Meanwhile, somewhere, in the ruins of a disused castle…

In the darkness, violet eyes momentarily open wide, and slowly narrow. The vertical pupils shift from large ovals into narrow slits.

「Is this a mistake?…」

A woman's voice quietly utters out.

「…No. That's not possible. To think that someone would kill one… Heh.」

She continues mumbling under her breath. After a moment of silence, she begins chuckling. Her suppressed cackling transforms into outright unrestrained laughter. After a few seconds, she calms herself and lets out a large sigh.

「Well… If nothing else, this age will be interesting. Perhaps I should act sooner, rather than later…」

She says in a sighful, bored voice. A faint, repetitive tapping of something hard against wood echoes out softly through the empty, devastated throne room…

…

Meanwhile, at the coast of the Redwing Kingdom…

Flesh sizzles. A powerful aroma of fried seafood mixed with an almost overpowering smell of something burning spreads far and wide.

THUD-THUD!… THUD!

The two of the kraken's tentacles fall limp, quaking the ground. The third one falls last, right behind Straf, severed from the body and charred heavily.

Sssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh…

The kraken's body sizzles, pops and crackles from the residual heat still cooking it, nearly entirely split in half. Its massive body no longer so massive, owing to the gigantic vertical chunk of missing flesh right between its eyes.

As if frozen, the beast is in a complete standstill. Its glazed over eyes stare blankly at nothing.

「That's… With just mana?…」

Will adjusts his glasses, mumbling under his breath in awe.

「…So I'm really not the legendary hero?」

Greaves bitterly utters out, clenching his teeth and fist.

Mere moments later, all of the tentacles begin to curl upward and roll towards the kraken's body, except the severed one that lays limp on the other side of the dirt road. The dark clouds above begin to slowly clear, and the rain is becoming less intense.

While admiring his handiwork, Straf looks up at the smaller tentacles holding the girls. [Portable Storage] opens, and he flings his sword back in.

The ones wrapped around Cycelia begin to curl the other way, mindlessly unwinding their grasp on her.

「Huh? Ah. Ahh! Straf!」

Initially confused when the tentacles loosen, Cycelia realizes the kraken is about to let go of her. Then, the realization that the kraken is about to let go of her sets in. Her emerald eyes snap open in panic, and she shouts for Straf.

「Straf! Straf!-」

Cycelia screams as she starts plummeting, and the ground races towards her. She forces her eyes shut out of panic.

Fwoop-FWOOP!

A powerful, yet gentle force sweeps her away. She feels a warm touch on her shoulder, something is holding her legs up, and most of her body is pressed against something unmistakably familiar. Bare human skin.

She opens her emerald eyes, looking up. A familiar, handsome face with sharp features.

「…Straf!」

Cycelia exclaims with relief, smiling as he lands and slides to a stop on the dirt path.

「Who else?」

He shoots a quick glance at her, raising his brows a little as he sets her feet down on the ground.

「Hey! How about you do something already!?」

Straf turns his head at Greaves and Will, and shouts at them. Lily pries herself out of the dead kraken's grip and gently floats to the ground, almost as if parachuting, but slower. At the same time, the remaining tentacles begin curling away.

「Aaah! Aaaaaah!」

Alicia shouts with her eyes wide open, realizing she's about to drop next. Greaves takes off, sprinting beneath her before she can fall. Will follows, running as fast as he can behind him, though he can't match his speed despite his best effort.

The kraken drops Lian, Athea and Alicia at the same time. Its tentacles curl into spirals towards its cleaved body. While Alicia is falling screaming, covering her face with her hands, Lian and Athea are silent.

Only Lian's face doesn't show a sign of panic, however. Athea is falling with her clenched teeth bared, and her blue eyes open as wide as she can open them.

《What do I do!? What do I do!? Do I go back!? They'll find out I'm not a nobody!-》

Thoughts race through Athea's head as the distance between her and the ground rapidly decreases.

Fwop-fwoop-FWOOP!

Straf once again turns into a blur. Faster than even Lily's red eyes can track, he crosses the distance from the dirt road to the kraken's body and leaps at it. His bare feet dig into and sink in its flesh like quicksand.

Appearing stationary in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment standing sideways on the kraken, its flesh springs back into its original shape, launching Straf flying forward. Much slower than his mad dash, but still too fast too be safe, he deactivates the passive effect of [Freedom of Movement].

For a split second, the air becomes as thick as water for Straf. He rapidly slows down with a terribly loud rumbling noise lasting only an instant. He intercepts Athea in mid-air, grabbing onto her barely-covered voluminous breast, and placing his other hand on her rear.

「What are you-? What are you-!?」

She stammers, stumbling over words from the completely unexpected touch. Her blue eyes look up at Straf in sheer shock, and he smugly smirks back at her.

