Chapter 330

It was a sight she couldn't believe even seeing it with her own eyes.

"My god…."

That was the only thing Han Su-yeong could get out.

If the world in front of her were a scene reflected in some enormous window, surely that would be big enough to cover the scene completely and still have room left over.

She could swear she had never once thought a creature that size could exist in this world.

That immense body alone was enough that calling it a colossal calamity didn't even feel like an exaggeration.

Aside from Minerva, she'd never gotten this kind of vague, overwhelming sense off any of the Seven Calamities she'd met so far.

It hit her all over again exactly why they were called the seven calamities that would bring the world to an end.

…And that colossal calamity was caught between two dragons, twitching helplessly in midair.

— Bwooo… oh oh….

Her thrashing efforts to break free had earned her several breath attacks at point-blank range along the way.

Thanks to that, Venus's body was wrecked top to bottom like a torn rag, and blood was still pouring out of her without stop.

It was enough that even from this far back, the metallic stink of blood hung thick in the air.

It looked, almost, like a seabird carrying off a mangled scrap of prey.

That, too, was a sight she couldn't believe even seeing it with her own eyes.

"……!"

"Ah, right."

She was staring at the scene in a daze when Rauné — having climbed up onto her shoulder at some point — gave her cheek a light thwap as if to say snap out of it.

If she stayed standing there in a daze, she was clearly going to get left behind.

By the look of it, those two had no way of coming back to pick her up, and trying to follow by boat would take who knew how long.

It was a waste, but there wasn't much to be done about it.

Han Su-yeong shot up into the air right away and rocketed toward the two dragons.

[Krrgh.]

At that, the dragon clad in the World Tree's armor — Yu Ji-hyeok — stretched his head out toward her as if he'd been waiting for it. A moment later, Han Su-yeong dropped lightly down onto the top of his head.

"Ugh, okay, I'm good."

Once she'd settled in, she gave a few light pats on top of Yu Ji-hyeok's head — all good — and he nodded slowly back at her, as if to say got it.

[GRAAAH!!!]

[GRRAAAAAAH!!!]

When he let out a short roar, Minerva called back with something of her own.

Han Su-yeong, who couldn't pick out what any of it meant, latched on tightly to Yu Ji-hyeok's body.

While she was at it, a strange surge of exhilaration rose up through her heart.

Does a dragon's roar have this kind of effect too, she was thinking — and in the next breath, she was already letting out a huge cry of her own, following along with them.

"Hwaaaaaah!!!"

[……]

[……]

A silence fell.

Until a moment ago, Minerva had been making threatening sounds; now she turned her head and stared at Han Su-yeong without a word.

Yu Ji-hyeok had also stopped the intermittent sounds he'd been letting out.

"……"

Han Su-yeong silently bowed her head.

Rauné, still clinging to her, gave her shoulder a kind little pat, as if to say these things happen.

Every time it did, her shoulders only hunched a little smaller, mortified.

So we flew toward land for quite a while.

When we covered, in barely an hour, a distance that had taken nearly three days by boat, it hit me all over again just how strong Minerva and her abilities really were.

And we weren't even flying at full speed — on top of that, we were hauling Venus, who was dozens of times heavier than we were.

"There's a city over that way, so we should change course a little."

At the voice from up on top of my head, I nodded and adjusted my wings.

If anyone else spotted us it would obviously cause a scene, so we were moving through areas with few people around.

Su-yeong had picked up on what I was going for and was using detection magic to point out the rough direction.

She wasn't only doing that — at the same time, she had several other spells running: a concealment hex to keep us out of sight, magic to hide our mana traces, magic to hide the blood streaming off Venus's body, and more.

A little further and we'd reach the spot we'd agreed on.

I was thinking that when, off in one corner of my vision, a spark suddenly flared.

[…And here I'd taken you for nothing more than a common card hustler.]

A voice trembling thinly with disbelief, and the Smith of Yado came into view.

It looked like he'd noticed us coming while he'd been waiting and had decided to come out first to meet us.

[To think you actually meant it literally — something to seal Venus with. I'd been assuming it was just a figure of speech….]

He muttered the words, then caught my eye and gave a small don't worry nod.

