TRL 58

Chapter 58

‘The reason we suffered such heavy damage from the Kraken back then wasn’t just because of the traitor and the spy sinking our ship… It was also because we didn’t understand the Kraken’s nature.’

The Kraken was a mutated magical beast—an octopus transformed by mana corruption. And octopuses, by nature, are already bizarre creatures with three hearts and nine brains—one brain in each of their eight limbs.

‘Just like a regular octopus, the Kraken has three hearts and nine brains. Unless all twelve hearts and brains are destroyed simultaneously, it will never die. Its regenerative ability is so strong that if even one survives, it can recover almost instantly.’

She had trained until she could fire up to twelve bullets per second because she had once fought the Kraken.

‘But firing that rapidly weakens each shot. They aren’t strong enough to pierce the hide and muscles of a named magical beast and cause real damage.’

So, how do you kill a Kraken?

When she was nineteen, her squad members split up to attack the eight brains in its legs. Gide and Ethan slashed the three hearts, and she pierced the main brain. Only then did they barely manage to kill it.

But just before dying, the Kraken unleashed a burst of deadly poison. All the squad members who had been nearby died. Only Gide, Ethan—who were fast enough to retreat—and Rita, who had stayed far away, survived.

‘I swore it would be different next time.’

She had to shoot all twelve targets from a distance herself. If she had, it wouldn’t have mattered whether the Kraken released poison when it died. The squad members who survived till the end might have lived.

It was that regret that fueled the creation of this technique.

She’d improved and practiced it endlessly, but with her former body’s poor aptitude for “Odd” (오드), firing all twelve shots was impossible.

‘But with this body, I can do it.’

Her thoughts had been long, but in reality, only about ten seconds had passed from the moment she recognized Gide to when she stood and took aim.

Rita took a deep breath and formed bullets from “Odd.” Twelve in total—six in the revolver’s cylinder and six more in her supporting left hand.

In both magic and technique, the key to mastering something was forming a vivid image. And the best way to do that was to give it a proper name.

She named this technique after an ancient legend:

“Bullet of Zamiel.”

Long ago, a hunter met a demon named Zamiel in the forest and made a pact. In exchange, he received magic bullets.

Those bullets, with the demon’s power, always hit their mark and pierced through anything—no matter how far or where he aimed. But there was a price: the final bullet didn’t follow the shooter’s will—it followed the demon’s.

As with most deals with devils, the tale ends in tragedy: the final bullet missed its target and killed the hunter’s beloved.

Rita drew inspiration from the legend—bullets that never missed, bullets that pierced anything—to craft her own signature technique.

‘The first bullets are the pact.’

The silver barrel flared with light. Bang! The first bullet flew on a golden arc and struck the Kraken between the eyes.

‘First, the main brain.’

The bullet only left a small mark on the thick hide—it didn’t pierce—but it was enough to enrage the creature.

Roooar.

The magical beast let out a low growl and stirred. Olly looked around, startled. Gide snapped his head toward the direction the shot had come from.

But the barrel had already moved.

‘One brain… two… three… four… five.’

Five bullets fired in the blink of an eye. They struck the bases of five of the Kraken’s limbs—their weak points—one after another. Like the first, they left only slight marks, but each hit its critical point precisely, enraging the Kraken further.

ROOOAR!!

The deep-sea echo of the creature’s cry sharpened. As the Kraken thrashed, the ship it gripped rocked violently.

Rita didn’t resist the lurch. Instead, she let it carry her—hurling herself over the ship’s railing.

‘It was hard to move anyway because of the domain control. This works.’

Just before she fell, she bent her knees and hooked her legs around the railing, hanging upside down outside the ship.

Her long blonde hair streamed down, and her dress fluttered into a tangled mess around her legs—but she didn’t care. She only cleared what blocked her vision.

While dangling from the rail, she formed six new bullets in the empty revolver and six more in her left hand. Along with the six she hadn’t yet fired, she once again had twelve bullets ready.

Then came the next shots.

‘Six… seven.’

Bang. Bang. The gunfire echoed rapidly.

Two of the Kraken’s legs clung beneath the ship, out of sight from the deck. The bullets of “the pact” struck the brains hidden in those limbs.

One target remained—on the far side of the ship, at an angle she couldn’t reach. She tightened her legs on the railing and pulled herself upright.

Landing back on the swaying deck, she met Gideon’s eyes as he stood at the prow.

His golden eyes trembled. His lips moved.

The Kraken’s enraged roar, the splash of water, the creaking of the ship’s limbs, and the screams of the people muffled his voice—but she could read his lips.

Rita.

It was her name. Rita smiled slightly.

He recognized me.

Even though I look so different now…

But that reunion would have to wait. There was something else she had to say first.

“Release your domain and cover me!”

With that, Rita kicked off her uncomfortable shoes.

As she discarded the heels, the suffocating pressure on her body lifted. It meant Gide had excluded her from his domain—proof that he recognized her.

‘No more hesitation then.’

Barefoot, she sprinted across the deck, raising the gun to her neck. Still gripping the revolver, she extended two fingers and pressed them to her throat.

“〈I wish for…〉”

A voice imbued with strange resonance invoked the spell.

“〈The leap of a goat and the dash of a deer.〉”

Olly had taught her this physical enhancement spell, telling her to stop mimicking strength types and just use this instead.

At the fortress, Lady Blaine—who had been maintaining a spell circle—recognized the chant and her eyes widened. She whispered blankly, “Rita?”

Golden light gathered at her legs as her fluttering dress clung to her. Lillieta ran across the broad deck like a deer, leapt onto the opposite rail, and stood atop it like a goat on a cliff.

Then she aimed the barrel below.

Bang! The bullet flew.

‘Eighth leg. Only the hearts remain.’

Without pause, Rita jumped. Past the rail, she landed lightly on the transparent wall of Olly’s silver fortress floating above the water. She sprinted along the wall to its edge—the point farthest from the ship.

ROOOAR!

Enraged, the Kraken flailed its giant limbs like lighthouses. The human who dared attack its weak points would now be crushed.

One by one, the Kraken’s massive legs detached from the ship and whipped toward Rita, who stood calmly at the fortress’s edge.

She raised Silver Grace high.

‘The Kraken’s three hearts are located just below the head—two at either side of the mouth where the legs converge, and one inside the mouth.’

Unless one had the diving skill to outpace a sea monster underwater and aim precisely at its vitals, the only choice was to wait for the moment when it moved its legs and opened its mouth.

She calmly waited for that moment as the heavy limbs surged toward her.

Normally, the Kraken would move faster than most enhanced oath-bearers, but thanks to Gide’s domain control, it moved sluggishly.

In that brief window, she glanced toward the deck.

If it really was Gide Pascal… if it really was Olly Pascal… then they would’ve understood and followed her request for cover.

‘Of course.’

They had worked together long enough to know.

She saw green magic circles forming around Olly, and Gide with his hands on the sword stuck in the prow, ready to draw it at any moment.

Relieved, she turned her head back forward.

As the Kraken’s limbs pulled away from the ship, part of it exited the black domain field. Now free of the domain, its limbs shot toward her with terrifying speed.

But Rita did not dodge.

She didn’t need to.

Because she knew they would cover her.