Abyssal Kraken Subjugation Battle (1)

Abyssal Kraken.

A named monster that appears through specific events in the vast Lake of Knowledge surrounding the Island of Knowledge.

The moment I saw its enormous body-more precisely, its blue, colossal tentacled grasp covered in squid suckers-I immediately realized it had appeared.

Of course, I hadn’t yet figured out why this boss monster had suddenly popped out now, out of nowhere.

‘Why is that bastard showing up now?!’

In terms of the story, there were largely two ways to encounter the Abyssal Kraken.

The first was to participate in the episode where Del Rondo Prime, the former dean of Luminor Academy, is attacked by the Abyssal Kraken at the lakeside, and then defeat it.

The second was to visit the lake with a party character who met a ‘specific condition’ before that event occurred, forcibly summon it, and then defeat it as well.

And as far as I knew, there were only a few party characters in the Academy who met that ‘specific condition,’ including Agnes.

That was because the minimum requirement to summon it was to enter the lake with a character whose ‘maximum mana’ exceeded 2000.

‘Agnes isn’t here, nor is Orion or Lara, so why is that thing suddenly….’

No matter how quickly Ethan had grown, his maximum mana couldn’t possibly exceed 2000.

And there didn’t seem to be any other boats passing by. Besides Ethan, there was only me here, at most….

‘……Ah.’

It was only then, as that thought crossed my mind, that I realized what a mistake I had made.

Along with the true nature of that subtle sense of crisis that had run down my spine the moment I entered the lake in the boat.

‘Fuck, my maximum mana is over 2000 now too.’

To be precise, it was 2460. In terms of maximum mana alone, I was practically a walking mana tank, comparable to Agnes.

My complacency, which I had only just realized, made me want to smack myself on the head.

Of course, at that moment, just holding onto the deck of the small boat, which was swaying with the waves, was difficult enough, so I had no spare hands for such a thing.

“Li-Lilith!”

“Calm down, Ethan! First, get your sword!”

“Ah, alright!”

Ethan’s sword, a luxury item even engraved with the Blackwood crest, remained stubbornly in its scabbard amidst the chaos.

That was a relief, at least. There was no chance of him becoming food for the water spirits without doing anything.

My mind, which had been thrown into confusion by Ethan’s confession, instantly calmed down the moment a real life-threatening crisis appeared.

Forget about answering the confession; for now, the priority was somehow dealing with this monster right in front of us.

As much as I wanted to, fleeing was the best option, but there was no way to escape while dodging the attacks of that colossal arm slamming down on the water.

It seemed that even if it meant pushing ourselves, we couldn’t avoid a fight with it.

‘This isn’t good….’

To exploit its weakness, the protagonist and Agnes combination was the most excellent, you see.

The most standard Kraken strategy I knew involved deflecting the numerous tentacles rushing to engulf the boat with the protagonist’s swordsmanship and then dealing damage with Agnes’s Fire Magic.

I had, of course, never tried to defeat the Kraken with an Ethan and Lilith combination. Not only did the summoning conditions not match, but Ethan wasn’t even a playable character to begin with.

Even for the protagonist character, it was a foe that could only barely be defended against once they reached around their second year at the Academy.

Although the current Ethan was strong enough to be compared to the protagonist, whether he could deflect those massive tentacles… I couldn’t be sure.

The redeeming qualities Ethan had over the protagonist were his slightly superior mobility and his ability to use more variable attacks with his twin swords.

If Lilith’s Support Magic was added to that, it might be possible to make them capable of fighting it somehow.

After all, even that ‘Bad Ending’ Ethan was excellent in his coordination with Lilith. The current Ethan would likely have even better synergy with Lilith.

And fortunately, Lilith also had a skill that could be utilized in this aquatic battle.

『Water Walking: For a certain period, the target character can walk on water.』

Although it was a skill that consumed 4 points despite being a regular skill, as it was the second stage of a Support skill, there was no reason to hesitate.

Only the protagonist and Agnes combination could fight while riding such a small boat; Ethan and I, however, had our own suitable fighting style.

『Remaining Skill Points: 9 → 5』

After spending the saved Skill Points without hesitation, I cast it on Ethan and myself respectively.

The moment I confirmed that a thin mana barrier had formed around his body and mine, I shouted to Ethan.

“Abandon the boat, Ethan!”

“What?! You don’t mean we’re swimming to escape?!”

“It’s not like that! Just trust me and jump onto the water! Quickly!!”

Ethan, once again, showed a slightly suspicious reaction, as if he couldn’t entirely believe my words.

Nevertheless, Ethan threw himself onto the lake’s surface, following my command to jump off the small boat.

