Chapter 231: The Arctic Sea Monster 3

“Keuk..!”

Amaterasu’s clan leader, Ryosuke, couldn’t make sense of the reality in front of him.

When the sea monster appeared, he gathered his subordinates to organize an attack plan, but a young man suddenly came out of nowhere and wiped out everyone and everything in the blink of an eye.

For the Amaterasu Clan, which was proud to belong to the upper-middle-class amongst all clans, this one-sided defeat was shameful.

“Do you admit defeat, Matsuda Ryosuke?”

“..”

Ryosuke’s complexion turned blue when Woohyuk held Grandia up to his neck.

He had survived by doing any and everything, so he felt at a loss to meet his end in such an embarrassing way. He knew that he was at his prime, so he had to cling on no matter what.

‘I have to survive somehow,’ he thought to himself.

He didn’t have it easy from the beginning.

In the tutorial area, he served as a general under another leader, and after he moved to the Eeth Continent, he was almost killed when he got caught up in the war among the large clans.

He believed that if he could just survive and overcome this moment, he’d be able to rise up again.

When his thoughts reached this point, Ryosuke abandoned his pride as a clan leader and spoke up,

“Your sword skills are great. My subordinates have gone through many trials, tribulations, and battles, but for them to be overpowered like this.. even if one were to call you a Sword God, it wouldn’t do you justice.”

“.. It seems that you’ve realized your level and situation.”

Woohyuk put Grandia back into its scabbard and sat down in Ryosuke’s luxurious chair.

Then, from the entrance, Helena and Roan entered the room atop the snow lion.

“I took care of all the guys outside. Well, all I did was use a magic spell to put them all to sleep.”

“Good job, Helena.”

Helena was both a Saintess and an outstanding Sage Class mage.

It wasn’t difficult for her to deal with the general clansmen.

There was no need for Roan, who’d probably cause larger trouble to break out, to act.

“Then, let’s listen to the story.”

A sea monster threatening the Northern Sea.

It was something he had never heard of before.

When Woohyuk asked for an explanation, Ryosuke, who was lying flat on the ground, raised his head to speak,

“I-It hasn’t been long since the sea monster started attacking the island’s coast.”

The sea monster looked like a mix between a sea snake and whale, and it used wide area-of-effect magic.

The monster’s two pumpkin-like eyes froze those who looked at it, and the dark blue scales leaked out a poison that was strong enough to stop one’s heart if one was unfortunate to touch it.

If such a monster was only threatening at sea, it would be okay, however..

“The wide area-of-effect magic affects even the inner island?”

“Yes, unfortunately, if you fall under the spell, your whole body slowly freezes, starting from the sole of your feet, and eventually you’ll die. However, the larger problem comes after that.”

Ryosuke further explained that the corpses became undead and attacked their surroundings at random.

So, the Amaterasu Clan was about to minimize the damage by burning alive those who were cursed.

“Hmm. It’s a very troublesome monster. I’ll have to stop by this place again, later on, so I should just get rid of it now,” Woohyuk murmured to himself.

“D-Do you intend to kill it right now? With your level of swordsmanship, you’d definitely be able to contend against it, but..” Ryosuke said with a trailing voice.

Ryosuke was afraid that, for Woohyuk’s plan to work, his clan members were probably going to be used as meat shield fodder.

Just as he thought..

“We’ll have to lure the sea monster to the shore. To do that, I’ll need some of your guys to act bait.”

“..”

“Ryosuke, you can supply the manpower, right?”

“O-Of c-course. Ha..haha..”

Ryosuke laughed brilliantly while sweating profusely.

For him, options didn’t exist from the start.

***

A biting blizzard fell upon the island.

On the decks of large and small ships afloat in the sea, a heavy sense of fear was flowing amongst the crew.

‘Ah.. even I was mobilized as fodder..’

Ryosuke resented his situation, but there was nothing he could do but resign himself to his fate. He double-checked his preparations.

There was a large harpoon loaded with magical power, a bucket of shredded fish, and a guardian stone statue, which created a defensive barrier against the monster’s poison.

Even though all were in good condition, his anxiousness didn’t disappear.

Usually, when the sea monster appeared, they only attacked from long range from land and expelled the monster, as they were defending themselves from it. They had never tried to lure it out, especially while they were at sea.

However, since it was Woohyuk’s order, Ryosuke had to play a decoy role, even if he hated it.

“C-Clan Chief. How about we just run away? Even if we defeat the sea monster, it’s unlikely that he’ll treat us well.”

“Yes. Let’s go to a corner of the world where the influence of large clans doesn’t reach and start anew..”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Ryosuke screamed out ss the clan members silently clamored.

It wasn’t his choice to live in such a harsh environment.

The reality was that the entire Eeth Continent, and the world for that matter, was hell itself.

The competition between human beings was fierce. Furthermore, the 72 Demon Kings and the Seven Witches of Sin didn’t leave humanity alone either.

‘It’s difficult to stay alive myself, but you’re asking me to challenge for a seat on the Divine Thrones..? Bullshit.’

Ryosuke cynically recalled the contents of the quests he had recently received from the system.

How many humans were there who could win a one-on-one with any of the 72 Demon Kings on the Eeth Continent?

Though he didn’t consider himself insignificant, Ryosuke could tell the difference between the possible and impossible.

“Do you all think we can live better lives if we go elsewhere? We only came to this place after being pushed around by other forces. Keep in mind that if we give up here, there’s no future for our clan! If there is someone who refuses to accept this and wants to protest or run away, I’ll cut his neck with my bare hands!”

“Y-Y-Yes, sir!”

“We will fight to the death!” the Amaterasu clansmen shouted out as if they had made up their minds.

