who succeeded Saul was not his son Jonathan, but Jonathan's best friend and the great hero who had defeated Goliath the giant&mdash;David.

Solomon was the son of David.

During King Solomon's reign, the Kingdom of Israel reached an unprecedented height in power.

However, after the great sorcerer king's death, the kingdom fragmented into two pieces, one north and one south, never recovering again&mdash;

"But somehow, something doesn't feel right."

After walking for an hour or two, Hal felt doubt rising in his mind.

They had discovered almost ten rooms including small rooms resembling studio apartments as well as great halls where one could hold dance parties.

One would definitely not consider this an exceptionally extravagant arrangement.

Most Japanese people would probably understand if the analogy of "pretty much the same as a community hall you can find anywhere" was used to describe the building's floor area and number of rooms.

However, this was the strange part.

Solomon's ark had been summoned from the other side of the sea of stars.

This ship was definitely huge. Reaching thirty meters in length, it was definitely big enough to serve as a coffin for a giant, but even so&mdash;

In terms of interior space, wasn't it a bit too vast?

"Senpai! There's an exit!"

While Hal was feeling puzzled, Hazumi said to him in elation.

She pointed ahead in the passage with her right index finger. There was a wide exit where dazzling light was streaming in from the outdoors. It looked like sunlight...

Hal and Hazumi quickly walked to the bright exit.

They were finally outdoors.

Overhead was a vast blue sky.

Hanging high above, the sun was radiant.

The land underfoot was a small island floating in the air. The island had only one building, the stone temple they had just exited.

A more careful look revealed several&mdash;no, hundreds&mdash;of similar islands floating in this blue sky.

Every island featured at least one temple of similar appearance.

"What's with this place!?"

"This doesn't look like this ship's interior!"

Hal and Hazumi were shocked, but Hinokagutsuchi said in boredom, "This trick isn't actually that amazing. That guy Solomon simply used magic to expand and contort space. He probably set up some kind of barrier inside the ark."

Residing within the magic gun, the former dragon queen spoke calmly.

So far unable to give up an ordinary person's sensibilities, Hal whispered in a hoarse voice, "So this place is still inside Senpai's ship huh..."

"Amazing..."

Hazumi was dumbfounded in astonishment next to Hal, sweeping her gaze in a circle to look at the endless blue sky before her.