Within the darkness of the ocean, where the cold dominated everything, Van swam freely without moving his arms or legs even once.
He used his flying ability to swim faster through the freezing depths.
Van’s black robe wasn’t touched by the salty seawater at all because an invisible space surrounded him, constantly adapting to every movement of his body.
He didn’t need to surface every few minutes just to breathe.
He could breathe freely because of that invisible space, combined with his adaptation ability, which allowed him to inhale even the smallest amount of air.
Van whistled, though only he could hear it.
His gray eyes could see through the darkness of the ocean, a darkness impossible for ordinary eyes to penetrate.
His invisible space continued to vibrate the deeper he flew toward the seabed.
The cold couldn’t be blocked by that space, causing Van to shiver several times.
His flying ability was tested more and more as the ocean’s pressure continued increasing together with unnatural currents.
Van frowned before turning toward the source of the current.
There, he saw a pod of sperm whales protecting one another against a great white shark with its jaws wide open.
Van shook his head.
"Good grief... even in a fight to the death, they’re still cursing each other?"
Van continued flying toward an even deeper layer of the ocean.
"The wild two million years ago really was dangerous... I have to be careful if I don’t want to lose my head."
"I hope you all find some common ground..."
Van resumed whistling.
He even wanted to listen to music because he still hadn’t reached his destination.
However, he gave up on the idea when he noticed something slightly strange.
A dark hole was carved into the seabed, visible even from the depth where Van currently was.
The hole was so enormous that Van could build several skyscrapers inside it.
Van gently placed his feet on the reddish seabed.
His boots felt something familiar.
The ground felt like clay.
Van began walking with deliberately heavy steps, like an astronaut on the Moon.
He continued until he reached the edge of the hole.
He carefully peeked inside.
His gray eyes narrowed as they uncovered the secret hidden within the depths of the hole.
Van swallowed.
Reflected in his gray eyes was a faint jade-green glow.
The light was bright enough for Van to see even from the edge of the hole.
"That’s... Artium."
Van slowly scanned the area surrounding the Artium.
He unconsciously clicked his tongue when he saw a graveyard of enormous sea creature skeletons.
Among that graveyard of bones, something moved with completely unpredictable motions.
Its eight tentacles writhed as it moved, while its round head swayed together with its gigantic pair of eyes.
"That’s... a giant octopus? A Kraken? Is that a Kraken?!"
Van slowly pulled himself backward.
He lay flat on the red mud.
"Good grief... am I the first modern human to see a real Kraken?"
Van slowly pushed himself forward to peek again.
His gray eyes narrowed as he saw the Kraken wrapping its tentacles around the glowing Artium.
Perhaps its mouth was even kissing the glowing surface of the Artium.
"Damn..."
Van rubbed his chin.
He let out a sigh at the bottom of the sea.
His thoughts churned despite the crushing ocean pressure that no normal human could endure.
After thinking for as long as he wanted, Van nodded several times.
"Good grief... am I about to become the first human to fish for a Kraken? I hope so..."
Van flew through the ocean once again.
This time, he flew toward the surface, trying to follow the same route even though the sea seemed endless.
He continued flying until he reached his destination, which was still beneath the ocean.
His gray eyes blinked several times as he saw two dead sperm whales.
One was being devoured, while the other had begun drifting upward with the current.
Van let out a sigh.
"What a pity... but this is what an ecosystem is."
Van created an invisible flexible block out of nothingness.
The block moved like a gigantic rope.
It wrapped itself around the body of the sperm whale that was slowly drifting toward the surface.
The invisible block covered the whale’s entire body like a mummy, except its bandages couldn’t be seen.
Van smiled faintly.
The final coil rested at the whale’s tail.
The invisible block then began extending farther and farther until, at its end, an enormous invisible hand appeared, tightly gripping it.
That hand belonged to an invisible giant that Van had created using the same power that kept his black robe dry.
Van cheered to himself beneath the sea before flying back toward the ocean floor.
This time, however, he wasn’t alone.
Behind him, a current formed even though its source couldn’t be seen.
Only Van could perceive it.
Within the invisible nothingness, the unseen giant obediently dragged the dead whale behind him.
The three of them eventually arrived at the edge of the hole where they would begin fishing.
A heavy thud echoed through the seabed even though Van tried to soften the sound.
He stood a short distance away from the invisible giant standing at the edge of the hole.
An invisible line connected them.
The line extended from the giant’s ankle, while at the other end, Van held an invisible fishing rod.
Van smiled broadly.
His heart pounded so fast that he had already prepared the camera hanging around his neck, protected from the salty seawater.
"Throw it, Big Boy!!"
After Van’s shout, which only he could hear, the invisible giant hurled the dead sperm whale into the dark hole.
The giant did it exactly like someone fishing for eels in a rice field.
Van waited patiently.
His hand clenched tightly around the invisible fishing rod.
He waited with a smile mixed with nervous anticipation.
Everything paid off when a powerful tug suddenly came through the line.
The invisible giant’s body trembled.
The giant’s invisible hand gripping the line began to be pulled forward.
Van gritted his teeth.
As the giant took a small step toward the edge of the hole, Van felt the thrilling pull that made his heart race.
"STRIKEEE!!!"
Van pulled on his invisible fishing rod with all his strength.
