Athea sits down in the water, just at the edge of the waves. Still self-conscious about her exposure in her indecent micro bikini. She opts out of submerging herself this time, however.

「What, not gonna swim?」

Straf asks with a smug grin, standing ankle-deep in the water.

「Idiot. This wouldn't stay on if tried to.」

She replies, glaring at Straf while adjusting her bikini and covering herself at the same time.

「I know. So you plan to just soak yourself like a dry seaweed?」

Straf replies, and dips his hand in the water.

Splash!

Disabling a portion of his [Freedom of Movement], he splashes a large amount of the seawater in Athea's face. As he moves his arm, Straf feels an odd sensation. The air appears to have water-like consistency, and the water itself is almost like glue as his hand sweeps through it.

「What are you-!?」

Athea exclaims and covers herself with her arm, turning her face away from the water Straf throws at her. With his brows raised, Straf looks at his hand, rubbing his fingers. Unsurprisingly, the water on his hand is like water, and the air doesn't seem extraordinary in the slightest.

「I thought I'd give you a hand with that.」

He scoffs, looking into her frustrated blue eyes. She dips her dainty hand just beneath the surface of the water, and sweeps it towards him with an angry scowl.

Sssplash!

The salty seawater splashes against Straf, refusing to soak into his underwear even a little, sluicing off of him, like off of a duck. He looks at her with a quite unimpressed expression.

「Really? That's the best you can do?」

He asks, and sweeps his leg across the water.

Fwwwwwwooooshhh! Clackclackclackclackclack!

A large amount of water splashes against Athea's body, despite her best attempt to shield herself.

「That's it!」

She stands up, walks knee-deep into the water, cups it into her hands, and throws it into Straf's face.

Clackclackclackclackclack! Splash!

Straf simply stands there and receives the water to his face, completely unbothered by it. He walks in deeper as well, waist-deep in, and sweeps his hand across the water. A powerful wave washes over Athea, almost knocking her over.

Fwwwooooosh! Clackclackclackclackclackclack!

「Gah! This is unfair! You are too ridiculously powerful!」

She exclaims in exasperation, wiping her face of the water. It streaks down her chin, and forms a small, rapidly draining pool at her cleavage.

「Yeah, that's kind of the premise…」

Straf shrugs with a slanted mouth, placing his fist on his hip.

「What are you doing?」

Cycelia curiously asks, wading up to them through the water.

「Ah, Lia, perfect timing. Help me drown her.」

Straf nonchalantly says while looking at Cycelia, pointing his hand at the near-naked goddess.

「W- What?」

Cycelia grins nervously in response, unsure if Straf is serious. She looks at the blonde woman, and at Straf to discern whether or not it was a joke.

Alicia distracts them, swimming by like a frog.

「Wooow! I'm so much faster now!」

She exclaims with a large smile.

「See!? Told ya!」

Greaves replies with a grin, rubbing his nose with his finger. Straf, Cycelia and Athea look back at each other.

「Well, anyway… You have two arms available, Lia, so just do this.」

Straf says, and demonstrates by splashing a large amount of water in Athea's frustrated face.

「You little-!」

Athea throws water back in Straf's face. He closes his eyes and mostly ignores the weak splash.

「Straf! Stop being mean!」「Hm?」

Cycelia exclaims, and cups some water into her hands. Straf opens his eyes, and his brows quickly rise in surprise when he sees an unexpected blob of water heading straight towards his face.

「Pfpfftft! Lia! What gives!?」

Outraged, Straf exclaims as he spits out the seawater.

「Serves you right.」

Athea's blue eyes narrow, her face gains a smug grin herself. She dips her hand under the surface of the water, and sweeps it towards Straf again, inadvertently splashing Cycelia in the process.

「Hey!」

Cycelia wipes her face of the water, pouting at Athea.

「Ah- Sorry, I meant to-」

Splash! Clackclackclackclackclack!

「Pfpptfpt!」

Before Athea can fully explain, Cycelia retaliates with an amused grin, and wipes her still-wet chin with the back of her hand. The golden-haired goddess gets a surprising mouthful of water herself just like Straf, and starts sputtering.

The two silently glare at each other, and escalate into an outright water war. Straf has been largely forgotten about, as their battle rages on.

Clackclackclackclackclack!

「There's that noise again. What is that?-」

Athea looks at Straf with her brow furrowed, distracted by a rapid, repetitive shuttering noise. He stands there with his fist on his hip, looking at her with a bored expression and a slanted mouth. She receives a large splash of water in her face from Cycelia.

