77 Episode 76 Kraken and Detonation Experiments

We collided with a demon!　It's probably a Hardecraken!　Prepare to rebuild!

I hear a voice behind me.

I'm still looking at the sky and shooting down new birds, but the tilt of the ship doesn't seem to be returning to normal, in fact it seems to be getting bigger.

Just as I was beginning to wonder if I should use some kind of pressure magic to get the ship back to its original inclination, I heard the next voice, as if it was finally ready.

"Attitude control system, all units at maximum capacity, commence operation!

Soon after the voice was heard, the ship's posture started to return.

At the same time, I began to hear the sound of the ship's attitude control system kicking in.

...... Crack?

I have a bad feeling about this.

I'm sure you're not neglecting your maintenance, though, are you?

"Third control unit malfunctioning due to overload!　We're clear to navigate, but any further collisions are dangerous!

"Hardecraken in sight. They're heading right for us!　Estimated 20 seconds to recollision!

Try not to hit it in the side while it's turning. It'll take more than three of us!

"We can't. If we stop turning now, we'll run aground!

I had a bad feeling about this, and it was coming true.

He must have been stingy with the budget for maintenance before I started working with Decibatore.

Or maybe they didn't originally expect to be attacked from the water while turning.

Either way, it's clear that the ship is about to capsize.

To be honest, I don't have much confidence that we won't damage the ship, so I don't want to do it if I can help it, but I guess we'll have to try to support it with magic.

If it looks too tough, I'll try to use my magic to help.

"Kaede!　I don't know how many times I can do this, but I'm going to try.

I don't know how many times I can do it, but I should be able to manage about a quarter of it!

It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're going to be doing and how you're going to do it.

If the neck is as thin as that of a sublime dragon, you might be able to cut it off, but you can't hope to do that with a Kraken.

He has a limited stock of pressure and explosion spells, so he can use them to defend himself a few times.

It had survived the first collision (in exchange for one of its four attitude controllers).

It may have been necessary to contact the captain, but there was no time for that.

I'll check with someone nearby.

...... Okay!　I'll get someone to take over for you in the sky, so you take the ship!

The guide also looked at the entrance to the ship and tried to run, but he must have decided that he didn't have as much time as I did.

He immediately agreed to my proposal.

"Got it!

The only thing left to do was to make good use of magic.

There were four large scale spells: warding, pressure, explosion, and armor.

Armor is probably only useful if you want to jump into the water and use it as a decoy, and warding will probably cause you to hit the ship if you use it while turning.

Explosive magic is out of the question, so the automatic magic to use is pressure magic.

It will push the ship back and offset the tilt.

First, check the situation.

Since I can't use the antennae to search the sea, I lean out of the ship and look down at the sea, and I can see a huge white shadow through the water.

There is still a distance of about 15 meters between us and the ship, but judging from the relative speed, the collision should take about three seconds.

The object is as big as a whale, and it is rushing toward us.

If it had struck the side of the ship while turning, it would have been understandable if the control system had been overloaded.

However, the ship's armor plate is made of metal lizard metal, so it is unlikely to be broken through.

This is a very expensive project.

Why don't they just use that money to build more attitude controllers?

After confirming this much, I magically jumped over the deck, and floated in the sea near the port side opposite the squid, waiting for the impact.

Immediately after, the ship tilts toward me with the same sound I heard last time.

Reaching out to the ship, I fly toward the back of the hull, activating my pressure magic over the widest area possible.

I don't do it all at once, partly to avoid capsizing the ship on the other side, but mostly to avoid punching through the armor plate.

The armor plate seems to be made of thick metal lizard metal, but it is clear that it will be pierced if I invoke pressure magic with all my might to push the ship back with a single blow.

With a few careful but quick bursts of magic, the ship's posture returned to normal.

The distance I needed to push back was from almost the front of the ship to the center, and the pressure magic I consumed was about a tenth of my stock.

There seemed to be no damage to the ship from the pressure spell.

If you look closely, you can see that part of the armor plate is slightly flattened, but it must have been there all along.

Even if the flattened area is a circle about the same size as the area of effect of the spell, it is from the beginning.

...... From the beginning, but I'll make it a little less powerful next time.

Just in case.

I flew right over the Kraken to attack it while I still could, but it was still in the water.

I put in a few explosive shells, but they didn't seem to have any effect.

Perhaps it was because the shells could only be made on the spot, and the explosion spell he had prepared could not be fully utilized.

The acceleration spell also doesn't work well in the water, so we should assume that attacking with a sword will be tough.

I couldn't think of any other spells that would be easy and effective to use underwater.

Incidentally, I thought of magic freeze for a moment, but I gave it up immediately because freezing the sea with it would be no different from running a ship aground.

The best way I could think of was to protect the ship with warding magic and kill it with explosion magic.

