On a Godless Planet:Volume2B Chapter 40
Chapter 40: Fastest One[edit]
–I hear a single “wrong” buzzer.
●
Scarecrow was working overtime. She was clearly being overworked and, in fact, wasting her time here.
“For that matter, why are we all still in the library?”
“Why? Because I just know things are busy on the scene. They also must be working hard to make sure that ‘none of it ever happened’.”
“Personally, I hope some juicy information comes in soon.”
Don’t be so selfish. Scarecrow couldn’t go along with this, so she looked out the window to put them out of her sight.
Summer nights were humid, which meant no opening the windows in a library full of books, but…
“––––”
The art club was walking outside with Kunugi in the lead. They noticed her and the club’s vice president, Keito, raised a hand in greeting, so she waved back.
They were likely heading off campus for some food.
“Is the art club having an on-campus camp?”
“They apparently have an exhibition after summer break.”
“I’ve been wondering. Does time pass in this divine world?”
“It started in April and it passes from there.”
“I know that much, but…isn’t that up to Balancer?”
“Right now, I feel like it’s more up to the human.”
Time was definitely passing. But…
“If the human needs a specific ‘time’, it probably will rewind to that point. There have already been some minor adjustments.”
“The time gods from each mythology can’t be happy about that,” said Shamhat. “But given the time we’ve actually lived and the time we’ve ‘lived’ in the human myths, we probably do owe the boy this much.”
That was true.
Based on Scarecrow’s time during the Earth Age, she had already experienced a thousand plus several hundred years’ worth of seasons. She had dealt with plenty of densely-packed myths and gods, but…
“I wonder what Sumeragi-kun is thinking as time passes for him.”
“Probably how happy he is surrounded by so many busty girls.”
“Can you please take this seriously?”
●
…I’m so happy being surrounded by so many busty girls.
I found myself looking up at the moon.
I was damp and I could tell I had fallen in the river. I wasn’t sure where I was, but it was somewhere high up.
I was lying down and I heard a really loud water sound far below me. A waterfall maybe? Hard to say. I sometimes heard a rock or something – whatever they were, they were big – crashing into stuff, so they were probably caught in the current.
And…
“––––”
The water monster was carrying me.
She was looking up at the moon with a face made of transparent water. The slight reflection of the moon was pretty. I only realized after this closer look that being made of water meant I could see both this side of her and the other side of her too.
Oh, I thought.
…Video games only ever draw the front side of see-through enemies.
Not just the water ones, but the ghost ones too. With a translucent person, you’d be able to see the back of their hair through their face, which sounded pretty horrifying to me.
Regardless, this water monster was pretty. She had big boobs…no, on a closer look, they weren’t all that big. Or maybe I was just too used to Senpai and the others. I needed to stare at Kuwajiri for a while to recalibrate my sense of norm- wait, no!! There’s no way hers are normal!!
Anyway, what was all this about?
The water monster was holding me and I realized she was rocking me side to side. Also…
“––––”
Was that supposed to be a song she was singing?
●
Shifu saw it from downstream.
That was the Ogouchi Dam’s water discharge port.
The control center at the bottom and the water intake were filled with rocks and the slope had collapsed, but the dam itself was split vertically from the discharge port and the water remaining in the lake was gushing out.
“A slope collapse near a dam isn’t so bad since it’s only dirt and sand.”
“It wasn’t hard reaching this point either, so it barely feels like we’re working.”
That was true.
Kido’s authority had carried them all here.
“It’s been a while since I saw a spell I didn’t understand at all.”
She understood the part where the debris flow had split down the middle to protect them. It made sense a water god could do that. Not counting Mr. V who hadn’t done anything to help and just acted weird. But…
“I don’t understand why we were ‘carried’ upstream.”
“That made use of my water circulation authority,” said Kido-chan, who followed along behind them without getting out of breath. “The stronger the current and pressure of the water, the more we are pulled toward its source. Think of it like a countercurrent ship.”
I don’t get that at all, but that’s fine, I guess.
But they saw something upstream by the parking lot and museum around north of the split dam.
Salacia was singing.
Waiting downstream, Senpai-chan gave her impression of Salacia holding and rocking Sumeragi-chan.
“It’s like she’s comforting a baby?”
●
Tenma thought maybe this was the monster’s advanced baby play, but she kept that to herself.
