Chapter 12


    The sound of the rusted antique door opening echoed throughout the cave walls. As we entered further into the dark cave, the door behind us suddenly closed shut. I surveyed my surroundings. We are currently inside an ind-like rock formation surrounded by water with many rock pirs in sight with no way out except the door we came through or towards the path blocked by the dungeon boss.


    "Be careful everyone, focus on repelling the tentacles while I deal damage to the head," Ht warned.


    "Tentacles! For real? You didn''t tell me were fighting some Japanese abomination." Xeno eximed.


    "I didn''t tell you ''cause I knew you''d react like that. Now focus on the fight or we might get wiped."


    "Getting wiped here is a small price to pay for a man''s hopes and dreams!"


    My impression of him is getting worse as time passes. The inte corrupted me enough to know what he was getting at. Good thing rissa seems oblivious to his innuendo. I have to remember to be wary of this guy. I need to protect her innocence from him.


    Suddenly the earth quaked. An enormous sea creature rose from the depths of the water along with giant tentacles. It uses two of its manyrge tentacles to support its body by curling around the rock pirs in the area. Its head has tworge eyes, a massive, fanged mouth, and small spines or gills along its sides. It also has many smaller tentacles all of which do not have that much reach. The creature roared as it mmed the ground with one of itsrge tentacles for extra added intimidation points.


    Kraken


    Hp: 100%


    Ht suddenly rushed into the Kraken''s head repelling and dodging tentacles while ignoring the damage of some that hit him while dealing damage to it, thus sessfully aggroing most of the Kraken''s tentacles. What a guy! His friend should learn a thing or two from him.


    Ht


    Hp: 89%


    Kraken


    Hp: 91%


    As if inspired by Ht''s heroic actions, we then proceed to stick to the battle n and focus our attacks on the tentacles. At the same time, Ht is attacking the head to retain the aggro all the while dodging and blocking the tentacles that came after him.


    "Hyup"


    "Firebolt!"


    "Demonic Lightning Spinning sh!"


    I shed the smaller tentacle close to me with my dagger, rissa fired a stronger version of the fireball spell at one of therge ones, and Xeno instantly sliced 2 small tentacles near him in half. I''m pretty sure he just did a normal ''Spinning sh'' weapon skill though, not whatever move he said.


    All our attacksbined dealt high damage to the boss.


    Kraken


    Hp: 69%


    Suddenly, I noticed one of the small tentacles managing to slither into rissa''s blind spot and grab her left foot.


    "Kyaaa!" she yelped.


    She let out a cute voice that got me a bit distracted. Focus me! I don''t have a single long-range spell and my weapon skill is nonexistent. I might just have to heal her instantly after she survives the boss''s attack but the problem is that I am almost out of mana. Even though beginner-level spells like fireball and heal don''t require much manapared to intermediate spells like haste, I don''t have that much MP left since I used up most of my healing on a certain someone who just keeps getting poisoned and hurt nonstop. I''m also building 3 stats priority, not just two so my mana pool is not thatrgepared to your average healer. This is a conundrum.


    "Sheild Boomerang!" Ht shouted.


    As I was pondering my move, a shield flew like a boomerang and sliced the tentacle, setting rissa free. Itpletely broke thews of physics and returned to him like some captain from a certain movie I know. I almost forgot about his weapon skill. Considering he was still aggroing the majority of the tentacles, that was a nice situational and surrounding awareness. What a nice assist while dodging the tentacles at the same time. He has a good affinity for leading andmanding.


    "Tsk! So close! I-I mean good job nice save Ht!" Xeno managed a ''nice save'' in his dignity too.


    You do know this is not an X-rated game right? The Kraken will only most likely throw her or m her on the ground for extra damage, not whatever you were expecting to happen. This cannot go on. I don''t want to fight this boss any longer than necessary or that guy might develop weird fantasies involving rissa.


    I rushed towards the head while dodging every single tentacle that came after me.


    "Be careful! Don''t overextend" Htmanded.


    I ignored him and continued toe close, suddenly the Kraken attacked me using one of its giant tentacles. I jumped sideways to avoid it and the tentacle mmed into the ground next to me, creating a small crater.


    Bam*


    Whew, that might have insta-killed me if it hit since I don''t have much tankiness, only damage, and mp for healing.


    As the Kraken began to lift its giant tentacle, I immediately jumped at it and used it as a lift.


    "W-what are you doing! That''s crazy!" Ht worriedly shouted.


    I put my staff on my backstrap and equipped my two daggers from my belt on both my hands. I then ran towards the main body using the giant tentacle as a makeshift bridge and as soon as I deemed the distance suitable enough, I leaped toward its eye and used both my daggers to stab it for a critical blow.


    "Roaaaaar!"


    Kraken


    Hp: 41%


    The Kraken was enraged. It iled hysterically making me almost lose my bnce. I used both the daggers as an impromptu climber''s gear to pull myself up and situate myself on top of its head for a more stable footing. Naturally, all the aggro wentpletely onto me, freeing everyone to focus on dealing damage and not minding the tentacles.


    "Focus on its head!" I shouted while dodging the many tentaclesing my way.


    They all focused fully on dealing damage while I prioritized keeping myself alive on top of the Kraken''s head all the while maintaining my bnce to not fall. If I fall here, it will be extremely fatal since I cannot move freely in the water. I received a few hits here and there from whip attacks of the tentacles but not enough to kill me since I dodged everything that could be fatal. I saw rissa channeling her current strongest and highest mana-costing skill. She probably held onto casting this skill for so long to find the perfect opportunity to cast it like this where all the aggro is onto me. This skill takes a long time to channel and the bacsh of a canceled channeling will drain her mana so kudos to her for having this much patience. The thought of her listening to my teachings and applying them perfectly makes me proud to be her mentor.


