What's with this Sea of the Sky here?!
Sure, they're both Dungeons, but you've gone and crossed your shows, hey!!
Yet Alfia's story didn't stop—it went on being told.
About the sea.
The people of this world had their own "understanding" of it too, but it was somewhat special, and the reason lay in this: the monsters that had once overrun the world had nearly driven every nation on the continent to extinction.
Under such circumstances, even nations far from the continent, dwelling on islands out at sea, were inevitably affected.
Unless they were island nations situated relatively close to the continent—like the [Warrior Nation of Telskyura] or the [Far East]—the vast majority of them, at least according to years of exploration by ocean Familia such as the [Academic District] and Poseidon's,
On the sea islands far from the continent, one could only uncover a few traces of the humans who had lived there a thousand years ago.
"Most of the overseas nations have perished—that is the reality of the world today."
"And so, the people of today can be regarded as folk trapped on this continent by the monsters, and before the monsters are wiped out, they can't even entertain the notion of voyaging far."
"But even so, the ocean is extremely important to people."
And the reason lay with Orario.
Whether it was the fortress built here a thousand years ago to defend against the monster assaults that emerged from the depths of the great pit, or the gods and the Familia adventurers exploring the Dungeon here in all the years after the City of Adventurers was established,
both required a steady, unending resupply of provisions.
Overland routes were always long and troublesome; compared to them, maritime trade was far easier.
A thousand years ago, when Orario served as the frontline against the monsters, the port city of Melen outside the city also played an enormous role—you could even say that Melen was Orario's logistical base back then, and losing it would have meant the heroes and soldiers truly losing everything they needed to defend the great pit.
And now.
The city also needed to ship out the Magic Stone creations and various goods it obtained. Orario was the center of the world, and whether it was adventurers from every corner of the world or all manner of things, the vast majority of them arrived by sea.
Because of this, this world's "warship" tech tree was actually rather formidable—the city could even construct colossal Magic-Stone-driven vessels like the [Academic District].
"But even after several centuries of this, people still can't explore the open ocean."
It wasn't because there was no point.
As far back as a thousand years ago, someone had proposed that perhaps, beyond the sea, there lay a world where no monsters existed.
And over all these years, there were always those who chose to sail far in search of this so-called new world.
There were also Familia led by gods who governed the "ocean," like Poseidon, forever drifting upon the sea; but once they strayed too far from the continent, what awaited them was inevitably a perilous, all-but-fatal end.
And so, over the centuries, many legends were born of this.
Which gave rise to what Alfia had just said:
[The water's surface is, in truth, a mirror—a gateway leading to another world; cross the sea, and you can reach an entirely new world.]
But this was no mere legend.
Because of Leviathan.
Alfia, too, had never imagined that one day she would return to "this place."
The woman recalled that long-ago battle.
The enemy was a colossal sea beast roughly the size of a small continent, so immense that merely surfacing its body was enough to trigger tsunamis.
Such a gigantic creature—how had they won?
"Clear away the monsters living in symbiosis upon Leviathan's body, then find the core within it, and shatter it."
The woman made it sound simple.
But actually doing it was another matter entirely.
The Hera Familia deployed its entire fighting force, yet even the Lv.9 [Empress] could not slay Leviathan—it was simply too enormous; its [Endurance] had likely reached a level beyond imagination.
It was only because Alfia, at nearly the cost of her own life, invoked that absolute forbidden spell—the woman's third magic, which Isagi and the girls had experienced before—
[Extinction · Annunciation Prayer].
that they finally succeeded in subjugating it.
"But weren't the ones living on Leviathan ordinary people?"
Cecil said curiously.
She had caught a phrase from Alfia's earlier words—"monsters living in symbiosis."
"That's right.
The people of that nation made use of Leviathan's presence—naturally, that alone was enough to form a zone around the "island" free of any other aquatic monsters. By using the Overlord of the Sea to drive off other monsters, they neither had to fear monster attacks nor wanted for abundant ocean resources.
At the same time,
Leviathan itself would devour vast quantities of sea monsters and fish, thereby growing an utterly wondrous "ecosystem" upon its own back, so that the people on the island, without needing to toil, could effortlessly obtain all manner of plump game and ripened fruit.
But this was only one side of it.
Just like the story told a moment ago, Leviathan had a "duality": above the water was a perfect realm, while below the water was a world of unspeakable horror and dread.
"Leviathan's body will keep growing larger, and the monsters living in symbiosis within it will grow ever more numerous. One day it will become so vast that it borders the continent, and at that point, the continent will gradually be [devoured] by it, while it breeds more and more monsters all the while——"
This was where Leviathan's true danger lay.
"It's just like an aircraft carrier." "?"
Alfia and Cecil clearly had no idea what Isagi was talking about, but that was roughly the gist of it.
Leviathan was like a small "Dungeon" floating upon the sea.
It would keep swelling and growing larger, producing more and more monsters within itself——which helped Isagi understand, to some degree, why earlier, in that "Dragon Palace," he had encountered that [Monster King] In a certain sense, was it really a part "split off" from the Dungeon?
That was why his own ability had been able to affect it, turning the monsters inside into special BOSSes.
Explained that way, it all made sense.
Then there was still one question now and it was the final one.
"What is Leviathan's ability—or rather, what is this fragment of Magic Stone good for?"
"Inversion, reversal, the other side of the mirror——that part you'll have to figure out for yourself." Utterly incomprehensible.
And as she watched Isagi and Cecil's baffled expressions, Alfia had a splendid idea.
"When the moment calls for it, I can tell you exactly how this thing is used."
"But."
"The next time you go adventuring in the Dungeon, I'd like to come take a look too. Of course, not following along with you—you don't need to mind me. How about it?"
Wasn't that a simple enough matter? And here Isagi had thought Alfia was going to make some kind of demand. "Sure."
There was no reason to refuse.
And besides,
wasn't this the perfect chance to slowly find an opening to get her to join the Astrea Familia?
____
👻🔥+40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Path of Elation in Warhammer 40K
Let's achieve our community goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 extra chapter for everybody