Chapter 63 – Kraken (4)

When the Kraken collided with the barrier wall, hellfire came into existence.  It shot out as if was about to burn the whole world.  The hellfire burned as it crawled all over the body of the Kraken. It was a flame from a bygone era where humans of this world weren’t able to face it.

[Koo-ahhhhhhhk!  Koo-ahhhhhhhh!]

The flame ruthlessly pierced through the Kraken’s thick skin as it started to burn flesh, blood and innards.  The murderous hellfire was trying to roast it alive.  The Kraken lost all of its reason as it went berserk.

[Kee-ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!]

As its struggles became fiercer, the barrier wall responded with more flames.  It was unforgiving towards the attacker.  The flames flooded forth, and it encircled the Kraken’s entire body.

It was as if the flame had a will of its own.  It was as if the flame was punishing the monster that had invaded the human territory.

“My god······.”

“If that really was created through the magician’s power…..”

“I have to concede the fact that 500 Magic Stones was worth investing in this barrier wall!”

There were enough monsters here to easily wipe out a single country, yet their charge was being blocked by a single wall.  Of course, the barrier wall was Reinforced with fire, and it worked in concert with the vibration.  The boiling ocean and churning the waters inflicted continuous damage to the monsters.  The Kraken was also taking continuous damage.  It  couldn’t be compared to the damage inflicted on it by Maetel and Sienna.

[Kee-heeeeee!]

[W…we have to run away!]

The other monsters were swept up in the Kraken’s rampage, and they were dying before they could even put up a fight.  The vibration and heat emitted by the barrier wall couldn’t be overcome by monsters under level 200.  All the monsters in the vicinity of the Kraken died by being swept up in the Kraken’s rampage.

“Mmmm?”

Several dozen monsters were being killed each second.  This was the consequence for being near the mighty fight between the Kraken and the barrier wall.  Artpe was looking at these monsters when he suddenly realized something.  The Record and EXP of the dead monsters were being sucked into him.

‘Is it because I was acknowledged as the owner of the barrier wall······?’

He had talked about transferring the ownership of the barrier wall to Mycenae, but this was a human matter.  The wall wouldn’t care about trade since Artpe had Reinforced the wall.

‘In my past life, I’ve never benefited from using this type of Artifacts so I had no idea…..   However, I can feel it right now.  There is a firm connection between me and the Hellfire Sentinel.’

The Mana String connecting the wall to Etna was severed long ago.  Currently, the supersized artifact was solely under the jurisdiction of Artpe.

Moreover, the number of monsters killed by the heat and vibration emitted by the barrier wall would soon reach 10 thousand.  Many of these monsters were well below level 100, but at this number, Artpe’s level would rise.

‘Maybe I should just live up here until the Lunatic Wave ends.’

His level was increasing even as he did nothing.  The experience was so sweet that he was having thoughts that were slightly off.  However, Artpe quickly gave up on the idea he was having.

A single level rose from the death of 10,000 monsters.  By the time he reached level 200, he would barely be able to raise a single level even if he could gather all the monsters of the ocean to crash against the barrier wall.

[Koo-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!]

“T…the Kraken is continuing its attack.”

“Everyone get down from the barrier wall!  It will overtake us soon!”

“That monster!”

The Kraken’s thrashing was becoming more severe.  The Kraken suffered excruciating pain and burns on each attack, but it didn’t back down.  Either its body would fail or the barrier would fall.  The choice was binary.  It wouldn’t stop until the end.

“Ah, Artpe-nim.  Are you really sure the wall can stop it?”

“Absolutely.”

He had completed this wall with the help of Etna, so this wall wouldn’t fall.  The Kraken was probably aware of this fact, yet it didn’t stop.

Why was this?

Was the Kraken normally this stupid?

That couldn’t be it.  The Kraken had gained a good amount of intelligence over the years.  The wall wasn’t something that could be easily overcome.  It should have retreated after one or two attacks.  The Kraken was supposed to be a sensible monster.  It should have put its own survival over all else.

So why was it acting like this?  Its body was so large that he couldn’t find the answer initially.  However, his Read All Creation was bringing in bits and pieces of information in real time.  In the end, he found his answer.

[Kraken]

[Level : 267]

[Irregular Status:  It is spellbound by the curse of Madness.]

The curse of Madness had been placed on the Kraken.

[Koo-haaaaaaa!]

[We follow the Kraken!]

[W…we’ll follow it.  We’ll destroy the wall!]

There were a good number of monsters inflicted by this curse.  They knew their deaths were assured, yet they rabidly crashed into the wall.  The monsters met their promised deaths.  The sight reminded him of what happened within the auction house not too long ago.  He had fought against Demons that weren’t of sound mind.  He now knew who had placed the curse on the Kraken and the monsters.  The answer was quite obvious.

When the Demons activated the cursed magic circle within the city, the magic must have traveled towards the monsters of the ocean to trigger a similar magic.

