Chapter 756

The desire to live isn’t granted to humans alone.

Any creature that can breathe and think will struggle until its final breath. All the more so a born predator that has never once imagined its own death.

Shwoosh! Splurch!

“GRAAAAAAAAAH!”

A spear shot in from behind and burrowed into Leviathan’s lava-like bulk.

Its vision flashed white. Screaming in pain, Leviathan clenched its broken teeth.

I won’t die. This body won’t die. Never!

It swam with all its might.

But for all the ferocity of its will to survive, its fins and tail—once swift enough to cut through the vast ocean like rays of light—barely moved. Its whole body, once brimming with strength, was growing heavier.

Why the hell…?

Leviathan gasped for breath. It couldn’t stop now.

It had finally managed to shake them off. The way to survival was open. All it had to do was flee as far as it could and hide.

Whether it took decades or centuries, it could have its revenge someday—so long as it survived today. Unlike humans, fated to die after barely a hundred years, Leviathan could live for something close to eternity as long as it had water and magical power.

In the end, I’m the one who will survive. Not you bastards. This Leviathan!

It forced up the body that kept trying to sink. Riding the waves left by the battle, carried by the current, it headed for the refuge waiting somewhere far away.

Or so it believed, until something cold and hard blocked its path.

Boom.

A dull impact sent a jolt back through its body.

A reef?

Leviathan raised its head. In its half-crushed eye, it saw a steel ship gleaming in the sunlight—and a human standing above it, looking down.

“Operation complete. We’ll capture the target now.”

The quiet voice reached Leviathan’s ears. It couldn’t tell whom the human was addressing, and it couldn’t understand the words. Their meaning was easy enough to guess.

“…Not yet. Not yet.”

Leviathan gathered every last scrap of strength. It raised the tail that had once smashed dozens of aircraft carriers apart in a single blow and lashed out at him.

Then—

Splash.

Water scattered feebly where its tail, once dozens of meters¹ long, should have been.

Only then did the monster of myth understand. Its magnificent tail was gone. The streak of flame fired from behind had melted away half its body.

“Ah.”

Leviathan groaned.

Choi Minwoo, the human who had crushed its last hope, watched two figures approaching in the distance and smiled faintly.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Waaaaaaaaah!”

“Uhyooooo! Leviathan getto da ze!²”

At Team Leader Choi’s words, the sailors of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force aboard the aircraft carrier let out a tremendous cheer.

I had vomited up enough seawater to fill a kettle before barely managing to open my mouth.

“Tell them to keep it down. My head’s ringing.”

The Skeleton King, so drenched he looked pickled in seawater, chimed in.

“Tell them to stop making a fuss now that it’s over and just steer the ship. If they keep this up, I’ll summon the vengeful spirits of Pearl Harbor.³ You know what happens then, don’t you?”

Team Leader Choi nodded.

“Yes. We’d run another raid right here.”

“…Are you serious?”

“I’m joking.”

I left the wounded-looking Skeleton King behind and headed to the rear of the aircraft carrier.

The enormous monster lay bound tight in a magic-infused net, struggling to breathe.

“You…”

Even with its crushed eye, it somehow recognized me and muttered like a groan. I brushed back my wet hair and waved.

“Yeah, it’s me, you son of a bitch.”

“K-kill me. I have not the slightest intention of suffering humiliation at the hands of a mere human.”

I blinked silently. Then I asked Team Leader Choi,

“Did anyone say we were keeping this thing alive?”

“Certainly not me.”

“Not me either. You?”

The Skeleton King had followed me over. He answered flatly.

“Are you insane?”

“Right? I was wondering what the hell that bullshit was about.”

I shrugged and drove White Flame, which I’d recovered on the way here, into Leviathan’s body.

Splurch!

A faint groan escaped it. It seemed as if death, which had drawn close once again, flickered in Leviathan’s eyes.

Half its body was already gone. Tenacious as it was, there was no coming back from a wound like that.

But first, I needed an answer.

“You should’ve stayed asleep. What made you crawl all the way out here?”

“…Kill me.”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that.”

Splurch! Crack.

I slowly twisted the spearhead embedded in its torso. Leviathan convulsed as the blade ground against its bones, then answered in a rush.

“F-food! I smelled food!”

“An S-rank Magic Gem.”

I’d expected as much. Still twisting the spearhead, I asked my next question.

“Who woke you up?”

“Woke me up?”

“We wouldn’t know. You would.”

I tightened my grip on the spear shaft. Its answer came through a groan, but it didn’t change.

“Ghk. Ghk. I-I don’t know. I’d been starving for so long, and then I sensed magical power coming from the sea. That’s all.”

Was it telling the truth?

I didn’t have to think long. Everyone got honest when death was staring them in the face, and I couldn’t see the slightest trace of a lie in Leviathan. It had already lost the will to live.

Damn it.

I swallowed my disappointment.

It was obvious who had lured it here with an unrefined S-rank Magic Gem.

Michael Silbert.

The problem was proving it. Without evidence that he’d caused this disaster, no one would believe me.

