Chapter 3: The Kraken

“Chief!”
The mortal sailors screamed as they too slid into the water.

“Retreat! Retreat to the shore!”
The human commander, floating on the water’s surface, spat out another mouthful of congested blood and ordered, “Bring the merchant ships together! Quickly!”

On the turbulent sea, Harpies dove onto the ships once more, but even more terrifyingly, the giant sea monster continued its ramming attacks.

Li Ruoyi and Rhein regrouped.
Facing the frantically fleeing mortals and lacking the assistance of the sea monster’s momentum, the Harpies circled and shrieked without immediately pouncing.

Instead, they returned to the shoulders of the giant monster in the sea, preening their feathers and cleaning the blood from their talons.

“These shouldn’t be natural flora or fauna, right?”
Li Ruoyi marveled at these monsters he had never seen before.
“Have I been resurrected into a new world?”

“The world has changed a lot in these ten years; originally, their numbers were small enough that mortals wouldn’t notice them.”
Rhein removed her white gloves, revealing the magic crests on her hands.
“The oversized ones were slumbering in the corners of the world, but now they have all awakened to hunt.”

Another roar echoed as towering waves submerged the entire pier.

The sea giant roared as it rose, its monster-like upper body resting its front claws upon the dock while countless tentacles behind it lashed out, coiling around the fragmented remains of ships.

The piercing roar made even the Combat Mage Regiment behind Rhein lose their footing.

“Ah, it’s a Kraken,” Brand remarked, approaching Rhein with a flask of strong liquor.
“The Kraken of the North Sea truly lives up to its reputation.”

“Fire!”
The horn blared from the lighthouse on the shore.
Spears and bullets rained down with a thudding sound, but they were unable to pierce the Kraken’s sturdy scales at all.
Even those that did manage to stick in couldn’t penetrate deep enough, only serving to infuriate the sea monster into charging.

The entire dock was smashed by the massive waves.

“Don’t! Make the residents pull back! Kraul, run!”
Rhein screamed at the human commander atop the lighthouse, but amidst the earth-shaking roars and sharp lightning, there was no way he could hear her.

After another blast of the horn, the entire lighthouse was pushed over like a toy by the giant beast and swallowed by the waves.

“If Greina were here, perhaps they wouldn’t have died!”
Rhein watched the crowd being submerged by the waves and struck the ground with her fist, tears of regret falling.

“Why do you care about the lives of those mortals? Aren’t you a magician?”

“In the end, aren’t we still human?!”
Rhein grabbed Li Ruoyi by his collar but immediately loosened her grip.
“They already have a difficult enough time living in this apocalypse; I don’t want to abandon them just because of a mage’s pretentiousness!”

Li Ruoyi felt as if he had heard an unbelievable sentiment, yet he smiled.

At least in the nineteen years before his death, he had never seen a magician as humane as this girl.

‘I suppose I will respond to her request,’ Li Ruoyi thought, even if he wasn’t her Human King.

“Leave it to me.”
Those four simple words from Li Ruoyi’s mouth acted like a shot of adrenaline in the hearts of everyone present.

Rhein looked up at the youth before her—the Human King wrapped in black.

In the next second, the King in Black was already in front of the giant monster, standing on a heavily damaged merchant ship.
Boom!

The moment the bronze anchor collided with the sea monster’s head, it produced the sound of clashing metal and stone, followed by the beast’s first genuine scream of agony.

Those floating on the sea saw the bronze anchor snap into two while the sea monster’s head became a mangled mess of flesh and blood.
Though this was already a significant victory, Li Ruoyi did not retreat at all.
He leapt directly in front of the Kraken’s mangled head, his large black eyes staring at the massive beast before him.

With just one punch, a massive burst of black blood exploded in the monster’s eye.
The strike went straight for the brain, knocking the sea monster over.

“What incredible strength!”
Brand marveled, tossing his wine flask.
“But, little Human King brother, I suggest you take cover!”

Li Ruoyi dodged to create distance.
Having lost its sight and sense of balance, the sea monster roared in fury, defenseless against external attacks.
On the shore, Brand had already prepared a magic array, and as the wine bottle exploded against the beast, towering flames erupted.

The fire scorched the beast’s skin with violent crackling sounds, turning its originally dark hide a burning red.

Rhein traced several runes in the air.
Assisting Li Ruoyi’s resurrection had consumed a vast amount of her mana, so she could now only rely on the World Foundation itself to cast Runes which required less energy.
Countless spear-like bolts of lightning pierced through the dark clouds, pinning the beast’s front limbs and rear tentacles in place.

Li Ruoyi swung his giant scythe around him and took a sudden leap from the broken ship, which shattered into fragments from the massive impact.

Carried by black magical light, the scythe grew larger and larger, appearing unstoppable under Li Ruoyi’s immense strength as it reduced the sea monsters and Harpies in its path to shreds.

As if sensing the approaching danger, the beast roared fiercely, struggling frantically with the parts of its body it could still move.
But the more it exerted itself, the deeper the lightning piercing its body sank, until it let out a final howl.

The beast’s head was cleanly severed by the giant scythe in Li Ruoyi’s hands.

Much like the twitching muscles of a freshly killed frog, the beast’s numerous tentacles suddenly surged upward, breaking free from the lightning restraints.
The monster brought its massive bulk down toward Rhein and the others on the shore—a final deathbed struggle before falling into the underworld.

Facing the mountain of flesh crashing down upon him, Li Ruoyi’s gaze shifted.

His black pupils turned gold.

Black patterns transformed into waves extending to the corners of his eyes.
With a single glance, the beast’s terminal surge of life vanished as its body turned into a pile of ash, scattering into the sea.

“The Eyes of Life and Death certainly live up to their name; even in its death throes, he could turn such a large monster into ash!”
Brand sat perched on a nearby container, watching the floating Li Ruoyi with great interest.

“I didn’t expect this fellow to have such deep connections with the most mysterious organization in the East,” Brand muttered to himself.
“His silhouette reminds me of an old friend… oh well, I’ve certainly picked up a treasure this time~”

“Victory!”
Cheers erupted from the survivors on the sea and the shore.
Seeing the sea monsters wiped out and even the Kraken defeated, the remaining Harpies lost all will to fight and fled.

By this time, the water level at Wilhelmshaven had returned to normal, though the entire dock remained in a state of paralysis.
As Li Ruoyi landed back on the ground and stepped onto the port through the debris of the great battle, the clouds broke.
The first ray of dawn shone directly upon him, making him look like a celestial being.

Nearly everyone on the island, having seen Li Ruoyi slay the sea monsters with his bare hands to save them, felt a spontaneous sense of awe toward this King in Black.
Some knelt in silent prayer, while others spread their arms and cried out, “Great King in Black, your bravery is like the rising sun, may the gods protect you.”

Two children also stepped forward, clutching Li Ruoyi’s hands and saying, “Thank you, big brother in black!”
Seeing their innocent smiles, he felt the warmth of humanity from the bottom of his heart—the last and softest piece of his core as a human being.

Li Ruoyi repeatedly took simple, deep breaths.
The preceding combat had drained a fair amount of his stamina.
Through those eyes, he already understood that in this era, accidental death due to monsters was nothing surprising—it was even expected.

Where would those cold and arrogant magicians ever care about the lives of mortals?

After all, magicians are just a group of people who live only for themselves!

It was the same regardless of the era.
Li Ruoyi looked toward the distant horizon where the sea met the sky and slowly closed his eyes.