Leviathan:Volume 4 Chapter 4
Chapter 4 - Monsters and the Night at the Remote Island
Part 1
Naturally, the brief battle at the open-air bath plunged the inn into chaos.
No wonder. After all, not only were screams and gunshots heard, there were also the shredded remains of eerie white tentacles and countless scattered scraps of flesh all around the open-air bath.
Leaving the confounded inn staff, Hal and company made contact with SAURU's Tokai branch and important members at Tokyo New Town. Using their connections to the police and authorities in the Izu and Shimoda area, they swiftly cleaned up the mess in secret.
Finally, after getting embroiled in unnecessary trouble, the group welcomed dawn the next day.
Hal and company went out to sea from the Sagaminada coast.
Naturally, this was part of their search for the Dragon Palace. What they borrowed was a multi-purpose support vessel from the JMSDF base at Irouzaki, the SDF facility closest to their accommodations. It was a small ship roughly seventy meters in length, normally used for transportation, supplies and rescue operations.
This time, it had set sail to aid witches and "serpents."
That being said, there was no specific destination for this voyage. Inside the ship, enough to carry forty passengers, a cabin had been set up as a "witches' prep room." Hal and company were holding a meeting in there currently.
"The shrine worshiping Goddess Hinokagutsuchi apparently holds a ceremony to pay respects to the Dragon Palace once every few years," said Hal while looking at his usual laptop.
Asya, Orihime, Hazumi and Luna Francois&mash;The witches were all gathered in one room too.
"It's said that an exceptionally good-looking shrine maiden had to set sail with the signpost in her hand. 'If a shrine maiden sets sail together with this stone, a messenger will greet her as a guide to reach the Dragon Palace...' Hinokagutsuchi seems to be the type to issue divine decrees, I guess."
The laptop was displaying the shrine information he described. In addition, Hal had talked at length with the local priest to obtain all kinds of information.
"According to records, they apparently held thiis ceremony during the century from 1602 in the late Sengoku era until the Kyouhou Reforms."
After listening to Hal's report, the reserved but inquisitive Hazumi asked incredulously, "May I ask why the ceremony was later discontinued?"
"Probably because of decreasing magical power in successive generations of shrine maidens in charge of carrying out the ceremony, thus preventing them from using the signpost successfully. In fact, shortly after the stone came into Asya's possession, those slimy tentacles that showed up probably came to greet us."
"But weren't we on land the whole time yesterday? We didn't set sail at all."
Equally incredulous, Orihime spoke up too.
"Why did it come all the way ashore?"
"I'm thinking it might be because Asya's magical power is too strong. Those capable enough to be certified as master-class are extremely rare in both ancient and medieval times."
"About that signpost stone..."
Pensively, Asya murmured.
"I tried many times to pour magical power into it. Perhaps that's why it activated a little. Look, like this."
Asya pointed to the black stone on the table in the cabin.
The stone's surface was black with a slight tinge of green. After merely seconds, this blackness began to glow with faint golden light. After settling down for two minutes, the stone turned golden again for roughly two seconds. Two minutes later, it glowed for two seconds again.
This golden blinking persisted after this in repetition.
Seeing that, Luna Francois commented with interest, "It's almost like a slowly beating heart."
Yesterday at the open-air bath, Hal and the others had definite witnessed it. The always elegant American girl had trembled in rage for the first time—But after that, Luna Francois quickly resumed her facade of "the elegant, intelligent and scheming beauty."
Ultimately, Luna was seen in anger for only an instant.
Glancing at the blonde beauty's indifferent face, Hal said, "To verify the hypothesis step by step, our only choice is to set sail on a ship to imitate the legend. Let's see if we come across anything by circling randomly in nearby waters."
"However, Harry—"
Luna Francois picked up the signpost stone.
"Perhaps contrary to expectations, we might make contact straight away? Based on the timing yesterday, we should be 'greeted' very soon."
The current time was slightly before noon. More than two hours had elapsed since setting out to sea.
It was a perfect sunny day yesterday while today's cloud cover was rather thick.
On this overcast day, Luna would be proven correct seven minutes later.
A large creature was rapidly approaching the ship.
Prior to the ship announcement, Luna Francois had already made a further prediction.