That was how much standing Odin Guild—and Michael Silbert—had in the world. He was more than a hero of the Great Cataclysm. He was in a position to reach for the place only one person in human history had ever occupied.

Normally, it would be impossible even if I died and came back to life… But things are different now.

Cheon Taemin.

If Prometheus had given humanity fire, Cheon Taemin had defeated the Demon King Asmodeus and given humanity peace. He’d done it not in some myth embroidered with fiction, but in the real world, only a few decades ago. No one had done anything like it before or since.

Yet he, too, had become part of the past.

To people living in the present, Cheon Taemin was great but impossibly distant. They were still grateful to him, yet they resented him more than anyone.

The world now cheered for a hero who acted before everyone’s eyes, not one who had withdrawn from it.

For Michael Silbert—one of the countless people who had lived in Cheon Taemin’s shadow.

…Damn it.

The strength drained out of me. I pulled the spear shaft from deep inside Leviathan’s body and aimed it at its neck.

The hunt was over. It was time to put this damn monster down.

“Goodbye. Try not to find peace in the next life.”

I raised the spear. Blue-white flames already burned along its transparent blade.

One Strike.

That was all it would take. With its strength completely spent, Leviathan’s body would split like tofu beneath the Force.

I didn’t hesitate.

Whoom.

The flames burned through the wind as the spear fell.

Leviathan stared blankly up at it. Then it spoke.

The time has come.

What?

I twisted the spearhead as the question flashed through my mind. But fatigue lay on me as heavy as the salt in the seawater, and my body reacted half a beat too late.

Shhk! Shwaaaaaak!

The thick neck, several meters⁴ across, was sliced in half.

Beyond the green blood surging up like a wave, my eyes met the monster’s eyes, already overshadowed by irreversible death.

Its final thought sounded in my mind, not my ears.

Magical power stirred my hunger. But it was you humans—and this world—that woke me from my deep sleep.

“……!”

The time has come, human. Please survive. Survive to the very end. Survive until the end of this world, and see with your own eyes the day I never got to see…

Splash.

The thought faded, then ended like an echo. At the same time, the enormous maw that had been trembling violently slammed into the surface of the water.

And as I stared at the light fading from its eyes, confused, a clear ringing filled my ears.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

System

• You have defeated Lv. 170 Leviathan!
• You have successfully completed Quest: Calamity of the Sea!
• You have acquired a massive amount of EXP and Fame!
• Level Up!
• Special Debuff: Broken Body rejects the power of healing!
• Leviathan is a powerful S-rank monster and the only Named monster. Since you have accumulated remarkable achievements, an additional Reward will be granted!
• The effects of Title: Aquatic Rescue Worker have been enhanced!
• The name of Title: Aquatic Rescue Worker will be changed!
• You have acquired Title: Hope of the Sea!
• …
• …
• …

System

• You have defeated Lv. 170 Leviathan!
• You have successfully completed Quest: Calamity of the Sea!
• You have acquired a massive amount of EXP and Fame!
• Level Up!
• Special Debuff: Broken Body rejects the power of healing!
• Leviathan is a powerful S-rank monster and the only Named Monster. Since you have accumulated remarkable achievements, an additional Reward will be granted!
• The effects of Title: Water Rescue Worker have been enhanced!
• The name of Title: Water Rescue Worker will be changed!
• You have acquired Title: Hope of the Sea!
• …
• …
• …

The bells rang without pause like a victory salute. I couldn’t move. An inexplicable sense of foreboding had taken hold of me.

The time has come.

Leviathan’s final words ran through my mind again, and suddenly I understood.

Ding.

System

• Main Quest: Cataclysm has been generated!

A change too vast to measure was already drawing close to this world.

Leviathan was dead.

The news was brief but electrifying. It reached Japan’s Ministry of Defense first, then spread across Japan and out into the world.

[Jin Taekyung succeeds in Leviathan raid!]

[The Calamity of the Sea finally meets its death!]

[The miracle of twenty-four hours. Asia’s star takes flight after falling to rock bottom!]

People who had held back their fear and prayed desperately for the raid’s success erupted in cheers. News outlets around the world, which had watched Japan with bated breath, poured out articles as though they’d been waiting for their cue.

[The dazzling rise of a young hero.]

[Japanese Prime Minister boldly declares at a press conference, defying everyone’s expectations: “I kept it. Because it was a promise.”]

[Japanese Defense Minister abruptly dismissed. Senior Ministry of Defense official laments: “The Defense Minister was considering a kamikaze⁵ operation.”]

[A great achievement accomplished by only two S-rank Hunters!]

[Japanese netizens condemn the government and praise the hero. “What on earth was Japan’s S-rank Hunter Yamamoto doing?” “Let’s make Jin Taekyung our shogun!⁶”]

[Korean netizens mock Japan: “Yamamoto must have been cleaning.”]

Countless articles and news reports swept across the internet like waves. At the center of them all was one name.

Jin Taekyung.

Asia’s star.

A bird that had taken flight once more after an endless fall.

But amid the praise and cheers of the entire world, he couldn’t smile.