Loop 5 - Part 23
The journey lasted quite a long time, boring me so much that I fell asleep for a moment and was about to fall off Patrasche's back, but Rem caught me and saved me from a painful fall.
There were about five hours left until the appearance of the whale when we arrived at the place that would be our battlefield.
Before my eyes rose the gigantic tree planted by the Sage Flugel. I wondered where the roots of this monstrous plant got their water.
I hadn't seen a river or lake nearby, so the tree's food source remained a mystery to me. Maybe it didn't need water because it was a magical tree or something.
I took a walk around the area with Patrasche and Rem. While enjoying the view, I whistled the Lost Woods melody from the Legend of Zelda video game.
"You look more relaxed now." Rem commented.
"It helps to have two cute girls around." I said, receiving an affectionate grunt from Patrasche and a sigh from Rem.
It was a stark contrast to the scene I remembered, when she and Subaru had been together. Back then, she'd practically told him she loved him so much she'd settle for being his second wife.
Instead, she saw me as a friend, at best.
"Are you aware that you are about to fight a creature that has been terrorizing the world for four hundred years?"
"Yes, yes. I'll face a legendary beast, and I'll defeat it before the sun rises. That's what's going to happen in the end, although it might take several attempts if I'm really unlucky."
Rem fell silent at my firm and confident response. The next few minutes passed in silence as I waited, sitting on a tree root.
Preparations for the battle were completed well before the specified time for the whale's arrival. Many soldiers were holding revolvers or rifles, which attracted the attention of those who had never seen or heard of such weapons.
Anastasia and Russell had been quite insistent on buying a batch of those weapons from me, even offering to process a patent for me so I would be officially recognized as the inventor and be able to control the commercial rights to my weapons, in addition to obtaining royalties from their sale.
Of course, they intended to become the main producers... But I wasn't going to make war possible. I didn't want to increase the guilt that weighed on my shoulders.
"They had little time to practice, but they should be able to hit every shot, given a target as large as the White Whale. Plus, they'll only have to aim at one fixed point."
I had agreed with Crusch to create a fairly simple plan of attack. I would lure the whale toward the large tree, which would then be toppled over and fall on top of it. Once the damned beast was immobilized, everyone would attack it at the same time.
The rifle bullets were of a caliber large enough to penetrate deeply; Nadir also gave the ammunition multiple effects to make them more effective. If my calculations were correct, we could shoot that thing without giving it time to react.
I checked my smartphone. There were less than ten minutes left.
"I'm bored..."
***
The atmosphere was absolutely nervous. No one was capable of joking, not even the most carefree. What was being plotted was an event that, regardless of the outcome, would become a historic event.
Crusch Karsten was strong, not only in combat skills, but also in mental fortitude. She was still too young to compare with veteran experts like the Sword Demon, but she certainly wasn't someone who would be defeated by pressure or fear.
For the Duchess, the ability to remain steadfast and calm in the face of danger was a fundamental trait for warfare, something that could only be acquired with great discipline. However, even those who possessed this trait were not immune to fear.
Even the most experienced would feel their hearts clench as they mistook a cloud for the silhouette of the flying monster they were hunting. As for the younger and novices, most were trembling with anxiety.
The enemy had a reputation that spanned centuries of horror and destruction. Maintaining calm was nearly impossible; anyone capable of it couldn't be considered fully human. Such was the case with the Sword Demon, a warrior who had transcended the concept of bravery.
Wilhelm's bloodlust overshadowed any other emotion his heart could feel at that moment. All he could think about was slashing the cursed beast with his sword and ending its abhorred existence.
Crusch admired the old man's temperament, wanting to achieve that same level of character someday.
Next, she turned her gaze toward the point of interest. The soldiers had moved quite far back, positioning themselves around the large tree with a considerable space between them. There was only one man there: the one who would act as a decoy.
But Leandro Lagostena's behavior at that moment was so anticlimactic that it bordered on the absurd. The young man was dancing with his confused earth dragon to the sound of strange music that seemed to come out of nowhere.
Hey (hey) what's the matter with your head, yeah
Hey (hey) what's the matter with your mind and your sign and oh
Hey (hey) nothin' the matter with your head
Baby, find it, come on and find it
Bear with it, baby, 'cause you're fine
And you're mine, and you look so divine
Come and get your love
Come and get your love
Come and get your love
Come and get your love
"This isn't real, it's not happening..."
Crusch tried to convince herself, but to no avail, since everyone else had reacted the same way she had to the scene. The murmurs were immediate.
"Is he crazy?"
"Did anyone tell him we're about to fight the White Whale?"
"Who's that guy? He's going to get himself killed."
However, subtle smiles appeared on some people's faces. Perhaps due to the need to relax from the excess tension, several soldiers began to chuckle, finding amusement in the boy's foolishness.
"Come on, Patrasche! Feel the rhythm!"
To the beat of the music, Leandro spun in circles with his dance partner, as if the rest of the world didn't exist. Everyone watched the choreography; many found it funny, others ridiculous. Then Crusch realized.
Leandro was doing this to relieve the pressure on the others. Understanding this, Crusch smiled slightly.
