“……”
Parang’s stomach churned.
The scene she had just witnessed still vividly replayed in her mind.
What on earth was that a moment ago?
Why does such a thing exist?
A million questions sprang forth from within, yet none could escape her lips.
Everyone else was probably in a similar state.
Gathering her breath, Parang finally spoke in a trembling voice.
“…Wait, let’s take a break for a moment.”
For a brief while, no one could say a word.
As if they had all agreed, everyone clutched their foreheads and grimaced.
Xiao huddled down, burying her head and shivering.
Being the one who cast the skill must have weighed heavily on her compared to Parang or the others from Oceanos.
Elvira approached Xiao and gently stroked her.
Having a good mental state was crucial in Oceanos.
“It seems we can’t have a meeting right here. Let’s move her to a place where she can stabilize, then we can talk afterward. Going to my house should be fine.”
Everyone agreed with that suggestion.
“And what should we do about this…?”
Parang said while looking at Kang Yuri’s corpse.
Normally, they would need to pass her to the Silo, waiting on the surface, but doing so now would mean too much risk.
How could they even know what state Kang Yuri’s body was in?
Given that the dive time was 40 minutes, expecting her body to be in one piece after encountering such a being was madness.
“…Let’s temporarily leave her in the sea near my house. It’s a remote area, so it should be fine.”
Elvira responded.
It was a somewhat reasonable statement.
Elvira’s house was not just any ‘remote area.’
After all, that spot wasn’t meant for people to live.
It was the place with the least potential damage due to Kang Yuri’s corpse.
Because it was a ridiculously cold region, the decomposition of the body would be delayed to some extent.
Above all, it was close. Just about a 20-minute swim.
Thus, everyone agreed to head to Elvira’s house.
After thinking it over, they couldn’t come up with any other solid options.
And making sure Xiao gets stable quickly was, above all, crucial. The shock seemed quite heavy.
Once they reported the situation to the Silo, they received a response that they understood.
They knew very well that if Oceanos said it was dangerous, it truly was.
It would be nice if everyone in the world knew the same.
And so, Uelkal. Located at the farthest extremity of Siberia. Adjacent to the Arctic Ocean, it is an extreme wilderness, perpetually frozen and snowy.
And there, in the ocean before it, Oceanos appeared with a corpse.
The wording might sound a bit strange, but anyway.
“Diego, you stay inside with her. Vertea, keep an eye on her condition nearby. And…”
Elvira skillfully assigned roles. Usually, she was a total mess, but at times like this, she was really reliable.
Soon, Diego emerged from the water with Xiao and a gigantic metal tube and thick chains, sealing Kang Yuri’s body temporarily before they could gather at Elvira’s residence.
“…No matter how many times I come here, I can’t get used to it.”
Parang said as she descended the metal ladder.
Elvira’s house was a bunker. They dug deep into the frozen ground to construct an incredibly spacious bunker inside.
Money can do anything. Especially in a hunter world.
The atmosphere inside the bunker was overall dreary. It resembled an emergency shelter straight out of a disaster movie.
This was the result of Elvira’s taste being heavily reflected.
Parang had a lot to say each time she stepped in, but she held back for now.
This wasn’t the time for it.
Now somewhat accustomed to the structure of the bunker, she skillfully navigated through the winding passages and arrived at the bedroom.
Inside lay Xiao on a cozy-looking bed, with Vertea nestled beside her, checking on her state.
“…How is she?”
“No special abnormalities are visible in her body. She’ll be fine after a good sleep. We should monitor her progress, just in case.”
“Phew… got it.”
And so, some time passed.
The four remaining members gathered in the living room, excluding Xiao and Vertea.
Once again, it was Parang who broke the silence first.
“Does anyone have an idea about what this is?”
A heavy silence loomed over the room. She didn’t expect an answer; she just asked.
Parang opened her mouth with a trembling voice.
“Actually, I… felt it. I’m sure.”
