The Sea Witch's Defeat

"Aaaargh!"

A savage crackle of electricity punched straight through Ursula's body. Her slimy tentacles were still dripping wet, and the current only tore into her faster for it.

Ghk!

But she wasn't the only conductor. The charge flooding into Ursula erupted back out of her and started ripping into me as well. It wasn't as brutal as what the horn was dumping directly into her, but my HP was plunging all the same.

Damn it. I'm going to die at this rate.

Caught in her grip, I had no way to run and no way to fire off another skill. My whole body was locked in the current. I could barely form a thought. And then, just as I started to believe this was how I was going to die—

The cloak I was wearing flashed. A blue film snapped into place around me and cut the current off cold.

Ah!

A ten-percent chance to nullify an incoming attack. The electrocution had been going on long enough that the effect had finally rolled, and it seemed to last — the nullification held until the Minotaur's Horn finally spent itself.

A heavy thud.

Whether the horn's output had simply been that overwhelming, Ursula could no longer endure the current chewing through her. She died.

Holy hell. How many levels was that?

I had shot all the way to level 30 in an instant. The Christmas Blessing had been juicing my experience gain, sure — but to hand out this much experience anyway. A payout like that was proof of just how powerful Ursula ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had been.

And what the hell is this?

A dart handed out to a cap of fifty people for killing a Named Monster. Which meant I hadn't been the first to take one down.

There are other people out there who've killed monsters like this?

Ursula alone had been a nightmare. Looking at the overwhelming power a Named Monster could bring to bear, I could barely imagine anyone else being able to put one down.

Class Advancement?

Hitting level 30 must have unlocked it — the same kind of job-upgrade system you saw in games, a chance to evolve the class I already had. There was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lot to think about, but none of it mattered more than putting my wrecked body back together. The HP I had left was hanging by a thread. One wrong step and I could have been the one on the floor.

"Teach! Are you okay?!"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

Min-cheol had seen Ursula go down and come running. He hauled me up off the ground, and I pulled a health potion from my inventory and downed it fast.

Tch. I miss Jin-hwan right about now.

A pocket healer on tap would have made this a whole lot cleaner. Patching myself up with potions was slower work.

"Wow. We actually killed this thing."

"We sure did."

"You're going to eat this one too, right?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

A Named Monster. Something in a completely different league from the ordinary ones. I was curious what would happen if I ate a creature like this.

Once I'd gotten my HP back to something respectable, I walked over to Ursula's corpse.

Shhk. Shhk. Shhk.

The tentacles sliced up as clean and pretty as blanched octopus. A little large to call them ordinary octopus legs, maybe, but to my eyes they looked like a gorgeous plate of sashimi.

And with that, another of my item abilities kicked in.

The slices began arranging themselves across the face of my shield, neat as a chef's tasting course. Whatever this thing had been as a monster vanished. What sat there now was a perfectly set plate of blanched octopus, the kind you'd be served at an expensive raw bar.

Food Plating put a buff on anything that had actually been cooked, but it was just as good at turning a monster into something you could sit down and eat. Handy either way.

"All right, then."

I took out a fork, speared a clean slice, and carried it to my mouth.

The ocean hit my tongue the instant it went in. It was as if a tide had rolled through my mouth. Every cell along my tongue came alive.

Ohh.

Maybe Named Monsters simply tasted different. This was in another dimension from the ordinary ones — like eating the raw force of nature itself. The only real complaint was the missing chojang. The octopus alone was more than enough to stun my palate, but I still found myself craving that spicy vinegar dipping sauce I always dunked everything in out of habit.

Whoa.

The numbers were enormous. A Named Monster really was a different animal. And then there was the special ability on top of it. I couldn't quite tell yet whether Weapon Molluscification was any good. Soften a weapon? Make it pliable? That didn't parse in any ordinary sense.

And the items!

Two items lay where Ursula had fallen. One of them was the thing she had been trying to force on Elena.

And the other one?

Wait.

