To clear a game, you had to know your enemies just as thoroughly as you knew your allies.
What attacks they excelled at, and what they were weak against.
“That thing isn’t going to retreat over something like this. It’ll be back soon, and if we really want to drive it off, we’ll have to work together.”
At Alex’s confident declaration, the warriors began murmuring among themselves.
The claim that the Kraken would soon return, and the claim that there was a way to drive it away.
They hardly knew which of the two they should be more surprised by.
“There’s… a way to drive it off…?”
“I really saw what just happened with my own eyes, right?”
Aroha, who had witnessed Alex’s feat from right in front of him, was the first to finish processing the situation.
Aroha decided to trust what she had seen with her own eyes.
“Tell me. If you tell me what to do, I’ll do exactly that.”
He was someone who had stopped the gigantic Kraken with a spear he had picked up from the ground.
The divine power she had felt from that strike had been intense enough to send chills down Aroha’s spine as a mage.
It was a feat no Dark Elf could accomplish.
***
The Fishmen washing ashore all had grotesque forms created from mutated marine creatures.
Makui, who had been fending off the reeking Magical Beasts, involuntarily stopped at the intense power he sensed from deeper inside the village.
At the same time, he witnessed an astonishing sight.
One of the gigantic Kraken’s tentacles was repelled by something.
As though it had been attacked, the tentacle rapidly withdrew into the sea.
“What… was that power just now…?”
“Did everyone feel that pure power just now?”
Dozens of Fishmen that had been swarming around the shoreline were even caught in the Kraken’s hasty retreat and sent flying.
Even the elders appeared bewildered, as though they had never seen anything like it before.
‘What is happening…?’
Makui thought as he drove his spear through the gap in an irritating Fishman’s gills.
He might not know what had happened, but he could at least tell that the power he had just sensed was what had driven the Kraken away.
Even the Fishmen that had been surging forward with savage momentum seemed intimidated by that vast, pure power, their ferocity noticeably diminished.
“…Warriors!”
Makui did not let the opportunity pass.
This was their chance to eliminate every remaining Magical Beast that had climbed onto the beach.
As though understanding Makui’s intention, magic from the elders supporting the warriors flashed from every direction.
Through their accumulated knowledge, the elders had comprehended the laws of nature and become masters of magic that wielded the natural elements.
“Waaaaah!”
“Drive out these filthy Magical Beasts!”
The Kraken had retreated.
Powerful magic supported them from behind.
And the Magical Beasts had lost their momentum.
The exhausted warriors’ morale surged at once, and they began driving their spears into the heads of the Fishmen scattered across the beach.
This was how the Dark Elves had always managed to protect the safety of their tribe by the narrowest of margins.
‘We’ve survived another crisis like this.’
Makui was curious about the source of the power that had driven away the Kraken, but for now, he decided to be relieved that they had survived the crisis.
His relief lasted exactly two seconds.
“No! Stop! Stop, stop!”
An urgent, unfamiliar voice came running toward them, shouting at the top of its lungs.
Makui reflexively turned toward the voice and stared in bewilderment.
“What in the world…!”
Alex, the inlander who was supposed to be locked in prison, was running toward them.
Even Aroha and the other warriors who should have imprisoned and guarded him were running alongside Alex.
“Pull the warriors back right now! It’s going to come charging back in soon!”
Makui glared fiercely at Alex as he came running toward them shouting incomprehensible things.
An inlander they had imprisoned had appeared as though he were leading Makui’s own sister and warriors?
“How did you get out? Explain yourself!”
Moreover, Makui found what Alex had said at such a crucial moment extremely displeasing.
The warriors on the beach, whose morale had only just risen, were beginning to hesitate.
“Aroha…?”
“How… No, then what exactly….”
Even the elders began murmuring.
Whenever the Kraken appeared, once it submerged beneath the water, it would not show itself again for years.
That was what Makui had been taught, and that was what he had witnessed throughout his life.
The number of tremendous roars heard from the sea had increased lately, but even those had always come from far away.
To Makui, common sense dictated that the great disaster had just passed.
So he could not understand why the elders were being shaken by the words of an inlander.
‘Something… is strange.’
The thought only made Makui more displeased.
He had assumed this was another Magical Beast attack like any other, yet the situation was increasingly moving in an unfamiliar direction.
