The Kraken swung its massive tentacle like a whip. At the heavy sound of air being cut, ‘bwoong’, Uls immediately changed direction.
The tentacle fell where Uls had been. A dust cloud rose, and the gate shook.
Undeterred, Uls leaped off the ground, touched the wall, and closed the distance with the Kraken.
With each of Uls’s leaps, Elise’s body floated up and down.
The Kraken’s attacks were terrifying. Unlike its seemingly sluggish body, its attacks were swift, and the strength of its tentacles was beyond imagination.
Pulverizing a rock the size of a carriage was commonplace.
But Uls wasn’t afraid of the Kraken.
An inexplicable anger was burning fiercely inside it, consuming even its fear.
Bwoong.
“Uls, move a little faster, please.”
Elise pleaded. Currently, the Kraken was stuck in a narrow passage and could only use four tentacles. This was due to the Kraken’s enormous size.
For the Kraken to move freely, it needed to advance to the open area where Karan was.
Elise intended to finish the Kraken before that.
It was already challenging to dodge four tentacles; dodging eight would be impossible.
Understanding Elise’s intention, Uls leaped towards the wall. Now Uls was running along the sloped wall.
The Kraken hurled its tentacles at Uls, who had suddenly changed direction, but it only managed to lash the ground repeatedly.
The distance closed moment by moment. Finally, the Kraken’s mouth came into view.
As it opened its round mouth wide, the tentacles inside swayed like reeds in the wind.
They also resembled sea anemones swaying in the ocean water.
“Uls, right.”
From now on, they needed to be extremely alert. Elise pulled Uls’s right mane. Uls turned to the right.
Right, left, leap backward, then forward again.
As a result, two of the tentacles chasing Uls’s movements became tangled.
Now there were three tentacles instead of four. With three, they could take a risk, trusting Uls’s speed.
“Uls, run towards the mouth!”
Elise gripped Uls’s mane tightly. As if they had practiced, Uls leaped high, releasing Elise into the air.
The Kraken’s bald head turned towards Elise. The hungry Kraken immediately opened its mouth wide.
Elise was merely falling due to gravity, but to Uls’s eyes, it looked as if the Kraken was sucking her in.
In the blink of an eye, Elise disappeared into the Kraken’s mouth.
Awoooooo!
Uls’s howl shook the gate.
The Kraken wildly shook its three remaining tentacles.
Uls viciously bit and shook the tentacles.
However, the Kraken’s mouth didn’t open like a clam. Uls didn’t give up either.
Biting, releasing, biting again, he raked the Kraken’s tentacles with his claws. One tentacle became ragged and fell off.
But that one was all Uls could manage.
After the battle with Iris and now the fight with the Kraken, Uls was exhausted. Uls staggered and collapsed.
The Kraken’s tentacle, not missing this opportunity, rose high. However, the Kraken’s attack only remained an attempt.
The tentacle that was fiercely falling towards Uls suddenly lost its strength and lay limp.
The same happened to the bald head that had been spewing sticky liquid.
With a thud, dust that seemed to belong to an ancient tree flowed from the fallen bald head.
Then, like drought-cracked earth, the skull cracked and split into two pieces. The Kraken’s head was empty.
Between the split skull pieces was Elise.
Elise, who had been catching her breath while bent over with the skelsword stuck in the Kraken’s skull, raised her head.
“Uls… are you okay?”
As if in response, Uls howled, “Awoo.” A smile spread across Elise’s face.
The conquest of the 3rd Gate was over.
Although the plan to create a military achievement for Ilaria had been disrupted, at least everyone was alive.
It was half a success.
****
When Ilaria and Haltbin arrived at the center of the gate, everything had already been settled.
“Your Highness!”
Haltbin discovered the fallen Karan and rushed over.
Ilaria, chewing her lips, searched for Elise.
“Your Highness, the monsters are falling!”
Those who had arrived late reported to Ilaria. Ilaria turned her gaze to Karan.
“That monster of a man…”
Something welled up from below her chest. It was a mix of joy and worry, jealousy and relief.
“But where’s Elise…”
Ilaria left Haltbin to take care of Karan and searched for Elise.
“A wolf, Your Highness!”
A soldier searching the area raised his hand. The wolf, the culprit behind this mess, was dragging something towards them.