"Glinda's bloodlust has risen slightly... It seems that some kind of hostile entity with a certain level of combat ability is currently closing in on us."
Glinda, the "Good Witch of the South," was Luna's partner.
As a safety precaution, she had materialized on the deck as the "sailor on lookout duty."
"Luna, I'll be in charge of attacking, so I'm leaving defense to you. Orihime-san and Hazumi-san, please standby, ready to take action as necessary!"
Asya swiftly moved to the deck and issued orders.
Less experienced in battle, Orihime and Hazumi nodded obediently. Her equal, Luna Francois, did not raise any objections either. Although the two of them were master-class witches and had fought side by side many times before as well, perhaps they had reached a consensus beforehand that Asya would take command on the front lines.
Then on the deck—
Under the gray sky covered with dark clouds, the four witches and Hal arrived in haste.
The wind was very strong today. The support vessel sailed forward, slicing through tall waves. The enemy caught on marine radar and detected by Glinda had yet to come into sight.
In a certain corner on the deck was a three-meter-long magic beast.
A maned lion with orange fur, except with a dragon head connected to the right shoulder and a black goat head on the left—This was Glinda.
Normally speaking, leviathans should be around ten-odd meters in body length.
However, materializing a leviathan at her original size would cause continuous strain on the witch. When a witch reached her limit, she would experience symptoms akin to anemia. Hence, Luna had shrunk Glinda to the smallest size in order to minimize the burden of sustaining the manifestation.
In addition to powerful moves as befitted a Shootdown Ace, she was also adept in performing intricate techniques of this sort.
After showing off skills as befitted a master-class witch, Luna Francois commanded quietly, "Glinda, we shall protect this ship together. Gravity Wall!"
Ruoooooooooo!
Responding to her partner's instructions, Glinda's three heads roared simultaneously.
Immediately, the pseudo-divinity of Gravity was invoked. The transparent force field surrounding the seventy-meter-long support vessel was a supergravitational barrier capable of deflecting all objects daring to trespass its interior.
A minute or two later...
Close to a hundred writhing tentacles shot out from the sea.
The tentacles were white and slightly translucent like the ones at the open-air bath.
However, they were blocked by Glinda's gravity barrier this time, unable to invade anywhere within ten meters of the support vessel. Seizing this opportunity, Asya chanted loudly, "I pray to the ancient divine seal of purity! Send the transient blue dragon to the ground! Let the star of purification manifest over our heads!"
Directly above the support vessel, a pentagram of light manifested in the sky over the sea.
The pentagram immediately changed to a "∞" sign before turning into a blue wyvern.
"Rushalka, melee combat."
Standing with arms crossed on the deck, Asya calmly issued orders.
In the sky, Rushalka immediately spread her wings and dashed towards the sea surface. Like a seabird hunting a school of fish, she dipped her resilient hind legs into the water then ascended rapidly.
Rushalka kept rising.
Caught in the sharp triple claws of her extended hind legs was a squid roughly seven meters long.
However, unlike normal squid, it had almost a hundred tentacles instead of ten. Blocked by the gravity barrier and unable to approach the support vessel, the vast number of tentacles all belonged to this massive squid.
Nauseatingly long with frighteningly numerous tentacles—What a bizarre monster.
"A relative of the giant squid huh..."
While Hal watched, Rushalka continued to ascend.
Carrying a large squid with an astounding number of tentacles, she flew high in the sky.
"Rushalka, Laser Breath!"
Hearing Asya's command, the blue wyvern released the massive squid's body.
Dropped from the sky, the squid spread itself out in free fall towards the sea. As a marine creature after all, it was not equipped with flight capability.
After locking on the target, Rushalka fired a blue-white heat beam from her mouth.
Direct hit. The massive squid's head and mantle were instantly blown apart, leaving the hundred or so tentacles to fall into the sea with successive splashes.
However, at the moment of victory, Luna Francois whispered, "Looks like the visitors don't intend to leave yet. Glinda, show everyone your true power!"
Glinda had been shrunk to her minimum size at a body length of roughly three meters.
The orange three-headed lion suddenly expanded, turning back into her original form within the blink of an eye—A magic beast ten-odd meters long.
Glinda released her entire body's magical power to strengthen the gravity barrier.