Meanwhile, Greaves leaps at Alicia and wraps his arms around her in the air. He twists his body, spinning Alicia around to negate some of her momentum with his.

Thud.

「Agh!- Gah…」

They crash to the ground together after barreling through the air. Greaves lands on his back, clutching onto Alicia tight, and they slide a short distance along the sandy dirt.

「Greaves! Are you okay?」

「I'm fine!」

Greaves grunts out with his eyes closed and wincing in reply to Alicia's concern-filled voice. As Lian is about to drop to the ground, prepared to roll and disperse her momentum, she notices Will sprinting towards her.

《No, don't- Ahhh… Fine.》

She briefly hopes for Will to abort his attempt to catch her, her falling posture is very incompatible with the idea of being caught from below. Realizing that she has less than a second to act, and that Will likely will be undeterred by the risk, she relents.

Lian exhales in minor annoyance, and decides to trust Will. She shifts her body a little, assuming a posture that's easier to catch. Will arrives just in time, stretching his arms out towards her.

Thwump-Crack.

「Hurk!-」

A pained gasp escapes Will's mouth as Lian crashes into him, landing right on top.

「Are you okay?」

Lian asks, lifting herself off of him.

「…I think I broke something…」

Will whispers with a strained voice. Lian sighs, and cautiously scoops him up into her arms.

「…Yes, yes… Good work…」

Lian sighs out, with a mixture of jest and frustration in her voice as she walks with Will in a princess carry.

Lily softly lands on her feet. Meanwhile, Lian walks up to Greaves and Alicia as they get up and dust themselves off. Straf lands with Athea, sliding on the dirt road to a stop again near Cycelia.

Athea jumps out of his grasp and tears his hands away from herself, covering her body up with her arms, while glaring at him with a frowning pout full of indignation.

「Are you alright, Alicia?」

Lian asks as she walks up to them with Will in her arms.

「Yes, are you?- Is Will?」

She replies as she pats her thick legs, brushing away lumps of sandy dirt. Her eyes look up at Lian, and widen when she sees Will grimacing in pain, clutching onto his side. She becomes alarmed, and quickly closes the distance.

「I think he's a little hurt-」

Lian says, but a groan from Will interrupts her.

「I'm fiine… Ngh… I just have a broken rib…」

He quietly grunts out through his clenched teeth.

「Will! That's not fine! I'll heal you in just a moment!」

Alicia exclaims, holding gently onto his shoulder with her dainty fingers. Her gaze turns to Lian's face.

「Lian, can you put him down somewhere? Gently.」

Alicia requests with furrowed brows, looking straight into Lian's almond-shaped eyes. Her silken black ponytail jiggles as she looks around.

「How about the mat at the beach? The ground is damp, and both of you will have to stay still for a while, isn't that right?」

She turns her black eyes back to Alicia's.

「Yes… Could you?」

She asks, nodding her head gently with a troubled expression.

「Let's go.」

Lian bluntly replies, and turns for the dirt road. Alicia and Greaves follow closely behind. Meanwhile, Straf is approaching the kraken's body as they walk past him.

「Where is it?…」

Straf mumbles to himself, looking around the ground. The group glances at him with varying degrees of suspicion, except Will, who is too preoccupied with suffering. Alicia stops for a second.

「Um… What are you looking-?」

She meekly asks with her hand on her chest in a loose fist.

「A-ha!」

Straf exclaims, and walks up to a peculiar bump in the sandy dirt. He bends his knees a little and leans forward to reach for it, and pulls out a large, two-handed sledgehammer from the earth. Effortlessly holding it in one hand, he looks it over.

Although it's not particularly ornate in any way, its shaft and hammerhead are made of a pale blue, almost white metal. It has the appearance of brushed steel, but it bears no scratch marks of rough polishing. Its lightly glossy surface has a certain beauty to it.

Perhaps ironically, its long shaft is the weapon's most decorative part, albeit not overwhelmingly so in the full picture. The shaft's end widens, and then tapers off to a sharp point, and the handle has notches for a better grip. Straf squints, and focuses his vision on the hammerhead.

『Magecrusher』

[Durable] [Magical]

A durandium warhammer. The wielder generates an anti-magic field, the diameter of which is equal to the wielder's arm's length and five times the weapon's length.

The anti-magic field is sphere shaped, and projects from the wielder's natural center of mass.

Durability: 7500/7500

[||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||]

「Wow! Now that's a good drop! Too bad it's a hammer, though…」

Straf exclaims, reading through the warhammer's screen. His brows furrow.

「Wait… Does this mean?…」

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He rubs his chin, pondering something. Lily approaches behind him, but decides to not disturb him as he appears deep in thought. He turns around, approaching Cycelia with a hasty step. Lily follows.