She was hidden behind a valley wall a bit downstream of the dam. The Norse knowledge god and the terraforming representative were with her and they could hear the water monster’s voice.
“––––”
Technically speaking, she wasn’t singing. Most likely, she was trying to sing something from Salacia’s memories in that water monster form, but no words were coming out.
Still, she did produce a rhythm. A gentle one.
If not for the remnants of the debris flow or the roar of the still-flowing water, the moonlight would have made it look like the perfect scene for a song. But…
“Why? Why is Salacia singing that?”
After a moment of hesitation, Tenma came out and said it.
“This is a lullaby.”
●
“That’s right,” responded Demeter. Accompanied by Athena who had borrowed Kido’s coat, she waited in front of the police box at the parking lot north of the dam.
Shinto was in charge of this one, so she was waiting here. But she could still hear the voice.
“If she were a real water monster, this song would put us to sleep.”
But she wasn’t. She had originally been Ocean God Salacia. “Fine,” muttered Demeter as she spoke via divine transmission.
“She had a child.”
Yes, a child.
“When Roman mythology was overwritten by our myths, several facts were rewritten or tacked on. But among those, they did gain some things that differed from us. One of those was Neptune and Salacia’s relationship.”
“Salacia was originally one of Neptune’s authorities that was broken off and turned into a separate god. And when Greek mythology overwrote Roman mythology, they became a couple, right?”
“Right. In that sense, that couple kept a lot of the original Roman myth. But…”
Another voice took over there.
“We had a son.”
●
Neptune spoke softly.
He walked on the south side of the dam. Walking atop the moonlit weir that couldn’t hold back the water felt like walking through the roaring water. He spoke as he continued forward.
“Our son’s name was Triton. But…”
But…
“He came from Greek mythology.”
●
Kuwajiri could only agree with that. She drew up a quick diagram on a Revelation Board to help Senpai-san who was tilting her head and wondering what was wrong with that.
“In Roman mythology, Neptune and Salacia have a son. His name is Triton. And in Greek mythology, the sea god who corresponds to Neptune is Poseidon, but he too has a son. That son’s name is also Triton.”
“Eh? Um, I think I’ve heard something like this before. Where two gods from different mythologies have the same name.”
While saying that, Senpai-san seemed to realize what it meant.
“If that was introduced from Greek mythology…”
“You know what that means, don’t you? Without really thinking about it, the humans delivered a critical blow to Romany mythology.”
That was…
“The child they should have had was brought over from another mythology. You could call it a mythological sterilization. And because Greece was stronger, Rome had no choice but to accept it. There is only one possible way to overturn it.”
●
“The plan was not to give Salacia a released manifestation. That was meant for her eventual child. Simply put, she would use the human material to birth a blessed god.”
So…
“So after becoming a water monster, she began to search out the human. The human power inside her confused her and brought back her desire for a child. And as the water monster has had portions of her destroyed recently…”
Neptune looked out ahead, to the center of the broken dam. He was south of the dam and Salacia was atop the moonlit watchtower.
●
Tenma sighed after hearing Neptune’s explanation.
At this point, she decided she could safely reveal this.
“Do you remember when the river spirits reacted to the water monster’s activity yesterday?”
“Yes, I do. What about it?”
“Shitaharu relayed the details to me, but Omokane-senpai would not let me tell you. I don’t see the harm in telling you now, though. At that time, a family of local spirits was playing at a campsite upstream and one of the children fell into a deep part of the river.”
And…
“That child was a type of spirit that cannot swim, but for some reason, the family suddenly found the child safely on the opposite bank. The child said a woman saved them.”
“Then…Salacia-san isn’t completely a water monster?”
Tenma could see now why that had been kept a secret.
At the time, she hadn’t understood its significance and just thought it was a nice story.
But if she had relayed it to the others then, they would have discussed it and they likely would have approached the truth of what Neptune had said now. But…
…Given Demeter’s personality, the negotiations wouldn’t have gone any better if we had known the truth going in.
Instead, Tenma hadn’t told the others and, thanks to her own lack of insight, she had mistaken Demeter for a villain.
But it was that mistake that had pushed Neptune to make his decision. Because he had been asked to cut his ties with Greek mythology.
He had refused and explained the situation, but…
“…”
Had Omokane planned all this? Or had Tenma sensed a threat that wasn’t there? But her role here was now over.
