Chapter 352 - Chapter 16: Sea Serpent Extermination
While we were talking about silly things, and in whispers at that, Henry-sama and the others returned. When Edward-sama waved a signal, they brought the bowl close to the lighthouse. The bowl transformed into a dish, and Edward-sama reached out his hand. Miana, then Eleanor-sama descended. Henry-sama, of course, descended alone, and Wilson-san descended alone before deactivating the bowl.
Edward-sama explained the situation thus and so.
"That sounds interesting. I think it's worth a try."
Immediately, the details were hammered out, and roles were assigned. The coastal spirits—the males can use earth magic, and the females can use water magic, it seems. The males were given the role of the vanguard, carrying silver swords and shields provided by the Primordian Navy, while the females were given the role of pumping out water with water magic. All six are wearing navy coats to ward off the cold. The Navy gathered six handsome men, centered around archers and cavalry, to be the vanguard.
And so, the operation to recapture the seals' nest using icebergs created with Glaciate was launched.
"Hey, you're probably thinking of some operation name again, aren't you?" Beatrix asks.
Surrounding the sea serpent holed up in the cave—the seals' nest—with icebergs and defeating it... I can only think of 'Iceberg Operation'.
In the bowl operated by Wilson-san, Eleanor-sama, Harris-sama, Miana, Beatrix, Mary, and I descend to the bottom of the cliff. The ice lid Mary created with Glaciate hasn't melted yet. It's stuck on the rocks, so it's not drifting away.
Five bowls in total—Wilson-san's bowl plus four bowls operated by Primordian mages—surround the rocky area.
"You've made it well. Let's build ice walls around that ice."
Immediately, Eleanor-sama unleashed Glaciate twice. Two low, long ice walls form a triangle with a part of the cliff as the base. The cliff part is where the cave entrance is located. Next, when Mary deactivated her Glaciate, a pool of seawater surrounded by ice walls was completed. Female coastal spirits on different bowls pumped out seawater rapidly, while Beatrix and Mary simultaneously sealed the places where seawater was leaking with Ice Cubes.
Fish were thrown out along with the seawater, and crabs are wandering around. There's no need to remove all of it. When enough water was left to form a tide pool, the entrance to the former coastal spirits' nest became visible.
The nest entrance opens as if sandwiched between two rocks. It's a hole dug into the cliff, dug straight. Normally, it should be filled with seawater.
The vanguard, centered around Henry-sama, Edward-sama, and Beowulf, jumped down. The two are accompanied by the six handsome men and three male coastal spirits. They form a wall with their shields to prepare for the sea serpent's attacks. Of course, they are strengthened with support magic. Archers, including Magdalena-sama and Bonnie, are waiting in bowls with silver arrows notched in their bows.
Taking a position diagonally in front of the vanguard, I have Miana fly the Firefly, which was strengthened by Harris-sama and Sianya's Holy Lances, to the cave entrance using Favorable Wind. Since the ruins exploration, we had been practicing together at the farm, and she has become quite good at it. Since she can now control the force of the wind, it flies fluffily. It's harder to blow a slow, continuous wind than a fast wind that relies on momentum.
Just like that, once it was carried to the cave entrance, I illuminated the back of the hole with full power.
"It's there! It hates it." Henry-sama raised his voice. The light reaches far enough.
"Then, here I go. Blizzard!" Mary unleashes a snowstorm toward the cave. Making a howling sound, the blizzard blows into the cave just like a winter storm. According to the coastal spirits, the cave's depth is about twenty paces. Halfway through, there is a step, and if you go up, you come out to a place without water. From there, you climb a narrow passage with stairs. It was made by hollowing out rock with earth magic. A sea serpent of that size cannot pass through. The magic the sea serpent uses, as expected of something mistaken for a dragon, is lightning. Lightning cannot dig holes. In other words, it's twenty paces ahead.
Since the Firefly was blown deep inside by the force of the Blizzard, I temporarily weaken the light.
Suddenly, the sea serpent breathed out fire. However, since Eleanor-sama has deployed a Wind Barrier in front of the vanguard, it has no effect. In the intervals of the fire, it sent lightning flying with a roar, but the result was the same. Sianya has deployed Magic Reflection in front of the Wind Barrier. The reflected lightning fell to the ground.