There was something happening that he did not understand.
“Forget explanations, we don’t have time for this! Hurry…. Damn it!”
The hesitation had lasted less than ten seconds.
As though even that much time were too precious to waste, the inlander urged them on, then ground his teeth hard enough to make an audible crunch and turned toward the sea.
The seawater began churning violently.
Then another enormous tentacle of the Kraken emerged above the surface.
The situation called for an explanation, but there was no time for one.
Just as the inlander had warned, the Kraken immediately appeared again.
***
Alex ran across the beach, avoiding the Kraken’s tentacle as it crashed down with a violent shriek through the air.
When he thought about it, the fact that the Kraken’s tentacle had reached all the way into the village was extremely unnatural.
The sandy island might have been small, but why would it deliberately pass over this chaotic beach just to tear through the island’s interior?
- THUD—!
The Kraken’s enormous tentacle slammed into the beach, shaking the ground as though an earthquake had struck.
Alex barely managed to steady his staggering legs before shouting and pointing toward one section of the Kraken’s tentacle.
“The spear!”
The spear?
Every puzzled gaze followed Alex’s gesture.
The spear he had thrown earlier using Divine Counterattack was still lodged in one of the Kraken’s tentacles like a thorn.
“Everyone needs to aim there!”
No sooner had Alex finished speaking than the Kraken’s tentacle began sweeping from side to side across the beach.
It looked as though it were simply wrecking everything around it at random, and yet….
‘Why… does it look like it’s searching for something?’
Something suddenly flashed through Alex’s mind.
Among the methods for driving away the Kraken was one that involved leaving a mark on a living creature and offering it as a living sacrifice.
The greater the magical power of the living sacrifice that received the Kraken’s first attack, the longer the Kraken would remain dormant afterward.
It was a method Alex himself had used in the game before.
There was a reason he had been unable to outright deny the Dark Elves’ stories about living sacrifices.
Alex simply had not used that method in this life yet.
But the method itself genuinely existed.
“Get out of the way!”
Someone’s rough warning rang out.
The Kraken’s tentacle, which had been wildly sweeping across the beach, was hurtling toward Alex.
“Aroha!”
At someone’s shout, Alex turned his head and saw Aroha casting magic.
Alex forcefully shoved Aroha away from his side as she prepared her spell.
[Sanctuary Lv.7]
[The holy barrier absorbs various status effects and physical impacts.]
Judging that it would be impossible to stop the attack completely, Alex simply allowed the tentacle to shatter Sanctuary.
That attack was not strong enough to kill him outright.
If the impact was partially canceled out by breaking through the barrier, he should be able to withstand it.
And they were on a sandy beach with nothing nearby for him to crash into.
It should definitely be manageable.
THUD—!
But an impact experienced directly through the body was much greater than one reduced to numbers in a game.
“Guh….”
His head ringing from the blow, Alex remained sprawled on the ground for a moment while catching his breath.
Aroha and Makui were saying something, but Alex could barely hear them.
The stronger he made Sanctuary, the more powerful the shockwave was when it shattered, leaving his ears ringing.
As Alex staggered while trying to regain his senses, someone suddenly grabbed him and hauled him upright.
“Are you all right?!”
“Ah, my arm. My arm…!”
His whole body ached when Makui roughly supported him.
Startled, Makui immediately became careful and gently lowered Alex back down.
Even during that time, the oblivious Fishmen continued crowding toward them.
However, apparently having begun to regard Alex as someone who needed protection as well, three Dark Elf warriors stepped forward to guard him.
As far as Alex was concerned, he had acted after calculating his stamina, the strength of Sanctuary, and the power of the Kraken’s attack.
But to the Dark Elves, it had looked as though he had risked his life to protect Aroha.
That left quite an impression.
“At least you have proven that you are not in league with the Magical Beasts.”
Makui spoke with a conflicted expression as he looked at Alex sitting on the ground and groaning.
Alex immediately scowled at him.
“…Do you really have time to say that right now?”
He was in enough pain to die, and that was what Makui had to say?
At Alex’s response, made all the sharper by the pain, Makui handed over Alex’s sword, which had been hanging from his waist.
He had brought it along because it looked like a fine weapon and he had thought it might prove useful.