What it was, where it came from, why it’s on Earth—she knew nothing, but there was one thing she was certain of.
“That thing is somehow related to the Kraken.”
“What…!”
The members of Oceanos, who had been exchanging complicated expressions, turned to stare at Parang in shock.
It was a name that no one could have ever imagined would come up here.
But it was true. If someone asked how she could state it so confidently, well, to be honest, it was just a feeling.
“What? Does that even make sense? How can you just say that based on a feeling…?”
“No, hear me out. It’s not just a simple feeling. It’s something closer to an essential perception.”
Every time Parang summoned the Kraken using her skill, she felt a peculiar sensation.
A feeling where her chest felt stuffy, her heart raced, and it was as if something was tightly packed inside her and then suddenly vanished.
However, it was overwhelmingly shallow, momentary, and subtle, so even Parang couldn’t realize it for the first few years.
After Alice left, she began to realize it as she swept away every monster fish across the globe.
And looking at the eye from Kang Yuri’s memory, Parang felt an incredibly strong similarity.
“I’m sure. They were the same kind of feeling. It was just overwhelmingly powerful coming from that… eye.”
To put it metaphorically, summoning the Kraken felt like gazing at a candle, while looking into that eye felt like walking into a blaze.
“What? So you’re saying that’s the Kraken?”
“No, that’s not it. I’m sure. That entity is linked to the Kraken, but it’s not the Kraken itself.”
“How are you so sure?”
“…”
Parang couldn’t easily answer that question.
If she had to dig for an answer, once again, it was ‘the feeling.’
It was far too intense and clear to merely be dismissed as a feeling, yet still, it was nothing beyond a feeling.
As Parang struggled to find her words, Russell stepped in.
“Well, we can’t doubt Parang, especially regarding the Kraken. I won’t question you. But I’d like a more detailed explanation. If that eye isn’t from the Kraken, then what kind of relationship does it have? Like a friend of the Kraken, or an enemy, something like that.”
“…Honestly, I don’t know that well either. One encounter isn’t enough. But…”
Parang trailed off, unable to suggest another dive.
Everyone nodded solemnly, as if understanding.
“Alright. Let us know if anything else comes to mind. And now, the fundamental question.”
Elvira’s eyes sharpened momentarily.
“…How can we defeat it?”
“…Well.”
Parang scratched her chin.
If she were to place herself in front of that eye right now, what would the odds of winning be?
‘Probably around average.’
At most, 50%. A coin toss.
In fact, that’s still a pretty high probability.
Against a being that obliterated the Slayers, a 50% chance of winning was immense.
The problem was what that 50% meant.
It didn’t imply that Parang and that presence were evenly matched; rather, it was closer to a simple coin flip.
That was the nature of Parang’s skill.
[You have an overwhelming advantage against all creatures in the sea.]
If it’s merely a creature, without questions or conditions, Parang would have an overwhelming advantage.
So, she would win.
If it were not a creature, then obviously, it would be a slaughter.
And the probability of that eye being considered a ‘creature’ by the status screen is objectively low.
Who in the world would see that and think it’s a living organism with cells?
Bringing it up to a 50% probability was only because the status screen referred to it as ‘alive.’
Without that, Parang would have rated her chances of winning well below 1%.
She also had to consider the possibility that even if it were a living organism, the status screen’s statement wouldn’t apply.
“Applying pressure on the status screen; I’ve never…….”
Never seen, heard, or experienced anything like that in my life.
It means that it could ignore the overwhelming advantage and just push forward.
In short, it’s a gamble.
And Parang was a little too timid to gamble the fate of the world.
Parang wanted to make the odds 100% if possible.
If Oceanos fell, there would be truly no one left.
Coexisting with that monstrosity on Earth wasn’t an option to begin with.
In a situation where everything was uncertain, one obvious fact remained.
Both Oceanos and Parang needed preparation.
Very meticulous preparation for a battle that could determine the fate of the world.
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