Chapter 70: From the Very Beginning (5)

Chapter 70: From the Very Beginning (5)

As if it wasn't enough that the platforms I had to step onto midair moved arbitrarily, they also tried to attack me, and below me was that Kraken monster waiting for me to fall into the endless ocean.

How thrilling to have an aerial battle under these circumstances.

There's just one thing I definitely knew, though: I really didn't want to do this.

Kyaaah!!

Was it after I sank two more ships? While heading toward the remaining ship, I got attacked by a Harpy and kept losing altitude.

In return, I grabbed the Harpy by the neck and head, but that action wasn't without pain.

My index and middle finger of the hand holding the Harpy's head entered its open mouth. The saliva coating my fingers aside, it would absolutely end up biting me.

“Filthy...!”

Just because I turned down the pain level didn’t mean I wanted my finger bitten into.

I used some strength to open the mouth of the Harpy about to bite me.

Teaaaar!

Having perhaps put too much strength into my hand, I heard the skin around the Harpy’s mouth ripping apart as I forced it open with my hands coated in Arcane Power.

I momentarily held the head I’d torn from the jaw before throwing it away, feeling a little frightened.

However, this wasn’t the end of my ordeal: I’d grabbed the Harpy’s head right after jumping off the Wyvern’s back. Since I tore it off in the process, I was still falling.

I needed a foothold.

Stab!

I quickly drew the scimitar and stabbed it into a Gargoyle flying below me.

I failed to land on it properly, so I was swung around in the air, holding tightly to the hilt of the blade embedded in the Gargoyle’s body.

There were times when the sword nearly fell, unable to support my weight, and the Gargoyle also lost its balance and was about to crash.

Kyeeeeh!

However, even if the sky fell, there would still be a hole to rise to the top again. Another Gargoyle rushed at me from directly below.

I quickly switched to it. The one I had stabbed failed to recover and got thrown into the sea.

Uuuuwoah!

Was it right when I prepared to switch rides as the other one was about to lose its balance? The Kraken’s arm rose from right below us.

I freaked out and swung my sword at it. While my Arcane Power wasn’t as plentiful as before after being used to sink some ships and strengthen my body, I couldn’t do anything else.

My HP, which I’d used to fill my Arcane Power reserves, had been reduced by over 2⁄3 and was about to fall even lower. I felt like crying. Blood rose up my throat.

Slash!

Converting my HP still had some uses. I cut off the octopus’ slippery leg without a hitch, revealing its snow-white cross-section.

At that moment, the Gargoyle I was on flew away from the Kraken’s limb as quickly as possible. The Demons caught in its other tentacles showed why it escaped.

Crash!

“Why is that monster attacking the ships? This is different from what you told us!”

“Damn it, that monster clearly isn’t something we can fully control with our current—!”

“An intruder!”

“There’s an intruder on the ship!”

I somehow reached the next ship. A strange person was among the pirates on the deck I was looking down upon.

They weren’t wearing a sailor’s uniform or an adventurer’s equipment. I’d also encountered such people aboard the other two ships I sank earlier.

“You guys, do something about him!”

“This is something you guys specialize in, right?!”

“We already have enough on our plate just controlling that monster over there!”

Where did Demon Contractors like this pop up from? I descended while such thoughts occupied part of my mind.

Just as my feet lightly touched the main deck, I quietly moved my scimitar. Soon, the silver-white slash turned red as that guy’s head was cut off.

“Enemy!”

“Kill him!”

“Die!”

“Take this!”

The pirates were rushing toward me.

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

It would be very easy to crush them all with my Arcane Power, but I planned to save it for now. There was a limit to how much of my own vitality I could convert, after all, and if I used that skill against them, I might lack that power when I went to hunt the Kraken. The amount I would recover would be completely depleted the moment I took to the skies again.

So, I decided to deal with them using only [Survival Instinct].

My scimitar slashing through the air seemed like a single ray of light as it cut down those who came rushing at me first. Grab! And after grabbing one of them by the neck with my empty hand, I merely swung him around using my pure, unenhanced strength.

Of course, the guy was pretty heavy, so I couldn’t throw him around as I pleased. I mean, it wasn’t even like I wanted to do that anyway.

However, it was enough as long as he fell before the other enemies, ultimately blocking their path.

I quickly turned my ankle, twisted my back, and looked behind me. Then, as I quickly slashed through the air with my scimitar, I heard metal striking metal.

“That monster...!”

After I successfully blocked their attack, the enemy’s upper body was left completely open. With a single snap of my wrist, my sword rushed forward with the tip pointing straight at him.

The other enemies’ slashes occupied the space behind me.

Stab!

Bang!

Unable to pierce the enemy’s heart, I drove them to the mast like a wild boar. The sword went through their body and hit the mast, destroying the spot it hit.

“They also showed me a lot of methods on how one could prepare an octopus...!”