Clackclackclackclack!

「Hey!」

Athea glares at Cycelia. She's giggling, covering her mouth with a loose fist. Athea's angered expression softens, and she flicks her wet golden hair behind her back with a sigh. Floating behind Alicia, Greaves gets distracted by Athea's wet, shiny cleavage.

He stares at it with a wide-eyed gaze, forgetting to even balance himself on the water. He sinks like a rock again, splashing around in the water.

「Greaves, are you okay!?」

Alicia calls out to him, as his head pops out from beneath the surface.

「Yeah, I'm fine! Keep going, Alicia!」

He replies, wiping his eyes of the water with his finger and a thumb. Athea glances at Greaves, and gets self-conscious about her exposure once more.

「That's enough for me…」

She says, and wades through the water towards the shore. She sits down on the sand just out of the reach of the waves, and covers herself up again.

「Okay, okay.」

Cycelia nods her head, still happily giggling with her mouth covered. She lets out a large, relieved sigh as she gets her giggling under control. She looks aside at Straf, contentedly smiling towards him with a gentle tilt to her wet, chestnut head.

《Alright… Knowing life, this should cover the kingdom's budget…》

Straf thinks, rubbing his chin as he looks aside towards the beach.

「…Is it really wise to stay in the water this long, Straf?」

Lily asks as she approaches with her arms crossed. Her crimson eyes look up at the black clouds above.

「Hm? Why wouldn't it be?-」

Boom!

Just as he's about to finish his sentence, a loud rumble of thunder comes from the sea. Though not quite on top of them, a curtain of rain is visible to the naked eye in the distance, somewhat close to the shore.

The abrupt noise draws everyone's attention, and the playful mood breaks into a mild disappointment.

「Yeah, I guess that's it as far as swimming is concerned… Isn't it kind of weird?」

Straf remarks, rubbing his chin as he looks at the not-so-distant rain.

「What is, Straf?」

Cycelia asks, wading beside him. She joins him in pondering the dark clouds.

「Hmm… They got here crazy fast. But it wasn't really windy, was it?」

He says, furrowing his brows.

「Now that you mention it…」

Deep in thought and with brows furrowed, Cycelia rubs her lips with her thumb, holding her elbow with her free hand.

「Alicia, let's get out of the water. The waves are getting stronger and it'll get dangerous if you don't know how to swim well.」

「Okay…」

Greaves grabs Alicia by her hand, and starts towing her to the shore on his back. She glumly nods her head as they slowly make their way back.

「Do you figure it's just bad luck, Lily?」

Straf asks, looking at her over his shoulder. With her clawed hands on her frilled hips, she inquisitively raises her brow without saying anything.

「Well, whatever. We didn't do everything I could think of, but I'd say this was a pretty cliched beach episode. Six out of ten. Maybe the hot springs one will be it. Let's go, Lia.」

Boooooomm!

Straf walks out of the water. Another loud thunderclap rumbles away, much closer this time. A soft pitter-patter begins as droplets fall on the beach and the water. The sunlight dims ominously.

「Tsk. Already? Shit.」

Straf grumbles, holding his palm out and up to feel for the falling rain. He glances up at the sky, and the black clouds are right on top of them.

「…This really is weird. Storms don't move this fast without a strong wind.」

Will says as he leaves the water with Lian, looking up at the sky.

As the group ponders the nature of the rapidly moving storm, Lily stands beside Straf with her arms crossed. She appears completely uninterested by the abrupt change in the weather, and instead has her crimson eyes fixed on Straf.

「…What?」

He asks, glancing down at her, momentarily pausing his chin rubbing. She only silently tilts her head in response, as if confused herself by Straf's confusion. Just off the shore, a massive wave forms, headed straight for the beach.

Straf looks at Will, and Will's face twists into an expression of pure shock and dread. Water sluices off the wave, and the large bump emerging from the surface of the sea reveals itself as anything but a mere large wave.

Glancing aside, Straf notices Athea take a few steps back with her blue eyes wide open in panic. Alicia hides behind Greaves's back with a similar expression.

「S- S- Sss- Sst-」

Cycelia stammers, unable to say a coherent word as she jumps in front of Straf as well, clutching onto his arm with shaky hands. Her terrified emerald eyes look up to his for comfort.

「…No, seriously, what?」

Straf asks, glancing at the group, before his eyes return to Lily. She alone remains unfazed and unimpressed with her arms crossed. Even Lian's eyes dart between her spear, and the object of everyone's attention behind Straf, unsure whether or not she should run for her weapon.