When I illuminate with full power again, the fire ceased. It must have turned its face away. If so, I bring out another one and carry it deep inside in the same way. I thought it might close its eyes and charge out, but there was no more reaction.
"Its movement seems to have stopped." Henry-sama calls out. It seems the Blizzard's effect has kicked in.
According to the coastal spirits, sea serpents are usually in the sea. Since the sea doesn't freeze, the temperature doesn't drop below a certain point. On the other hand, on land, the temperature can drop below a certain point. When in such an environment, the sea serpent's body temperature drops, and its movement stops. It must be something like hibernation. It stays that way until seawater is let in or the temperature rises and its body warms up.
With Magic Reflection and Wind Barrier deployed in front, we cautiously enter the cave. We can't go in with a large number of people. Ten people go: two male coastal spirits as scouts, Henry-sama, Edward-sama, and Beowulf as the vanguard, Harris-sama, Alex, and myself in the center, and Eleanor-sama, Beatrix, and Mary as the rearguard. The others were asked to wait under Magdalena-sama's command as support and rescue in case of emergency.
The cave was wide enough for a massive sea serpent to crawl in. It has enough width for three adults to walk side-by-side easily and a height where Edward-sama can only just reach the ceiling by stretching his hand. Due to the Blizzard's effect, the puddles at our feet are frozen. I brought out one Firefly so we wouldn't slip. Icicles have also formed. Our breath is white. We're fine because I cast Resist on everyone, but otherwise, it would be quite cold.
By the way, the cave walls and ceiling have surfaces as smooth as if polished by a craftsman. It's not just because they're frozen. The rock itself is smooth.
"Was this dug with Curve?" Eleanor-sama asks the coastal spirits. Curve is a mid-level earth attribute magic, a smaller version of Crevasse. It's commonly known as rock-carving magic. However, since it only carves, the carved parts must be moved with Clump Stone.
"Seems so. Being spirits, the finish is beautifully done." Alex translated. It seems humans could never dig this smoothly.
"When I go to the sea, I sometimes encounter rocks with mysterious shapes that I can only think someone carved. Could it be you?"
"Not all of them, but some were carved by companions living here and there, apparently."
"It is a magnificent thing."
When Alex translated Eleanor-sama's words, the two handsome men showed radiant smiles. I see, the mermaid legends weren't entirely lies after all. If this were a beautiful woman's smile, an ordinary man would be smitten instantly.
Going deeper, there is a wide space. It's a horizontal oval, and the height is twice that of the cave. In front, there is a place raised like a stage, connected by a slope. The sea serpent probably couldn't go up because the stage is narrow. From there, a narrow staircase leading up was visible. If you climb it, it should be the spirits' living quarters.
The sea serpent is below the stage. It's coiled up as if stuck to the left wall from the entrance. Since I'm bathing it in Light, it's turning its face away. It's not frozen. It seems to be half-asleep, but just in case, Mary froze its body with Glaciate. When I went up to the stage and looked at its face, its eyes aren't closed. It looks no different than usual.
"Snakes don't have eyelids. Instead, they have transparent scales over their eyes. So, Jeanne's Light might have had its power halved." Alex told me.
What. So that's how it was. I thought I might have been able to blind it if I was lucky, but it seems I was being too naive. Besides, when we did the snake extermination in the Flatlands, Lewis-san and the others from the thicket were found even though they were hidden in the shadows. Since it seems they don't rely solely on their eyes, even if I succeeded in blinding it, I can't let my guard down.
The spirits are saying something to the sea serpent. Since its head isn't frozen, it seems to be conscious. The sea serpent, for its part, is making a hissing sound with its mouth closed. It seems it's speaking with that. Alex also couldn't understand the snake's language, so simultaneous translation was impossible. I decided to wait for the conversation between the coastal spirits and the sea serpent to end.
What we learned was that the sea serpent's food became scarce in the north, so it moved south.
"Sometimes, the ocean currents change. It seems there was a period ten-odd years ago when the current flowing to the north of the island weakened, and the water temperature changed. It seems it came south at that time. Well, it's probably a stray."
