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Tl: Sam

…

「What is this guy!?」
「Soooo gross」
「Is this the boss!?」
「Seriously, what kind of monster is this?」
「Is it a Kraken again?」
「Kraken doesn’t have this many legs, right?」
「Besides, it’s green」
「Too creepy, I’m logging off for a bit」

The tentacles (?) that suddenly appeared from the water pointed their tips at us.
It seems we’re completely targeted.
Rin, Dojima-san, and I stood back to back, protecting Dr. Nero, facing the tentacles.

“Hah, I feel like I’ve been fighting nothing but weird monsters lately…”
“I must be of help to Sensei…”
“Haha, this is getting interesting!”

As the three of us finished preparing for combat, the tentacles attacked.
I drew my sword and swiftly cut down the approaching tentacles. The severed tentacles wriggled for a while, but then stopped moving after some time.
I was relieved that slashes were effective, but tentacles kept appearing from the water no matter how many I cut. This is endless.

“Kuh…!?”

Looking at the sound, Rin was caught by a tentacle.
The surface of the tentacle was slimy, and it had gotten on Rin’s clothes. For some reason, I felt like I shouldn’t be looking.

「Ehhh」
「Ugh」
「Phew…」
「Doing good work, aren’t they?」
「I feel like I’ve seen this before」
「Quota achieved」
「Officer, it’s these guys」

“This…! Discharge - Raam!”

Lightning radiated from Rin’s body.
It seemed electricity was effective, as the tentacles recoiled from it and tried to escape.
Rin managed to break free from the tentacle, but her attack wasn’t a decisive blow; it only scorched the surface. This wouldn’t be enough to deal with countless tentacles.

“This is a losing battle, isn’t it? Tanaka, do you have any good ideas?”
“Hmm…”

Fighting on land like this won’t get us anywhere.
I don’t know the true identity of this monster, but there must be a main body at the base of the tentacles. We need to somehow drag it out and hit it.
The quickest way would be to dive down and hit the main body, but I want to save that as a last resort. It’s easier to deal with it on land if possible. In that case…

“Alright, let’s use that.”

I temporarily left the tentacles to the other two and rummaged through my business bag.
And from it, I took out something.

“Hey Tanaka, is that…?”
“Yes, it’s the fishing rod I used earlier.”
“A fishing rod…? You don’t mean you’re going to fish for it!?”
“Yes. That’s what I intend to do.”

Ignoring the surprised Dojima-san, I began to put bait on the fishing rod.
There was some leftover Kraken meat from earlier. I’ll use that.

「’Yes’ he says lol」
「Are you still hung up on not catching anything earlier lol?」
「Fishing revenge, huh?」
「This boss must be huge, but can he really fish for it?」
「His ideas are still a dimension above humanity’s lol」

Dojima-san pondered for a moment after hearing my idea of fishing, but perhaps unable to think of a better alternative, he agreed.

“Understood! I’ll leave it to you!”
“Thank you.”

Having received permission, I readied my fishing rod.
And aiming for a spot where tentacles frequently appeared, I dropped the hook.

“Hmph!”

The hook plopped into the water exactly where I aimed.
Watching the hook and bait slowly sink, I concentrated my senses on the fishing rod.

“Tanaka! It won’t last long!”
“Please be quiet, Dojima-san. Fishing requires concentration.”
“I’ll remember this!”

I could hear the sounds of a chaotic battle behind me, but I focused all my attention on the fishing rod.
If I made a mistake, the prey would become wary and wouldn’t bite. This was my one chance.

「He’s super focused lol」
「The scene of him fishing while tentacles are fighting behind him, isn’t it too surreal?」
「Tanaka’s streams are always like this, aren’t they?」
「Indeed… lol」
「Catch a big one, Tanaka!」

I concentrated my senses on the fishing rod, making it an extension of my body.
My awareness extended from my hand to the rod, from the rod to the line, and from the line to the tip of the hook.

“…It’s coming.”

I sensed a presence approaching the tip of the hook.
It opened its large mouth and bit… the hook with the Kraken meat.

“It’s here!”

I gripped the rod tightly and reeled in.
The line was pulled at high speed, and the rod bent significantly. This was a big one.

「It’s hooked!」
「Seriously!?」
「It really can be fished… lol」
「It’s been proven that Kraken is delicious」
「I wonder what he’ll catch」
「The rod’s bend is crazy lol」
「By the way, isn’t the rod in danger? It looks like it’s about to break」

I was reeling in smoothly, but the rod couldn’t withstand the weight and began to creak with a mishishi sound. Even though it was made from dungeon materials, the opponent seemed a bit too heavy.
However, there was no time to reinforce it now. I continued to reel in, being careful not to break it, but…

“Ah!”

CRACK! With a loud, resounding snap, the rod broke.

「Ah」
「Oh」
「Seriously?」
「It broke!?」
「Isn’t that bad?」
「He finally hooked something!」

I finally hooked something, but it would escape if I left it like this.
I instinctively grabbed the fishing line directly.
The line was slippery and hard to grasp, but I couldn’t be picky now. I decided to reel in the line by hand and pull it directly.

「Ehh!?」
「He had that option!」
「What option?」
「A normal person’s hand would be torn off」
「If you just look at it, it’s like he’s using a cast net」
「His problem-solving methods are too physical lol」
「Shachiken is always like that, though」

I pulled the line, yoisho, yoisho, but I couldn’t reel it in very well this way.
Is there a faster way to do this…? That’s right,

“This is how I should do it.”

I brought both arms in front of my chest and reeled them around at high speed like a spool.
Then the line wrapped around my arms, and it reeled in faster and faster. This was easy.

「He’s doing something weird again…」
「It’s like Ito-ma-ki-ma-ki (a children’s hand game)」(Tl: I couldn’t find any good references, but it’s like a game revolving around a nursery rhyme)
「Nostalgic」
「I used to do that as a kid lol」
「Don’t play with your hands!」

The more I reeled, the heavier the line became.
Then a large shadow began to appear in the water. It seemed to have been pulled up to just below the surface. I firmly gripped the line with both hands and pulled with all my might.

“Hmph!”

Then, in the next instant, with a loud splash! sound, a giant shadow appeared.

“Whoa. What is this…?”

『Lul… iii…!』

A mysterious creature emitting a low, muffled sound.
To describe it, it was a humanoid monster with an octopus-shaped head. Its body was green, it had wings growing from its back, sharp claws on its limbs, and many tentacle-like growths around its mouth.
And above all, it was huge. This thing is much bigger than any dragon I’ve seen. It must be over 30 meters tall.
What kind of monster is this?

Tl Note: I called ittt. I called it. It’s defineitely one of Riri’s kin. Time for Riri to shine.

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