Multiversal Ascension-Chapter 65: End of the First Military Mission

Another minute of high-intensity combat passed. Thousands of cuts covered the Kraken's body, and finally, it stopped moving, succumbing to its injuries. Mikael let out a sigh of relief. This battle had pushed him to his absolute limits, far more than even the deadly encounter with the two D+ assassins. 'But I slayed a Kraken. Who else can say that?' he joked to himself.

Wasting no time, he approached one of the Kraken's colossal tentacles. With his aura-coated swords, still honed to incredible sharpness, he began cutting pieces from the massive limb. He stored each chunk in his Inventory, reasoning that they should be valuable as they were from one of the Kraken's two strongest tentacles. Though he suspected the creature might have a core or another, more valuable organ, he had no idea where to search. Instead, he focused on filling his Inventory with tentacle pieces until it was nearly full.

Once satisfied, Mikael created an explosion beneath him to propel himself upward. The flashes of light from his explosive movements illuminated the dark depths, drawing the attention of a creature nearby. Fortunately, the new arrival seemed more interested in the Kraken's corpse than in Mikael.

As he ascended, Mikael glanced back at the Kraken's body, only for his eyes to widen in shock. A giant shark, comparable in size to the Kraken, had begun devouring its corpse, staining the surrounding water red.

'You've got to be kidding me,' he cursed inwardly. Fighting another colossal sea beast in his current condition would be extremely dangerous if not suicidal. His aura reserves were down to 40%, his mana at 60%, and his body was riddled with injuries.

Not wasting a second, Mikael accelerated his ascent, desperate to avoid drawing the Megalodon's attention. Breaking through the surface, he scanned the area and spotted the damaged ship drifting some distance away. The anchor had not been dropped, causing the vessel to drift while the crew worked on repairs. Thankfully, it wasn't far. Using his Explosive Style, Mikael propelled himself through the air, landing on the ship's main deck.

The sailors were startled by his sudden arrival. Some gasped at the sight of his battered body, with bloody holes in his left shoulder and right side, and his arms showing signs of severe overuse. Though the sea had washed away most of the blood, fresh wounds had begun to bleed again.

Ignoring his injuries, Mikael turned to a nearby sailor. "Where is the captain or vice-captain?"

The sailor, stunned by the question from someone who looked on the verge of collapse, stammered, "They're in the lower deck, coordinating the repairs!"

"Thanks," Mikael said before disappearing in a blur.

The sailor, still processing what he'd seen, sighed and returned to work, suppressing his anxiety about the fight's outcome.

Mikael reached the lower deck, where seawater rose to his calves. He frowned but pushed forward, moving rapidly until he found the captain and vice-captain giving orders. The vice-captain looked as Mikael remembered, but the captain had a bleeding head wound, suggesting a recent injury. Ignoring it, Mikael interrupted with a serious tone, "We need to move. Now."

The two men turned, alarmed by Mikael's condition. Their expressions darkened, fearing the worst. Ruimis, the vice-captain, asked, "What happened?"

"I killed the Kraken," Mikael replied. "But another giant sea beast showed up and is eating its body. We need to leave before it decides we'd make a good snack!"

The two paled at his words, momentarily stunned.

"NOW!" Mikael shouted, snapping them out of their stupor.

Realizing the urgency, they quickly issued orders for the crew to prepare for departure. The ship soon picked up speed as the sailors worked frantically. The captain approached Mikael, who was watching the commotion. "Lord, do you have a way to deal with the water on the lower deck?" he asked, gesturing to the flooded area.

Mikael considered the request briefly. "Is it urgent, or can you handle it yourselves? I can help, but I need to conserve my energy in case there's another fight."

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The captain hesitated before replying, "N-no, it's not urgent. We'll manage. Please rest!"

Mikael nodded before disappearing from the captain's sight with an impossibly fast movement. A few seconds later, he landed on a crow's nest—not the same one as before, as the mat he previously stood on had been destroyed during the Kraken's attack.

He wanted to meditate and heal himself, but knowing that an attack from a gigantic sea beast resembling a Megalodon was possible, he remained standing, vigilantly surveying the surrounding waters for any signs of movement.

Still, not wanting his severe injuries to worsen, he began casting the Minor Heal spell on himself. After a short chant, a soft light enveloped the wound on his right side, the most critical of his injuries.

He kept casting the spell repeatedly while maintaining his watch. Minutes passed, and his injuries gradually improved, thanks to his high vitality stats and the repeated, albeit minor, healing spells.

When his condition became more manageable, he stopped. His mana reserves had dropped to 40%, and he couldn't afford to exhaust them further if he wanted to remain combat-ready.

Time crept by as Mikael continued his tense vigil, cautiously scanning the waters. Meanwhile, he cast Minor Heal on his injuries whenever his mana regenerated slightly.

An hour dragged on before Mikael let out a relieved sigh. 'It doesn't seem like the Megalodon-looking sea beast is pursuing us.' By now, his condition had significantly improved. His aura was at 90%, his mana at 60%, and while his injuries still hurt, they were far less debilitating. If the Megalodon attacked now, he would be ready to fight.

Feeling relatively safe, Mikael turned his thoughts inward. 'What could I have done to make that fight go better? Hmm, first of all, I realized I haven't mastered my Explosive Style as much as I thought. I can integrate it into all my movements, so that's good, but when using Blade Tempest, most of the time, I couldn't combine it with the Explosive Style. I need to work on that.'

