"...It's here."
Seeing the thick fog rising ahead, Natsuki Subaru's expression instantly turned grave.
"Where?"
Hearing that, the others in the group immediately went on guard and began looking around. "Is that monster hiding inside the fog?"
"No!"
However, Crusch seemed to suddenly realize something and drew her sword. "...It's in the sky!"
"What?!"
Everyone's faces changed as they hurriedly looked up into the air.
And the moment they did, they spotted the enormous shadow in the sky—a whale-like monster swimming above the river of stars.
It was a gigantic whale whose body rivaled a mountain, but unlike any familiar sea creature, this thing was deathly white all over, like the skin of a corpse. Its huge mouth was filled with dense, razor-sharp teeth, while a strange pink ring floated above its head.
That was also one of the signs that it was a creation of the Witch.
The Great Rabbit they had encountered in the forest before had borne a similar pale pink mark, though it had been much smaller than the White Whale's.
"Woooo..."
Perhaps noticing the gazes below, the White Whale's sickly yellow giant eyes suddenly twisted in an eerie manner and locked onto the army beneath it.
As its gaze settled upon them—
Everyone in the subjugation force instantly felt an indescribable malice.
Even from such an enormous distance, they seemed to feel the thing's terror and pressure. It was the instinctive reaction of prey encountering its natural predator, like sheep seeing wolves. The fear of being hunted rose uncontrollably from the depths of their hearts.
"This, this is..."
Even Crusch felt her heart tighten at the sight of it. "The White Whale?"
"Freeze Magic! Ice Blades!"
Just as everyone was being intimidated, two clear female voices rang out from within the group. Several ice spikes