novelraw Chapter 180 : Mission 11: Come Back to Busan Port (6)
Chapter 180 : Mission 11: Come Back to Busan Port (6)
The Sky Whale attacked again as the sun sank low in the west.
Vwoooooo…!
The whale’s resonant roar traveled from the depths, riding the waves until it reached the ship.
Terrified, Jae-hee hit the deck.
“What the—it’s coming for us first this time?!”
“This ship’s been drifting all day,” Ghost said, estimating their position by scanning the coastline. “It seems we’ve reentered its territory.”
The whale’s cry grew closer.
Ghost shouted toward the engine room. “Hey! What’s the status on the engine swap?”
“Just finished!”
“Can we get away?”
The Whale Hunter, covered in grease, emerged from the engine room and took the helm.
He glanced back and clicked his tongue. “It’s already too close. We can’t shake it!”
He turned to Ghost and Jae-hee, his face grim.
“I have a plan to finish this. Let’s settle it once and for all.”
“…”
“Your mission is to kill that whale, yeah? Let’s just give it one more shot.”
Ghost stroked her chin, her voice unimpressed. “What’s the plan?”
“We hit it all at once.” The Whale Hunter gestured with his eyes toward the monster convict trio. “Throw those monsters of yours in at the same time. And you, the one who looks like you know what you’re doing—you attack with them.”
“…”
“If you can buy me enough time, I’ll end this in one blow with the ace I’ve been saving.”
“Ace?”
The Whale Hunter strode to the bow of the ship and ripped the waterproof tarp off something that had been hidden there.
What lay beneath was a massive harpoon head, several times larger and more vicious-looking than any they had fired so far.
“We’re going to ram it with this.”
“So the plan is to just ram it with a giant harpoon?”
“Simple, but that’s what makes it powerful.”
The Whale Hunter pointed to the wickedly gleaming harpoon head and nodded gravely. “This is the most vicious piece of Gate Gear on this ship. It’ll finish the job.”
“…Fine.”
With a short grunt, Ghost pushed herself to her feet. Jae-hee awkwardly followed.
“Not like we have any other options. Let’s do it.”
“Excellent!”
The Whale Hunter returned to the wheelhouse and started the engine.
VROOOOOM!
The ship shot forward.
And at the same moment, the Sky Whale breached the surface, its head emerging as it gave chase.
Vwoooooo…!
With its massive head above the water, it looked like an entire island was bearing down on them.
The Whale Hunter, desperately pushing the ship to its limits, bellowed, “We need to make some distance! Buy me some time!”
“Right… Boy, throw your friends!”
“Hey, you’re not supposed to throw your friends…”
Though he grumbled, Jae-hee led the Monster Unit trio to the stern.
“Okay, guys. One more time. You can do it, right?”
“Waahh…”
“Blooood…”
“Aww… Well, if it’s for you, Cult Leader…!”
Thwump!
Crying-X was the first to be launched from the net-caster, instantly inflating to its full size in midair. The Flying Tentacle God and the Rose Princess clung to the giant lion plushie as it soared, reaching the Sky Whale’s head a moment later.
The startled Sky Whale tried to stop them, sending twin whirlpools churning up from below the surface, but the Flying Tentacle God and the Rose Princess took the left and right flanks, tearing the vortexes apart.
In that opening, Crying-X delivered a body slam.
A mountain of water erupted as the monsters began to fight.
While they were tangled in a chaotic brawl on the sea, the ship managed to put some distance between itself and the Sky Whale.
VROOOOOM!
The ship used the opening to race ahead, carving a wide U-turn before charging head-on toward the Sky Whale once more.
As he loaded the giant harpoon at the bow, the Whale Hunter yelled, “We’re ramming it! Brace for impact!”
“Reckless as hell…”
But the Sky Whale wasn’t just going to sit there and take it.
This sea was its home turf, after all. It began to unleash a relentless barrage of whirlpools, and the Monster Unit trio couldn’t hold out for long before being knocked away.
VWOOOO!
With the obstacles cleared, the Sky Whale fired a massive whirlpool directly at the charging ship.
Standing at the bow, Ghost cursed and drew her sword. Jae-hee, who was right beside her, had a sudden realization.
A whirlpool…
A spiraling vortex, a bullet of wind, was hurtling toward them.
I can use the wind… in that form, too…
Focusing, Jae-hee spun in place in a dance-like motion, swinging his sword.
From the tip of his blade, a faint but distinct vortex of wind swirled and shot forward like a bullet.
“Huh? I think… I think I’m getting the hang of this?”
“…”
Until now, Jae-hee had always internalized his Awakened ability, using it to achieve inhuman speed by becoming one with the wind.
But now, facing the enemy’s wind, he was trying to manifest his power by projecting it outward.
“…Boy.”
Recognizing that her disciple was on the verge of a breakthrough, Ghost stepped in front of him.
“I’ll protect the ship. You keep at it.”
“Huh? Oh, right!”
The Sky Whale fired off a furious succession of whirlpools.
Jae-hee countered, swinging his sword to launch his own.
The whale’s vortexes were the size of houses, while the boy’s were barely the size of baseballs.
“…!”
But Ghost saw it.
Like a pitcher’s form gradually improving, the bullets of wind the boy fired were becoming sharper, stronger, and faster.
At first, Jae-hee’s wind was so weak it simply vanished into the whale’s onslaught, forcing Ghost to slice apart every vortex that threatened the ship.
