Chapter 70 – The Kraken Appears (2)
William spun around, his gaze searching for Lia amidst the pandemonium. He saw her lying on the ground, trembling, and knelt beside her, urgently checking her body. "Are you okay, Lia?" he asked, his voice hoarse with worry.
"Yes," Lia replied, her voice barely a thread. "I had to come out... the ceiling collapsed." Her eyes were wide with fear, fixed on the tentacles lashing the deck.
"Follow me," William instructed, taking her arm. They ran, dodging the chaos around them, the ship tilting and groaning beneath their feet. Their goal was the cafeteria area, the only structure that seemed to still be standing, where some were already taking refuge. Upon arriving, William gently pushed her inside. "Get in and don’t come out. Be careful."
Inside, the cooks and the other mage aspirants looked at Lia with a mix of fear and hatred, but none dared to do anything to her. William turned and went back to the deck, plunging into the madness. He began to help the wounded sailors, dragging them to safer spots, away from the tentacles that continued to lash the ship. Captain Thenerev kept cutting the Kraken’s limbs with relentless fury, but the battle seemed impossible. The Kraken had thousands of tentacles, and the fight seemed endless.
William approached the captain, yelling over the din: "Captain, be careful!" Just in time, Thenerev dodged a surprise blow from the Kraken, a tentacle that lunged from a blind angle. Thenerev turned, sweat and blood covering his face. "Thanks for the help, kid," he said, his voice tense. "But you must flee. This place is too dangerous."
"I know," William replied, sword firmly in hand, "but I must fight to kill that thing."
Thenerev let out a bitter laugh, seeing the recklessness in the young man’s eyes, but nodded. "Alright. We just have to hold out a few more minutes, kid. And this will all be over."
William stared at Thenerev intently, and an idea formed in his mind. The mages weren’t here. That meant they must have planned something, a strategy that was about to be executed. They just had to survive a few more seconds against the great beast’s attack.
The few sailors still standing desperately defended themselves from the tentacles, while most of the instructors lay on the ground, half-dead. Even Captain Drevlan had lost an arm and was bleeding out, his body inert.
Eldrin and Roderick attacked the Kraken, but only superficially, their eyes scanning the deck. "Look, Eldrin, there’s that bastard," Roderick whispered, pointing at William. "Let’s kill him. No one will miss him with that thing’s attack."