In the next second, a new monster appeared from the sea. Unbelievably, it was even bigger than the previous one.
"Th-That thing would be an octopus... Right? Nee-sama!?"
"If anything, it seems more like a hybrid offspring between an octopus and a dragon..."
One could hardly blame Hazumi and Orihime for whispering to each other while on standby.
The head of the monster surfacing from the sea was very similar to that of an octopus.
But apart from that, it closely resembled an elite dragon in both body shape and size.
Ten-odd meters in length, its entire body was covered with dark green scales with a pair of bat-like wings on its back. The two forelimbs serving as arms looked resilient yet agile. Dozens of tentacles sprouted around the beak of its octopus-like head.
Each of those tentacles was wriggling like a snake.
Cthhhhhhhhlllsh!
The octopus-headed dragon subspecies roared. Immediately, the dozens of tentacles around its beak extended simultaneously towards the support vessel protected by the gravity barrier, moving as carnivorous snakes would to strike prey.
The barrier deployed by Glinda kept the attacking tentacles at bay for now.
"This strength and magical power feels as though it could rival an elite..."
Luna Francois frowned.
However, almost simultaneously with her murmur, someone counterattacked decisively—Asya.
The other Shootdown Ace called out sonorously while moving to the deck's far point—The prow. Presumably, she wanted to send commands and magical power to her partner from as near a distance as possible.
"Rushalka, use pseudo-divinity to restrain the enemy. Ice Prison!"
This was a command to turn her blue partner into a pseudo-god of water.
In response, Rushalka spread her wide wings and started to glide. Countless small white orbs of light were released successively from around her wings.
The numerous light orbs resembled scales more than snow, drifting down to the sea surface.
The octopus-headed dragon subspecies was bathed in them—
The monster was half-submerged with the lower half of its body in the sea.
As a result, the sea targeted by Rushalka instantly froze into ice. Transformed into something akin to an antarctic ice shelf, the sea trapped the dragon subspecies, immobilizing it.
Cthhhhhhhhlllsh!
Immediately, six runes of Ruruk Soun appeared above the octopus head. Hal was shocked as soon as he read its meaning. This arrangement signified "dispel magic"!
The newly frozen sea surface turned back to ordinary seawater within the blink of an eye.
"I can't believe that octopus head can even use runes of Ruruk Soun...!"
Hal could not help but click his tongue. However, that was not all.
The sea surface was suddenly split open to reveal another octopus-headed dragon subspecies.
The second one spread the wings on its back and flew into the air. At the same time, it extended the dozens of tentacles around its beak to attack Rushalka in the sky above!
The blue wyvern flew diagonally upwards nimbly, dodging spectacularly.
Finally recovered just last month, Europe's strongest "serpent" was in command of excellent reaction speed. Meanwhile, on the deck of the support vessel carrying Hal and company, the Trans-Pacific region's strongest "serpent" was growling.
Glinda's three heads—The lion, the black goat and the dragon.
While roaring simultaneously in warning, the three heads glared at the other octopus-headed dragon next to the ship.
"Even though the enemy can use Ruruk Soun magic, Glinda and I will guard here... Harry and Orihime-san, you two attack and take down the enemy as quickly as possible!"
"Understood!"
Hearing Luna Francois' quick shout, Orihime responded firmly.
Compared to the gentle Hazumi and Minadzuki, Orihime and Akuro-Ou were more suited to attacking. While nodding at the correct choice of candidate, Hal also shouted to the underclassman who was showing a stiff expression.
"Standby farther back. Best to pick somewhere that allows you to get back inside the ship any time!"
"Y-Yes. I understand!"
The honest Hazumi immediately moved. Presumably, she was either aware that she was not good at combat or had noticed that her presence on the front line would only be a hindrance.
However, something unexpected happened no sooner had Hazumi taken a couple steps.
All fired up to fight, Glinda suddenly stopped howling.
"What's the matter, Glinda?"
"Eh, no way!? Haruga-kun, look at that..."
"Don't tell me—it's a dragonslaying rune!?"
Hal and company saw it. A pictograph similar to the "巳" kanji had appeared on the forehead of the octopus head—the dragon subspecies near the support vessel.