    After finishing the channeling, rissa cast her spell at the same time Ht used his weapon skill.


    They both aimed at the head of the Kraken.


    "Shield boomerang!"


    "me burst!"


    A shield boomerang and a ball of fire more than triple the size of a normal fireball hit its mark and exploded.


    <strong>*Boom*</strong>


    The impact of rissa''s attack made me almost fall but I luckily held on.


    <strong>Roarrrrrrrrr*</strong>


    After a while, the Kraken finally gave itsst death cry due to our fatal damage. It disappeared into red motes of light.


    Kraken


    Hp: 0%


    <strong>Dungeon Cleared!</strong>


    <strong>Sub Quest Cleared!: Dungeon Diving.</strong>


    <strong>Main Quest Cleared!: Beast of the Sea.</strong>


    <strong>Level increased to Lvl. 30</strong>


    <strong>Level Increased to Lvl. 31</strong>


    I got a bunch of quest XP and I leveled up 2 times from that. But sadly no rare or epic drops. Not even a special dungeon appeared for our efforts. Well, that''s life you can''t get what you want and always be lucky.


    I fell into the water after the Kraken died but it took only a little swim for me to get back to my party. They greeted me with varying emotions.


    "Novo! Are you alright?" rissa came running to me worriedly.


    You know this is just a game, right? She''s getting too engrossed in this. To be fair, it is her 1st VR game so it is to be a bit expected.


    "I''m perfectly fine," I reassured her.


    "That was badass! I would''ve done the same but you beat me to it." Xeno suddenly called out.


    "That was a bold move, but I guess you have the skills to back it up so it worked out in the end." Ht chimed in.


    "Yeah, I was quite lucky it turned out well."


    "I''m quite positive that''s not just luck. It takes a lot of skill to bnce on top of the boss'' head while dodging its attack at the same time. Do you have another main ount?"


    ".....Kind off," I replied hesitantly


    He seems to ponder for a while before deciding on something


    "How old are you"? He asked curtly.


    "Huh, I expect that question toe from your friend, not you," I said apprehensively.


    Having realized what implications he just asked he suddenly became flustered, his face would have been crimson if CoA had that feature.


    "Wha...Th-That''s not what I meant! It''s just that, I''m building a team to join the u20 tournament. If you''re avable and under 20 years old, would you like to join mine?" He hurriedly said.


    "Sorry, already taken. I''d probably join you if someone hadn''t already invited me to their team." I declined politely.


    I''m not saying that just to be polite either, he''s pretty skilled so joining him would not be a bad idea, unfortunately for him, Liz is my friend and I owe a lot to her for helping me return to the game I love. I wouldn''t trade her for any team no matter how good they arepared to hers.


    "I see... I guess I''ll just have to stick to Xeno for myst member." He sighed.


    "Hey! I can hear you, you know!" Xeno chimed in.


    So my assumption is correct, he <strong><em>is</em></strong> boosting that guy. To be fair though from what I saw from Xeno, he does have the potential to be very good at the game. His moves are notpletely amateurish and his experience in ying different VR games shows, although his overconfidence would be his undoing if he doesn''t learn to be extra careful in fights.


    "It''s such a shame, but understandable. A support like you would be in high demand. It''s rare to see a support that can also hold their own in meleebat since supports usually just stay at the back due to their low defense." Ht praised.


    "I get that a lot. I hope we both get through the elimination round. I would like to fight you in the main tournament." I voiced my inner thoughts.


    "I hope so too. Oh right, I''ll give you guys this. I got it from the boss just now." He requested a trade.


    <strong>*Ht would like to trade with you. Do you wish to ept? Y/N</strong>


    I epted his offer then he gave me the loot he got from the boss.


    "I don''t really need it since I''m not a spellcaster, and it''s only useful for early to mid-game so I can''t trade it for my main ount," he added.


    I identified it.


    <strong>Kraken''s Staff (epic)</strong>


    A staff that is said to have the power to call the power of the sea.


    Wisdom + 20


    Intelligence + 25


    Mp + 200


    Weapon skill Tsunami - Casts a medium-sized tidal wave that damages enemies thate across its path.


    Cooldown: 34 sec


    Mp cost: 118 mp


    A pretty good weapon for rissa. It also has a good aoe weapon skill for us to grind faster. Though one major downside of it is its mana cost but rrisa''s mp and int-oriented build will probably bnce it enough. I''ll give it to rissater so she can equip it after we exit the dungeon. It''s a pretty good weapon, he could just sell it for a hefty amount of extra gold but he knows we will benefit more from it so he gave it to us. My respect for him is increasing.


    "Are you sure we can have this?" I asked appreciatively.


    "W-wait, we will give it to you in exchange for your cellphone numbers." Xeno chimed in.


    My respect for this guy on the other hand is decreasing. It''s not like you''re the one giving us the loot you know?


    "Don''t mind him. Please take it. A friend list add would suffice though if that''s fine with you guys." Ht rebutted him.


    The four of us added each other as we exited the dungeon cave. After a brief farewell, they both got on their separate ways.


    "They''re both very kind." rissa mused.


    "Yes, they''re both good people." I agreed.


    Well, that is not entirely true since the other guy is aplete pervert........ but I guess he''s not really a bad person so I can''tin too much.


    We passed the time with little chats and I gave her the weapon while also suggesting tips to improve based on the dungeon run we had just finished until we arrived at the port city of Lallias. We then settled on the time we would meet the next time we y then eventually logged out with the promise to explore the port city together.