Chapter 171: The Gate Ring
After leaving Elsa and Jenna behind, Walfred followed Aria toward wherever Elma was waiting. Along the way, they ran into hunters whose faces he recognized.
"Ah, Hunter Walfred."
"I never got the chance to thank you properly."
"We appreciate the help."
The B-rank hunters of the Coral Cave Shelter.
Every one of them had fought in the battle at the Smathers Beach gate release, and without a single exception, they treated him warmly.
Of course they did. If Walfred hadn’t stepped in, the odds were high they’d have been wiped out to the last man.
As they walked on together, a whispered exchange from not far off reached his ears.
"Hey, Hunter Aria."
"Yes?"
"Think you could ask Hunter Walfred what his Community handle is?"
"Ugh, why me?"
"You’re the closest to him out of any of us."
"I mean, that’s true, but I really don’t think he’d tell me even if I asked..."
Aria hemmed and hawed, trailing off.
Her judgment was spot-on. Walfred had no intention of giving her his handle.
If there was anyone he might share it with, it would be Jenna’s best friend, Alice, or maybe Gordon, the chief of Coral Cave.
After a long walk...
"Ah, looks like we’re here."
"It’s just over there."
They’d finally reached their destination.
In front of a vortex churning with blue light stood two familiar figures.
Gordon, the chief of Coral Cave.
And the S-rank water attribute hunter he’d met only a few hours ago, the chief of Coral World.
’Elma.’
Walfred fixed his eyes on her.
As it happened, she was looking right back at him.
The moment their eyes met, Elma inclined her head slightly and spoke.
"Hello. We meet again."
"..."
Walfred didn’t answer.
He simply narrowed his eyes at her and asked a question laced with suspicion.
"How did you get here?"
"Sorry? How did I get here?"
"It’s a fair distance from South Key West to this place. What means did you use to arrive already?"
Walfred had covered the distance in one go thanks to Elsa’s flight, but as far as he knew, Elma had nothing comparable.
On top of that, he’d heard her body was in poor shape. So how had she managed to get here so soon?
At his interrogating tone, Elma smiled faintly and held up a finger.
"I used this."
"A ring...?"
"Yes. Would you like to take a look?"
Elma slipped the ring off her right middle finger and handed it to him. The moment he took it, the item’s details unfolded before him.
-----
[Name]: Gate Ring
[Grade]: Legendary
[Special Skill]: Gate Link
[When the activation conditions are met, creates a passage connecting two separate gates.]
[Gate Link: Activation Conditions]
1).Both must be fully cleared gates of the same rank.
2).Limited to gates visited at least once after putting on the Gate Ring.
▷Passage duration: 12 hours
▶Cooldown: 2 days
-----
Having read through the ring’s information, Walfred didn’t bother hiding how impressed he was.
’I had no idea something like this existed.’
There were a few conditions attached, but even setting those aside, the ability was seriously good.
If you could link one gate to another and pass between them, then in theory you could cross to the other side of the planet in an instant.
Of course, you had to visit a place once before you could open a passage to it.
’I wouldn’t mind having one, but...’
He wasn’t low enough to steal something that had been handed to him in good faith. So, setting his regret aside, he returned the ring without a fuss.
Just then, Gordon, who had been standing nearby with his arms folded, spoke up.
"Everyone’s here. How about you tell us now?"
Why she’d summoned every hunter at B-rank and above.
At his words, Walfred and the Coral Cave B-ranks all turned toward Elma. She looked around at them as if she’d been waiting for it.
"First, thank you all for coming."
With every eye on her, Elma bowed politely. Then, her expression settling into something deeply serious, she began.
"I’ve called you here to warn you about a powerful threat currently approaching Key West, and to work out a plan against it together."
"What? A powerful threat, meaning..."
"Are you talking about a monster?"
The hunters shot the questions back at once.
Elma nodded.
"I am. To be precise, an S-rank Boss Monster."
"...What?"
"A B-Boss Monster?!"
The words had barely left her mouth before the color drained from the hunters’ faces.
They’d struggled just to handle the Kraken, a B-rank Elite Monster, only a short while ago. And now an S-rank Boss Monster was heading their way.
Watching them react, Elma continued her explanation calmly.
"Its name is the White Whale. A colossal whale-shaped creature that flies across the sky."
The White Whale.
That was the name Elma gave the Boss Monster. She went on, laying out what she knew about it.
"The White Whale was born near Nuuk, Greenland, and it appeared alongside an enormous white sphere with a radius of over three miles."
The instant he heard that, Walfred’s eyes lit up.
A gigantic white sphere spanning miles. As far as he knew, there was only one thing that fit.
’The White Dome!’
The anomaly that accompanied the birth of a frost attribute Boss Monster. Which meant the White Whale was a frost attribute Boss Monster.
Then...
"Um, sorry to interrupt."
Aria carefully raised a hand.
As if there was something she wanted to ask.
"Would it be all right to ask one question?"
"Of course. As many as you like."
"You said it’s a giant whale. About how big are we talking? Should we picture something like a normal whale, or..."
"No."
Elma shook her head firmly.
"According to eyewitness accounts from its first appearance, the White Whale was over sixteen hundred feet long."
"My God, that big?!"
"That’s not even a size anymore..."
Sixteen hundred feet.
The pressure the number carried was beyond imagining.
It was the equivalent of a hundred-story building, or an oversized aircraft carrier, floating through the sky in one piece.
While everyone was still reeling, Elma added one more thing.
"And what I just described is only the size observed at its first appearance."
"Th-that means..."
"It could be even bigger now?"
"Correct. Recent sightings say it’s grown to more than twice the size it was when it first showed up."
"...!?"
The hunters went pale.
Which meant that, as of right now, the White Whale was pushing thirty-two hundred feet.
A monster so large it broke the bounds of common sense.
It wasn’t on the level of the Leviathan roaming the open ocean, of course, but that was hardly cause for relief.
And there was one more thing.
"For your reference, the White Whale is still growing, even at this very moment."
With that final piece of despair, the room fell into a heavy silence.