Chapter 190. The Disaster of the Blue Sea

—Swaaaaaa!!

A torrential rain from the storm was covering the entire port city, including Torne 1st Street.

Through it, only two men walked in silence.

Evan, with a sword at his side, and Ron, with a horn in one hand and a bluish-green trident in the other.

“Are you sure that one sword will be enough? The Kraken is bigger and more ferocious than you can imagine.”

“Don’t worry. I can just pick up whatever is at the port and use it. Or you could give me your spear.”

As Evan pointed to the trident, Ron subtly hid the spear.

“I can't do that. This is not mine, but Reina’s.”

“You really give everything away, don't you.”

“That's what love is.”

“Yes. A great love. I'm dying of envy.”

The two men got to know each other a little as they walked towards the pier.

The rain grew heavier, and the streets were empty, but even that empty space was filled with the presence of the two men.

—Cheolpeok cheolpeok!

“……”

“……”

The conversation had ceased, and only the sound of the waves and the rain followed their footsteps.

Finally reaching the pier, the two looked at the churning sea and gauged the timing to summon the Kraken.

“If it were a good day, I wouldn’t know, but we have an urgent matter.”

“It doesn't matter. To a man of the sea, the weather is just a backdrop.”

Ron raised his face and let the rainwater fall on it.

Yet, he didn't even flinch.

“I like that attitude. I don't like to blame the environment either.”

“Now we're talking.”

“But are you planning to summon it here? If we fight at the pier, all the ships will be smashed to pieces.”

The pier, where departures were blocked due to the storm, was already full of ships.

If the Kraken went on a rampage here, it was obvious that more than half of them would be destroyed.

“I know that too. So we have to go out to sea a little to fight.”

Ron gestured with his chin to a small boat tied with a rope at the end of the pier.

“Let’s take that and go out.”

“……”

A precarious wooden boat that looked like it would be swept away by the waves at any moment.

Ron nonchalantly jumped onto it and landed.

‘I came out to catch a Kraken, I wonder if I’ll end up drowning in the water.’

Evan swallowed his ominous thoughts and got on the boat.

The boat was so light that it swayed with the waves, giving him an uneasy feeling as if he were standing barefoot on the sea.

“Then, let’s go.”

Ron untied the rope and picked up a huge oar that was half-submerged in the seawater.

—Chwaaaak!!!

The broad blade looked as big as the small boat.

It was a ridiculously large oar that an ordinary person would find difficult to row even once.

“Don't you think the oar is a bit excessive?”

“Without something of this size, we can't cross this sea right now. Hold on tight.”

Ron, who answered briefly, rowed the oar.

—Suuuu!!

He only rowed it lightly, as if stroking a feather, but the small boat shot forward, cutting through the waves as if flying.

“Heut!”

Evan desperately tried to balance himself to keep from falling backward.

It was an unbalanced combination of a huge oar and a small boat, but the boat moved straight and fast even in the rough waves.

—Suk!

He had only rowed about ten times, but the pier was already disappearing into a dot in the distance.

Ron, who had glanced around once, put down the oar and stood up.

“This should be enough. Get ready, I’m going to summon the Kraken.”

He took out the horn, took a deep breath, and blew it forcefully.

—Puuuuu!

—Kwarreung!!!

Just then, lightning split the sky, and its roar drowned out the sound of the horn.

‘What great timing.’

Evan frowned and asked.

“Don't you have to blow it again?”

“No. It definitely heard. Just prepare yourself.”

Ron, full of conviction, gripped the trident tightly and stared down at the sea.

Evan also drew his sword.

‘In the sea, that man is several levels above me.’

He simply trusted Ron and prepared to face the Kraken.

A moment later, the sea began to churn enough to tilt the boat.

As Ron had said, the Kraken had come.

—Chwaaaaa!!!

The sea swelled up like a mountain, and its aftermath, a huge wave, crashed over the boat.

In the middle of the turmoil, where it was a miracle that they had not capsized, Ron stared straight ahead without wavering.

And beyond his gaze, the sea parted as the waves subsided, and in contrast, a crimson-black giant octopus, the Kraken, called the ‘Disaster of the Blue Sea,’ revealed itself.

“It’s here. Stay sharp.”

Ron had been subtly worried about Evan, but he soon realized there was no need.

Evan had already assumed a battle stance with his sword enveloped in sword aura, without a single opening.

‘Decent. Well, that’s why he dared to come and meet Reina, leaving me behind.’

Ron was confident that this was the golden opportunity to finish off the Kraken.

On the other hand, the Kraken, with the human who had killed its master having come of his own accord, also seemed to have no intention of backing down.

“Abandon the boat! And swim on your own!”

A leg like a massive stone pillar came crashing down on the boat they were on.

A step ahead of it, Ron and Evan threw themselves in the opposite direction.

—Kwajijik!

The already precarious boat was smashed into pieces.

“Hua!”

Evan, who had come up to the surface, immediately looked for Ron.

But Ron was nowhere to be seen, and the Kraken was not on the surface either.

‘Don’t tell me…….’

The moment he took another breath and looked down at the sea, he saw the Kraken fighting a fierce battle with Ron.

Eight huge legs were striking from all directions, and Ron, even underwater, was swimming as smoothly as a mermaid, dodging all the attacks or parrying them with his spear.

