Chapter 79 - Is This Really Happening Again? (3)
It possessed a pitch black body, and its terrifying eyes looked on in an arrogant manner. The thing that stood out the most was the size of its body. It was no wonder why this temple was so large. If the humans that were defending against the Lunatic Wave saw this monster, they would have quickly given up on any prospects of living.
[Ancient Kraken]
[Level : 291]
[One of the beast born from the ancient primal source of chaos. After being sealed for countless years, it has been severely weakened.]
"Mmmmm. So it is already in a weakened state."
Artpe faced the enormous Kraken as he solemnly nodded his head. Its single leg could probably crush the h.e.l.lfire Sentinel. If this opponent hadn"t been in a weakened state, his party wouldn"t have stood a chance. It was a fortunate turn of events.
[Nyaa, nyaah!]
"Hey, I already know that."
Roa salivated whenever she discovered any source of demonic gene or negative energy. She always wanted to attack her preys immediately. However, she was stuck to Artpe"s arm in fear. She knew that she would be killed if she took a wrong blow from the monster.
She had decreased the level gap compared to the previous Kraken, but this Kraken held an overwhelming advantage in magical energy and strength.
"However, this is a bit…. Ah, I see how it is. I had a hunch that it might turn out like this."
When the Ancient Kraken was mobilized, he was able to see the heart of the ancient temple, which had been surrounded by darkness until this moment. Everything was revealed in front of his eyes. Artpe"s sharp eyes caught sight of the "altar" located at the corner of the temple. In a single moment, he was caught up to everything.
However, Artpe wasn"t able to leisurely observe the temple as long as he wanted.
[Koo-ohhhhhhhhhhhh!]
"Koohk!?"
He wondered if the vibration around the Ancient Kraken would continue indefinitely. However, in the next moment, water and Mana coalesced into several dozen strands. The magic spell shot towards Artpe"s party like lasers. Artpe quickly formed his Holy Barriers to block the attack. Of course, the Holy Barriers were pulverized.
"Artpe, do we have to call back the red lady again!?"
Even if Artpe put the Blink Boots back on her, Maetel didn"t have the courage to fight this monster head on. So she desperately called out after him.
Artpe stacked several dozen Holy Barriers at once, and he was able to stop the lasers. He shouted back some unexpected words.
"I feel like we can win against it!"
"What!? How?"
"I want you guys to turn around and run towards the entrance of the temple! I want you to draw its attention!"
"It feels as if you are throwing us out there as sacrifices. I"m wrong, right!?"
Even as Maetel tried to undercut Artpe"s orders with her words, she obediently turned around. She grabbed ahold of Sienna, who couldn"t run as fast as her. Then she used Acceleration to run away with Sienna in tow!
Several strands of water tried to chase after her, but Artpe blocked them with the several dozen Holy Barriers he had created. The attack was in vain. This made the Kraken lose interest in chasing after Maetel. Instead, it started to head towards Artpe!
"Maetel, provoke it!"
"Ooh-ee-sheeng!"
At Artpe"s firm instructions, Maetel had no choice but to provoke the Ancient Kraken. Maetel was sharing Mana with Sienna. She put all of Sienna"s Mana into her long sword to amplify its power. Then she shot out her sword beam!
[Koo-goo-ohhhhhhhhng!]
No matter how high its level was or how long it had lived, the Ancient Kraken was weak against the Mana of an Evil Reflector. The Ancient Kraken didn"t have the time to avoid the attack, so it took the beam head on. Cross-popping veins arose from the black body.
It probably suffered very little pain from the attack when one considered the size of its body. However, its eight tentacles twitched, and an incredible amount of water was sent towards the girls. It flew like a bullet!
[Koo-ahhhhhhhhng!]
"Kyaaah. It is effective."
"Artpe, I hate you! I"m going to kiss you later!"
Its body was ma.s.sive, so everyone had a.s.sumed it would be a bit slow in speed. However, it started charging forward as if it would break everything that got in its way. It didn"t care if it destroyed the temple. Maetel was taken aback. She desperately activated Acceleration to start running away.
"Divine Punishment! Divine Punishment! Divine Punishment! Divine Punishment!"
[Koo-ahhhhhhhhh!]