Not long after, a white, hazy object rose from a distance, revealing the appearance of the sea monster with maddened eyes.

“Ki-Yaahahahahahah!”

At the same time, the seawater around them started to freeze.

Ryosuke urgently shouted at his clan members,

“Come on, come on, go to the shore! Keep in mind that our mission is simply to be bait!”

“Yes, yes!”

If they moved slowly, they would freeze and die.

Of course, they could abandon the ship and try escaping by water, but then they wouldn’t receive the protection of the guardian statue. Thus, one would be struck by poison before reaching land.

When Ryosuke’s ship started moving at full speed towards the coast, the other ships followed suit.

Kwa-Deu-Deuk!

Due to their haphazard forward movement, many of the ships were wrecked by icebergs in the water or frozen by the sea monster’s breath.

“Clan Chief, the sea monster is gaining on us!”

“If we continue like this, it’ll definitely catch up in a couple of minutes!”

“Keuk..!”

Ryosuke clenched his teeth in anger and frustration.

The coastline was right in front of him. He could almost touch it.

However, the ship couldn’t move as fast as they wanted. The shadows of death were gradually falling upon them from behind.

One of the impatient Clan members picked up the large harpoon launcher and put it on his shoulder. He fired it at the sea monster.

Pew!

A large harpoon flew through the air before striking the sea monster’s lower body.

historical

After being struck by the harpoon, the sea monster cried out in anger, shaking its entire surrounding.

“Kuo-Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh!”

The harpoon attack made the sea monster go crazy.

Ryosuke looked at the impatient clansmen who shot the large harpoon as if he was ridiculous,

“Crazy asshole! Why did you use the harpoon!?”

“S-Sorry, sir! I thought his movements would dull if he was injured!”

The clansman fell on the deck, crying.

As Ryosuke stood speechless,

Plop.

A sea creature popped up right next to Ryosuke’s ship and boarded the deck.

The clan members who saw the appearance of this foreign sea creature were immediately frightened and started pointing their weapons at it.

“I-It’s the sea monster’s servant!”

“Kill it quickly!”

Sea monsters were elite monsters, so if they desired, they could raise hundreds of servants to do their bidding.

As the atmosphere grew even tenser, the sea creature raised its hands and held back the clan members.

“Wait, I’m your ranking superior. If you attack me carelessly, my Master will become angry with you.”

“Master? Are you talking about the person who’s using us as bait?” Ryosuke asked in surprise.

“I can’t believe that a sea creature can speak,” another clansman said.

The identity of the sea creature was Triton.

After he reassured the clan members, he lifted up the Frost Sword, Ranghilt.

‘I’m not sure how much damage I can do since we’re attacking with the same elemental property base, but..’

Triton’s role was to help these clansmen and attract the sea monster as close to the shore as possible.

Eventually, as Triton swung Ranghilt, a spiraling cold force struck the sea monster’s head.

Kwa-Ang!

His attack carried enough frost power to freeze a huge body in an instant.

However, as expected, the sea monster only momentarily froze before releasing itself from the restraints of freezing. It quickly resumed its forward movement.

“Kuo-Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh!”

Its cry seemed angrier and more ferocious than before.

As Triton continued to pour out frost attribute attacks, a Pegasus appeared in the air within the blizzard.

“I think we’re close enough.”

Woohyuk and Helena were riding atop Pegasus.

Roan, who was levitating next to them, started teasing Helena,

“Master, she is sticking her body tightly to you because she’s scared of heights. How about touching her while performing aerial acrobatics, like last time? I can also watch and live vicariously..”

“Shut up, Roan. You must not value your testicles.”

Woohyuk made a scissor cutting motion with his fingers at Roan before bringing his attention back to the sea monster.

It was definitely the first time Woohyuk had seen it.

However, since he had dealt with similar monster types in the past, he didn’t think he would have any particular trouble.

‘To save time, I’ll have to aim for its belly area first.’

The other parts of the monster were covered with solid scales, so it was difficult to attack in any manner outside of a piercing attack.

The problem was that the monster’s belly was located below sea level.

If he had the Nautilus, it would have been possible to attack easily by firing a torpedo, but unfortunately, Debbie Jones was currently guarding the waters of the Erendia Kingdom.

‘It’s a bit much to summon Kraken for such a weak monster..’

Summoning any of the subjugated 72 Demon Kings was also not an ideal solution as the quest had been released worldwide for several days already.

In the end, Woohyuk looked at Roan, who was muttering words to himself,

“Get rid of it.”

“Huh? That guy?”

“Then, do you want me to do it?”

“Oh, no. Hehe..”

Roan opened his arms with his palms upward with a sulking expression on his face.

He then summoned Ragnar and transformed it into a harpoon-shaped weapon, which began to emit a blue aura.

“First, pierce its abdomen and cut out its intestines. Once you do that, it will try to freeze the surrounding sea and lock you in a glacier.”

At that time, if Woohyuk dug deeper inside of the monster and stabbed its heart, the battle could be finished quickly.

After hearing Woohyuk’s explanation, Roan raised his hand and asked a question,

“Hey, Master. Can I have his heart? I’m able to absorb it with my homunculus ability, Gluttony..”

“Do whatever you want.”

Roan couldn’t surpass Woohyuk’s strength just by gaining the powers of a sea monster.

Rather, it would probably benefit Woohyuk and give Roan an opportunity to grow.

With his master’s permission, Roan sped toward the sea monster with an excited expression,

“Die, you evil monster! I’ll catch you and make a nice drink tonight!”

Eventually, with one swift motion, the sea monster’s dying scream rang in the blizzard air.