Hit by the wind carrying spray, Subaru had the illusion of having been hit head-on.
「――――!!」
The storm slammed into my whole body, sending me flying, and I was about to be thrown over the driver's seat and thrown out. My fingers quickly reached out, but they were unable to reach anything, and my body fell into the unprotected darkness―― just before,
"--Lu-kun!"
The force of the grip on the back of Subaru's collar forced his position downwards. He was swung down onto his seat, and out of the corner of his eye, sparks flying, he saw Rem reaching out to Subaru's neck, her other hand tugging on the reins.
She had a look of terror on her handsome face, and her sharp eyes were fixed in the direction of the wind.
"--!!"
Rem roars, opening her mouth and revealing her sharp canines.
However, even her burst of fighting spirit was engulfed by the storm and did not even reach Subaru, who was so close.
However, her scream did not reach her eardrums, but the mana that filled the air heard it.
Mana converges as Rem chants out, activating a magic that will reshape the world.
What was born was an ice spear as big as Subaru. In the blink of an eye, three spears formed in the air, their sharp tips aimed towards the darkness.
After a moment of stagnation, the ice spear was shot out with incredible force like an arrow.
The ice stake, moving at a speed that was barely possible to follow with the naked eye, shot out into the darkness, aiming for its target, and when it hit, the tip of the stake pierced the surprisingly close end of the seemingly endless darkness.
Immediately after,
"--Huh?!"
Once again, he felt someone grab him around the neck, and then he was pulled upwards in one go. The seat was pulled away as if being pulled out, and Subaru's body was sent flying straight into the night sky, unable to offer any resistance.
He jumped over the driver's seat and was launched into the air, leaving the dragon carriage behind, as the dragon carriage racing below him gradually receded into the distance.
A fall. Not a fall from a horse, but a fall from a dragon - at the same time that the words crossed Subaru's mind as he tried to escape reality, he saw something.
The enormous mass of the blow smashed the dragon carriage into pieces.
The solidly constructed body of the carriage was torn apart like a piece of paper, and the large earth dragon that was pulling it was also torn to pieces by the impact―― its flesh, blood and organs were splattered onto the road, and it was transformed into a mixture of wood and meat that was minced.
The extremely unrealistic scene caused Subaru's thoughts to go blank.
The shocking image made Subaru forget that he was in mid-air. The scene before his eyes brought Subaru back to his senses, but...
"To the left――!!"
This was because a girl's voice was yelling nearby.
In an instant, without even being able to catch myself, my body tumbled onto the hard floor. A dull pain ran through my shoulders and waist, but before I could raise a cry of protest, I was swung around by the centrifugal force that accompanied the sharp turn.
Rolling, he was about to be thrown off again, but he managed to grab something like a rope that was hanging from his fingertips and stop him. After a moment, Subaru looked up, looked around, and realized that he was in the bed of Otto's dragon carriage.
Part of the fastening of a covered dragon carriage. Subaru entangled the dangling rope around his wrist and tried to somehow stand up amid the violent shaking. Then,
"No, Subaru! Don't stand up! The Earth Dragon's divine protection has worn off. Rem and Subaru can't move properly!"
As Subaru struggled to stay upright, Rem sharply drew his attention.
Looking over, he saw Rem, who had also landed on Otto's dragon carriage, somehow supporting herself by stabbing her right sword into the floor. Even with her physical ability, it was difficult for her to stand upright in this shaking.
The familiar violent tremors were the result of the Earth Dragon's protection from blocking out obstacles like wind, noise, and tremors being broken, making his chest ache and even standing up becoming a struggle.
Understanding this and seeing Rem, Subaru finally grasped the situation.
In other words, Rem picked up Subaru and jumped from the flying dragon carriage to Otto's dragon carriage. If she had been a moment slower in her judgement, the two of them would have shared the same fate as the dragon carriage. Their limbs were blown off, and they were reduced to minced meat, with no trace of their original shape.
Shaking off the chill that ran down his spine, Subaru clung to the edge of the truck bed and raised his voice so it wouldn't get drowned out by the wind and the noise of the road.
"Wh, what happened?! What on earth is this guy..."
The strange events occurred in just a few seconds. It was so intense that my mind couldn't keep up.
