ROOOAAAARRRRRRRRR
A deafening roar thundered all throughout the sea and rocked the skies, a massive and deadly beast appearing out of nowhere and lashing out its gigantic tentacles all over the place, breaking chunks of ice every time it lashed.
It whipped out one of its tentacles and the thick layers of ice were split and broken easily, glaciers thrown left and right and in the air. Loud thuds and crashes echoed throughout the air as the massive chunks of ice rained down on the Winter Forest.
It was a beast which resembled a massive squid, reaching over 50 meters in length, eyes bigger than a car, and each lash packing enough power to annihilate the islands as if they were fragile toys. Its eyes were full of rage, painted red as can be.
A creature Grey was all too familiar with, appearing in all sorts of shows and fictions he's read in his past life. There were all sorts of variations, but one thing was clear in all of them, and that was that it was a powerful and aggressive destroyer.
⟨⟨Appraisal⟩⟩ ［Grey］
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[Demonic Beast]
[Species]Kraken
[Status]Healthy, Starving, Enraged
[Sex]Female
[Age]158
[Mana Capacity]16,011 [Mana Quality]A
[Combat Power]5,207 [Threat Level]S
[Attribute]Water
[Intelligence]87
[Description]
A giant Cephalopod-Type which dwells in the deep and dark reaches under the sea. It is referred to by many as the "Nightmare of the Sea", often sinking boats and ships with its tentacles in the rare events that it surfaces. The number of its tentacles grow in relation to its age, reaching 12 during adulthood.
Krakens often live in solitary lifestyles and are highly territorial. Though it is famous for its water magic which can wash away entire towns, it is even more infamous for its corrosive properties enough to melt iron in an instant ants sticky tentacles which ships have slim to no chance of escaping from.
-----------------------------------
It was a Kraken, alright. A beast which is often dubbed as one of the "Three Terrors" of the seas along with Scylla and Charybdis, ranking second only after the Leviathan. They are true powerhouses which rule the oceans.
What's even worse was that it wasn't just any Kraken, but a Corrupted Kraken whose bloodlust was all over the place. Its roars were filled with intensity and hunger, ready to devour everything in its path be it other beasts or massive chunks of ice.
Normally, Krakens reach the middle-ends of A-rank once they reach adulthood, but since it was a demonic beast before there, it is now in the bottom of S-rank. Now, it is comparable to a normal Leviathan in terms of combat power.
"Grey, isn't this..." ［Yuna］
"Yeah. I'm doubting that possibility too..." ［Grey］
However, one thing didn't just line up with Grey and Yuna's findings. Though demonic beasts aren't really extremely rare, they aren't common either. Yet after the Leviathan before, they found yet another aquatic beast that has been corrupted.
With how big the ocean is, it was very much likely that it was a coincidence, however, Grey just couldn't shake off the ominous feeling from before, growing stronger and stronger with doubts and confusion towards the subject.
"No, it's still far too early to make unsupported conclusions like that. It could just be a huge coincidence as well. That's more likely to be it than not." ［Grey］
"But what if it's not?" ［Yuna］
"Well, in the slim chance it's not, then... That'll really be troublesome... Let's just keep an eye on things for now and see how things go." ［Grey］
"Mmn... I guess you're right." ［Yuna］
It was no use thinking too hard about it. If it's a coincidence then that would be much better for everyone, but if it's not, then it would be a lot of problems. They haven't so much so as started their journey and they were already encountering such problems.
ROOOAAAARRRRRR
Just when Grey and Yuna finished their short conversation. Yet another deafening roar thundered all throughout the sea and the Kraken lashed out even harder, slamming its massive tentacles as if there was no tomorrow.
It seems to have spotted them already too, its eyes glowing a fierce red color as it stared straight at them. It soon latched one of its tentacles onto a massive chunk of ice it just broke and hurled it towards the two of them at insane speeds.
