Chapter 40: Brachium Shock (1)

Deep Sea Fish Hunting Specialty Broadcast – 40

EP.40 Brachium Shock (1)

“Ugh… Haaa….”

Yu Parang, waking up.

The last day of the East Sea exploration had dawned.

Since the exploration’s objective had already been achieved, she planned to quickly end the broadcast after capturing the Brachium.

‘Hmm.’

Parang thought briefly about the characteristics of Brachium.

‘Can I capture it without the Kraken?’

To be honest, she wasn’t sure.

The strategy to capture the monster Brachium itself wasn’t standardized.

More precisely, there was too little research on the monster Brachium itself.

What was known was that its numerous arms were all part of a single entity.

Even that was inferred based on the observation that when the arms were continuously attacked, they all disappeared at once, revealing a single magic stone.

Other than that, it was known to be strong, white, emerged from a gate, and had no particular preference for what it ate.

And, it was likely the top predator within the monster ecosystem.

This was inferred from the fact that despite being a monster that emerged from a gate, piles of Earth-origin monster corpses were found around it.

The prevailing theory was that it killed everything that approached it indiscriminately due to its lack of eyesight and intelligence.

Such cases were often seen on land, usually with plant-type monsters.

The piles of monster corpses included those of species considered top predators at the time, leading to the conclusion that Brachium was the top predator.

In summary, the information currently known about Brachium was almost nonexistent. It was as good as nothing.

If asked why the research data was so lacking, it was because there had been no opportunity to study it.

It was an extremely rare species.

The initial discovery of Brachium itself was quite a long time ago.

The first sighting was by Alice Melville at the Hive in the Drake Passage.

The second sighting was by Diego Lopez Martin at the Hive in the Caribbean Sea.

The third sighting was by Vertea Fabron at the Hive in the North Sea.

And the fourth sighting was this time at the Hive in the East Sea.

At the time of the first discovery, the organization Oceanos did not exist, so no research was conducted. During the second discovery, Diego, who had no particular interest in monster research, simply ignored it, causing the research to be abandoned.

As for the third discovery, well.

It was right after the ‘Alice Incident,’ when the enraged Oceanos was tearing through every monster in the world’s oceans, leaving no time for research.

Even Vertea, who had no interest in new monsters, killed it without a second thought.

So, Parang was in a difficult position. After all, this was her first time seeing Brachium with her own eyes.

Parang recalled the stories her Oceanos colleagues had shared about hunting Brachium.

Alice.

“I forgot. Somehow, I caught it. It wasn’t hard.”

Diego.

“I stomped it.”

Vertea.

“I boiled it along with the space it was in.”

“Sigh….”

None of it was helpful.

“Ah! I don’t know. Something will work out.”

It was time to start the broadcast. She quickly left her house and dove into the water.

#

[“I came to end this game.”]

[Author: Can’tDoItBlameTheTeam]

(A screenshot from Parang’s broadcast. The title simply reads ‘East Sea Exploration Day 3.’)

The Great King Parang, always worth watching.

Gotta watch, right?

─Let’s go~ Let’s go~ Let’s go~

─Isn’t today’s stream going to be short? Just one segment?

ㄴ This guy doesn’t understand the concept of a boss fight, lol.

ㄴ Boss fight, my foot, lol. Does he think this is a game? She’ll just introduce the segment and end it.

─If you’re going to watch today’s stream till the end, upvote.

ㄴ Upvote, lol.

ㄴ I’m Shin Yuna, and I upvoted.

ㄴ I’m not Shin Yuna, but I upvoted anyway.

#

Switching back to Yu Parang.

♬♪♩♬~

She was lying still in the water.

It was her favorite time of the day. She had tried playing some classical music, and it definitely set the mood.

‘I’ll just stay like this for 10 minutes.’

─ ‘ㅇㅇ’ donated 1000 won! –

[Voice Recording]

“What kind of new torture is this, teacher? Please start the broadcast quickly.”

“Oh.”

She looked at the clock and realized 30 minutes had passed.

She quickly headed towards the East Sea Hive.

After some time, on her way to the Hive.

A donation came in for Parang.

─ ‘GetsDepressedWhenFoodIsTaken’ donated 1000 won! –

[Can I ask what the host’s personal skill is?]

“Hmm….”

Parang pondered for a moment.

“No. I’ve never shown it during a broadcast, and I won’t show it in the future either.”

─What on earth is it?

“Don’t be curious.”

The viewers’ questions only deepened the mystery.

With all the chatter and communication, time passed, and she eventually arrived at the East Sea Hive.

“We’ve arrived.”

─Finally

─At last

─Exciting

Parang stood at the entrance of the first compartment.

Viewers could see the rough interior of the first compartment on the screen.

─Wait, isn’t it supposed to be a train compartment??

─I thought it was the engine room

─So random, why is it a cave?

“Certain locations within the Hive have interiors like this cave, unlike typical objects. The cause is unknown.”

Parang continued.

“Today, I’ll explain the monster inside beforehand before entering.”

Parang shared some information about Brachium with the viewers, omitting any mention of Oceanos.

─Wow, that’s seriously creepy

─Why does something like that even exist?

