WIOHMH 70 🔐

WIOHMH

Chapter 70. Caught by Fishing

“Burkin, what are you going to choose as your presentation topic for Introduction to Monster Studies this time?”

“Oh, that? I’m thinking of doing mythical monsters.”

“Oh, that’s a good choice. You’re going to the library, right? Let’s go together.”

Back in her third year at the Academy, Burkin had once given a presentation on mythical monsters. The professor of Introduction to Monster Studies was infamous for grading reports harshly, so Burkin had been forced to spend quite a long time in the library.

Who could have known that she would recall The Encyclopedia of Legendary Creatures: Mythology Edition, which she had read back then, at a moment like this?

Leviathan.

A mythical monster that existed only in legends. The Leviathan, said to have seven heads, was known to resemble a fusion of a serpent, a whale, and a crocodile.

In myth, the hero who defeated the Leviathan was said to have spoken thus:
“My sword could not pierce even its skin, let alone its heart, and neither spear nor arrow could leave a single scratch upon its eyelids.”

The bard who heard this asked how, then, the hero had managed to catch it. To that, the hero replied:

“I caught it by fishing.”

It sounded ridiculous, but that was exactly what the book said. Bracing herself against the floor, Burkin stood up and stared straight at the Leviathan blocking her path.

“Be calm. Stay calm.”

The seven-headed Leviathan had as many eyes as it had heads. As several pairs of eyes glowered at her ominously from the darkness, Burkin averted her gaze and muttered,

“How am I supposed to stay calm in front of that…?”

It was the moment her face twisted in despair. One of the Leviathan’s seven heads spewed flames, and the head beside it followed suit, firing blazing fireballs toward the ship.

Kwaaang! Bang!

Burkin barely managed to dodge by hiding behind one of the ship’s pillars. At the same time, the vessel was rocking violently, forcing her to struggle just to keep her footing.

“Grrrrr….”

“Couldn’t we talk this out? Leviathan is a mythical monster with intelligence surpassing that of humans, or so the lore says. Did you skip that part of the research?”

She tried speaking to it on the off chance, but of course, there was no response. The watch she had used to contact Liam earlier was silent as well.

Something was clearly wrong—only moments ago, even the contact watch connected to the outside world had gone dead. Leaning against the pillar and staring down at the watch face, Burkin finally made up her mind.

“Fine. I’ll do something.”

Better to die doing something than to die doing nothing. Burkin decided to steer this fight in whatever way would hurt the least if she died.

That way, even if it affected reality, the aftermath might still be manageable.

Having made her decision, Burkin hurriedly scanned her surroundings, searching for anything that might help.

“Kwaaak!”

That was when she spotted a dagger discarded near a barrel in the distance. Burkin began running toward it across the violently swaying deck.

Bang! Kwaaang! Bang!

Thunderous blasts rained down one after another. The fact that Burkin—who wasn’t particularly fast—hadn’t been hit directly was nothing short of a miracle. Though her hair and shirt were scorched, at least she was still alive.

“Got… it!”

Though she called it a dagger, it was closer to a short sword in length. Gripping it tightly with both hands, Burkin crouched briefly behind the barrel.

The Leviathan, seemingly unable to locate the tiny Burkin yet, swung its seven heads about as it prowled near the ship.

The deck was already a sea of flames from the fireballs it had launched. On top of that, the ship, riddled with cracks, looked as though it might split in two and sink at any moment.

“Still, this is a mock naval battle… surely they wouldn’t let the ship actually collapse—”

Craaaack.

At the horrifying sound, Burkin’s eyes snapped open. She could only stare at the deck beneath her feet as it began to split apart.

“You’re even recreating this level of realism? Seriously?”

Unable to bear the sight, Burkin squeezed her eyes shut. But before long, she opened them again. Peeking over the barrel to check the Leviathan, she saw it still rolling its eyes around, searching desperately for her.

At last, she slipped off the low-heeled shoes neatly fitted to her feet and set them aside. Then, gripping the dagger, she began running straight toward the Leviathan.

Creeeak—!

The instant she started running, the ship split cleanly in two. With every step Burkin took, the deck tilted further. She had to run with all her might just to avoid falling into the sea.

