"It seems your pet has run into some trouble."
"Deal with that matter first. That useless sloth is truly a waste of time. Hurry up and take the person away, then go check on your pet while you're at it. Honestly, what a nuisance—wasting the time meant for my affection is an unforgivable sin."
"Mm, I'm hungry too."
As the two spoke, they walked toward a certain destination. Meanwhile, at the base that Lillian had destroyed, the Archbishop of Sloth, Petelgeuse, had gathered all of his subordinates. Hundreds of Witch Cult followers listened respectfully to his commands.
"Kill all unrelated individuals, then retrieve the vessel…"
The voice was that of a woman, and the body was also female—this was Petelgeuse's current form. His original body had been destroyed by Elsa and was no longer functional.
Despite changing bodies, his expression and mannerisms remained as crazed as ever. Clutching his head with both hands, he howled hysterically:
"And those two wretches—I must find them and take revenge, revenge, revenge! Aaahhh! No more slothfulness! Move, move, move!"
The cultists bowed slightly, then quickly dispersed.
---
Time flowed on at the same pace.
On the plains, the effect of "Nightbreaker" was still active. The brilliantly lit sky made everyone instinctively believe it was daytime. Of course, no one cared about such trivial matters now—every eye was fixed on the enormous body plummeting from the sky.
"Everyone, take cover!!"
Crusch shouted. The crowd snapped back to their senses, no longer staring upward, and hurriedly retreated. If they continued watching and were crushed beneath the White Whale's mountain-like body, they would be reduced to nothing more than a smear of flesh.
Boom!!
The White Whale crashed down from dozens of meters above. Its immense weight, combined with the force of gravity, smashed a massive crater several meters deep into the ground, shaped like the outline of its body. Dust billowed, rocks flew in all directions, and countless cracks spread outward from the impact point, winding across the earth like writhing serpents.
"The White Whale has landed! Attack!!"
Ricardo roared, and the beastmen under his command charged forward. Human knights followed in a surge, striving to inflict the greatest damage possible in the shortest time. In an instant, the White Whale was bathed in a storm of blades and magic, its roars intensifying from both pain and the anguish of losing its ability to fly.
Wooo—wooo—wooo—
Lillian rose to his feet. After destroying the halo earlier, he had clung tightly to the White Whale's body, gripping its fur with both hands to minimize the impact of the fall. Listening now to its continuous cries, he realized something and immediately shouted to the knights and beastmen surrounding it:
"Fall back, all of you!!"
They heard his voice, yet no one obeyed. After all, Lillian had no authority to command them, and the White Whale—now grounded—was a trapped beast. If they could swiftly slay it, they would earn unparalleled glory. The achievement of killing a magical beast that had ravaged the continent would serve as the greatest boast of their lives.
No one heeded Lillian's warning, but he was not angered. He had done what he could; whether others listened was no longer his concern.
Puff—puff—
Suddenly, countless mouths appeared across the White Whale's body, spewing thick fog at an astonishing rate. Lillian avoided it quickly, but several beastmen and knights who had ignored his warning were engulfed—and then fell completely silent.
"Spread out!"
Lillian had not concealed any information beforehand and had already explained the nature of the mist. Thus, upon witnessing it, Crusch reacted decisively, slashing with invisible sword energy to disperse the fog and restore some visibility.
Whoosh—whoosh—
The Yang Sword Vollachia ignited, blazing as it hovered above the crowd. Fire and light dispelled much of the dense mist. Rather than retreat, Priscilla intended to use the weapon to strike down the White Whale.
However, this was hardly an easy task. A magical beast like the White Whale possessed thick hide and immense vitality. The earlier barrage of attacks—enough to annihilate hundreds or thousands of ordinary beasts—had amounted to little more than superficial wounds for it. If not for the destruction of the magical halo above its head, those injuries would not even have hindered its movement. Even Wilhelm, the Sword Demon, had left hundreds of wounds upon its body without dealing a decisive blow.
In the original course of events, the White Whale had ultimately been killed by a massive tree that crushed it. But since the battlefield had changed, they could not rely on such external forces. They could only depend on their own strength.
Yet there was one crucial difference from the original scenario—the White Whale had lost its ability to fly. On land, it could hardly move at all.
"Priscilla." Lillian shook the blood from his sword. "Use your Sword to strike its tail fin. Sever it!"
Priscilla nodded at him, her expression serious. She directed the blazing sword, which streaked like a beam of light through the mist toward the White Whale's tail, slashing horizontally at its fin.
The creature's dorsal fin had already been almost completely destroyed while it was in the air—particularly by Lillian and Al, who had deliberately targeted that area. If Priscilla now severed its tail fin as well, it would truly become an immobilized beast.
Slash!
