The Kraken Duo
The sea erupted as the kraken's waters surged upward, then rained back down like a storm. Rona stared blankly at the newly appeared kraken. It was far larger than the one they'd fought earlier, its body covered in vivid, intricate patterns.
'What the hell is going on…!'
She couldn't understand why there were two krakens when there should only be one. The request form from the resort manager had definitely said nothing about a second one.
Ha-im clenched her teeth and turned on Seong-a. "What the hell?! Why are there two krakens?!"
If she replayed their earlier conversation, it was obvious Seong-a had known there were two. And yet she hadn't said a word. She had to be out of her mind.
"What? You didn't know? I figured you knew a hundred percent."
"……."
Ha-im was speechless. Then the anger she'd been holding back came flooding in.
"Seriously, you couldn't share the plan?!"
"Try working in the military sometime. You'll learn it's better not to share plans with ordinary people."
"……."
That stung. Ordinary people? She was family—his sister, no less. She never expected to be treated like this. Whatever happened to him in that other world, she was dying to know.
"Don't worry. I've already thought everything through. Just do what I say, like before."
"……."
Annoyed as she was, they had no choice but to follow Seong-a's orders if they wanted to survive this.
"Attack incoming. Dodge if you don't want to die."
The warning came through the in-ear. A massive kraken leg slammed down with tremendous force. Rona shot into the sky while Ha-im used shattered shadow fragments as stepping stones to gain distance. They both avoided the strike, but the splash blinded them.
'Where's it attacking from?'
Calculating was too much trouble. It would be easier to turn the broken platform fragments into blades and counterattack…
"Don't do it yet. Only when I give the order."
"……."
The oppa clearly knew what she was about to do and shut it down immediately. It was irritating, but she held back. She wanted to see what kind of plan this was—one she wasn't even allowed to know about. If it turned out to be nothing special, she wasn't going to let it slide.
"Rona, carry Ha-im on your back and circle the kraken."
"Got it."
Following the order, Rona scooped Ha-im up and flew around the creature. The kraken immediately began pounding the area with all eight legs in rapid succession.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!
Rona weaved through the strikes with precise, coordinated movements.
"Unnie! Where do we go next?!"
"Diagonal right."
One hit from those legs would be the end. She could already picture them plunging into the sea, unable to breathe, wrapped up and dragged into the depths.
"Oppa, how long do we have to keep this up?!"
"Just hold out for one minute."
One minute. Easy for him to say when he wasn't the one dodging. She was terrified of getting hit…!
"Everyone, turn your heads to the right."
"……!"
The moment the command came, both of them looked up. A sleek black object shot toward them. Thanks to Seong-a's warning, they dodged automatically.
CRASH!
The black projectile slammed into a tall reef and shattered it into fragments.
CRACK!
Only then did they realize what it was.
"D-Don't tell me that's ink…?"
"Y-Yeah… probably…?"
Simple ink that could pulverize solid rock? That was insane. If that stuff hit them, Rona—with no dragon scales to protect her—would be finished.
"Hey, fly faster!"
"This is already my top speed!"
Dozens of ink blasts capable of destroying reefs came flying at them. Because of Seong-a's orders, they couldn't even fight back. For the first time, one minute felt like an eternity.
"Unnie! Is the minute not up yet?!"
"Hmm, almost there."
Almost there. That meant the minute still wasn't over. But it also meant there wasn't much left, so they pushed themselves harder.
When they were nearly at the limit, Seong-a asked a question.
"How long is your breath cooldown?"
"About five minutes!"
"Does controlling shadows drain your stamina?"
"No restrictions on shadow control!"
Both Ha-im and Rona were confused. Why ask that now?
"On three, get ready to make spikes."
"…Okay."
The order reached Ha-im. Still on Rona's back, she raised one knee and waited for the right moment.
"Three, two, one!"
The instant the count ended, floating and drifting fragments transformed into sharp spikes and flew toward the krakens. At the same time, something burst out of the water.
『KRRRAAAAAAGH!!!』
"……!"
It was the female kraken they'd thought was dead. But before it could launch its ambush, the spikes impaled both krakens at once, pinning them in place.
『KRRRAAAAAAGH!!!!』
『KRRRAAAAAANG!!!!』
The two krakens thrashed in agony, creating massive waves with their legs, but it was useless. Their screams echoed loud enough to reach the neighboring country, yet no one came to help.
Rona and Ha-im landed on a nearby reef and watched the scene unfold.
"…Don't tell me you predicted this and told us not to attack?"
"Obviously. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered stopping you."
The female kraken must have been hiding after regenerating, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
'She's terrifying…'
Seong-a had predicted the female's revival time and timed a single efficient strike that crippled both monsters. The awe was quickly being replaced by fear.
"Rona, hit them with your breath before they regenerate."
"Ah, right."
Rona unleashed a high-powered breath at the two immobilized krakens. Even the dragon's flames couldn't stop their regeneration—the creatures kept screaming as their bodies continuously healed.
