November 12th, midnight.

''I never thought there would be a day we dig a hole to defeat a ruler.'' Ariel floats lazily around, tossing a potato chip into her mouth.

''Me neither.'' I reply, tossing a potato chip into my mouth.

After I scanned my territory for a while, I was able to find a relatively deep cave to further dig down. It's where we're at right now.

BOOM—!

BOOM—!

Currently, Mister Slen is punching the wall with his tentacles, extending a pathway downward. It would be much easier if we had someone with the earth element here, but unfortunately, we don't.

It doesn't take much effort anyway, with our superhuman strength.

Now, I'm not a mathematician, and I don't think I can accurately quantify both the Blizzard Orca's STR stat and its magic proficiency, then use that number to somehow calculate the force needed to crush its body, so I don't know how deep we need to dig.

No one among us knows, actually. Aside from the problems that I've just listed, we have to consider the weight of the materials composing this area and whatnot. So in the end, we decided to just go with estimation.

''This is like, Minecraft all over again.'' Chloe says, looking into the pathway. ''Imagine we hit the bedrock floor, that'd certainly be a plot twist.''

''Minecraft?'' Skely asks.

''A sandbox game... Well, it's kinda complicated to explain. Just know that it involves a lot of digging.''

''I see.''

'''' ... ''''

''...Chloe, give me the foam.'' I speak up after finishing the last piece of potato chip.

''Here you go.''

Chloe pulls out a giant piece of foam from her inventory.

''Hm... It squeezes pretty well.''

''Obviously. I prepared it after all.''

''Yes, yes.'' I stuff the foam into my inventory.

As to why we need a giant foam, it's because I want to eliminate all the risks before proceeding with our plan. This one, specifically, is a replacement object for the orca. I don't know for sure if I teleported the orca into the pathway, its body would properly go into the wall, or it would forcefully be squeezed with me into that tiny space, in which case, we'd both die.

After waiting for approximately thirty minutes, I see Mister Slen teleporting up from the pathway.

''Are you done?''

Mister Slen nods lightly.

''Thanks a lot.''

So I begin to descend the long pathway. Hm, this is quite steep. Let's just fly down.

While I descend the pathway rapidly, my mind can't help but think of the possibility of a cave-in. The Blizzard Orca is a ruler. I'm sure it is capable of at least collapsing the little space that we've made. I'm beginning to reconsider the double teleport plan here...

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pat—!

I land at the bottom.

...I see. This place is quite spacious for me at least, but it would definitely not fit the orca. I'd say... Three meters by three meters?

Either way, I need to test the foam first.

So I teleport back to the entrance of the pathway.

''How's it?'' Chloe asks.

''Seems good. Let me test the foam after my cooldown ends.'' I reply, taking out the piece of foam in my inventory. ''Ariel, can you come down with me to check?''

''Sure.''

I hold Ariel's manifested hand with my left hand, while my right hand is holding the giant foam. Okay, now I just need to accurately imagine the coordinates...

[Teleportation].

The scene abruptly changes, and we have arrived at the chamber earlier. Okay, I don't feel the foam slapping into my face, this is a good sign.

I turn to the left, and to my delight, the foam that I'm holding has largely clipped into the wall, leaving only a small portion that I'm holding outside.

''Ariel.''

''Roger~''

Ariel pokes her head into the wall a bit, then comes out with a smile. ''It's working! The foam is really inside the wall!''

''Good.''

This is working very well.

----------------------------------------

November 13th, midnight.

''Phew...''

Running on the snowy field, I can't help but notice that today as well, the moon is exceptionally bright.

After some further consideration, we decided to go with the double teleport plan. We'd figured that we could rely on Mister Slen's [Invincible] to both hold down the orca and counter its magic in the first fifteen seconds of Skely's and my [Teleportation] being on cooldown, and the remaining fifteen seconds would be me and my copied [Invincible].

Sadly, it seems the activation duration of [Invincible] is fixed at fifteen seconds, just as the cooldown of [Teleportation] is fixed at thirty.

Nevertheless, this gamble is relatively safe, but it has some risks, namely the potential full-scale invasion of North Zircon toward us if we can't defeat the orca. So we will have to be careful.

I am now, supposedly, heading toward the Blizzard Orca's nest—at least that's what the yetis told me. It's a relief they 'agreed' to share the information. I made sure they weren't lying as well.

''I think we're almost there.'' Skely, who's being dragged along by me, says.

''Right over that mountain range?'' I ask.

''Yes.''

There's a high chance that the Blizzard Orca has prepared some sort of trap for me as well.

''Lady Aurora, there are some suspicious mana signs ahead!''

''I knew it.''

''Please go as I say!''

''Alright.''

As expected of the former Archmage, I can count on him in such scenarios.

''Turn left, run for three seconds, then fly upward—''

With Skely's timely instructions and my decent mana sense, we are able to get through the maze-like arrays of magic traps and eventually arrive at the foothill of the mountain.

My robe flutters in the rapid snowstorm as I fly up the mountain at high speed.

[Skill proficiency achieved a certain level]

[Skill: Flight Lv.2 has become Lv.3]

Okay, great. But I have to focus.

When we get past the peak—

''!!''

A giant beam of ice greets us.

I hurriedly blink to the side and narrowly escape being obliterated. Turning below, I can see the Orca and its massive army staring at us, the slower spells of the other fish are on their way toward us, and they're already preparing the next barrage.

The sight is clear, this is good!

''Skely!''

''I'll go now, Lady Aurora!''

Skely grabs my hand.

With a sudden change in my vision, as well as my other sense, I find myself right next to the Blizzard Orca. The crystal layer of the creature is almost blinding, and the size of it up-close is honestly terrifying, but ignore all of that, I thrust my hand toward it as fast as I can.

As soon as I can feel the cold texture of the orca's skin—

[Teleportation]!

The scene once again, changes.

BOOM—!!!

————————!!!

Accompanied by the orca's painful wail, the whole environment around us shakes violently. Rock fragments, big and small, begin to rain onto us. Turning to the side, I see the mighty Blizzard Orca clipping into the wall, only half of its head poking out. It glares at me angrily and opens its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth before condensing a huge amount of energy into a rather unstable-looking spell.

''Mister Slen!''

Immediately, Mister Slen, who has been standing here since earlier, extends his tentacles to make a dome, preventing us from being crushed, and some of them slide over to the orca to tie its mouth tightly. That is the last thing needed to cancel the orca's unstable spell, it seems.

I pull out the Blackstar and begin to infuse mana into it.

Let's make this quick.