"How rude..." ［Grey］
There was no need to fret. All Grey had to do was stand in silence and activate his "Bellowing Heavens" and thousands of tiny shockwaves rippled all throughout the air, pulverizing the massive chunk of ice into fine snow in an instant.
The sound of shattering glass rang out like sweet chimes in the air and a downpour of snow came falling down the white sandy beach. It was an absurd sight to behold, yet it was just as mystical and magical.
"Thanks a lot, Grey. You're the best!" ［Yuna］
"What are you saying, you silly girl? You already reached Calamity-Class, but you should still have erected a barrier. That was dangerous." ［Grey］
"Teehee! It's because I knew Grey will protect me!" ［Yuna］
"Don't 'teehee' me, youー Haah... Forget it..." ［Grey］
Seeing how its previous attempt didn't work, the Kraken didn't try throwing projectiles at them anymore and instead, continued breaking through the ice and rushed forth towards Grey and Yuna, its eyes resembling that of a hungry predator.
There were all sorts of frozen beasts here and there, and they were also the beasts it was chasing before, but for some reason, the Kraken is now extremely and strangely fixated on them, ready to rip them apart without second thoughts.
Of course, Grey and Yuna didn't just leave it be. The young lady was a little stumped that she didn't get to fight after setting off the "Winter Forest", but now that a chance has presented itself before her, there was no way she'd decline.
"Grey, can we add another dish to our lunch today?" ［Yuna］
"... Sure, I'm hungry for some squid anyway." ［Grey］
"Fufufu! Just what I wanted to hear! Thanks, Grey!" ［Yuna］
It may be a demonic beast, but it was still a fact that it was a massive S-rank squid, one which should be as delicious as it is powerful. Yuna quickly equipped her daggers, a sharp glimmer shimmering in the beachー or so for a short time.
"Right, Grey, can I borrow the spear for a short while?" ［Yuna］
"The Divine Spear? Why all of the sudden?" ［Grey］
"Nothing much. But since we're already out in the sea, shouldn't we try spearfishing every once in a while? It's fun, you know?" ［Yuna］
Or so she says, beaming a bright smile as she asked for such an innocent request. It was a request no one would think of in such a situation... No one except his beloved fiancée, that is. She really was a fascinating person to say the very least.
Grey didn't think too much about her request and simply granted it, taking out another Armament Ring from his Inventory. It looked similar to the one Yuna's wearing, but as soon as she activated it, a beautiful platinum halberd appeared out of nowhere.
The Kraken continued to charge recklessly towards them, but Yuna was still calm as can be. She just continued to admire the halberd she was holding, swinging it a little bit to get used to it after having not held one for quite some time.
"Good! Looks like I still have the hang of it!" ［Yuna］
"Then, I'll be cooking in the shed if you ever need me. Good luck." ［Grey］
"Un! Just leave it to me! I'm gonna catch us some tasty squid!" ［Yuna］
She heaved a deep breath and locked her sights on the Kraken before them. It has been quite some time since it started moving, but it has yet to reach halfway towards her because of the Winter Forest hindering its movements greatly.
BOOK BOOM BOOM CRACK SHATTER
The Winter Forest continued to deal damage towards it it continued to lash out its giant arms and tentacles, the sound of shattering glass and ice ringing about as it broke several trees and snapped several vines, eyes fueled with rage.
On the contrary, Yuna was calm as can be, her blue eyes emanating a sharp and deadly coldness as she took another step. She raised her right hand and the halberd along with if, her eyes locked on the eye of the rampaging Kraken.
"Haap!" ［Yuna］
BOOOOMMMM FWOOSH FWOOSH FWOOSH
With no magic whatsoever, Yuna threw the halberd with brute force and sonic booms redounded clearly as the halberd broke through the sonic barrier several times time and time again, darting towards the Kraken at breakneck speed.
At the same time, Yuna planted her foot firmly towards the ground and bolted along the halberd she threw, leaving soft clouds of dust and snow as she rushed towards the Kraken, creating spears of ice with her as she went.