「Krk- Kk- Krrrk-!」

Will points his trembling finger just above Straf, choking on a singular word he can't seem to get out through his clenched teeth.

「Str- Straf… Krak…」

With chattering teeth, Cycelia manages to almost utter out a semi-coherent sentence, pointing behind Straf as well.

「What?」

Frustrated by the lack of communication, Straf spreads his arms and peeks over his shoulder with furrowed brows.

「Oh. Figures.」

He utters out, looking at the absolutely gigantic hybrid of a squid with an octopus as it's crawling onto the beach, right near the big rocks. Twelve tentacles as thick as a shipping container tear the smooth surface of the sand apart, and innumerable smaller ones slither beneath its body.

Its eight uncannily human-like eyes scan the length of the beach. A few of them lazily sweep over Straf and his group, before looking around some more like an octet of googly eyes.

「Is that an octopus or a squid?…」

He turns to face the giant monster, rubbing his chin. His eyes widen abruptly, and his gaze snaps to Cycelia.

「Wait! Am I going to go insane if I look at it for too long? How does it work?」

Straf asks, looking into her panicked emerald eyes. Her eyes turn to the beast, and she points her finger at it again.

「Don't look at it! Just tell me!」

Straf obstructs Cycelia's view with his hand as he insists. She turns her gaze back to his eyes.

「S- Straf… T- That's a kraken…」

She replies with a tight-lipped grimace, stuttering slightly.

「Oh. Alright. I thought it'd be worse, honestly.」

Straf remarks, shrugging his shoulders with an unimpressed, bored, almost disappointed expression.

「Kind of crazy what kind of names people gave their pets back in the day, huh?…」

He adds, looking at Cycelia with his brows raised.

「Thought it would be worse!? You already are insane! Greaves! We need to get out of here!」

Will adjusts his glasses and shouts, pointing at the dirt road.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

「Why is it here?… It shouldn't come to the shore unless it-」

Athea mumbles under her breath. Her blue eyes snap to Straf as she realizes something.

Four of the beast's eyes lock onto the group, and it begins crawling towards them at a deceitfully rapid rate. The movement of its hulking body in no way gives a good representation of its true mass. The main tentacles crush the big rocks as if they were mere clumps of sand.

「Run! Everyone run! Abandon everything and run!」

Athea shouts a command at everyone, and breaks into a sprint towards the dirt road. It doesn't take long for everyone else to follow, except Straf and Lily.

「What's the next step of your plan, Straf?」

She asks. Her crimson eyes look up at him.

「Huh? What do you mean the next step?」

Straf looks at Lily with clear confusion on his face, furrowing his brows while the kraken speeds towards them. The ground rumbles.

「You… The kraken is here. On the shore. Is that not what your plan was from the start? Did I misunderstand it?」

With her brows gently furrowed as well, Lily points her clawed hand at the charging kraken while she remains focused entirely on Straf's face.

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

「Misunderstand what? I don't think I'm following, Lily. Start from the beginning… And be kind of quick about it.」

Straf spreads his arms, shaking his head lightly before glancing at the kraken.

「You noticed it in the carriage. Was it not your plan to lure it to the shore, and kill it with your very own hands as a display of your might?」

She tilts her head, and her brows furrow further.

「What? I noticed the storm, Lily! How was I supposed to know there's a kraken!?」

Straf points his hand at the gigantic beast in frustration, leaning forward a little to match Lily's height better.

「…It was in the bestiary, Straf. A kraken possesses a blessing of a permanent storm. Ships do not stand a chance out at the sea. Did you not read that part?…」

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

She asks, and Straf glances aside.

《…I might have glossed over that part. The page with the kraken didn't have a picture.》

He thinks with a slightly troubled expression on his face.

「Well why didn't you tell me!?」

Straf grabs onto Lily's bare shoulder, raising his brows.

「You said not to reveal your plans-」

She objects, raising her clawed finger.

「Why would I have a plan involving a kraken, Lily!?」

Exasperated, Straf asks while looking at her face with a tight-lipped grimace. She partially curls her finger, before extending it again as she opens her mouth. She stops short of actually saying anything, and begins briefly but intently rubbing her chin.

「Well… I thought the submarine was a subtle allusion-」

Lily explains, shrugging with her hands.

「Why would it be!?」

Straf exclaims in frustration, cutting her explanation short, and pinches the bridge of his nose as he straightens out.

