[You have slain Awakened Devil: Newborn Divergent Kraken]
[Your Light Grows Brighter]
Keter grabbed one tentacle and tossed it towards the group of gatherers, then sped off towards the next newborn kraken. Keter's sword easily cleaved through a few of the newborn's tentacles, as he backtracked to get out of the mother kraken's range.
'It's starting to feel natural to fight underwater.' Keter dodged as a few of the dozen newborns attempted to capture him. Keter then summoned the [Starlight Legion Longsword] as one of the newborns got right atop him. Quickly summoning a [Miracle] around the hilt of the longsword, Keter shot the sword right through its mouth, giving it an easy path to the brain.
[You have slain Awakened Monster: Newborn Divergent Kraken]
[Your Light Grows Brighter]
'Even if I have gotten used to the water, the newborns are still a little faster. Tho they are rather easy to handle since they aren't as specialized as the [Depth Dwealer]s.' Keter kicked the corpse towards the gathering team as he unsummoned [Starlight Legion Longsword]. 'It's a pain to hunt at night, but it gives us far more time to travel during the day.' Keter branished [Silver Moonlight] as he utilized a [Miracle] to further sharpen its edge. A [Miracle] appeared beneath Keter's feet as he shot forward, allowing him to blindside one of the newborns.
[You have slain Awakened Demon: Newborn Divergent Kraken]
[Your Light Grows Brighter]
The mother raged as another one of her children was slaughtered. Having no progress on killing the annoying human in front of her, she changed her focus to the ones behind him.
Keter instantly noticed the creature's change in focus and raced back to the gathering team's side to defend them. "Not on my watch." With the assistance of [Miracle] and the strength granted by [Blood of a Demi-Giant] Keter made it in time to divert the fallan creatures' attack away from the gathering team. Using the momentum, Keter countered by serving the tentacles.
The mother kraken gave no attention to the missing limb as its black blood began to cause the water to boil, forcing its children away from the fight. Its four other tentacles lashed out, wrapping around Keter with an iron grip.
Keter was forced to kneel as he struggled to stop the tentacles from crushing him. 'Bone Weave would have been rather helpful, right now.' Keter resisted the crushing force as he unsummoned [Silver Moonlight], allowing him to get a solid grip on the tentacles. 'Even if I am only a dormant titan, the strength difference is larger than I would have thought.' Keter squeezed and twisted, slowly ripping his way through the muscles of the kraken. 'Is the difference brought about by different body structures still such a prominent influence on strength? I assumed my abnormalities would allow me to equal most nightmare creatures below awakened terror in a strength contest.'
Keter ignored the boiling blood that would soon stop him from being able to breathe as he pushed forward through the inner parts of the massive tentacles. 'Well, it's a good thing I also have the strength of a giant to assist me.' Keter rips through the final layer of muscle and bursts through to the water. 'Let's finish this.' Keter resummon [Silver Moonlight] as he shot forward, cleaving off two weakened tentacles while the mother kraken was still distracted by pain. Keter then pushed off one of the severed tentacles as he then thrust [Silver Moonlight] through one of the eyes of the creature. Keter then activated it, causing [Silver Moonlight] to glow an eerie gray. The grey glow began to eat the mother kraken from the inside out, and so close to the brain, it was fatal.
[You have slain Awakened Tyrant: Mother of the Deep]
[You have gained memory: Wrath of a Greaving Mother]
[Your Light Grows Brighter]
Keter sighed as he retrieved [Silver Moonlight] and looked towards the fleeing Krakens. 'There are 11 of them left. adding up to a total of 17 baby krakens and the mother. That should be enough food to last till tomorrow.' Keter readied his sword as he shot into the distance. 'Let's get this over with.'
-------------------
[You have slain Awakened Demon: Newborn Divergent Kraken]
[Your Light Grows Brighter]
[You have slain Awakened Demon: Newborn Divergent Kraken]
[Your Light Grows Brighter]
[You have slain Awakened Demon: Newborn Divergent Kraken]
[Your Light Grows Brighter]
[You have slain Awakened Demon: Newborn Divergent Kraken]
[Your Light Grows Brighter]
[You have slain Awakened Demon: Newborn Divergent Kraken]
[Your Light Grows Brighter]
[You have slain Awakened Demon: Newborn Divergent Kraken]
[Your Light Grows Brighter]
[You have slain Awakened Demon: Newborn Divergent Kraken]
[Your Light Grows Brighter]
[You have slain Awakened Demon: Newborn Divergent Kraken]
[Your Light Grows Brighter]
[You have slain Awakened Demon: Newborn Divergent Kraken]
[Your Light Grows Brighter]
[You have slain Awakened Demon: Newborn Divergent Kraken]
[Your Light Grows Brighter]
[You have slain Awakened Demon: Newborn Divergent Kraken]
[Your Light Grows Brighter]
Keter relaxed as he stepped on solid ground, his heart calmed since he once more became a part of the natural world. Keter watched as the gathering team began to bring back corpses. 'With that, the gathering team, butchering team, and cooking team will have the resources to do their jobs. Next, I need to scout out the terrain to find our next rest spot, contact our resident seer, and find memories attuned for long-term survival.' Keter leaned against one of the rock formations that encircled the injured. 'I wonder if I can find one that can enhance the effect of other charms.' Keter looked towards one of his new assistants, a handmaidan. Who was walking around collating the stray memories from today.