They weren’t just trying to induce a Lunatic Wave.  The Demon King’s army had decided to bury Diaz.  The plan was meticulous, and it had been well executed.

If Artpe hadn’t been here, it would have been a horrible massacre.  The thought made him shudder.

“The Demon King’s army is moving for real now…..”

The artifacts related to the curse, the magic spell that was activated within Frate and the Lunatic Wave meshed together in an intricate manner to create this situation.  No matter how he thought about it, something was definitely off about the chef!  The Demon King’s army didn’t move in this style!

It seemed the information he gained from Etna was lacking.  He let out a sigh as he had this thought.

Everyone was still looking at him.

“What? You should all go do your assigned tasks.  Why are you all standing around like this?”

He was taken aback at their unexpectedly undivided attention.  He tilted his head in puzzlement.  When they saw this, Mycenae acted as the representative for the group.  She asked him a question.  The light in her eyes was truly earnest.

“Artpe-nim, how long do we have to hold out like this?”

“I’m not sure.  I guess we’ll do this until their madness end, and they get tired.”

“Can’t you kill it….?  As it stands, the people will continue to live in fear.”

“Ajumma, can you truly ask me in good conscience as to whether I can kill it when you look at the size of that bastard?”

An extra large monster of Kraken’s caliber had significant amount of recuperative powers.  It was no joke.

He had pooled together everyone’s power to create this barrier wall, but it only had the power to deter the Kraken.  Over half of the damage received from the wall was recovered through its natural recuperative powers.  It would probably take one or two month for it to die.  Even that timeline was overly optimistic.

“That is why we have to give up on the idea of killin……”

“Magician, we have to kill that Kraken.”

Someone interrupted Artpe’s words.  He looked towards the noble.  This particular noble was someone that held a lot sway amongst the foreign nobles.  If Artpe had to guess, he probably was a count or a duke.

“At this rate, we will have no excuse we can give to our respective countries.  Just my country alone lost around 100 Magic Stones.  At such a cost, we can only expect to hold out and hope for the Kraken to turn back?  Of course, I am well aware that our survival itself is a miracle, but you have to think about what our respective countries will think.”

“So what you are saying right now is….   You need some result that would justify the use of the Magic Stones?”

“As expected of a magician, you are wise.   You hit the nail on the head.”

The noble let out a bitter laugh.  Since they had already surrendered the Magic Stones, they needed a result that matched what they spent.  It was a valid line of reasoning, so Artpe heard the noble’s case.

However, that’s as far as he went.

“As I’ve said, you are asking for impossible.  The only thing I promised was the safety of the city and your lives.”

“It really will be tough for all of us.  I’m sure this will affect Diaz’s relationship with the other countries.  Can’t you do anything about this?”

The noble spoke those words thinking Artpe was a citizen of Diaz.  It was basically a threat.  The noble was implying that Diaz would be put in a disadvantageous position if Artpe didn’t step up.

Artpe snorted when he heard the nobleman’s words.  He was a Demon that was reborn as a human.  The emotional attachment he had towards the country he was affiliated was almost nonexistent…..

“Look here, ajusshi.  It is truly regrettable that it has to be this way, but I have no method available to me that would allow me to kill the Kraken.  This will end in sorrow if you threaten someone who doesn’t have the ability to do anything.”

“Didn’t you already create several miracles already!”

“That was all done through my ability.  Those weren’t miracles.  They are called miracles, since it never happens!”

[Koo-ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!]

As if it was responding to Artpe’s annoyed voice, the Kraken rammed into the barrier wall once again.  At that moment, something that made him question his eyes occurred.

[Koo-ohhhhhhhhhhh!  Goo-oh-ahhhhhhhhhhh!]

The rampaging Kraken had thrown its entire body towards the barrier wall, and a very small crack formed on the wall.

“Uh…….”

The cracks were so small that only the owner of the Read All Creation ability was sure of what had happened.  The wall had cracked.  Moreover, once a crack forms, there was a high probability that the crack would widen.

Cold sweat started flowing down Artpe’s back.

“What’s wrong, Artpe-nim?”

“A miracle that is slightly disadvantageous towards us has occurred……”

In the case of Ice type and Water type monsters, there was no way in hell it could have caused any meaningful damage to the wall unless the monster was over level 300.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

So how could a level 267 Kraken accomplish this?  How?  Until now, its strikes hadn’t done anything to the barrier wall!

‘Wait a moment.  Now that I think about it…..?’

In an instant, something flashed within his mind.

A normal Kraken was always categorized as pure Ice type monster or a Water type monster.  There was no exceptions to this rule.

However, the Kraken had flinched when it took an impact wound from Sienna.  It was the reason why Artpe hadn’t been late in completing his Reinforcement.

Why did it do that?

A mere curse of Madness shouldn’t have caused such repulsion from Sienna’s magical energy!

As he held this question in his mind, Artpe turned to look at the Kraken.  He once again activated his Read All Creation, and he finally figured it out.