It was most likely the fourth dragonslaying rune to appear after the Bow, the Sword and the Arrow—
Hal understood this instinctively while standing next to Orihime and Luna Francois.
Immediately, the octopus-headed dragon subspecies extended dozens of tentacles again to assault the deck. Unlike the previous time, a "巳"-like rune appeared successively on the tip of each tentacle!
Imbued with the power of dragonbane, the tentacles broke through the gravity barrier this time, rushing at the group.
Hal immediately deployed imperishable protection. The pearly radiance proceeded to spread in his surroundings to protect Luna and Orihime in addition to its user.
While enduring the tentacles' mighty force, Hal was attacked by a sharp pain in his heart.
Fortunately, no one was hurt at all. But unexpectedly, in the next instant, five tentacles wrapped around the sphere of imperishable protection, picking up Hal and the two witches together with the pearly radiance, pulling them away from the deck with astounding strength!
...Towards the sea where this bizarre monster was located, towards the octopus head's giant beak.
Part 2
"Like us, the enemy wields the power of dragonbane—"
"Meaning that my Glinda is unable to fight it head on..."
"!? That monster's face is getting close!"
Hal, Luna Francois and Orihime were guarded by imperishable protection, but tentacles imbued with a dragonslaying rune were wrapped around the pearly shield, gradually pulling the trio towards the octopus head's beak.
Confronted with her own helplessness and expressing her anguish through her voice was Luna.
The blonde Shootdown Ace snapped her fingers with a look of frustration. Glinda instantly vanished, apparently de-materializing after receiving her partner's command.
This was a wise decision. It was not yet time to give up.
With the battle situation up in the air and an opponent wielding the power of dragonbane, it was possible to receive a fatal injury any moment. Such an outcome must be avoided no matter what.
"Akuro-Ou, come fight by my side!"
On the side, Orihime shouted words of summoning without a moment's delay.
Looking above the enemy, she kept staring at the air over the strange octopus head. Soon after, a glowing pentagram appeared at that space then turned into an infinity symbol, finally transforming into a nine-tailed fox-wolf.
The leviathan, Akuro-Ou, materialized.
Motionless in the air, Akuro-Ou exhaled a breath of flame at the enemy from diagonally above.
Cthhhhhhhlllsh!
The octopus head roared in pain. The tentacles dragging Hal's trio also stopped.
"Haruga-kun, I am ready any time!"
"Okay. Looks like that side is almost ready too. We should hurry and make our getaway."
Responding to Orihime, Hal looked over to "that side."
Rushalka was currently flying at high speed. Riding the wind as light and agile as a swallow, she sliced through the air.
The second dragon subspecies was pursuing her. Writhing restlessly, the tentacles extending from around the octopus beak chased the blue wyvern. Although Rushalka's speed was superior, the enemy was able to use dangerous runes of Ruruk Soun. The situation looked bleak.
Hal summoned the emblem appearing in his right palm.
It was a pictograph shaped like a fully drawn bow—The Rune of the Bow.
"Grant the rune's power to Juujouji and Asya—!"
The Rune of the Bow instantly appeared on the back of Orihime's right hand. Not far away, surely the same thing happened to Asya's right hand.
"Akuro-Ou! Use fire magic to finish it in one go!"
Orihime issued an attack command again. This time, the Rune of the Bow appeared on the tips of Akuro-Ou's nine tails then shot nine projectiles of flame.
Struck by the scorching assault, the first dragon subspecies' entire body turned into a fireball.
The octopus head, the dozens of tentacles and the body similar to an elite dragon, all was devoured by tongues of flame.
On the other side was Rushalka with a long horn on her forehead like a unicorn.
Until just earlier, the situation had consisted of an aerial battle with the wyvern relentlessly pursued by the second octopus head, but now, the Rune of the Bow appeared on both of Rushalka's wings at the same time.
In the next instant, the blue wyvern performed a swift aerial turn, circling to her enemy's back within an eye's blink.
A blue-white beam was fired from her horn. Undoubtedly, it was a beam capable of slaying dragons. Skewered, the octopus head began to crash.
However, Hal did not lower his guard. He stared intently at the flames released by Akuro-Ou.
The crimson blaze incinerated the sea surface, producing quite a surreal scene. In the depths of this sea of flame, Hal could sense the "巳"-like dragonslaying rune shining with brilliant splendor.