'It will take her another hour to get the rest of the memories. And scouting and contacting Cassie is better done closer to the morning.' Keter glanced at the massive army of sleepers holding conversation as they pieced apart their soon-to-be dinner. 'They seem to be doing rather well.' Keter then looked back towards the ocean. 'I shouldn't waste this time, I should be hunting memories and working on filling my last core.'
-----------------------------
A group of soldiers sat around an extinguished campfire watching Keter disappear back into the sea. One of the male soldiers grumbled as he chugged down their water. "Does Captain ever stop movin'? I haven't even seen that man sleep."
"I don't think he needs to sleep. Isn't he related to the monster-like head handmaiden?" Another male soldier says.
"Not by blood, he was adopted by both Song and Valor around the time he was born." One of the female soldiers answered.
"How the hell do you know that? You a fan or something?" A soldier asked, irritated.
The female soldier looked back at the man with exasperation. "He has been on the news hundreds of times. I'm more shocked that you don't know." She thought for a moment. "Did you not see a massive amount of conspiracy theories, thinking that Song and Valor were going to merge, or that the Whispering Blade and Lonesome Howl had an affair together?"
Most of the soldiers looked at her in surprise, and then the first male one spoke up. "No, I never heard anything like that. And why was it Lonesome Howl of all the Song Sisters?"
The female soldier then said. "Lonesome Howl. Look at the damn name, you idiot."
"That's a stupid reason for there to be hook-up rumors." The male soldier responded.
"No duh. Why do you think it was a rumor in the first place?" She responded.
"Fair. But is it true? Is Captain the child of an affair?" He asked.
The woman rolled her eyes, then said sarcastically. "I don't know, why don't you go ask him yourself?"
The man thought about it for a moment. "Ok, I will." The man stood up and began walking towards the water.
The woman then looked towards one of the other soldiers. "I bet he's gonna get his ass beat."
The other soldier snorted. "I don't make foolish bets."
The woman looked at him, dumbfounded. "I wasn't offering an actual bet-. You know what, I don't care to explain it to you."
-Timeskip-
[You have slain Awakened Monster, Depth Dwealer](7x)
[Your Light Grows Brighter](7x)
[You have slain Awakened Beast, Children of a Deeper Sea](3x)
[Your Light Grows Brighter](3x)
[You have received Memory, Amulet of the Deep Sea]
[You have slain Fallan Monster, Cries of Loveless Love](2x)
[Your Light Grows Brighter](2x)
Keter tossed a bruised and bloody man into a medic's arms, as the sun began to rise. He then looked towards the remaining army and announced. "I've scouted out our next stop. We will stay there for two days to avoid a storm. We will also run into a rather large horde of awakened demons who are weak except for illusion-type mental interference abilites. We will find them after a grace period from other nightmare creatures. So be ready to move in an hour."
"How weak are they, Captain?" A soldier shouted.
"They should have strength rivaling a dormant beast or monster," Keter answered.
"Shit." The Soldier cursed.
"Shit indeed. So be prepared to be mentally screwed." Keter smiled as he responded. He then reiterated his earlier words. "We move out in an hour, be prepared."
-Timeskip-
"Captain, we've gone over an hour without running into a nightmare creature. Could we already be in their trap?" The Handmaiden asked.
Keter's hand rested on [Silver Moonlight], which was currently attached to his hip. "We are already in their territory, and we are currently walking further in. But they have not attacked just yet."
"Captain-" Keter stopped the handmaiden as before she could alert the rest of the army.
"Quiet, demons are intelligent if they notice that we already know we will be attacked before we get too deep in their territory."
"Captain! Going deeper into nightmare creature territory is suicide! We will be attacked as we have to deal with the mental influence!" The handmaiden said as she kept a poker face.
"That's the point, these nightmare creatures are awakened demons, the further into their territory we are, the less likely we are to run into something different. The less likely we are to get attacked by something else while dealing with their illusions. Tho speaking of illusions, we've been caught." Keter glanced to his side, where the handmaiden used to be, which was now empty space.
The illusion flickered, struggling to fight through [Undefiled Faith] and the innate resistance of [The Heart]. 'The army is spreading out already. But I don't hear screams or see much panic, so the illusions are more than likely to assist in ambushes." Keter slashed down with [Silver Moonlight] as his instincts went alight. The feeling of resistance assured him of the hit even without direct sight.
[You have slain Awakened Human, Morgan of Valor]
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