“Rio!”

I reached out toward the beam of light shooting up from the ocean. As the fading glow receded, Rio’s unharmed form emerged on the other side.

“Ahh… that was surprising…”

Her carefree voice filled me with relief. It seemed she had managed to dodge it in time.

The ominous feeling in the back of my mind had disappeared. Somehow, I was certain the immediate danger had passed.

That was seriously terrifying. What was that? That overwhelming sense of dread… But at least I was able to sense it beforehand. Could it be some sort of skill?

“Shu… thank you.”

Rio pressed her hand to her chest, her cheeks slightly flushed, as she slowly approached. I closed the distance as well, pulling her into an embrace.

“Are you alright? You’re not hurt anywhere?”

“Yeah… I’m fine.”

“I see. I’m glad I managed to warn you in time.”

Just in case, I cast a healing spell over her, wrapping her in magic.

“Ahem. Time to pull back!”

Linford’s voice brought me back to reality.

Right, we were still in the middle of the Sea Emperor Turtle assault operation.

The enormous turtle still loomed over the ocean, resembling an island. Its shell bore cracks, with some of the boulders we had fired embedded into it.

Checking with Appraisal… its HP had decreased slightly—about 500 points. Considering it had six-digit health, that was barely a scratch. It hadn’t retaliated when we previously damaged it… Was it because we were on its blind spot back then?

“Understood.”

Despite the beam of light firing from the ocean, the sea itself remained relatively calm. The others on the ships seemed unharmed.

Returning to the ship, I saw Nir with his fur bristling, glaring at the turtle. Since the threat had already passed, I ruffled the fur on his neck to calm him down.

“Tch.”

Rex clicked his tongue, but I couldn’t be bothered to respond. While the rest of the party seemed somewhat fearful, Saskia was watching with gleaming eyes, full of curiosity.

I had used more magic than expected, and I was mentally exhausted. With no one saying a word, we sailed back to the port in silence.

“Oh! You’ve all returned safely!”

Upon entering the guild, the Guild Master was waiting for us in the lobby.

“When that white light shot up from the sea, I feared the worst.”

“It was visible from the city?”

Linford gave a brief report, but detailed discussions were to be held in a separate room. We were led to the same meeting room as before, where Lowell was already waiting to take notes.

Only now did the reality of being attacked by the Sea Emperor Turtle truly sink in. It was our own damage that triggered the counterattack, but I couldn’t overlook the fact that it put Rio in danger.

I had been thinking that things would just work out—but no. That turtle is dead meat.

“So, after facing the Sea Emperor Turtle firsthand, what are your thoughts?”

“It’s a monster… Our attacks didn’t seem to have any effect at all.”

“Even for you… I see. Just as the records suggested.”

“However—”

The Guild Master stroked his chin in thought, but Linford’s next words made him look up.

“The ones who triggered the turtle’s counterattack were Shu and Rio.”

“What… did you say?”

The Guild Master’s sharp gaze locked onto us.

“Yes. After launching our most powerful attack, we were hit by what we believe was the Sea Emperor Turtle’s counterstrike.”

“That was the white pillar of light?”

“Yes. It seemed to be fired from underwater, and right before it launched, we noticed slight bubbling from below.”

“I see… And what about the turtle’s trajectory? Did you manage to divert it?”

He looked around at everyone before focusing on Linford.

“It’s hard to say… It moves slowly, so we won’t know for sure until it advances a bit further…”

“I see.”

The Guild Master muttered under his breath, sensing Linford’s uncertainty.

“Then we’ll conduct a follow-up investigation tomorrow. But more importantly—”

He turned toward us with a serious expression after giving Lowell instructions.

“If you were to fight the Sea Emperor Turtle directly, do you believe you could defeat it?”

His question carried the weight of responsibility. I couldn’t answer immediately. The damage we inflicted today would likely heal by tomorrow. As things stood, we weren’t strong enough.

But—

“We’ll give it our all. Though… I can’t say for certain if we’ll be able to take it down before it reaches land.”

“Yes. But we do have ideas on how to deal greater damage than we did today.”

Rio and I exchanged glances and nodded firmly.

“We got an idea after watching Linford’s magic.”

Linford’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

“Oh? My sniping magic, huh? Well, it’s not like I have a patent on it, so I don’t mind if you try copying it… but it’s not something you can master overnight.”

“Thank you. We don’t expect to learn it instantly. We’re just using it as a reference.”

It was impossible to master in a day or two, but with our skill-enhancing abilities, we’d get it down within a few days.

No one objected to my statement.

Meanwhile, Nir was being smothered by a group of adventurers, getting spoiled with treats.