S-Rank Adventurer Betrayed by His Fiancée in the Hero’s Party Sets Off on a Journey to Heal His Broken Heart ~The Strongest Betrayed Adventurer Ends Up Forming a Harem Party~ - Chapter 45: The Sea Devil

Chapter 45: The Sea Devil

At the center of the bay, a giant splash burst into the air—

What followed was the sudden appearance of several massive, twisting limbs.

Long tentacles, each lined with thick suction cups, writhed and slithered as they rose.

The one behind them was a giant octopus—

An upper A-Rank monster known as the Kraken.

“That’s a Kraken, right!? It usually lives in the deeper parts of the ocean… Why is it here, this close to the shore!?”

“I heard something at the guild. Apparently, it’s been hanging around in the shallows lately. One of the fishing boats returning to port caught its attention. They tried to shake it, but it followed them all the way here.”

“You seem awfully well-informed. So this thing’s your real target, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I took on a subjugation quest at the guild. The person who gave me the magic sword really loves Kraken meat, so…”

“Over there—look!”

Raynare was just about to respond when Frey suddenly shouted.

She pointed toward the water—

The Kraken had reached out its tentacles toward a ship. A manned boat, likely trying to flee the harbor, was now under attack.

“That’s dangerous!”

Seeing that, Elmie was the first to leap into action—

Naturally, the one with the highest speed stat.

“《Sword of Glory》—《Body Enhancement》!”

That was a skill that boosted physical abilities… and on top of that, she stacked it with the Body Enhancement spell too.

She hadn’t used magic before, but now it looked like she’d learned how to combine them.

At this rate, she’d probably be able to use attack skills simultaneously too.

Right now, it was just a skill and a spell working together—but the effects stacked.

The ship was all the way across the bay, with open sea between it and the harbor—

But Elmie closed the dozens of meters in a flash—

Even running across the surface of the water itself.

“《Severing Moon》!!!”

Kicking up great splashes behind her, she charged straight at the boat.

With a sharp arc of light from her sword, she slashed clean through one of the Kraken’s limbs.

“I cut the leg—run while you can!”

Hearing Elmie shout, the sailors snapped out of their daze and hurried to flee toward the shore.

But the Kraken’s limbs could regenerate.

Almost immediately, a new tentacle sprouted from the stump.

And then—

The sea around it began to churn ominously.

Water magic…!

Of course—it was an A-Rank monster. Using magic was only natural.

It looked like it was avoiding Elmie for now—

But she wasn’t the only one on the move.

“Big sis!”

“Magistera: Second Layer—there we go!”

“《Bolt Blast》!”

The lightning blast, powered up several times over by the skill Magistera, which strengthens spellcasting—

Slammed forward with incredible force.

Compared to before, both of them now cast spells and used skills with a lot more fluidity.

I’d only given them a little coaching, but the results were already showing.

The bolt struck its mark perfectly—

Right at the main body of the Kraken, which had been aiming for Elmie.

“(～～～～～!!)”

Kraken didn’t have vocal cords, so it couldn’t scream—

But its whole body trembled violently, paralyzed by the shock.

The clearest proof?

The magical energy it had started to gather disappeared completely.

“The lightning scattered too much in the water… Looks like it wasn’t enough to finish it off.”

“And now it’s gone under. Once it dives, all we can do is wait.”

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to kill it.

The Kraken slipped beneath the surface and vanished.

“Not bad. That was a solid hit. You taught them?”

“I just gave them some advice on training methods for a week. Honestly, I was the one learning from them before.”

“Then they had a good foundation from the start. Probably among the best humanity has to offer—aside from monsters like you and me.”

“Yeah. They were already strong from the beginning.”

That’s what it meant to be an A-Rank adventurer.

Strength brought wealth. It let you live by your own rules.

And even then, they still held onto their humanity, without letting power twist them.

Well… aside from those rare freaks in S-Rank whose brains were as messed up as their power levels.

“First, let’s talk to the people at the port. We should decide how we’re going to take it down.”

“Yeah. Let’s try to do it in a way that doesn’t wreck the harbor. We can’t afford to lose the seafood supply.”

“…Is it just me, or does it sound like you’re not figuring out how to defeat an upper A-Rank monster, but rather choosing the best method?”

“I don’t think you’re wrong, big sis.”

Too late to be surprised now.

With the Kraken still lurking underwater, we decided to regroup with Elmie and head toward the people gathered at the harbor to gather some intel—and figure out how to secure this monster as our “souvenir.”

・　・　・　・　・

A little while later…

“Hmm… So freezing the entire bay solid is off the table, huh.”

“Why do you sound like that’s common sense…? Wait, you can actually do that, Abel? Freeze the whole port?”

I mean, it’s the fastest and easiest way, right?

After meeting with the port administrator—the one who put in the request to slay the Kraken—we were now in the middle of a strategy meeting.

Based on what we’d heard, the simplest method had already been ruled out…

All I had to do was blast out a huge amount of mana and freeze everything. Easy.

For now, I’d sealed off the mouth of the bay with a thick wall of ice to keep the Kraken from escaping into open waters.

