Under the Seaâ¦
I pointed toward the location where the witch was detected, and I heard someone sighing and muttering in response.
The phrase, that kind of place, resonated with us all, triggering sighs from various corners.
Hah⦠What are we supposed to do now?
With a heavy heart, I gazed at the ocean that blocked my path, feeling a sigh escape my lips as well.
For humanity living on land, the ocean presented a formidable obstacle.
It restricted breathing, visibility, and movement, making it hard to find anything more menacing.
Moreover, that wasnât the only problem.
I turned my head and sneaked a glance at Ari and the furious lesser demonic beasts at the back of the line.
-â â â â â â â¦
-â â â â â¦
They had been valiant in battles against the lustful demonic beasts, yet before the ocean, they were paralyzed with fear, trembling as if thinking, What do we do, captainâ¦? I donât know eitherâ¦
Noticing this, Sylvia muttered to me,
âScarlet, the demonic beasts obviously canât go under the sea, right?â
âIt seems so. Also, I might struggle to unleash my powers underwater.â
I sighed and replied to Sylvia.
Well, it was expected that the demonic beasts made of fire couldnât enter the ocean.
However, the fact that the beasts feared the water meant that my flames would also struggle to perform underwater, which was the biggest issue here.
While it might not matter for others, if I couldnât exert my strength against the lustful witch, the whole extermination plan would fall apart.
Because of one single locationâthe oceanâour smooth extermination mission hit a snag. I had no choice but to acknowledge that the lustful witch indeed chose a brilliant hiding spot.
Facing the enemy, youâd be compelled to praise, That damned witch really hides in a damned placeâ¦
âSo, what do we do now? It would be dangerous to recklessly dive into the oceanâ¦?â
âRight? If it wasnât for the water, we wouldnât have to worryâ¦â
At that moment, everyone sighed heavily before the ocean.
âIf thatâs the case, I think I might be able to do something.â
Someone stepped forward, saying so.
The owner of that voice murmured,
âSo, as long as itâs not underwater, I can manage?â
I looked at the person extending their hands toward the ocean and recalled a story I once read.
In the case of psychics, unlike swordsmen or magicians, they often possessed a variety of abilities, making it difficult to gauge the level of their powers.
Thus, determining who was the most outstanding psychic was not easy. Yet among these psychics, there was an undisputed consensus:
If Yoon Si-woo is the most talented swordsman, and Dwight Ninehart the most talented magician, then the most talented psychic is Marin Eloise.
As Marin stretched her hands wide, her blue eyes sparkling, she declared,
âPart!â@@novelbin@@
I witnessed the miraculous spectacle of the vast ocean splitting in two.
âWhoa! Marin, youâre amazing!â
ââ¦Was this your level?â
Naturally, I wasnât the only one astonished at the incredible sight reminiscent of Mosesâ miracle in the Bible; the surroundings erupted in excitement.
Especially, Flone and Dwight, who had been with Marin for a long time, were even more surprised. With a confident smile, Marin addressed them,
âSo, youâre seeing this again, huh? Itâs because I had to allocate my abilities to create water when thereâs no water, but simply handling water is this easy for me.â
ââ¦We get that youâre amazing, but first, wipe the blood from your nose.â
ââ¦What, I have a nosebleed? I was trying to act cool here.â
Smiling, Marin wiped away the blood flowing from her nose.
Despite pretending to be fine, it must have been quite taxing.
No matter how talented a psychic she was, parting the ocean wasnât an easy task.
Still, thanks to her exertion, a path opened up for the extermination team.
The ocean split, revealing the seabed.
I pointed at the remnants of what seemed to be a building in that area where something once existed, shouting to the others.
âLook! Thatâs where the witch is hiding!â
âIs it an underwater cave?â
It looked like a giant hole, akin to an entrance of a cave.
However, the moment everyone looked at it, we realized it was not a cave at all.
âWait! The entrance is closing!â
âThatâs not a cave!â
We witnessed the entrance, which had been dark and gaping like a portal into the abyss, slowly shutting.
And soon after, we encountered a much more shocking scene.
âWhat is that?!â
With a thunderous noise, the ground trembled as it revealed itself.
What we thought was a cave entrance was the mouth of a beast, a long and massive body buried beneath the seabed.
To describe its appearance: yes, it was a gigantic centipede.
âItâs a centipede! A centipede!!â
âItâs moving!â
The enormous centipede that had been hiding on the seabed startled everyone, and we prepared for battle.
Yet the centipede seemed eager to charge at us with a threatening stance before abruptly twisting its head away.