‘He’s completely ignoring me. Well, from that monster’s perspective, it would want to kill Ron first.’

But Evan could not just watch the scene.

It seemed they were evenly matched for now, but it was a situation where Ron could be injured by a single small crack at any moment.

If he was to bring Ron back in one piece, now was the time to intervene.

‘Even if the power of my sword aura is halved underwater…… it can't be of no help.’

Evan pulled his sword back and aimed at one of the Kraken’s legs.

At that moment, a subtle pain brushed against his ribs.

‘Heut……! I thought I was fine, but it seems I haven't fully healed yet.’

The pain from his ribs grated on his nerves, but it did not hinder his movement.

Therefore, Evan unleashed his sword aura, albeit a beat late.

—Suuuuk!

The sword aura, cutting through the water, sliced a part of the Kraken’s leg.

Only then did the monster seem to recognize Evan as an enemy as well, and it detached one of its legs and swung it up at him.

If he took that heavy blow directly to his ribs, his bones would surely be shattered.

Evan twisted his body to the side to dodge, and holding his sword in a reverse grip, he plunged it into the leg.

—Puk!

As the huge leg shot up from the surface, Evan’s body was also thrown into the air.

“Puhak!”

Exhaling a rough breath, he, with his slightly lighter body, stabbed the sword in succession.

—Puk! Puk!

He couldn't be sure if this attack was causing the Kraken any pain.

However, seeing as a new leg shot up from the water, it seemed to have some effect.

‘Good, I’ll tie up two of its legs.’

The monster swung its legs as if swatting a fly, trying to crush Evan.

Evan imbued the embedded sword with as much qi as he could and slashed it downwards with all his might.

—Chwaaaak!!!

The leg was split in two, and Evan fell back into the sea.

Soon, another leg came down fiercely on his body, which was floating on the water, as if to crush a rock.

‘I faced a Dragonkin, I can’t lose to an octopus!’

The distance was too close to dodge.

Evan gripped his sword and tried to cut down the leg.

At that moment,

—Tuhoong!

A bluish-green trident shot up from the water and literally blew the Kraken’s leg to pieces.

Only then did the monster, as if swallowing a scream, reveal its body and head above the water, and he could see Ron, holding it down.

Though it was a brief moment, he, who was wounded all over from the fierce battle with the Kraken, shouted at Evan.

“Buy me some definite time this time! I will end it!”

Literally passing on a heavy task, Ron gripped the trident again and disappeared into the sea.

Evan let out a long sigh and climbed onto a fragment of the broken boat.

‘He makes it sound so easy.’

He gripped his sword and thought for a moment, then soon imbued the sword aura with a shockwave and scattered the fragments far away.

‘In any case, most attacks won't work without preparation. And that thing won't even give me the time for that. Then it's better to provoke it.’

He judged that it was better to draw its attention by evading rather than attacking.

Having made his decision, Evan imbued his sword with sword aura and threw it straight at the Kraken’s head.

—Puk!

Ludicrously, the sword was embedded in the middle of the Kraken’s head.

It was hard to say that it had any impact.

It wasn't an attack intended to inflict damage in the first place.

‘Now, you’re angry, right? So look at me instead of the disappeared Ron.’

The Kraken seemed quite angry at that attack, as it turned its gaze from Ron and looked at Evan.

And the remaining six legs all came crashing down on his head.

‘Don’t think. If I’m even a little late, I’ll be crushed!’

Evan, following only his instincts, ran among the fragments he had scattered.

—Tatat!

Soon after, the legs mercilessly crushed the spot where Evan had been, and each time, the fragments shattered with a brutal sound.

—Teong! Teong!

A blow that would have crushed him without leaving a single bone if it had hit directly.

He ran on the swaying sea, stepping on pieces of wood the size of his palm.

And he dodged the Kraken’s barrage by a hair's breadth.

—Teong! Teong! Teong!

As the number of fragments he could step on gradually decreased and the Kraken’s attacks closed in on him, a curse began to rise to the tip of Evan’s tongue.

‘……Don’t tell me, he ran away?’

Just as his suspicion of Ron was rising, there was only one fragment left before him.

—Tat!

As he landed on it, a shadow was cast over his head.

Six legs were simultaneously trying to crush him.

“Come out now!”

Along with Evan’s shout, a flashing light erupted from behind the Kraken.

The Kraken, as if it would not be tricked a second time, raised its six legs to cover its head in defense, but that was a fatal misjudgment.

The Kraken should have dodged the attack, not blocked it.

—Tuhoong!

The sea split in two, and a trident flew in.

The spearhead blew away all six legs and continued to pierce and send the body flying.

—Paak!

The shockwave from the trident that blew up the Kraken briefly stopped the torrential rain, and even the dark clouds split in half, revealing the sky.

And in their place, the Kraken’s black blood rained down.

—Hoodoo-dook.

Ron lightly landed on the corpse of the dead Kraken and caught the falling trident.

His appearance was that of a king who ruled the sea, himself.

“So…… who is the next enemy I must face?”

Under the sunlight from between the parted clouds, his tanned skin shone particularly brightly.

“Trying to look cool……”

The Kraken hunt of the Seven Extreme Stars Ron soon became the signal announcing his participation in the war.