Under the Sea…

I pointed toward the location where the witch was detected, and I heard someone sighing and muttering in response.

The phrase, that kind of place, resonated with us all, triggering sighs from various corners.

Hah… What are we supposed to do now?

With a heavy heart, I gazed at the ocean that blocked my path, feeling a sigh escape my lips as well.

For humanity living on land, the ocean presented a formidable obstacle.

It restricted breathing, visibility, and movement, making it hard to find anything more menacing.

Moreover, that wasn’t the only problem.

I turned my head and sneaked a glance at Ari and the furious lesser demonic beasts at the back of the line.

-■■■■■■…
-■■■■…

They had been valiant in battles against the lustful demonic beasts, yet before the ocean, they were paralyzed with fear, trembling as if thinking, What do we do, captain…? I don’t know either…

Noticing this, Sylvia muttered to me,

“Scarlet, the demonic beasts obviously can’t go under the sea, right?”

“It seems so. Also, I might struggle to unleash my powers underwater.”

I sighed and replied to Sylvia.

Well, it was expected that the demonic beasts made of fire couldn’t enter the ocean.

However, the fact that the beasts feared the water meant that my flames would also struggle to perform underwater, which was the biggest issue here.

While it might not matter for others, if I couldn’t exert my strength against the lustful witch, the whole extermination plan would fall apart.

Because of one single location—the ocean—our smooth extermination mission hit a snag. I had no choice but to acknowledge that the lustful witch indeed chose a brilliant hiding spot.

Facing the enemy, you’d be compelled to praise, That damned witch really hides in a damned place…

“So, what do we do now? It would be dangerous to recklessly dive into the ocean…?”

“Right? If it wasn’t for the water, we wouldn’t have to worry…”

At that moment, everyone sighed heavily before the ocean.

“If that’s the case, I think I might be able to do something.”

Someone stepped forward, saying so.

The owner of that voice murmured,

“So, as long as it’s not underwater, I can manage?”

I looked at the person extending their hands toward the ocean and recalled a story I once read.

In the case of psychics, unlike swordsmen or magicians, they often possessed a variety of abilities, making it difficult to gauge the level of their powers.

Thus, determining who was the most outstanding psychic was not easy. Yet among these psychics, there was an undisputed consensus:

If Yoon Si-woo is the most talented swordsman, and Dwight Ninehart the most talented magician, then the most talented psychic is Marin Eloise.

As Marin stretched her hands wide, her blue eyes sparkling, she declared,

“Part!”

I witnessed the miraculous spectacle of the vast ocean splitting in two.

“Whoa! Marin, you’re amazing!”
“…Was this your level?”

Naturally, I wasn’t the only one astonished at the incredible sight reminiscent of Moses’ miracle in the Bible; the surroundings erupted in excitement.

Especially, Flone and Dwight, who had been with Marin for a long time, were even more surprised. With a confident smile, Marin addressed them,

“So, you’re seeing this again, huh? It’s because I had to allocate my abilities to create water when there’s no water, but simply handling water is this easy for me.”

“…We get that you’re amazing, but first, wipe the blood from your nose.”
“…What, I have a nosebleed? I was trying to act cool here.”

Smiling, Marin wiped away the blood flowing from her nose.

Despite pretending to be fine, it must have been quite taxing.

No matter how talented a psychic she was, parting the ocean wasn’t an easy task.

Still, thanks to her exertion, a path opened up for the extermination team.

The ocean split, revealing the seabed.

I pointed at the remnants of what seemed to be a building in that area where something once existed, shouting to the others.

“Look! That’s where the witch is hiding!”

“Is it an underwater cave?”

It looked like a giant hole, akin to an entrance of a cave.

However, the moment everyone looked at it, we realized it was not a cave at all.

“Wait! The entrance is closing!”
“That’s not a cave!”

We witnessed the entrance, which had been dark and gaping like a portal into the abyss, slowly shutting.

And soon after, we encountered a much more shocking scene.

“What is that?!”

With a thunderous noise, the ground trembled as it revealed itself.

What we thought was a cave entrance was the mouth of a beast, a long and massive body buried beneath the seabed.

To describe its appearance: yes, it was a gigantic centipede.

“It’s a centipede! A centipede!!”
“It’s moving!”

The enormous centipede that had been hiding on the seabed startled everyone, and we prepared for battle.

Yet the centipede seemed eager to charge at us with a threatening stance before abruptly twisting its head away.

