Building The First Adventurer Guild In Another World

Chapter 315: Kraken?

No one moved. Not because they didn’t want to, but because they couldn’t. Sage and the others were frozen in place, as if some unseen force had anchored them to the ground. It felt like an invisible hand was pressing down on them, heavy enough to crush them where they stood.

Their muscles refused to respond; their breaths came out shallow and broken. Even lifting their heads felt like trying to carry a mountain on their backs. Yet, despite everything, they forced themselves to look up.

Because what loomed above them... was impossible to ignore.

Sage’s pupils trembled violently, not from shock or confusion but from something primal, a deep-seated fear that coursed through his veins and gripped his heart with icy fingers.

His body shook uncontrollably, small tremors running through his limbs as if he had lost control over them entirely. He didn’t even realize how tightly he had clenched his fists until the sharp sting of pain broke through; his nails dug into his palms, thin streams of blood trickling down and staining his fingers.

He could smell it.

Death.

Not metaphorically or vaguely, this was real. It hung thick in the air, right there... waiting for him.

And he wasn’t alone in feeling this way; all of them did. What hovered above wasn’t something that could be explained or understood by human logic, it belonged to a realm beyond their comprehension. It was wrong in ways that transcended appearance or size; it made the mind reject reality itself while the soul screamed silently in terror.

Above them...floating against the fractured sky was a monster. No, something worse than a monster. Something nameless.

It resembled a creature stitched together from nightmares, a grotesque amalgamation of horror. Its massive form eclipsed part of the already darkened sky, casting shadows that swallowed everything beneath like an encroaching tide. Its shell resembled that of a sea turtle but was warped and exaggerated beyond reason, thick, layered, uneven like armor torn from the earth itself. One could easily imagine an entire city resting upon its back, its curved shape arching like a floating island with jagged edges as if time had tried and failed to erode it.

But that shell wasn’t even close to being the worst part. Beneath it hanging unnaturally was its head.

It bore resemblance to an octopus but twisted into an unsettling form, triangular and stretched as if it shouldn’t be able to hold itself together yet somehow did. The way it connected with the shell above made it appear as though it wore it like some grotesque hat, growing into it over time. Its skin pulsed faintly beneath layers thick and uneven; colors shifted, dark greens mingled with pale blacks, all blending together in disorienting patterns.

And then there were its eyes. Hundreds of them. No, more than that. They covered its head in uneven patterns, some large, some small, all glowing with a sickly green light that flickered like dying flames.

They opened and closed simultaneously, blinking together in a slow, unnatural rhythm that made the entire creature feel alive in a way that sent chills down their spines. With each blink, it felt as if the air itself shifted, as though something was looking not just at their bodies but through them, into their very souls.

And its tentacles... There were too many to count. They extended from beneath its head in all directions, thick, long, and endlessly writhing, twisting lazily as if they were floating in water.

Each one was massive enough to crush buildings, flatten entire cities, and reduce everything they touched to mere rubble. They didn’t move aggressively; there was no thrashing or wild strikes.

They simply... moved. Slow. Calm. As if everything below it was far too insignificant to warrant its attention. And that calmness? That was the most terrifying part because it meant one thing: It didn’t see them as a threat, not even close.

Sage swallowed hard; his throat felt dry as his lips parted slightly, his voice barely forming as it escaped him.

"I... Is that a Kraken or... what..."

Even he could hardly hear himself, that’s how weak his voice sounded. That’s how afraid he was. Beside him, Gregor trembled violently; his breathing came in uneven gasps as he forced himself to look up, his emerald eyes wide open and filled with an emotion he had never shown before.

Fear. Real fear not the kind born from immediate danger but the kind that arises when you know there is no way out.

"G... Gu... Guildmaster... what... what is that thing?"

His voice broke halfway through; words shook as they left his mouth, his lips trembling uncontrollably.

Sage didn’t answer. He couldn’t because he didn’t know and even if he did... what difference would it make?

Brutus gritted his teeth; his massive body quaked as he leaned on his hammer for support just to remain upright, muscles straining under the pressure bearing down on him.

"...Are we going to die here?"

The question hung heavy in the air with no response because none had the courage to lie about it. Silence followed, a heavy silence that wrapped around them and tightened slowly like a noose, darkening their thoughts.

It forced them to confront things they didn’t want to accept, their expressions grew grim; faces dimmed with despair.

Somewhere inside them settled a quiet helplessness, they didn’t want to die; of course not no one does, but staring at that thing... at something so enormous and wrong... so far beyond comprehension... they could already see it: Death stood right before them...waiting.

Sage’s eyes flickered, dimming for just a heartbeat. Then, something shifted. A faint light returned, a sharp glint of determination. His teeth clenched tightly as his body tensed, mana erupting outward in a violent surge.

The space around him trembled as his Divine Grade Mana Veins activated at full force. The surrounding mana began to swirl wildly, responding to his will as if it had been waiting for this moment.

The pressure didn’t vanish; it merely shifted. It resisted, and Sage pushed harder.

"Ghhh...!"

A low sound escaped him as he forced more mana out, his body shaking under the strain. The air around him distorted as the pressure met his power head-on.

BOOM!

A shockwave erupted from his body, a visible pulse of mana expanding in all directions and pushing back against the invisible force that had been crushing them. The ground cracked beneath him, the air shook violently, and for a brief moment, the pressure lifted. Not entirely, but enough, enough for them to breathe and move again. Sage sucked in a deep breath, his chest burning as air filled his lungs once more.

His eyes sharpened as he looked ahead.

"Move!" he shouted, voice rough but firm. "Run! It won’t hold for long!"

That was all they needed to hear. The others snapped out of their daze immediately. Those who could still move grabbed the injured ones, helping them up and turning to run without hesitation.

No one argued or questioned; they all understood that staying meant death. Sage bent down quickly and hoisted Mina onto his shoulders; her small body felt limp as he adjusted his grip before sprinting away.

They all ran together, pushing their bodies to the limit with speed reaching its peak as they dashed toward the east, turning into streaks of light fleeing from that thing, from the presence that made even breathing feel like an effort.

Behind them, the monster stirred, it had noticed their sudden surge of mana and then let out a piercing scream unlike anything they had ever heard before. It sliced through everything: sharp, high-pitched, endless.

The sound distorted the air around them; visible waves spread outward causing everything in their path to shatter, the ground cracked beneath them while remaining structures collapsed and even space itself trembled under its force.

Sage’s eyes widened.

"Shit...!"

They pushed harder and faster but it wasn’t enough; the sound waves were quicker, closer, closer...

Just when it seemed they would be swallowed whole...

A crimson light fell from the sky.

BOOOOOOM!

A massive explosion erupted as a beam of blood-red energy crashed down between them and those incoming sound waves. The impact sent a violent shockwave rippling outward; the air shattered like glass under its force. Sage and the others were thrown forward by the blast, hitting the ground hard amidst dust and debris swirling through the air.

For a moment, everything was shrouded in dust, and then it began to settle. Standing resolutely between them and the monster was Valeria. Her enormous blood-red sword was firmly planted in the ground, her posture straight and unwavering. Her long crimson hair whipped around wildly in the wind as her cold red eyes fixed forward, revealing no trace of fear.

She had taken that attack head-on.

Sage pushed himself up, gasping for breath as he looked at her. A wave of relief washed over him, and he shouted, "Where the hell have you been?! I was about to be turned into sound frequency!"