Sienna was being carried like a sack by Maetel. She extended one hand backwards, and she continuously used her Divine Punishment skill. She was trying to slow down the monster, but her attacks only made the monster angrier. There was no doubt that her attacks were a great way to provoke the Ancient Kraken.
[Goo-wahhhhhhhh!]
"You guys are doing great! Maetel and Sienna fighting!"
"Hate you! I hate you!"
The Ancient Kraken ceaselessly sent streams of water towards them, while it rushed through the temple at ridiculous speed. Maetel was desperately activating her Acceleration skill. They were returning at a speed 100 times faster than the speed at which they explored the temple.
"This will burden their bodies, but······ If we kill it, a level up is a guarantee. Please suffer a little bit more, Maetel."
Artpe hid himself. He waited until the Kraken was completely out of sight. He took in a deep breath as he opened his eyes. His vision was filled with the altar, which he had observed once before.
There was one book bound in red leather and another bound in blue leather placed atop the altar. It was a familiar sight.
"Sunbae-nim, you also came here?"1
[Nyaah?]
He knew heroes were busy bodies, but he never expected one to leave behind his trace in such a place…... No. In truth, he had an inkling of an idea that this might be the case when he entered the mermaid kingdom of Anaid.
It was said that Anaid was constructed couple hundred years ago.
It was unfortunate that he couldn"t pinpoint the exact era. However, it was several hundred years ago, so it was an era that had nothing to do with the current hero or the Demon King. It was when the legends of the prior generation or the one before that had lived. This was why he hadn"t ruled out the possibility that the previous generation"s hero had visited this place. Moreover, this sunbae-nim had was proficient in magic to tie an entire Dungeon with the Record Link. If it was this sunbae-nim, he would have been able break the common sense and the Record regarding the merfolk of the Anaid Kingdom. He tied all the merfolk together. This would have made it possible for the merfolk to create the Road of Mermaids. His suspicion had deepened over time.
Now he had found the altar, and his suspicion had been confirmed.
"That"s right. The merfolk couldn"t have made such amazing magic by themselves.."
Artpe let out a sigh as he approached the altar. As expected, there were words related to the ancient temple. It was the heroic tale left behind by his sunbae-nim.
"I couldn"t handle the Ancient Kraken, so I drove it into this place. Then I sealed it. The merfolk that were born close to the source of the chaos were used as mediums to tie down the Ancient Kraken. This seal will remain unbroken for several thousand years at the very least. The seal was placed using merfolk possessing demonic energy. If merfolk with demonic properties show up once again in the outside ocean, I cannot guarantee what will happen to this seal······."
Stop it. Please don"t tell me that the Demons plotted all of this with this in mind!
He wished fervently that the Demon King"s army wasn"t this smart. However, no matter how much he thought about it he came to the conclusion that the Demons had known about the condition that would unseal the ancient temple. Artpe could only sigh.
"They came up with a perfect plan, and they carried it out meticulously. The only variable that could have turned the table was us!"
Conversely, the Demon King"s army had set up such a meticulous plan, yet his party had been able to solve everything. This fact made him feel annoyed! In truth, Maetel and he had f.u.c.ked over all plans carried out by the Demon King"s army! He even foiled plans that were only suspected of having Demon involvement.
Artpe really didn"t want to become the main character,yet the events around him kept twisting to push him into the spotlight! For what reason! Why! At this rate, this would negatively impact his plan of living a peaceful life as a dairy farmer in his old age!
I reincarnated for nothing!
[Nyaah-ah.]
"All right. I"ll calm down."
Artpe scratched the back of Roa"s neck as he regained his sense of calm. He continued to read the words carved into the altar.
"If you are reading these words, it means the seal has been broken, and you have killed the Kraken. I give my thanks to you. As a reward, I prepared a Unique Skill Book and a Spell Book, which responds to your Cla.s.s. I hope these items will be of help to you. If the one to kill the Kraken was a hero, you did well my junior. You"ve already visited my grave, right? This Skill Book and Spell book will strengthen the Unique Skill and Spell you have already learned."
[Nyaaaaaa.]
Artpe had no idea how he pulled it off, but his sunbae had embedded two functions into a single Skill Book.
The first function was like the Cultivation Dungeon they had visited. The content of the Skill Book was determined once one learned it. The second function was a contingency plan where it would strengthen the skill and spell one had learned within Cultivation Dungeon. Since Maetel and Artpe had learned the requisite skills from the Cultivation Dungeon, their skills were qualified to be strengthened.