The only one who remained impassive was Wilhelm. The old man's gaze remained fixed on the sky, searching for his nemesis.
BEEP!
With a vibrating sound, the smartphone interrupted the current song and replaced it with a different, shorter, louder melody.
"The alarm... Everyone, get ready! It's coming!" Leandro exclaimed as loudly as he could, announcing the imminent arrival of the White Whale.
Everyone quickly mobilized, preparing to welcome the beast with fast service.
The next minute felt like an eternity to those present, especially Wilhelm.
No one counted the seconds. No one wiped the cold sweat from their own back. No one stopped swallowing.
It was so quiet that only shallow breathing and the sound of the breeze could be heard.
Suddenly, a voice resounded.
"Look, it's right there!"
Hundreds of heads turned in the same direction. Then they saw it. The whale was soaring majestically across the sky, looking down on the small army.
Leandro clung to Patrasche and began to whisper something frantically.
"I can return by d—!"
Crack!
"I can return by d—!"
Crack!
"I can return by d—!"
Crack!
"I can return by d—!"
Crack!
"I can return by d—!"
Crack!
"I can return by d—!"
Crack!
The Witch of Envy 'crushed' him every time he tried to reveal the forbidden secret, her presence permeating the boy's body and soul.
Rem became frightened when she felt Leandro's miasma become several times more intense, reaching the point of being visible in the form of a dark aura surrounding him.
"What are you doing?!"
At the same time, the White Whale let out a terrifying roar and rushed directly towards Leandro, attracted by the miasma that enveloped him.
"Let's dance, Patrasche!" He exclaimed, jumping on her.
The earth dragon understood her rider's command perfectly and ran off in the opposite direction. Rem gasped.
"I was supposed to ride with you to take care of you!"
Although Patrasche gave her best effort, her running speed could not compare with the flight of the White Whale, which caught up with her in just a few seconds.
"Oh shit!"
Leandro opened his eyes in surprise, staring at the whale's jaws, which had opened to devour him and Patrasche. Seeing this, Rem couldn't stay still.
"Al Huma!"
A large icicle struck the whale, piercing its mouth and momentarily diverting its trajectory, long enough for Leandro's land dragon to get a safe distance away.
"Fire!" Without time to hesitate, Crusch ordered her men to destroy the Great Flugel Tree, just as they had planned.
It all happened so fast. The tree broke and fell on the whale, crushing its body to the ground. Before the beast could try to free itself, an entire army rained down attacks on it.
The rifle and revolver shots wreaked havoc on the whale's body, which writhed and screamed from the pain of being pierced thousands of times all over its body.
After firearms became obsolete after using up all their cartridges, it was the turn of the other soldiers and their traditional weapons.
Wilhelm and Crusch were the ones who inflicted the most damage on the mabeast: they cut off its fins, its horn, and disabled one of its eyes.
Not even five minutes had passed since the 'battle' began, which in fact resembled more an execution than an equal confrontation.
The White Whale had been completely overwhelmed and could do nothing but thrash about in agony, emitting moans of pain that made it seem like a dying animal rather than the invincible centuries-old demon of the tales.
The Sword Demon leaped onto the beast's head, standing over one of its eyes to let it see the person who would end its existence.
"Sleep for all eternity!"
Striking his sword in a final attack, Wilhelm Van Astrea slew the White Whale.
For a few seconds, no one knew how to react. The situation was unreal: there were no deaths, not even injuries. In a matter of five minutes, the enemy everyone feared had fallen.
Crusch felt like she was dreaming. Had they really pulled it off? That easy? She couldn't contain her amazement.
Then he remembered his earlier conversation with Leandro. The subjugation was just as he'd said it would be; no, even better.
"I wonder how things would have turned out without the power of those weapons and the witch's scent that attracted the whale..."
For a moment, she tried to visualize a scenario based on her original plan.
"Something tells me a lot of lives would have been lost... Hell, we might not have even defeated it."
Many soldiers approached the whale's carcass. They walked slowly, never letting their guard down for fear that the ancient beast would return from the dead to wreak vengeance on them.
As they touched the remains of the whale, everyone began to process the victory.
"Hahaha... We really did it."
"We did it! We took that thing down!"
"Today is the day the White Whale fell!"
Wilhelm, who had delivered the final blow, received an avalanche of praise. The old man had stood over the motionless head of his hated enemy. He felt peace in his heart after many years.
He had also found the courage to express his feelings for his late wife out loud, even though it was too late: fourteen years too late.
However, what occupied his mind at that moment was not the past. Wilhelm was thinking about the artificial difficulty of killing the great White Whale, a monster so powerful it had taken the life of Theresia Van Astrea, the previous Sword Saint.
That same monster that devoured entire cities was treated like child's play and died without being able to do anything about it. Why did that happen?
The only person Wilhelm could point to as responsible was the boy who made that night's expedition possible. The one who brought the weapons, the one who stood in front of them and served them the whale on a silver platter.
Emilia's young butler and aspiring knight: Leandro Lagostena.
Wilhelm was very grateful to him for granting him his revenge, but he couldn't ignore how suspicious everything about him was.
"Sir Leandro, I... I hope I'm wrong."