"There was once an Ancient Kraken that learned how to speak our language. It learned compassion and empathy as a result of that venture. So when it started killing people, it was because it felt extremely vindictive for all the kraklings and krakens that the mortal folk have been hunting endlessly." ~Orulixshen Umbrafen Shoruwitchsel Karuphra, God of Horrors

Unlike the previous kraklings they had fought, the Great Kraken Dungeon Boss was sound asleep. This gave Grace and her teammates the ability to get closer than usual. However, they agreed with the strategy they had acquired from her Scan. They didn't want to get into its lair, within the confines of its inky smokescreen.

Which meant only one thing. It was Tayin's turn to shine.

"Haste," the halfling began, casting the same Spell that Grace had already learned. With the both of them able to use the same Skill, their flexibility improved. And because the halfling already knew of its effectiveness, it didn't take her any convincing to learn.

"Record!" The halfling began as Grace watched over her, making sure she was protected in case the Great Kraken felt the surge of mana and awoke from its slumber.

Tayin had a few seconds to take a record of her next action, which was invoking a twin-cast Shooting Star. However, within the same action, she had to actually invest her mana and cast the Spell. Otherwise, the recording would just mimic a non-activated Skill.

And since the halfling had practiced with the Spell so many times now, and was benefiting from the Haste buff, she was able to record a full incantation. She had all the liberty to include the maximum output her Skill Proficiency could provide, and the additional increase coming from her Star Stream buff added more power to the Shooting Star.

Grace prepared her pair of Mana-Edges as two, bright cosmic mana beams blasted through the cave, hitting the tentacles that the Great Kraken covered itself with. Because of how jumbled up the limbs were, it was hard to tell how many the Dungeon Boss had, but with her engaged Focus, the half-orc clearly saw at least one tentacle was destroyed.

The best part was that Tayin wasn't done, not yet.

"Repeat!"

An after image appeared overlapping with Tayin. While the halfling herself drifted backwards to get into safety, the clone repeated the exact same motion she had done to cast Shooting Star.

It was an exact copy, appearing in the same spot, invoking the same words, aiming at the place, and casting the same Spell at the same output for the same cost. It was Tayin who shouldered it.

The second pair of cosmic beams blasted through the Great Kraken before it could even emerge from its cave. Again, the Spell cut through another tentacle.

Haste and Record and Repeat. The two Skills that Tayin picked for her two Chronospark Skill Points, with the latter Skill counting for only one point.

With Shallies' permission, Tayin learned these Skills instead of investing in Nurture Stellar Mana like they had previously agreed. The Godkiller didn't make any rebuttals, since she always allowed her mentees to learn what they thought would be most effective for them.

And since Tayin had gathered her courage and ate a fully spiced up Spicy Honey-Glazed Bacon, she was hoping to get at least one more level from this boss fight. If she ended up getting two, however, she would gain another Skill Point to use for Nurture Stellar Mana.

That was, of course, if they defeated the Great Kraken.

The monster roared, which, underwater, caused vibrations to rumble out. Its tentacles came out first. Slowly, despite what Grace had expected. Each limb clutched the edges of the cave, crushing the wall with its grip strength. Then came the head.

Grace blinked as she observed the head. It didn't have the round shape she had initially expected it to be, nor the arrowhead shape that Tayin had suggested, based on the body of squids. This Great Kraken had a serpent's head.

Multiple pairs of blue eyes glowed underneath what looked like an exoskeleton formed in a triangular shape. Three pairs of teethed mandibles dangled at the side of its main jaw. Large, bladed fins ran down the back of its head where an elongated, scaled body housed all the tentacles it still had left.

The blue glow didn't only come from its eyes. Mana surged around the creature, as the outlines of its entire body emitted blue light, illuminating the deep ocean with its monstrous form.

Monstrous, but Grace could also consider it beautiful. There was power in the creature. A great confidence lingering within in its entirety. For when all its kin, the kraklings, hid within the inky smokescreens, this Dungeon Boss proudly revealed its location instead.

Grace knew not if monsters within a dungeon had any origins, or if they manifested along with its creation. Based on Shallies' previous lectures, she guessed that they had a continuous life. An ecosystem that could change depending on either how long the dungeon's gate had remained open and isolated, or the chaotic storm of the mana changing their world whenever the anchor died.