His stomach ached from the effort while his fishing rod bent under the immense tension.
Even the invisible giant wasn’t spared from the experience of fishing for a Kraken.
Its invisible muscles tightened as it struggled against the Kraken’s tremendous pull.
The giant was dragged forward by the Kraken’s pull.
It took one step forward and continued being dragged.
Meanwhile, Van was also swept into the tug-of-war between the two enormous beings.
His feet, planted firmly in the slippery red mud, gradually lost their grip.
He was dragged across the seabed until clouds of red mud billowed up, covering both his body and his vision.
But one thing remained visible.
His smile.
Van was dragged several meters from where he had been standing only minutes earlier.
He pushed his muscles to their limit while the invisible giant, bearing ninety-nine percent of the Kraken’s true pulling force, slowly began gaining control of the struggle.
The giant managed to pull back several times.
After an unknown amount of time, a dark cloud emerged from the hole.
It was the Kraken’s ink, released to conceal itself.
Van cursed the Kraken.
He held the invisible fishing rod with his right hand while his left hand grabbed his camera.
He snapped several pictures with the flash while continuing to curse the Kraken.
The only things captured in the photographs were Van’s veined, strained hand and the Kraken, partially hidden within its ink as it wrapped itself around something invisible.
Van then let go of the fishing rod and stored his camera away.
He shot forward at full speed toward the Kraken, which continued wrapping its tentacles around the invisible giant’s arm.
He was tiny compared to the two massive invisible figures.
But that was Van’s advantage.
He shouted to himself.
"Hold it, Big Boy!!"
Hearing Van’s command, the invisible giant embraced the Kraken.
The Kraken responded by wrapping all eight of its tentacles around the giant, while releasing even more ink to engulf them both.
Van burst into laughter.
He flew downward even faster than before.
He no longer cared that the invisible space protecting him continued trembling.
The only thing on his mind was checking the photos he had taken.
The jade-green glow reflected in Van’s gray eyes grew brighter.
It came from the massive chunk of Artium.
Van approached it.
However, his eyebrows gradually knitted together the closer he came to his first target.
He even lost interest in looking at the Kraken photos.
He simply hovered in front of the Artium.
He looked upward almost as far as his eyes could reach.
Then he looked downward almost to his limit.
Van swallowed.
"I don’t think it was this big before...?"
"Why is it the size of a hill now?!"
Van grabbed his head and bit his lip.
"If I only use my invisible space... the glow will make the Kraken chase me forever..."
Van swallowed again.
He thought for quite a while as he watched the black ink slowly sinking downward.
Van clicked his tongue.
He finally reached out and touched the Artium with his right hand, the one bearing the sunset tattoo.
"Will this work? Damn... what would it look like if a hill suddenly fell over there?"
"Wait, wait... there’s no way it’ll fall on top of the supermarket, right?"
He hesitated for a brief moment until the Kraken’s shrill cry forced him to decide.
"Yeah... the supplies are unlimited anyway. The supermarket can probably recover too, right?"
Van let out a slow breath.
An orange glow emerged from the sunset tattoo on the back of his hand.
The light swallowed the hill-sized Artium.
The same light immediately drew the Kraken’s attention above Van’s head.
After a few moments, the Artium vanished without leaving a trace.
Van smiled faintly.
Then he shot upward at full speed.
He flew toward the source of the Kraken’s cries.
His gray eyes soon found the Kraken and the invisible giant, still embracing each other.
Van slipped past them effortlessly without colliding with either of them.
He never looked back as he flew away, but he didn’t forget to thank the invisible giant before it disappeared.
Van whistled even louder as the ocean’s surface finally came into view.
He burst through it like a performing dolphin.
The difference was that he didn’t dive back into the water.
Instead, he continued soaring through the sky like a seagull that had just caught a fish in its beak.
Van flew while laughing loudly.
He was no longer surrounded by salty seawater.
Now he was surrounded by fresh air tinged with the faint scent of the sea, together with a thin mist that veiled the sunlight.
Van inhaled the fresh air before hurriedly pinching the air to summon his camera.
He looked through the various photos of the Kraken he had just fished up.
Van chuckled freely as he floated in the sky.
"Hehehe... good grief, it actually came out pretty well."
Van nodded several times.
"I just need to edit in a fishing rod, and I’ll become the first person to fish for a Kraken. Hahaha."
Van’s laughter echoed through the misty sky.
He laughed loudly together with the sound of creaking wood.
Van blinked several times.
His ears twitched, as if searching for confirmation.
His eyes and neck turned from side to side through the sea of mist above the ocean.
Van even looked down, hoping to see a wooden ship passing below.
But only silence accompanied the creaking wood.
His heart began to pound.
"Is that what the old man meant by ’them’?"
Van looked around again and again.
He even began creating an invisible space around himself like a cocoon while slowly flying away.
"Good grief... this is only the first day, and the very first target... don’t tell me I have to fight already."
Van accelerated, putting more distance between himself and the sound of the creaking wood.
"I’d better find land first... besides, it could just be the sound of a giant stork."
A shiver ran through Van’s body as he imagined it.
Meanwhile, far behind Van, within the mist-filled sky he had already left behind...
...the hull of a wooden ship slowly descended from the sky.