"You don't understand?!"
However, Otto turned around and let out a shriek at the confused Subaru.
His face turned white, and he cried out, his teeth shaking,
"A night fog has appeared! There is only one thing that can swim through the sky with such a large body and fog!"
His voice was tinged with the trembling of despair.
As if to confirm it, as if to refuse to accept it, Otto shook his head reluctantly, took in a breath with his spasming lungs and shouted with all his might.
"---It's the White Whale!!"
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
--Moby Dick.
The first and only time I ever heard that name was in that world.
The name of a monster that was covered in mist and blocked the highway. The first world had to take a detour on the way back because the white whale had appeared on the Leafous Highway. It could be said that the first time, this was the reason why they were unable to make it in time for the tragedy that occurred at the village and mansion.
However, I never actually encountered it, and I never heard of it again after that.
"You mean, he's coming out at this timing?!"
When they left the royal capital half a day ago, there was no report of the White Whale's appearance anywhere.
Rem didn't mention it, but Otto and his friends, whose professions should have been ones that would scare them away from the White Whale, were also using the highway. In other words, the White Whale had only appeared after Subaru and his friends had departed.
--No, in fact, at worst, this thing had just appeared on the highway at this very moment.
It fits the time schedule.
It was the third day when Subaru and his friends set out in the first world. At that point, the road had been blocked off due to the appearance of the White Whale. Now it was midnight on the second day - if the White Whale's appearance was known in the morning, the road would be blocked off by tomorrow.
That meant the only time they were going to collide was tonight.
"To think that at this time of year in Lugnica... I'd collide with the White Whale... Oh, dragon, dragon. Save me, save me..."
Otto looked at me with hollow eyes and muttered words of salvation like a Buddhist prayer.
Seeing them completely bereft of any vitality, let alone the will to fight, Subaru realised the truth of what the merchants said about their fear of the White Whale.
In the previous world, Otto had told Subaru that the White Whale was a symbol of bad luck for merchants. At the time, Subaru had thought that this was an exaggeration, but when he saw how exhausted Otto looked after actually encountering the fog, he couldn't help but think how childish even that description had been.
Otto's lips trembled, his mind elsewhere, but he still controlled the reins. His earth dragon had sensed the white whale's presence and was in a state of panic, kicking the ground at a speed that disregarded his remaining stamina, increasing its speed.
Feeling the swaying directly with his whole body, Subaru turns around and focuses his eyes into the darkness. His eyes wander in search of the White Whale, but the world is completely blocked off by the pitch blackness that has lost its light source. It's a night that is so dark that even your hands would be in danger without light.
"I thought it was kind of sticky... it's fog."
He felt drops of something other than cold sweat on his forehead, and grimaced as the palm of his hand got wet.
In a dark night, with the fog on top of it, visibility was hopeless. In fact, the light of the crystal lamp illuminating the area below the running earth dragon's neck was obscured by the night fog and was only able to function at half its power.
"Rem! Can you see the White Whale?!"
"It's too dark, it's impossible! ...But!"
Subaru looked behind him, to the side, and above, searching for the shadow of a fish that looked like it. Rem responded to Subaru's voice with a sorrow, pausing mid-sentence as if she was thinking of something.
This made me wonder, so I looked at her, but I could only make out her silhouette; in the thick fog I couldn't even see her expression.
The fact that the cause of this situation, the white whale, cannot be seen, makes the horror even more intense.
When Subaru first spotted what seemed to be the white whale's eye, was it bigger than the circle he could make with his arms?
Given the size of just one eyeball, it is clear that the White Whale, as its name suggests, really does have a physique comparable to that of a whale.
"But Rem's preemptive attack should have hit.... It's possible that the other side retreated."
Am I being too optimistic?
The power of the ice spear that Rem chanted was such that it was easy to count it among the best spells he had seen so far; one of them would have killed Subaru three times in total.
No matter how big a person is, they will flinch if they are seriously injured.
"The other dragon carriages are..."
"They are scattering and fleeing. When the mist appears, they must split up and flee immediately. If they are lucky, the White Whale will not catch up with them and they will be able to escape the mist."
I see, there is indeed no dragon carriage running alongside this one.