The half-orc didn't feel an ounce of fear. And this time, for sure, Shallies had told them that Phey'lan wouldn't involve herself with their quest. Her courage was her own.

Well, she was exaggerating, for obvious reasons. But Grace controlled her fear. She could see Tayin holding tight on her wand and shield.

The two of them were fighting their instincts to run.

Which was why she couldn't believe what Ren was doing.

Ren was the closest person to the Great Kraken. He floated above the cave. Unless the monster would have eyes above its head or behind it, he wouldn't be the first one it would see.

He carried his shield in his left hand, while his sword was still sheathed. After he had Scanned his new weapon, Stachie brought its stats, which made him confused.

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[Weapon: Death Dealing Arming Sword +5] [Rarity: Rare] [Unique Weapon Skill: Death Blade (Passive Skill - Level 5) - Drawing this sword will constantly drain the user's mana. Each strike, regardless of what Skill it's combined with, will accumulate a Death Status Effect on the target. This effect can be negated via resistance. While the enemy suffers a Death Status, their lifeforce will be continuously stripped away. The duration is affected by the target's Constitution. This effect can stack up to ten times, increasing the amount of lifeforce being stripped away. There's no option to turn off this Passive Skill.]

He didn't know if he should be happy or sad. He had no doubt the sword would be effective, and a main-stay in his arsenal as he grew his collection. But he didn't like the fact that he had won it from the monster that almost killed Tayin.

And beneath him was another culprit for her almost demise. It might not be this Great Kraken itself that had kept dragging the person he loved underwater, but he assumed it was the progenitor of all the kraklings in this dungeon.

Therefore, despite feeling unreasonable with himself, Ren channeled his anger towards the Dungeon Boss.

The halfling shot her twin-cast Shooting Star, and a second batch followed right after. The ocean vibrated from the monster's roar, before it emerged with its serpentine head first. For some reason, Ren didn't care about this unexpected reveal. Normally, such a thing would almost always freeze him in place for at least a second, while his mind went into overdrive to come up with a quick plan.

No, he didn't care at all.

As the monster continued to roar, Ren descended slowly, slowly drawing his sword and infusing it with his Disciple Class's Mana Infusion Skill. He made sure to avoid its bladed fins.

And just like that, his feet touched the back of its skull.

The action, alone, made everyone pause. Even the Great Kraken. He didn't miss his opportunity.

Shallies had never answered Grace's question about how long the Godkiller could engage her Attribute. Ren quickly picked up on that. And while she didn't explicitly give the answer, he knew exactly the implications of her silence.

He didn't care if he hadn't practiced it before. He cared that it was possible. And he cared, most of all, that he should succeed.

Ren engaged his Focus and Strength at the same time.

And when he did, the rest of his Attributes followed, pushing him into overdrive.

In an instant, the Shield Knight brought up his sword in reverse grip and brought his entire body down for a downward stab, aimed at the Great Kraken's skull. At the same time, he activated his new Skill.

"Microseism!"

Tremors crashed out of his sword, following his downward motion. Together, brought to unnatural levels by his engaged Attributes, his motion and the tremors hammered the Great Kraken to the seafloor.

It was such a quick action that water was late to follow, slamming down to fill the gap that Ren had made, and causing a turmoil everywhere. But he refused to leave the kraken's head, gripping his sword with all his might. He had stabbed the entire length of the blade in, but he knew it didn't reach the brain.

The Dungeon Boss roared once more, its undersea luminescence reaching a greater glow. Mana swelled around its body, converging into a singular point.

Ren clicked his tongue. He realized he had made a mistake, getting tunnel-visioned into engaging his Attributes and his singular strike. He had failed to realize that a monster with a serpentine head would also have with it such an obvious power.

The Great Kraken opened its maw. From its throat, mana was set ablaze as a beam of blue flame shot from it, despite them being underwater. The breath attack was aimed at Tayin and Grace.

Out of desperation, Ren tried to use his Microseism again, but the backlash from engaging all his Attributes all at once forced him to his knees instead. It took him a second to disengage his Attributes. In his panic, he still activated the Skill, but it had no impact at all.

The Shield Knight looked up, frustrated that his plan had backfired. He hoped beyond hope, that the monster somehow missed.

