𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟐𝟖
Slash!!━
“……!?”
Along with the battle start message, three squid legs popped out from the sea. They were Kraken legs, each easily 50-60 meters long. The mere emergence of those legs caused a violent spray of water, flipping smaller ships right over.
‘Huh? Did I see that wrong?’
The distance between the ship I’m on and the Kraken legs is still a few hundred meters. Apart from the delayed rocking of the ship due to the water spray, there’s no damage.
However, the length of the Kraken legs that emerged from the sea made me wonder.
‘They seem much longer than what I saw in the videos…… It must be my imagination, right?’
The Kraken’s legs are no joke; they seem to be about the height of a 20-story apartment building. Just those legs alone boast a more overwhelming presence than any boss I’ve faced so far.
“Kraken location confirmed!”
“Circle around! Commence preemptive attack with cannons!”
As expected, the smaller ships that departed first were bait. Most of the larger ships began to slowly encircle the Kraken’s location, splitting into two groups on either side. And naturally, the smaller ships serving as bait were being massacred by the Kraken’s legs.
Boom!!- Kaboom!!━
‘This is……’
No match at all.
Every time the Kraken’s legs, exposed above the surface, thrashed around, the smaller ships were smashed to pieces. I don’t know if the ships themselves have durability, but seeing them break apart every time they touched the Kraken’s legs felt somewhat surreal.
Still, thanks to the large number of smaller ships serving as bait, they were managing to buy some time. And in the meantime, the ships that had surrounded the Kraken reacted.
“Now! Fire!”
Immediately, all the ships equipped with cannons among those encircling the Kraken fired their shells. I don’t know what kind of shells they are, but they drew parabolas in the air and landed where the Kraken’s legs were, exploding on impact.
Kwaaang!!- Kaboom!━
‘They’re firing even though there are still allies remaining.’
Did they mention this beforehand? Regardless of the outcome, the fact that they’re carrying it out is astonishing. In the end, I saw the allied players swimming nearby turn gray due to the explosions from the fired shells. I let out a small sigh but decided to keep watching for now.
“Keep firing! We need to reduce its HP as much as possible here!”
“Don’t hold back and fire!”
“Don’t let their sacrifice be in vain!”
They’re the ones who offered the sacrifices, what are they talking about?
Anyway, the number of prepared shells seemed substantial, as the attack continued without pause. They must have fired hundreds of rounds by now. And as a result of those exploding shells, I could see three of the Kraken’s legs, exposed above the surface, being severed.
‘……The efficiency isn’t very good.’
Using hundreds of shells just to sever three legs? In any case, the three severed legs seemed to sink back beneath the surface, but then an incredibly large squid head emerged.
The main body.
Simultaneously, the seven legs I saw earlier rose around the Kraken.
“Alright! The battle starts now! Approach!”
‘Approach?’
No, why approach when they can keep firing cannons? But as if they had all agreed beforehand, they stopped firing cannons at the Kraken and slowly approached it. There must be a reason I’m unaware of.
‘Sigh, no one to explain anything.’
But why would they take the difficult path when there’s an easier way to strategize? Curious, I asked a player watching alongside me.
“Why aren’t they using the cannons?”
“Huh? Well, if you fire cannons when the main body is exposed, it counterattacks with a strange skill called Hail Barrier. It has a 50% chance of sinking the ship, so they can’t fire.”
“50%?”
“Exactly a half chance. Plus, the range is ridiculously wide, so if they use it, dozens of ships will sink.”
‘So they’ve made it impossible to defeat it with cannons.’
Now I understand why they’ve failed to subjugate it so far. Having to fight the Kraken barehanded from the second phase? Still, there seemed to be a way, as the next order came from each ship.
“Alright, next bait team! Deploy!”
‘Bait again?’
This time, to see what kind of bait they were using, I saw players who appeared to be of the warrior class jumping into the sea from each ship. But the strange thing was, they didn’t fall into the sea but landed on the surface. The number of players who disembarked from each ship seemed to be at least a thousand.
“Why aren’t those people falling into the sea?”
“They’re all using Water Walking. But it’s not very effective.”
‘Water Walking? Wait, not effective?’
Hearing Water Walking reminded me of the option on my Azure Guardian Shoes. If I also used Water Walking, I could fight on the water surface just like them, but there was something more concerning.
Why is Water Walking not effective?
The Water Walking I saw was like a critical skill that removes terrain restrictions. Still, I decided to observe for now, and the Kraken, noticing the players running towards it, pulled back four of its legs and then whipped them around like whips in all directions.
Kwaaang!!━
The Kraken’s legs, each tens of meters long. When swung like whips, the players hit by them died instantly. And those who narrowly escaped the leg attacks were swept away by the ensuing water spray and plunged into the sea.
“……”
“Even if you avoid the Kraken’s leg attacks, you’re not safe from damage…… Anyway, you can’t defeat the Kraken with melee attacks.”
“Well…… Yeah.”
“And it wasn’t this strong at first……”
‘Ah, so the rumors about it leveling up by killing players were true?’
Hmm, leveling up……
Actually, my Ust had also become much stronger than before due to its level increasing through its skill effect. Considering that, even if the Kraken’s level had only increased by 10, it would have become incomparably stronger than before.
‘Anyway, the number of surviving players is…… around 200?’
It seemed like 1,000 were deployed earlier, but 800 died in a single attack. No, more than half of them were submerged in the sea, so it’s inaccurate to say they died.
If they’re Iot Kingdom players, they should have learned swimming and diving skills as essentials, so they must be alive somehow.
