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High School Hack and Slash Chapter 56 Part 2

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Pasifista

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　Well then, according to the regular contact from Shizuka, it seems that they are conquering the raid quest smoothly.

　We will surely rescue you, so please bear with it just a little longer, so she said.

「Wyvern brigand roast, yum~.」

　As a person who has been sleeping and eating while feeding Doggy-san, I feel very guilty.

　By the way, that’s not a wyvern, but a kōryū.

　We are lighting a bonfire and having a wild barbecue festival on top of the Moby Dick.

　For better or worse, we haven’t merely been eating and sleeping, as we’ve also been investigating the huge monstrous fish that seems to be a boss called Moby Dick.

　Even though it’s a giant-sized monster, 100 meters in length and 10 meters in width, it doesn’t take that much time and effort just to go around.

　In Shizuka’s opinion, she said it was probably based on a sperm whale, but since she had never seen any real sperm whales, she couldn’t say with much certainty.

　It’s just that it’s cubical in shape, so it’s easy to ride on top of.

　There are spears, or rather harpoons, sticking here and there on its white skin.

　There are even ropes tied to the harpoons as well as the wreckages of the ships, which had probably been pulled and crashed.

　All the stuck whale harpoons seem to be magic items, but they appear to be cursed.

　As a test, I tried to pull one out, but it didn’t even budge, just like the boss itself.

　Perhaps this is also proof that unless the switch is flipped on, the boss is treated as an object, something along those lines.

　The wreckages of the ship are used for firewood as is, though.

　In fact, when this Moby Dick starts moving and becomes our battle opponent, it will most likely turn into a formidable enemy I have never encountered before.

　Bigger means just as much stronger.

「Yes, yes. It looks very fulfilling.」

　Doggy-san wipes her drool as she grills the manga-like meat on the bone.

　Come to think of it, Doggy-san is the president of an A-ranked club, 『Black Honey』.

　She must have faced all sorts of formidable enemies in the dungeon up until now.

「I’ve never had a prey this huge before, though.」

「I knew it.」

「I bet it’ll surely be delicious. I’m looking forward to it.」

　*Flash* Doggy-san’s teeth glistens dubiously as she bites into the manga meat with a chomp.

 

◇ ◇ ◇

 

　Leaving the port of New Bedford, the whaling ship Pequod continued its smooth voyage under the direction of first mate Starbuck.

　Second mate Stubb, third mate Flask, and the whale harpooners.

　Sporting swollen faces, there were some crews who were puzzled, wondering how come they were on board of a ship, but each and every one of them was thorough with their own duty (roleplay).

　The blue sky and the blue sea stretching to no end.

　They conquered the sea in pursuit of whales, in pursuit of their arch-enemy, in pursuit of their karma.

　With the gentiles (Ishmael) on the board.

 

 

　Heave ho!

　Heave ho!

　Raise the anchor and set sail.

　Now, to the tide blowing guy!

 

　Whale steaks dripping with blubber

　Crunchy bread fried in brain oil

　Dolphin with clams in it

　Chowder stuffed with plenty of pepper

　A feast for the land, a feast for us

 

　Our whale makes even Her Majesty the Queen drool

　Now, bring us to the whale!

 

 

「Captain!」

「Captain Ahab!」

　A man stood at the stern of the ship, where the crew all looked up at him.

　He had a dark and sinister face.

　His left foot, stomping with a thud, was a cursed prosthesis carved from the jawbone of a whale.

　A large scar running from his head to the bottom of his neck was etched into his finely chiseled, sinister face.

　He was none other than Captain Ahab, the pathetic avenger cursed by Moby Dick and cursed Moby Dick.

「— If you found a whale…」

　Hearing Ahab’s voice, the crew gulped.

「What would you bastards do?」

「We’d inform the captain!」

「If you were ordered to kill the whale, what would you do?!」

「We’d kill the whale!」

「You bastards would kill the whale?! Or would you be killed by the whale?!」

「We’d kill the whale!!」

　Crooking his mouth upon seeing the zeal of the crews, who were repeatedly yelling「Kill, kill」, Ahab held up the gold coin between his fingers so that everyone could see it.

「You bastards, do you see this Spanish gold? I’ll give this gold to whoever finds the whale with one huge-ass head, the one with a pair of rows of fangs, the one whiter than a pure white sheep, the one that waves its tail more grandly than even a storm sail, Moby Dick! Now, give me the hammer.」

　Receiving the hammer from one of the crews, Ahab nailed the gold coin into the main mast.

「… What the hell is the meaning of this, you bastard?!」

「I was wondering if by any chance this was the key item, and it looks like I was right.」

「Have you lost your mind, gentile (Ishmael)?!」

　Ahab, messing up his tousled hair and screaming with blood rushing to his eyes, grabbed at the gentile who handed him the hammer.

　Seiichi, taking the Spanish gold coin that gave a nice weight to his hand, turned over his worn out hood and jumped down to the deck.