「You know what? Forget it. Fuck it. I'll make it my plan.」

He shrugs, and turns around to the rest of the group while they're fleeing as fast as they can.

「Straf!」

Peeking over her shoulder, Cycelia desperately calls out towards Straf when she realizes he's far behind them all with Lily. She slides to a stop, hesitating. The kraken's eyes stop idly googling about, and focus on the group.

The giant beast abruptly stops its crawl. As the kraken tracks each member with each of its eyes, a long, thin tentacle shoots out from beneath its body. It homes in on Athea, and wraps around her leg.

「Wha-!?」

She doesn't even manage to finish her sentence, before it yanks her leg back and briefly drags her on her back along the dirt. It lifts her into the air.

「Heh.」

Straf chuckles with his fist on his hip, while more tentacles wrap around her and restrain her arms and legs.

「Help! Help! Straf! Help! Don't just stand there! Help!」

Athea cries out in panic as one of the slimy tentacles attaches it suckers to her cheek. The panicked look on her face only makes Straf chuckle harder, shaking his lowered head.

「Deauugh! Disgusting! Get it off me! Straf! You awful bastard! Help me! I'm going to kill you!」

Athea whimpers in panic as more tentacles wrap around her bare stomach. One forces its way into her cleavage, right beneath the center strap.

「Ooohh nooo, whatever will I do if you kiiill meee? Try asking nicer!」

Straf laughs harder with a massive smug grin on his face, spreading his arms.

「Tsk. Shit! I left my sword on the beach!」

Greaves clicks his tongue, clenching his teeth as he helplessly watches the scene unfold.

「…Keep running.」

Lian commands the group and turns around, running back towards the beach. The kraken notes the sudden rapid movement, and a tentacle shoots out towards her the same way as it did for Athea.

「…Movement.」

Cycelia mutters out, watching the tentacle track Lian.

「What!?」

Will asks with a raised voice, looking at Cycelia with panicked eyes.

「Movement. It can't see well, so it looks for movement.」

Cycelia looks back at him with huge emerald eyes and a gravely concerned face.

「Wha-? Wait, that's right… It didn't directly attack until Lian moved.」

Will nods, and adjusts his glasses, furrowing his brows.

As the tentacle draws near, Lian performs a jumping flip, then another. The kraken struggles to keep up with her spin, and her leg comes down on the slowing tentacle like a headsman's axe, delivering a deadly blow. It recoils away, and she lands on her feet.

Despite the initial failure, the kraken remains undeterred. Lian makes it onto the beach, sprinting across the sand for her spear. This time, two tentacles reach for her.

She leaps out of the way of the first one, rolling across the sand as it narrowly misses her leg. She leaps again, her arm outstretched for the spear on the mat.

Ssssslllsh.

The second tentacle makes a slimy squishing noise as it wraps around Lian's outstretched arm. Her fingertips touch the spear's shaft, but then winces as she is forcefully yanked away into the air.

She makes an effort to peel the tentacle off her arm with her hand, but the other one comes for her free wrist, and pulls it away. At the same time, more thin tentacles begin wrapping themselves all around her and further restraining her.

「Lian!」

Will calls out towards her. The kraken dangles her right next to Athea, keeping one eye on them both.

「Guh!?」

A tentacle slips beneath her swimsuit through the gap at her armpit. She instantly recoils at the sensation of the slippery tendril, writhing in her restraints and grimacing heavily in disgust.

「Ahh. Classic. It goes after the women first.」

Straf chuckles as he shakes his head, shrugging with his hand. He leisurely approaches the rest of the group with Lily, taking his time, completely unbothered while Lian and Athea struggle with the kraken's grip.

Will points his palm at one of the kraken's eyes.

「Vortex, vortices, swirling winds-」

Glaring murder at the kraken, he quietly begins chanting an incantation.

「No!」

Alicia jumps in from behind, wrapping her arms around him and forcing his hands down.

「Alicia!? Let me-! Let go! Let me cast!」

Will shouts at Alicia while she's restraining him. He tries his best to shake her off without hurting her, but lacks the strength to.

「No! You can't! You'll kill yourself!」

She desperately shouts, holding onto Will with all her might.

「What am I supposed to do then!? Wait here until it kills us!?」

He asks with a raised voice, looking at Alicia while she forces her cheek into his shoulder from behind.