The other dragon carriages that were surely following behind until then seemed to have scattered in all directions according to the manual.
--In his heart, Subaru was bitterly disappointed at the loss of the legs he had secured so well.
The timing was terrible. Their plan to escape with the villagers had fallen apart again. Or, if the mist hadn't fallen, it could have been a precaution against another threat.
"There's no point in regretting it. Anyway, let's get out of the fog quickly..."
Subaru's thoughts turned to the problems that would arise after they escaped, as the violent shaking stirred up his organs. If there was only one dragon carriage left, he would need to think of a way to get the villagers to escape after Emilia and the others had escaped. There would also be a lot of unnecessary time lost.
And so, before Subaru's eyes, his eyes were fixed on the future, beyond his immediate predicament, in other words, the path of the dragon carriage――,
"----!!"
A mouth full of massive, millstone-like teeth was approaching in front of him, ready to swallow the dragon carriage whole.
A roar rang out, and the overwhelming violence of the sound and the blast made the earth dragon flinch. Its legs tangled, scraping the ground, the wheels lifting off the ground and the carriage's bed tilting sharply. The jar of oil tore through the hood and was blown away, nearly throwing Subaru, who was holding on to the edge, off the ground.
Desperately clinging to the carrier, all I could see in front of me was the white whale's filthy teeth in its mouth, which stood out clearly in the darkness.
At this very moment, Subaru realised too late that his own understanding had been far too naive.
Having encountered the white whale and now wandering through a thick night fog, the current situation means that there is no room to think about what will happen after we get out of the fog, and the problem has shifted to how to survive in the present moment.
"--Ruuuuuuu!!"
At the moment when the jaws approached, large enough to easily swallow the dragon carriage whole, a roar erupted and the wooden floor of the loading platform was sent flying with the force of the impact.
It was Rem who kicked and leapt forward like a bullet. From beneath the white prims fluttering in the storm, she was transformed into a demon with her sharp horns exposed. That Rem was swinging around an iron ball attached to a chain that she had taken out from somewhere,
"---Run to the left!!"
"Left, left, left, left, left!!"
The iron ball smashed the upper jaw of the white whale from above, forcing its open jaw to close slightly while sending out a cloud of dark blood. Otto's dragon carriage, controlling the earth dragon with single-minded concentration, spewed saliva as it raced past the giant face that had dug into the earth and was still lurching forward.
The right side of the carriage of the moving dragon carriage was unable to avoid the giant body and got caught in the crossing, it was crushed and blown away with a scraping sound as if it was rubbing against hard rock. The carriage, which had lost its wheels, creaked loudly, lost its balance and nearly flipped over.
Naturally, Subaru, who was standing on top of it, was also thrown helplessly into the darkness,
--die?
Just before his delayed assessment of the situation would mercilessly send his body flying into pieces, a light metal sound echoed amongst the thunderous roar, and he felt a pain as his torso was mercilessly squeezed――He was lifted up from under his feet as if he had been pulled out, and was pulled forward.
and,
「Take thiseeeeeee――!!」
With the iron ball that had lifted Subaru in her right hand, Rem used her free left hand to destroy the connection between the driver's seat and the cargo bed, and grabbed the edge of the cargo bed that had been detached and was moving away - and in that instant, a load was generated that made the earth dragon pulling the carriage neigh, and with a roar, the large cargo vehicle was hurled backwards by Rem.
A massive bullet the size of a hut struck the side of the passing White Whale. The sound of wood shattering echoed, and the tail of the writhing White Whale exploded on the ground, scattering clods of earth.
It's unclear if there was any damage done, but there's no doubt that the White Whale is still alive and well, and most importantly, it spun around in the air and glared right at us.
"D-did you--!?"
Even if he didn't understand what had happened, he was sure he knew that most of his dragon carriages had been lost. Having paid such a great sacrifice, Otto's voice held a superficial air of desperate hope as he asked the question.
A thunderous roar. A never-ending rumble. The pressure of despair closing in from behind. Faced with all this, he knew it was just a meaningless dream.
"Why are you so relentless in your pursuit of us...we're not your only prey!?"
Otto yelled, cursing his own misfortune.
