[ "HAH—!" The white whale's left eye was gouged out.
The eyeball fell down with Wilhelm, and the eyeball shattered as it hit the ground.
"…It's so ugly!" Wilhelm raised his eyebrows with his sword and said so. ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"Ow, that hurts!"
Otto covered his eyes.
"Seeing this scene, I remembered from 'Sword Demon Love Song' that during the 'Demi-Human War', Wilhelm-sama encountered zombies who could stand up again even after having their limbs cut off. Wilhelm-sama's solution was to chop off multiple limbs in an instant, making it impossible for the zombies to stand up again."
Yurius said.
"It's just a past that's not worth mentioning."
Wilhelm responded.
"That...isn't that enough to solve the problem?"
Emilia asked.
"That's not enough, Nyaa~. That guy also has annoying mental attacks. Ah, look, his eyes are red."
Ferris said.
—
[ The white whale's right eye turned red.
"ROAR—!!"
It roared, and then the pits on the beast's body opened their mouths and let out a scream.
Then, "mist" sprayed out from the gaping pit. ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"This…what is that?!"
Emilia asked hurriedly from outside the screen.
"White Whale is starting to take this fight seriously. Seriously."
Wilhelm said.
"What an annoying sound."
Priscilla clicked her tongue, expressing her dissatisfaction with the screams made by the white whale.
"Finally, we've reached a consensus with Priscilla-san. This was so harsh."
Otto said, lowering his hands from covering his ears.
"I didn't expect that I'd fought that monster before..."
Crusch sighed.
"Scared, Nyaa~?"
Ferris asked beside Crusch.
"No... I don't know either. But I know I must go into battle. Even with my amnesia now, I still have to. I can't just sit back in the mansion and wait for news."
Crusch answered Ferris.
"Crusch-sama is still as responsible as ever... But, I really didn't expect that at the time, Nyaa~. The white whale's defense was far beyond our expectations. We had originally expected that those attacks would at least destroy the white whale, even if they couldn't kill it. But the result was that the white whale only admitted that our subjugation team was no match for it."
Ferris sighed.
—
[ "Oh no, the fog is coming..."
I don't know who said that on the screen.
"You're kidding, right?!" Subaru was in disbelief.
"…Subaru-kun, please entrust your life to Rem!!"
Subaru hugged Rem tightly upon hearing that.
"ALL TROOPS, RETREAT!!"
Crusch's voice came from the fog.
Then, everyone gathered.
"…How many people died?"
"There are twelve members left in our team... we're missing three people."
"…Who sacrificed?"
"have no idea..."
Then the other teams—
"There are fourteen left here, and one has fallen behind."
"Our team is missing two people, and we don't know who they are."
"Six people... I'm so sorry! They were too deep in the fog and couldn't escape..."
The teams reported casualties. ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"White Whale's... memory erasure."
Ram frowned off-screen.
It seems that the expeditionary force is composed of fifteen people. If the number of people is wrong, people will be sacrificed.
"Now that I think about it... the memory of 'unifying fifteen people into a team' wasn't modified. Could it be that White Whale's ability to influence memory isn't as strong as 'Gluttony'?"
Otto guessed somewhat unsurely.
If it is strong enough, even the "unified team of fifteen people" may be modified.
Let the expedition team think that it is normal for the number of people in each team to be uneven.
"Anyway, Subaru still remembers it, right?"
Ferris said.
Subaru still remembers Rem having her memories devoured many times.
"Yeah, it's a little late to ask now. Why isn't the boss affected...it seems like the invisible hand isn't affected either."
Garfiel was very puzzled.
But others were also puzzled and found it difficult to give an explanation.
"What the hell is going on?!"
Otto said.
—
[ In the screen, just as the expedition team released a rare "Demon Exorcist Stone", a scream similar to a woman's scream was heard.
"That sound just now was..."
Subaru just expressed his doubts, and then—
"Ahhhhh?!"
The cavalrymen marching in unison let out strange cries and fell to the ground one after another.
And then, others followed suit.
They screamed, convulsed, and banged their heads.
"This is..."
Rem, with a pained expression, held her forehead and replied to Subaru:
"Through that voice just now, 'Mist' directly affects the mind...similar to Drunken Mana, but this is too cruel..."
Subaru looked around and noticed something very strange:
"Some people are resistant to the fog, and some aren't... but why don't I feel anything at all?"
"Rem had a slight reaction, and his head was a little... but he's calmed down now."
"Anyone who can move, take the injured to the tree! Even if it takes a little roughness, it's fine!"
Crusch's voice came from a distance. ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"Even if he has antibodies, he wouldn't feel anything like the boss... What's the reason?"
Garfiel asked from off-screen.
"…Could it be that Subaru's existence, Subaru's very structure, is different from ours… No."
Beatrice denied her suspicions.
What she thought was that Subaru's original world and their world might have different world rules, which made Subaru fundamentally different from us and therefore not affected by the rules of our world.
But if that's the case, why does Subaru still have Mana? Why does he still have a "door"? This alone is a contradiction.
"...If Ferris-chan remembers correctly, Subaru's turn to show off next."
Ferris looked at Rem and said.
"Yes!"
Rem smiled and nodded.
"Ohhh, really?!"
Garfiel and the others hurriedly looked at the screen.
What will the "hero who defeats the white whale" do?
But considering Subaru's constitution, he could easily come up with this idea...
—
[ "AH..." Subaru and Rem concluded that Ferris was too busy to save everyone in such a short time.
Then Subaru spoke:
"Rem, accompany me to do the most dangerous thing."
"Okay—Rem is willing to follow Subaru-kun forever."
The two jumped onto Patrasius, who shouted:
"Rem and I will lead the white whale away! You should take this opportunity to receive treatment from Ferris. Those who are not seriously injured can hand over the injured to Ferris and then gather at Miss Crusch's place."
"You said to lure it away?! How exactly do we do that?"
The old soldier on the side looked extremely confused.
"That's what we do!"
Subaru smiled, took a deep breath, and shouted again:
"...THOSE WHO CAN HEAR, COVER YOUR EARS!! THOSE WHO CAN'T FREE THEIR HANDS, JUST KEEP DOING YOURS!!"
"I returned through death..."
Natsuki Subaru took the initiative to reveal the taboo.
Just like then, the world seemed to stop. ]
.....