Chapter 178: Dimensional Auction House
Leaving Elsa and Jenna behind.
Walfred and Elma arrived at a parking lot a little over half a mile from the shelter. Once he confirmed there was no one around, he got straight to the point.
"So what did you want to talk about?"
"I thought we’d need a final briefing before the operation gets underway. And also..."
"And also?"
"Hmm, I think that’s better saved for after the briefing."
Elma started to say something, then shook her head. It nagged at him a little, but he didn’t press her.
She’d said she would tell him once the briefing was over anyway. And a moment later, wearing a rather serious expression, she launched into the briefing proper.
"The White Whale’s current position is confirmed at roughly 100 miles offshore, and it appears we have about twelve hours before it reaches the operation zone."
"Its route? Still as predicted?"
"That’s correct."
Small mercies, at least.
With the operation zone already locked in, a sudden change of course would have been a real problem.
"Also, based on the last sighting two hours ago, the White Whale is currently about 4,300 feet long."
"...It’s grown that much already."
He was fairly sure it had been around 3,200 feet just four days ago. Shaking his head in amazement, Walfred asked about the thing that weighed on him most in this extermination.
"What about evacuating the non-Awakened?"
The safety of the non-Awakened.
And among them, Jenna’s safety had to come first, above everything else. If that couldn’t be guaranteed, Walfred was prepared to leave Key West on the spot.
Elma seemed to understand that, because she answered at once, without a trace of hesitation.
"Everything is fully prepared. The evacuation will proceed in stages starting about three hours from now, and it won’t overlap with the White Whale’s route."
Under normal circumstances, sheltering people inside a gate would have been the safest option, but not this time.
Their opponent was a monster that swallowed gates.
Under those conditions, retreating into a gate would be suicide. So Elma had made use of Coral Cave’s enormous scale to secure a number of refuges instead.
"So there’s no need to worry."
She was a shelter chief for a reason.
She got things done. With the matter of the non-Awakened settled, Elma moved on to the next topic.
"Next, a review of the operation’s phases."
The phases of the White Whale extermination.
They were extremely simple and straightforward.
First, B-rank hunters would attack the White Whale to draw its attention. That was Phase 1. Next, concentrated fire from every direction to split its focus. That was Phase 2.
Then, in Phase 3, while its attention was scattered, Walfred, the core of the extermination force, would close in, climb onto it, and unleash everything he had.
That was all of it.
’Except...’
Approaching the White Whale on Elsa’s back was off the table. If the thing really was hunting Elsa, that plan carried far too much risk.
So instead, he’d close in using Aria’s flight skill. Elsa would stay only within the range where she could provide [Blessing of the Frost Dragon].
"That concludes the briefing."
And with that, the final report was over.
Maybe it was from talking nonstop for so long. Elma’s throat seemed to bother her, and she coughed dryly a few times.
Then, a moment later.
"Whew, I’m a little nervous, I guess."
She let out a heavy sigh.
Walfred snorted at her reaction.
She was an S-rank hunter, of all things. He couldn’t see what there was to be so nervous about.
"An S-rank hunter’s gone up against a Boss Monster before, hasn’t she?"
"...Only three times, and that’s it."
The lava giant in Iceland.
The Sea King Beast in the waters off Charleston.
The colossus in Türkiye.
She listed off the S-rank and higher Boss Monsters she’d helped exterminate in the past, adding that the matchups had all been either favorable or neutral.
"And back then we had five S-rank hunters on each operation. This time the matchup is bad and there are only two S-ranks, so..."
There was no helping the nerves.
Elma muttered it along with a sigh.
Walfred, who had been listening quietly, suddenly tilted his head as a question occurred to him.
’Two S-ranks?’
Besides Elma, who was the other one?
Nobody came to mind.
He was about to ask when she went on.
"Although, come to think of it, I’m poisoned, so realistically you’re the only proper S-rank we have, Hunter Walfred."
The moment he heard that last complaint.
Walfred realized the other S-rank she’d mentioned was supposed to be him.
’Ah, she doesn’t know I’m B-rank.’
Then again, he’d never actually told her.
He considered setting her straight, then decided to let it go. With the extermination this close, there was no sense in denting morale for nothing.
Just then.
Elma spoke, sounding relieved.
"At least the Dimensional Auction House opened before the extermination. With any luck, we can pick up something that’ll help with the operation."
"What? Dimensional Auction House?"
Not the Dimensional Exchange?
At first he assumed she’d misspoken.
But she hadn’t. The instant she heard him question it, Elma didn’t correct herself at all. Instead she nodded and asked a question of her own.
"Yes. Do you not know about it?"
Seeing that, Walfred knew.
The Dimensional Auction House was a completely separate place from the Dimensional Exchange.
"Oh, so you didn’t know..."
Watching Walfred hold his silence.
Elma seemed to catch on as well, and gave an awkward smile. A moment later, after clearing her throat, she began explaining what the Dimensional Auction House was.
"The Dimensional Auction House is a separate phase-separated space that opens alongside the Dimensional Exchange. Think of it as a step above the Exchange."
The Dimensional Auction House.
Exactly what it sounded like: a special space where you didn’t buy goods at a fixed price but won them through a bidding system.
Because of that, it apparently offered a flood of items far rarer and more precious than anything in the Dimensional Exchange, where anyone with coins could buy whatever they wanted.