Chapter 420

* * * *

‘Oh, what on earth is happening?’

Atakshya stared at the castle with a flustered expression.

‘This is absurd.’

Even seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn’t believe it. Something that should never have happened was happening.

‘…’

Ataksa just stared blankly at the castle’s transformation. He was so flustered that no thoughts came to mind.

She was so flustered that even as Myeonghu, her original target, closed the distance, she didn’t register him at all.

Of course, Atakshya’s daze didn’t last long.

-Gurgle!

The Kraken’s screech echoed around them.

Swish!

Atakshya, who had been staring blankly at the castle, snapped back to her senses at the agonized screams reaching her ears. She turned her head to look at the source of the screams.

“…!”

Having identified the source, Atakshya couldn’t help but frown.

“You’ve killed my child again…”

There lay Myeonghu, the reason for his visit, and Kraken Hollard, collapsing backward.

“A worthless human being…”

Swish

Atakshia raised his hand toward Myeonghu, muttering with eyes filled with rage.

Swish swish swish swish

Then, spears of ice began to form around Atakshah.

* * * *

Minghu, who had moved in front of the brown kraken using Shadow Step and Moving Strike, immediately thrust his fist forward.

‘Doesn’t seem to be a reflection.’

Comparing it to the Kraken Retos he had captured before, the characteristics of this Kraken he was about to capture didn’t seem to involve reflection.

CRASH!

-Thud!

Myeong-hu’s fist struck the Kraken with a resounding blow.

[Paraden: You have defeated Hollard’s first leg.]

[Fame increased by 100,000.]

[Level Up!]

Seeing the message appear after the punch landed, Myeonghu couldn’t help but frown.

‘It was a split type…’

The kraken’s name was Hollard. Like the kraken Lamper he’d first hunted here, it was a split-type kraken.

‘Not good…’

Split monsters were truly the most irritating kind of monster from Myeong-hu’s perspective. They didn’t possess any particularly unique abilities, but no matter how powerful his attacks were, they simply wouldn’t die in one hit.

‘How many split-type ones are there…’

Myeong-hu thought as he moved to the next bridge. How many split-type Kraken were gathered here?

‘I hope it’s few…’

Arriving at the second leg, Myeong-hu hoped their number was small as he thrust his fist toward it.

CRASH!

-Whoa, whoa-rook!

[Paraden: You have defeated Hollard’s second leg.]

[Fame increased by 100,000.]

[Level Up!]

As expected, the message appeared. After confirming it, Myeonghu immediately moved toward the third leg, checking the reactions of the surrounding Kraken.

‘Why aren’t they moving?’

Myeonghu, who had expected the Kraken to show some kind of movement, was slightly flustered when they didn’t move. It was a completely unexpected reaction.

‘Is it because Atakshya hasn’t given an order?’

Suddenly, the time with Letos came to mind. Back then, Letos also hadn’t moved without Ataksa’s command. It had merely crouched defensively. Myeonghu wondered if the Kraken’s current inaction was also due to lacking Ataksa’s order, and he thrust his fist toward the third leg.

CRASH!

-Gulp..!

[Paraden: You have defeated Hollard’s third leg.]

[Fame increased by 100,000.]

[Level Up!]

Having blown away the third leg, Myeong-hu moved toward the fourth leg and thought.

‘Why is Atakshya acting like that?’

Atakshya stared blankly at the castle. Why was she staring blankly at the castle? Myeonghu, unaware of Atakshya’s thoughts, couldn’t understand her state.

BOOM!

[Paraden: You have defeated Hollard’s fourth leg.]

[Reputation increased by 100,000.]

[Level Up!]

Myeonghu arrived at the fourth leg, delivered a punch to it, and headed for the next leg upon seeing the defeat message. Fortunately, the fifth leg wasn’t too far from the fourth. Myeonghu soon reached the fifth leg and immediately threw a punch.

Boom!

[Paraden: Defeated Hollard’s final leg.]

[Reputation increased by 100,000.]

[Level Up!]

[Paraden: All of Hollard’s legs have been defeated.]

[Paraden: You can now attack Holard’s main body.]

After attacking the fifth leg, he saw the defeat message, just as he had when defeating the previous legs. However, this message differed from the ones that had appeared before.