[…Right. From what I just said you might've gotten the wrong idea. There's no cause for concern. Exactly as you requested, I've brought along something capable of perfectly sealing away even a creature like Venus. Of course, whether Venus would still be in any state to be quietly pinned down by the time the sealing went up was the real question.]

He looked over Venus, who hung limp as if she'd lost consciousness.

Out of the massive hole in her flank, blood was still glugging out, and from her slightly parted mouth something pink that looked like a tongue was lolling free.

[Looking at her like this, she'd take it lying down even if you started stripping the meat off her bones right now.]

The Smith of Yado said it and casually settled himself down on top of my head.

Then he started sliding his hands over my scales and the branches of the World Tree, and the greed in those movements practically radiated off him.

Dragon's scales and the World Tree's branches.

Either one was a material you couldn't easily come by.

The trouble was, there was nothing left I needed to get from his version in this era.

And if I handed those over for no reason, no telling how it might twist up whatever dealings I'd have with him in the future.

[Ahem. Down there — you see it? That's the spot.]

At his direction, we turned toward a stretch of empty sand-flats with nothing on it.

After that I signaled to Minerva, and right on cue, she swung her grip out and flung Venus down without ceremony.

— ……

Venus dropped without so much as a twitch, limp as a free-fall test dummy.

A massive sound of impact.

Right after, a cloud of sand kicked up like a windstorm had hit.

[GRAAAAAAH!!!]

…In the middle of it, Minerva — as if venting whatever had built up inside her — breathed out another stream of fire straight into the heart of the dust cloud.

A blunt thwock of something taking a hit rang out, and when the dust settled, a new wound had opened across Venus's body.

"What is that…?"

Han Su-yeong muttered, baffled.

Around Venus, strange patterns had risen up — nothing of the sort had been visible before the dust had kicked up.

A moment later, I could feel an unfamiliar energy as well, something I'd never encountered before, and from how Su-yeong and Minerva were reacting, the two of them clearly weren't familiar with it either.

A strange resonance of mana has been detected….

Caution!

If exposed to this unknown mana, what may happen cannot be predicted!

A warning notification window even popped up.

What had begun as four small circles split and divided, each connecting points and lines of its own, until before long it formed a pattern packed so densely it was dizzying just to look at.

[There. Watch closely.]

The Smith of Yado spread a hand out in front of me, as if to say see for yourself.

And as if he'd been timing it just so, the instant he extended his hand, the patterns around Venus began to fade, and a moment later they had vanished without a trace.

The sand was moving.

It was gathering itself together steadily, like ants converging on a dead animal's carcass.

The grains became a brick, then several bricks, then a column, then a wall, then a ceiling, a floor, a roof — each piece taking shape, stacking up one after another.

It became, before long, an enormous single structure.

I knew what that thing was.

A pyramid.

A vast pyramid had risen up where Venus had been.

I was staring at it, lost in the sight, when the Smith of Yado opened his mouth in his usual melancholy, unhurried voice, calm as ever.

[No matter how I racked my brains, this was the only way I could come up with to lock a Seven Calamity away.]

[Venus is the one who rules over the deep sea. So I've held her down with the very thing most diametrically opposed to her. She won't be getting out of there by her own strength. If there were any way to….]

"You'd shake the foundation itself — the very ground the seal is built on."

At Han Su-yeong's words, the Smith of Yado turned his head a fraction and looked at her.

[That's right.]

He kept on nodding slowly and agreed with what she'd said.

[And the kind of being capable of something like that would have to be an earth spirit on roughly the same level as me. Practically speaking, you could count the ones capable of it on one hand.]

And of course, the Seven Calamity you're after — Juno — could manage it as well.

He said it openly, as if he had no intention of hiding it.

[Just so you know, the seal is solid, but once it starts to come apart, it'll go completely beyond control. And even if the seal collapses right in front of me, I have no intention of putting it back together.]

At that, I turned my eyes to look at him.

The Smith of Yado, who had returned to his true form at some point, was watching us with a cold gaze.

A cold gaze, from him.

Given how spirits generally didn't show emotion, that meant he was, in fact, deeply furious.

[Crafting something to seal away two of the Seven Calamities… for a fool's wager, the price is far too high. There's no telling how many years I'll be hunted by those two over this, no telling when the warped causality and balance set off by this will come down on my head.]

