The kraken's three tentacles that had risen above the water hesitated when faced with the brightly glowing Woodcalibur.

As expected, they seemed to fear Gaeul's Woodcalibur.

"Gaeul, you need to attack with Woodcalibur!"

"Heuk...!"

Gaeul ran to the edge of the deck and raised her arm holding Woodcalibur high.

Then she threw the wooden sword at the writhing tentacles of the kraken.

"Yah!"

Despite her battle cry, the thrown Woodcalibur didn't fly far before falling into the sea.

Gaeul and I hung over the railing, looking down at Woodcalibur as it sank into the ocean.

"Oh dear."

"Owner?"

Gaeul pointed at the sinking Woodcalibur while looking at me.

The bubbles rising from where Woodcalibur had sunk made it look just like a person had fallen into the water.

"Gaeul, can you get it back with your portal?"

"...!"

Woong-!

As I asked, Gaeul's portal opened above us.

Along with a large amount of seawater came Gaeul's Woodcalibur.

"Let's ask Saebyeok to throw this."

"Okatdo!"

Was it thanks to Woodcalibur's sacred power?

The kraken could do nothing but wiggle its tentacles.

Thanks to Sophia and Marin's support, the kraken couldn't escape either.

This gave us enough time to calmly hand Woodcalibur to Saebyeok.

"Saebyeok, would you try throwing this?"

"Yes."

Saebyeok took a throwing stance and hurled Woodcalibur toward the kraken's tentacle.

Boom-!

With a loud explosive sound, a hole the size of Woodcalibur was punched through the kraken's thick tentacle.

"Wow..."

She was strong, but couldn't she deal damage beyond the impact area?

I wished she could shoot flames like before.

Just as I turned to Gaeul with expectations, Levinas called out to us.

"King! Special technique!"

"Special technique?"

"Yeah!"

Levinas said while binding the kraken's tentacles with her enlarged vines.

At that moment, Saebyeok handed me the Woodcalibur.

"Let's do the special technique."

"O-okay..."

Something about Saebyeok's eyes sparkled.

Was she also looking forward to the special technique?

I nocked Woodcalibur to my bow as we had practiced and shot it toward the sky.

Thud-

The Woodcalibur, which hadn't gone very high, began to enlarge in mid-air.

Watching this, Bom directed her black mana toward Woodcalibur.

"Yah!"

"Yah!"

Gaeul also stretched her hand toward Woodcalibur just like Bom.

Then Woodcalibur grew even larger and began emitting white flames.

"Go! Amazing Ultra Levinas Pirates Slash!"

"Huh."

The special technique name seemed to have changed.

As I tilted my head in confusion, Saebyeok swung Woodcalibur at the kraken's tentacle that Levinas had pulled with her vines.

Swoosh-

The kraken's tentacle was severed with a single strike.

Having confirmed its effectiveness, Saebyeok climbed along the vines and cut off all the nearby tentacles as well.

"W-wow..."

"..."

I watched Saebyeok, who looked just like a hero.

The adventurer with the greatsword also observed her with his mouth wide open.

As we quietly admired Saebyeok's prowess, Marin, who was controlling the sea, called out to us.

"I'll bring up all the tentacles, Sophia!"

With Marin's shout, all of the kraken's tentacles surfaced.

It seemed that Sophia and Marin were controlling the kraken's tentacles.

"The, sword! Can I borrow that sword for a moment!"

The man with the greatsword requested Woodcalibur from Saebyeok.

Saebyeok quickly threw it to him, and the adventurer caught Woodcalibur in mid-air and swung it hard at the tentacles.

Swoosh-! Swoosh-!

Two of the kraken's tentacles were cut off in chunks.

With his mouth still agape, he threw Woodcalibur back to Saebyeok.

"Yeoseo, tentacle coming!"

"O-okay!"

The mage and archer worked together to block one falling tentacle.

We helped them block and cut the kraken's tentacles.

After all the tentacles had been severed, the kraken's main body—its head—rose above the water.

It trembled as if it had been forcibly raised.

"Levinas Pirates, fire everything!"

"Full barrage?"

"Yes! Full barrage!"

At Saebyeok's command, we unleashed all our skills at the kraken's head.

The adventurers' greatsword, magic, and arrows.

Our Woodcalibur and enlarged arrows.

"KIEEEEK!"

After absorbing all our attacks, the kraken flailed before going limp.

"Huff, huff..."

"Haah..."

A mix of heavy breathing from various people filled the air.

Amidst this, Levinas raised her hand high.

"We did it!"

"We did!"

The ghost kraken that we thought would be impossible to defeat.

We had conquered it.

**

"Huh...?"