Realizing the lustful witch’s intent, I urgently shouted,

“Damn it! It’s trying to escape! We have to catch it right now! Ari! Chase that monster!”

With that exclamation, I launched myself toward Ari, who was positioned at the back with the demonic beasts.

Before I could even see Sylvia pulling out the transport devices for the others, I mounted Ari and rushed after the fleeing centipede.

We were significantly faster than the crawling creature, soaring through the skies.

However, cunningly, the centipede quickly diverted its path the moment it realized we were after it.

It turned toward the area where the ocean parted, like a wall.

And it charged right through.

Knowing that fleeing to the ocean meant we wouldn’t be able to follow, I prepared to conjure flames to burn the centipede.

“You little…! Damn it!”

I had no choice but to stop my hands instantly.

If my aim was merely to kill the lustful witch, it wouldn’t matter, but the goal of this extermination was to eliminate the witch and seize her sacred relic.

If, by chance, the relic got caught in my flames, everything would be pointless.

Therefore, I couldn’t use my flames, which require precise control.

While I was lost in thought, the centipede was already at the threshold of the ocean.

“Don’t run away! Fight back!”

Despite shouting desperately, the centipede ignored me and leaped toward the ocean wall.

Just when I thought it was too late to catch it,

There was a loud boom.

The centipede slammed its head against the suddenly frozen ocean.

“Gulp… I can’t control only water…!”

I heard Marin’s murmur from behind.

She had used her inherited ability from her father to temporarily freeze the ocean.

Yet, mocking Marin’s effort, the centipede immediately leaped again.

The ice wall Marin hastily created was cracking and about to shatter from one collision.

Realizing it wouldn’t hold a second time, the centipede’s agile movements took over.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

This time, magic circles materialized from thin air, binding the centipede’s body.

It was Dwight and the extermination team’s magicians who halted the creature.

“Scarlet! Where’s the witch?”
“Around the body!”
“Then let’s destroy the head! Everyone, aim for the head!”

To avoid damaging the relic, the extermination team’s attacks concentrated on the centipede’s head.

In an instant, the giant centipede’s head was shattered.

Yet, it was our misconception to think that would stop its movements.

Kiiiii!!

“What the hell…! This creature keeps moving even after losing its head!”
“What kind of chicken is this…!”

Like a headless chicken, the centipede continued thrashing, even with its head gone.

In fact, it was thrashing even more violently, desperately trying to reach the ocean.

“Kuh, the binding magic…!”

It seemed that stopping its massive body with magic had its limits; the magic circles restraining the centipede started to dissipate gradually.

But even with the magic fading, the centipede couldn’t push forward anymore.

“We have to stop it somehow!!”
“We’ll block it!!”

Ari and the furious lesser demonic beasts, along with the extermination members brought by Sylvia, rushed toward the centipede.

“If we don’t exert our strength here, we lose the reason we came!”

The descendants of those said to have moved mountains stood in the centipede’s way.

“You can’t pass here!!!!”

Flone, growing a giant adamantium morning star the size of a building, slammed it into the ground as she challenged the centipede in a struggle of strength.

Yet, simply stopping the centipede wasn’t enough.

Demonic beasts started flooding in from the land, as if they couldn’t bear to see their master in danger.

“These things…”

Marin temporarily sealed the path from the land, sinking a multitude of beasts in her wake. But a few surviving beasts were dead-set on reaching this place even if they had to swim.

Moreover, even though Ari was clearing the way, swarms of flying insects continued pouring from the open sky.

Assessing the situation, I turned to Marin.

“Marin! How long can you hold this?”

“Hah… Hah… At most 30 minutes, anything longer than that is impossible…”

30 minutes, huh.

In the current situation, our goal was to find the lustful witch within the centipede’s body while Marin maintained her grip on the ocean, kill the witch, and snatch the relic.

Simultaneously, we would need manpower to keep the centipede from escaping while protecting against the encroaching beasts.

Looks like the division of labor was set.

I looked at Sylvia and spoke.

“Sylvia, I’ll leave outside to you.”

“Scarlet…”

As I spoke, Sylvia gazed at me, as if wanting to say something, but ultimately fell silent.

She also realized.

That as long as people needed to stay behind, she couldn’t follow me.

In this situation, this was the best division of labor.

Having made a decision, I shouted to everyone.

“Everyone! Please hold for 30 minutes like this! I’ll be back as quickly as possible!”

With those words, I twisted open the mouth of the battered centipede, throwing myself into the gaping, abyss-like black hole.

The solo boss raid with a 30-minute time limit had commenced.