Chapter 175: Lend Me Your Strength
So if there ever came a time when he needed Elma’s power, he’d cash it in then. At that, she quietly exhaled in relief.
Then, as if worried he might change his mind, she asked carefully,
"So, um..."
"...?"
"Can I take it that you’ll help us?"
"Yeah."
Walfred nodded.
He’d been paid fairly, so backing out or dodging the fight wasn’t on the table.
"I’ll cooperate with the White Whale hunt."
"...! Yes!"
A smile bloomed across Elma’s face.
With the negotiation settled, she let out the deep breath she’d been holding all this time.
"Whew. Now I can finally breathe a little."
And it wasn’t just her.
Gordon and the hunters, who had been watching the exchange without daring to make a sound, all felt the weight lift off their chests.
Around then, Walfred, still turning over everything he’d heard about the White Whale, hit on a question.
"By the way."
"...?"
"You said the White Whale flies, right?"
"Yes, that’s right."
"Then shouldn’t the first thing we settle be how to fight something that’s up in the air?"
For his own part, it made no difference to him. He could ride in on Elsa’s back, close the distance, and rain down attacks.
But what about the hunters with no flight capability?
How exactly were they supposed to attack something hovering high in the sky? At his question, Elma smiled as if there was nothing to worry about.
"We have a solution for that."
"That’s right. We’ve got Hunter Aria."
Gordon chimed in with the answer as well.
Aria was the solution?
Walfred turned to her, the question plain on his face. She gave an awkward smile.
"I have a few flight skills. So you don’t need to worry about aerial combat."
"...Ah."
Right, she’d said she was a support type.
Recalling the detail he’d forgotten, Walfred nodded in understanding and let the matter drop.
A short while later...
Thud, thud!
Elma started walking.
Toward the hunters of the Coral Cave Shelter.
Fear, anxiety, dread.
She faced the range of emotions showing on their faces and spoke.
"I understand that you’re afraid."
Of course they were.
For a B-rank hunter, hunting a Boss Monster was dangerous enough that a few spare lives still wouldn’t be enough.
"But that doesn’t mean we can avoid this fight. If we back down, the damage will be enormous."
The White Whale devoured gates.
If they failed to kill it, they’d lose the lifeline that fed them. And what waited for everyone after that was ruin, plain and simple.
"For any of us to survive, we have to fight the White Whale and defend this place. So please, lend me your strength."
Having said her piece, Elma bowed deeply to them. After a brief silence, the hunters began speaking up one by one.
"Well, if the chief is putting it that way..."
"Sigh. Guess we don’t have a choice."
"Screw it, let’s give it a shot. Starving to death or dying in a fight, dead is dead."
"More than anything, we’ve got Hunter Walfred with us. I figure that makes it worth one try."
It was a complete reversal from how they’d reacted when they first heard about the White Whale. It was no exaggeration to say the dramatic change was entirely thanks to him.
The single fact that a man who had killed a Boss Monster single-handedly would be fighting alongside them had put real courage in their spines.
"...Thank you."
Facing the hunters who had steeled themselves, Elma bowed deeply once more, and she meant every bit of it. Like a salute to people who had chosen to walk into battle with their lives on the line.
A moment later, when she raised her head, her eyes burned with grim determination. Elma met each hunter’s gaze one by one as she spoke.
"Then as of this moment, we begin preparations for the operation to take down the White Whale."
The threat closing in on Key West.
At her declaration, resolve settled into the eyes of every hunter present.
---
The moment the hunt was decided, the Coral Cave Shelter grew busy around the clock.
The hunters each found something to do in preparation for the coming disaster. Of all of them, the busiest by far was Elma.
-----
[Gate Link: Activated]
[A dimensional passage is being created.]
▷[B-rank: The Ruins in Full Bloom]
▶[B-rank: The Silent Farm]
[Passage duration]: 11:59:59
-----
She borrowed back the Gate Ring she’d handed over to Walfred just long enough to link the gate at Coral World Shelter with the one at Coral Cave.
The point was to relocate the refugees from Coral World, which had lost its ability to function as a shelter.
"Everyone please move at a steady pace!"
"We still have plenty of time!"
Maybe it was the hunters’ assistance.
The refugees, well over two thousand of them, made it over to the Coral Cave Shelter without incident.
With that fire put out, the next thing Elma did was log into the Community and announce the operation.
[Title]: S-rank Boss, White Whale Extermination Operation
[Author]: Aqua
-----
A monster born in Greenland.
The S-rank frost attribute Boss Monster known as the White Whale is currently approaching Key West. As of this moment, we are beginning preparations to take it down.
An additional message to the hunters of Key West.
Please join the operation.
If only to protect your families, your friends, the people you love. I’m asking with my head bowed.
[The assembly point will be posted in the comments.]
[Hunter Walfred will be taking part in this operation.]
-----
The post Elma wrote herself.
Its impact was beyond anything she’d imagined.
Not long after it went up, comments started exploding across the thread.
[Walfred??? THE Walfred??]
[Whoa, he made it all the way to Key West already?]
[How did they even land him?? no seriously;;]
[A joint operation with S-rank hunters...]
[my heart is swelling]
The main thing people latched onto was Walfred’s participation. Not every reaction was positive, though.
[But is taking the White Whale down even possible?]
[The Greenlander just gave up on it]
[Didn’t they lose an S-rank over there?]
[yep. whole country’s in mourning mode rn]
Nivi, Greenland’s S-rank hunter.
News of her disappearance while fighting the White Whale turned up all over the comments. Naturally, people’s worry shifted to Walfred.
[Hearing all this does make me a little nervous]
[Right? Even for Walfred, isn’t the White Whale a stretch?]
[?? look at these armchair experts]
[you think soloing the Spirit King was nothing?]
[fr lol]
The comments kept rolling in without end.
Elma’s post stayed at the center of attention for quite a while. And the effect was undeniable.
By the second day after it went up, roughly thirty B-rank hunters had gathered from small and midsized shelters all over Key West.
The surviving hunters from Coral World.
The hunters of the Coral Cave Shelter.
And the ones who’d come running from shelters across the island. All together, a White Whale extermination force of forty-five B-rank hunters was assembled.
And as time passed, the morning of the decisive battle finally dawned.