Everyone settled into their seats comfortably as Naur continued the next record.
<Chapter 429: Trap (3)>
The large whales shot up through the water. The first whale to cut through the surface of the northern waters was a humpback whale. The ships could not handle the suddenly rough waters and started to fall into chaos.
"Move back!"
"Whales are coming up from the back as well!"
The TBOAH!Archie had a vicious expression upon his face, his eyes were stinging and his fists were clenched. Beside him TBOAH!Witira felt like her heart was going to pound right out of her chest. Even the Whale King TBOAH!Shickler was sitting with his hands clasped beneath his chin and watching this record with bated breath.
The first mate looked behind him after hearing the crew member's response before almost dropping the control key in his hand. He could see the vicious gazes of the whales that had raised their heads. He could then see their large mouths slowly start to open wider. They were getting closer. Some whales were moving toward the ships with their mouths opened wide while others were moving to slam into the ships with their bodies without any hesitation.
'I'm going to die. They're going to eat me.'
TCF!Shickler scoffed, "There a plenty better things to eat, Fool. Why would we eat you?"
"Yeah... I mean we might squash you or drown you..."
"Or maybe even slice you in two..." Paseton added with a huff.
"But we won't bother eating you." TCF!Witira ended her family's tirade with a click of a tongue as she flipped back her ethereal blue hair with more dignity and poise than was necessarily intended.
The first mate couldn't help but imagine the nightmare that would happen in a few minutes.
'...I shouldn't have gotten involved in this!'
Following the White Star was one thing, but he should not have gotten involved in this mess with the Whale tribe. What kind of existences were the Whales? They were the strongest force in the ocean even with the fewest members. Many aquatic creatures leaned on the Whale tribe for support. Any person of the sea should know not to mess with the ocean!
"Bastard! How dare you regret it now!! If you knew than you shouldn't have done it in the first place! Waltzing into our territory and expecting us not to show you uninvited bastards our hospitality!" TCF!Archie grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and plastering a arrogantly smug look upon his face.
The first mate tightened his grip even as he imagined this terrible future. The key quickly started to turn.
"Grab the mast! All of you snap out of it!"
The whales started to roar as they approached the ships.
"Row if you don't want to die! Row until your arms fall off!"
The ship changed directions. Unfortunately, the whales were already right in front of them regardless of the first mate's hard work. Everything would soon be broken by those large mouths.
Several people clicked their tongues at the sudden flash of light that attacked the whale on the Palantír. Someone swore under their breath, but it was only possible for those with the highest sensitivity to hear it, so Grigori let it slide just this once.
A whale urgently turned its body and let out a cry after seeing a bright explosion. The whale's eyes were glaring at the enemy who got in his way.
"Don't worry about the whales and steer the ships!"
"Yes! Sayeru-nim!"
Black mages, knights, and Bears appeared with Bear King Sayeru in the lead to fight against the whales. Sayeru continued to throw the light arrows surrounding both of his hands. The arrows quickly flew toward two whales. The explosions were strong enough to shoot the water into the air.
"Damn it!"
However, Sayeru soon started to frown. There, on top of the two whales' backs...
A Whale warrior holding a sword that was dripping water and a different Whale warrior with a large podao* in his hand had blocked the light arrows. Their strengths were fitting of the Whales.
"Hmph." Sayeru snorted. "You think we didn't expect at least this much resistance?"
"Excuse me Oraboni..." TBOAH!Lily called out and both Kim Rok Soo and Cale immediately turned to look at her. Cale nodded for her to go ahead, while Kim Rok Soo spoke up.
"What is it, Lily?"
"What's a podao?" she asked, even TBOAH!Basen and both their TCF!World counterparts also seemed curious to know. Kim Rok Soo was at a loss, luckily, Cale was not – so he spoke up to answer her question.
"A podao is a single-edged infantry weapon that was used by one of the countries in the world. It is still used primarily for training in various types of martial arts."
"Which country?" Kim Rok Soo asks his Soul Swap Partner curious about this new information. Upon the Palantír an zoomed in image of the weapon in the Whale Tribe members hand was being shown for everyone's convenience.
"It's a Chinese infantry weapon and it's used in Chinese martial arts." Cale answered. He received a nod from Grigori – to show that he was correct.
"But if it's a weapon used in the other world how do the Whale Tribe know about it?"
"Actually this weapon was something Choi Jung Gun taught the Whale tribe how to make around the time before he introduced them to the Northern glacier territory that became their home... And over time it became a weapon that many of their warriors trained with regularly." Grigori spoke up since this was something that no one else in the hall knew about with certainty.