"You two, don't just stand there. Attack as well."
"Ah, got it."
Ha-im enlarged her spikes and fired every single one of the thousand weapons stored in her bracelet. One hour passed, then two. The krakens continued to suffer through endless regeneration.
『Krrrr… Kuaaaang!!!!』
『Kraaaang… Kraaaagh!!!』
The kraken couple shed tears from the unending pain.
"……."
"……."
For a moment, both girls stopped attacking. It was the first time they'd seen a monster cry. It almost felt like they were torturing them…
"Don't feel sorry for them."
"…Crazy. Can you stop reading our minds?!"
"I don't usually do it, so don't worry. I wouldn't waste energy on something this inefficient unless it was dangerous."
So she would do it if it was efficient. The thought crossed both their minds.
"Stop thinking nonsense and keep attacking."
"……."
She'd read that too, apparently. Ha-im and Rona cleared their heads and resumed the assault.
Five hours later, the sun had completely set. Unable to endure the pain of weapons piercing their regenerating bodies and the burning from the dragon's breath, the two monsters chose death themselves. A small seed of guilt took root in Ha-im and Rona's hearts.
"…Unnie, it's over now. Can we go back?"
"Yeah. Before that, there's something tasty if you go a little deeper below you. Bring some back."
"Something tasty? What do you mean…"
Zzt—!
The call cut off abruptly. Rona and Ha-im looked at each other and sighed.
***
The sun was setting. The sea gradually turned orange in the twilight as I watched the view.
"Honey, I'm back!"
I turned to see Mi-ji waving as she approached from a distance.
"When did you start using that nickname?"
"Just now! I like it, so I went with it."
She liked it? Liked what? Without asking, Mi-ji plopped down on my patch of sand.
"Where'd you go?"
"Helped my parents with work."
"If it's your parents' work, is it tangerine farming?"
"Honey, not every person from Jeju runs a tangerine farm, you know."
"I didn't know that."
I hadn't realized I held such a narrow-minded view. I needed to fix that quickly…
"Nah, no need to apologize. My family does grow tangerines, after all."
"……."
For a second, my brain nearly short-circuited. Did every household in Jeju really have tangerine trees?
We chatted while watching the sunset over the sea.
"You could've just asked me for help."
"It's fine. We can handle it without you."
It was a fact that Mi-ji would be more useful underwater than us, but the fortune-telling had already predicted success, so there was no need to ask.
"If you ever need me for something later, just say the word. I'll come help even if I have to cross the Atlantic."
"Haha. Thanks."
It felt a little awkward, but I appreciated the offer anyway.
We moved on to the next topic.
"…How did you end up returning to Earth?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Just curious."
She pulled her legs in and lowered her head. I'd gone through hell to get back, so I was a little curious how others had managed it.
After a brief pause, Mi-ji spoke.
"When the princess I served became queen and then passed away, a pure white gate suddenly appeared. I opened it, the gate vanished right away, and I fell into the middle of the Atlantic."
"…Must've been nice."
"Nice, my ass! I landed in the Atlantic, the complete opposite side of Korea, and had to swim through freezing winter water for ten hours!"
Mi-ji held out her open palm toward me.
"What about you?"
"…Hmm, it just appeared on its own?"
"On its own?"
"Yeah."
Even after exploring underwater and desert ruins, unifying the continent, and finally winning the war between humans and demons by beheading the Demon King, the gate never appeared. It only showed up right when I'd given up on everything. Just what were the conditions for returning to Earth?
"Unnie, we're here!"
I turned toward the voice and saw Rona and Ha-im approaching. Each of them carried a shadow net filled with hundreds of baby octopuses.
"Oh, you're back?"
"Mi-ji unnie, when did you get here? Didn't you go home?"
"Work ended, so I came right over. Hey, are those all baby krakens in your hands?"
"Yep!"
Rona and Ha-im had brought back a huge haul of baby krakens just as I'd instructed. I stood up and checked their condition. They looked no different from regular baby octopuses. Their legs twitched slightly—definitely fresh.
"The babies don't have regeneration, right?"
"Nope. I killed a few and they didn't regenerate."
Then there was no problem. According to my divination, baby kraken meat had an incredibly chewy texture. With this many, we could make plenty of delicious and nutritious octopus dishes.
"Tell Su-ha to come too. I'll cook octopus for everyone."
We were going to finish all of these today. Ha-im and Rona's eyes widened.
"All of these?"
"Isn't that way too much?"
"Don't worry. As long as we have the ingredients, I can handle it all."
Octopus dishes could be prepared in countless ways—sashimi, seafood pancakes, takoyaki, fried, skewers, and more. With enough ingredients and tools, there was no limit. If there were leftovers, we could just hand them out as souvenirs to the association people or the viewers.
And so, until we reached home, we enjoyed an octopus party with our newly met companion.