「Well, don’t be so angry. We’ll beat your arch-enemy to death for you after all, okay.」

「Unforgivable, I’ll never forgive you…. Moby Dick is my prey! It’s my arch-enemy! It’s mine!」

　*Clink, clink* With their harpoons and cutlasses at the ready, the crews were cornering Seiichi to the side deck.

「It’s ruined! It’s all ruined! This time, we should have been able to bring down that guy for sure this time! And yet, because of you, you bastard, we have to start all over again!」

「… Just give it up, old man. You guys can never beat the boss. It will always turn out that way.」

「Shut up, shut up, you traitor! This is my ship, my world. I will just kill you and bring in new gentiles (Ishmael)! No matter how many times it takes, yes, no matter how many times it takes, until I bring down that guy!」

「Even if you’re a fake, I bet your obsession is real…. No doubt about it.」

　Cornered on the edge of the deck, Seiichi covered his mouth with a mask.

「Now, kill him! Push him off to the sea and turn him into sharks feed!」

「Huh, Captain Ahab! Something is drawing near at an incredible speed!」

　As he shifted his gaze to the sea upon hearing the warning from the lookout platform, he saw one ship speeding towards them, with its white tail hovering on the surface of the sea.

　About 10 meters in length, the hull was constructed using scrapped vessels as the materials.

　The streamlined cruiser-type ship did not have sails like the Pequod.

　Instead, the water wheels installed on either side of the hull rotated, raising a splash of water, and bringing forth a ship speed that was truly akin to a monster to the Captain and the others.

「Gud taimingu! Seiichi, sorry for the wait!」

　Seeing the figure of Mai waving her hand at the bow of the ship, Seiichi’s mouth slackened.

「We’re going full speed ahead as is~.」

「Y, yes, sir. Engine, full throttle.」

「Awawa, s, smoke is….」

　Water vapor was gushing out of the steam engine, which was running at full power at Mikan’s signal.

　As long as there was metallurgy that could withstand the pressure, a heat source, and a cooling element, a steam engine could be formed.

　Given the stage setting, there was metal, and the product of over-technology, which was impossible to create due to the problem of workmanship precision, could also be made a reality if they had the『Craftsman』 skills that made it possible to cast in the decimal range.

　Of course, the person in question must understand the structural drawings and blueprints.

　A sunken ship washed up on the shore, and an engine made of metal scavenged from all over the town, crystals that extracted flame attributes were used as its heat source.

　Making use of seawater as its cooling system, it had turned into a ship with what could be called a crystal steam engine.

　The huge outer rings on either side, adopted after taking into account their metallic strength, sliced through the ocean field.

　With Kakine, someone with『Engineer』 class, serving as the supervisor, the ship was built with everyone working together.

　She was the『Whale Avenging Ship Neo Pequod』.

「I still can’t believe it. To even build a ship like this in the dungeon. You guys are really beyond common sense.」

　On the rattling and shaking deck, Kaoru was astonished from the bottom of his heart.

「Now then, sorry to bother you, Captain. From here on out, our ship is the main story.」

「You bastaaaaaard!!」

　On the deck of the Neo Pequod, which had caught up and overtook the Pequod, Seiichi, who had jumped over to it, held up and showed off the gold coin in his hand.

「All members, please prepare for battle.」

「Huh?」

　Shizuka, who had been watching the Pequod from the stern of the ship, took a breath in as she held her fluttering hair.

　There were no silhouettes of islands in their surroundings, not even seabirds.

　Even so, there was a faint smell of land mixed with the scent of the salt water.

「We’ve collected the foreshadowing ahead of schedule, so I figured it would probably turn out like this.」

　The surface of the sea was foaming, and the shadow of something white and huge could be seen through it.

　*Splash, splash* The surface of the sea burst open, rising up like a mountain.

　『Something』 boasting an outrageously enormous size was crawling up from the bottom of the ocean depths.

「H, hey…. This is….」

「Whoa, ha, ha…. It, it’s too big.」

　Otoha, her face stiffened, and Mai, who let out a dry laugh, looked up at the sky.

　The huge body of the white, pure-white sperm whale emerging from the surface of the sea, half of its body alone was more than 50 meters.

　Amidst the intimidating air radiated by its huge body, the eyes of Moby Dick slowly opened.

　Swallowed up by angry shouts and screams, the Pequod got caught in the act called breaching, in which the whale simply emerged to the surface of the sea and sank back, and sank into the sea.

「Waves are incoming! Full rudder, align the bow at right angles!」

「Hawawa!」

　At Rinko’s command, Ichiko, acting as helmsman, put her everything into turning the rudder.

「H, how can we beat it? Such a monster.」

　Mai, who had been in high spirits serving as a long-range firepower battery, plopped down on the deck as if her legs had turned jelly.

「As expected, even I’ve never seen such a super large monster before….」

「My katana can’t reach it~」

「It’s alright. Once we reach this stage, it’s already our victory after all.」

　Without any shadow of fear, Shizuka looked up in satisfaction at the huge monstrous fish that once again jumped out of the surface of the sea.

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