[Kraken]

[Level : 267]

[The experiment for Demonification had failed.  Several curses related to the mind had been stacked.  The Demonic gene is out of control.]

‘My god······  This is connected to the Demonification experiments conducted in Diaz!?’

The Kraken was a pure Ice or Water type monster.  However, the failed experiment had imbued twisted properties of a Demon unto the Kraken, and it was boosting the Kraken’s power.  When he realized this fact, Artpe unconsciously mumbled to himself.

“I have to kill it······.”

“I knew it!  It is possible!”

“There is a fundamental difference between a task one can do, and a task one must accomplish even at the risk of one’s life.  Anyways, you guys should get out of here.”

“What?”

The nobles were enraged by Artpe’s harsh words.  Artpe snorted as he spoke.

“The wall will fall soon.  If that is fine with you, you can ride on your high horse by staying here.”

“Why would this wall fall……”

[Koo-oooooooohng!]

At that moment, the Kraken rammed into the wall again. The Hellfire Sentinel sent out stronger flame and vibration.  As a price, it couldn’t avoid the fairly large crack from forming.  This time other people realized what had happened.

“T…the wall is…”

“Run away!  Everyone get down from the wall!”

Artpe didn’t go out of his way to help them.  He didn’t owe them anything.  Aside from Artpe, Mycenae, Maetel and Sienna, everyone quickly clung to the wall.  It took them less than a minute to evacuate from the wall.  They practically jumped off the wall, and they ran towards downtown.

Artpe was in awe when he saw this.

As expected, humans were able to perform superhuman feats when their lives were on the line.  It would have been great if they could have used some of that superhuman ability in fighting the Kraken.  The fact that they couldn’t do so was a shortcoming that couldn’t be fixed.

[Ka-hahhhhhhhh!  Kee-ahhhhhhhhh!]

When it realized there was a crack forming in the wall, the Kraken’s rampage became increased in intensity as time passed.  The corpses of dead monsters filled the ocean.  There was so many bodies that they were starting to stack up.  As Artpe’s level grew, his restlessness grew alongside it.

“I trusted in you, Artpe-nim!”

The one to take this development the hardest was Mycenae.  If the Kraken couldn’t be defeated, it would be the end for her!

“You learned a great lesson, ajumma.  You shouldn’t trust people so easily from now on.”

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

He spoke in a playful manner, but Artpe’s head was still churning to come up with a way to defeat the Kraken.

Fortunately, he had an outline of a plan that would allow him to kill the Kraken.  It was the Hellfire Sentinel.  The wall’s durability could be consumed at once to inflict a powerful area of effect fire attack.  The wall’s final attack still remained.

‘The problem remains that I have no idea if that single attack will kill the Kraken.’

If it died from the final attack, it would create a happy ending.  If not, they would be in a far worse situation.  If the Kraken was still alive, it didn’t matter how critical of a wound he could inflict on the Kraken.  The Kraken would easily destroy the 2nd and 3rd tier barrier wall constructed by the humans.

‘I have to find some way to weaken it…..   But how?  Shit.  I haven’t learned any proper magic yet!’

Magicians were beings that possessed unfathomably strong powers.  Unfortunately, most of the great magics that could turn the tide of the battle could be learned after level 200.  Artpe’s level was still lacking, and such precious magic spells rarely came on the market.

This was why Artpe wanted to cross the ocean to Aedia as soon as possible!  He wanted to be in the land of magicians!

“I have no choice.  Somehow, I’ll······.”

[Nyaa.]

“Nyaa?”

Artpe was grinding his teeth as he was about to quickly yank free his Mana Strings.

At that moment, he heard a strange voice ring in his ears.  Artpe repeated the voice he heard.  It just slipped out of his mouth.  Maetel looked at Artpe with sparkling eyes.  Her eyes said she was about to perish from the cuteness of his action.

“Artpe, we are in such a desperate situation, yet you are playing such a prank!  Jeez!  You are too cute!”

“No, I didn’t…….”

[Nyaa!]

Artpe immediately closed his mouth.  Just in case, he quickly turned around to see if it was Etna.  However, she was hiding within the shadow of the streets.  She had her eyes firmly closed as she clasped both her two hands together.  She was earnestly wishing for his victory.  She looked suited for the role of a holy maiden rather than a Demon.

‘Then who….   Ah?’

Fortunately, he found the answer shortly.

No, it was more accurate to say the answer came to him.

[Nyaa!  Nyaan!]

“You······.”

Something flew at lightning speed through the air, and it latched onto Artpe’s arm.  Then it rubbed its head against his robe.

It had black fur, and its purple eyes shone much brighter from within the darkness.  It was shaking its tail in a threatening manner, and it fearlessly stretched its four legs…..  Artpe activated his Read All Creation ability, and he was able to confirm its identity.

“You······ You were a cat?”

[Nyahhhhhh!]

It stood 20 centimeters tall, and if one included its tail, it was 40 centimeters long.  The cat let out a fierce cry.

After stuffing itself, the Greed Beast had finally came to see its owner.

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