The Male Kraken
A day after the Kraken incident, I strolled along the beach with Ha-im, both of us in swimsuits.
"Ugh, I feel nauseous…."
"Pfft, you really are a lightweight, bro."
"Shut up…."
My head was pounding. I really wished she would just stop talking to me. I shot Ha-im a suspicious look.
"Hey. I really didn't do anything weird, right?"
"Well, about that…."
The way she trailed off only made me more nervous. Back in the other world, I rarely drank, so I still had no idea what kind of drunk I was.
"Spit it out before I kill you."
"You didn't cause any major trouble, I guess?"
"……."
I couldn't tell if she was being honest. It was suspicious, but there was that old saying about ignorance being bliss. I could have divined the truth, but it felt like the kind of dark history I'd rather stay ignorant about.
We kept walking along the shore.
"So if we fought the Kraken, who would win?"
"What kind of obvious question is that? The Kraken, obviously."
"…Sigh. That kinda kills my motivation."
No matter how strong an S-class and a top-tier A-class might be, fighting underwater changed everything. The ocean was the Kraken's domain from the start, and a human body had clear limits in that environment. Taking it on in its preferred territory meant certain defeat.
"That's why I'm here. There's a way to win, so don't worry."
"Hmm, got it."
I had already used my divination to figure out exactly how to take it down. As long as they followed my plan, victory should come without too much trouble.
"Sis, the meeting's over!"
From a distance, Rona—who had finished her business with the resort staff—waved her hand and came running, scanning the area.
"Where are Su-ha and Miji?"
"They each went their own way."
Miji had gone home, and Su-ha headed to the resort gym to work out. I'd considered asking Miji for help, but requesting a favor from someone I'd just met felt awkward, so I let her leave. Su-ha was probably just doing her usual training. She was a civilian anyway, so she couldn't join this fight.
"Before we start, put these on first."
Rona handed us the waterproof mermaid earpieces. I'd be giving orders through them. Thanks to Miji's blessing before we left, communicating underwater wouldn't be a problem.
I glanced at Ha-im.
"Now that I think about it, don't you need shadows to make weapons?"
"Don't worry! I've already prepared for that!"
With a confident grin, she showed off the bracelet on her wrist.
"With this, I can store weapons whenever I want! Now I can fight even at night!"
"Oh? How much did that cost?"
"……."
Ha-im turned her head away to dodge the question. A sigh slipped out automatically.
"Just don't get caught."
"I'll cover it with the reward from this request, so don't worry."
"Shall we get going then?"
"Yeah."
Rona and Ha-im quickly dove into the sea and began swimming.
"Sis, roughly how far do we have to swim?"
"About twenty kilometers east."
According to my divination, the Kraken was waiting at that spot. It usually appeared near the shore to attack, but this time it had gone surprisingly far out.
Following Rona and Ha-im's lead, they swam the full twenty kilometers at full speed. After swimming continuously, my voice finally came through the earpiece.
"Stop. That's far enough."
The two halted and looked down. In the deep sea—darker than darkness itself—lurked a Kraken comparable to a 1st-class monster among the three great sea beasts.
Rona pulled out the ultrasound device she'd prepared ahead of time, just as I'd instructed. Fighting it in its own territory would be stupid. We needed to draw it as close to the surface as possible.
Beep!
Rona pressed the button.
……
Since it was ultrasound, humans couldn't hear anything, but the effect on marine life was immediate. Hundreds—thousands—of fish began rising from the deep. It was something that would normally never happen. The fish swarmed near the surface, and finally a massive octopus opened its eyes wide.
"It's coming. Get ready."
"Okie."
Rona began her partial dragon transformation while Ha-im pulled shadow weapons from her bracelet. Writhing tentacles slowly rose from below.
"Swim to opposite sides, quickly."
"Yes." "Got it."
They shot off in opposite directions at full speed as the eight tentacles split into two groups of four. Ha-im swam desperately to avoid capture, stopping only when she felt she'd put enough distance between them.
This is seriously fucked up…!
Just look at those disgusting legs and suckers. They were basically tentacles. If one grabbed her, she had a horrible feeling something straight out of a nightmare would happen.
