TS 049

It seemed he was talking about the promise in the dungeon. Yoon Taehwa relaxed his grip on the hand and stared at the Kraken. Thanks to the river water washing over with every movement of its legs, the dust cloud quickly subsided.

Where the giant tentacles had swept, clumps of tattered moss and unidentifiable crustaceans crawled.

“It’s going to take some time to join up with Team 1.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a helicopter appeared overhead with the sound of a propeller. It was the flight team. Soon, the monster-killing machine gun sticking out of it began to spray bullets at the Kraken. Team 1 would be coming via the thoroughfare, so unlike the flight team, it would take them time.

One tentacle, which had been flying fiercely toward the helicopter, stopped dead in the air.

“Do you want to be on support, Team Leader?”

Only then did Yoon Taehwa realize that Han Suryeon hadn’t let go of his hand.

“I’ll have to let go of your hand if I’m going to be on support.”

“You’re saying you’ll do it, right? Got it.”

The fingers, which had slid down as if tracing the lines of his palm, slowly let go.

“Float me up and drop me over there while you deal with that. It seems it would be easier if we cut off its legs first.”

“Yes.”

Soon, his body began to rise. Yoon Taehwa, while balancing, focused on the ability that was supporting him. Gunshots poured down from above his head, and from all sides, the sound of crashing waves and a striking sound, as if to break the bridge, could be heard.

‘We’re surprisingly in sync.’

He had often worked with Kang Jaemin, but this was the first time he had approached a target riding Han Suryeon’s ability. He had braced himself for some discord, but it was a needless worry. The ability was smooth and stable.

Yoon Taehwa moved near the tentacle and assessed the overall situation. It seemed the herding was successful, as the mermaids were far away from the Kraken, and the Kraken was busy extending its legs to grab the helicopter. Only about half of its body was exposed.

“I think the core is in its mouth…”

It was obvious that it would only open its mouth after being cornered.

“Uht.”

Yoon Taehwa landed on the slimy tentacle. If he had been dispatched from the Center, he would have been wearing walkers, but since he was in the clothes he had left the house in, his feet were more slippery than he had thought. He lowered his eyelids and saw another wriggling tentacle right below.

He fiddled with his cheek, finished his calculations, and then sought out Han Suryeon with his eyes. As if he had been looking this way, their eyes met immediately.

“Han Suryeon.”

– Yes.

A soft voice came through the ear-mic he had connected in advance.

“I’ll make an opening with the knife, so you tear it apart with your ability.”

– I’ll try.

“I know you can do it.”

He felt a sharp wind that tore through the air behind his back, but Yoon Taehwa didn’t bother to turn around. He knew without looking that the Kraken, having spotted him, had raised its leg. It was a situation that he clearly had to avoid, but there was no need to waste his energy.

– Yessir, to feed and support my prince, I have to do at least this much.

Behind the words about a prince, the sound that had been rushing at him as if to tear his ears apart abruptly stopped.

“More nonsense.”

As expected, Han Suryeon had stopped the rushing tentacle with his ability. A smirking face came into view.

– I just saved you, Team Leader… Aren’t you going to praise me?

“I think you need to fix the habit of expecting praise for doing what’s expected.”

Yoon Taehwa habitually spun the knife and calculated the angle to tear the membrane. It seemed it would be easier to handle with the ability if he first cut the tender flesh connected to the torso and the thin membrane surrounding it.

– Something just occurred to me…

The helicopter that had flown to the other side began to fire bullets at the tentacle trying to emerge from the river. The low voice was clearly delivered through the loud gunshots.

Yoon Taehwa, with the laughter-mixed voice as a backdrop, moved his body carefully. The direction and speed of his jump were important, as he had to cut it in one go.

– Wasn’t the villain in The Little Mermaid something similar to a Kraken?

A crack appeared on his serene face. Was there a Kraken in The Little Mermaid?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

– No, I just thought of it when I saw you on top of that, Team Leader.

“After Snow White, now it’s The Little Mermaid?”

Yoon Taehwa let out a snort of a laugh, stretching his lips thinly.

Plunge.

He accurately stabbed the knife into the membrane connected to the torso and knelt on one knee. His pants, soaked in the slimy fluid, quickly became damp.

Force was put into the hand holding the knife, and blue veins bulged on the back of his hand. Yoon Taehwa just slightly lowered his head to check the position, then jumped down into the river without hesitation.

– You’re the one who said you thought of me when you saw the mermaid, Team Leader.

It was at the same time he gripped the knife with both hands. As his weight was added by gravity, all his muscles tensed.

“Fuck…”

Even if it was an intended movement, he couldn’t help but let a curse slip out. Yoon Taehwa gritted his teeth and put strength into his arms. Unlike the bulging blue veins, his hands turned deathly pale. The feeling of cutting through flesh was transmitted perfectly through his palms.