"Incredible!" came the appreciative responses from several places around the hall.
Once all the talking quietened down, Naur continued the record.
Sayeru started to smile after hearing the continued explosions. The Whales were strong. However, they were few in number and the White Star's side had brought a lot of people to handle them.
"You bastards are the ones who walked into your own graves!"
Sayeru flung more light arrows toward the two Whale warriors. His pale complexion was turning even paler, but his eyes were sharply observing the enemies in front of him as well as the nearby battlefield.
'...Something is weird!'
Kim Rok Soo clicked his tongue, he hated that Bear King bastard even more than he hated the White Star – this was because he still had night-terrors about the bear tribe members who had fought alongside the wyverns that destroyed his home and territory. That feeble-looking bastard – Kim Rok Soo wanted to beat him to death with his bare hands. A soft hand suddenly settled upon his clenched fist, jolting him back into the present.
Looking down, he found Cale's hand was kindly holding onto his clenched fist.
"Just breath... It's okay to be angry... but don't get so worked up that you forget to breath and end up passing out and missing all the good stuff!" Cale consoled him in a hushed whisper, this time without looking at him. The record continued with no one else the wiser about Kim Rok Soo's bloodlust.
His cold gaze could feel the oddness of the battlefield. Something was weird. Something on this battlefield was weird. Sayeru's eyes clouded over. It was at that moment. The sound of something large sinking shook the battlefield. The explosion that soon followed forced everyone, enemies and allies alike, to stop moving for a moment. They all looked toward the direction of the noise.
A woman holding a powerfully spinning water whip had destroyed another glacier. The glacier was sinking into the ocean in pieces. The man who had jumped from that glacier to a different glacier watched that scene while laughing.
"... How vicious. I suppose it is fitting for the future Whale Queen."
The White Star's gaze headed toward Witira. Witira calmly responded after meeting his gaze.
"You sure have a lot to say for a bastard who runs around like a damn rat."
"White Rats!" TCF!Hong muttered trying it out and then grinning up at his counterpart.
"Rats?" TBOAH!Hong asked confused by his TCF!World counterpart's line of thought.
"Star spelled backwards." TBOAH!Ohn replied sagely and both TBOAH!Hong and TCF!Hong dissolved in a heap of giggling.
"Ho, let me tell you more about the White Rats then!" TCF!Ohn flashed her teeth and her bright golden eyes began to glow as if she were preparing to tell her younger sibling and their counterparts from the TBOAH!World a spooky story. While the four kittens all scampered over to another lounger nearby to sit along and gossip together Naur continued the record. Grigori felt like it was fine that they didn't sit and watch this record – it had nothing to do with them anyways, so she let them play, happy that they felt comfortable enough to do so.
The whip rushed toward the White Star as if it was a large snake. Witira's body followed her whip and headed straight for the enemy leader, and... A vigorously burning fire sword clashed against the water whip. The water started to evaporate. The water whip tried to gobble up the fire sword even as it evaporated into the air. During the moment that Witira and the White Star's weapons collided in close proximity...
"Where is Cale Henituse?" The White Star casually asked.
"Tsk! This White Thing!" TCF!Hannah hissed with anger.
TCF!Jack beside her nodded crossly, "Why is he looking for Young Master Cale-nim like a stalker!"
TCF!Hannah and TBOAH!Hannah's eyes went as wide as saucers before they both burst out laughing, doubling over and slapping their knees as they tried to catch their breaths.
"Stalker... hmmm? You know... Pope-nim... you're actually quite right. That White Thing is like a stalker... the worst kind really!" TCF!Rex replied with a nod and a scowl.
TCF!Ron grit his teeth and TCF!Beacrox beside him clicked his tongue – neither of then nor any one of Cale's other family members liked to admit this fact. Their animosity toward this annoying, wanna-be, lunatic grew to an all-new height.
He only got Witira's usual calm expression back. He then asked some more questions.
"Is he on his way? I heard he's currently unconscious in the Empire."
The corners of the White Star's lips slowly went up into a sneer. Sayeru had watched Cale escape, but he had seen Cale fainting before he teleported away. They had not heard any information about Cale Henituse ever since that moment.
"Cale Henituse has ties to your Whale tribe. I'm certain that you guys would have tried to drag Cale Henituse into this situation."
"Oh my goodness! It gets worse! Is the Young Master all this White Thing can think about after getting beaten up by Young Master Cale-nim once?!" TCF!Harol protested with a scowl. TCF!Toonka sneered with displeasure.
