kscans

Chapter 171 - VS Poseidon

The creature they reeled in during the Salvage was Poseidon, the superior species of the Kraken.

When you think of a Kraken, you imagine a giant squid or octopus, but in this game, it takes the form of a giant octopus with eight legs that wrap around the ship. It tends to target the ship itself rather than the characters, so they have to defeat it before the ship is destroyed.

If the ship breaks, no matter how advantageous their situation, they'll be thrown into the sea and it will be over. It was, in a way, a battle with a time limit. Thanks to Hayato's Woodworking Skill and the lumber they had on board, that time limit was quite generous, but their opponent wasn't a Kraken, it was Poseidon. Their forms were the same, but they were different in many ways.

Maris's pet, Lancelot, was an Elder Griffon, the superior species of the Griffon. Their appearances weren't too different, but their attack power was. Considering that, it was best to assume Poseidon also had high attack power.

But if its fighting style was the same, Hayato's group had the advantage.

Hayato's "Adamantite Knife - Extreme" required an item called Kraken Ink, so he had experience defeating them many times with Ney and the others.

This was their first time facing the superior species, Poseidon, and it was unclear if the same tactics would work. However, Hayato figured that if the opponent had a simple AI, there wouldn't be that much of a difference.

"Ney! Can we fight it the same way as a Kraken!?"

"This is our first time, but let's try fighting it the same way!"

"Got it! In that case, Ney, give everyone the battle plan! Everyone, listen to Ney's instructions!"

When Hayato said that, many of the members, including Ney, let out a war cry. It wasn't the skill "War Cry" that generated hate, just a simple shout, but it served to boost morale.

With their spirits high, Ney issued instructions to the members.

When fighting a Kraken, you start by attacking its legs, the tentacles.

The two legs closest to the bow target the characters, while the remaining six cling to the starboard and port sides, three on each. The first phase is to defeat those six legs.

Kraken legs have HP, but depleting it doesn't defeat them. They are temporarily paralyzed, and after some time, their HP fully recovers and they start attacking the ship again.

However, when all six legs are in a paralyzed state, the Kraken's main body appears in front of the bow. By dealing damage to it, you can eventually win.

If even one leg recovers from paralysis, the Kraken's body submerges back into the sea, so it's necessary to keep the legs constantly paralyzed. To keep the body out of the water for as long as possible, it's more efficient to paralyze all the legs at the same time.

Ney understood this and gave instructions accordingly.

The tanks would block the attacks of the two legs near the bow, while the others would paralyze the six legs as simultaneously as possible. Then, when the body appeared, everyone would go all-out. That was the basic plan.

And with Ney's shout, the plan was put into action.

(I need to repair the ship.)

Hayato's role was to make the ship last as long as possible. He had no combat power, but Hayato was this ship's lifeline, so Relic and Sonia were guarding him.

"Our attack power is low, so we will act as Hayato-sama's shield."

"Those legs can't reach this far, so don't worry. Still, it's not a Kraken, it's Poseidon. We don't know what might happen, so be careful."

"Understood. We will be careful."

Hayato said this and began repairing the ship.

The ship repair wasn't instantaneous like healing magic, but a gradual recovery. So, he started repairing as soon as the durability dropped even a little.

While repairing, Hayato looked around.

The Kokuryu members were attacking the port side tentacles, and the Dragon Busters were attacking the starboard side tentacles. The Black Rose members were split between both sides. The Treasure Hunter Guild members, though their attack power was low, were attacking all over with ranged attacks.

Ney, Rosalie, and Cecil were parrying and dodging the two tentacles near the bow.

And yet, they had enough room to talk.

"Gothic Lolita is strong, huh?"

"'Gothic Lolita' is not my name! I'll beat you down, Collector!"

"You two, play nice. When the body appears, we all attack at once, right? And Esha, I'm counting on you too!"

"Understood, Ney-sama. I will fire Destroy as soon as the body appears, so please be careful not to get caught in the blast."

Esha was a short distance from the bow, kneeling on one knee with her Beelzebub at the ready.

When Poseidon's body appeared, Esha would attack first with Destroy. Then, Ney and the others would charge in. That was the strategy.

(I don't think one Destroy will be enough to defeat it, but it should do a decent amount of damage. After that, it'll take thirty minutes before she can fire again, and the ship won't last that long... I have to count on Ney and the others' attacks.)

"Alright! All-out attack on the tentacles! Paralyze them!"

At Ney's command, the members who had been fighting the tentacles all launched their attacks at once. They had been adjusting the tentacles' HP up until now.

With the simultaneous attack, all six tentacles lost their HP and became paralyzed.

Then, from the sea surface near the bow, Poseidon's body emerged.

In the case of a Kraken, the body is the giant octopus head. But Poseidon was different. The octopus head part was the upper body of an expressionless woman. She was wearing something like a swimsuit over her chest, but she was quite exposed.

Some of the men must have seen that form and found it hard to fight. But right now, the members at the bow were all women.

"Destroy."

An attack that a man might hesitate to make was of no concern to Esha. Even if it had been a handsome man, it wouldn't have made a difference. She fired Destroy as planned.

Poseidon reeled back from the attack, but as expected, it withstood it. And it began to chant a spell.

"This is bad! Everyone, all-out attack! Stop it!"

Ney shouted and charged at Poseidon's body. Cecil and Rosalie followed her.

When a Kraken's body emerges, it doesn't do anything in particular, but Poseidon was different. The female body had both hands and a mouth. It could use magic.

