Ganendra's consciousness began to crumble into dark fragments. The seawater around his body felt increasingly heavy. His breath was trapped in his lungs, while his vision slowly lost focus. Even the roar of the water that had accompanied his pursuit began to sound farther and farther away.
His grip on his sword gradually loosened. Ganendra could no longer hold out. Just as darkness was about to swallow his consciousness completely, a tiny light emerged from the rose-shaped jian sui hanging from the end of his sword. The light was silvery blue.
Ganendra opened his eyes slightly. The light shot through the water stained with the Kraken's black blood, then stopped directly in front of his face.
Before he could understand what was happening, the tiny light burst apart and released a wave of warmth. In an instant, a bubble of air formed around Ganendra's head.
Ganendra choked and coughed violently inside the bubble, inhaling the fresh air that suddenly filled his lungs. The tightness that had been gripping his chest gradually eased. But the relief did not last long.
The bubble surrounding his head trembled faintly. The silvery-blue light forming it flickered, as if struggling to maintain its existence under the pressure of the deep sea.
Ganendra frowned. “What is this?”
He had no idea what was happening. All he knew was that the light from his jian sui had given him a chance to breathe.
And that chance might not last much longer.
Several meters below, the glow of the Kraken's increasingly radiant crystal came into view. The monster appeared to be curled up near a coral wall, gasping for breath. The mysterious light seemed to be calling to Ganendra, guiding his sword to finish what he had started.
The silvery-blue light slowly spread from Ganendra's wrist toward the hilt of his sword. The blade trembled faintly, as if responding to something Ganendra could not understand.
For a moment, a thin veil of light covered its surface.
Ganendra stared at his sword. “What's happening to my sword?”
There was no time to find the answer. The long sword began to tremble violently, radiating a sacred aura that cleaved through the darkness of the trench. Ganendra bent his knees, then leaped with all his strength, using the water's momentum. He shot through the ocean darkness like a silver meteor.
The Kraken, realizing that this was the final threat, tried to fight back with the last of its strength. Three massive tentacles lashed out at once, trying to crush Ganendra's body. But with his agility enhanced by the light's energy, Ganendra spun through the underwater darkness, severing the two tentacles blocking his path. Black blood sprayed once more.
The monster opened its mouth, preparing to release a final scream. Ganendra gave it no second chance.
He plunged straight into the monster's maw. With a roar as he unleashed all his fury, Ganendra drove his light-covered sword directly into the nerve center near the kraken's mouth, right through the glowing red crystal. The crystal shattered into countless pieces. Ganendra thrust his sword even deeper, then dragged it downward, splitting open the ancient creature's chest.
Silvery light exploded from within the Kraken's body, burning away and purifying the darkness in the trench. The massive body of the ruler of the sea suddenly went rigid, before finally going limp and beginning to sink helplessly into the deepest depths of the ocean.
As the Kraken's massive body stiffened and sank into the darkness of the trench, the silvery light splitting its chest suddenly condensed. From within the ancient monster's hollow body emerged a crystal the size of a human fist. It was the Kraken Heart Core—a pure deep-sea mana stone glowing with an intensely sapphire-blue light, pulsing in harmony with the remaining life energy of the ruler of the sea.
But the crystal did not float toward him. Weighed down by the monster's heavy carcass, it began sinking as well, dropping rapidly toward the bottomless floor of the trench.
Ganendra glanced upward, feeling the air bubble around his head growing thinner and trembling, a sign that its energy would soon run out. Logic screamed at him to go up immediately. If he was even a second too late, his lungs would fill with salt water. But as he watched the ultimate proof of his achievement begin to disappear into the darkness, his battle fury was rekindled.
Ganendra turned his body and dove downward. Ignoring the pain throbbing through every muscle, he kicked against the water with all his strength and shot after the falling stone. He stretched out his hand, his fingers nearly brushing the sapphire glow. One last exhausting kick closed the distance between them.
Snatch!
Ganendra's palm clamped tightly around the cold, powerfully pulsing Heart Core crystal. But Ganendra knew that something like this would never be allowed to remain in the hands of an ordinary adventurer. If he brought the crystal to the guild hall, it would most likely be confiscated and handed over to the kingdom. And he refused to surrender this new source of power. Ganendra wanted the Heart Core for himself.
He needed another piece of evidence. Something undeniable, yet safe enough to turn in as proof of this special mission.
Just as the air bubble around his head burst into tiny bubbles, Ganendra ignored his lungs as they began screaming for oxygen. He hid the Heart Core crystal inside his torn cloak, then kicked the Kraken's carcass with his left foot, positioning himself directly in front of the massive, lifeless head.
Ganendra slashed at the monster's eye socket. Then he tore out one of its crystallized corneas, as large as a war shield.
Holding his last breath as it burned in his chest, Ganendra hugged the Kraken's eyeball against one side of his body and concealed the Heart Core on the other. With one brutal kick, he shot upward like an arrow, cleaving through the darkness of the trench toward the light on the ocean's surface.
Splash!
Ganendra's head broke through the surface of the sea. He gasped, gulping down as much night air as he could until his lungs burned. An orange sky greeted him, along with Oba's shout. “Ganendra! I thought you were dead.”
With the last of his strength, Ganendra swam toward the ship. One hand still gripped the war-shield-sized Kraken eyeball tightly, while the other reached for the side of the vessel.
“Help me up,” Ganendra said shortly.
Oba, still staring in shock at the horrifying object in Ganendra's hand, quickly helped pull him aboard.
Once he was on the ship, Ganendra placed the Kraken eyeball on the deck.
Crash!
Ganendra then collapsed beside it, gasping for breath.
Oba stared at the enormous eyeball, then looked at Ganendra. “...You really killed it?”
Ganendra merely nodded slowly in reply.
His hand then touched the rose-shaped jian sui still hanging from his waist. The silvery-blue light that had saved his life flashed through his memory once more.
Ganendra stared silently at the jian sui. For the first time, he began to wonder about the object his mother had given him all those years ago. “What exactly is this thing? And why has its power only appeared now?”