I could make a skill. That was incredible. I could just build whatever I was missing. The materials wouldn't be anything I could pick up off the side of the road, but an ability like this was more than worth that kind of cost.

"Incredible! To think you actually killed Ursula."

"Haha. It was nothing."

Perion stared at what was left of the Ursula I had preyed upon, wearing the face of a man who still couldn't quite believe it.

Then why hasn't the quest completed?

That was the part that didn't add up. Ursula — the supposed reason the Merfolk Chieftain had gone strange — was dead, and the quest still hadn't closed. Something was off.

"Our Chieftain should return to himself now."

"Yes, well. I suppose he should."

From the way Perion talked, he was convinced Ursula had been the cause. But a quest that refused to complete in a situation like this was evidence of something else still sitting under the surface.

Enough. Get the people out first.

I headed back down into the sea and returned to Ursula's lair to pull out the captives she had been keeping.

"I'll need that Blessing, if you would."

I asked Perion to lay the Merfolk's Blessing on the people trapped inside the glass, then lifted them out one by one.

"Yu-ra!"

"Min-cheol!"

So the friend Min-cheol had been so desperate to save was his girlfriend. A girl who looked about his age bolted to him and threw her arms around his neck.

You little bastard. It's always the quiet ones.

Getting himself a girlfriend in a situation like this when even his teacher didn't have one! This definitely hadn't been going on when I headed up to Daegu. Extreme circumstances did tend to make people fall for each other, sure — but he still didn't have a teacher, and this was a bit much. Kids these days really had no respect.

Huh? Where did Kim Ha-jin go?

Kim Ha-jin had been locked up in here with the rest of them. I turned a full circle and didn't catch so much as a glimpse of him.

Hiding?

But why would he bother? Without the Merfolk's Blessing, how did he think he was getting out of this ocean?

"Hey. Kim Ha-jin. If you're hiding, come out."

I called for him at volume. Nothing answered.

"Did he already slip out?"

He didn't seem to be here. Where the hell had he gone?

For now I had Min-cheol take the rescued people and head out first. Elena, Perion, and I would go see the Chieftain.

Why didn't the quest complete?

Ursula was gone, at least, so I figured we weren't walking into anything too dangerous. We went to meet the Chieftain.

When we reached the Merfolk village, Perion took the lead and brought us to where the Chieftain was staying.

"This is the place."

We arrived at the house and stepped inside. The Merfolk Chieftain already wore the look of a man who had known we were coming.

"Perion. Do you have any idea what you have done?"

"I beg your pardon?"

The Chieftain looked at Perion and clutched his throbbing head. From the way he carried himself, he already knew Ursula was dead.

"Did you believe I was being controlled?!"

"Yes. I did. No matter how polluted these waters have become, this was too far. With the power our people possess, we could have purified the sea ourselves."

"Hah. Perion. That is not it. That is not the problem at all."

That drew a frown out of me as well. If the Chieftain's attempt to leave the ocean hadn't been about the pollution, then something else was driving him.

"Then what is the problem?"

"There is something hiding in this sea that you have not even imagined."

"Something we haven't imagined?"

Perion looked stunned. Learning that the Chieftain hadn't been under Ursula's control was shock enough. What could possibly have a man like him shaking with this kind of fear?

"There is a Megalodon in these waters."

"A Megalodon?!"

Perion recoiled as if he'd been struck. I had heard of a Megalodon too — a shark of impossible size. The kind of thing you only ever saw in movies, and it was in this sea right now as a monster.

And the Chieftain had every reason to act the way he had. The Megalodon had already driven his people to the brink ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of extinction. That was why he had been willing to deal with Ursula at all — to keep his race from vanishing. If they could make it to the surface, they would be beyond the Megalodon's reach.

And now.

KRAAAAAAAAGH!

At the enormous cry rolling in from outside, the Chieftain shut his eyes as though he had already surrendered.

"Ah... O God..."

He dropped to his knees and began to pray. A ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shout cut through the water beyond the walls.

"It's the Megalodon!"

The master of this sea had come home.