The soldiers raised their swords and spears towards the wolf. While Karan and Elise treated the wolf like a pet, to the soldiers, the giant wolf was a beast.
“Everyone stand by!”
At Ilaria’s command, the soldiers stopped with their spears pointed forward.
Ilaria narrowed her eyes. What the beast was dragging was none other than Elise.
“Elise!”
Ilaria ran over. Uls bared his teeth warily but then backed off.
As Ilaria embraced Elise, Uls collapsed to the side as if all its tasks were complete.
****
Huff, gasp, gasp.
Iris moved while tightly pressing her bleeding side. She had barely stopped the bleeding with magic, but that was temporary.
The wound was deep, and she had already depleted much of her mana, so she couldn’t pour powerful healing magic into it.
“Damn him. He knew how to use magic and hid it?”
Iris cursed Karan. It felt like everything that happened to her was Karan’s fault.
“No! It’s because of that bitch Elise!”
Iris, who had been shouting, collapsed with a groan. The bleeding that had slightly stopped gushed out again.
“Agh, it hurts, sob, it hurts.”
Iris, having fallen, couldn’t get up. She writhed, frantically rubbing her feet against the ground.
She should have saved some mana, but she had nearly depleted it using teleportation to escape from Karan and Elise.
What she did to survive ended up hastening her death.
She didn’t want to die here.
Is this really the end?
“No. I’m scared. I want to live…”
She could even lick someone’s toes if they would save her.
If only they would save her, truly anything.
-Can you do anything?
The message resonated in Ilaris’s skull.
“A magician? Sage Ember?”
Iris’s eyes flew open.
-How dare you compare me to a lowly magician. Human foolishness never ceases to amaze me.
The content of the message was strange. The speaker was talking as if they weren’t human.
“Who are you? Where are you?”
Iris turned her head this way and that, but she couldn’t see any higher life form capable of sending such a message.
More precisely, there was nothing around her. When she came to her senses, she was in darkness.
It wasn’t the gate she had been walking through.
There were no stones on the ground, no falling stone dust, and no faint light illuminating the surroundings. At some point, even sounds had disappeared.
Only darkness existed.
Goosebumps covered Iris’s body. If it weren’t for the blood still flowing, she would have thought she was dead.
That’s how extraordinary her situation was.
“Hey, who are you! Show yourself.”
-If you insist.
After the unfriendly message, a strong wind blew. Iris reflexively closed her eyes, but she saw.
It revealed itself on her retina, inside her eyelids.
“Hueeogh!”
Iris breathed as if she had been submerged in water and just surfaced.
“Ra, Ra, Ragnaros!”
-This conversation will go smoothly. I’ll explain simply. Help me, and I’ll save you.
“No.”
As if not expecting the refusal, the wind that had been tickling her hair turned violent.
-Why not?
The heavy question was conveyed only after Iris collapsed to her side.
Iris no longer had the strength to speak. Instead, she thought.
About the reason she rejected Ragnaros’s offer.
It wasn’t for the sake of the world. It was an utterly selfish reason. Iris wanted to eliminate Ragnaros and stand tall in the world.
She wanted to ascend to a position of absolute power, where no one would dare challenge her, and even looking at her would be considered an honor.
To be revered by all humans, that was Iris’s ultimate goal.
Then, even if she lived as she pleased, no one would be able to criticize her.
She hated pretending to be nice, catering to the sages’ whims, and following Lange’s orders.
-How amusing.
Ragnaros mockingly laughed at Iris, who was thinking of killing him and seizing glory.
-You have no chance. If someone has a chance, it would be…
Fear?
Iris’s eyes widened. For messages to be transmitted, minds had to be connected, whether one liked it or not. Sometimes, this allowed emotions to be conveyed.
Like just now.
Iris read fear from Ragnaros.
‘Ragnaros is afraid of something? What could it be?’
If she knew that, if by luck she managed to survive, it would be of great help to Iris.
Iris struggled to hold onto her fading consciousness and tried to read Ragnaros’s thoughts.
-Stop your futile efforts.
However, Ragnaros noticed first and shouted loudly. Iris’s skull reverberated. She could only grab her head with her blood-stained hands.
Once again, blood gushed from her wound. Iris’s vision alternated between darkness and light.
Death was imminent.
-Do you want to live or die?
At this last chance, after much deliberation, Iris opened her lips.