"We should have beat him to the brink of death, then healed him, and then beat him again!"
"Yeah, beat him till dust flies!"
"Beat him with a rock? Wait...what if he is afraid of a rock? Imagine if he got hit with a rock the size of a pebble and developed a fear of rocks?" TBOAH!Dodori mused, his eyes ablaze with mischief. He'd been swapping schemes with TCF!Dodori since earlier.
"You mean since the Ancient White Star was killed by the Boulder Guardian?" TCF!Dodori asked his counterpart genuinely intrigued.
Grigori started laughing, clutching her waist, and covering her mouth with her other hand as she tried in vain to muffle her laughter and regain her composure, however Cale, on the other hand, flushed bright red. Even his ears were crimson and warm to the touch. He buried his face in his hands and tied to pretend that he was back at the Super Rock Villa in his bed with his kids fast asleep beside him and everything was nice and peaceful.
"Hold that thought Children... a little while later, I'll show you something great!" Grigori announced and then ordered everyone to focus on the record.
Witira started to frown.
"The Whales are enough to deal with the Whale tribe's issues!"
Another whip appeared in her hand and it charged toward the White Star. The whip slammed against the White Star's hand.
"Ugh!" Witira let out a quiet groan.
Her whip was caught by the White Star's hand and unable to move. The wind surrounding the White Star's hand was grabbing onto Witira's whip and not letting go. Both of her whips were currently fighting against the White Star right now.
"Where is he?" Witira had to listen to the White Star's line of questions. "What did you plan with Cale Henituse during the few weeks you sat around?"
"Ha!"
"...You're laughing?"
The White Star could see Witira laughing. She looked directly into the White Star's eyes and responded while enunciating each word.
"Cale Henituse will come. I made him a promise." Witira then kicked off the ground and shot into the air. "I promised to give him the White Star's head as a present when he arrives."
"Ohhh!! Noonim! That would have been a wonderful gift for Young Master Cale!" Paseton agreed.
"No! No! That would have been a terrible gift!!" Cale exclaimed in protest jumping up from his seat on the lounger and turning to face the Whale tribes – this allowed everyone to notice the look of chaos upon his face.
"Why? Because it's a head?" TBOAH!Archie teased him with an amused sneer.
"No!! Don't be stupid." Cale clicked his tongue, showing everyone an expression of displeasure that reminded those of the TBOAH!World of the same expression they'd seen on the Kim Rok Soo's face when he had been Cale Henituse. However, Cale's next words shocked all the amusement out of the audience.
"That bastard would have just snatched another body and reincarnated!"
"Oh... Oh, bloody—you're right!" TCF!Alberu cursed with a look of irritation upon his face.
"Worse... A few more reincarnations and he would have forgotten who his original identity was entirely."
"Whoa- wait... What?!" shouts of surprise come from not only TCF!Alberu this time. Cale huffs and points to his eyes.
"The Annual Rings Ancient Power..." he replied addressing everyone in the hall. "I saw that White Radish's rings... I saw the rings that marked every reincarnation his soul had made while searching for the correct one that needed to be destroyed to kill him permanently." Cale declared passionately.
The room plunged into an unbearable silence and Grigori allowed it to linger for a short while more before she cleared her throat and waved her hand, using her divine power to dispel the tension in the room.
"Let's discuss this topic another time... for now, everyone let's continue with this record."
A wave shot up at the same time to support Witira who had jumped into the air. Her whip extended quickly and Witira clenched her fists.
'Hmm?'
The White Star's body flinched. They made eye contact and she started to smile.
"You can't look down upon the strength of the Whales."
She then pulled the White Star who was still grabbing onto the whip toward her.
"Shit!"
The White Star's body was too easily pulled forward by Witira. The White Star could see the warrior who was smiling while flicking her whip.
"Drink some water!"
"Wow!!"
"Brilliant!!'
"Excellent!"
"Nice one Noonim!"
Exclamations of praise came from all over the Palantír Hall.
The whip slammed onto the surface of the water. The White Star was slammed underwater. The seawater shot up like a large tsunami for a moment. Large amounts of water vapor started to rise from underwater due to the White Star's fire sword.
"Heh!" Witira continued to laugh at that moment. She could feel the White Star pulling her whip from underwater.
"Oh... I feel like I'm being healed!" Kim Rok Soo suddenly mumbled.
"What nonsense are you muttering about now?" Cale grumbled and looked toward him.
"What? You can't tell me that it doesn't feel good to see that Bastard getting a beat down!"
