339. Eyes of the Deep (3)
339. Eyes of the Deep (3)
- 1 -
The Krakens appeared.
From that moment on, the sea dissolved into absolute chaos.
- Kihihihi!
- Knock every last one of them into the sea!!
From all directions, pseudo-humanoid sea monsters who worshipped the Krakens as gods swarmed in.
"All hands, brace for collision!!"
The monster squad commander's shout pierced through the roar of the churning waves and rang out.
"Archers, mages, prepare volley fire — !!"
Sswaaaak — !!
But before his voice had even fully faded, the first tentacle shot up from the water.
A thick, slick appendage descending from the sky to snap the mast.
Kwajik — !!
- Kyaaaak — !!
Shue's crimson energy bit deep into the flank of that tentacle.
Shue's white hair, which had been shimmering with pure light.
It was now completely stained blood-red, rippling upward like flame.
Blood-red eyes flashed between the crimson strands.
"Doing something so pointless..."
A voice drenched in languor. Yet within it, there was a distinct chill and a thread of dark excitement.
When Jeban Botis had invaded the dungeon, she hadn't used her full power for the sake of Libertas's stability, who was performing the Ritual of the Ultimate behind them.
If she had unleashed her full power on the spot, the master's ritual itself would have been jeopardized.
If she used her full power on a human battlefield, her identity as a monster—not a human—would have been exposed.
And if that happened, since the fusion of humans and monsters wasn't yet fully solidified, they would have been exposed to all manner of troublesome rumors.
In the end, for months, it had been a fight with one arm tied behind her back.
It was a difficulty shared by all of Libertas's close aides.
But for Shue, whose natural style of combat favored clashing with full force...
'How refreshing.'
It was even more so.
"I'll take the two closest ones."
And now, this place, this battlefield—it was finally a place where they could unleash their full power.
Kung — !
As Shue stomped heavily on the deck, the entire ship resonated with the impact.
Launching herself into the air, she immediately made a beeline for the nearest Kraken.
Swararak!!
The Kraken spread its four thick pairs of tentacles, trying to snatch and crush her.
Without a moment's hesitation, Lin Xue threw her body directly toward the monster's maw.
A crimson energy blazed up along one of her arms.
「Jeokbyeok (Red Lightning)」
Kwakakwang!!
An explosion.
The manifestation of pure destruction.
As it detonated upon the Kraken's slick yet tough hide, a brutal blood-red force erupted in the shape of a crimson conical pillar.
Kururrreung...!
The entire atmosphere, the very mana in the air, trembled.
This was the reason she hadn't been able to wield her true strength in the battle against Botis.
- Kuooooo — !!
The Kraken, shrieking in agony, flailed its dozens of tentacles wildly.
Most were aimed at Shue, but the rest targeted the ships.
"I'll guard the rear!"
Saya shouted, spreading her 'wings.'
Wings that manifested over her clothes, shimmering with a pure golden light as beautiful as an angel's.
The power of lightning crackled across them.
Kkwarurrreung!!
The sound of thunder resonated as she beat her wings.
Swarararak —
Saya, who vanished from that spot in an instant, left a trail of golden lines along her path.
Kwajik!!
Dozens of tentacles that had been crashing down toward the ships were severed at an unbelievable speed.
Before the eye could even register it, Saya's sword had already passed through that spot.
The sliced sections of tentacle plummeted into the sea, kicking up massive sprays of water.
- Kuroaaak — !!
The Kraken, writhing in agony, tried to flee into the depths of the sea.
Toward that escape route, Shue resolutely stretched out her hand.
The crimson light that had filled her entire body momentarily lost its brilliance, converging at the tip of one finger and transforming into a fierce red sphere.
And that sphere soon became a pillar plunging from the heavens to the sea's surface.
「Hongnong (Rainbow Pus)」
Crimson destruction shot from the sky to the earth.
As if a line connected Shue's fingertip directly to the sea's surface, the pillar of light formed in an instant, piercing through the head of the Kraken that had been trying to hide.
Kwaang —— !!!