Apart from that, the imperishable protection defending Hal and his two companions—the pearly defensive shield—
The five tentacles ensnaring this layer of protection remained intact despite bathing in the intense flames.
In that instant, Hal understood the meaning represented by the rune resembling the "巳" character.
"...Chains!?"
No mistake. This was the Rune of the Chains.
At that moment, as though in response to Hal for discerning its true identity, the tentacles entangling the imperishable protection suddenly transformed into steel chains.
Instantly, the clanging noise of chains colliding sounded all around.
Kuoooooooooh!? Perhaps feeling fear, Akuro-Ou howled in surprise. By the time Hal noticed, chains had extended towards the nine-tailed fox-wolf, tying her up.
The surrounding scenery also changed dramatically, from the surrounding waters of Sagaminada to a pitch-black space.
The chains constricting Hal's imperishable protection vanished, leaving darkness to spread continuously in Hal and company's surroundings.
"W-What on earth is going on...!?"
"Enemy magic. Looks like they intend to capture us. Be careful, Harry!"
Within the pitch-black darkness, Orihime was bewildered while Luna issued a warning.
Hal also noticed something new: this was not simple magic but a technique of assured annihilation—A finishing move belonging to a dragonslaying rune.
In that case, they might lose their lives if they were to react a moment too slow.
Hal immediately summoned his magic gun and chose fully automatic fire. At the same time, he simultaneously cast Enemy Detection and Aim magic to locate and snipe the Rune of the Chains' main body in the darkness.
Hence, his right arm moved autonomously then settled in front of Hal.
He pulled the trigger. Since the enemy had used a technique of assured annihilation, he had to respond in kind with fully automatic fire to sweep away all restraining enchantments. The magic gun's thirty bullets turned into crimson flashes of light, released all in one go.
—I feel a hit.
The surrounding darkness swiftly dissipated as the group returned to the same sea as before.
"Wahhhhh!"
Suddenly falling into the sea, Hal cried out without thinking.
He saw Luna Francois and Orihime also falling into the sea nearby. Hal thrashed his arms and legs desperately to prevent his body from sinking while maintaining a water treading posture.
Due to his clothed state, it was impossible to swim well like yesterday when they were playing in the sea.
"I suppose it's natural for us to fall into the sea once the chains trapping us disappeared..."
"I-I can't see the SDF ship and Rushalka... Where are we!?"
Luna Francois accepted the current situation with resignation. Orihime was showing a stunned expression.
Hal tread water while looking at the dusk sky. Although the enemy had clearly attacked at noon, the sun was already setting now.
"Looks like we're in for some trouble..."
Fortunately, amid all the misfortune, the nine-tailed fox-wolf was casually floating on the water.
Ensnared by chains earlier as well, Akuro-Ou had been forcibly dragged here too.
Not confined to land or sky, leviathans were also capable of moving freely in water. Even a sacred beast, dozens of meters long, could still frolic gracefully in the water like a whale. Hal and the two witches began to swim in order to hold on to Akuro-Ou's white fur.
"Looks like we'll have to spend the night here," muttered Hal while walking on a paved concrete path.
Thanks to the scorching summer heat, his drenched clothing was almost dried out.
The sun was about to sink completely into the ground. The sky was dyed orange by the rays of dusk. At this moment, night was about to fall upon this remote island.
Roughly an hour had passed since Hal fell into the sea with Orihime and Luna Francois.
After that, the trio had mounted the totally drenched fox-wolf's back and discovered an isolated island several hundred meters away.
They had to hurry to find dry land before night.
Flying through the air towards the target, Akuro-Ou landed swiftly.
Judging from what they could observe before landing, this island had a fair amount of area.
Apart from that, they could see a few rooftops. While pondering that the total population could be less than a thousand, Hal asked Orihime to land at the pier, but...
After circling around the pier's immediate area, Hal came up with an idea.
Meanwhile, walking by his side, Orihime smiled cheerfully.
"Fortunately, there was an inhabited island nearby, thank goodness. Although I have no idea where this island is at all, it should be within Japan's borders, right?"
Orihime pointed at the stop sign reading "tomare." It was undoubtedly something from Japan.