─But why are you explaining it beforehand today?

“It’s too dangerous to leisurely explain once inside.”

─Why is that?

“I told you. It’s a monster with very little research, so unexpected situations can arise.”

─It looks strong, but shouldn’t the host be able to handle it? They say you can solo wipe out a Hive.

“That’s when my personal skill is activated. Without it, I’m not sure what will happen either.”

─If it’s that serious, just activate it.

─This is basically making us more curious, right?

“No means no.”

As she said. No means no.

“Of course, if an unexpected situation arises, I’ll end the broadcast immediately. Sometimes there are monsters that can launch mental attacks even through the screen.”

She had already given Silo the authority to forcibly stop the broadcast.

In fact, even without Parang granting such authority, Silo could stop the broadcast at any time.

For example, by blocking Parang’s streaming account or shutting down the server.

Both Parang and Silo knew this. Hence, they made a mutually beneficial deal.

Parang could appear cooperative to Silo, and Silo had fewer hassles to deal with.

Whether Brachium could launch such mental attacks was unknown.

Countless questions flooded the chat, but Parang ignored them and entered the train compartment.

Once inside, she fixed the broadcast screen to a first-person view. She needed to set the mood.

Brrrr-

The inside was entirely different from what it looked like from the outside.

While it seemed like a dark cave from the outside, inside, it felt suffocatingly oppressive.

─The atmosphere is intense;;

The surroundings were almost navy blue, nearing indigo, with rocks and boulders barely discernible as black silhouettes.

And in the distance, a space filled with countless arms.

Parang headed there without hesitation.

Slowly, keeping a sufficient distance.

In the dark underwater cave, countless human arms.

The fear, dissonance, and eeriness from the unnaturalness and grotesqueness were palpable.

The numerous white arms swayed, some stiffened, and others trembled grotesquely while bent.

As a monster that emerged from a gate, Brachium would consider Parang a top-tier prey.

The moment it sensed her, it would act immediately.

But Parang approached Brachium.

Slowly, slowly.

Unfortunately, Parang did not have any techniques to erase her presence.

So, if she was detected, she was prepared to strike.

Naturally, her movements were cautious and quiet.

As she approached Brachium, she examined it closely.

At first glance, it matched the descriptions she had heard from others, but there was one difference.

‘A sphere.’

At the center of the numerous arms were arms holding up a sphere.

Parang did not know what it was or if it was part of Brachium.

Perhaps this monster was a separate species very similar to Brachium.

Tap-.

Finally, Parang reached the outermost arm of Brachium’s space.

An arm bent at the elbow in an L-shape, completely still. It was about 10 meters long.

It extended from a crevice in the rock, looking as if it had burst through the ground.

She thought it might be a bit soft since it was an arm, but when she touched it lightly with her hand, it was very hard.

The first thing Parang did upon seeing it was,

Thud- Thud.

Clear away the surrounding rocks.

Logically, beneath the rocks, there should be something essential, whether it was Brachium’s main body or something else.

Her goal was to see that.

No matter how indestructible an object was, it was possible to move something that was already separated.

Parang lifted and moved rocks as big as her body.

While her strength was considerable, the surprisingly light weight of these rocks, despite their appearance, also played a part.

One by one, as she removed the rocks, the shape of Brachium buried beneath them was revealed.

However, Parang did not get a chance to observe that shape.

“■■ ■.”

A sound came from behind her. She couldn’t tell if it was a voice, a cry, the sound of waves, rocks colliding, or arms swinging.

When Parang turned around, she found herself in the middle of Brachium’s space.

The sphere being held up was right in front of her face.

Somehow, her body was now held by numerous arms.

Small arms sprouted from the fingers of the large arms, and tiny fingers from those small arms, wrapping around her entire body.

‘Damn…!’

It wasn’t a hallucination. Such things wouldn’t work on Parang.

Brachium had moved. She didn’t know how.

Silently, without any movement. Directly towards her. Precisely.

Even without her feeling it touch her body.

‘Damn…!’

It was a predicament.

And then Brachium opened its eyes.

A pupil grew from the giant white sphere.

Blue. Deep space. The color of home.

[Skill, ‘Waterproof Sanity’ is activated.]

Parang quickly made a decision and took action.

[Skill, ‘Aqua Pulse’ is activated.]

In an instant, a wave burst from Parang’s body, causing the surrounding arms to stop moving.

They were paralyzed.

She threw a harpoon, piercing Brachium’s eye.

“■■ ■….”

Shrrr.

It seemed that was the weak point. Brachium collapsed instantly, turning into a magic stone.

It was an anticlimactic and feeble end.

Parang quickly turned on her phone to check the broadcast status.

[This broadcast has ended.]

It seemed Silo had forcibly ended it.

She fervently hoped that it was just her own blunder and nothing more.

Parang desperately wished that nothing had happened to the people beyond the monitor.

But her eyes froze on the last messages left by the viewers just before the broadcast ended.

─ Open your eyes.

─ Open your eyes.

─ Open your eyes.

─ Open your eyes.

─ Open your eyes.

─ Open your eyes.

‘Ah.’

This was bad.

Parang immediately started swimming upwards.