Chapter 104 Sea Vacation (4)
Brush, brush, Chief Seacat is brushing her face against me.
It's impossible to defeat her now that she's gotten attached to me! In order to ascertain just how things come to this, I plan to establish a contract with Differing Soul Telepahty.
"So yeah, I want you to form a contract with me and become a magical cat girl (physically)."
Unyan?
Chief Seacat tilted her head in confusion. Um okay, sorry, just messing with you owwww? Mitama-san, please stop pulling my cheek. Owowowowow.
Tettere~♪ Chef Seacat submitted
Ah, this means OK.
Then I've gotta give her a name. But, a cat-like name... I've gone and used Tama already.
Umu, Nyan*-sensei or Ki*i would be too shoddy... I look around to search for hint. Futsuno, Mitama, Kagura... Dance? Speaking of dance... Ame-no-Uzume?
How about Uzume!?
Nyaan!
Tettere~♪ Uzume acquired Etania Common Language.
She learned fast!
"Uzume, can you talk now? Why were you marching with so many seacats?"
Uzume nodded. This kitten is really clever.
"We, tried, to, cross, over, the, sea..."
From her disjointed speech, turns out these cats are not dungeon-borne monsters, they come from outside to look for a place to live at.
Uzume had been here since she was little, then some times after she settled in, she saved a young beached Kraken. That Kraken appeared to be relatively intelligent as well (apparently monsters with high intelligence can sometimes be spotted in a dungeon, per Eleanor-san), and they became fast friends that went beyond races.
After a while, Uzume got to be in charge of a pack of seacats while continuing a symbiotic relationship with the Kraken.
However, that Kraken suddenly went mad a little while ago and started going on a rampage. Its behavior changed, from hunting only prey it required to live to eating down everything in sight, it even started going for Uzume's pack. Left with no other choice, they abandoned their dwelling and began a wandering life, that was when they cornered a Maguros after a hard struggle. But then, I went and cut it up when it got away from them with space warp. They came this far to get back at me for snatching their prey.
True enough, there's quite a lot of thin looking seacats here and there. It's not like I'm against keeping them, but I don't think it's good to shut these active sea cats, not to mention the food expense.
Meaning, we've got to settle the matter upstream.
"So err, I know that we're in vacation and all, but I just can't bear to leave these kittens alone, mind if I do something about the Kraken for a spin?"
"...Everyone knew you would say that, Nobu."
"Yeap yeap, I mean I cannae' say no to these round eyes of 'em either."
"It's just, please don't push yourself too hard since Nobusada-san always manages to put himself in harm's way whenever you do this."
"Listen to her, Nobu-chan. Turn around and run right away if you think it's bad okay~. If it seems hopeless, we'll all think together about taking these kittens home with us~."
Even Sefi-san... Oh geez, they're all such dependable wives!
Huh? I don't see Kagura-san anywhere.
"M-milord... Please save me nojaaa."
Buho. She's being swarmed by kittens turning into a cat's paw behind Sefi-san.
They all immediately dispersed with Uzume's cry, but man, lil' girl Kagura-san's got to face so many dangers in life.
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So yeah, I've gone all the way to the far side. By making use of a new composite version of all high-speed magic, [<<Flight System>>], I arrived at Uzume's former dwelling in no time. I put Uzume on my shoulder during the flight since she looked like she was struggling to keep up with my speed halfway through.
Uzume got down on the sea surface and dived in. Looks like she's looking for that Kraken in question.
Guess I'll look with Space Grasp myself.
Found it!
There's one big thing. Its body alone is about five meters long. Double that size if we include its legs. Will this thing get even bigger with age? I could just imagine a huge Kraken coming out of the dungeon if this is left alone. Let's ask Eleanor-san later what happens then if that becomes a reality.
I can't use [Space Camouflage] in unison with [<<Flight System>>] due to some sort of compatibility issues, so I come closer slowly and confirm the situation with Discerning-sensei from a distance.
Once I got close enough to catch it with bare eyes, I saw it restraining a huge turtle that looked like it would fit right in Urashima Tarou's story, the Kraken was about to chew its head. OH, it's a Kaijuu clash! I have Uzume back off just in case. Can't let her get dragged in this.
High Kraken
HP: 346/1022 - MP: 139/388
State: Mana Water Deficiency, Debilitated
An evolved Kraken monster. As one of the possible evolutions, its size is small compared to ordinary Krakens, however it's highly intelligent and even capable of speech. They can cast magic and are feared as devils of the sea by sailors.
What the heck?
Its state is clearly weird. Its HP and MP would recover every time it bit on the turtle, but then they would immediately decrease. And that keeps repeating ad infinitum. Is it like when you've got food poisoning and on IV yet can't stop eating?
If I can just find out the cause of this phenomenon, perhaps I can turn back its sense.
I tried to deploy Discerning-sensei to find out the cause, but since the Kraken is so far deep down inside the sea, it's not going too well.
Guess I've got to get closer?
Right when I thought that. Something slippery is wrapping my legs. Taken by surprise, I ended up getting entangled in no time. Due to the shock, I lost control of [<<Flight System>>], undoing it.
Objection! No one's gonna cheer seeing a man getting entangled in tentacles!!
Putting my strength into it does nothing, can't get away at all. Feels like they're gluing harder even. Fine then, eat my magic!
"Repulsion!"
A repulsion force got generated with me in the center, repelling the Kraken's tentacles away. Uwoo, my whole body is all sticky, gross.
And since the force is spherical shaped, I'm floating above the sea. I immediately switched to [<<Flight System>>] and got away from the hotbed of tentacled area.
Once the stickiness and fear settled down, I got my composure back and resumed my observation when I noticed something wrong in the surroundings. It's overflowing with abnormally high magic essence. Almost feels like the small room where a boss spawns. The glittering lights on the sea surface is not only due to light reflecting, I believe it's also due to magic essence drifting in the sea. Don't quote me on that though!
I hurriedly look at High Kraken, and see its MP gradually decreasing.
That means. Mana is leaking out of the High Kraken, and to compensate for that, it's chasing down prey like crazy. Meaning the cause is... won't know without getting closer to the main body past those tentacles.
Now then, I've got to make it stop moving, and my usual M.O. for restrain would be.
Air Bind -> Doesn't work in the water!
Graviton -> It's just gonna plunge it deeper in the water, game over!
Figured~.
Now then, what to do here...
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