She threw the spears of ice like an endless volley of blue and aimed for the tentacles this time. Dozens of blue spears rushed out towards the Kraken like a downpour of frost and death, like bolts of lightning cruising throughout the sky.
BOOOOMMMMM GHIIEEEEKKKKKKKK
The Divine Halberd connected successfully and the Winter Forest was dyed red with the Kraken's blood. It was lucky enough to move about, and its eyes weren't hurt, but in exchange, the halberd bore a hole through one of its tentacles, soon cutting it off.
A pained screech ran wild, and so did the Kraken. But before it got consumed by its rage, it managed to catch a glimpse of the spears rushing towards it, a newfound trauma playing out as it saw a torrent of terror rush towards it.
The Kraken didn't waste any time and created a wall of magic with the use of water magic. It was thick as can be, successfully blocking the volley of blue. Unfortunately, it has completely forgotten about a certain someone.
"Hey, over here!" ［Yuna］
That certain someone was none other than Yuna, vanishing without a trace and soon appearing behind the Kraken with the Divine Halberd on her person. There was a cold glint in her eyes, raising the halberd with resolve.
The Kraken tried to block Yuna's swing with another wall of water, but before it could even do so, Yuna's strike had already tore through the incomplete curtain of water and cut off yet another one of the Kraken's massive tentacles.
From 12 intact tentacles, only 10 remained in just a few seconds. Another shriek filled with pain and agony rang out in the Winter Forest, the Kraken's eyes painted a fierce fed color, as deep as the color of the blood it spilled.
If opened its beak and shot out its infamous ink, a stream of black and smoke rushing out to get Yuna. It was corrosive enough to melt even metals and alloys in an instant, drops ink of it melting the ice Yuna made, the vegetation slowly withering away.
Yet despite how dangerous it was, Yuna didn't budge an inch and simply activated her "Phaseless". The stream of dark ink simply passed through her and landed on the other side of the Winter Forest, corroding that area in the blink of an eye.
⟨⟨Crescent Slash!⟩⟩ ［Yuna］
Yuna made another swing, and this time, she decided to pack a bit of mana in her attack. As if she was painting and the Divine Halberd was her brush, a massive blade of mana was born of her stroke, rushing towards the Kraken without any warning.
Not just one, but the swing cut off two tentacles of the Kraken, an even more pained bellow ringing in the air as only 8 out of its 12 tentacles remained. They all fell towards the ground, loud thuds and crashes echoing all the while.
"Hmm... Now it's more fitting to call you an octopus, doesn't it?" ［Yuna］
KHIIIEEEEKKKKKKKK BOOM BOOM BOOM
The young lady remained calm and composed, but the same couldn't be said for the Kraken. It has now lost its mind from so much pain, lashing even more violently than before, breaking all the frozen vegetation creeping towards it.
It lashed out its tentacles and blades of water formed all over the place. It made sure to spare no effort to hurt Yuna, trying to finish her by itself and crush her bones into fine powder once its tentacles grab ahold of the evasive young lady.
Unfortunately for the Kraken, Yuna was simply too fast for it. Before its giant tentacles could even extend halfway, Yuna has already pulled back and dodged the trajectory of the attacks. Just a couple side steps and a bit of swinging to counter attack.
One... Two... Three...
The more time passed and the more Yuna swung the Divine Halberd, the more of the Kraken's tentacles were cut off and fell towards the Winter Forest. Frost swallowed it whole, preserving and protecting it from the deadly clash before it.
The Kraken tried all sorts of attacks from simple brute force all the way to AoE magic, but every single one of the attacks missed. On the contrary, all of Yuna's attacks landed with 100% accuracy, dealing wounds and injuries one after another.
ROOAAARRRRR BOOOOM BOOOOM FWOOOSSSHHHHH
Rage burning deep in its hearts, the Kraken slammed the Winter Forest Whole and the thick sheets of ice broke into chunks and pieces, flying towards the air along with a bit of sea water and snow, obstructing all sight without fail.
