Rygar did not hesitate. With an explosive push that shattered the barrier he was using as a foothold in the sky, he dove after the Kraken.
The monstrous creature, its tentacles dragging through the depths, was diving to escape further attacks, trying to buy time to regenerate from the wounds inflicted by the brutal battle.
The Kraken, aware of its vulnerability, descended faster and faster, its massive form fading into the dark abyss, but Rygar was not so easily deterred.
Using his Burst Step magic, he accelerated his descent, mimicking the speed of a projectile. The ocean around him seemed like it wanted to swallow him whole, but he didn't care. He wouldn't let the Kraken escape so easily.
As the Kraken submerged rapidly, creating a whirlpool that threatened to engulf anything nearby, Rygar simply tore through it with the speed and brutality of a wild beast.
Reaching the monster, in one fluid motion, he pierced the creature's tentacle with Night Hunter, and in the next instant, the magic he had accumulated in the blade was unleashed. The Kraken's pain was immediate.
Within the tentacle, the earth trembled, and numerous spiked spheres began to grow, shredding the creature's limb in a spectacle of destruction.
The magic used was Earth Thorns, but on a completely different scale.
Moreover, the slow petrification poison from Night Hunter seeped into the Kraken and started taking effect, making the beast let out a guttural roar of agony, its powerful tentacles thrashing violently in the depths.
But then, something strange happened when the monster looked at Rygar.
The Kraken's gigantic eyes glowed with an incandescent red, and at that moment, Rygar felt reality disintegrating around him. He didn't understand what was happening.
He vanished.
Suddenly, he found himself on a boat, calm and peaceful, floating on a small lake in the Great Forest.
The soft sunlight illuminated everything around him, and the sound of the flowing water was soothing.
His mother, Selene, was frying fish at the edge of the boat, and Verdia was beside him, telling him about one of her many adventures.
His mind was in utter confusion. It was as if he had been asleep for a long time. He felt safe, at peace, but… something wasn't right.
With a puzzled smile, he looked at Verdia. "Master, I had a really strange dream..." He sat on the edge of the boat, the words barely leaving his lips. His body was relaxed, as if he had just woken up from a long sleep, and the sounds of the forest enveloped him.
His master looked at him, and suddenly, her expression turned serious. "Wake up, Rygar!"
As he heard those words, reality shattered into pieces, and an overwhelming headache assaulted him.
The Kraken's guttural roar echoed in his mind, and suddenly, he was back in the depths.
The Kraken's giant tentacle was wrapped around him, now with monstrous strength.
He was violently pulled through the waters and hurled with inhuman force, his body crashing against a coral formation at the bottom of the sea.
The impact was brutal, shattering part of the coral structure. Even underwater, if Rygar hadn't awakened and used his Touki, he might have been in a near-death state.
Even with his naturally strong physical body, the force was overwhelming.
But he wasn't in much better shape.
He couldn't breathe.
Water forced its way into his lungs with terrifying pressure, and he felt like he was about to drown right then and there.
Exhaustion overwhelmed him, his bones were broken, lacerations and cuts covered his entire body, and he could barely move his muscles, let alone use magic.
Every attempt to manipulate the water and expel the liquid from his lungs failed due to the disorientation and pain.
He was covered in wounds and bruises.
The dark waters around him felt like a prison, and he was barely holding onto consciousness. His entire body was in a deplorable state.
When he finally managed to hold his breath as best as he could, he noticed something.
The sea was glowing, but the light was not from a normal source.
His instincts screamed at him, warning of an imminent and certain death. It was as if the very ocean was alive and watching him with fury.
With no other options, he opened a hole in the seabed and, in a frantic motion, swam clumsily into it, sealing it shut as best as he could—his high level of control over earth magic being the only reason for his success.
At the bottom of the ocean, lightning controlled by the Kraken began bombarding the coral formations and everything around, illuminating the sea in a dance of light and darkness.
Rygar could barely comprehend what was happening. He didn't know if he was still dreaming, if he had been caught in an illusion, or if he was truly in mortal danger.
Everything was being destroyed around him, and his disorientation was immense.
He was out of control, his senses in shambles.
The regeneration magic he barely kept active was the only reason he was still conscious. And even so, he felt like his mind was about to break under the pressure.
He swallowed more salt water. Again.
For a moment, he didn't know where he was.
His perception was completely distorted.
He saw the coral formations around him and felt the electricity in the water, but everything was a whirlwind. He couldn't think, couldn't process anything.
He just acted, driven by instinct, fighting to survive.
He looked in one direction and saw a massive tentacle falling toward him, but behind the monster's limb, he saw the lightning raging in the distant sky.
He didn't question it.
Finding his 'escape route,' he simply acted.
He took a gamble—using a technique he had only theorized about and never tested due to the dangers involved.
Without fully understanding what he was doing, he gathered wind, fire, and lightning magic, making the energy flow exactly along the path he used for Flash Step and Burst Step:
'Lightning Step!'