He muttered the lament, then asked me with a barb in his voice:

[So — the item you ordered. Is it to your liking?]

I nodded silently at the question.

In front of my eyes, a notification window only I could see had appeared.

The emergency quest — 'The Terror of the Sea' — has been completed.

Terror of the Sea [Quest][Emergency]

The Seven Calamity 'Venus' has recognized Yu Ji-hyeok as an enemy, and along with him, every being in his vicinity as her enemies.

All of Venus's underlings will come for you.

She, who has long reigned as the terror of the sea among sailors, will not stop until her enemies are buried in the cold, silent deep.

Escape from her threat.

[Conditions for Success]

The defeat or sealing of the Seven Calamity Venus.

[Reward on Success]

None.

The sealing of the Seven Calamity Venus had succeeded perfectly.

Still in dragon form, I forced my mouth open.

[…Yes.]

A human voice came out of my mouth.

[I'm satisfied. Smith of Yado, you've carried out my first request perfectly.]

When he heard that, the Smith of Yado watched me for a long time with the inscrutable, unreadable eyes that were a spirit's signature trait, then —

[The item to seal Juno will take at least five days more to finish. I have your essence committed to memory, so wherever you are, I'll come to you myself and hand it over.]

[Once that delivery is done, your contract with me is fully concluded.]

[…And whatever era it may be, whatever world, after that I'd appreciate it if you didn't come looking for me.]

He left those words behind, and like a flame going out, vanished without a trace.

[Hahh….]

It was finally over.

For the first time, I could let out a breath of relief.

Right after, my field of vision started dropping closer to the ground, and something heavy and grinding started to bore into every corner of my veins, like it was tearing and digging through me.

The kickback from holding both Dragonification and King of Thorns active for so long had finally come for me.

"Hold your breath for a sec."

Han Su-yeong, who'd already been propping up my half-collapsed form, started undoing my clothes without hesitation.

A moment later she was standing her fingers up at several spots along my body — between my ribs, the pit of my sternum, over my heart — and carving something in.

I tilted my head down a little to see, and she was using her own blood instead of paint to draw the patterns.

A short while later, she gave a small nod, as if to say she was done.

"…Okay, emergency treatment is done. It's a kickback from using your power, same as last time, right? I was worried my energy might clash with yours, so I tidied up the flow to get your energy moving smoothly — that's all I did."

I gave a small nod to thank her.

When I started to lift my hand without thinking, she gave the back of it a sharp thwack.

"If the patterns smear, the effect goes away. So just stay like this for a while."

I was just letting the arm I'd half-raised drop awkwardly back down when —

"You there."

Minerva, who had apparently returned to human form just as I had, knelt down and settled herself right beside me.

She carefully took hold of my hand and leaned her face down to me.

"I beg you, forgive this Minerva for doubting you, if only for a moment."

She began to whisper quietly.

"…And let me say this to you now, while I have the chance. From now on, whatever you say — even the most outlandish thing — I shall believe it. You've earned that right with me."

Minerva carefully set my hand back down as she spoke.

"And let me thank you once more. To think that Venus, my sworn mortal enemy, could be reduced to a state like that. There's no way I can put what I'm feeling into words."

A smile spread across her face, and she turned back to me.

"Come now, you. The one human this Minerva has, alone, given her admiration and her acknowledgment to. Tell this Minerva. Where is the next place we ought to be heading?"

"……"

I parted my lips to speak, but nothing came out.

Minerva nodded, as if she understood perfectly.

"Yes — of course it would be hard. Bearing power like that in a human body, of course it would take a toll. Only tell me where. If you do, I shall gladly carry the two of you on my back, like a wyvern or a lindwurm, and fly us there."

At Minerva's words, Han Su-yeong nodded along too.

"Yeah, Ji-hyeok. For now, just rest. I can take responsibility for at least one of you all on my own."

Where was the next destination.

I answered the two of them, who'd asked the same question, in a hazy voice.

"…The south pole."

Where Juno had gone to ground.

That place was, of all things, the south pole.

"The south pole…? Where in the world is that?"

The moment she heard the answer, Su-yeong went stiff as a board, while Minerva, in contrast, only tilted her head — what's that, then?