Chapter 136: Leviathan
Walfred ran without stopping to think.
Away from the coast, past the roads, and through an alley lined with rows of abandoned houses.
Only after reaching a spot a good distance from the sea did he finally stop. Then he slipped into a nearby abandoned house and hid himself.
"Huff! Whew!"
His breathing had turned ragged, consumed by fear.
Only after gulping down several breaths did he feel himself calm down a little. Walfred peered through a half-shattered window toward the direction where that thing had been.
’...I wasn’t seeing things.’
An ice storm filling the entire sky.
And beyond it, a presence he could feel with absolute certainty.
It was a terror more overwhelming than any monster Walfred had ever fought.
Just then.
Slump.
Elsa’s head tipped slightly to one side.
She slid over like a doll with its strings cut. His heart dropping for an instant, Walfred cried out in alarm.
"E-Elsa?!"
He hurriedly checked her condition.
Her face was still pale, but thankfully her breathing and pulse hadn’t stopped. Her fear must have peaked and knocked her unconscious for a while.
Young as she was, to think there existed something that could instill this much fear even in one of the Dragonkin.
’What on earth is that thing?’
A frost Boss Monster that had finished growing completely?
Or a monster of an even higher order?
A flurry of guesses flashed through his mind, but none of them felt certain. Just as he let out a frustrated sigh without meaning to,
’Wait.’
something crossed his mind.
Walfred looked back out the window.
’If it’s that colossal...’
then wouldn’t there be plenty of witnesses besides me?
It was big enough to fill the sea and the sky, after all.
There was a good chance it had been spotted not only from Key West, but along the southern coast of the mainland, or even as far away as Cuba.
No sooner had he realized this than,
[System: Hunter Community]
[Accessing the New America Republic channel.]
Walfred logged into the Community.
And the moment he connected,
a post caught his eye.
"This is..."
A post racking up an explosive view count.
Even at a glance, the title looked related to what he’d just seen. Then, the moment he checked the post’s author, Walfred’s eyes flew open.
"...!?"
He couldn’t help it.
The author’s nickname belonged to the very person whose login he’d been waiting for all this time.
[Title]: Emergency Evacuation Order Declared for the Key West Coast
[Author]: Aqua
Elma, the S-rank Hunter of the water attribute.
The representative managing the Coral World Shelter, the largest survivor community in Key West.
Walfred’s mouth fell open in surprise.
’So she does log into the Community.’
She’d never shown any kind of activity, no posts, no comments, nothing, so he’d assumed she simply never logged in at all.
It felt strangely novel.
But only for a moment. Coming back to his senses, Walfred immediately read through the post.
-----
Current time, 3:54 PM.
’Leviathan’ has appeared in the waters near South Key West.
Accordingly, an emergency evacuation order is hereby declared for the entire Key West coastline. All non-Awakened and all Hunters below A-rank, please evacuate inland immediately.
Additionally, we ask all Hunters of A-rank and above in each area to guide the evacuees.
Further notices will follow if the situation changes.
-----
Concise and easy to understand.
Walfred read Elma’s post carefully, then murmured a certain being’s name.
"Leviathan..."
The name of a monster from myth.
Given the circumstances, it seemed to refer to the being beyond the ice storm. Did that mean Elma knew what that thing actually was?
With that question in mind, Walfred scrolled through the long string of comments below the post.
[Whoa! The New America Republic’s one and only S-rank Hunter has entered the chat!]
[Is she really the only one though?]
[Isn’t Walfred basically S-rank at this point?]
[Whoa! The New America Republic’s FORMERLY one and only S-rank Hunter has entered the chat!]
[lmfaooo]
[Bro is that shade lol]
Most of the reactions were less about the post itself and more about Elma’s appearance. Then a comment posted just moments ago caught his eye.
[Wait, what even is a Leviathan?]
A comment that spoke for Walfred’s own heart.
A flood of replies piled up beneath it.
[No clue lol]
[Feels like I’ve heard it somewhere before.]
[But if they’re telling B-rank Hunters to evacuate, doesn’t that mean things are hella serious?]
[Right. A B-rank Hunter is basically shelter-manager level in most regional cities.]
