I Don't Want to Do This Again

Stepping across airborne platforms that not only moved of their own accord but actively tried to attack me, with nothing below but the open ocean—and a monster called a kraken waiting in the wings.

How spectacular was an aerial battle in an environment like that?

I could say at least this much.

I never wanted to do it again.

Kyaaaaah!!

Had I managed, through sheer stubbornness, to sink two more ships? I was heading for the next one when a harpy ambush sent me into freefall.

In exchange I got a grip on the harpy’s nape and head, but it was a painful trade.

Worse, the index and middle fingers of the hand clamping its skull had slipped straight into the creature’s gaping maw. Setting aside the spit for a moment, those fingers were about to get bitten clean off.

“Filthy…!”

Low pain threshold or not, I had no intention of letting it chomp my fingers.

I put strength into forcing the harpy’s jaws open before they could clamp down.

Zzzt-crack!

I must have overdone it. With the sound of flesh tearing, my mana-wreathed hand ripped the harpy’s mouth clean apart.

The head, torn free from the upper jaw, hung in my grip for a second before my startled hand flung it far away.

But the ordeal waiting for me was far from over. I had torn a harpy’s head open the instant I fell from the wyvern’s back, yet I was still plummeting.

I needed a foothold.

Thwuck!

In a panic I drew my scimitar and drove it into the body of a gargoyle flying below.

The landing itself failed; I ended up dangling in midair, clinging to the hilt buried in the gargoyle’s torso.

The blade, unable to bear my weight, threatened to pull free, while the gargoyle lost its balance and began to fall—one disaster after another.

Kieeeee!

Yet even if the sky collapses, there’s always a hole to crawl through. Another gargoyle came lunging up from directly below.

I flung myself onto it without hesitation. The one whose body I had skewered failed to resurrect and smashed into the sea.

Uoooooh!

Was I already preparing to hop to yet another before I lost my balance again? A kraken’s tentacle surged up right beneath me.

I swung my sword in pure terror. Mana was already scraping the bottom after sinking ships and reinforcing my body, but there was no other choice.

The HP I had already shaved down by more than two-thirds converting it to mana dropped even further. A thick surge of blood flooded my throat.

Slash!

Sacrificing HP still paid off. The slick tentacle sheared away with almost elegant smoothness, revealing a pale white cross-section.

At the same moment the gargoyle I was riding fled in a hurry from the severed limb. The demons already snared in the kraken’s other tentacles only justified its retreat.

Boom!

“Why is that monster attacking the ships?! This isn’t what we were told!”

“Damn it, we clearly said we can’t control that thing in detail—”

“Intruder!”

“There’s an intruder on the ship!”

Somehow I reached the next vessel. Looking down at the main deck, I spotted figures that did not belong.

Neither sailors’ garb nor adventurers’ gear—the same crowd I had already met on the two ships I had sent to the bottom.

“You lot, do something!”

“This is supposed to be your specialty!”

“Just keeping that monster in check is already more than ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we can—”

Where did these demon contractors keep popping out from? I mulled the question over as I dropped down.

The moment my feet settled lightly on the main deck, the scimitar moved in silence. A silver-white arc flushed crimson and took one of their heads clean off.

“Intruder!”

“Kill him!”

“Die!”

“Eat this!”

Pirates charged at me.

“We have to throw that bastard into the sea right now!”

Crushing them under raw mana would have been easy, but this was a time to conserve. Life Conversion had its limits, and burning it on these guys might leave me short when it came time to hunt the kraken. Recovery rates also tended to plummet during aerial combat.

So I added only Survival Instinct and faced them head-on.

The scimitar flashed like a bolt of light and carved through the first man to rush me. Thud! My empty right hand closed around another enemy’s throat, then pure muscle—no mana reinforcement—hurled the body like a club.

Of course it was heavy; I couldn’t swing him around at will. I had never expected to.

But if he toppled like a thrown sack and blocked the others’ path, that was enough.

A twisted ankle and wrenched waist spun my vision behind me. The scimitar sliced empty air and the clang of steel rang out a beat late.

“You mon—!”

Successfully deflecting the blow left the enemy’s torso wide open. With a snap of the wrist my blade drove straight for the heart.

Other enemies’ swords stabbed uselessly through the space I had vacated as I lunged forward.

Thwuck!

Crash!