「Okay, okay! Settle down!」

Straf says with his arms spread, looking at the kraken with a smug smirk and a side-glance. A large, glowing orb appears above Straf, just slightly off his shoulder. A mere moment later, a beam of light as wide as the kraken's tentacle extends from the orb towards the giant beast.

The light impacts its dark brown skin, and streams down along its surface as if were a quickly flowing liquid. It dissipates as it hits the ground with no discernible effect.

「Oookaay? That was weird.」

He remarks, and Straf's smirk turns into a tight-lipped grimace. Seeing Straf's magic having no effect, Will stops wrestling with Alicia.

「…As I thought.」

Will quietly utters out, and his furious expression shifts to a troubled one.

After a few seconds, Alicia lets go. Will adjusts his glasses and looks at Straf again. Multiple rays of ice-blue light impact the kraken, only for a harmless water vapor to rise from the site of impact on its skin.

「What the fuck? Is this thing-?」

Straf says, spreading his arms in exasperation.

「Its blood is magical! It can control the flow of mana around itself almost at will!」

Will shouts towards Straf with a serious expression on his face.

「And what the fuck is that supposed to mean!? Is that a really convoluted way of saying it's-!?」

「It's immune to magic!」

Will interrupts Straf's question, and adjusts his glasses.

「Of course it is! I guessed! Thanks for nothing!」

Throwing up his hand, Straf rolls his eyes and shakes his head. The thin tentacles begin moving again. Alicia panics and breaks out into a sprint down the road.

「Alicia, wait!」

Cycelia reaches out for her, but fails to grasp her. She runs after her, and the tentacles home in onto them. In mere moments, Alicia and Cycelia join Athea and Lian in the air.

「Okay. I think that's enough…」

Straf says, raising his index finger in protest.

「Now!? Now!?」

Athea shouts in anger and indignation, wrestling with the tentacles as one coils around her barely-covered breast.

「Alicia! Shit!」

Greaves calls out, and curses out through clenched teeth in frustration.

「I'm getting my sword!-」

Greaves announces, and turns for the beach. Will stops him, holding onto his shoulder.

「And what are you going to do with it!? Tickle it!?」

He asks, gripping Greaves tight.

「Well what are you going to do with your magic!? Tickle it and drop dead!?」

Greaves breaks his grip, and shoves him away. He turns for the beach again, but Will once again grabs onto his shoulder, digging his fingers into it.

「Greaves, listen to me! This isn't a joke! For once keep a cool head and don't do anything stupid!」

Will says, staring at Greaves with a deathly serious face. He clenches his teeth in response, and clicks his tongue. Greaves slaps his hand away, but remains where he is.

「…Shall I dispose of it for you, Straf? I see it's becoming quite an annoyance.」

Lily asks, looking up at Straf with her hands on her hips in half-closed fists.

「Can you, even? Honestly, the tentacle cliche is getting kind of obnoxious.」

Straf asks, glancing at Lily before his eyes return to the kraken and its hanging prey.

「Naturally. I can butcher it with ease- Hm? Straf, is this really the right time to be touching me like this?」

「What? I've got my hands right here-」

Greatly perplexed, Straf turns his gaze back to Lily with his brows furrowed. A tentacle is coiled around one of her legs and her waist. He shows her his empty hands.

「…Then who?-」

She looks down, and as soon as she catches a glimpse of the tentacle, she gets yanked back at incredible speed, as if the tentacle was a bungee cord at its limit. While her arms are still free, she claws the tentacle pulling her into the air apart.

Lily momentarily frees herself and starts plummeting to the ground, but another tentacle intercepts her and restrains her arms close to her body.

「You lowly worm- How dare you!? I wish you were sapient so you could fully understand the terror-!」

Plap!

The kraken ignores Lily's vitriolic threats flung its way, and slaps its suckers right in the center of her face. She scowls in silence, but her upper lip twitches in fury.

「Okay! That's it! Over the fucking line!」

Straf shouts, pointing his finger at the kraken. He brings his arm in the cast up, and with one powerful motion…

Crack! Thud-thud!

It splits in two halves, drops to the ground, and further shatters into smaller pieces.

「Wha-!?」 「Did he really just-!?」 「As expected of Straf! Feigning his weakness from the start!」

Cycelia, Alicia and Lily react to the sight of Straf freeing his supposedly broken arm from the cast. He waves it around, bending and straightening it a few times. Only Athea and Lian stay silent and warily watch the kraken.

「Let's see who gets the axe first! Me, or your evolutionary tree!」

Straf shouts at the beast as he pulls『Hoperender』out of his [Portable Storage]…