Chapter 468
Chapter 468. Worries from the Past
Splash! Splash! Water was flying everywhere with tremendous force.
Two Krakens were thrashing about underneath the surface. The larger one seemed to have wrapped around the smaller one and was gnawing on its body.
“Do Krakens eat each other?!”
“I’ve never seen that. Actually, I’ve never even heard of it. Normally, Krakens are supposed to eat large fish, magical beasts, and—people.”
Arthur responded to my question with a grim face. Apparently, when Krakens are hunted in Aulitos Lake, they dissect them as much as possible and examine their insides.
“But I’ve never seen any records of one of them coming out of another’s belly…”
“I haven’t either… though I can’t say for sure since I’m not an expert.”
“I don’t know either…”
“Me neither. Well, if those monsters are tearing each other apart, I suppose that’s for the best.”
The vampire hunters, including Bishop Lexar, seemed to have never heard of such a thing.
“Still, what a giant… thinking about this monster lurking at the bottom of the water gives me chills…”
Bishop Lexar shivered (in spirit form), showing an unusually weak attitude. He might be the bravest against vampires, but perhaps he’s actually not good with squirmy things.
And I completely agree that this Kraken is colossal. Its body easily exceeds 30 meters, and it has ridiculously long and thick tentacles.
However, this size—I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere, or maybe…
“Is this the Demon Lord of Aulitos?!”
Arthur leaned forward from Leila’s back.
The Demon Lord of Aulitos—the supergiant Kraken known as the master of this lake.
“…No doubt about it! Those eyes and scars are unmistakable!”
Arthur pointed, and in the moonlight, the gigantic eye of the Kraken was illuminated. Its eyeball, which looked to be about my height in diameter, was supposed to be an eerie yellow, but one was cloudy. The surrounding skin wasn’t a dark red but a brownish color.
As if it had been burned by something—
“There’s no way such an absurdly large Kraken would be hanging around in groups. When I was on the NeedAlun, I was attacked by this Kraken. I barely managed to protect the ship at Avalon, but I couldn’t fend it off alone, and we were in quite a pinch. At that moment, a White Dragon happened to be flying nearby and… with a breath…”
He paused there, and I thought, “Oh…”
“A White Dragon… with a breath…”
Slowly, he compared me and Leila.
From Kizuna, I could feel the subtle tension emanating from Leila, who was swirling around in circles mindlessly.
“…Alex? Do you remember anything?”
“I do…”
That was us…
“What the hell…”
Arthur tried to tap his forehead but ended up with his hand passing right through it, making a strange face.
“Is this kind of coincidence really possible?”
“Apparently it is.”
I was also shocked when I realized that the NeedAlun was that ship from that time.
“Seriously, you knew? If you would’ve said so…”
If only he had said so, Arthur fell silent.
“If you had told me, I wonder what would have happened by now…”
…A lot might have changed. Timing.
If somewhere, by some coincidence, we had met or parted just a day earlier…
On that battlefield earlier, we might not have collided…
“That’s just hindsight.”
Antendeixis snickered.
Well, yeah. That’s true.
“I’m sorry…”
“No, well, it can’t be helped. It’s not something to apologize for,” Arthur shrugged.
“Thinking about it, I might have been destined to die back then.”
“…Back then, when?”
“When the NeedAlun was attacked by this thing.”
Pointing at the Demon Lord of Aulitos beneath us… The gigantic Kraken was nearly finished gobbling up the small kin.
“Thanks to Avalon’s protection, immediate sinking was avoided, but in water and light form, I couldn’t land a decisive blow on the Kraken. And no matter how strong I am, if I kept defending with everything I had, I would eventually reach my limit. I hoped the Kraken would give up before that, but… If I was continuously attacked, I would have to brace myself for the worst.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“【Come forth, Blade of Exorcism】”
He summoned the Holy Sword into his hand.
“If I slammed Excalibur into it, I probably could have defeated it. But for that, I would have to jump into the water myself. If I dragged it down before it exhausted itself, the worst-case scenario would be a mutual destruction.”
…No matter how much extraordinary magical power one has.
Without air, even a hero would die.
Like a Demon Lord having no means against being dropped from a great height.
If dragged down to the very depths of the gigantic lake, the chances of survival—
“If Alex and Leila hadn’t passed by and saved me back then, my fate might have ended. Thinking about it like that… it feels strange.”
“Arthur…”
I found myself speechless in response to Arthur’s remarkably translucent smile.
“But—”
He shifted his gaze down. His expression tightened.
“—now is different.”
Standing up swiftly.
The spirit-form Arthur stood naturally on Leila’s back, unaffected by the flying wind.
“There was one thing that worried me. While investigating the vampire incidents, it became clear that there have been way too many Kraken sightings lately. There shouldn’t have been so many coming this shallow in the past. I didn’t know why they were being so active, but… seeing this, it makes sense.”
Pointing with the tip of his sword at the once-finished feeding Demon Lord of Aulitos, Arthur declared.
“That thing was the cause. Once it grew that large, it probably couldn’t be satisfied with normal prey anymore. It started favoring strong magical beasts and humans, eventually eating its own kin. Not only would this gluttonous monster ravage feeding grounds, but it might also eat its own. Other Krakens started surfacing frequently to escape it, thinking they might get eaten too.”
So, the NeedAlun, now known as the Third Alun, wasn’t just specially unlucky…
The number of missing persons and sunken ships was not solely due to the decline in security and vampires, but was also exacerbated by Kraken attacks.
“That’s why, if we take it down here, the lake should calm down a bit. Sailors will be able to paddle out into the lake with peace of mind!”
Holding up the first Excalibur, Arthur grinned.
“And right now, I don’t need to breathe.”
Whether he’s dragged down to the bottom of the water is irrelevant.
“I’m going now!!”
Arthur leaped lightly into the air.
The wingless being, even without a physical form, cannot defy gravity.
He fell straight down like a meteor.
Towards the Demon Lord of Aulitos—!
“I can’t just sit here! 【Thunderclap! Thunderclap!】 Alright, I’m going too!”
Bishop Lexar zapped himself with lightning to pump himself up and boldly followed.
“I’m going too!”
“Me too!”
“I’m in!”
The vampire hunters dove down one after another!
“…”
And the only vampire hunter left behind was one with acrophobia.
“…Well, I mean, my good attributes are wind and fire…”
In the water, I can’t do anything… he awkwardly looked away.
“Ah, yeah…”
Well, there’s nothing they can do about it… Unlike Arthur, who has Excalibur, they have no means of attack except for magic.
I turned my gaze back down and watched Arthur and the others fight—
No, ‘hunt’.
