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Chapter 184 - To the Elves\' Sanctuary (1)

[Whooooosh!]

A giant octopus in the sea flailed its tentacles.

The sea trembled at the mere movement of its legs, causing violent waves to surge above.

This octopus was known as the Kraken.

For ages, it was one of the reasons people feared sailing the seas.

To subdue it, dozens of ships needed to collide with it, and even then, they often failed.

The Kraken was a calamity in the form of a living creature, one of the apex predators ruling the sea.

And now, such a Kraken was desperately fleeing.

It kicked the ground with its eight legs, rushing forward.

The sight of the mighty apex predator Kraken fleeing so disgracefully would make anyone doubt their eyes.

But the Kraken was desperate.

A single human was chasing after it.

"Wow! How does it find enough prey to sustain that huge body?"

Ketal marveled.

The Kraken waved its legs as if to shoo Ketal away.

One of the octopus\'s massive legs struck Ketal directly.

Boom!

A tremendous shockwave reverberated.

However, instead of being blown away, Ketal grabbed the Kraken\'s leg and swung it.

The Kraken\'s body floated in the air before crashing down again.

Boom!

The Kraken screamed.

Its small eyes, disproportionate to its size, quivered.

Ketal laughed heartily.

"To think I\'d encounter a Kraken! What luck!"

Ketal had been staying in the city of mermaids and had gone for a walk in the nearby sea.

During the walk, he inadvertently entered the Kraken\'s territory.

Naturally, the Kraken rushed at Ketal to devour him.

The Kraken had plenty of experience eating humans.

To it, humans were arrogant creatures who dared to come to the sea despite not being able to swim.

It would often smash ships and swallow the humans whole when bored.

Upon spotting Ketal, the Kraken thought he was another drifting human and approached.

And that was the greatest mistake of the Kraken\'s life.

Realizing something was wrong, the Kraken tried to flee, but the human showed no signs of letting it go.

No matter how it ran, the human persistently followed.

"Stop it!"

The Kraken screamed, shaking its legs.

Ketal grabbed it and slammed it down again.

"Whoooosh!"

The Kraken charged, forced by its desperate circumstances.

Ketal opened his arms as if welcoming it.

* * *

"I caught a Kraken."

"..."

Ketal dragged the Kraken\'s corpse.

Kukulitain, who was on guard, stood with his mouth agape.

"...What?"

"It suddenly attacked me, so I caught it."

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

"..."

Ketal had left the city for a walk less than two hours ago.

This meant he had caught the Kraken within that short period.

Kukulitain looked at the Kraken\'s corpse with a dumbfounded expression.

It was one of the apex predators among sea creatures.

Even the strongest mermaids found it challenging to confront.

Moreover, judging by its size, it wasn\'t a baby but a fully grown Kraken.

Kukulitain snapped out of his stupor and quickly regained his composure.

"Thank you. It had established its territory near the city and posed a threat."

The Kraken was incredibly useful.

Its massive body provided a vast amount of food.

For mermaids struggling with food supplies, this was a great boon.

The mermaids who saw the Kraken\'s corpse were astonished.

They whispered in awe as they looked at Ketal.

"He caught a Kraken without a scratch..."

"Are barbarians that strong?"

"No, it\'s not that. That person is special."

The mermaids began to dismantle the Kraken\'s corpse.

Ketal watched the scene with joy.

And that night,

Ketal put a piece of boiled Kraken leg into his mouth.

The taste was similar to regular octopus but much tougher and harder.

It felt like eating dried squid.

‘So this is what Kraken tastes like.’

He had seen the giant sea monster firsthand and even tasted it.

Ketal was very pleased.

Compared to its size, the monkeys were also huge, but they were merely creatures of the Forbidden Land.

They weren\'t as intriguing since they lacked distinctiveness like Nano.

‘Still, they\'re more interesting than the things in the White Snowfield.’

The worst was undoubtedly the White Snowfield.

Ketal squinted his eyes.

The White One had left the White Snowfield and was now residing in the deep sea where primates lived.

It had been at least a month since then.

This meant the monsters from the White Snowfield could come out.

However, the world was still relatively peaceful.

Given that they weren\'t the type to stay still, they were likely still in the White Snowfield.

‘Could there still be some restriction?’

But eventually, the White One appeared outside.

This meant the monsters from that place could come out.

"Hmm."

Ketal chewed on the octopus while thinking.

\'...Is it because of me?\'

He had cleared a quest to leave the White Snowfield.

At that time, he didn\'t pay much attention.

He was obsessed with the fact that clearing the quest would allow him to enter the fantasy world he longed for, so he didn\'t care about anything else.

He smashed through anything that stood in his way and completed the quest.

At the end of it, he emerged outside.

And around the same time, creatures from the Forbidden Land began to emerge into the outside world.

Previously, he thought it had nothing to do with him, but now his thoughts had slightly changed.

[The halted wheel has begun to turn again! Monster! Your wish will be fulfilled in the end through distortion!]

This was what was said to him by the creature he defeated when he cleared the final quest.