But then, at a certain point…
A bullet of wind shot from the tip of Jae-hee’s sword pierced straight through the center of the massive whirlpool and scattered it to pieces.
“Haah, haah…”
Having exhausted his strength in a short burst, Jae-hee collapsed in a boneless heap.
“I think… I get it now…”
With her disciple down for the count, Ghost stood at the bow, tenaciously cutting down the vortexes spewing from the enraged Sky Whale.
She yelled, “Whale Hunter!”
“Don’t you worry.”
Staring down the colossal body of the Sky Whale now directly in front of them, the Whale Hunter at the helm muttered grimly, “We’re already in range.”
The Sky Whale stopped firing whirlpools and tried to dodge. Perhaps it sensed something wrong as the ship charged head-on without evading.
But it was too late.
The Whale Hunter slammed his fist on a button in the wheelhouse. Flames erupted from nozzles at the ship’s stern, giving it a sudden, violent burst of acceleration.
As the ship launched forward like a missile, momentarily lifting off the water, Jae-hee’s eyes met Ghost’s.
He grinned brightly and said, “When I get a car someday, I’m definitely getting one of these rocket things!”
“…You do that. You really do that.”
The flying ship slammed its bow into the whale’s side.
The giant harpoon plunged deep into the monster’s flank.
***
A crimson tide swelled in the waters off the coast of Busan, which were otherwise pristine now that the city and its people were gone.
It was the blood of the Sky Whale, its side pierced.
Vwoo… Vwoooo…
The wound must have been fatal. The colossal roar that had shaken the area was now reduced to a weak groan.
The Sky Whale floated on the surface, its breathing ragged and labored.
“Finally got you…”
The Whale Hunter laughed, looking down at his nemesis.
His ship hadn’t escaped unscathed. The reckless maneuver had warped the hull, and the harpoon used in the final ram had snapped. Blood trickled from his forehead where he’d hit the wheel on impact.
But none of that mattered to the Whale Hunter.
He had his revenge.
“Time to finish this, you goddamn monster…”
The Whale Hunter grabbed a harpoon and his hunting rifle and approached the Sky Whale floating on the surface.
That’s when it happened.
Vwooo…
“…?”
From beneath the waves, a different cry echoed.
Then, the sea swelled, and… another Sky Whale surfaced next to the fallen one.
“What?” Ghost was stunned as she was pulling the exhausted Monster Unit out of the water with a fishing line. “There was another one?”
Jae-hee, who had been lying in a heap, scrambled to his feet, drew his sword, and then broke into a cold sweat as he saw the new arrival.
“Uh… this one looks a little different, doesn’t it?”
“…It has no fins.”
The long, thin, wing-like fins that protruded from both sides of the first Sky Whale were missing from the second.
The organs that allowed it to create whirlpools and fly through the sky were gone, as if they’d been carved off.
Vwooooo…
The second Sky Whale circled the first, letting out a sorrowful cry. Without its fins, it couldn’t even swim properly; its movements were slow and clumsy.
Ghost narrowed her eyes, studying it intently. “A calf…? No, they’re about the same age… Siblings?”
“…”
“This one can’t fly, so it couldn’t have ascended during the Busan Gate incident. Then why did the healthy one stay behind with it?”
Jae-hee answered Ghost’s musing. “To protect it…?”
“What?”
“If they really are… siblings. Maybe the older brother stayed behind to protect his little brother who doesn’t have fins?”
He quickly added, “Uh, or maybe not…?”
On that day, when hundreds of sky whales left their home and invaded Busan through the Gate, two young whales were left behind, unable to follow their kind.
To protect its sibling, who couldn’t fly without wings, the other whale remained in the sea.
It couldn’t even go to the island in the sky, Busan…
It remained here, in this earthly purgatory.
“…That makes sense.” Ghost clicked her tongue. “So that’s why it attacked any fishing boat that came near. It was worried its brother living down here might be in danger.”
Vwoooo…
With a pained groan, the wounded Sky Whale moved to shield its sibling. Blood was still pouring from its side, but its movements were clear.
It had to protect the one without fins.
“…Bullshit…” Staring at the scene, the Whale Hunter roared, “Bullshit!”
Click-clack!
He aimed his hunting rifle at the Sky Whale’s head and screamed, his voice raw.
“You’re the monsters who blew millions of Busan’s people into the sky! And now you’re saying your lives are precious? Your family’s life is precious, but the lives of the people you tore apart aren’t?!”
His hand trembled as he released the safety.
“My brother!”
His weathered, bearded face twisted with a storm of emotions.
“My brother…!”
The whale, impaled and bleeding, was still trying to protect its sibling.
Perhaps, in that whale, he saw a reflection of someone else.
“Give him back…”
In the end, the Whale Hunter couldn’t pull the trigger.
“Give me… my brother back…”
The two sky whales slowly retreated into the distance.
The one without fins and the one with a harpoon in its side, tangled together as if supporting each other, disappeared beneath the black water.
Only after they were long gone did the Whale Hunter pull the trigger.
Bang!
The bullet skipped across the empty surface.
The hunting rifle fell from the Whale Hunter’s hand as he slowly collapsed, clattering to the deck.
Ghost and Jae-hee watched the man’s back in silence.
The night sea off the coast of Busan, pitch-black without the city’s lights, lapped against the sides of the ship.