「Are you okay?」

Cycelia asks as Lian and the rest of her group navigate the torn terrain and head for the beach.

「I've had worse. Will has a broken rib, or so he says…」 「…I'm fine…」

Lian replies, glancing at Will in her arms.

「I'll heal him, don't worry.」

Alicia says, and nods at Cycelia with a worried face. Cycelia nods back, and Alicia's expression is infectious. Cycelia furrows her brows watching Lian carry Will away.

「Straf?」

She calls out as she notices Straf and Lily in the corner of her vision. He looks at her in silence, and circle-strafes her. Her gaze tracks him without a fail, until he walks right behind her. Lily tilts her head, silently observing the bizarre maneuver.

「…What are you doing? Are you okay?」

Cycelia asks, blinking in confusion as she turns her head to the other side, and continues tracking him.

「…I'm testing something. You could see me fine just now, right?」

Straf asks as he stops in front of Cycelia.

「…Yes? Why wouldn't I?」

Cycelia tilts her head, puzzled by Straf's odd question.

「Could you hold this for me for just a moment?」

Straf asks, horizontally holding the warhammer out with one hand for Cycelia. As her curiosity gets the better of her, Athea cautiously approaches closer and watches them both with wary eyes.

「Huh? Sure…」

She nods her head, albeit with a greatly confused expression. Expecting it to be near weightless as Straf has no trouble holding it, she receives it into her hands. Straf lets go.

「Hurgh!- Soheavy!… Hmmmmgh!…」

The warhammer sinks towards the ground, and she just barely manages to keep her grasp on it. Cycelia pulls the shaft closer to her body, stumbling a little as its immense weight greatly upsets her balance. Straf quickly backpedals away from her, hopping away on his toes.

「Hnnnnngh!…」

She strains, grunts, clenches her teeth as she tries to pull the hammer up just a little. Her whole face turns red from the effort. To try and give herself more strength, she paces her inhales and exhales.

「Hmpf. Pathetic…」

Lily shakes her head and crosses her arms after watching Cycelia struggle with the warhammer for a brief moment.

「Straf!… How long… Do I have to… Ho-」

Cycelia shouts between grunts and pauses to gasp for air. Straf activates his [Contextual Time Perception] when out of the weapon's effect.

《Ookaay. As I thought, this weapon is fucking dangerous.》

Straf thinks, clenching and opening his fists in front of himself and testing for his ability's effect. He begins circle-strafing Cycelia, Lily and Athea in a wide arc as they appear to stand frozen in time. He walks, and walks. Neither of them turn their heads towards him.

After walking a full circle around them, he returns to his origin point.

「…ld this!?」

Cycelia asks, completely red-faced from exertion completely alien to her lifestyle.

「You can go ahead and drop it now!」

Straf raises his hand to signal her. She pushes the sledgehammer away from herself with her entire body.

Thud!

Cycelia lets go of the hammer with one hand, and its head sinks to the ground with a powerful sound of impact against the damp dirt. She leans on its handle, gasping for air and dripping with either sweat, or the rainfall that has ended not too long ago.

《He held this in one hand!? He's a monster!… He's my monster… Hehehe…》

「Hehehe… He… Hehe…」

She chuckles quietly with her head hanging low as she continues leaning on the warhammer.

「I see you're still in a good mood.」

Straf remarks, noting her cackling as he walks back up to the three. If Cycelia's face could flush any more, it would have.

「Ah-! Uh- Hehe… Well… Nobody died, so… That's good, right?」

She asks and shrugs her shoulders, grinning awkwardly with heavy breaths.

「Yup, silver lining, and everything. I'll take it now.」

Straf shrugs, and picks the incredibly heavy warhammer up with ease.

《Does this work?》

Straf thinks as he throws the 『Magecrusher』 into his [Portable Storage]. He looks Cycelia in her emerald eyes, and activates [Contextual Time Perception]. He takes a few steps towards Cycelia's side, and looks over his shoulder at Lily.

Neither Lily in front of Cycelia, nor Athea behind her, nor Cycelia herself between the two react to his movement. Straf continues, and circles around her. Walking past Athea, he reaches his hand for her breast.

《Nope, nevermind. I don't need to slow time for this.》

He thinks, and retracts his hand before it makes contact. He glances at Athea's suspicion-filled, deep blue eyes as he continues onward. He returns to his original position, and looks Cycelia in her green eyes again.

「…Straf?」

She says, tilting her head, still breathing heavily, although less intensely than before. Straf looks up at the sky, and it's now impeccably clear and blue again. The sun shines its warm rays on the land, slowly drying the damp dirt, and the dead kraken.

