Ch.405405 – Great Monster of the Deep Sea

<405 – Deep Sea Leviathan>

Professor El Draco’s facial muscles twitched at the <Voice Transmission> magic coming from beyond the arrogant upperclassmen.

[I have justification on my side. Turn a blind eye. Otherwise, your position will become very difficult.]

Professor Redmountain.

Once the master of the Thousand Spirit Mountain Range that controlled the boundary between east and west.

A warning from the ancient great fox spirit carried significant weight.

“To think a mountain beast dares insult me. Do you wish to have the reputation of the Great Pirate carved into that meager chest of yours?”

If she was a great fox spirit, then he was a great pirate.

El Draco was confident that if he committed himself, he wouldn’t easily lose to Professor Redmountain who had lost her prime strength.

[The Principal placed a <Restriction> on you. My fox eyes can see its true nature. Do not lose any students. For each life lost, you will lose one-tenth of your total power.]

“!!”

[If you’re determined to cross the line… who has more to lose?]

A pirate is not a man of injustice.

If there’s much to lose, he can cut his losses without hesitation.

Treasure, subordinates, even his ship.

Men who couldn’t abandon things all died.

Only the most cowardly men survived as rogue pirates or rebuilt their pirate crews from nothing, rebuilding their infamy.

“Kuh. Kuhuhuhuh!”

Those who have lost much understand.

Whether the loss is irreversible, if there’s strength to rise again, how much must be lost before something new can exist.

“Mountain beast. You know nothing.”

[About your ugly struggling?]

El Draco showed anger at being hit where it hurt, but it was merely <Deception> and <Acting> to fool Redmountain.

It was not genuine defeat or frustration.

As his adjutant had said, his domain encompassed the entire fleet’s vast range.

‘Once they boarded my ship, nothing can deceive my eyes.’

He already knew.

What tremendous bomb was inside the box Oknodie had brought.

A baby kraken.

The moment it touches water, its mother will surface.

The deep sea leviathan kraken itself, which no seafarer could fail to recognize.

‘The mountain beast must have detected the magical reaction too.’

But she was a being from the mountains.

She couldn’t understand the maternal instinct of the great kraken.

That was where the difference lay.

“Place a mutual restriction. Then I promise silence.”

[Good. Now you’re being reasonable. You need an excuse to give the Principal, after all.]

━━━

Neither shall harm students, and Professor Redmountain shall compensate for all damages arising from students who die or suffer fatal injuries.

However, this restriction becomes void if Professor El Draco or his subordinates are involved.

This restriction is certified under the name of the God of Contracts, and those who fail to fulfill the contract swear to be forcibly collected by the god.

━━

The moment the contract was formed, victory was decided.

Not for Professor Redmountain, but for Professor El Draco.

[Ultra-massive domain expansion!? What is this reaction!!]

“What else? It’s the sound of your debt piling up like a mountain.”

Now all casualties in this sea area must be borne by Redmountain.

Of course, there will be no harm to first-years.

Because the one who summoned it is the first-year Oknodie.

* * *

The third-years were bewildered.

While the second-years were distracting attention, they would perform a summoning ritual to call forth a monster that would wreck the ship.

That was the original plan, but as they cast <Underwater Breathing> magic and performed magic underwater, they were assaulted by an enormously ferocious energy.

“Wh-what!”

“What’s coming!?”

“Is it really okay to continue with the summoning ritual? Didn’t the seniors do something?!”

The mana-sensing ability that opens up with higher levels of mana arts was fiercely warning them.

That they should flee immediately.

That an unmanageable massive threat was approaching.

“Let’s break the summoning!”

“We need to survive first!”

It was an attitude that Great Pirate El Draco would have praised as excellent pirate mindset, but their situation differed from the first-years.

The first-years were still on the collapsing ship.

The third-years had entered the water to perform the summoning ritual.

“M-my body won’t listen!”

“What is this? What’s happening to us?!”

“Use Search Eye!”

Search Eye.

The Search Eye, which discerns all magical phenomena with the eyes, revealed the true nature of the status ailment binding the third-years.

“Fear?!”

“The seabed just trembled. How could so many people be afflicted with fear from a single tremor!?”

“This is the kind of phenomenon you’d experience from the area-of-effect Fear emitted by World Monsters.”

A World Monster was beyond third-years and even something exceptional fourth-years might take on as a graduation project.

Even then, the focus would be on repelling rather than subjugating it.

The owner of this Fear was now moving in the sea.

“Release the power going into the summoning circle now!!”

