Chapter 488: Kraken Amidst the Storm

The storm was getting worse.

Thunder roared in the distance, and the bright flashes of lightning all around us were the only source of light in this dark storm at sea. The situation was dire, and it didn’t seem to show any sign of stopping either.

“Uh… I think we should probably get out of here…!” Yu An Yan yelled through the howling wind, desperately trying to hold onto the edges of the ship.

“But… what about Mr. Zhou…?” Lan Xiao Su asked in worry.

“We’ll teleport the entire boat, so he’ll get brought to safety as well!” Yu An Yan said in response, then turned her head towards me. “Xuan Kai, do it!”

However…

“Hold on!” I said, gritting my teeth. “There’s something ahead… I can sense it!”

“Huh?!”

As if on cue, the waters ahead of us were torn open, and out arose a massive creature the size of a small city. It had countless tendrils and splashing tentacles, and a circular mouth lined with rows upon rows of sharp gnashing teeth on its head. Its flesh was dark red like blood, and above its devastating mouth were two harrowing narrowed yellow eyes that could only belong to a Monster.

“W-What the hell is

that thing?!” The girls cried in shock, fear evident on their faces. Obsidia and Flaria both immediately got ready to fight, but I had a different reaction from everyone else.

“Man… so it was you causing all this trouble,” I said with a laugh, and put down my barrier. Mei Gui glanced at me in surprise and so did the girls as the waves suddenly calmed down, and the monster before us splashed its tentacles around playfully.

“So it is you, boy… me thought it was the bastard syndicate members…”

“W-W-What?! The monster talked?!” Qing Yue shrieked in surprise.

Yes. This octopus-like monster was none other than Kracken, one of the Founders of the Library of Infinite Beginnings.

I ignored Qing Yue and continued my conversation with Mr. Kracken as if he were a perfectly normal person.

“Hm… so you were trying to prevent them from getting to Japan?”

“Yes… me thinks something important will happen there…” Kracken hissed, folding two of his tentacles in front of him like arms. “I can sense it… not good feeling…”

“Hm… something important, eh?” I muttered. “I see. I’m on my way there right now to find a Midnight Syndicate member right now, actually… I’ll see what I can find out. And if I can, I’ll stop whatever it is they’re doing.”

“Yes… me wish you luck…”

I nodded. “Thanks. And, uh, can you clear this storm up for me? It’s kinda getting in the way.”

“Of course… me sorry about that…”

I chuckled. “Don’t worry about it.”

With that, Kracken sank back into the waters below, and a mere few seconds after he disappeared, the clouds above us parted and the storm stopped. What was once a clear, sunny day was now a clear sunny day once more.

“Ah…” I let out a sigh of relief and sat down, enjoying the sunshine. “Much better. Mr. Zhou? What are you waiting for? Let’s go?”

I don’t know if he heard me or not, but the ship started pushing forward again anyway, so I didn’t mind. I could see Mr. Zhou with a look of disappointment on his face as he steered. He had probably been wanting to mess with Kracken. If only he knew how powerful that sea monster was.

The girls, on the other hand… were still slack-jawed, unable to come to terms with what just happened.

“X-Xuan Kai… what was that?” Yu An Yan asked first, voicing the question that all of them had.

“Oh, uh…” I hesitated.

What should I tell them? How do I explain this to them? I can’t tell them about the Library of Infinite Beginnings, so… oh, I know.

“That… was an illusion!” I declared as if very happy. “Uh… how was it? Did I manage to scare you guys?”

“Wha… you’re telling us that giant monster just now was a mere illusion?!” Feng Mian exclaimed. “Even for you, Xuan Kai, that is very, very far-stretched.”

“Is it? Ahaha…” I laughed awkwardly. “Well, you see, I wanted to test your courage, so…”

“Oh? Quite the… extravagant way of testing us, if I do say so myself…” Ling Xin said with a giggle. “But I’ll buy it, since you clearly don’t want to discuss the matter further.”

“…” Feng Mian looked at me uncomfortably, then sighed. “Well… I’m sure all of us are dying to know the truth, but… we had a deal. We all have secrets, so we won’t force you to talk if you don’t want to. But there’s no need to lie to us—just say you don’t want to talk about it.”

“I… alright,” I said after some thought.

Sorry… it’s not that I don’t want to tell you all… it’s just… I’m kinda forbidden from doing so.

For the rest of that journey, things were mostly peaceful. The girls and I got to enjoy the view of the sea, and the trip was smooth. Unfortunately, Mei Gui apparently was bad with boats, and ended up needing to puke, but she insisted she was fine. That girl never wanted to show her weaknesses, especially not in front of me… but really, I just wished she would stop being such a perfectionist.

*****

– Several Hours Later –

By now, the sun was beginning to set. We had spent the entire day in the water, and at last…

“Look! Up ahead!” Qing Yue yelped excitedly, jumping up and down on the deck of the ship as she pointed towards our front. The other girls and I gathered around her to see what the fuss was about, and upon seeing what she was pointing at, we all smiled.

“… Land ho,” I whispered under my breath.

Soon after, we boarded at a port in the city of Fuji. This place was in the eastern parts of Shizuoka Prefecture, but it was extremely close to our destination, the Yamanashi Prefecture where Mount Kita was located.

In the end, Mr. Zhou shooed us off his boat so quickly we couldn’t even give him his payment, but he looked too angry for us to approach him. I figured he was still mad about not being able to fight Kracken with his puny boat, but alas, there was nothing we could do about that.

I suppose I could call on Kracken to maybe toy with Mr. Zhou a bit on his way back to Human Territory, but that would require me to use up the favor Kracken owed me, and I wasn’t about to waste something that important to satisfy an old man.

“So… here we are, huh?” I said, folding my arms. “Japan, home of the Demihumans.”

“Don’t they speak a different language here?” Feng Mian asked curiously, but Amane shook her head.

“No. Each tribe has their own tongue, but the official language of the territory and the one mainly used amongst everyone here for communication is the same as that of the humans.”

“Oh, I see…”

“And have you been here before?” Qing Yue asked, continuing to pester Amane with questions. “What’s it like? Any fun places? Oh, and is there delicious food?!”

“Um… I actually haven’t been here before… I was born in The Fortress…” Amane murmured quietly, as if embarrassed.

“Then it seems this will be a first time experience for all of us,” Yu An Yan said. “But while we can explore a bit if we want… we shouldn’t lose sight of our goal, yeah?”

I nodded in agreement. “Right. Remember, we’re here to head to the shrine at the peak of Mount Kita, and locate the Midnight Syndicate Archpriest hiding there. I would also like to set a tentative time limit of three months from now, since if we delay any longer, the Midnight Syndicate will most likely be able to come up with a way to advance their antimagic to a point where even my Chaos power is not enough to counter it.”

“Sounds good to me,” Feng Mian said. “Three months is plenty of time.”

Of course, I said ‘tentative’, but really, that was a set-in-stone deadline, given to me by Sylvoir herself. Naturally, I couldn’t tell the girls about her, though, so this was the best excuse I had in place. I felt bad lying to them right after they told me there was no need to lie, but I needed to get this information across without revealing the whole business with the Infinite Realm and whatnot.

Still, Feng Mian was right. Three months was plenty of time. It was by no means enough to let us sit around and procrastinate, but we didn’t have to rush things either. Since we’re here in this new land anyway, we might as well spend some time to enjoy it and explore a bit. There was no telling when would be the next time we returned here, after all.