The Kraken didn't just stop there. As soon as the chucks of ice were raised, it then whipped with its remaining 5 tentacles and catapulted all the icebergs and glaciers towards all directions, hoping to hit and injure Yuna even by a little bit.
Yet quite unexpectedly, rather than be flustered by the volley of ice turned towards her, she used them as footing to run towards the Kraken. She arrived in an instant with just a couple normal leaps for her and Grey.
⟨⟨Crescent Slash!⟩⟩ ［Yuna］
Another swing and another arm cut off. More blood was spilled and another tentacle fell towards the ground with a loud thud. The Kraken's eyes were now bloodshot with rage, not wasting the opportunity it made by sacrificing a tentacle.
Two of its remaining 4 tentacles rushed out to get Yuna, and for the first time since the whole battle started, it finally caught the young lady, crushing her with extreme force without any mercyー or so it thought it did.
But rather than a warm body, it only felt chills and cold on the figure it caught. It didn't take long for it to realize that what it was holding was not Yuna, but rather, a dummy she used to grab the Kraken's attention, the young lady now nowhere to be seen.
"Are you looking for me?" ［Yuna］
The moment she appeared again, she was already beside the Kraken and resting the handle of the halberd on her right shoulder. She wasn't swinging nor using any tricks and magics. She's simply anticipating for something to occur.
"Oh, and I prepared a little surprise for you." ［Yuna］
WHHIIIRRRRRRRRRRR CRACKLE CRACKLE BOOOOOOMMMMMM
Slowly but surely, the frozen dummy started to glow bright, and not even a second later, it exploded into an explosion of blue and white, swallowing the Kraken whole, deadly ice crystals forming sharp needles and piercing through its skin.
The Kraken managed to somehow avoid its head getting into contact with the frozen explosion, but unfortunately, two of its tentacles were caught, pinning it down to its location and making it choose between death and pain.
If the Kraken chooses to be free, it will have to cut off two of its remaining tentacles, but if it doesn't, it will be stuck there for some time with limited movement, making risks of Yuna's attacks from before even more effective and troublesome.
『Yuna, you sure are having a lot of fun, huh.』 ［Grey］
『Hehehe! It's not often that we fight enemies in the sea, after all!』 ［Yuna］
『Whatever floats your boat, I guess... Oh! And be sure to finish quickly. I'm almost done with lunch. Let's eat together after you're done.』 ［Grey］
"Un! Understood!" ［Yuna］
And just as Yuna and the Kraken were fighting against one another, Grey continued to cook by the sandy beach as if nothing unusual was happening. Rather, he chuckled to himself as he watched his beloved fiancée's wonderful performance.
They were chatting idly, but there was no need to worry. In Yuna's place, the Winfer Forest is doing damage to the Kraken, blasting out leaves of ice, whipping vines of white, grass prickling from below, and carnivorous fauna taking a bite of it
It managed to fend against its attacks from before with its 12 tentacles, but now that only 4 remained and only of those 2 are functional, it has become close to impossible. It was a Forest of Death through and through.
GROOOAAAARRRRRRR KHIIEEEKKKKKK
The Kraken didn't hesitate any further and using its sharp and massive beak, it then tore through the flesh of the stuck tentacles and forcefully cut them off from its body. It can regrow such tentacles after a couple of months, anyway,
BOOM BOOM CRASH CRASH RUMBBLLLEEEEEEE
As soon as it was free, it slammed its last remaining tentacles towards the thick and glacial sheets of ice, hurling massive chunks of ice once again. It whipped and shot them around some more, massive debris flying towards Yuna's direction.
But rather than continue attacking, it decided that it was better to run away for now and attack at a later time whenever it could. It quickly turned around, broke the vines and frozen vegetation pinning it down to such a frozen hell.