“We are approaching the finale. So please capture and secure Salacia.”
●
Neptune faced forward.
…Time to go.
He was going to Salacia atop the broken dam.
He approached from the south side of that dam.
His eyes were on the watchtower rising from the center. His wife was there, holding the human.
“Salacia!”
This was the finale. He would take back his wife. To do that, he looked up at her seated on the watchtower roof.
“Salacia! Listen to me!”
●
Salacia wordlessly launched a water beam that struck Neptune in the solar plexus. He fell to all fours and puked.
●
“Oh, wow! Mr. Vomit! Did you like the running gag that much!? You must’ve! I should probably call you Advanced Mr. Vomit now!!”
“No, um, that caught me by surprise and in a bad spot. Bleh.”
“…”
●
“Why do I get the feeling Salako-chan is herself again and that was a purposeful attack?”
“I was thinking something similar. Maybe her memories of him being useless stuck around even as a water monster.”
“I read it as ‘quit blathering on and come capture me already’.”
“Are goddesses from every mythology this brutal?”
●
“Whatever. I’m on it!”
Raidou ran along the top of the dam with Shifu and Kido behind him.
They had been waiting north of the dam. Their job was to provide a diversion that would distract the water monster from Sumeragi.
The structure of the dam was still broken. The center of the dam and its southern watchtower had both collapsed, but that was due to the water rushing out with so much pressure behind it. Around half of Lake Okutama’s water had been drained, but it wasn’t gone yet.
…The rest of the dam could collapse at any time!
Time was of the essence, so he ran out head, not worrying if Shifu and Kido could keep up. He drew Thor’s Hammer from his belt.
“Ohhh!”
Get back up soon, Mr. V. Please.
●
What was this?
And after I finally, finally had my child.
They are coming to take him from me. How…how could they?
“–––––”
I won’t let them.
●
The water monster held her child in her arms and produced more arms to work with. Several more arms formed from her water body and she used them like cannons to launch attacks northward.
After a first, second, and third attack, she fired all 16 cannons at once.
“–––––!!”
And just as she did, someone rushed in at her from the side. It was…
“I’m in position, Ki.”
“Apology Man!”
●
Ki let out a long breath on the south end of the dam.
She held her right hand out front and placed her left hand on the right hand to take aim. Her target was the watchtower roof where Bilgamesh had just jumped.
“High Speed.”
She gave him superspeed.
That was an Auth Spell. Of all her Bilgamesh-boosting spells, this one placed the greatest burden on her.
It was more accurately something like teleportation with a time delay, so Bilgamesh disappeared and she sent him to his destination a few moments later.
The spell’s range was within her visual range, but that was fine since she had good eyes.
But the few moments part was a real pain.
If she could see their opponent, their opponent could see her. That meant she had to send Bilgamesh without the enemy noticing her.
Thus, they had used a diversion.
First, Mr. V went in from this side – the south. Ideally, he would have managed to convince her, but she had gotten to know him well enough to not count on that happening.
Then their real diversion group had charged in from the north. This happened after Mr. V’s southern approach, so they had hoped the water monster wouldn’t pay any more attention to the south.
Their hopes had paid off.
So she had sent in Bilgamesh.
High Speed was hell to use. She could only manage it once a day. And after she used it, she couldn’t use any more major Auth Spells for a while.
But she had another Auth Spell for collecting Bilgamesh.
“Call Bil.”
That was a special Auth Spell. It was a shared spell between her and Bilgamesh, but only she could activate it. It barely used any ether, but…
“It summons Bilgamesh to my side.”
It was an emergency evacuation spell, but it had a low ether cost. So why does High Speed have such a high cost? Love? Is that it? Regardless, once Bilgamesh had secured the human, she would use Call Bil.
So she waited for that moment.
●
Bilgamesh knew he had made it in time.
Observing his surroundings was crucial after using High Speed. He sometimes screwed up by rushing that part, but if he took too long on it, it negated the benefit of using High Speed in the first place.
This would work. So he reached his right hand toward the human.
“Let’s go, human!”
He took the human’s hand and raised his left hand. That was his signal to Ki.
To his left, the water monster was turning his way, but it was too late.
…It takes time for her to form a water cannon!