'The second issue, which is even more important, is that my attack damage was too low—not in the sense that my swords weren't sharp enough; they were fine. But compared to the Kraken's immense size, my swords were just too small, so the damage I inflicted wasn't sufficient. I definitely need to find a way to increase the range and scale of my attacks.'

'Third, my mage versatility is lacking. I would have needed a detection spell to locate sea beasts. A repair spell for the ship would've been invaluable, and preferably a spell to remove water. The only solution I had was a modified version of the Explosive Style to create flames that evaporated the water...'

'Another spell that would've been useful is a proper healing spell. The Minor Heal spell is highly ineffective since it's designed for minor injuries. The only reason it's even helping me right now is because of my high vitality stats and the fact that I'm spamming it.'

He pondered for a few seconds. 'Yeah, I think that's everything. These three areas—better mastery of my Explosive Style, bigger attacks, and greater magical versatility—are what I'll focus on once I'm back at the Academy. For now, I need to concentrate on this military mission.'

As he finished his thoughts and glanced down at the bustling sailors on the deck, a realization struck him. 'Now that I think about it, I haven't seen a single one of the other people assigned to protect this ship...'

He scoffed. "When it's time to confront me about 'hoarding' the sea beasts, they're all there, but when it's time to face a real threat and protect the ship, they're nowhere to be found. They just hide in their rooms with their heads buried in the sand, hoping the problem will go away on its own. Truly pathetic," he thought, shaking his head in disdain.

Deciding not to waste any more energy on their cowardice, he refocused on his current goal—protecting the ship and tending to his injuries.

Time continued to slip away as Mikael maintained his position. He had changed his tattered clothes and used the opportunity to train his control while keeping watch.

Below him, the crew worked diligently. With nearly 80% of the crew still alive, they managed to navigate the ship and carry out various repairs. Soon, the captain passed the word that they were out of the danger zone.

Hearing this, the entire crew erupted in cheers. Mikael allowed himself a small smile, relieved that he wouldn't have to face another grueling battle.

Time flowed uneventfully after that. There were occasional sea beast attacks, but they involved only smaller creatures that Mikael easily dispatched.

Finally, a little over three days later, a navigator's voice broke the monotony. "Land in sight!"

The ship approached the shore swiftly after the announcement. When it docked at the port, Mikael, now fully healed, leapt onto the main deck amidst a crowd of grateful sailors. They knew that without his efforts, surviving the encounter with the gigantic sea beast would have been nearly impossible.

Ruimis, the vice-captain, and the captain spotted Mikael and approached him quickly. After a brief exchange of thanks for his protection, Mikael jumped down onto the port.

At that moment, he was enveloped in a light and vanished.

"Ahhh, a ghost!" screamed a nearby woman who witnessed his sudden disappearance.

Mikael didn't hear her, as he had already reappeared in the same white room where the military mission had begun.

[Military Mission Completed!]

[Military Mission: Goods Protection

Mission Difficulty: High-Peak Tier 1

Details: This mission entails safeguarding goods being transported by ship from potential attacks. The attackers are estimated to possess a power level of up to Peak Tier 1. Additional details will be provided upon entering the mission world.

Completion Score: S-

Mission Completion Rewards: 80 Military Points]

[Change to the mission detected! Reviewing the mission and its details.]

[Military Mission: Goods Protection

Mission Difficulty: Mid-High Tier 2

Details: This mission entails safeguarding goods being transported by ship from potential attacks. The attackers were sea beasts with power levels up to Peak Tier 1, but the ship traversed a danger zone inhabited by gigantic sea beasts, powerful even in Tier 2.

Completion Score: B

Mission Completion Rewards: 150 Military Points]

[Detected that your current Military Rank is Rank 0 Recruit 150/10. You have enough MP. Do you want to be promoted to the next military rank? Yes/No?]

Mikael took a moment to process the notifications. He noted that it seemed a low completion score in a high-difficulty mission provided more Military Points than a high completion score in a low-difficulty mission.

After some thought, Mikael decided to accept the military promotion, curious about what it would entail, even if it meant 'losing' 1K LP, considering that 1 MP could be exchanged for 100 LP. Needless to say, he was in dire need of LP but he could accept this small expense.

[Transporting to the room where the military promotion will happen in 5...]

Just as the teleportation was about to begin, Mikael saw Tristan, one of the group members from this military mission, appear in the white room.

Tristan froze upon seeing Mikael, but moments later, Mikael disappeared, having been teleported. Tristan let out a relieved breath.

Not long after the teleportation ended, Mikael found himself in a white room similar to the one he had seen before. This time, however, there was a giant, high-tech scanner before him—large enough for him to walk through comfortably.

Understanding what was expected of him, he stepped forward. As he moved into the scanner, a green light illuminated the area, scanning him from head to toe for several seconds before notifications appeared before his eyes.

[Mikael Angelini...analyzing.]

[Confirming Identity...Confirmed.]

[Your current Military Rank is: Rank 0 Recruit.]

[Conditions met to promote your military rank. Do you wish to promote? Yes/No?]

Mikael selected "Yes." After a brief moment of waiting, more notifications appeared.

Author Note:

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