The Immature Kraken
“KRAAAAAAAAH!”
Roused by the enormous shockwave, the Kraken unleashed a roar thick with fury.
It had been sleeping soundly when the blast slammed into its skull, and the shattered rock that came crashing down afterward only made things worse.
Shiiing.
“Kraken. It’s been a while.”
Do-ha streaked forward and drew Un-jeop-bi-jang.
Wooooong!
Myeol-hwang Sword Technique — Seventh Form: Moonlit Lake Reflection Sword.
Ssssss.
The gleaming blade of Do-ha’s sword stretched long and began to ripple like silk cloth. Then—
Tszzzzzzz!
The silk-soft blade split into thousands of strands and hurtled toward the Kraken’s head.
BOOOOM!
Chajajajajajajak!
“Tsk. Sharp instincts.”
“KAAAAAH!”
The Kraken had lifted a single tentacle on pure instinct and blocked the strike — only for that tentacle to be shredded into hundreds of pieces in an instant.
Thwack!
KRAAAAAASH!
“Fast for something that size.”
It felt like an entire building was charging at him at two hundred kilometers an hour.
Slip.
Taiji Wisdom Sword — Fourth Form: Flowing Tranquil Fury.
CLANG!
Do-ha knocked the onrushing tentacle aside and immediately shifted his blade.
Myeol-hwang Sword Technique — Fifth Form: Blazing Spirit Severance.
Fwoooosh!
Slashhhhh!
“KRAAAAH!”
Another tentacle was severed, and the Kraken thrashed even more violently. Its sheer bulk was so immense that every thrash birthed towering waves.
“Hmm? Something smells delicious.”
The severed tentacle, roasted by Blazing Spirit Severance, had begun to cook — and Canteas was sniffing the air with interest. It really did smell like perfectly blanched octopus.
“Nice. Shall we have a taste?”
“You’re not actually planning to eat that, are you?”
Do-ha, still fending off the Kraken’s attacks, shot Canteas a look. Fond of food or not, was he seriously about to eat a Kraken?
“I never said I was going to eat it!”
Zwaaang!
Canteas brandished his staff in a huff, and a magic circle bloomed across the surface of the sea.
Summon Fish.
Thududududududuk!
Hundreds of skeletal fish poured out of the circle.
“Go. Devour it.”
Clack-clack-clack.
At a flick of Canteas’s staff, the skeleton fish clacked their teeth and swarmed the Kraken.
Chomp-chomp-chomp-chomp.
“KRAAAAAH!”
The piranha-like undead fish tore into it from every angle, and the Kraken flailed its tentacles wildly in every direction.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Each time those massive tentacles slammed the water’s surface, the impacts cracked like artillery fire.
“Stop thrashing.”
Wooooong!
Mokhon-sura-gong — Sixth Form: Water Fiend Path.
Do-ha unleashed his water arts. A colossal whirlpool roared up from the depths and shoved the Kraken back.
Kugugugugugu!
The moment that mountain-sized body was forced aside, the surrounding ground shuddered as if an earthquake had struck.
“KROOOOOOH!”
Ssssss.
“Hmm?”
“Huh?”
The Kraken’s body gradually flushed a cooked red, and both Do-ha and Canteas frowned. As its appearance changed, a familiar energy began to seep out.
“Demonic energy?”
“It’s turning into blanched octopus and I can still feel demonic energy?”
The demonic aura that demons carried was radiating faintly from the Kraken — extremely faint, but unmistakable. Under those circumstances, there was only one explanation.
“The cult summoned this thing.”
The demonic energy had clung to it as it passed through a magic circle. Monsters of this size usually tore their way out of the circle rather than waiting for a properly sized gate. A larger circle was always an option, but most summoners preferred a modest one and simply let the creature rip free — pure efficiency. The bigger the circle, the greater the mana cost. That was why residual demonic energy had inevitably stained this Kraken.
“Canteas, find whoever summoned it. They’re probably nearby.”
Anyone who dumped an Unknown-rank Kraken into the open world instead of a Gate would almost certainly be watching from close range.
“Got it.”
Canteas set his undead to free attack and immediately moved off in another direction.
“In the meantime, you get to die quickly.”
Do-ha began to radiate killing intent. Others might have been shocked to hear it, but the Kraken before him was not yet fully grown — an adolescent, by human standards. Mountainous as it looked, a mature specimen would be two and a half to three times larger still. Of course, a full adult was no easy opponent. There was even a saying that a Kraken in deep water was a match for a dragon. That was partly because Krakens possessed magic resistance. Ordinary spells simply bounced off them; even a sixth-circle spell left little more than a scratch. That was why Canteas had attacked with summons rather than direct magic — he already knew raw spells would not work.
But Do-ha’s power was not limited to magic.
Whoooosh!
Shuk!
Shuk!
Watching tentacles lash toward him at terrifying speed, Do-ha Blinked out of the way. Dodging and parrying building-sized limbs had its limits.
Thud!
“I’ll start by cutting off those annoying tentacles.”
Crackle-crackle.
Whoosh!
He drove his sword into an oncoming tentacle and surged forward with Noeryeongsinbo.
Slashhhhhhhhh!
“KRAAAAAAH!”
In the blink of an eye the tentacle was sheared clean through, and the Kraken bellowed.
CLANG!
Whoosh!
At last the Kraken swatted Do-ha aside, then dove beneath the waves. Immature or not, it had enough intelligence to choose flight.
“You think I’ll just let you run?”
Do-ha’s eyes, floating high above the water, went ice-cold. Even if it was not fully grown — even if it fled and hid — it would still bring disaster to humanity.
Kugugugugugugugu!
