Irritation surged to the very tip of my skull.
I knew it would end up like this. Since when had my life ever actually gone according to plan? A single coin toss dragged me to Italy where I had to kill a god and become a Devil King, and just when I thought I could finally restart my ruined vacation, I ended up having to clean up after another Devil King’s mess.
Devil King hunting? Don't make me laugh. I’m no hero, and I’m certainly no hunter. Even if I was being forcibly put on a pedestal back in Italy, I never wanted a throne. I was just a rookie Devil King whose vacation was ruined, someone who wanted nothing more than to end this commotion and hop on the first flight back to Korea. But the Kahuna's prophecy, the existence of another Campione, and the shitty future where this entire island might sink wouldn't let me go. In the end, this was all just a forced 'aftermath cleanup' to reclaim my own peace. I had to scrub away the stains that damned phantom thief left behind.
"Are you prepared, Excellency?"
Once I had reached my decision, Alessandro Gaspare approached me, holding out a black windbreaker. His voice was a cocktail of concern and anticipation.
"Forget being prepared, I don't exactly have an alternative, do I?"
I grumbled, snatching the jacket and pulling it on. Darkness had already swallowed the world outside. The night view of Waikiki, having regained its peace after the battle with a god, glowed with an unreal, shimmering beauty.
"O King."
The Kahuna, who had been listening to our conversation, stepped forward.
"That thief erased his traces with a mysterious Authority. It will be difficult to pursue him through human magecraft or technology."
"So what? You want me to just give up?"
"No."
The Kahuna shook his head. His face held the deep, heavy conviction unique to sorcerers.
"He may have erased his own footsteps, but he could not hide the tears shed by the 'Heart of the Earth' he stole. The sorrow of this land, the wounds inflicted upon the earth, they point toward his path. I can read that trail."
His words sounded like the typical vague mysticism of a cloud-chaser, but strangely, I didn't feel like he was bluffing.
"Fine. I'll leave the navigation to you."
We headed to a harbor secretly secured by the Bronze-Black Cross. Waiting for us there in the pitch-black darkness was a military stealth speedboat, its sleek hull cutting a sharp silhouette. It was a bizarre sight—a master of ancient sorcery boarding a vessel that was the pinnacle of modern technology to act as its guide.
"Setting sail!"
Under the knight’s expert handling, the speedboat slipped silently out of the harbor. Before long, the vessel began to tear through the waves at a terrifying speed.
"Kahuna, so where exactly are we going?"
When I asked, the Kahuna stood at the bow, eyes closed, focusing entirely on the night wind. He didn't even glance at the compass or the radar, relying solely on his own senses.
"The wind... it whispers. Northwest... beyond those black clouds."
He pointed precisely at a single spot in the vast, open sea. Alessandro hesitated for a moment, but quickly gave the order to the knight at the helm.
"Follow the Kahuna's directions."
The speedboat banked hard, turning its prow toward the direction the Kahuna indicated. I stood at the gunwale, staring into the darkness he pointed toward. Then, I felt it—a bizarre sensation. Medusa’s Authority within me, the 'Petrifying Evil Eye,' was reacting ever so slightly. It was a faint pulse of pain, as if the land was screaming from somewhere far away.
The Kahuna was telling the truth. The earth really was weeping.
How long did we race? Suddenly, a sickening silence settled over the pitch-black sea. The wind that had been howling just moments ago ceased, and even the gentle waves came to a complete halt. The ocean became like a massive sheet of glass. The boat glided over it with bone-chilling smoothness. The air grew heavy with the stench of sulfur and a heat that felt like it would sear my skin.
"...This is..."
Alessandro gripped the sword at his waist, shifting into a defensive stance. The knights of the order drew their weapons in unison. Through long experience, they instinctively felt that this abnormal stillness was merely the precursor to a cataclysmic storm.
"It is here..."
The Kahuna murmured softly.
"A fragment of the mountain lord’s fury, hemorrhaging from the wounds of the earth."
Hardly had he finished speaking when the surface of the water directly in front of our boat began to boil like a hot spring. The sea temperature spiked, and thick white steam rose like a fog, obscuring our vision. And finally, the water's surface tore open in an explosion, and 'it' revealed itself.