"Of course it does! Witira did a fantastic job!!" Cale agreed with a hint of pride and appreciation in his tone. Across the hall, TCF!Witira who heard this straightened her shoulders again and grinned brightly with delight. Praise from Cale always made everyone in his group feel so great.
'Witira, you'll be responsible for the White Star. Do you like this plan?'
'Young master-nim.'
She recalled the things she had actually said to Cale instead of that lie about giving the White Star's head as a present.
This was what she had said to Cale.
'His body would have needed to train and train again every time he reincarnated.'
That should have been difficult to do. However, she had trained for a long time as well. She could force herself to push even harder because she did not have the power to reincarnate.
'I may not have any ancient powers, aura, or magic, but this strong body I was born with is something I trained and fought with day after day for the past 250 years.'
TBOAH!Witira and TCF!Witira nodded proudly. TCF!Shickler and TBOAH!Shickler smiled softly, gazing both proudly and affectionately at their respective daughter.
The Whale tribe's strong physical strength and battle experiences. Power... She would be stronger than the White Star when it came to physical strength.
"I don't think so!"
She flicked the whip once more. She could feel the White Star's body being flung around underwater as she flicked the whip. Explosions shot out from underwater.
"Shit." Witira's smile quickly stiffened.
She took one whip out of the water and flicked it in the air. It crashed into a couple of light arrows and caused more explosions.
"Damn it."
Witira had to retract the whip that crashed into the light arrows. Her palm was tingling. Light. It also had some currents running through it. It was incompatible with Witira who controlled the water.
"It's fine... Water is still the best!" Paseton shrugged and both his sisters from the two timelines reached out and suddenly embraced him tightly between them. The unexpected act of affection was so surprising that Paseton's eyes went wide and he called out to them in a shaking voice full of confusion.
"Nothing..."
"Just felt like it!" TBOAH!Witira answered after TCF!Witira. Slowly, and with obvious reluctance the two princess' released him and returned their attention to the Palantír as the record resumed.
In the end, this opening allowed the White Star to escape from underwater and shoot up into the air again. Witira had to also see Sayeru, the person who threw the light arrows at her, getting involved in her battle against the White Star.
"Witira."
She started to frown after hearing him gently call out to her. Sayeru's eyes were sparkling at that moment.
"Where are they?" He then started to smirk as he moved toward her. "Where did the Whales go, hmm?"
Witira flinched before urgently shouting back.
"What nonsense! Are you saying that the Whale tribe warriors here are not Whales-"
"Where are your loyal subordinate and your younger brother?"
Sayeru cut Witira off and asked. He could not find Archie, the Whale tribe's strongest warrior, nor could he find the Humpback Whale Paseton no matter how hard he looked. All of the Whale warriors were here, but... The strongest warrior was not present during this important battle, and-
"Where is the Whale King?"
Whale King Shickler was not here either. Something was weird. This was the source of Sayeru's sense of weirdness.
"Are they protecting the Whale village? Hmm?" His eyes looked crazed with joy. "There really must be something in the village."
The ones who are protecting the most important thing would be the strongest warrior, the king, and a trusted member of the royal Whale family. Sayeru and the White Star made eye contact.
'There's definitely something! They weren't quiet for weeks for no reason!'
The two of them realized that there was something that the Whales were trying to protect. All that was left was to see what it was they were protecting. They looked toward Witira. Now that they noticed, the Whale warriors had stayed on a glacier blocking the path toward the village while aiming for the ships. She looked back at the two of them and responded in an urgent tone.
"Brilliant acting there Witira-nim!" Kim Rok Soo called and TCF!Witira smiled and regally inclined her head - accepting his praise as well.
"It will be impossible for you to reach the village unless you defeat me first. That is why you will never get there."
Sayeru let out a quiet chuckle.
"I think you are making a mistake."
Light arrows started to appear around both of his hands. They were like daggers ready to fly toward Witira at any moment.
It was at that moment. They could hear some animal cries.
"Huh?" However, Sayeru looked confused. "What are those things?"
Over the Northern coast. There was a large group of things flying over from there. Sayeru's eyes opened wide. He had not asked what they were because he didn't know what they were. In fact, he knew about them quite well. That was why he was even more confused.
"...Wyverns?"
Those flying monsters that reminded him of Dragons could only be wyverns. Sayeru thought of something in his mind. There were only two people who could control those monsters. The White Star and the fake Dragon Slayer, Syrem.
'Syrem! Did that bastard join Cale Henituse's side?'
