Chapter 165: Chapter 165- Sea Hunter (Part 5)
The number of tentacles the monster possessed was still unknown to Talon and Hyun-Jae that entire time. They had severed, burnt, and destroyed several ones and yet every single time, more would appear in their place as if it was regenerating limbs out of nowhere.
But, that didn't stop Hyun-Jae nor make her step back. Instead, it fired her spirit stronger than ever. She felt adrenaline coursing through her body. This was her opportunity, to show her worth and how far she had come after all that happened.
*Sizzle*
Lightning coursed through her body, making it appear shiny. For a second, she seemed like a goddess that descended on the darkest of hells to bless it with her light. Then, she slowly ran her hand across her sword, coating it with a layer of Electricity.
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'Fuuh' Exhaling a small breath, Hyun-Jae moved the sword up and down as she adjusted her grip on it before she aimed it at the tentacles as a challenge.
*Swish*
The countless arms didn't hesitate to attack the lonesome girl. With their overwhelming strength and speed, there was no way she could defeat them on her own and the monster knew that.
Hyun-Jae quickly unleashed her aura before she swam toward the swarm of tentacles and swung her sword powerfully.
A wave of lightning manifested in front of the tentacles as it ran through them, severing multiple in the process.
The rest tried to overwhelm her. But, the moment they would try to get anywhere near her, a barrier of lightning would stop them.
'In this environment, I can easily defend myself with so little Aetheris used. All I have to do is create a spark of lightning and it will instantly spread around like wildfire. I can definitely handle them!' Hyun-Jae thought to herself.
Even though it wasn't her natural environment, it certainly fit her skill perfectly and made it seem like it was made to be used there.
*Sizzle*
The fight continued as Hyun-Jae swam around, sending lightning strikes one after the other. The tentacles relentlessly attacked her from all angles, all at the same time. Their speed and strength were brutal to the point where Hyun-Jae couldn't even find a moment to take a breath.
Not to mention the fact that their strategy for attacking was far from a simple-minded, brute force. They knew how to coordinate the attacks so that she would end up in the worst situation possible.
Naturally, even with her clear advantage strength-wise, she cannot handle such a brutal assault for a long time without sustaining damage of her own.
All the tentacles needed was a small mishap from Hyun-Jae and it was game over. That mishap came barely 30 seconds later. When Hyun-Jae tried to make a detour and cut one of the tentacles, her attack missed its target due to its terrifying speed and she found herself in a completely vulnerable situation.
*BANG*
The tentacle smashed into her body with a crushing force. Coughing out a huge mouthful of blood, Hyun-Jae was pushed back violently.
Just one single hit almost knocked her out completely. But, at that moment, Hyun-Jae's eyes flashed with a weird glint as she suddenly extended her hands and latched into the tentacle with all her power.
'I'm not… Losing!!!' She clenched her teeth as she channeled her force.
*SIZZZLE*
Lightning exploded from her arms, burning through the monster's body. Then, Hyun-Jae used all her physical strength to push the tentacle to the side as she swam forward.
'I'm not… a fucking dead weight!!' She cursed as her normally aloof face turned completely outraged.
All her composure and calm attitude were completely gone and were replaced with a brutal desire to fight.
How long has she been waiting for this opportunity? For how long had she wanted to show that she could actually be a force to be reckoned with? So far, Hyun-Jae felt like she was completely falling behind.
Whenever a disaster would befall them, she would always be one step behind in terms of power and end up being saved by Talon. The image of her loss against that woman was still vivid in her head. That crushing defeat pained her far more than the injuries she sustained from it. She felt completely hopeless against her.
But, that didn't stop her from working even harder to shorten the gap again. She wanted to be strong, strong enough so that the people she cared about wouldn't die in front of her eyes… So that people she cared about wouldn't die in front of her…
At that moment, a core memory of hers was triggered. An image that haunted her her entire life came back like it always does. Except, this time, she was awake when it happened rather than asleep.
'I won't let that happen again! I won't! I would rather die than see it happen again! Not to him!' Her aura exploded.
*Swish*
Then, she swung her sword powerfully, using all her power.
It was Hyun-Jae's moment and she was going to shine bright in it… Brighter than ever.
Then, at that moment, out of nowhere, Hyun-Jae felt an extremely strong water current smash into her, sending her flying back. Flipping in the water a few times, she barely could adjust her balance as she stopped to look into the distance.
'What happened?!' Her alerted senses went off as she held her sword with two hands.
However, the sight she witnessed completely shattered her expectations
***
Thirty seconds before that, a little distance away from the brutal fight, Talon was swimming at top speed toward his target.
'I need to hurry before Hyun-Jae gets overwhelmed!' Looking behind him, he could see flickers of lightning igniting every now and then which indicated that the fight was still raging as strong as before.
If Talon had to estimate how long he had before his companion got defeated, it would be a minute. But, if he had to be realistic, he only had half that time before he had to go back to her. He doesn't want to put Hyun-Jae's life at any more risk than this. She was too important for him to willingly put her in danger.
'Now, let's see how we can actually deal with this thing.' Talon's eyes turned a degree colder as he noticed the terrifying eyes staring at him from the abyss. 'You had too much fun toying with us, didn't you bastard?'
This entire time, Talon couldn't approach the creature due to its annoying long tentacles. But, now, with considerably fewer arms to attack him, he could finally take a close glance at the Kraken.
"Rrrrrr…" The monster noticed Talon's approach and growled deeply before it tried to attack him with whatever arms it had left.
[Ding!]
[You have activated 'Dash'.]
But, Talon quickly activated his dash skill. So far, he didn't use that skill thinking that it wouldn't really work underwater but when he thought about it, the skill didn't specify where it increased his agility. So, by that logic, he assumed that even if he was swimming, the skill should boost his speed either way.
Much to his expectations, the moment he activated it, his speed soared as he flew into the distance.
'Goddamn!' Clenching his teeth, Talon moved left and right as he dodged the monster's attacks while slicing with his spear.
In the Kraken's eyes, he appeared like a blurry silhouette slicing through its arms like a flying razor. Blood exploded from its arms endlessly.
"Rrrrrrr!!!"
The monster was naturally outraged as it suddenly started moving its main body again.
'It's moving!' Talon watched as the creature stepped forward, towering over him with ease. Since he was swimming near the bottom, he could see the monster from beneath… Precisely it's gigantic gaping mouth that was slowly opening wider and wider.
Inside that mouth, sets of razor-sharp teeth covered every inch of it. Their appearance was terrifying to look at let alone be in their direction.
'Wait…' At that moment, Talon realized what the monster was trying to do. 'It wants to swallow me up.'
The monster's gigantic body slowly descended toward Talon as its opened mouth started sucking in immense quantities of water.
The suction force was so strong and sudden that Talon found himself getting pulled in almost instantly.
'You're kidding me!' Clenching his teeth, Talon tried to grab into something for support. But, since the area was empty, he had nothing to grab into.
Swimming wasn't helping him either since the water around him turned into a chaotic mess that threw him left and right. His teeth clenched as he felt the sheer pressure of water colliding against his body brutally. It was as if he was being constantly ground between two heavy boulders.
'You… Fucker! Fine! Do you want to play this game?! Let's play!!'
Then, Talon suddenly stopped trying to resist as the water immediately pulled him toward the monster's mouth before he vanished inside that dark abyss along with everything around him.
A//N: Don't forget to support the book if you enjoyed reading 😀