I quickly stepped on the outer hull and ran forward. The Kraken aimed its sucker-covered tentacles at me, but they weren’t that difficult to avoid as I rushed toward it.

Squish. The Kraken’s skin was as soft as putty and felt rather unpleasant.

“If stabbed between the eyes, an octopus will faint!!”

However, with the threat of a GAME OVER hanging over my head, I somehow gained the strength to move forward.

I stepped on the Kraken’s head, which was somehow still out of the water. I quickly located its eyes and the place we would call a forehead.

Stab!

Briefly jumping into the air, I plunged my Zweihänder’s blade into the Kraken’s forehead.

The black energy rotating around it like a spiral penetrated the Kraken’s flesh as if drilling into it.

Its body suddenly shook, and its tentacles moved in a frenzy.

Splash!

That blow was obviously effective as the Kraken’s body, which had been out of the water for some time now, instantly began diving beneath the waves.

I followed it.

Seawater, the slime of the Kraken’s mucous membrane, and the salty water pouring from its torn skin kept entering my nose and mouth.

Although I had broken through the Kraken’s outer membrane and penetrated deeply into it, it was still like this, so I couldn’t imagine what would have happened if it were at full health.

Blub blub.

Anyway, as seawater continued coming through the hole I had torn, I was suddenly completely submerged in water.

I felt a little short of breath but was otherwise in pretty good condition.

I began tearing into the cold, squishy flesh before me and sliced through its insides with my blade. Of course, I didn’t intend to find its three hearts and burst them individually.

Splash.

When would I use the Arcane Power I’d conserved if not now?

Pitch-black energy began slicing through the octopus’ pale flesh. As that was happening, I saw a dark blue light appear, likely the Kraken’s heart bursting or something.

Anyway, the more I moved my sword, the more the Kraken’s internals shook. By the time I finally managed to catch my breath, the vibrations had completely stopped.

Riiiip!

I finally left through the torn skin. I saw the monster’s mangled body sinking deeper to the bottom of the ocean before turning my head toward the water’s surface, on which rays of light were playing.

After that, of course, I struggled to ascend. I was short of breath, and my vision was already darkening, but I still somehow managed to move my limbs. I would’ve felt so wronged if I died here after all that.

“Puhah!”

Right as I was wondering whether this was the end of me, air rushed into my lungs.

“Huff, cough, gasp.”

I gasped, spitting out copious amounts of seawater that had entered through my nose and mouth.

My vision, which was getting blurry, slowly returned to normal, and the moment the feeling of ‘ I survived’ washed over me, relief swept over my heart.

The Kraken was dead, right? It was, right? Although I knew such developments were quite cliche, I still hoped it would be like that.

I couldn’t see it coming up when I plunged my head under the water again. If it was still alive, that thing was scarier than I thought.

Well, even if I didn’t manage to kill it, I survived for now.

“See if I... ever... come back to... the sea again.”

Seasickness, aerial battles, and the sea itself were far too problematic. After this was over, I would never, ever get close to the sea again.

After vowing that to myself, I pulled my head above water again. What should I do now? Immediately after that thought entered my mind, something caught my eye.

“...Running away, huh.”

Still, using the Kraken for some easy team kills sure was convenient. I could see the last enemy ship I hadn’t gotten the chance to sink moving away.

It seemed they’d given up on attacking. Even the Gargoyles, Wyverns, and Harpies followed after the ship and stopped their assault on the port.

“Tsk.”

If they’d chosen to retreat in my direction, I would have boarded their ship and dealt with those guys somehow.

I found it quite ironic that they were retreating through the empty space between me and the port. Well, since they’d seen me and the Kraken fighting to the death around here, it wasn’t all that strange for them to keep away from this place.

Moreover, my immediate survival was more important than my regret of not dealing with all the enemies.

I struggled to avoid sinking into the sea and looked for a way to get to the port. Even if I couldn’t swim properly right now, I had to at least hold out until a rescue team came to get me.

“...!”

Fortunately, debris from an overturned boat came into view.

“Shit, kill that bastard before he gets here!”

Of course, some passengers were already on it: pirates who had fallen into the water before me or got away while I was struggling with the Kraken.

However, did they still have bows or other long-range weapons with them?

Those with harpoons on them tried throwing them at me, but their accuracy was incredibly poor because of the waves moving the debris, and I swatted away those that came close to me.

“What a monster...”

“How dare someone joining hands with Demons say something like that.”

In the end, my legs finally stepped onto the remains of the overturned ship.



「❖ Fangs aimed at Jacrati

∎ Find the bases of Vipurit’s gang: 11 / ??

∎ Destroy the bases of Vipurit’s gang: 11 / ??

∎ Optional: Stop the Demons’ attack

∎ Optional: Kill Vipurit」



This marked the end of the sudden optional Quest.