We couldn’t let it get away, after all.

“The reason the Kraken is considered upper A-Rank is mostly because it fights underwater… Just being in the sea makes it a nightmare to deal with.”

“My spells don’t work well underwater either. And if I go all out down there, it’ll just counter with water magic.”

“I fight with a sword, so I’m basically useless. Which means…”

Gruuuu—

All three of them slowly turned to look at me.

“…So, Abel—what would you do, just out of curiosity?”

“Hmm… Let’s see. I could slice it up with Lake Cleaver, or use one of the advanced moves like Wind Fang… Or I could just blast away the entire bay with the Heedrise.”

“You’ve got multiple options…? But aren’t all of those kinda overkill? Wouldn’t that destroy the whole harbor?”

“Not necessarily. At the very least, Wind Fang can be controlled just fine.”

Well… The other options do tend to either slice too much or blow everything up.

That’s just how tricky underwater combat was—there were very few clean ways to attack down there without causing collateral damage.

“Hah… No helping it, I suppose. Leave this one to me. I’ll bring it back properly.”

While I was still trying to figure out what to do, Raynare stepped forward with a confident grin.

“You sure?”

“Of course. Thanks to the person who gave you that magic sword, I got to meet you, didn’t I? In that sense, they’re my benefactor too.”

…Seriously, why does she keep saying these things that make my face heat up!?

“Then let’s get started!”

As the corners of her mouth lifted into a fierce grin, I saw them—

Two long, sharp fangs, peeking out from under her lips.

A predator’s smile, proudly showing off the fangs of a full-fledged vampire.

And then—

From her back, leathery wings spread wide like those of a bat. With one powerful beat—

Raynare soared into the sky.

“She—she’s flying!?”

That wasn’t just a jump.

As a true Progenitor, Raynare was actually flying.

With wings like a bat and what looked like a combo of wind magic, she soared just above the sea’s surface, rolling and weaving through the air.

She was provoking it—taunting the sea devil hiding just beneath her.

By the time she reached the center of the bay, towering jets of water suddenly burst around her as the Kraken attacked from below.

“It’s here—the Kraken! Is she gonna be okay!?”

“Just watch. She didn’t get called S-Rank level for nothing.”

“Hahaha! You think that weak move can catch me!?”

With movements as graceful as a dancing bird, Raynare twisted and dodged through the Kraken’s swinging tentacles—

Then shot upward, climbing higher above the water’s surface.

The tentacles followed her, stretching and rising toward the sky.

And with that—

“There it is—the main body! She lured it out by flying up!”

“But—those tentacles!”

As the Kraken rose more of its main body out of the water, its reach grew longer.

And finally—

One of its thick, slimy limbs coiled around Raynare’s leg.

“Not good…! Abel, we have to help her!”

“She’s not just in a compromising position, she’s about to get crushed!”

“It’s fine. Look.”

I gently held Elmie’s shoulder to keep her from bolting forward.

Honestly… keeping them calm might be harder than fighting the Kraken itself.

“Relax, girls. I’d love to put on a sexy show for Abel, but with this thing, it’d just end up looking like some bloody horror scene. I’m getting out now.”

“I’m not interested! …Not interested at all!”

Even in a situation like this, Raynare wore a seductive smile as she spoke.

Then—slip.

Her long leg slid effortlessly out of the Kraken’s grasp.

“Wait… What was that!? It looked like she just slipped right through it!”

“She did slip through it.”

“Abel, do you know what that was?”

“Of course I do. I’ve experienced it firsthand. That’s a vampire skill—an advanced use of Transformation.”

The Transformation ability unique to vampires allowed them to take on forms like animals… or even mist.

Normally, a vampire needed to transform their whole body—and it took time.

That’s why most of them fought in human form…

Well, normal vampires, anyway.

“But she’s the original of all originals—the Progenitor. The amount of control and speed she has with that skill is on a completely different level. Those wings of hers? Same deal. Raynare can transform just parts of her body to dodge attacks.”

“Wait… doesn’t that mean physical attacks don’t even work on her?”

“Pretty much. Even if you catch her off guard, she can turn into mist, reform after, and come out completely unharmed.”

Yeah…

Fighting her was a nightmare.

Even if you landed a hit, it didn’t do any damage.

“…Whoever ends up fighting her has it rough. There’s basically no way to beat her.”

“You just have to completely vaporize her mist form—leave nothing behind. Then it counts as real damage.”

“Hahaha! You nearly pulled that off once—blasting me with your red magic sword and trying to burn my entire body away! That was thrilling!”

She sounded way too relaxed about all this…

Well, no surprise.

Even now, she was dodging all of the Kraken’s attacks by turning into mist.

Arms, legs, her stomach, her head—

No matter where the Kraken aimed, none of it landed a solid hit on Raynare.

You can’t punch vapor, after all.

The Kraken slammed its limbs at her again and again, only for each strike to pass right through harmlessly.

And without knowing how she kept dodging, it seemed to finally lose its temper…

Eight massive tentacles rose up at once, forming a cage around Raynare, trapping her inside.