In the next second, in an explosion of lightning and fire, he shot upward at an unimaginable speed, his feet barely touching the ocean floor.
The Kraken was left behind, but Rygar had no control over the situation—he lost consciousness the moment he used the technique due to the lightning affecting his body.
When he opened his eyes, he coughed up a mouthful of water and hurriedly used healing magic to mend his injuries—both those inflicted by the Kraken and those he had caused to himself.
He looked around.
He was in freefall, his speed so great that his body spun uncontrollably in the air.
The storm, rain, lightning, and winds roared around him.
He was falling back into the sea at high speed.
And he laughed.
He could see the ship far away—Ghislaine and the others' ship—so small and distant.
The water below him looked like an endless abyss, and the Kraken's roar echoed in his mind as if the beast were calling him to his death.
But Rygar didn't have time to think.
He was moving too fast, in every direction, without understanding what was happening.
First, he used wind magic to stabilize his fall, stopping his uncontrolled spinning.
The Kraken was right below, a colossal black mass in the raging waters, its immense body writhing as its tentacles crackled with electricity, turning the sea into a field of liquid death.
Rygar clenched his teeth, trying to catch his breath.
His body still ached from the blows he had taken—the pressure of the water and the impact against the corals had left his ribs shattered—but his healing magic kept him functional.
'This technique is dangerous...' He thought about the 'Lightning Step' he had used, his golden eyes narrowing as the wind whipped against his face.
'If I had used it on solid ground and crashed into a mountain, I'd be in pieces right now. The resistance of the sea delayed the acceleration, and even so, I ended up flying this high... I need to improve my reaction time to an almost divine level if I want to use this properly. I don't even know if that's possible.'
He looked down, seeing the Kraken pulsating like a living shadow in the ocean. His heart pounded.
"But, putting that aside... what the hell is this monster?"
It was colossal. Nearly immortal. It manipulated lightning, controlled minds, and had absurd regeneration.
"This is insane. How did such a broken monster even come to exist?"
It was like fighting a nightmare given flesh—a creature seemingly designed to make survival impossible. Rygar frowned. There had to be a limit.
While still falling, his mind returned to something more immediate.
Tsukikage and Night Hunter! He had lost both weapons when he was thrown against the corals—he couldn't fight properly without them.
But if retrieving them wasn't an immediate option... he needed another plan.
Rygar took a deep breath, and flames began to swirl around him, resisting the cutting wind as he descended.
He gathered an absurd amount of mana into a single compact sphere of fire before him. The fireball wasn't just hot—it was intense.
Its color gradually shifted to a bluish-purple hue, incandescent like the heart of a volcano itself.
'This magic...' He felt the raw power vibrating between his fingers.
He had created it after witnessing the fire breath of the Blue Dragons in the dwarven territory. His mastery of the fire element was the highest among the basic elements, and just seeing that technique once was enough for him to attempt something similar.
And now, he would use it.
Down below, the Kraken roared, its red eyes pulsing. It saw Rygar, sensed the danger. Its tentacles began to move furiously, electrifying the water around it, preparing another attack.
But Rygar noticed something.
"He keeps his tentacles in the water to generate electricity?"
It was only a fraction of a second, but it was enough. The Kraken began to move backward, trying to submerge before Rygar could unleash his magic.
Too late.
Rygar was falling in a straight line, at a speed breaking the sound barrier, and he thought:
'Dragon's Breath.'
The sphere of compressed fire suddenly expanded, releasing a massive beam of flames in a concentrated blast.
The air around it vibrated with the extreme heat. The shot was like a flaming spear, ripping through the skies and striking the Kraken before it could react.
The impact was devastating, and the fiery beam didn't stop, generating an enormous amount of steam.
The flames consumed the creature's skin, charring its flesh and leaving blackened scars across its colossal body.
The Kraken let out a guttural roar of fury, so intense that the ocean itself shook violently in response.
The sea around it became completely electrified, creating a spectacle of lightning that illuminated the depths as if a storm had exploded underwater.
Rygar, still in the air, didn't wait to see the full result. He directed the wind around him, controlling the magic to slow his descent.
The heat from the attack still radiated from his body as he finally landed on the ocean's surface, solidifying an ice platform beneath his feet.
He took a deep breath.
His wounds were almost completely healed, his ever-active regeneration keeping him intact enough to continue fighting.
But he couldn't relax.
Activating his magic eye, Rygar looked into the depths and saw the beast. The Kraken was still writhing, its burns visible even from afar. But now, there was something different.
The monster's regeneration... was slower. Just a little, but definitely slower.
Rygar grinned.
"So even that has a limit!"
The first real advantage.
He stood firm on the ice, feeling the mana still surging through his body.
He had expended a great deal of mana, but he knew he still had much more to give—he hadn't even used half of it. In fact, he was far from reaching his limit. He could sustain himself for much longer.
If this was a battle of endurance... then he could win.