But there was no meaningful information.
He’d hoped Elma would show up and reply herself, but there was no response from her either.
Just as he was about to half give up,
"...Huh?"
Walfred’s eyes went round.
Among the comments posted just moments ago, a very familiar nickname had appeared.
[SSS-rankProfessor]: The Leviathan AGAIN?
[SSS-rankProfessor]: If it’s showing up again exactly one month later, then like we guessed last time, it really is circling the whole world on a monthly cycle...
[SSS-rankProfessor]: What is it, a fkn world-touring superstar?
The longtime fixture of the Info/Strategy Board.
The SSS-rankProfessor.
And with his arrival, the comment section erupted all over again.
[LMAOOO]
[The Info Board legend has arrived!]
[Professor, forever in your debt.]
[All the big names are gathering today.]
[Now we just need Walfred to show up.]
Watching the comments stream in one after another,
Walfred’s eyes gleamed.
’If it’s the SSS-rankProfessor...!’
He would definitely know what the Leviathan was.
The man knew everything, after all.
With a surge of anticipation, Walfred immediately typed out a question.
[FrozenMan]: Professor, what’s the Leviathan?
He waited for the answer with a pounding heart.
Shortly after, a reply appeared. But it was a far cry from what he’d been hoping for.
[SSS-rankProfessor]: No idea.
[What, there’s something even the Professor doesn’t know?!]
[Kinda disappointed ngl.]
[I thought he knew literally everything.]
Maybe it was the mocking tone of the comments.
He shot back, clearly ticked off.
[SSS-rankProfessor]: Ha, you little shits.
[SSS-rankProfessor]: I said I don’t know its exact identity. I’ve got a rough idea of what it is.
[SSS-rankProfessor]: The speculation on the international channel wrapped up too, so the candidate’s been narrowed down.
[Ah lol, gotta respect the international channel.]
[Fr, that’s the VIP channel for the world’s elites.]
[So what IS it?]
No sooner had that question been asked than
the SSS-rankProfessor’s reply appeared.
[SSS-rankProfessor]: The Boss of the Antarctica gate.
"...What?"
The moment he saw the reply,
Walfred’s eyes went wide with shock. It was the last thing he’d expected.
And he wasn’t the only one stunned.
[?????????]
[The Antarctica gate Boss, for real?]
[No joke, seriously??]
[Wait, then why is it roaming the oceans?]
Shock, confusion, doubt.
The comment section descended into chaos once more.
To the wildly varied reactions, the SSS-rankProfessor answered with his usual profanity.
[SSS-rankProfessor]: You brain-dead morons.
[SSS-rankProfessor]: Have you EVER seen an unleashed gate Boss just sit inside its gate forever?
Now that he mentioned it, that was true.
Generally, when a gate was unleashed, the Boss came out along with everything else.
[SSS-rankProfessor]: I’m only saying this once.
[SSS-rankProfessor]: Listen up.
And with that as his signal,
the SSS-rankProfessor posted a summary of the information on the Leviathan through the comments.
[SSS-rankProfessor]: Anyone who’s actually witnessed it knows this, but the Leviathan is an off-the-scale freak of a monster that’s impossible to even assign a rank to.
[SSS-rankProfessor]: It was first spotted four months ago in the waters south of Argentina, and sightings have been pouring in from oceans all over the world ever since.
The Leviathan, circling the world’s oceans on a monthly cycle. But nothing had been discovered about why it did so, or what its purpose was.
[SSS-rankProfessor]: Also, the reason Elma told all the sub-A-rank Hunters to run is because if they don’t, they’re screwed.
[SSS-rankProfessor]: When a Hunter below A-rank witnesses the Leviathan, extreme terror paralyzes their mind, and eventually they lose consciousness.
A-rank Hunters and B-rank Hunters.
There was one crucial difference between the two.
The trial of the Eden System.
In other words, it was fair to interpret that the reason A-rank Hunters could look at the Leviathan and remain unaffected was that they had passed Eden’s trial.
’What is this trial, exactly...’
Those who pass it can resist the fear, and those who haven’t get swallowed by it?