There were eight other candidates, and yet he was the one being attacked, an expression of dissatisfaction. Subaru felt the same way, but seeing Otto continue to curse at him, he felt reluctant to say so.
Sacrificial pawns, or a wall of flesh - if they were to face the Witch Cult, Subaru might have used them, and it felt like he had caught a glimpse of just how he could have used them.
Besides, it's not like I have the time to think about such things.
The threat of the White Whale still loomed behind them, its speed in the air surpassing that of the Earth Dragon. Even if the Earth Dragon had abandoned the heavy burden of the cart, it would only be a matter of time before it caught up. And if they were to lose the Earth Dragon, there was no way Subaru and the others could escape on their own.
You have to think: is there something or is there something or is there something?
However, he couldn't think of any solution. Even if he tried to think of every possible solution, he couldn't find even a hint in the spreading night fog that made it impossible to see even what was beneath his feet.
And while Subaru once again wastes time unable to make a choice, the demon girl makes a decision of her own.
Rem walks gently towards Subaru, who is clinging to the body of the car as it shakes violently. She may be feeling the same shock, but her steps don't show it as she approaches him.
"Subaru-kun, please accept this."
「What?! Is there anything we can do about this situation...」
Subaru looked up slightly, wondering if he had seen a ray of hope, and a heavy, small pouch was thrust into his hands. He grimaced at the weight, and immediately realized from the outside that it was a travel purse filled with gold coins and other hard currency.
What use is this money going to be for me here and now?
Unable to bear the chill that erupted as Rem handed him the travel money, Subaru plastered the smile that had risen to his cheeks,
"R-Rem...? I know that coin tossing has the power to destroy the balance of power, but that's just... in a game..."
"Rem will descend to the ground to intercept the attack. In the meantime, Subaru, please leave the fog together with this person."
Rem told Subaru with a clear, determined voice.
Subaru, who had been trying to lighten the mood with dry, light-hearted remarks, was overwhelmed and fell silent. Meanwhile, Rem turned her head and
"Otto-sama, please take care of Subaru. The promised reward is in his hands. Please get him out of the fog and report the appearance of the White Whale."
"Money...!? Right now, we need our lives!?"
Otto replied, having not heard the exchange behind him. Still, Subaru could tell that he was frantically driving the dragon carriage, and saw Rem's lips relax in relief.
And Subaru hadn't missed it. He told Subaru and Otto, who were about to flee, to report the appearance of the White Whale.
"You... Rem, you're not planning on coming back alive, are you?!"
Rem's expression clouds over at this tragic decision.
Darkness still fell upon the dark world as usual, but for some reason her white face looked awfully clear to Subaru right now.
"I won't let you go! I won't let you go! If you die I... I!"
He dropped the bag of gold coins at his feet and pulled Rem, who was standing in front of him, towards him by her waist.
He holds her small body in his arms, holding her back as she tries to move away. If he lets go of her hand, she will throw off her life and fly away.
This must be prevented. Otherwise,
"Ahh..."
In the midst of her intense emotions, brought to the point of tears, Rem lets out a hot sigh as she receives the embrace.
Dropping his gaze at the mesmerizing sound that was out of place in the situation, Rem looked up at him from within Subaru's arms, smiling dreamily,
"Rem was born for this very moment."
"what..."
"I'm saying that," he said, unable to continue.
The impact hit him on the back of his neck, and Subaru felt as if the world had been turned upside down.
Rem reached out to embrace me, but then struck me on the back of the head with a chop. The strength drained from my body, and I collapsed, leaning on Rem's body.
"R-mu...what are you doing..."
Not only his vision but even his consciousness was shaking, and even lifting his head was becoming difficult for Subaru, so he desperately clung to the girl.
Rem looked at Subaru with loving eyes as he struggled, and whispered in his ear as if to catch up with his fading consciousness.
"It's okay. Rem will always be behind you, Subaru."
--You don't have to do anything. Just stay behind me forever.
It was Subaru himself who had told her this morning before he set out.
And so, true to those words, she stood behind Subaru to protect him.
"No... I didn't mean to..."
Loss of consciousness.
It's getting further away. I can't hold on to it.
I felt like I was being hugged tightly for a moment.
A gentle, soft touch is placed on your forehead, then it quickly leaves.
And that was the end.