Realizing the lustful witchâs intent, I urgently shouted,
âDamn it! Itâs trying to escape! We have to catch it right now! Ari! Chase that monster!â
With that exclamation, I launched myself toward Ari, who was positioned at the back with the demonic beasts.
Before I could even see Sylvia pulling out the transport devices for the others, I mounted Ari and rushed after the fleeing centipede.
We were significantly faster than the crawling creature, soaring through the skies.
However, cunningly, the centipede quickly diverted its path the moment it realized we were after it.
It turned toward the area where the ocean parted, like a wall.
And it charged right through.
Knowing that fleeing to the ocean meant we wouldnât be able to follow, I prepared to conjure flames to burn the centipede.
âYou littleâ¦! Damn it!â
I had no choice but to stop my hands instantly.
If my aim was merely to kill the lustful witch, it wouldnât matter, but the goal of this extermination was to eliminate the witch and seize her sacred relic.
If, by chance, the relic got caught in my flames, everything would be pointless.
Therefore, I couldnât use my flames, which require precise control.
While I was lost in thought, the centipede was already at the threshold of the ocean.
âDonât run away! Fight back!â
Despite shouting desperately, the centipede ignored me and leaped toward the ocean wall.
Just when I thought it was too late to catch it,
There was a loud boom.
The centipede slammed its head against the suddenly frozen ocean.
âGulp⦠I canât control only waterâ¦!â
I heard Marinâs murmur from behind.
She had used her inherited ability from her father to temporarily freeze the ocean.
Yet, mocking Marinâs effort, the centipede immediately leaped again.
The ice wall Marin hastily created was cracking and about to shatter from one collision.
Realizing it wouldnât hold a second time, the centipedeâs agile movements took over.
âWhere do you think youâre going?!â
This time, magic circles materialized from thin air, binding the centipedeâs body.
It was Dwight and the extermination teamâs magicians who halted the creature.
âScarlet! Whereâs the witch?â
âAround the body!â
âThen letâs destroy the head! Everyone, aim for the head!â
To avoid damaging the relic, the extermination teamâs attacks concentrated on the centipedeâs head.
In an instant, the giant centipedeâs head was shattered.
Yet, it was our misconception to think that would stop its movements.
Kiiiii!!
âWhat the hellâ¦! This creature keeps moving even after losing its head!â
âWhat kind of chicken is thisâ¦!â
Like a headless chicken, the centipede continued thrashing, even with its head gone.
In fact, it was thrashing even more violently, desperately trying to reach the ocean.
âKuh, the binding magicâ¦!â
It seemed that stopping its massive body with magic had its limits; the magic circles restraining the centipede started to dissipate gradually.
But even with the magic fading, the centipede couldnât push forward anymore.
âWe have to stop it somehow!!â
âWeâll block it!!â
Ari and the furious lesser demonic beasts, along with the extermination members brought by Sylvia, rushed toward the centipede.
âIf we donât exert our strength here, we lose the reason we came!â
The descendants of those said to have moved mountains stood in the centipedeâs way.
âYou canât pass here!!!!â
Flone, growing a giant adamantium morning star the size of a building, slammed it into the ground as she challenged the centipede in a struggle of strength.
Yet, simply stopping the centipede wasnât enough.
Demonic beasts started flooding in from the land, as if they couldnât bear to see their master in danger.
âThese thingsâ¦â
Marin temporarily sealed the path from the land, sinking a multitude of beasts in her wake. But a few surviving beasts were dead-set on reaching this place even if they had to swim.
Moreover, even though Ari was clearing the way, swarms of flying insects continued pouring from the open sky.
Assessing the situation, I turned to Marin.
âMarin! How long can you hold this?â
âHah⦠Hah⦠At most 30 minutes, anything longer than that is impossibleâ¦â
30 minutes, huh.
In the current situation, our goal was to find the lustful witch within the centipedeâs body while Marin maintained her grip on the ocean, kill the witch, and snatch the relic.
Simultaneously, we would need manpower to keep the centipede from escaping while protecting against the encroaching beasts.
Looks like the division of labor was set.
I looked at Sylvia and spoke.
âSylvia, Iâll leave outside to you.â
âScarletâ¦â
As I spoke, Sylvia gazed at me, as if wanting to say something, but ultimately fell silent.
She also realized.
That as long as people needed to stay behind, she couldnât follow me.
In this situation, this was the best division of labor.
Having made a decision, I shouted to everyone.
âEveryone! Please hold for 30 minutes like this! Iâll be back as quickly as possible!â
With those words, I twisted open the mouth of the battered centipede, throwing myself into the gaping, abyss-like black hole.
The solo boss raid with a 30-minute time limit had commenced.