“…Huh?”

Seeing the message, Myeong-hu felt a bit flustered.

‘Last leg? Eliminate all legs?’

He had defeated the fifth leg. Yet the last leg, all legs. The message clearly stated that.

‘Was five the end?’

Myeong-hu had naturally assumed there would be eight legs. But judging by the message, that didn’t seem to be the case. With a flustered expression, Myeong-hu checked the number of legs on the nearby Kraken.

“…They’re all different.”

The number of legs varied wildly, from a minimum of four to a maximum of ten.

Swish

After checking the number of legs on the krakens, Myeong-hu turned his head to look at Hollard, now reduced to just its main body.

-Hoo, hoorok.

Hearing Myeong-hu’s gaze, Hollard let out a cry filled with pain and panic. Listening to Hollard’s cry, Myeong-hu approached the main body, swung his fist, and opened his mouth.

“One strike!”

Like Hollard, the main body of Lamper, a separable monster, didn’t die in one hit. But what about a strike dealing double damage? Even if Hollard had higher vitality than Lamper, it would die in one hit.

CRASH!

-Hooray!

[Paraden: You have defeated Holard.]

[Fame increased by 200,000.]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

As Myeonghu had anticipated, Hollard died with a death rattle after being struck by a single blow.

Swish

After reading the message, Myeonghu quickly scanned his surroundings. He was looking for dropped items.

‘Suction cups, meat…’

The first things to catch his eye were the Kraken’s sucker and the meat. Myeong-hu hesitated for a moment, looking at them. Both were unique-grade items, but he felt a bit pressed for time to pick them up.

‘Just pick them up.’

His hesitation didn’t last long. He’d decided to kill the Kraken first for the items anyway. Myeong-hu opened his inventory, moved quickly, picked up the sucker and meat, and began collecting the other dropped items.

[You have acquired the Kraken’s Suction Cup.]

[You have acquired Kraken Meat.]

[Acquired Kraken Meat.]

[Acquired Kraken Essence.]

[Acquired Kraken’s Magic Stone.]

“…Lucky!”

Myeong-hu, who had been collecting every dropped item in sight, smiled at the item that came into view. Not far away, a helmet lay on the ground. Myeong-hu quickly ran over, picked up the helmet, and placed it in his inventory.

[Paraden: You have acquired Hollard’s Helmet.]

‘Great!’

I was worried it might not be a set item, but luckily the dropped helmet was part of the set.

Swish swish

Myeong-hu looked around with a satisfied smile, checking if any more items had dropped. No more items were visible. Confirming there were none, Myeong-hu turned his head to look at the Kraken and set his next target.

‘Let’s take that one.’

The Kraken he targeted this time was also the closest one. It had deep black skin and seemed far from reflective.

[Atakshya’s fury sweeps in.]

It was right then.

“…?”

A message suddenly appeared. Seeing it, Myeong-hu turned his head with a puzzled expression and looked at Ataksa.

‘Did she snap out of it…’

Ataksa, who had been staring blankly at the castle, was no longer looking at it. He was glaring at Myeonghu with eyes filled with rage.

Swish swish swish

That wasn’t all. Around Ataksa, the ice spears he had seen before were forming at an incredible speed.

Swish

Realizing there was no time to just stand and watch, Myeonghu turned his head and began charging toward his target, the Kraken.

‘The ice spears aren’t a problem.’

Ice spears. Before obtaining Bartsach’s token, the agonizingly slow movement speed might have driven him mad with frustration.

But now that he had the token, it was a different story. Myeonghu was now immune to movement speed reduction debuffs. That meant he only had to watch out for damage.

-Slurp, slurp, brothers, let’s go!

-Hooray for Horrod’s revenge!

Minghu, who had been smiling contentedly while thinking about the token’s effect, frowned at the voices of the Kraken reaching his ears.

“…Those bastards are moving too.”

Was it because Atakshya had moved? The Kraken, who had been quietly observing the situation, began to stir. Myeonghu opened his mouth, seeing the Kraken approaching him and the countless thousand captains, hundred captains, and monstrous octopuses behind them.

“Blood Wave.”

============================ Afterword ============================

It’s only been three days, but I’m feeling good about the daily serialization. Hehe.

Hope you have a great weekend.