But something was bothering him.
"His mind control..."
The memory of the illusion was still fresh. The time spent trapped in it had been short, but the psychological impact was intense.
If the Kraken managed to ensnare him again... it could become a real problem.
He clenched his fists.
"I need to be careful with that... and I need to come up with something to counter it—fast!"
The battle was far from over.
The sky was as dark as pitch, heavy clouds swirling violently, occasionally illuminated by lightning that tore through the darkness with a blue-white glow.
The ocean raged, colossal waves rising and crashing like liquid mountains, shaking everything around them. It was absolute chaos.
Despite the accumulating wounds, the Kraken remained indomitable in the depths of the sea. Electricity radiated from its flesh, crackling violently, and Rygar could smell the ozone mixed with the salty sea air every time he narrowly evaded the deadly discharges.
Placing his hands on the surface of the sea, Rygar thought gleefully, 'I've always wanted to do this!'
"Ice Age!"
The magic spread like an invisible wave, and the ocean around the Kraken began to solidify instantly.
Gigantic ice crystals surged up, forming a prison that attempted to entrap the beast.
But the monster roared defiantly, and with an explosion of electrical power, it shattered the frozen chains, breaking the ice blocks into thousands of fragments.
Rygar retreated in a Flash Step, dodging the destruction with instinctive precision and sharp analysis.
His magic-enhanced eyes caught the Kraken's movements, revealing the flow of mana gathering around the beast, warning him of incoming attacks.
Minutes turned into hours. The battle raged on without respite.
Rygar dove at one point during the battle and suffered from lightning raining down on his body, but found his swords eventually.
When the Kraken went into a frenzy, its tentacles descended like divine hammers, crushing everything in their path, generating monstrous waves that nearly swallowed Rygar whole.
Thunder and winds howled, creating an apocalyptic scene where fire, water, and electricity clashed.
The entire ocean had become a battlefield, with columns of steam rising whenever Rygar's flames collided with the sea's surface.
The Kraken's illusion never caught him again—Rygar avoided its glowing red eyes at all costs.
The monster tried to deceive him whenever possible, keeping his mind under constant threat, but Rygar was quick, instinctive, and relentless.
Lightning roared from both the heavens and the depths, crackling all around, scorching the air with raw energy.
From time to time, Rygar felt the shocks burning his skin, his muscles convulsing painfully with each electric burst escaping from the Kraken.
Other times, the tentacles struck with brutal force, slamming him into the turbulent waters or shattering any ice formation he tried to use as support.
Yet, he fought on with supernatural resilience.
His swords, Tsukikage and Night Hunter, were his fangs.
Tsukikage burned with flames and lightning, cutting through flesh and searing it simultaneously, while Night Hunter injected its lethal venom, spreading petrification through the beast's body.
Each slash, each spell, slowed the Kraken's regeneration bit by bit.
Rygar didn't realize it in the heat of combat, but something inside him was changing.
His mastery of Touki was evolving in real time.
His Flow became more precise, allowing for lethal counterattacks. His Longsword of Light found natural openings in the Kraken's defenses, landing deep, devastating strikes.
The North God techniques became second nature, letting him deceive and strike with effortless precision.
His ferocity grew. His body responded faster. His strength and endurance sharpened as his will to hunt this monster burned brighter.
The battle had become a test of endurance.
The Kraken, an ancient beast, had faced countless foes over its existence. Creatures of its caliber possessed some intelligence and understood their enemies.
Humanoids, no matter how powerful, always had limits to their stamina.
The Kraken had devoured thousands of warriors who thought they could defeat it—mages who relied too much on their magic, swordsmen who underestimated its regenerative abilities.
It just had to wait. Its monstrous vitality and healing factor had always ensured its victory.
But this time, something was wrong.
As the fight dragged on, this little being only became fiercer, wilder—his stamina seemed boundless.
On the other hand, the Kraken's regeneration was slowing. Its wounds, which once sealed rapidly, now took longer to heal. Its flesh hardened in places where Night Hunter's venom had spread.
And worst of all...
Rygar was still standing. Still fighting viciously.
The Kraken's eyes gleamed again, but not to hypnotize.
This time, they shone with something else—something it had only felt once before.
Fear.
Long ago, it had battled another terrifying opponent, a human warrior clad in golden armor wielding a blade of radiant light—a man who could cleave the ocean and split mountains.
Now, it felt that same dread again.
It was staring death in the face.
Rygar grinned savagely. His victory was becoming inevitable.
The monster began to retreat, sinking into the depths, trying to escape.
But Rygar wouldn't allow it.
"This battle of endurance... I won."
He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with air, as he charged Tsukikage with roaring lightning. His entire body radiated power, his mana boiling around him.
Night Hunter was already buried inside the Kraken's eye, pulsing with venomous magic.
Now, it was time to end this.
'This is your end!'
And with that, he dove into the stormy waters, ready to finish the fight once and for all.
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