Chapter 87
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: It Appeared
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Ian decided to hear more details from the people who had come looking for the mercenary corps.
They hurriedly set up some seating in the living room, and Ian gathered with a few others.
"Monsters appeared, you say?"
"Yes. Reports came in suddenly from the outskirts."
"I heard this area doesn't get monsters."
"Exactly! In the few years I've been stationed here, not a single shark has ever come inland... What in the world is going on?"
No monsters had ever shown up before, but now they had, leaving everyone in a panic.
But Ian had a hunch this wasn't just a simple monster problem.
With mercenaries crawling all over this city, they could hire as many as they needed if it was urgent.
"So, what kind of monsters prompted you to come to us?"
"Well..."
The conversation suddenly halted as they exchanged glances.
As if there was something they hesitated to say outright. After dragging their feet for a while, they answered one by one.
"The report that came into the guard post was about merfolk."
"Our side spotted a dragon turtle."
Finally, Ian waited for the response from the city hall representative.
The man seemed to wrestle with whether he should even say it, stalling for a long moment before finally speaking up.
"...A Kraken."
"......"
A chilly silence settled over the room.
Ian mulled it over for a bit before asking,
"...What's a Kraken?"
"W-We thought it sounded ridiculous too... But multiple people saw it!"
The city hall rep hurriedly elaborated upon seeing Ian's expression. The others nodded in firm agreement, as if vouching for the truth.
They didn't seem to be messing with him.
Ian weighed his options briefly, then nodded.
"We can't handle something like that. Call in an A-rank."
Seeing Ian's displeased look, they all latched onto him immediately.
"Wait! We're not asking you to take down the Kraken, of course! At least help scout the monsters' movements and assess the situation..."
"We've already dispatched people from Labyrinth! Just hold the line until they arrive!"
Ian roughly grasped their expectations and let out a small sigh before addressing the late-night visitors.
"It's nighttime now. Let's talk it over tomorrow when the sun's up."
He needed time to think anyway, and rushing a decision wouldn't let them move out in the dead of night.
The situation might shift by daylight, so they agreed to decide then. In the end, everyone accepted his proposal and left.
The noisy lodging finally fell quiet.
In the spot they'd vacated, the corps members now gathered to talk it over.
"You gonna take the job?"
"Yeah, but..."
No matter how he turned it over in his mind, the whole thing felt off, so Ian pondered deeply.
Kraken...
He'd never heard of such a monster.
Of course, he knew what a Kraken was in theory. It just meant he'd never encountered one while playing this game.
The game's core setting revolved around Labyrinth to begin with, so giant sea monsters had no business showing up there.
There'd never been any major events where cities outside Labyrinth came under attack like this.
For now, he should look into Krakens.
If he could access Labyrinth's library or the guild's archive, he'd find solid intel.
Not an option in a place like this.
Ian turned to the one who seemed most likely to know something.
"Rin. You know about Krakens?"
"Sure do!"
Rin answered with total confidence.
She looked especially proud that Ian—who clearly didn't know much—had come to her for info.
"To start, Krakens live in the deep sea..."
The details Rin shared lined up almost exactly with what Ian had guessed.
A massive sea monster that dwelled in the ocean depths, with legends of it ambushing ships far out at sea.
A creature of myth, backed by nothing but unverified sightings—no hard proof of an actual appearance.
"That's weird..."
"What is?"
"If it lives in the deep sea, why would it show up along a coast like this?"
The same went for the other monsters reportedly sighted nearby.
Taken one at a time, none seemed outright impossible. But all clustered in one spot?
Ian figured they needed to investigate what could possibly cause this.
The members nodded in agreement with taking the request. Tanya, though, looked a bit uneasy as she asked,
"We don't have much in the way of supplies. You sure that's okay?"
It was a long-term escort gig, and they'd come for vacation anyway. Not expecting major fights, everyone had packed light on gear.
"We'll avoid full-on battles, so we'll make do with what we've got."
"Got it."
They all nodded and scattered to prep their gear for tomorrow.
The next day.
Ian headed to the site, guided by reps from city hall and the guards who'd shown up before dawn.
The outskirts, well away from the crowded beaches.
It looked like a spot folks rarely visited anyway, but now it was deserted thanks to the monster rumors.
"This the place?"
"Yes. All the testimonies point in this direction."
"...Understood. We'll signal if we spot anything."
Ian sent the guides back and first scanned the immediate area.
"See anything?"
"Nothing stands out here."
They answered while keeping watch. It was a peaceful scene—no sign of monsters anywhere.
Ian started by following the path down toward the coast.
He hoped to pick up any monster traces near the shoreline.
With that many sightings, the monsters should've left something behind. Yet now, not a one in sight.
The city's mercenaries were on standby to fend off any sudden attacks.
Ian's job was to track down traces of where the vanished monsters had gone.
"...There's nothing here."
"Did monsters really show up?"
They'd walked a good distance along the path, but no sign of monsters—not even a trace.
If that many had appeared, there should've been footprints or something. For them to pop up out of nowhere and vanish back into the sea without a trace was just too bizarre.
"...Huh."
As they edged closer to the coast, fog suddenly began to roll in.
Sensing the eerie vibe, they all halted.
"It was clear just a second ago...?"
"This atmosphere feels off."
The fog swiftly blanketed everything, thick enough to obscure directions entirely.
Obvious anomaly. Everyone drew weapons and scanned warily.
──!
A bizarre creature's wail.
At the same moment, a massive tentacle erupted from beyond the fog.
"......"
"......"
Even through the haze, the enormous shadow was unmistakable.
Everyone went speechless, staring dumbly at the Kraken's tentacle writhing in the distance.
"It really appeared!"
"...Is that the real deal?"
Ian sensed something wrong and studied the tentacle closely.
He'd doubted a real Kraken from the start, so he spotted the inconsistency right away.
...The water depth was blatantly off.
This was a shallow beach.
Even the deepest parts barely hit a few meters.
No way a Kraken—hundreds of meters long—could fit in water that shallow.
Yet here it was, just a single tentacle poking above the surface in the shallows.
"Ahead! Monsters!"
Lia's shout rang out from the front.
Merfolk matching the sighting reports, weapons in hand, closing in slowly.
One of the merfolk emerging from the fog leveled its weapon at them.
As battle loomed, Tanya urgently summoned her fairies.
Throw this at the enemy!
She recalled the combat items in her bag and pleaded.
- ...?
"Wh-what's wrong?"
The fairies froze, tilting their heads.
...This had never happened before!
With the fairies ignoring her pleas, Tanya shouted in a panic.
"The enemy's over there—right in front of Lia!"
The fairy nodded and carried a potion to the spot Tanya indicated.
But the bottle sailed far past the enemy and dropped in completely the wrong place.
"Ah, what are you doing?! That's not it!"
The panicking Tanya got panicking looks from the fairies in turn, who seemed at a loss.
The fairies clinging to her suddenly tugged at her cheeks.
"Eeeek... Wh-what are you doing?! In a situation like this!"
While Tanya flailed, surrounded by fairies...
A single glow flitted up to Ian and hovered there.
A fairy.
Ian, unlike Tanya, couldn't make out the fairy's details—just a faint light.
The light bobbed and weaved in front of him before pointing toward Tanya.
...Asking me to do something about Tanya?
Ian watched it for a moment, then opened his members' status windows.
[Hallucination] Debuff Active
Naturally, Ian himself was under the hallucination effect too.
Fog... hallucination?
"Ah..."
Ian finally pieced it together—the sudden "underwater monster invasion" that had stumped him.