Under Priscilla's control, the Sword successfully split the tail fin. The White Whale howled in pain. Unlike before, however, many who heard its cries now clutched their heads and collapsed in agony.
"Aaagh! My head—it hurts!!"
Lillian glanced at a knight nearby who had fallen to the ground, foaming at the mouth and convulsing violently. His screams hovered somewhere between human and beast. Lillian knew this was the result of inhaling the mist and suffering mana contamination.
More than half of the entire force displayed similar symptoms. Lillian himself felt a slight headache, but since he had been holding his breath earlier, his condition was far less severe.
In truth, the battle was already over. The White Whale could no longer take to the sky, its dorsal and tail fins were both severed, and it could not move.
A trapped beast only needed to be left to die—there was no need to struggle with it directly.
The main force quickly withdrew from the fog's range and counted their numbers. Nearly a third were missing.
"…The battle is not yet finished," Crusch declared. "But there is no need for further meaningless sacrifices. The White Whale cannot escape. All mages, use long-range magic to attack. Knights and beastmen units, do not approach it again and risk unnecessary casualties."
As she spoke, she glanced toward Lillian, who was standing beside Priscilla, saying something to her.
"The battle here is almost over," Lillian said.
"Mm." Priscilla looked at him. "Do not worry. Since I have agreed to your request, I will not go back on my word. Al, take some men to that village."
Al, who was wiping blood from his helmet with a rag, nodded. "Got it."
Regarding the Witch Cult, Lillian had spoken only to Priscilla. Unlike Crusch or even Anastasia, she lacked strong political considerations in such matters.
If he had told Crusch, she would likely have believed that trouble in another candidate's territory was none of her concern—simply the result of that candidate's incompetence.
If he had told Anastasia, she would have been even less willing to help. And even if she agreed, she would certainly have demanded an enormous reward—something Lillian could not provide.
Thus, he could only turn to Priscilla. Though arrogant, she was surprisingly straightforward in such matters and had agreed to help protect the villagers. The price was that Lillian would someday provide her with interesting objects from another world. Though he had none at the moment, he agreed for the time being, since there was no deadline.
What followed was a straightforward assault. All close-combat fighters withdrew while long-range attacks rained down continuously for several hours. The artificial daylight created by "Nightbreaker" gradually gave way to real daylight. The fog had long since dissipated, and everyone watched as the White Whale lay trapped in the crater, unable to move, forced to endure the relentless barrage of attacks.
"Just a little more time and it should be over."
Crusch felt a surge of excitement in her heart. If the White Whale were successfully defeated, both she and everyone present would leave a significant mark in the history of their lives. Not far from her, Wilhelm watched silently, his sword never relaxing in his grip.
As for Lillian, he had already departed with Al and the others, heading toward the Mathers domain. Riding side by side with him on their ground dragons, Al continued grumbling nonstop.
"Brother, if you want to play the hero yourself, fine—but why drag me into it too? I'm really afraid of dying, you know."
"You won't die."
If an attack truly happened at the village, it would only be some Witch Cultists led by the Archbishop of Sloth. Dealing with them would not be difficult. Even without Lillian, Al himself would be safe—after all, he possessed a mysterious blessing, and he already understood how Sloth's attacks worked.
"Sigh. And the princess too—she actually believes you can return to your original world someday. How could that be possible…"
"You think it's impossible?"
"Well, after staying here for so many years… I've already given up hope of going back. Oh, right—you know the legend of the Divine Dragon too, don't you?"
"Yeah."
Al said, "They say the Divine Dragon is the only being in this world that can cross the Great Waterfall. What lies beyond it? Could it really be our world?"
Lillian shook his head. He didn't know either. Whether the far side of the Great Waterfall was truly another world remained uncertain. And even if it was—would it really be Earth? That seemed far too fantastical. Still, he was quite interested in the waterfall itself.
"Have you ever been to the Great Waterfall?" he asked.
"Me? No." Al shook his head. "It's at the very edge of the continent, incredibly far away. I've got no desire to go all that way. What, are you thinking of going?"
"Yeah. I want to see what it's actually like. Compared to rumors and legends, seeing it with your own eyes is more reliable."
"True enough… Hey! Look over there!"
Al suddenly spotted something. Lillian turned to look and immediately saw thick black smoke filling the distant sky. Its source—the tall, indistinct structure below—was… Roswaal's mansion. The building was on fire?!
"That's the Border Count's residence, right?!"
"…Al, we split up!" Lillian made his decision instantly. "You take your men to the village. I'll check the mansion!"
"No way, brother—you…" Al grabbed Lillian's arm as he tried to turn his mount around, clutching the reins. "Whatever's happening there has nothing to do with you, right? Didn't I tell you not to run toward danger?"
Lillian paused, then suddenly laughed twice.
"If everyone always listened to others' advice, how boring would the world be?Right?"