Instantly snatching the human away and instantly being retrieved had been the best plan because the water monster was slow to move. So…
“…!”
He realized the water monster had raised her voice. And in that instant…
He felt a great tremor.
●
“Eh?”
Shifu definitely saw it.
To her right, the somewhat-lowered Lake Okutama was visible a bit below the dam’s weir.
With a wavelike motion, a certain form shot up from that water.
It was an arm.
A massive, 30m arm of water. After seeing that melted shape…
“Brace for impact!!”
The shocking blow shook the entire dam.
●
Demeter realized that the water monster hadn’t just been sitting around here in Okutama. They had known she hadn’t advanced into Lake Okutama, but she hadn’t just been docilely sitting around either.
“Did she create several clones of herself and have them gather here!?”
●
This had to be a rejection.
In Bilgamesh’s estimation, the water monster atop the watchtower was likely Salacia herself and the giant water monster rampaging in the lake was a collection of her clones.
But why had the clones suddenly become so aggressive?
…Does she not want her child taken from her?
This rejection came from Salacia herself. The clones gathered in the vast space of the lake were simply responding to that.
This further destroyed the center of the dam and shook the watchtower.
“I hear the Spelunker death music!” shouted the human as he fell into empty space.
“Human!”
Bilgamesh couldn’t reach him. And the water monster watched the human fall even as she aimed her water canon toward Bilgamesh.
“––––!!”
He was retrieved right as she fired.
Call Bil had been activated.
●
“Sumeragi-chan!”
Shifu saw someone run out before she could even yell.
It was Kido-chan.
She must have activated a physical buff spell. She moved nimbly toward the shaking dam weir.
“––––!”
She jumped toward Sumeragi-chan as he fell toward the water gushing from the broken dam.
●
“Izumi!”
“Kido-senpai!”
I was relieved to hear a note of levity in his voice.
While airborne, I gathered him up in my arms and made sure I would not let go.
“Izumi? I know it may be a little scary, but close your eyes.”
With him in my arms, I only had use of my right hand. That didn’t let me use much in the away of Auth Spells. So as we plunged toward the gushing water below…
“I will protect you.”
●
Why?
Why do they take him from me?
Why can I never have him?
Why?
●
The water monster roared toward the moon, but she also heard a voice.
“Salacia!”
She turned around while also launching an attack.
The close-range blast scored a direct hit. The person fell over. But…
“Dammit!”
He got his knees under him and stood back up. The water monster sent another water blast his way.
“––––!!”
He was too close to hope to dodge it. The water blast hit him, followed by another.
“…!”
She launched a rapid-fire barrage.
●
Shifu heard a disturbing amount of cannon blasts.
…Yikes.
She was worried about Sumeragi-chan, but Kido-chan had leaped toward him. Kido-chan would figure something out. Senpai-chan and the others were downstream, so she decided to let them deal with that. Meanwhile…
“Things are getting out of hand up here too.”
The water monster was pummeling Mr. V with attacks atop the watchtower.
The sounds were incessant. The noise and tremors were like someone unleashing all their rage, which Shifu found a little concerning, but…
“He isn’t stopping.”
That was also true.
Mr. V was still trying to get to his feet. But…
“I have a question: how is he unharmed after taking so many water blasts from close range?”
That was a good question. Salacia wasn’t just a water monster. She was a goddess. And as an ocean god, she could be higher rank than a river god like Mr. V in some contexts. And yet…
“What’s going on here?”
“Shut up and watch.”
Shifu heard another voice.
It was Demeter. She raised her right hand as she approached atop the dam.
“I am an inspector still, so I will be seeing this through.”
“And how do you think it’ll turn out?”
“Don’t worry. Roman mythology will show you something not found in Greek mythology.”
●
The water monster continued attacking.
…Stay away.
You need to stay away.
…You need to.
You must not accept me.
…You mustn’t.
Because if you do…
…It will mean I failed.
I never received my child…
…I had him taken away.
Nothing I wanted came to pass…
…Before it all ended.
So…
…Don’t stand back up!!
●
Mr. V stood back up.
He had been struck and knocked down, but he stood and walked forward.
“Salacia.”
He was still being hit. It hurt. But…
“Salacia.”
He spoke to her.
●
…Stop.
Don’t apologize.
If you do that….
…No.
It would ruin everything.