-Splash!

“Uh, ugh?!”

“It’s Water Walking! As long as my mana lasts, you can stay….”

-CRUNCH!!

“Ugyaaaah?!”

“Lilith!!”

The moment I jumped off the boat, a beat too late, one of the tentacles slammed directly onto the small boat Ethan and I had been riding.

The thought that if I had remained there, my body would now be stuck somewhere on those suckers, instantly made my mind go blank.

It was truly a life-or-death battle, a situation where I couldn’t relax for even a moment.

-Splash!

“Ha, haaaah….”

Fortunately, Water Walking was also cast on me, so my body didn’t fall into the lake even after losing my balance.

What a huge relief. I can’t swim, after all.

There was no way I could swim with such large breasts, something I couldn’t even do in my previous life. Without Water Walking, I would surely sink.

With that thought, I roughly shook off my slightly wet clothes and stood up.

In any case, to survive, we needed to either definitively defeat it or at least inflict enough damage to prevent it from chasing us.

“Lilith, are you okay?!”

“…Just focus on the battle, Ethan! Is this really the time to be worrying about me?!”

“Ah, alright!”

Hearing my words, Ethan hastily drew his twin swords from both sides of his waist.

His gaze, directed at the Abyssal Kraken, burned intensely.

-Whoosh!

“It’s coming, Lilith!”

“I’m watching it too… wha, what?!”

A tentacle swung diagonally from the upper right, aiming for Ethan and my position.

Ethan, fearless, stood facing that Kraken’s tentacle, twin swords in hand.

Startled, I instantly deactivated Water Walking, causing Ethan’s body to plunge into the water.

-Plop!

“Uphh?!”

-WHOOSH!!

The moment the Water Walking effect vanished, Ethan plunged straight into the water, and the tentacle grazed precariously over him.

If my judgment had been even a little slower, Ethan would have been flattened like a fly by that hand.

Honestly, why does he always do things to scare people?

I recast Water Walking on Ethan’s body, which had momentarily sunk and was flailing in the water, and simultaneously, his body floated back to the surface.

“Puff, Li-Lilith?!”

“The Kraken’s tentacles are tough. Ethan probably can’t cut through them with his current swordsmanship.”

“B-But Father cut through the Imperial Capital’s city walls with his sword….”

“There’s no way Ethan’s level is the same as that monstrous human’s! At least distinguish between what you can and cannot do!”

“Ah, alright…! I won’t be greedy!”

It wasn’t that Ethan’s swordsmanship was particularly lacking. It was just that his dad was an absurd monster.

And even Gyeotmwa Jyosyegigot, as he is now, probably couldn’t cut through those thick tentacles with his strength alone; deflecting them would be his limit.

The problem was that with that fighting style, a combination of me and Ethan couldn’t defeat the Kraken.

Unlike Agnes, who could accumulate damage by using small spells multiple times, I only had one offensive spell that could properly affect that colossal monster.

‘I need to buy time to use Mana Blast, somehow.’

The casting time for Mana Blast was 10 seconds.

And standing before something like the Abyssal Kraken and doing nothing for 10 seconds was no different from saying you wanted to quickly give up on life.

However, Ethan’s sword would only be able to scratch the main body of that colossal monster.

More importantly, his range was far too short. Ethan was still a swordsman who hadn’t even reached the level of a Sword Expert, so releasing a sword aura with full power was impossible for him.

In the end, whether I liked it or not, the most viable method was entirely my Mana Blast.

Ethan’s role in this situation was to buy time until my magic was complete.

Asking Ethan, who found it difficult even to deflect the incoming tentacles, to defend for a full 10 seconds wouldn’t be easy, but I had a plan for that.

I almost completely emptied my remaining Skill Points to acquire another Support skill.

『Sharp Blade: Increases the power of attacks using a sword.』

『Remaining Skill Points: 5 → 1』

Now, I had no points left to acquire other skills.

If this didn’t work, well, I’d just have to accept it as fate.

With that thought, I cast the newly acquired Support Magic, ‘Sharp Blade,’ on Ethan.

Immediately, another tentacle came flying towards Ethan and me, ready to test the performance of the Support Magic.

“Ethan! I cast Support Magic! This time, cut it with all your might!”

“Uwaaaaaah!!!”

Ethan swung his two twin swords, held in a cross shape, with all his might towards the incoming tentacle.

His sword sliced into the massive fleshy tentacle that approached him, digging in.

The blade, just over a meter long, transformed into a colossal streak of sword aura, cleanly severing the Abyssal Kraken’s tentacle.

-Chwaaaak!

‘Mwoooooooh!!!’

Clearly, it had worked.