The tentacles rushed toward Ha-im at terrifying speed. Rona twisted and turned through the water, dodging. Thankfully, my advance warnings about its movements made evasion possible even underwater.
But the original plan to bind its limbs wasn't going as smoothly as I'd hoped.
"Hey, stop messing around and pull out the chains."
"Yes…"
My order came through the earpiece. She must have realized I could see everything she was doing. Looking drained, Rona summoned shadow ropes from her bracelet and spun them around four tentacles at once. Just to be safe, she added five more chains, binding them so tightly they couldn't budge.
"I'm done. Still not there yet?"
"Sorry, just wait a little longer."
Meanwhile, while A-class Ha-im had easily subdued four tentacles, S-class Rona was struggling. The reason was simple: underwater, the power of her breath attack was cut in half.
Fuck, this is so embarrassing…!
She had honestly expected to finish it quickly. After all, she was S-class.
What now?
The Kraken was smarter than anticipated, so the entanglement strategy wasn't working.
"Sis, what should we do?"
"This isn't working. Swim over to Ha-im and get the shadow chains from her."
"……."
That stung her pride. No matter what, handling it alone—
"You were just thinking about how it hurts your pride, weren't you?"
"…I really can't hide anything from you, sis."
"Let me give you one piece of advice as your senior in life. Don't let pride get in the way of things like this."
"Yeah, yeah."
Rona swam over to Ha-im, received the shadow chains, and bound the remaining four tentacles aggressively. Watching her, Ha-im couldn't help but laugh.
"Pfft. S-class isn't all that."
"Shut up. I didn't want to do it this way either."
Rona felt genuinely wronged. In pure combat ability, dragon-transformed Rona was superior, but in versatility—creating anything with shadows—Ha-im's power had the advantage here.
"Stop chatting and lift it up already."
They nodded, then pulled with all their strength, hoisting the Kraken high into the air. As it broke the surface, its shadow formed on the water. Ha-im didn't miss the opportunity, creating a massive cocoon and a shadow platform that separated the beast from the sea.
In that moment, Ha-im and Rona quickly stood on the newly created ground. Rona flipped her wet hair back.
"Whew. Now I can finally breathe."
"What kind of S-class can't even tie up some tentacles?"
"Ahem. It couldn't be helped. The sea, to begin with…."
"Don't fight. It's not over yet."
At my words, they both examined the Kraken, now riddled with holes.
The Kraken's body regenerated in less than a second. Super regeneration. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say this ability was a major reason it was considered one of the three great sea monsters.
But that was only true underwater. Right now, the Kraken stood on ground created from shadows.
Ha-im rapidly produced more cocoons. The Kraken screamed even louder than before, but holes continued to tear through its body without mercy.
In the meantime, Ha-im and Rona pulled towels from their bracelets and dried themselves off.
"I basically did everything here. At this rate, doesn't that make me S-class?"
"Then go take the test."
"I want to, but you need at least three years as an awakener before you're even eligible for the S-class exam."
True to Korea—a country run by old-timers—not just anyone who received S-class judgment was truly S-class. You had to accumulate experience. Only after working as an awakener for three years would you be recognized.
"You should just join a guild…."
"Hey, are you two even paying attention?"
As they started chatting, my scolding cut in. At this point, it wasn't just annoying—it was downright irritating.
"Come on, it's basically over. What's there to focus on?"
"Over? It's not over yet."
Ha-im sighed. What was she supposed to do with this overly cautious brother of hers?
"Bro, isn't your caution a bit much? No matter how strong its super regeneration is, that much damage should kill it on its own."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"…?"
Both Ha-im and Rona sensed something was off. It felt like they were talking about completely different things.
"Sis, explain it properly so we can understand."
"Well, that's… Ah, it'll show up soon. Just wait a moment."
"…?"
The fact that I was acting unusually made them suddenly anxious.
The two closed their eyes and focused every sense they had.
Something enormous was slowly rising toward the surface.
Creak!
Cracks began spreading across the shadow platform. Instinctively sensing danger, they quickly dropped down.
Boom!
The platform shattered as something unidentifiable—with a body larger than an apartment building—burst upward.
Ha-im and Rona, now submerged again, looked up to identify the monster.
The monster's true identity was none other than a male Kraken.