That decision had unexpectedly turned out to be worthwhile.
“I mean that I am willing to trust what you say. Do you truly know the Kraken’s weakness?”
Another enormous tentacle of the Kraken moved, writhing toward Aroha and the warriors who were fleeing in the opposite direction.
Even while retreating, they swiftly avoided the Kraken’s tentacle and, just as Alex had instructed, continued attacking a single point.
The damage was not especially noticeable against the thick, pitch-black outer hide, but pale scratches were spreading around the spear Alex had embedded there.
“Yeah. Weaken the outer hide as much as possible, then drive your spear as deep into that spot as you can with all your strength.”
“….”
Alex no longer had the luxury of remaining seated either, so he steadied himself with a short, deep breath.
Makui had been an enemy as powerful as most large Magical Beasts.
He should be capable of delivering an effective strike against the Kraken.
Grabbing Makui’s arm where it rested on his shoulder, Alex hauled himself upright while scanning the surroundings.
The elders were old and slow, so they had only just managed to reach a position that seemed reasonably safe.
It was almost impressive that they had managed to avoid the Kraken until now.
“Mages, use your strongest magic!”
Apparently hearing Alex’s shout, the elders and Aroha retreated as far as possible and began preparing their magic.
Yet even amid all that, Makui remained completely still, staring at Alex.
‘And then? What comes after that?’
Unlike the other Dark Elves, who had been swept along by Alex’s demeanor and followed his plan, Makui was different.
As though demanding the next step, he kept a firm grip on Alex’s shoulder and refused to let go.
Judgment and charisma.
He certainly looked every bit the leader of an entire group, but for Alex, who had to explain everything, it was somewhat troublesome.
“Magical Beasts feel pain too. Do you think that thing has ever experienced the pain of having the end of one of its limbs cut off? Wouldn’t it feel fear in that moment?”
Alex’s reasoning was not perfect, but it was plausible.
Earlier, the Kraken had withdrawn for a moment before reappearing merely because a spear, no more significant than a thorn in its fingertip, had pierced it.
At that moment, Alex and Makui moved together to avoid the tentacle sweeping toward them once again.
But the outstretched tentacle passed over them and headed toward Aroha farther inland.
“Aroha!”
Makui’s voice erupted in a shout.
Aroha, who had been preparing a powerful spell, narrowly managed to escape with the help of the other warriors.
However, she seemed to have been injured in the process and remained sprawled on the ground, unable to stand.
As Makui moved to run toward Aroha, Alex grabbed his shoulder this time.
“We have no choice but to finish this quickly!”
At this point, their best option was to drive away the Kraken as quickly as possible.
Makui tried to wrench Alex’s arm away, but at that exact moment, the elders finished chanting the spell they had been preparing.
CRAAASH—!
With a tremendous roar, a brilliant bolt of lightning struck the Kraken’s tentacle, using the spear Alex had embedded there as a lightning rod.
Alex knew very well how powerful the ultimate spell cast by the elders working together could be.
He had seen a death ending at its hands more than once.
After receiving an electrifying taste of their magic, the tip of the Kraken’s tentacle was briefly paralyzed, trembling convulsively and unable to move properly.
The spear Alex had embedded there disappeared without a trace in the aftermath of the spell.
In its place was a deep crater that gushed an unidentified black liquid.
“Aim there.”
That was enough.
Only then did Alex release Makui’s shoulder.
Makui immediately charged toward the Kraken, and his spear began to shimmer.
Magical power gathered around its tip, swelling until it resembled an enormous harpoon.
[Abyssal Barrage]
Watching Makui’s attack, Alex flinched when he suddenly noticed the faintly flickering system window.
Ordinarily, the system windows Alex could see only appeared for allies or people who could potentially be recruited as allies.
For the most part, he only learned what techniques an enemy used after experiencing them firsthand.
Yet just now, Makui’s Skill had appeared before him for a moment.
“….”
Is this proof that Makui trusts me to some extent?
Alex did not know the answer, but with a tremendous crash, Makui’s spear drove into the Kraken’s tentacle.
Alex drew the sword that had already become familiar in his hand once more.
His recovered sword and the trust he had gained.
Everything was clearly proceeding according to plan.
And yet Alex could not shake the feeling that something unpleasant kept tugging at his heels.