After cutting one tentacle all the way through, there was a brief gap until the next tentacle. Yoon Taehwa, in order to cut the leg right below, let go with his right hand and put strength only into his left hand, stabbing the knife into the membrane again. As he slid straight down and looked up at the sky, he saw the leg being torn apart. It seemed Han Suryeon was following his orders properly.

– I’ll catch you.

Just before he fell into the river, his body was snatched up. Yoon Taehwa, watching the slowly retreating Kraken, wiped his lips with the hand holding the knife. He tasted the metallic tang of blood, perhaps from having scraped his teeth as he fell.

– The prince came to defeat the Kraken, so I have to help. What else can I do?

“Hah…”

The second leg he had cut also began to be torn apart by the ability. The tentacle, pulled taut as if being drawn and quartered, slowly separated from the torso, and beyond it, a Center-exclusive SUV was visible.

‘What kind of ability…’

Yoon Taehwa, checking the team members getting out of the car, faintly frowned. He wasn’t surprised by the power of the ability that easily tore the Kraken apart. Since he was an S-class Esper, he could fully expect this much. However, he felt strange because of the ability that was wrapped around his body.

Yoon Taehwa was used to moving by psychokinesis. Not only when engaging in close combat in dungeons, but also in the field when Kang Jaemin was present, he would move, riding his ability, so there was no reason for it to feel awkward. However, Han Suryeon’s ability was clearly different from the psychokinesis he knew.

‘…Why is it so ticklish?’

All the senses in his body were on edge, as if being caressed. It was so overly delicate and overly soft that it actually felt strange.

Even with the same type of ability, its properties varied significantly depending on the user, so it wasn’t a particularly special thing, but the ticklish feeling wasn’t very pleasant. It was just unfamiliar.

“Why aren’t you answering me?”

It didn’t take long to get onto the bridge. Yoon Taehwa checked his exposed wrist. He had faint goosebumps.

“You…”

“Hm?”

It was strange to ask why his ability was so ticklish. In the end, Yoon Taehwa swallowed his words.

“It’s nothing. Good job.”

Thump!

As if it were thoroughly angry, the Kraken placed its remaining legs on the bridge and began to raise its torso. The flight team flew higher. Looking up at the sky, the number of helicopters had now increased to three. A broadcasting station helicopter was also visible in the distance.

“Team Leader!”

“Kim Su-an, Kang Jaemin. From now on, support Han Suryeon. Hae Na-eun, you report the situation first.”

“Yessir!”

“Yes! Suryeon-hyung, where should we start?”

Yoon Taehwa followed the three people approaching the Kraken’s main body and then began to receive Hae Na-eun’s report.

“The Seeker teams, under the direction of Seeker Team 1 Leader, Seo Yeon-eum, are dealing with the mermaids. The mesmerism doesn’t work on sea creatures.”

“They’ll die anyway if the core is broken, so that’s resolved. Are there any mesmerized citizens?”

“There are, but the Center immediately took control, and the majority of the mermaids flocked this way, so there were no major problems.”

“Any new information on casualties.”

“There was property damage due to the sudden flooding of the bridge, but there are no critical casualties.”

It was a blessing in disguise. Hae Na-eun began to talk about the dungeon in a calm voice.

“But there is something strange. The dungeon appraisal team confirmed that they are indeed monsters from an A-class dungeon, but strangely, no dungeon has been detected.”

It was a point he had been thinking was suspicious as well.

“We’ll talk about that again later. Is that Kraken the main monster?”

“Yes. It is presumed that the core is in its mouth.”

“Let’s deal with that first.”

“Understood.”

With the sound of waves like a tidal wave rolling in, a damp friction sound froze the surrounding air.

Thump, thump.

A sticky mucus poured down onto the thoroughfare. The suckers wriggled and began to eat away at the cement.

Yoon Taehwa, along with Hae Na-eun, walked toward where the team members were. With two psychokinesis ability users and Kim Suan’s flames being the antithesis of water, it seemed the three of them would be enough to suppress it.

“Kueeeeh!”

The Kraken, revealing its body for the first time, roared. The mouth at the bottom of its body opened, revealing thousands of teeth. The severed legs thrashed wildly, making a gurgling, grotesque noise.

The Kraken plunged one of its long legs into the Han River below.

“…!”

Yoon Taehwa instinctively grasped the monster’s intention. Kim Su-an, who was burning the tentacles with flames, was its target.

“Team Leader!”

When he suddenly started running, Ha Naeun’s urgent voice came from behind him. The leg that had been plunged into the river below soared high, and a huge torrent of water covered the thoroughfare. Following behind it was a massive tentacle. Its suckers extended thorns and rushed at Kim Su-an.

It was at the same time Yoon Taehwa rushed toward him. In a short moment of less than a few seconds, his eyes met with Han Suryeon’s. Frowning, he extended his hand. He couldn’t be sure, but it seemed their body heat had brushed past each other.

“Duck!”

Kwaang!