Chapter 69 – The Kraken Appears
The ship shook with brutal violence, throwing William from side to side as he tried to reach the deck. Every step was a struggle against the chaotic swaying; his legs could barely support him.
When he finally made it out, the salty wind whipped his face, but what he saw left him completely petrified. The scene was straight out of a sailor’s worst nightmare. Tentacles. Enormous, dark and gleaming, as thick as ancient tree trunks, they had coiled around the entire hull of the ship. They squeezed it, enveloped it, like a gigantic boa constrictor suffocating its prey. The sound was the most terrifying thing: creaks of wood, planks that looked like steel bending and splintering like mere twigs under the monstrous pressure. The ship groaned, complained, a dying creature in the clutches of something incomprehensible.
The magic apprentices were casting spells at full capacity, bursts of elemental energy impacting the tentacles like exploding fireworks. Fireballs, gusts of wind, and jets of salt water crashed against the beast’s dark, gleaming skin, while the sailors and knight instructors attacked with their swords, their movements precise and powerful. Blades clashed against the tentacle’s flesh, making sounds like metal striking metal. However, despite the fury of the combined attacks, the Kraken seemed unmoving. Spells dissipated without leaving a mark, and sword cuts barely seemed like superficial scratches on the monster’s leathery skin. Despair began to spread among the crew.
Suddenly, Captain Thenerev leaped forward, his imposing figure standing out amidst the chaos. His sword, imbued with formidable energy, unleashed a strike that left a large red glow in the air. The blow was clean, precise, and to everyone’s astonishment, it cleanly severed one of the Kraken’s tentacles. A guttural scream, a sound that made the ship vibrate to its foundations, escaped the beast. The remaining tentacles thrashed violently, like gigantic whips, trying to wipe out everyone on deck, their fury unleashed by the pain.
William stood there, completely stunned, mouth agape, not knowing what to do, his mind unable to process the magnitude of the horror in front of him.
A gut-wrenching scream snapped him out of his trance, breaking the spell of fear.
"William! Be careful! Move from there...!" It was Renno, his voice barely audible above the roar of the cracking wood.
But William was slow to react. His brain, still processing the image of the tentacles, couldn’t order his muscles fast enough. A tentacle moved with deceptive speed. It struck him with such force that it launched him through the air like a rag doll. He flew thirty meters, feeling the air whistle around him before impacting against one of the ship’s masts. A painful groan escaped his lips as he collapsed, almost unconscious, the world seemed to be spinning around him. The sharp, piercing pain jolted him awake.
He crawled, gasping, and quickly checked his torso. Fortunately, he found no serious wounds, but when he tried to move his left arm, an unbearable pain shot through him. He looked down. His arm was completely destroyed, bent in an unnatural direction while blood began to soak his shirt sleeve.