It was invisible from the vessel, but while the entry hole at the front of the Kraken's skull was small, the exit wound at the back was not.
It had swollen like pus before rupturing; behind its completely shredded head, brain matter and bits of internal organs fell away, dyeing the dark blue sea surface crimson for a moment.
"...Heu."
Letting out a grim laugh, Shue lifted her gaze and turned her head elsewhere.
Searching for her next victim.
"Deploy defensive formations!"
Salvia Wepar, who had originally intended to leap into the sea and handle one of the Krakens herself, abandoned that plan and came up onto the deck, focusing on command and defense.
'They're stronger than I thought.'
Wepar murmured inwardly.
In truth, this had been the role assigned to her from the beginning.
But she hadn't truly believed it would come to this. She had thought there was no way it would.
In the sea she once called home, which the people of the Eastern Continent called the unrecoverable sea of Bigumyang, she had never encountered other Lord-level monsters.
Honestly, she'd had a mindset of 'how strong could a wild monster really be, no matter how tough it looks.'
Kkwarurrreung — !!
But that prejudice vanished the moment she saw these Krakens freely wielding magic that manipulated the sea's climate.
'I can't wrest control of their mana...!'
Their mana was so overwhelming that she simply could not seize dominance over the currents they commanded.
Though it was true she hadn't fully recovered from Dantalion's attack, it was still a devastating blow to her pride.
- The gods are leading the charge!!
- It's prey!!
It wasn't just the Krakens; the sea fanatics were also a major problem.
These monsters, constantly crawling up onto the decks, would frequently snatch victims who let their guard down and hurl themselves into the sea along with their captives.
Yet, she couldn't afford to fall into despair.
Her new liege had repeatedly emphasized 'doing one's best.'
"Ship Glory, evasive action to starboard! Ship Narcissus, to port!"
She ultimately poured her entire heart and strength into protecting her subordinates.
- 2 -
Although Shue and Saya fought brilliantly in the early stages, the ensuing war situation was far from favorable.
"These bastards... they keep running...!"
"They are the retainers of Lord-level monsters!"
Shue's voice was laden with fury, and Saya's reply snapped them back to reality.
As soon as the comparatively younger individual had died, the others had opened distance and begun a 'wheel battle.'
It was a cunning and wily intelligence, utterly unbefitting a natural apex predator of such massive size.
"Damn it...!"
Shue, having landed on the body of the dead Kraken floating on the sea, wiped the sweat trickling down her jaw.
Her breathing shook heavily.
Simply killing one and injuring two enough to make them retreat had already consumed a staggering amount of power.
"There are ten... it's a bit much to handle."
Saya also folded her wings and alighted beside her.
The mask that had taken the form of 'Wrath.'
The gold-red lightning on her shoulders was losing its power.
- Guoooo...
A moment of relative calm descended upon the battlefield.
It was a peace bought by the desperate struggles of Shue, Saya, and many Elite-grade and higher monsters.
"...I'm going again."
Of course, that calm didn't last long.
The Krakens that had kept their distance began approaching the fleet at high speed once more.
The largest and most powerful individual led at the front, flanked by others supporting it.
There wasn't any advanced formation, but that slight cunning alone made these monsters not just simple beasts, but 'horror' itself.
"They're coming again!! Everyone, stay sharp!!"
As the squad commander broadly relayed Wepar's orders, the three high-ranking entities simultaneously unleashed their power.
Kkwarurrreung — !
"Where do you think you're...!"
Clouds that had gathered like black fog and power drawn up from the sea blocked and distorted the lightning strike descending from the sky.
The black Rosemary, which had become a pattern etched onto Wepar's neck, glowed and added its strength.
The violent waves of mana stirred by the Kraken tried to shake her control, but the power of Wepar, who was called the Marquis of Deceit, was no meager force.
Even if she couldn't tear their magic apart, she had succeeded in carving out a space for her allies within the fierce storm by pushing her own magic forward with an iron will.
"「Lend me your power, wraiths...!」"
"「Fang of Ignis」!"
"「Icicle Spear」."
