TRL 57

Chapter 57

Beyond the Crown Prince’s back—beyond the black dragon figurehead mounted on the prow of the ship—something massive and pitch-black rose out of the water.

The ship wouldn’t break, no matter how the monster tried. So the creature submerged in the river revealed its head above the surface. Its head, as large as a small hill and covered in bulging veins, gleamed wetly.

As the thing fully emerged from the water, it blotted out the sun.

From both sides of the enormous black mass, two blood-red eyes, like pools of gore, rolled grotesquely as they peered down at the man standing at the bow.

The deck had already been a scene of chaos, but now came screams and shrieks. Some fainted and collapsed, while the royal guards trembled but still drew their swords.

Before they could even activate their aura, and before the terrified mages among the nobles could start casting spells—

The Crown Prince, standing at the prow, raised a sword engulfed in black flames. Gripping it with both hands, he drove it straight into the deck.

Boom.
A heavy vibration resonated in all directions. It wasn’t just a sound—it was a wave that reverberated through the body itself.

From where the sword was planted, black od rippled outward in waves. Like a tidal wave, it swept over everything around, coating the deck, then flowing across the surface of the river. A vast, black circle formed.

Rita Pascal recognized the name of that technique.

‘Realm Domination.’

Gid Pascal’s signature and unique technique.

The water within the black domain stopped flowing.

The people who had been trying to flee or resist slowed, stumbled, and collapsed. Soon they were crawling on the ground, then went completely still. No one was exempt—not the knights trying to release their aura nor the mages preparing spells.

Even the Kraken’s movements slowed. Its sixth, seventh, and eighth tentacles, which had been reaching toward the ship, trembled mid-air.

Those limbs began to sag as if crushed under enormous weight or the pressure of the deep sea. The enraged Kraken flailed and writhed.

This was a technique that poured out and condensed a massive amount of od, then heightened the density of od in the space to a near-insane level—using that pressure to suppress everything within its range and limit their movements.

Within this domain, no one could lift their head without his permission. When Gid had first revealed this skill in the final defensive battle, it was the reason people began calling him “Emperor.”

There wasn’t another person in the world who could pull off such madness. Rita stared blankly at the Crown Prince.

‘Gid. Gid Pascal.’

It’s really you.

But the joy only lasted a moment.

Rita swallowed the emotions welling up in her chest and focused on what needed to be done.

‘We have to deal with the Kraken first. If I were alone, all I could do is stall—but with Gid and Olly, we can kill it.’

She had imagined this moment countless times.

What if she could go back to the moment they first faced the Kraken? The moment that monstrous beast devoured, crushed, dissolved, and drowned 47 of their 53 squad members. How could they have killed it without a single casualty?

She wasn’t the only one. All six surviving members of the Beacon Squad had each envisioned their own version of how they would handle another encounter with a monster like the Kraken. They trained accordingly.

‘First, we can’t lose the ship. If we lose our footing, we’ll be at a huge disadvantage.’

That was why Olly Pascal had researched defensive magic that could protect a ship.

Even if mages were oathbound, they had to convert od into mana to cast spells, which made them poorly suited for direct combat with monsters. The only spells one could cast with pure od were basic-level spells—so simple even Rita could cast them.

Even with contamination prevention measures, magic still relied on mana, so it rarely worked well against monsters.

That’s why mages in the Ashen World typically took on rear-support roles or created magical weapons. That’s also why Olly focused on protecting the ship rather than attacking the Kraken.

After their first encounter with the Kraken, Olly modified existing barrier spells to quickly and efficiently deploy a ship-defense spell circle. It had since become her habit to prepare that spell on any vessel she boarded.

The name of that spell was:

‘Citadel on the Waves.’

Taking advantage of the Kraken’s slowed movements from Realm Domination, the protective barrier wrapped around the ship rapidly expanded.

A glowing hemisphere stretched to perfectly cover the tall masts. As the entire ship came under the barrier’s protection, it began to transform.

The barrier contracted, emitting a soft white glow that settled over the ship. That light spread outward and formed a hazy silhouette.

A citadel emerging atop the waves, centered around the ship.

Semi-transparent silver-white bricks rapidly stacked from beneath the water, rising above the surface. Though merely an illusion created by magic, the citadel had tangible solidity—firm enough to stand on.

Those who had fallen into the river now surfaced, climbing atop the structure forming beneath them. Dazed, they looked up from where they had collapsed on the silver-white ramparts.

This magic protected the ship and also gave people a place to stand. The mage had prevented the ship’s sinking and the drowning of civilians.

‘And thanks to Gid’s domain, the Kraken and the people can’t move freely.’

Beneath the semi-transparent citadel surrounding the ship, a dark ripple of od lay like a shadow.

Gid, who had led countless battles as the Beacon Squad commander, was skilled at deploying his domain without interfering with his team’s abilities.

In the beginning, all he could do was press down indiscriminately within his domain, but by the time they hunted down a Commander-class monster, he had gained such precise control that he could apply the pressure separately to allies and enemies.

That meant not only the Kraken but even the humans aboard the ship had been forced to bow under the “Emperor’s” rule—on purpose.

‘To protect the civilians.’

He had subdued everyone just in case someone panicked and needlessly activated their aura or magic.

At the same time, it stopped people from pushing, trampling, or injuring each other out of fear from seeing a monster for the first time.

‘The ship is safe. The people are safe—for now. The Kraken is temporarily restrained.’

The battle situation looked more favorable than expected. Rita’s lips curled into a smirk.

Yes, even a nightmare-class monster wasn’t what it used to be when she was 19. Since then, they had fought and grown stronger for over three years.

‘But as things stand, we can only hold out. We can’t kill the Kraken.’

While maintaining the domain, Gid could barely move. And Olly, being a mage, didn’t have the firepower to kill the Kraken.

Gideon knew this, of course. He had already sent a message through Olly, instructing the other returnees in the capital to assemble. But Rita had no way of knowing that.

And honestly, even if she had known help was on the way, her actions wouldn’t have changed.

In the seven-member Beacon Squad, Rita Pascal’s role had always been the primary attacker.

Gid and Luca would hold the front line, Ethan and Ys would distract the enemy, and Rita would go for the kill. She had the strongest firepower and could unleash it in the shortest time.

‘If the stage is set, a gunner should be able to kill anything.’

Rita lifted her head.

Because of Realm Domination, she too was kneeling on the deck, crushed by the pressure. But she knew Gid’s technique so well, she also knew how to break free from it.

She drew the od dormant within her body and released it outward. A golden shimmer like a heat haze surrounded her body, and her knees slowly straightened.

Soon she stood upright. Her limp arm rose as well. The hand holding her revolver aimed straight ahead—at the Kraken’s forehead, which was slowly moving due to the domain’s suppression.

‘Gid’s control feels even stronger than before.’

The golden haze pulsed rhythmically, expanding and contracting as it resisted the domain. Her raised hand trembled. She used her other hand to steady the one holding the gun.

She didn’t know how a named monster like Kraken—from the world of monsters—had appeared in a world that supposedly had none, especially in the heart of the Empire’s capital.

Nor did she know how Gid and Olly, with the exact same faces as their Ashen World counterparts, had returned to this world.

But one thing was clear.

At this moment, her job—

Was to shoot and kill the enemy.