『Oh! Looks like the Kraken Is trying to escape! It's so fast despite having only 2 more tentacles remaining, doesn't it?』 ［Yuna］
『Well, even if it's severely injured. it's still an S-rank demonic beast, after all... It's a shame though... It's only digging up its own grave.』 ［Grey］
『Fufufu! I didn't expect it like that, tooー Oh!』 ［Yuna］
Yuna deflected the chunks of ice coming her way with a light swing from the Divine Halberd, but turned the whole volley into blue and gentle snow. As soon as the veil of snow cleared out, the Kraken had already escaped.
It used the hole it dug up the chunks of ice from and dove deep underwater to escape Yuna's eyes. Its blood was still trickling, dyeing the waters red and leaving traces of itself as it ran away. What's more important was that it could escape.
Unfortunately for it, as soon as it dove underwater, it was greeted by an even bigger and even more formidable. The thick vines of ice quickly caught one of its tentacles, and the other one soon after. It was pinned, once more.
The Kraken tried to struggle, but it was futile. More and more frozen vines latched onto it and more and more leaves left wounds all throughout its body. It was in a hell of frost and torture, the young lady soon deciding to end its misery.
The young lady grabbed the halberd for the final time and held it tightly. She raised her hands and her eyes locked on the Kraken. A violent surge of mana rushed forth from the halberd, glowing a bright shimmer like stars in the night sky.
⟨⟨Heavenly Star: Perdition!⟩⟩ ［Yuna］
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
She held it rightly and hurled the Divine Halberd with all her might up above. Several sonic booms ruptured the air again and again in rapid succession, soon touching the clouds before rushing down like a shooting star, platinum sparkles making it shine.
It sped up more and more as if falling from the heavens, and rocked the Winter Forest as it pierced through without any problems, waves of seawater and ice rushing about, accompanied by the chilly winter breeze and piercing cold winds.
A perfect hit!
The Kraken couldn't even notice the Divine Halberd coming its way, when a brilliant flash of light swallowed its sight. The next thing it knew, its body was already pierced, all its hearts crushed into paste as if they were nothing.
Its flames of life flickered in the cold sea and soon, it was swallowed by the cold and merciless hands of death. The Kraken had lost its life and the struggle was finally over. It soon floats towards the surface, only 2 tentacles remaining.
"Yaay～! It looks like the body isn't too damaged! We can still eat it!" ［Yuna］
"Yuna, you should worry about unfreezing the sea first." ［Grey］
"Oh, right! I completely forgot!" ［Yuna］
"Haah... Really, what am I gonna do with you." ［Grey］
After the fierce and completely one-sided battle between Yuna and the Kraken, what came after was the cleaning up. Yuna quickly deactivated Winter Forest and turned the sea back to normal, the only pieces of ice to be seen are encasing the beasts.
With a little bit of water magic, the two also washed up all the deceased beasts into shore and stored them in the Inventory soon after. They will be dismantling them soon enough when they have time to do so.
Though, as per Yuna's request, they did take a bit of meat from the Kraken the young lady just took out and cooked it in all sorts of ways. Grilled squid, Calamares, Sweet and Sour squid, and also Takoyaki. They made a couple things and...
"Mmn～! So good～! This is what I'm talking about～!" ［Yuna］
"Yuna, eat slowly. You'll choke yourself." ［Grey］
"It's fine, it's fine. It's not everyday that we can eat Krakens, is it?" ［Yuna］
"Hmm... I guess you're right..." ［Grey］
... As expected, the dishes made from Kraken meat are superb and immaculate. It is firm but soft, and also juicy with overflowing umami and salty goodness. Pairing it with some sour and spicy sauces were the best.
Grey and Yuna enjoyed their lunch and their little lunch break, also eating with the familiars and the contract spirits to have a lot of fun chatting and laughing about. They may be in the middle of the ocean, but it wasn't lonely at all.
The journey had just barely started..
CHAPTER 404 END