Sarpedon, the head teaching assistant leading the third-year assistants who had lost their summons.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, he shouted urgently, but no student withdrew the mana they were feeding into the summoning circle.

“I-I can’t stop!!”

“My body won’t obey my control!!”

“Aaaah, please make it stop!!!”

Fear swept over them.

A fear different from the instinctive terror felt physically toward a giant creature—a fear that felt all the more real because they clearly recognized it with their brilliant minds.

<Mana Puzzle – Water Attribute>

It’s natural to sense water attribute mana puzzles in the sea.

However, the water mana puzzle now felt from the summoning circle had a different <weight>.

Like encountering dense mana forged under pressure in the deep sea.

“Oh no, we’ve been tricked!!”

The culprit behind the fear, the deep sea leviathan, had already noticed early on.

That a summoning ritual was being performed here.

And that it could use this to its advantage.

<Technique Modification>

<Magic Circle Transformation>

<Summoning Ritual Interference>

The summoning ritual meant to call forth a predetermined summon according to the summoner’s will was being dominated by mana emitted by a vastly superior being, forcibly transforming its structure.

Into a gate for a leviathan summoning ritual that could bring the deep sea monster here immediately, even faster than its physical body could surface!

<Forced Summoning>

“Arggghhhh!!”

<Meridian Damage>

<Acupoint Destruction>

“Release all magical tools. If you don’t reduce maintenance mana, you’ll die from mana depletion!!”

Though they couldn’t stop the ritual due to the magic forcing the summoning, they could throw away the magical tools and artifacts in their possession without interfering with the ritual.

Each one was worth a fortune, but not more precious than life.

The third-years, in terrible pain from dried-up mana, tearfully and urgently discarded their magical tools.

<Mana Rod Damage>

<Mana Heart Overload>

The mana rods throughout their bodies screamed and their mana hearts throbbed as if about to burst from the manifestation of a being too enormous for third-years to handle.

‘Bad luck, but it could be worse.’

Sarpedon realized.

It was only because it was a group ritual with everyone combining their power to summon a common target, and because they were underwater with abundant water attribute mana.

If the ritual had been performed alone or not in the sea, they would have coughed blood and died the moment they were subjected to the forced summoning ritual.

However, having abundant mana alone couldn’t compare to the advanced class talents who cultivated themselves with proper training methods and accumulated pure mana, the monsters of the magic department.

The stronger ones might have endured this ritual to the end, but their mana, accumulated through shortcuts, could neither protect their bodies from external erosion nor resist, only being forcibly dragged along.

Relief quickly turned to despair.

‘It was all futile. Both relying on magical tools and the collective power gathered to avoid being robbed—all meaningless before overwhelming violence!’

The faces of the students he made eye contact with showed despair beyond the pain transmitted from their acupoints.

‘Who on earth summoned such a monster! Was it the Great Pirate El Draco? Was the legend true that infamous great pirates can command the deep sea leviathan kraken?’

A pirate crew that commands monsters, as told in seafarers’ legends.

There would be no pirate crew more terrifying in the world.

It was entirely possible for the great pirate whom Dragon Principal personally kidnapped to be a professor.

‘Redmountain Professor was supposed to prevent this from happening, but this is different from what was promised!!’

Though indignant and furious, there was nothing he could do.

The deed was already done.

To at least preserve his life, Sarpedon gritted his teeth and projected his will into the summoning circle, wringing out his meager talent to the last drop.

-You are too vast for us to handle.

-Even if our bodies are squeezed into a handful of blood, we cannot summon your true form!

He raised his voice against the enormous will that was too terrifying to face directly.

The consequence of this reckless act was that the immense spiritual pressure focused entirely on Sarpedon.

“Kuhak!!!”

His mana heart cracked just from bearing alone the pressure that all third-years had been sharing.

Half of his circuits collapsed, and life force was forcibly extracted instead of mana.

But his attempt wasn’t in vain.

[I’ll settle for one leg.]

The energy of the massive true form trying to break through the summoning circle diminished greatly, reducing the burden on their bodies.

Not the main body, but just one tentacle—only one leg of the deep sea leviathan emerged through the summoning circle.

<Summoning Ritual Successful>

<Tentacle of the Deep Sea Leviathan Kraken>

The tentacle, which had rendered the third-years powerless with mana exhaustion and energy depletion upon summoning, raised its massive leg above the water’s surface.

The leg, casting a shadow under the sky and causing huge waves, was a full 100 meters long.

Professor Redmountain’s face turned pale as she realized that the enormous disaster that would occur when that leg struck the water surface would all be her responsibility.