In any case, the 200 players who survived the Kraken’s attack clung to it and used a certain skill, which I assumed was a provocation skill.
Did they deploy only those who learned Provoke from the beginning?
Furthermore, the Kraken’s head and legs naturally turned towards the 200 players shouting Provoke, and meanwhile, the ships that had successfully approached to a certain extent started casting magic.
“Now! Magic!”
“Pour out all your Magic Power and Stamina!”
“Ah, I got the signal. I’ll go too.”
He, who had taught me this and that for a short time, ran towards the bow and used magic. There were still over 100 ships remaining. All those ships started to intensively cast magic towards the Kraken, but the Kraken’s gaze was still fixed on the players who had used Provoke.
Kwakwakwang!!━
“Burst damage! Burst damage!”
“No time to rest! Drink a potion if you have to!”
Dozens, no, hundreds and thousands of magic spells flying. The types were diverse. Fire, wind, lightning, the types flying were varied, but there was one thing missing. Water attribute magic was nowhere to be seen.
And above, flying summoned beasts and spirits attacking from the air. Arrow attacks as well. The Kraken endured such attacks, which would have killed me in a few seconds, for a whole minute, and then showed a different movement.
[The Tyrant of the Sea, Kraken, uses Water Vortex.]
“Damn it! It’s using a skill!”
“What are you doing without using Provoke?!”
‘Water Vortex?’
Kwakwakwakwak!!━
Suddenly, a vortex abruptly surged around the Kraken. The vortex, originating from the Kraken’s location, pulled out all the players, including those who were clinging close and using Provoke, and even those submerged in the sea. The hundreds of players swept into the vortex were spun around like laundry in a washing machine and then flung out in all directions from the top of the vortex, hundreds of meters in the air.
‘Do they take damage when swept away?’
Most of the falling players were gray. As I watched the gray players falling like rain, the Kraken showed another reaction.
Uooooooooh!━
[The Tyrant of the Sea, Kraken, uses Ink Fog.]
“Crazy, the Provoke has completely worn off!”
“Stop the magic! The Kraken is disappearing!”
“Conserve your Stamina!”
Kuwak!━
Simultaneously, the Kraken spewed out a pitch-black fog. Even though my helmet has a function to see in the dark, I couldn’t see the Kraken. It must be an attribute different from darkness.
“Damn it, it was perfect!”
‘If the Kraken isn’t there, where is it?’
Well, my question was soon answered.
Slash!!━
“The Kraken!”
“What are you doing?! Move! Attack the legs!”
The Kraken reappeared where the ships were gathered. Fortunately, it was some distance from the ship I was on, but for the people there, a disaster was unfolding.
Kwaddeuk!- Kwadeuk!━
“We have to sever at least one leg! Only then will the head emerge!”
“Don’t just stand there, attack!”
Currently, the Kraken wasn’t showing its head and was using only its seven legs to completely entangle all the nearby ships. Naturally, the players aboard those ships desperately attacked the Kraken’s legs. However, considering that it took hundreds of cannon shells to sever just three legs, there was no way they would be easily severed by the players’ attacks.
Moreover, the ship I’m on can’t help them now. We’re too far away.
Kwaaang!━
“Ah, no!”
“The ship is breaking!”
‘Using up too much magic in the beginning has become a weakness.’
One minute.
That’s more than enough time for a single player to use up all their Stamina. Maybe not for F-rank skills, but D-rank skills consume 2% Stamina per use. If you think about using it 50 times, wouldn’t one minute be enough? Still, the players with remaining Stamina used their skills to attack the Kraken’s legs, but the ships were breaking apart faster.
“Crazy, it’s coming this way!”
“We have to stop it!”
And the Kraken’s leg, having crushed a ship, started to entangle another nearby ship, and the people aboard that ship were frantically attacking the Kraken’s leg.
“You useless b*stards! If only you had used Provoke properly!”
‘But there’s no one left to use Provoke, right?’
If there’s no one to use Provoke, I thought it might be a better choice to fight underwater. Thinking so, I grabbed a player who was anxiously pacing nearby and asked.
“Wouldn’t it be better to fight underwater in this situation?”
“What are you talking about? If the Kraken swings its leg once underwater, you can’t even get close. And if it uses Water Vortex, you can’t escape.”
“……”
It seems like fighting underwater is even more difficult. Anyway, I nodded at the answer and looked at the Kraken’s leg, which was now crushing its tenth ship. With each leg entangled around a ship, the speed of destruction was fantastic.
‘When will they be able to sever those?’
As I was thinking that, a beam of light suddenly descended from the sky.
Kwaaang!!━
‘Is that…… Heaven’s Judgment?’
It’s Dedric’s skill. What was he doing without attacking until now? Was it Napiel’s order? Anyway, Heaven’s Judgment continued to fall on the Kraken’s leg, and separate from Heaven’s Judgment, black flames also erupted on the Kraken’s leg.
In addition, green javelins flying in parabolas and various flashy skills pierced the Kraken’s leg, causing massive explosions. All the skills I saw just now were probably A-rank skills.
‘This is the first time I’ve seen so many A-rank skills.’
And as expected of A-rank skills, I witnessed one of the Kraken’s legs being severed in an instant. The sight made most of the players here cheer.
Waaaaaaaaah!!━
“We finally severed that damn leg!”
“What was that skill just now?!”
“It seemed like a skill from the people the Great Voyage Guild brought.”
Anyway, as soon as that one leg was severed, all the legs that were entangling and crushing ships retreated back into the sea, and then the Kraken’s head emerged. The number of remaining legs had been reduced to six.
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