I didn’t merely pierce his heart—I drove him like a boar all the way into the mast. The sword that tore free from the pirate’s body as he slammed into the spar swept the surroundings again.

Slash!

One enemy too slow to follow lost his head, and my right hand closed on the second sword hanging at his waist.

A straight blade, a little short. Not bad.

Shing. The instant it cleared the scabbard it knocked aside a strike aimed at my midsection, then spun rapidly in my grip.

Half a turn later the reverse-gripped hilt punched clean through the nape of the man lunging from my right rear.

“Hyaaaah!”

“A monster’s here!”

“Too late…”

By then the tyrant of the sea had closed on the ship. A tentacle rose with a wet hiss, replaying a scene far too familiar.

Railings snapped, the mast cracked—anyway, the ship was one breath from going under.

Having watched this exact sequence four times already, with one more still ahead of me, my life was legendary.

“If it’s come to this, then at least you—!”

But hadn’t it already been legendary from the moment I got trapped in a game?

I arrived at the realization late. Thwuck! The next instant the sword that left my fingertips—the one in my right hand—buried itself between a demon contractor’s brows.

Naturally I couldn’t just stand there watching him chant while my mind wandered to useless thoughts.

Boom!

The ship began to rock as if the giant octopus meant to swallow it whole. One entire ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠side was already occupied by the kraken, being gnawed away.

So—time to start running? Or wait until the ship was past saving, just to be sure?

I gauged my escape angle carefully and flung myself clear of the tentacles. Of course the movement wasn’t pure evasion.

Naturally—once the kraken hit the ship the pirates had given up on me, but the demon contractors still fixed their eyes on me, ready for a mutual kill if nothing else.

“Why won’t the magic…?”

Something was wrong and they couldn’t finish their chants—that was a blessing—but I could hardly ignore them and leave. Even if I escaped, those ones had to be dealt with first. I had nearly paid in blood before when I tried to walk past and they summoned demons, so their priority needed no further explanation.

Thud!

“Guh!”

Distance being what it was, I first kicked something on the deck. Whatever flew struck a demon contractor square in the face.

All those recess soccer games in elementary and middle school had paid off. Back then you weren’t allowed to aim for heads, of course.

“You son of a—!”

Next I caught the harpoon of a pirate charging from the side with my bare hand.

Thud. My rising knee drove into his solar plexus and his tongue shot out with a croak. The strength left the hand holding the harpoon as a bonus.

Whoosh.

I shoved him aside and took a proper grip on the stolen harpoon. Clang! I didn’t forget to parry the sword coming from the other side. Grrrkk. A brief contest of strength followed.

Thwuck!

Did they think I was holding a harpoon for show?

I stabbed the enemy through the body, yanked the weapon free, and the moment the obstacle vanished I hurled it.

The two remaining demon contractors I hadn’t finished were skewered and died on the spot. Five contractors left.

“…!”

That was when a tentacle shot in and snatched my arm. It was so thin and stealthy I never noticed it coming.

Octopus suckers clamped onto the gauntlet and squeezed the arm tight.

Slash!

At least it had grabbed the hand that wasn’t holding a sword.

I severed it with the curved blade and scrambled clear.

Boom, crash. A half-beat later massive tentacles slammed into the spot I had just vacated. The deck was pierced, shattered—pure chaos.

“The ship’s capsizing!”

Worse, the tilt went past listing and the deck approached ninety degrees. The kraken clinging to the ship’s side was determined to flip the whole table.

This was the real moment to escape. Demon contractors or not, I had to run for real.

My legs pounded along the only mast still standing.

As the ship heeled over, the mast’s slope actually grew gentler—it looked like the sole escape route. At least for the moment.

“…!”

The ship was flipping faster than I had expected. By the time I reached the tip of the mast it would be a straight drop into the sea, not the sky.

“The Sea Dragon really would have been better…!”

The instant that fact registered I reversed course, then leapt hard and caught the ship’s railing.

With the vessel rotated past ninety degrees, climbing the side while hanging from the rail was the same as standing upright.

The kraken’s body plastered to the hull lay fully exposed.

“Octopus. You know what?”

There was still no gap to flee into the sky. Behind me was ocean; ahead was only the kraken thrusting its bulk out of the water.

Every last pesky demon contractor and pirate had fallen into the sea, and the flying demons were just circling a few dozen meters overhead.

“My work partner is a mukbang video.”

So I had to kill the kraken, right? Only one enemy ship left anyway.

