The World-Eater Whale.
Without doubt, it was a whale—vast as a mountain, majestic beyond compare. Its immense body shimmered with radiant hues, dazzlingly beautiful. Most who beheld it at first glance would surely call it “magnificent.”
But Inari, upon seeing it, wore a face of deep distaste.
“’Tis enormous… and it doth fly besides. This dungeon… is grievously cruel, is it not?”
Truly, to demand flight as a prerequisite, only to set against one such a colossal monster, was merciless. Were it to spill into the world as part of a Monster Disaster, perhaps there would be means of response—but the destruction would be immeasurable. To Inari, it seemed naught but spite.
Yet mankind was fortunate, for it was Inari who had come.
“Well then. Such a thing cannot be allowed to roam free. Here shall it fall.”
She planted her feet upon the floating isle, drawing Kogetsu’s bowstring taut. A radiant arrow appeared, nocked firmly, the string creaking under the strain.
“No sport, no holding back. With one strike shall I end thee.”
She loosed.
The arrow blazed brighter as it flew, transforming into a colossal beam of light that speared toward the World-Eater Whale.
“Voooooooon…”
Sensing peril, the whale unleashed a shockwave that blasted everything around it. But the beam ripped through the wave, pierced its titanic form, and blew away much of its body.
No living thing could survive such a wound. World-eating power or not, without regeneration, to lose so much flesh meant death. The whale’s vast form dissolved, leaving behind a massive magic stone that plummeted toward the distant earth.
“Ahhh… what a waste. Yet to descend for it… nay…”
If that had been the boss, then little time remained. As she guessed, system messages appeared.
So it had been a temporary dungeon. No need for Inari to destroy the gate.
As she returned outside, the gathered command staff already sensed the gate’s disappearance.
“Impossible… this soon?”
“She came back alone. Then the strike teams…”
“No, wait! Are you saying she cleared that? In so short a time!?”
Amidst the clamor, Yasuno noticed the box in Inari’s hand and let out a startled “Ah.”
“A whale motif… then it was the sea?”
“The sea? That would explain the diving suits failing.”
“’Twas the sky.”
“The… sky—!? The sky!?”
Shock echoed through the tent. They stared at the box in Inari’s hands, its wrapping paper etched with a whale design. Could this truly be the “whale” she spoke of?
One awakener with an Appraisal skill gasped.
“…Reward Box of the World-Eater Whale!? Th-the World-Eater!?”
“Aye. A whale that flew through the heavens. When I entered, there was naught but open sky. Had I not flown, I know not what would have befallen me.”
“Fl-flown!? What nonsense—”
“Behold.”
“Gyaahh, she’s flying!?”
Floating lightly before their eyes, Inari left one awakener collapsed in shock. Even among mages, none yet had flight. To see it casually done left them reeling.
And with it, they understood.
This dungeon had been one no mortal could clear without flight. Even had the top rankers come, they would have perished.
Since dungeons had first appeared in the world, never had such a type manifested. Without Inari, this place might have stood as an unconquerable gate, like the one in the Pacific. But here it was Shinjuku—Tokyo itself imperiled. The paralysis of the capital’s functions, untold victims… all had hung upon this.
“…Best we keep the dungeon’s details undisclosed. The impact would be too great.”
“Agreed. The economic effects alone…”
“Fortunate it was temporary. If fixed… dreadful to imagine.”
“Miss Kogami, would that be acceptable to you?”
“Mm? ’Tis fine. Matters of men’s world I know but little.”
Besides, the crisis was ended. No sense in exhausting people further. Inari left such cleanup to others. Her concern lay with the Reward Box alone.
Tearing the paper open, she revealed a faintly glowing orb, small enough to fit in her palm.
“A… a Skill Orb? ‘Flight’…!?”
At those words from the Appraisal-holder, the room fell into stunned silence. For this was proof of an item unheard of till now—an Orb granting a Skill—and a harbinger of upheaval yet to come.