「Nice weather, isn't it?」

Straf nonchalantly asks, pulling his eyes away from the sky back to Cycelia.

「Huh? Ah, yes! Now that you mention it, the storm is gone!」

Looking at the clear sky, Cycelia exclaims with a happy smile.

「So… We're staying until the sunset as planned?」

Straf asks, spreading his hands.

「Well… I don't think we have a choice. We'd have to walk, and Will got hurt.」

Cycelia shrugs as she looks towards the beach.

「Works for me. Lily, Lia, bimbo. Go on ahead, I'll be there in a moment.」 「Tsk.」

Straf snaps his fingers and points at Cycelia, and turns to approach the kraken's sundered, charred body. Athea clicks her tongue, but doesn't say anything.

「Very well.」

Lily replies with a nod, and starts heading towards the beach. Athea follows behind her at a small distance. Cycelia takes a few steps to follow them too, but stops and looks at Straf again.

「What are you going to do, Straf?- Eh?」

She asks, just as Straf puts his hands on the kraken's corpse. With a grunt, he lifts it a little off the ground. Cycelia blinks in stunned shock.

「Hnnnnnnmngh! Wow! This shit is actually kind of heavy!」

「W- Well I'd be a little afraid if it wasn't…」

Cycelia replies to Straf's straining voice with a lightly amused tone, though she's not particularly feeling like laughing anymore. Her mind is simply incapable of fully processing a feat of strength this jarring so quickly, making the whole scene seem detached from reality, like a dream.

[Portable Storage] opens, and Straf begins dragging the dead octopus-squid hybrid towards it. The purple vortex is gigantic, matching the kraken in size, and even exceeding it a little.

The rip in space hypnotically whirls, appearing like a vertical ocean maelstrom hanging in the thin air, perfectly stationary aside from its spin. He manages to get some of the kraken in, and begins pushing the rest in.

「Hnghhhh! Hhhhmghhgggg! Shit! This is kind of tough!-」

Straf pauses for a second to take a breath, his brows rise in surprise.

「Wow! My stamina is draining! Long time no see! Hnnnnnnnngyyyyahhhhh!」

He exclaims, apparently greatly amused. Cycelia continues staring with her mouth ajar in awe. With one last push, the bulk of the kraken makes it into the [Portable Storage]. As it falls in, its gigantic tentacles follow.

Straf has to lazily dodge a few of them to avoid getting hit, but the kraken enters his inventory without otherwise a hitch.

The massive rip in space shuts close. Aside from the gigantic tentacle near the road, the small dismembered ones, and the torn terrain, it's unlikely that anyone would be able to tell what occurred here.

「Whew. Wow. My stamina bar almost drained-」

Straf says, panting with an amused grin as his eyes look down and to the side.

「…Aand it's full again.」

He shrugs, and casually makes his way back to Cycelia.

「I told you to go on ahead, Lia.」

Straf says, spreading his hands.

「…Why'd you take it?」

She asks, pointing at the space where the kraken was, completely befuddled.

「What, did you really think I'd let all that meat go to waste? And the twerp said its blood is magical.」

He smirks at Cycelia as they walk towards the beach together side by side.

「Ah, that's right!… You're really shrewd, Straf. I'm glad the matters of money are in your hands.」

With a light tilt to her head, she beams a happy smile at Straf, walking with her hands clasped behind her back.

「Yeah, me too.」

Straf scoffs, lightly grinning.

「…Also, I want to prank Lian's brother. I think he'll look hilarious with tentacles on his face.」

He adds, shrugging his shoulders.

「Hahaha!」

Cycelia laughs, covering her mouth with a loose fist. She looks up at Straf's deadpan face, which only makes her laugh again, and harder. Her green eyes rise up to Straf's face once more, and his brows are gently furrowed in confusion.

《…It's that funny? I was just making an off-hand joke. Maybe I should do it for real.》

Straf continues looking at Cycelia for just a moment longer, and looks aside to give the idea some serious consideration.

《He's just joking, right? He's not actually serious?》

「Hahaha… Haha… Ha…」

Her laughter slowly trails off. While her mouth is grinning, her eyes become somewhat worried.

「By the way… Are you not going to take that tentacle?」

She looks over her shoulder at the tentacle abandoned by the roadside.

「Meh, I'll leave it for the animals. Give and take, you know?」

He dismissively shrugs his shoulders, pondering something with a slanted mouth as he looks at the sky.

《…What do I do with the hammer? It'd be a waste if I left it to rot in my inventory. Do I give it to Lily?- No, it'd be too dangerous… Someone who's close, but at a distance…》

Straf thinks intently, rubbing his chin with fervor as he and Cycelia walk onto the sandy beach once more…