“They even showed how to butcher octopus on there…!”

I sprinted across the outer plating. Tentacles studded with suckers lashed at me, but dodging while running wasn’t hard.

Squelch. The kraken’s flesh underfoot was soft like a bouncy castle—an unpleasantly pleasant sensation.

“Stab between the eyes and it blacks out!!”

But when GAME OVER is staring you in the face, strength somehow ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠finds a way.

Somehow I planted my feet on the kraken’s head where it rose above the water. Locating the spot between its eyes—the equivalent of a human glabella—came a heartbeat later.

Thwuck!

My body, briefly airborne, drove the long blade of the two-hander straight into the kraken’s brow.

Black energy spiraling around the sword bored into the soft flesh as if it meant to pierce the entire creature. My body went with it.

The kraken’s bulk convulsed wildly; tentacles thrashed in every direction.

Splash!

The single strike must have been effective—the portion of the kraken still above water began to sink in an instant.

I went under with it.

Seawater, the fluids coating the kraken’s mucous membrane, the brine from torn flesh—all of it kept flooding my nose and mouth.

If it was this bad even after I had already punched through the outer membrane into the flesh, I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like otherwise.

Blub.

In any case the seawater pouring in through the rent I had made left me fully submerged before I knew it.

Breath was going to run short, but the die was already cast.

I flailed through the cold, squelching meat surrounding me and began carving up the interior with the blade. Of course I had no intention of hunting down three hearts or anything of the sort.

Thrust.

The mana I had been saving for exactly this moment—what was the point if I didn’t use it now?

Pitch-black energy began to shred the pale flesh from within. In the process a deep indigo light flickered across my vision; whether that was a heart bursting or something else, I didn’t much care.

The more wildly I swung the sword, the more the kraken’s insides heaved and shuddered. By the time my lungs finally locked up, the vibrations stopped.

Blub-blub-blub!

My body slipped free of the torn membrane. I saw the monster’s mangled torso sinking, and the surface above where sunlight wavered in broken shards.

After that… well. Naturally I kicked and clawed upward. Breath grew ragged and my vision darkened, but the sheer unfairness of dying here kept my limbs moving somehow.

“Pwah!”

Just when I thought it was over, air flooded my lungs in a rush.

“Haaah, puuuh, hah.”

I spat out the seawater the waves kept shoving into my mouth and nose and gasped for breath.

Blinking vision slowly returned, and the moment the thought I’m alive settled in my brain, relief rolled through my chest.

The kraken’s dead, right? It is dead, right? I knew it was a cliché and still thought it.

I even dunked my head under out of anxiety to check whether the kraken was coming. In the dim depths the giant octopus was only faintly visible, its legs twitching limply.

There was no sign of it trying to surface—not enough to scare me that it might still be alive.

For now, at least, I had survived.

“Just you try… making me… come back to the sea.”

Seasickness, aerial combat—everything wrong with this place was the ocean. The second this job was over I was never setting foot ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠near the water again.

With that vow I lifted my head above the surface once more. What now? The thought had barely formed when something caught my eye.

“…They’re running.”

Using the kraken for team-kills had been pretty efficient, yet the last enemy ship I hadn’t managed to sink was pulling away.

They had clearly given up the attack. The gargoyles, wyverns, harpies and other demons wheeled away from the harbor assault to follow the vessel.

“Tch.”

If they had fled in my direction I could have climbed aboard somehow and finished them.

Instead they had the gall to slip through the empty water between me and the harbor. Well—given that the kraken and I had been locked in a death match right here, running the other way wasn’t exactly strange.

More than regret at leaving enemies alive, my immediate survival was the real problem.

I treaded water so I wouldn’t sink and searched for any way to reach the harbor. Even if I couldn’t swim the whole distance, I at least needed to last until a rescue party came out from port.

“…!”

Miraculously, the wreckage of an overturned ship floated nearby.

“Fuck, kill that bastard before he gets any closer!”

Of course it still had passengers. Pirates who had fallen earlier or who had managed to claim the wreck while I was thrashing underwater.

But did they have bows or any other ranged weapons worth mentioning?

A few with harpoons tried throwing them, yet the waves made their accuracy pathetic, and anything that actually reached me I simply batted aside.

“Monster bastard…”

“Says the humans who shook hands with demons.”

At last my legs found purchase on the remains of the capsized ship.

It was the end of the sudden optional quest.