I just need a few seconds!

Something clashed with the beam of flames. It was too far for Ren to see, but the beam was fracturing in all angles. When four beams of Shooting Stars pierced the kraken's serpentine body, Ren managed to breathe a sigh of relief.

The damage made the Great Kraken reel backwards, redirecting its beam away from Tayin. Ren, with Mana Energy, finally managed to catch his breath.

He pulled his sword out of the monster's skull, preparing to re-engage all his Attributes once more for another powerful Microseism, but Grace appeared beside him. She was saying something, but his Focus wasn't engaged yet. When he didn't act, the half-orc jumped behind him and slashed.

Grace just sliced a tentacle off. It was only then that he realized all remaining seven tentacles were aimed at him.

"Something's wrong," Grace said.

"It's a breath attack!" Tayin said quickly, but the beam was already heading towards them.

The half-orc threw herself in front of the halfling, quickly disengaged her Focus, and engaged her Mana-Affinity.

"Sharpen Blade! Crescent Slash!"

The combination of Skills was never meant to deflect a monster's breath beam attack. But Grace knew her Parry wouldn't work. At most, with her Skill Proficiency, she could only deflect small projectiles.

That was the difficult thing with Parry. It was such a dangerous Skill to test out, and she had been prioritizing other Skills until she could ask proper guidance on how to get most of it. But even then, even if Shallies were to tell her that she could deflect a breath attack with a Beginner Proficiency Parry, Grace knew that she would still hesitate.

But her rushed move proved to be working. With two mana sources involved, the two were meant to clash with each other. Both her Mana-Edges collided with the breath attack, refracting it into many beams in other directions.

Tayin, for her part, repeated Recording and twin-cast Shooting Star. This time, she aimed for the Great Kraken on the seafloor. She followed it up with a Repeat.

The hit allowed Grace to be freed from the clash, as the Dungeon Boss's breath beam stopped. In response, she quickly switched her engaged Attribute to Focus.

There, she clearly saw it. The monster had eight remaining tentacles, all flourishing sharp, bladed ends wreathed in blue flame. All directed at Ren. While the Kraken couldn't see him, it was confident enough in its defenses that it didn't mind hitting its own head, so long as it also meant crushing or slicing the Shield Knight.

Grace switched into engaging her Strength and tapping into her Agility. With her own Haste buff active on her, it only took her a total of three bursts of speed underwater to reach Ren as fast as possible.

"Ren, look out!" she yelled, but the Shield Knight had a confused look on his face.

He's not engaging his Focus!

Grace acted and jumped behind Ren. "Sharpen Blade! Blade Flourish!"

With a sudden rotation, the half-orc created four slashes in each cardinal direction. She was careful enough to avoid Ren, even though the Party System would prevent any friendly fire. She managed to block all incoming attacks, and even slice off one of the tentacles by following up with a quick Crescent Slash.

Grace engaged her Focus, and hoped Ren would do the same.

"Let's get out of here," she said. "Quick!"

"I'll push it down one more time!" Ren said instead, not listening at all. "Take off its neck!"

Without waiting for a confirmation, the Shield Knight used his Microseism, directing all the tremors down on the Great Kraken's skull while avoiding Grace, who was standing behind him.

She couldn't afford to hesitate. Trusting in her teammate's decision, Grace switched her engaged Attribute to Mana-Affinity. She aimed right where the scales around the neck opened to allow for movement.

She had a flash of memory. A rather important one. The moment she almost died to the six-horned noldzwjak, the joints of that monster had suddenly grown a protective layer of scale.

She blinked, understanding the premonition.

"Lighting Surge!" she invoked, expending all her maxed out charges to blast lightning from her body. She directed as much as she could towards the neck. Being underwater, the electric property of the Skill became erratic to control, but that also meant that it shot everywhere anyway.

And since the Party System would protect Ren, Grace went all out. Smoke went out of the Great Kraken's neck joint. The monster's tentacles went to retaliate. Three were caught in the Shield Knight's Microseism, while the other four were pierced by Shooting Stars.

"Sharpen Blade! Crescent Slash!"

Grace lifted both her Mana-Edges to one side and slashed down towards the Great Kraken's neck with a perfect arc.

Mana exploded, and all the half-orc could see was blue.

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