The sea on the west side of the island and between the continent is shallower than the north... more accurately, the northwest of the island. It gets shallower from around the Primordian coast, so if it goes south and reaches the strait with the continent, it becomes quite shallow. Of course, even if it's called shallow, it's not so shallow that a human can reach the seabed by skin-diving. And even if it were in a relatively shallow sea, it doesn't particularly attack humans. Its staple food is, after all, seals.
However, in these past few years, the Engrio Navy, which tried to invade Primordia, was annihilated off the coast of Primordia twice. The sea serpent ate those corpses and learned the taste of human flesh.
"The problem is, it's not just this one; there's another one. Even if we save this one, it will definitely retaliate. No questions asked. Even people who have nothing to do with it will be targeted if they're human."
It seems it didn't respond to the coastal spirits' persuasion to return to the north. It's a monster to begin with. It will do as it pleases.
"Its nature is worse than the Great Shark, which can't converse. The coastal spirits are also saying there's no choice but to subjugate it."
Unfortunately, it didn't respond to negotiations. Fortunately, it seems extremely rare for sea serpents to come south, and if we defeat the one in front of us and its partner, we can assume no other sea serpents will appear.
"To lure out its partner at the bottom of the sea, a decoy is needed. If you kill this one and let its blood flow into the sea, it will definitely come, so fight the decisive battle there, they say."
The coastal spirits are proactive. Eleanor-sama and Edward-sama also mostly agreed.
"What do you think, Jeanne?" For some reason, Eleanor-sama singles me out.
"If it has learned the taste of human flesh and has started attacking, I believe we have no choice but to subjugate it."
The Wyverns were eating human flesh offered as sacrifices. However, they never attacked the village. Sea serpents attack and eat humans. It's the same as boars ravaging fields or bears attacking livestock and humans. I think it's pitiful that it ended up in this area as a result of being a stray. However, if it hasn't taken the northward current back and is staying in this area to use humans as food, it can't be helped.
Eleanor-sama froze the snake's head, and we had a strategy meeting.
"From what I've heard, the area above those stairs is the living quarters?"
"Yeah, there are also holes for light and escape holes, apparently."
The escape hole is connected to a different place from where we entered, and the exit is also underwater, it seems. Just in case, I decided to have them show us around once.
That said, it's someone else's house, so to speak. Even with the owner's guidance, I felt hesitant to barge in with a large group. We formed a group of two males and two females. Alex was a given, and Henry-sama volunteered. Of course, Eleanor-sama also volunteered. I was wondering who the other female would be, but for some reason, everyone is looking at me. Mary prepared a lantern and started consulting with Beatrix about where to place it.
"It's decided then. Shall we go?" Eleanor-sama? When exactly was this decided?
While illuminating our feet with Light and climbing the narrow stairs, there is a long, narrow passage that doubles back toward the sea side. The sound of waves can be heard from the back. There was a round hole in the wall at the end of the passage, and light was shining through. In other words, the sea is close. The passage connects to a second passage that extends to intersect at a right angle halfway. There are eight holes in that passage, each leading to a room. Six rooms were former bedrooms, one room is a food storage, and another room is where the escape hole is located. The escape hole is about the width and height of one person, and a steep staircase extends downward. When we went down, there was the scent of the tide, and we came out to a circular, wide area with a hole where seawater had pooled.
In the middle of the room, there is a hole, and seawater is pooled in it. When I illuminated the water with Light, a school of small fish was swimming. By the wall, there is a massive shrimp. When the sea is rough, it seems food can be secured here as well. There is a hole on the side. It must be the escape exit. It seems to connect to the sea further south than the entrance we came in through.
"How far do we have to swim to get outside?" Alex talked about various things with the coastal spirits, but the conclusion was probably about ten paces, apparently. It's not a distance that can't be swum in one breath. In other words, if we feel like it, we can hole up here.
Returning to where we were, we summarized the strategy. We can hole up here sufficiently. The escape route in the sea might be a bit dangerous, but since Alex is here, it's easy to get outside with Teleport.
"Then, if we can get the coastal spirits' permission, let's lure it here."
After taking off the head, we deactivate the ice walls and let the seawater in. The blood will flow out to the sea. And when the partner arrives, we'll close the lid and trap it. After that, if we drain the water again, it will be a land battle. It will be a hard fight for the sea serpent.
The coastal spirits also agreed, so it was decided to meet the enemy here.