So…
“Salacia.”
She heard him speak.
“Your pain must have been so much worse.”
●
Mr. V endured the continuing attacks and wiped his eyes below his glasses.
He was a water god. Surely he was allowed tears.
“Salacia.”
He was about to say something extremely selfish.
“Cry, Salacia.”
●
The water monster attacked. This wasn’t just close range – he was within arm’s reach. Whose arm’s reach? Mine. Which arms? Not these ones. Then which ones? Well, um…
…You idiot.
What are you saying?
Are you asking me to cry so we can redo everything? But it hurts so much. It hurt so much. So very much. And you still want to do it all again?
“Salacia.”
He hugged her.
She had no memory of this pressure and warmth, yet it felt so familiar. And…
“Cry, Salacia. And stay with me so you can share that pain with me.”
How selfish. You can never understand. Even if I share it, my pain will still be so much greater. But…
“Cry, Salacia.”
He kept talking.
“I will accept it all.”
“––––!!”
She cried. And…
“…!”
She let her voice out. Her voice as a god. The goddess who had wanted to be a mother made her voice heard for the first time in this world.
Like the first cry of a newborn child.
And with that voice, she saw herself. She seemed awash with ether light spray.
“Ahh.”
She had skin and hair. Her vision now had color and the things she saw were so clear and well-defined.
“Salacia.”
He whispered into her ear. And he held her tight in her restored body as a real manifestation.
“We can share this dream again someday. And next time, we will make it a reality.”
●
Demeter saw the tension melt from Shifu’s shoulders.
“Mr. V worked hard at that one.”
“He did,” began Demeter. “And he’s probably the only one who could’ve endured Salacia’s attacks like that.”
“Does one of his authorities give him a lot of endurance?”
No, not that.
“Neptune once had some of his authority split off from him, right? And that split-off piece became Salacia, who later became his wife.”
“Right,” said the thunder god. Seeing he understood, Demeter looked up into the cloud of ether light scattering into the night sky.
“But that wasn’t the only authority split off from him.”
“So he had multiple authorities?”
Right.
“And they were split up into a few spirits, but the biggest one was Salacia. She became the goddess of the sea, the deep sea, and saltwater.”
And…
“Another big one was a goddess named Venilia. She is often paired with Salacia and she is the goddess of the calm seas. But Venilia is mostly just a name. There are no real stories about her.”
“The Greek equivalent of Poseidon doesn’t have any attached gods like that, right?”
“in that sense, they are Roman originals. And due to the lack of stories, Venilia hasn’t even been given a virtual manifestation. But I gave Neptune her authority for this.”
“And…when did you do that, Demeko-chan? If it was before you arrived, it would mean you knew this was going to happen.”
“I am not that generous. The point is he was immune to Salacia’s attacks because he had Venilia’s authority.”
And he had definitely used that authority here.
“Turning the water monster back into Salacia is tricky because simply stripping the water monster portion away would leave her incomplete. So to not lose Salacia, Neptune gave her Venilia’s authority and turned that into her ‘body’.”
“So that’s why you said only he could’ve done it.”
“We could have managed if we captured her and took her back home with us, but this way restored what she lost in the process without causing stormy seas in Rome. She now effectively has a double divinity. …But in exchange, Neptune is now vulnerable to Salacia’s attacks.”
“Not sure you needed to tell us that last part.”
Light flowed into the sky. On the watchtower rooftop, the water monster was turning into ether light and scattering away.
●
Raidou saw the ether light spilling away from the top of the watchtower.
“So it’s over.”
He could no longer hear the water blasts. Mr. V would probably descend carrying Salacia before long.
“Hey, Tooru, can I borrow your shirt? Salako-chan’s probably naked.”
“Sure. But you know what this means, right?”
“Yeah, I think I do.”
“Wh-what does it mean?”
“Well,” said Shifu. “It sounds like Salako-chan is back to normal, but that raises another question: what happened to Sumeragi-chan’s material?”
“And if it spent so much time as a water monster, that mold will still be around.”
“Furthermore, if Lake Okutama’s water level has only fallen so much, it means all of the water that’s left is a collection of the water monster’s clones.”
“…”
“And what happens with them all collected together?”
The answer made itself known.
Lake Okutama literally rose up.
“…!!”
An arm measuring dozens of meters long swung down toward them.
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