"KUOOOOOOO—!"
It had the shape of a sea turtle as massive as an island, but it was no living thing. Its shell was made of obsidian, black and sharp like freshly hardened lava. Between the cracks of that rigid skin, crimson magma blazed like an inferno. As it lunged above the surface, the seawater touching its body hissed and evaporated instantly.
One of the Bronze-Black Cross knights responsible for mana analysis cried out in a voice thick with horror.
"Impossible...! That isn't a biological entity! It's maintaining its form through pure mana and heat alone! How can such a being even...!"
The Divine Beast spotted us and opened its maw toward the speedboat, its eyes smoldering with red hatred. Immediately, globs of lava were spat out like artillery shells.
"Evasive maneuvers to the starboard! Deploy defensive magecraft!"
At Alessandro’s shout, the boat banked sharply. Several lava rounds struck the water, sending up massive geysers and walls of steam. The lava rounds collided with the blue magic shields erected by the knights. Upon contact, the shields didn't buckle from physical impact, but turned cherry-red from the sheer heat, distorting as if they were screaming.
"Ugh, the heat is conducting directly through! The mana structure is melting!"
"It's coming again!"
After raining down lava, the Divine Beast lunged forward at a terrifying speed, seemingly intent on shattering us through a direct collision. The path it carved through the sea became a wake of boiling steam.
"Reverse engines to maximum! Brace for impact!"
The knights desperately tried to restructure their shields, but against such overwhelming mass and thermal energy, they were nothing more than paper.
"...Ah, seriously. The cleanup never ends."
I sighed, clutching my throbbing head. There was no helping it. If the boat sank here, I’d be shark bait in the middle of the Pacific instead of catching that high-and-mighty Black Prince.
I stumbled toward the bow. I locked my grey-lit eyes onto the charging lava turtle.
Can I turn stone... into stone?
No, the essence of that thing isn't stone. Its true nature is 'heat' and 'movement' that melts everything. If that’s the case, I just have to kill that essence with my Authority.
I reached out my hand and recited the incantation under my breath.
"All who gaze upon me, all who face me... become stone and be silent."
My will transformed into a grey wave, shooting toward the lava turtle.
KWAD-DEUK...!
Accompanying a nauseating sound, an unbelievable sight unfolded. The magma within the beast’s body, swirling behind the crimson cracks, lost its light and hardened into black soot. The steam surrounding its body vanished in an instant. The heat that felt like it would melt the world cooled into a frigid void.
The lava turtle stopped perfectly mid-air, frozen in its charging posture just before it hit the boat. Stripped of vitality, heat, and movement, it had been transmuted into a massive, lifeless obsidian statue.
THUD! Splash... swishhh....
The massive statue, unable to support its own weight, plummeted into the deep sea. The ocean returned to its gentle waves as if the chaos had never happened.
"......"
Silence reigned over the boat. The knights, who had been screaming defensive spells until a moment ago, stood dazed, alternating their gazes between the sea where the statue had vanished and me, unable to comprehend what they had witnessed.
A young knight standing near Alessandro muttered in a daze, his voice trembling involuntarily.
"...This... is the power of a King..."
Alessandro said nothing, merely staring at the back of his King with a hardened expression. His eyes didn't contain surprise; rather, they were filled with the pride and conviction of someone witnessing the inevitable.
The Kahuna watched me and gave a slow, somber nod.
"That was merely a single tear shed from the Goddess’s fury. So long as the Heart remains displaced, such wounds will continue to erupt across these seas."
His words were no longer just a vague prophecy. They were a vivid reality, proven right before our eyes.
I stared at the spot where the Divine Beast had sunk. Alexander Gascoigne—the Black Prince. The mischief that damned phantom thief was playing at was now turning into a true catastrophe that threatened not just the fate of the island, but my very life.
"...Alessandro."
"Yes, Excellency."
"Full speed ahead. I don't want to be held up by things like that anymore."
My words were laced with a cold fury that surpassed mere irritation. To reclaim my damned vacation, I had to catch that troublemaker with my own two hands. The speedboat tore through the night sea once again, following the trail of the earth's tears.
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