Crimson-black energy erupted from his eyes. Having ascended to the Transcendent Realm, his aura had grown incomparably denser than before.
Mokhon-sura-gong — Seventh Form: Pillar of Flowering Qi.
Kugugugugugu!
The moment Do-ha’s water arts unfurled, heaven and earth began to tremble. Then—
Kugugugu!
BOOOOM!
“Krooh?!”
The Kraken, diving deep in its escape, was slammed upward by a colossal pillar of water and forced back to the surface. The column was so vast it casually lifted a mountain-sized creature as if it weighed nothing.
Wooooong!
Baek-bo Myeol-hwang Gong — Third Step: Heaven-Manifested Vajra.
Swoooosh!
Four enormous arms bloomed from Do-ha’s back. This time the arms held their golden form cleanly and completely. Before, they had occasionally flickered and distorted like static on an old television; now they remained perfectly solid.
Grab!
“Krooh?!”
Two of the giant arms seized the Kraken’s tentacles and hauled the creature into the air.
“It’s been a long time since I met a Kraken. Good to see you.”
Ssshk.
From a distance, Do-ha gripped his sword and drew his elbow back — a stance almost identical to a fencer’s. One of the floating arms behind him mirrored the pose exactly.
Kugugugugu.
Myeol-hwang Sword Technique — Eleventh Form: Heavenly Meteor Sword.
Shwaaaaaaaaa.
In the hand of the Heaven-Manifested Vajra that held the matching stance, a blade vast enough to cleave a mountain began to take shape. This technique could only be performed when the Heaven-Manifested Vajra was present.
“KYAAAAAAAH!”
Seeing Do-ha’s posture, the Kraken foresaw its own death and thrashed madly. But the arms locking its tentacles had no intention of letting go. It writhed and twisted, trying to slip free of those slick limbs — and did not budge an inch.
In that instant—
Thrust!
KRAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAK!
Do-ha, standing perfectly still, extended his sword. The Heaven-Manifested Vajra gripping the Heavenly Meteor Sword thrust its arm in perfect unison.
Pooooook!
“Kwaaaah…”
Its head pierced clean through, the Kraken went limp and died on the spot. Ordinarily a Kraken’s body kept moving no matter how many times you cut it — but Do-ha had detonated his energy inside the skull and turned its insides to pulp.
“I’ll take the mana stone and burn the rest.”
Whoosh!
One of the waiting Heaven-Manifested Vajra arms shot forward and plunged into the dead Kraken’s body.
Ssshk.
It emerged holding an enormous mana stone. The Kraken had been so massive that a single stone was the size of five of Seoraksan’s famous Balancing Rocks stacked together.
“If this had been a dragon, nothing would have gone to waste… What a shame.”
Do-ha clicked his tongue. Even back in Belhart, martial artists, knights, and mages alike had hated fighting Krakens. They were brutal to face, and once you somehow killed one, everything except the mana stone was useless. Most people simply detoured around Kraken waters. Provoking one was far less economical than avoiding it.
“Burn it— no.”
Squeeze.
Chajajajajajajak!
Instead of incinerating the Kraken, Do-ha used the colossal Heavenly Meteor Sword to carve the corpse into thousands of pieces.
“Here. Eat up.”
Shuuuuu.
Thudududuk.
As the countless chunks of Kraken sank into the sea, dolphins and fish that had been hiding nearby began to tear into them. Lately the Kraken had kept other marine life from ranging freely; they must have been half-starved.
“Speaking of which — when is that bastard Canteas getting back?”
Just then—
BOOOOOOM!
A massive explosion erupted from a tiny island that looked like a speck on the horizon.
“He really can’t go five minutes without causing trouble. Who’s he fighting to make a blast that big?”
It looked like a Corpse Explosion — and the scale of it reached all the way to the sky.
“Let’s go.”
Crackle-crackle.
Whoosh!
Do-ha activated Noeryeongsinbo and crossed several kilometers in a single instant.
“Kyahahahaha! It’s useless, you stupid Lich!”
“Hah… hah… Ugh, this is pissing me off.”
Through the thick smoke, Canteas was fuming and gasping for breath.
Ssshk.
“What exactly are you doing?”
“Aagh—! You scared the hell out of me!”
Do-ha’s sudden appearance made Canteas jump out of his skin. That damned Noeryeongsinbo! Because it closed distance in a single heartbeat, he got startled like this every single time. If Do-ha had teleported, Canteas would at least have sensed the mana signature. But Noeryeongsinbo rode lightning itself — Do-ha was already there before you could feel a thing.
“Huh? A cardinal?”
Do-ha blew the smoke away, took one look at the cultist’s robes, and his eyes widened. Those were a cardinal’s vestments. So that was why Canteas had been taking so long — he’d been fighting a cardinal. Fair enough. Canteas wasn’t quite at the level to handle a cardinal yet. The fact that he was still standing at all was impressive.
“You’re looking surprisingly intact, though. Fighting a cardinal, you should be half-dead by now… Wait, no. Come to think of it, you’re already a corpse, aren’t you?”
“Your mouth is way too vicious! Who are you calling a corpse?!”
Canteas bristled. Yes, he was a skeleton — but a corpse? That was a step too far.
“It’s because that guy’s a half-measure.”
“Half-measure?”
Canteas pointed at the cardinal who was hiding behind a shield — or rather, cowering inside one.
“If he weren’t a half-measure, I’d be dying for real right about now.”
The cardinal standing before them was wildly unbalanced.
“His summoning magic is ridiculously strong.”
The man who could summon a Kraken had offensive magic that topped out at a pathetic second or third circle. His summoning magic, on the other hand, was completely unhinged.