It said that the halted wheel had begun to turn again.

It meant that something that was wrong had been corrected.

\'Does that mean it\'s right for the creatures of the Forbidden Lands to come outside?\'

If so, then were the creatures coming out because he cleared the quest?

Or did he just happen to be involved in a world that was destined for this?

There was not enough information.

It was difficult to understand the sequence of events.

He didn\'t have a complete understanding of the Forbidden Lands either.

If there was such an existence, it would be one.

Ketal stared into the void.

[788th quest completed.]

[A reward will be given.]

A quest completion window.

It was now clear.

The quests only appeared when related to the Forbidden Lands.

And this quest had a perfect understanding of the situation.

The first quest appeared when he heard from Aquaz that primates were appearing in the deep sea.

So, he thought the quest was telling him to deal with the monkeys.

But even after exterminating the monkeys, the quest completion window did not appear.

It was completed only after he killed the White One.

This meant that the quest knew from the beginning that the White One was residing in the deep sea.

After a moment of contemplation, Ketal cleared his mind.

\'I don\'t know.\'

One lesson he learned from living in the White Snowfield for a long time.

Overthinking can actually narrow your perspective.

There was too little information to make deductions.

Worrying in such a situation would only lead to getting bogged down.

What he had to do hadn\'t changed since he first came into this world.

Enjoy the fantasy.

And, destroy anything that hinders it.

That was all.

Ketal savored the taste of the boiled Kraken.

* * *

It had been about a week since Ketal stayed in the mermaid city.

The mermaids had become so accustomed to him that they joked around with him.

And Ketal was getting bored.

The sea was beautiful, but the scenery was always the same.

The mermaids, too, seemed less special after seeing them every day for a week.

\'Maybe it\'s time to go somewhere else.\'

The city\'s restoration was almost complete.

Around the time he was contemplating moving, Kukulitain approached with a cautious expression.

"Uh... Ketal. We did our best with the processing you requested, but...."

"It didn\'t work out, huh?"

"No. I\'m sorry."

Kukulitan handed Ketal the white leather and claws with an apologetic look.

They were the White One\'s leather and claws.

Ketal had asked the mermaids to process them, but they were in the same state as when he handed them over.

"Was it completely impossible?"

"Yes. What exactly is this?"

Even with their full effort, they couldn\'t cut the leather or file the claws.

Naturally, processing was out of the question.

If it was a catalyst imbued with mystery, it could be understood, but it wasn\'t.

Its sheer hardness was absurdly high.

It was puzzling how a living creature could have such toughness.

"It\'s like something out of a legend, like dragon scales. We can\'t process this. No mermaid can. You might need to meet a dwarf."

"A dwarf?"

Ketal\'s face lit up with interest.

Dwarves were one of the quintessential fantasy races, just like elves.

"Do they exist here too?"

"Yes. It\'s quite a distance from here, though. Would you like an introduction? We have a good relationship, so if you mention my name, they\'ll help you."

"Please do."

Ketal smiled broadly as he listened to Kukulitain describe the location of the dwarven village.

Kukulitain continued.

"But it might be difficult right now. They\'ve also had some issues recently and are not allowing outsiders in."

"Hmm? Have you met them?"

"No. Ah, I guess you wouldn\'t know. We have a way of connecting with other races."

Although mermaids were sea creatures, they had much interaction with the surface.

They had deep relationships with other races.

Since humans dominated the land, different races needed to exchange information.

Thus, they had established connections with elves and dwarves.

Ketal listened with an intrigued expression.

“I see.”

“Yes, so we received the news... but the last message mentioned that they might not be reachable for a while. It seems it\'s not just us having problems. Even the elves\' sanctuary seems to be in trouble.”

“Trouble?”

Kukulitan sighed as he spoke.

“It appears that the Cradle of Darkness is attacking the elves\' sanctuary.”

Ketal paused.

“The Cradle of Darkness, you mean the group of dark magicians?”

“Yes, they are said to be besieging and attacking the elves\' sanctuary. Who knows what will happen to the world.”

“I see.”

Ketal smiled curiously.

“It seems they might need help.”

“Pardon? Oh, no. They’ll be fine.”

Kukulitan shook his head hastily.

“The dark magicians alone can’t cause any serious harm to the elves\' sanctuary. And above all, the sanctuary has a protector.”

“A superhuman-level top-tier warrior?”

“No.”

Kukulitan replied.

“The High Elf Queen. The only one contracted with the Spirit King. She’s of hero class.”

“…Oh.”

“As long as she’s guarding it, dark magicians won’t be able to set foot in the sanctuary. So, Ketal, you don’t need to worry….”

Kukulitan trailed off.

“…Ketal?”

Ketal’s face showed even greater interest.

“I see. No need to worry. But if someone offers help, they’d likely appreciate it.”

“Well, yes, but….”

‘…Huh?’

Kukulitan sensed something odd.

He was telling Ketal that the elves\' sanctuary didn’t really need help.

But the more he spoke, the more Ketal seemed interested in the sanctuary.