“Please, please…!”

Just a little more.

Just one more step!

Never being much of a runner, Burkin didn’t even dare look back to check the ship. Her eyes were fixed solely on the Leviathan.

Reaching the edge of the deck, Burkin leapt high and hurled herself at the Leviathan, the dagger clenched in one hand.

The moment her blade touched the Leviathan’s hide—

Kaang!

A metallic clang rang out, as though metal had struck metal. Just like in the book, the Leviathan’s flesh was impervious. Her blade couldn’t even leave a scratch.

But Burkin didn’t despair. She had known from the start that her scrawny arms wouldn’t be able to wound it.

What she was aiming for was the fin fluttering beneath the Leviathan’s hide.

With a sharp thrust, Burkin drove the dagger straight through the smooth fin.

“Kyaaak!”

“You’re not even in pain, are you!”

“Kyaaaak!”

Hearing the shriek, Burkin snapped back angrily.

Piercing a thin fin shouldn’t have hurt the Leviathan at all. And yet, the moment the fin was pierced, it began thrashing in a frenzy.

Clinging tightly to the dagger to avoid being shaken off, Burkin struggled with all her might to climb onto its body.

And at the moment she finally secured herself atop the Leviathan—

She let go of the dagger she had been gripping so tightly. Instead, she placed her now-empty hands against the Leviathan’s hide.

When asked how he had caught the Leviathan, the hero had answered:

“I caught it by fishing.”

Fishing generally meant threading bait onto a hook and waiting for the prey to bite. In other words, it was no different from attacking the opponent’s inside.

Burkin remembered Liam’s final words before the contact watch had gone dead.

“You have to attack the inside.”

The legend was right. With the dagger she’d held, she couldn’t even pierce its skin. So there was only one thing Burkin—who wasn’t skilled in magic or swordsmanship—could do.

Fwoosh—!

Burkin’s hands flickered with black light. Closing her eyes, she focused entirely on the sensation beneath her palms where they touched the Leviathan’s flesh.

But this time, she wasn’t forcing mana into something, as she always had before.

“Please… work…!”

Burkin had once had her mana stolen when she first met Liam. It had probably been easy for him, always short on mana—but it wasn’t something just anyone could do.

Burkin, who had never lacked mana in her life, least of all. Why would someone who didn’t need another’s mana ever try to take it?

For the first time in her life, Burkin exerted herself to move the mana of a living being other than herself.

“Hhk!”

“Kraaaaaaah!”

A massive scream erupted from the Leviathan. It had been making noise all along, but this scream was different.

It contained pain.

At that moment, Burkin was freely stirring the Leviathan’s mana. Strangely enough, its mana was far easier to move than her own.

Burkin had spent years at the Academy trying to form a mana circle. Yet she had never succeeded even once, because her own mana would not budge.

The only thing she had ever been able to do was inject mana. That was why she had always thought of mana as something heavy.

But this other mana she was touching for the first time—

It was light. As light as lifting a feather.

“Kraah, kyaaaak! Kyaaak!”

The Leviathan’s resistance grew fiercer. Burkin pressed herself closer, desperate not to be thrown off, and increased the speed at which she drained its mana.

“Kyaaak…!”

Creatures born with mana died without it.

Fear began to shimmer faintly in the Leviathan’s yellow eyes. The rate at which its mana was being siphoned away was far too fast.

The vessel of the one absorbing it wasn’t merely a lake—it was wider than the sea itself. Even while draining the mana of a being as inhuman as the Leviathan, Burkin never felt overwhelmed.

She had always lived carrying far more mana than others.

Splash—. Whoooosh….

With her eyes tightly shut, Burkin sensed a change in the air around her and cautiously cracked one eye open. Spotting light, she blinked several times before opening her eyes fully and looking up at the sky.

“Huh…?”

The dark sky was gone. In its place were a clear sky, a calm sea, and a horizon stretching endlessly before her. Lowering her gaze, she saw fragments of the shattered ship and, floating atop the blue sea, a long, black shape drifting motionlessly.

Burkin murmured blankly,

“Did I… kill it?”

Then, once again, a voice echoed from the sky.