Han Yeoreum, after reporting the pirate ship's defeat to the hotel, returned to the ship where the children were waiting.

When she saw the ship on the horizon, her heart began to pound.

'A squid?'

A massive monster attached to the side of the ship.

Han Yeoreum's heart sank at the sight of the giant squid.

What kind of monster was that?

Wasn't a kraken supposed to be an octopus?

Anxiously watching, Han Yeoreum noticed that the giant squid wasn't moving.

'Did they defeat it?'

She fervently hoped nothing bad had happened to her companions.

Han Yeoreum approached the ship with growing anxiety.

"And then the Dark King went KABOOM! And then the King went PSHEW BANG!"

"Gaeuri too."

"Yeah! Puppy Gaeul and kind Bom also went YAP YAP! That's how we defeated it!"

Cheerful voices of the children could be heard from the ship.

Feeling relieved, Han Yeoreum jumped onto the deck.

"Kids, what's that?"

The giant squid head was so large that she had to look up at it even from the high deck.

It was attached to the ship with Levinas's vines and Marin's magic.

"The Levinas Pirates caught it! It was the hidden final boss of the pirate crew!"

"R-really?"

How on earth did they catch something so enormous?

Han Yeoreum scratched her cheek and looked at the other adventurers who had boarded the ship.

"You're..."

"...I'm sorry."

The adventurer with the greatsword immediately apologized.

Confused by the situation, Han Yeoreum could only look bewildered.

"Things weren't going well for our guild, so I acted selfishly. If it weren't for the people on this ship, we might have been wiped out here."

"Um... I see..."

What exactly was he apologizing for?

Han Yeoreum tilted her head.

"I was worried that if Yeomyeong cleared this mission with children, we might look foolish, so I rushed things."

"I-I see?"

"Yes. Watching Yeomyeong's children—no, guild members—fight made me realize that my behavior was truly the foolish thing..."

"U-hm."

She had no idea what he was talking about.

Han Yeoreum just nodded as if she understood.

"From now on, I plan to calm my mind and start over from the beginning."

"Yes. A calm mind is important."

That was something she'd experienced herself.

It was the only thing Han Yeoreum could relate to in the conversation.

"I won't forget this debt. Although I can't repay it at my level right now."

"Haha..."

It's not bad to have local adventurers in our debt.

Looks like our children pulled off another great feat.

Han Yeoreum gave an awkward smile.

**

We towed the pirate ship to the harbor.

Since we didn't know how to steer the ship, we moved by riding the waves Marin created.

Though the pirate ship that had terrorized the local residents appeared at the harbor, there was no major problem thanks to Han Yeoreum's advance notice.

"What's that?"

"That squid is the size of a building!"

"Wow, I'd only heard of Yeomyeong, but seeing them in action is truly amazing!"

Local residents came out to see the kraken, and we disembarked to sort out the situation.

The first issue was the valuables stolen by the pirates.

"How do we return the valuables?"

"Hmm... we'll need to count everything and then distribute them according to the damage records."

"I see."

It was a matter of distributing expensive valuables.

Hoping for no further complications, we examined the items from the pirate ship.

"All the items from there have been brought out..."

The mage who had introduced herself as Jo Ye-seo pointed to the items from the pirate ship.

Those were spoils from our conquest, different from the valuables, and mostly belonged to us.

'That's...'

An emerald gem stood out among the spoils.

I naturally picked it up.

"What's this?"

I took the gem to Han Yeoreum, who had item appraisal ability.

After examining the gem, she let out a surprised "Oh."

"This is an item that speeds up your brain function."

"Brain function?"

"Yes. It's not a permanent item, just a temporary one."

An item that temporarily speeds up brain function—would that help in dungeons during emergencies?

As I was examining the emerald gem, a slightly fierce-looking Sophia approached us.

"Oho, so this is what helped those pirates resist the kraken's control."

"Ah..."

So it was thanks to this emerald gem.

As I was looking at the gem with curious eyes, Gaeul came over and licked it.

"Candy..."

Gaeul stopped mid-sentence with a jolt.

At the same time, mana emanating from the gem seeped into Gaeul's body.

"Owner this not candy."

"Yeah. It's not candy."

"Gaeul has candy at home, wanna eat?"

"Um... yeah...?"

Somehow, Gaeul's vocabulary seemed to have increased?

Sophia and Han Yeoreum must have felt something odd too, as they shifted their eyes back and forth.

"Gaeul has choco candy. Yum yum delicious."

It seemed the emerald's brain-enhancing ability had taken effect on Gaeul.

Though a bit surprised, Han Yeoreum had said it was temporary.

For now, we decided to just observe.