And the spell it was chanting was "Absolute Zero."

It was a wide-range ice attribute spell that meant absolute zero temperature. The casting time was long, and the range was on the smaller side, but this entire ship was within its effective area. And if it went off, they could pretty much assume they would lose.

In a panic, the members approached the bow. But only a few could get close to Poseidon. If they rushed in recklessly, they would just get in Ney's way.

"Moonshadow!"

When Rosalie shouted, several members of the Black Rose cast enhancement magic on her. Hayato guessed this was another code using a rose variety.

Rosalie then used "Madness," enveloping herself in a red-black aura as she began her attack. Rosalie's scythe, "Scream," also had an ability called "Combo Boost," which increased its attack power the more she hit.

Rosalie launched a continuous assault on Poseidon, which was unable to move while casting its spell.

"Ney and Collector, your hands have stopped moving, you know? I'm going to smash this thing, so hurry up and help me!"

"Ooh! Rosalie! You're going to end this now, are you? Alright, I'm in! Everyone! Enhancement magic!"

Ney said this happily and attacked Poseidon's body with her dual swords. She used the weapon skill "Overdrive," which increased the damage multiplier with each dual-wielded attack.

And the members of Kokuryu also cast enhancement magic on Ney. This further increased her attack power.

(So the plan is to defeat it before it finishes casting, rather than trying to stop the chant... Can they do it?)

The magic chant was five minutes. They had to reduce Poseidon's HP by nearly half within that time. It was a close call whether they could do it, but since Ney was fired up, it was better to assume that the plan to stop the chant with knockback or stun was off the table.

It was said that some rare monsters could nullify knockback and stun by a certain probability. It was highly likely that Poseidon was one of them, so the plan to finish it off was not a bad one.

"Hayato! Give me meat, meat! Manga Meat or Dragon Steak!"

Cecil started shouting.

Judging that she was saying this to increase her attack power, Hayato took out the Manga Meat from his item bag.

He had both, but for a short, decisive battle, the Manga Meat, with its shorter duration but greater attack power boost, was the better choice. He passed it to Cecil through a member of the Dragon Busters.

(I'd like Ney and Rosalie-san to eat some too, but it's too difficult now. Attacking is probably better than stopping to eat, in terms of damage.)

Since both of them had setups where their attack power or damage multiplier increased with consecutive attacks, stopping to eat would likely decrease their overall damage.

"Leave the enhancement magic for Cecil-kun to me."

While Cecil was eating, Diite cast enhancement magic. She also started using healing magic on Cecil and the others who had been injured in the fight with the tentacles.

Esha, while drinking Melon Juice, fired a Critical Shot with her Beelzebub, and the members with ranged attacks also started attacking from a distance.

Unfortunately, Hayato, Relic, and Sonia had no means of attack.

"If only I were a few years younger, I could have joined in."

"It's nice to be young, isn't it?"

"You two, please don't start talking like old folks all of a sudden. This is a dangerous situation."

Relic and Sonia were completely in the position of old folks watching the young people. There was no denying that, but they were in the middle of a battle. If Poseidon finished its chant, they would all be wiped out. And yet, for some reason, they were saying this in a heartwarming way.

"Hayato-sama, please rest assured. The attacks of Ney-sama and Rosalie-sama are chipping away a considerable amount of HP. With the addition of Cecil's attack, they will surely finish it off before the chant ends."

Hayato looked at Poseidon's HP bar. It was certainly visibly decreasing, but at this rate, the chant would finish first.

But as Relic said, Cecil began using lance weapon skills. Things like "Spiral," "Aqua Break," and "Kokushi Musou," which increased attack power or damage to aquatic creatures. At this point, the multiplier was already considerable.

Then, Cecil readied the lance on her back, the Trident.

It was an ordinary three-pronged lance that Hayato had made, but its abilities not only increased damage to aquatic creatures but also added a "Lightning" magic attack. The power of that "Lightning" was proportional to the damage dealt. It was truly a weapon made for Cecil.

Cecil took it in hand and assumed a javelin-throwing stance.

"You guys, get back! I'll deliver the final blow!"

At Cecil's shout, Ney and Rosalie stopped their attacks and quickly moved away.

"Vanish, yaaah!"

Cecil threw the Trident she was holding at Poseidon. It was the lance weapon skill "Shooting Star."

The Trident left Cecil's hand and struck Poseidon directly. Immediately after, a giant bolt of lightning fell from the sky onto Poseidon.

As expected, it couldn't withstand this attack. Poseidon's HP bar vanished, and it slowly sank into the sea.

A cheer went up.

"To think they could so easily defeat a superior species of a rare monster. Like I said before, it's nice to be young, isn't it?"

Sonia folded her arms and nodded repeatedly, looking impressed.

"I think the members here are just ridiculously strong, regardless of their age."

"That might be true. But if that's the case, I'm grateful for it. I'd really like to get along with them."

Hayato agreed with a "Yes, that's right." He didn't want to think about any of these members becoming his enemy.

"Alright, let's start the Salvage again!"

"Ah, could you wait a moment, please? Let's heal everyone first. It's not impossible that we could fish up another Poseidon."

"Isn't that what they call tempting fate? Still, that's definitely necessary. First, we heal."

Hayato began distributing the potions he had brought to everyone.

Also, since Esha and the others said they wanted to eat something sweet, he had no choice but to make some simple dishes as well.