I was supposed to get paid for resting on the ship, but how could this happen?

Now that I've decided that, I'd like to go ahead and do it right now, but I'll need the cooperation of the ship operator to carry out this plan.

Of course, I don't know where the captain is, and I don't have time to run to contact him because I have to support the ship in case of another collision.

I looked over the ship to see if he happened to be on deck, and my eyes met with a wizard.

It was probably the same person who came to check if my MP was OK at the beginning.

He was leaning out of the ship and looking at me, as if to check the situation.

He looked like a veteran, so he might at least know where the captain was.

I'm sorry, but I'm running out of times to do this, so I'm going to deal with the Kraken!　If there's nothing else I can do, just give me a moment, I need the ship to go straight!

"All right, I'll let them know!

When I shouted for help, the wizard used his magic and literally flew away.

I'm going back to where I started, replenishing the pressure magic I've lost, and preparing for the next collision.

However, even though the replenishment speed has been greatly increased by the extermination of the sub dragons, it is still unlikely to keep up with the consumption.

The number of times you can endure a collision will probably increase by one at most.

I observe the ship, pushing back the occasional impact with minimal magic, but the ship shows no sign of going straight.

It is in the process of dodging an island while continuing to turn to the right as fast as it can.

Unfortunately, we're in one of those waters where there doesn't seem to be much room for error.

I know I have no choice, but I wish they would hurry up.

After enduring several collisions, my remaining magic was about three collisions' worth, and I was beginning to worry that maybe they hadn't heard from me.

Finally, the long-awaited message came.

It says it can go straight for about seven seconds after a minute or so, and that's the limit.

We're going to have to use a massive explosion, so I need you all to stay inside the ship as much as possible!

Honestly, it's pretty short, but we don't have time to wait a second time.

While propping the ship up with the few remaining pressure spells, he checked the ship's speed and watched as the people on deck fled into the ship.

The wizards stayed above to protect the ship from the birds, and they were preparing their warding magic.

When they were ready, a loud voice rang out on the deck, which had become somewhat quiet with the absence of people.

"Three seconds!

Hearing this, I steeled myself and prepared to activate the warding spell at any time.

Just three seconds later, the ship regained its angle and started to go straight.

As soon as I see it, I protect the ship with a warding spell that covers the ship's entire course and quickly jump right above the Kraken.

Then I immediately activate the explosion spell.

If you're too stingy to defeat it, you're out of luck.

Immediately after that, my vision turned red and my tentacles were rendered useless by the shock.

There was no time to wait.

However, the magic armor, which is as strong as ever, can withstand it.

Except for special attacks such as the Sublime Dragon's Breath, it is invincible.

I prayed that the warding magic was holding out, and waited for my vision to clear.

After what seemed like seconds, the spray and everything else that had been blown up high in the sky finally cleared, and I was able to see.

The result was almost perfect.

The warding magic seems to have protected the ship almost completely, and it is resuming its turn.

The Kraken is floating, showing its belly. The Kraken was floating with its belly (?) showing, and when I touched it, I was able to store it in the item box.

When I touched it, I was able to store it in the item box. Seeing this, the wizards made some noise again, but it was too late.

After that, we reached our destination without any serious incident.

Even though it was deep in the demon realm, there were almost no demons on the land.

The wisp core was prepared without delay, and the countdown began.

Most of the crew is either inside the ship or inside the wards, watching.

I'll take the air as a precaution.

"Three, two, one, detonate!

At the same time as the voice, the wisp core shattered, creating a black explosion that was clearly different in quality from a normal magical explosion.

I watched intently to see if a dragon would come out of it, but there was no shadow that looked like one.

I'm almost relieved that everything is okay, but then I notice something strange.

The black haze that had been there after the explosion was not clearing.

The ships were beginning to evacuate as if in a panic.

The plan was to stay here for a while longer, but it seems that something unexpected has happened.

We were too high up in the sky to get a clear view, so we couldn't see the situation clearly.

Just after I started to lose altitude to see what was going on, it happened.

I thought I saw something glowing near the center of the haze, and the next thing I knew, the light spread over all the land in my field of vision.

There was no trace of the huge forest of trees, and all that remained was a bare patch of blue ground stretching to the horizon.

A terrible creature had come out.

Upon examination, it turned out to be a dragon.

It's MP is so high that I can't even count the digits, and judging by the flames, it's easy to see that it boasts a ridiculous amount of attack power.

It's covered in a black shroud, but the shroud alone is probably as powerful as the main body of any sub-dragon.

However, I was still unable to feel a subtle sense of danger towards the dragon.

Why is that?

It's small.

The dragon that finally came into my sight was only about 50cm long.

It seemed to be unaccustomed to moving its body, and its wings were twitching.

What, a dragon that looked like the last boss of an ancient civilization that had been destroyed?