Hal looked at the sky. The darkness had intensified. Even though it was still early in the evening, he could recognize the Summer Triangle constellation whose corners were defined by the stars of Vega, Deneb and Altair.
Incidentally, although it had been cloudy at noon, the sky was clear now.
"Judging from the position of the stars, we probably haven't gone too far away from the sea near Izu. Let's pick a random home to enter and gather information."
"Why not ask a resident directly?" Orihime asked with a wry smile after listening to Hal's analysis.
"Well, we'll probably get treated as weirdos if we ask these types of questions. But I guess it's still necessary to ask around. Moreover, we must take care of lodgings for tonight... Oh, but I didn't bring my purse," said Orihime, suddenly making a pensive look as though something had occurred to her.
"It would be a bit shameless, but do we have to resort to the 'please let us stay over for one night' approach...?"
"If it's only accommodations, I do have enough money for that."
"You are amazing, Haruga-kun!"
"Rather than a work habit, it's more like a occupational disease. It comes in handy once in a while."
Haruga Haruomi was both a student and a treasure hunter.
Hence, as a precaution against emergencies, he had already developed a habit of carrying bank notes of large denominations in various currencies including US dollars and credit cards in a waterproof container, hidden in either a shoe or a secret pocket in his pants. Doing this allowed him to enter all kinds of venues without money troubles as long as he was not trapped in some kind of uninhabited wilderness.
"But it still hurts that I didn't bring wireless radio or a satellite phone. Based on the current situation, they might be more useful after all..."
Listening to Hal's muttering, Orihime made a questioning look.
In any case, he did not expect the beautiful and resilient Japanese beauty to have any major problems in either mental or physical stamina. Even confronted with this type of situation, she remained lively as ever. Although some level of unease was unavoidable, given who she was, she would probably overcome it straight away.
On the other hand, whom he needed to worry about was the blonde Shootdown Ace instead.
"Although I am not Asya, I still would like to have dinner first, if possible..."
Luna Francois grumbled in exhaustion.
Hal did not know if she was tired or conserving energy, but she had given up walking on her own. Instead, she had materialized Glinda in her smallest size, riding on her back for transportation.
No matter what, the trio had just experienced various ordeals including fighting, swimming and drifting in the sea.
Perhaps Luna Francois was the normal one for feeling utterly exhausted.
"I must take a bath or a shower later. Ideally, a hot spring would be best... Followed by an air-conditioned room. Japanese summers are hot and stuffy, simply staying outside for too long makes me fatigued..."
"After all, we had so much sweat today and even fell into the sea."
Orihime smiled and concurred with the Luna Francois' complaining.
"Let's hang in there a little longer, Luna-san. Even if there isn't any air-conditioning, I think they'll surely have electric fans."
"I suppose you're right... I must pull myself together even if we've arrived on an isolated island filled with obstinate, malicious and anti-social senior citizens. Look forward to it, Orihime-san. I shall make full use of my abilities to deceive encountered islanders and secure a cool and comfortable night for us!"
"That's the spirit. Although I can't agree with everything you just said, that's more like the Luna-san I know!"
However, five minutes later, their hopes were dashed completely.
Finally coming across a village where ten-odd homes were gathered, they could not see the slightest bit of lighting. The houses were separated by at least ten minutes of walking distance from one another. It seemed like a farming or fishing village no matter how you looked. More importantly, it did not feel like anyone was living here at all. They were all derelict and empty houses.
Hal nodded.
The fact that they could let Glinda walk openly on the road indicated several symptoms:
First of all, they had not encountered a single islander on their way to this village. Secondly, it was already dark but no streetlights were lit. Thirdly, the few fishing boats moored at the pier were all in damaged and abandoned states. Fourthly, there was a subtle atmosphere of desolation on the island, etc—
Overhead, the night sky was so beautiful.
The black night finally shrouded the desert island completely.
Hal took out a penlight and made an inauspicious prediction.
"Judging from appearances, island might've been uninhabited for many years already. Or due to population loss caused by dragon attacks nearby, it finally turned into an uninhabited island... That's what it looks like."
Lifelines such as water, electricity and gas had presumably stopped operating.
Quite suddenly, the trio began a desert island adventure.
Part 3
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Part 4
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