"He expected the younger generation hero to have found his grave first. His att.i.tude is very shameless…...."
They actually went there, so it couldn"t be helped. Moreover, he had no idea what method was used to create such a Skill Book and Spell Book. He was baffled.
"However, the important point right now isn"t the fact that the sunbae had established the Anaid Kingdom and the Road of Mermaid. The fact that he had sealed the Kraken within the temple, and the preparation of the Skill Book and the Spell Book isn"t important either."
The most important phrase was written elsewhere.
This was it.
[The altar will fall once the Skill Book and Spell Book is learned. If the altar falls, the temple falls. Be careful when you escape this place. If you are my junior, you already know this fact since you"ve already visited my grave!]
"That b.a.s.t.a.r.d did the same thing here again!"
[Nyaa?]
This sunbae b.a.s.t.a.r.d didn"t provide any answers, yet he was trying to bury his juniors alive after letting them learn the skills! He had an inkling that this would turn out like this, and he had been right!
Still, he was looking forward to this. When he destroyed the temple, he"ll find a way to defeat the Kraken. The odds were still slim. When he discovered the altar, he had hopes that something would happen if he destroyed it.
"The problem right now is the fact that we haven"t defeated the Kraken yet. We can"t learn the Skill or Spell yet."
Artpe focused his attention on the words left behind by his sunbae. If he learned the Skill and Spell, the altar would fall. Then the temple would fall. The normal order was to learn the Skill and Spell to trigger the destruction of the altar…...
"If the altar falls first, will the temple follow?"
[Nyaaaa······.]
Roa cried as if she found him to be hopeless. Artpe ignored her as he opened his Dimensional Pouch. He took the Skill Book and Spell Book! The Skill Book and Spell Book couldn"t be taken separately, but he was using the Dimensional Pouch. It was possible to suck in both items through the suction created by the Dimensional Pouch!
"It worked!"
[Nyaaaaaaaa!]
This in turn caused the destruction of the altar. The altar had been controlling the flow of Mana within the temple. It caused the Mana to flood in an uncontrolled manner, and it started the collapse. It started to cause destructive fissures in the surrounding! As expected, the prior hero was great at weaving magic, yet he was idiotic about setting the crucial details!
Artpe had yelled out in delight, but he was in a tight spot. The enormous temple was crashing down on itself, and the large fragments were falling towards Artpe"s head. He had used a similar attack on a Kraken before, and now he was in a position of suffering a similar fate!
"Hoo······ Let"s head out, Roa."
[Nyaah-ah······.]
Roa grumbled that she would have gone with the unnis if she knew things would turn out like this. He ignored her cries. He firmly held onto the Dimensional Pouch, which held the precious Skill Book and Spell Book. He turned around, and he activated the ability of his Blink Boots.
"Let"s go!"
[Nyaa nyaahhhhhht!]
If he could see a location, he could travel there with a companion using the Artifact. After Reinforcing it three times, Artpe could activate Blink as long as he had Mana left. If he didn"t have this boots, he wouldn"t have invited trouble like this.
[Nyaaaaa! Nyaah-aht, nyaah!]
"It"s all right. If I hadn"t destroyed this, we would have died here anyways!"
As expected of an ex-Four Heavenly King, he lived a life that was closely connected with death. He prayed that Maetel and Sienna, who had gone ahead of him, didn"t get hit by the fragments from the temple. He activated his Blink ability.
He was able to predict the trajectory of the fragments using his Read All Creation ability. He Blinked into safe s.p.a.ces! None of the fragments were able to hit him as it destroyed the ocean floor.
[Koo-wahhhhhhhhhhng!]
He heard a roar in the distance. It seemed a large fragment had hit the Kraken. It made Artpe laugh. All right. The true boss fight would start from this point on!
"Artpe, I hate youuuuuu! I"ll do something worse than kissing you!"
"······."
[Nyaah-ah.]
"Shut up. Don"t make any predictions."
Suddenly, he felt a little bit afraid of going forward. However, he had no choice. Artpe thought about getting purposefully hit by a fragment, so he could use it as an excuse. As he seriously mulled this idea over, he activated Blink again.