"Oh!! Layer two of the trap is beginning!" Kim Rok Soo cheered gleefully, he had a chaos-loving grin of malicious deviousness upon his face and Cale leaned away from him with a look of horror.
"Don't make that kind of expression with your face! It's weird as hell!" Cale hissed, he ended up leaning all the way into TCF!Alberu. Kim Rok Soo relaxed his expression and then blinked in surprise when he noticed Cale's attention was already fixed upon something else. Cale suddenly rediscovered that TCF!Alberu was actually quite comfortable.
An idea to be lazy popped into his head and before he could think it through properly, he had already turned toward TCF!Alberu with an innocent puppy face.
"Hyung... scoot over a bit. I want to lie down."
"Huh?" TCF!Alberu questioned Cale in confusion and then unconsciously did as he was bid when Cale waved his hand – gesturing for Alberu to move.
Before either he or Kim Rok Soo could figure out what Cale was up to, Cale had already curled up in the space between the two of them with his head on TCF!Alberu's lap.
"I need a nap."
That was the only response he gave in return for the gawking stares he was getting from Kim Rok Soo once again. TCF!Alberu sighed and shook his head.
"This Dongsaeng of mine..." he said, grumbling even while lightly stroking Cale's hair and watching as Cale closed his eyes and relaxed.
They had lost contact with Syrem since he was captured by Cale. There was no news about him being executed by the Roan Kingdom either. Sayeru looked toward the White Star. The White Star had been the one to create this power for Syrem. The power to control the wyverns. That was one of the Dragon Slayer's powers.
"...It is not Syrem."
The White Star's response went against Sayeru's expectations, but he could now see the knight who was on top of the wyvern flying in the front.
It was a white-haired green-eyed man with a noble face wearing white armor. He had a tragic beauty about him as he took out his sword.
"...Clopeh Sekka?"
He was Guardian Knight Clopeh. Sayeru looked toward Witira. Clopeh had aligned himself with Cale Henituse.
"Why is he here?"
Sayeru could see Witira frowning while commenting in shock.
"This lunatic is a good actor – that is why Cale will never trust him!" TCF!Choi Han announced aloud to something TBOAH!Choi Han had quietly asked him.
"That's right... On the other hand that means there are two things that he can do that makes him better than you!" TCF!Bud taunted from the back of the Hall. His face was flushed and his eyes were glazed with a drunken stupor. Three empty flasks were lying on the table in front of him, while a fourth one was in his hand. Grigori frowned as she stared at him, however before she could respond, TCF!Choi Han spoke up.
"Meaning?"
"Well... he's a better actor than you..."
"And?"
"Probably a better cook too..."
"This bastard!" TCF!Choi Han shot to his feet – he looked feral as he lunged for TCF!Bud, however the moment he stood up to do so, something seized control of his body and held him frozen in place.
"Choi Han... please refrain from making the same mistake of your counterpart by beating up drunk children for running their mouths."
"But he—" TCF!Choi Han tried to protest, but then frowned and nodded, bowing his head in apology to the goddess.
"As for you... I think you've had enough... from now on no more alcohol for you. You can survive on grape juice instead!" Grigori announced and clicked her finger once – immediately TCF!Choi Han's body returned to his seat and all of TCF!Bud's flasks became miniature juice boxes of grape-flavoured juice.
Sayeru turned his head after hearing a sharp noise. One of the wyverns slowly came down with Clopeh Sekka pointing his sword at someone. He was pointing it toward Witira.
"Hand over the item in the Whale tribe's possession."
'...What?' Sayeru's mind quickly became complicated. However, Clopeh's sword then moved and pointed at someone else. It was pointing toward the White Star now. Clopeh continued to speak with a noble but tragic expression on his face.
"I came to get rid of the devil of this land."
'What is he talking about now?'
Sayeru looked shocked.
'What nonsense is he saying when he was on our side just a few months ago in the Indomitable Alliance? The devil?' Clopeh didn't care whether Sayeru was shocked or not as he smiled majestically and continued to speak.
"Do not get in my way as I try to write a legend."
Sayeru subconsciously commented after seeing Clopeh who suddenly showed up and started to say whatever was on his mind.
"What's up with this lunatic?"
Cale, who was watching this unfold while hiding, heard Raon shout in his mind at that moment.
– Human, the crazy Clopeh is doing well! The Bear King looks shocked! This is so fun!
'Heh! Right? I'm enjoying this too.'
Cale started to snicker.
Hearing Raon's innocent and delighted voice as the Palantír screen faded into black for a moment was enough to cause laughter from many people in the Palantír Hall.