The two ghost ships shared their mana with her to amplify the mana permeating the area, and the fleet's mages received the gathered power and fired it at the Krakens on all sides.
- Kuoooo — !
The unusually large Kraken that had been standing at the front of the pack moved.
Since magic wasn't effective, it fell back on brute force.
The giant Kraken briefly lifted its body out of the water, then spun its massive form with unbelievable speed and crashed down.
"Not like that...!"
Saya crushed a core she had pulled from her bosom with the hand not holding her sword to replenish her power.
The mask hanging on her shoulder turned blue, and her golden wings were dyed green.
「Sohondanjang - Deungwollueum」
'Sorrow.'
As if time had slowed, her sword traced a heavy trajectory, tearing through the empty air.
The blue energy condensed at the tip of her sword contained a colossal force.
Jjeoeong — !!!
With a sharp rupture like a giant crystal shattering, part of the fin on the Kraken's head was futilely severed and fell into the sea.
The creature, as if its senses had been distorted, crashed into a strange spot and did not rise again.
"Heok...!"
At the same moment, Saya gasped sharply for breath.
The insufficient mana could be replenished through the cores Libertas had given her, but her spent stamina didn't return.
- Kuooook — !!
As the giant Kraken screamed, the other individuals flinched and stiffened.
But only for a moment.
Enraged by their kin's injury, they charged with even greater violence, simultaneously manipulating the atmosphere and the sea.
Sswararak — !!
With an eerie sound, waves surged as if to overturn the sea.
If their attacks up until now had been to hunt 'prey,' these movements were far more savage—as if they now aimed purely for 'slaughter.'
Right at that moment, one of Wepar's ghost ships, its crew having lost focus, was completely entangled by the massive tentacles of two Krakens.
An opaque dark gray mana was thick upon the tentacles.
Kwadeudeudeuk —
With a grinding, tearing sound, the semi-transparent hull shattered into pieces and sank into the sea.
"This is... keuk!"
A thin moan escaped Wepar's lips as a thread of blood trickled out.
Along with the mana consumption, a mental shock assaulted her.
Losing one ghost ship was far more than a simple loss.
"Danger...!"
At that instant, Saya let out a warning cry.
The second-largest Kraken among them hid its body underwater, and then a giant tentacle shot up into the sky.
The sight of the thick, multi-branched tentacle clumped together and crashing down had the oppressive presence of a god bringing down a club.
"How dare you...!"
「Hongso (Roaring Laughter)」
Shue's lips tore wide into a smile that wasn't a smile, and both hands converged at her waist before she thrust them toward the heavens with invisible speed.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang — !!
Multiple blood-colored explosions collided head-on with the giant tentacle.
A tremendous shockwave and tremor.
It looked as if it would tear that enormous appendage to shreds.
But.
- Kuoooo — !
Though the crimson explosion had certainly torn the tentacle's outer skin to tatters, it couldn't break its momentum.
The Kraken twisted its body with a scream.
The immense mass and destructive will crashing down from the sky pierced through the remnants of the blast and hurtled straight toward Shue.
"...Ah."
With Shue's short gasp.
Kwang!!
Her body, unable to evade in time, collided head-on with the tentacle, shattering the deck beneath her and bouncing helplessly into the air.
"Shue!!"
Saya, Wepar, and the monster soldiers on deck cried out in shock.
Wepar struggled to control the remaining ghost ships and vessels, trying to redirect the current in the direction Shue had been thrown, but her mana was already nearly spent.
The control over the sea she had barely maintained weakened, and the rough waves, empowered by the Krakens' mana, began threatening the ships once more.
The defensive line was collapsing.
The tide of battle was clearly turning against them.
It was then.
Hwooook —— !
As if every sound and light in the world had been snuffed out, the sky was swallowed by a pitch-black darkness in an instant.
Within a strange sensation where even the churning waves and the monsters' roars seemed to momentarily grow distant.
Ttogak.
Breaking the silence, the sound of a high heel striking the deck pierced through the storm and rang clearly in everyone's ears.