Chapter 388:Kraken.
A voice came.
"Your Majesties! There’s something attacking the ship!"
On the deck the scene outside was chaotic. A violent storm had appeared over the Ferra Sea. Rain poured across the deck, wind screamed through the rigging, and lightning illuminated enormous waves that rose and crashed around the ship.
But the storm wasn’t what had awakened them. Something far worse was beneath the water. The ship suddenly tilted.
Atheline grabbed the railing but Lilith remained perfectly balanced, then the sea exploded. A massive tentacle burst from the water. It was thick enough to crush a house.
Suckers lined its underside, each one glowing faintly with dark blue light. The tentacle slammed toward the ship.
Atheline raised his hand and wind exploded outward. The massive limb was diverted just enough to miss the hull. It crashed back into the sea. The resulting wave washed across the deck.
"The Kraken!" one of the sailors screamed.
Atheline’s eyes narrowed. A second tentacle emerged, then a third, then a fourth. The creature beneath them was enormous, its head finally surfaced between the waves.
Two enormous eyes opened.
They weren’t the eyes of an ordinary beast but carried intelligent. The Kraken studied the ship, then it attacked. One tentacle wrapped around the ship’s hull, and the wood groaned. Another slammed toward the deck.
Atheline drew an arrow, lightning gatherinh around it and released. The arrow struck the tentacle and lightning exploded through the limb.
The Kraken roared.
The sound shook the entire ship but the wound wasn’t deep enough. The creature immediately swung another tentacle toward him.
Lilith stepped forward as darkness exploded from her body. The tentacle stopped in midair. For a moment, the Kraken struggled against the invisible force.
Lilith tightened her fingers and the darkness wrapped around the limb, then she threw it aside. The tentacle crashed into the water.
Atheline looked at her.
"Definitely stronger."
Lilith smiled.
"You’re not exactly weak either."
The Kraken roared again and the sea around them began swirling.
Atheline’s expression changed.
"It’s using the water."
The Kraken wasn’t simply attacking them physically. It was manipulating the surrounding sea through its own Aether. The waves suddenly rose and a massive wall of water formed around the ship, then it collapsed.
Atheline immediately released Wind and a barrier formed around the vessel. The wave split around them.
But the Kraken used the distraction. One of its tentacles shot directly toward Lilith but she disappeared.
The limb passed through where she had been standing. She emerged from the creature’s own shadow. Her dagger drawn with darkness coating the blade.
She drove it into the Kraken’s flesh. The creature screamed as it tried to shake her away. Lilith released her dagger and stepped backward.
The Kraken’s tentacle whipped toward her. At that moment,Atheline fired, his arrow struck the limb. Ice spread across it, freezing the tentacle.
Lilith raised her hand. Darkness surrounded the frozen limb. She clenched her fist and the entire limb shattered.
The Kraken recoiled.
Atheline stared.
"That was one of its main tentacles."
"It’ll grow another soon. They have perfect regeneration."
"Probably."
The Kraken suddenly opened its enormous mouth. A sphere of water formed inside.
Atheline’s instincts warned him immediately.
"Move!"
Lilith disappeared and Atheline jumped backward. A concentrated blast of water erupted from the Kraken’s mouth. I tore across the sea, the force incredible that it could have split the ship in half.
Atheline raised Earth Aether. A wall of stone erupted from the deck. The water blast smashed into it and the stone cracked.
Atheline’s feet slid backward from the shock wave. He gritted his teeth.
Then Lightning gathered around his body and he disappeared. A streak of electricity crossed the deck as he launched himself toward the Kraken. His sword appeared in his hand.
The Kraken attempted to strike him with two tentacles but Atheline twisted between them. One passed above his head and the other barely missed his shoulder.
He reached the creature’s body. Fire erupted along his sword and he swung. The blade cut deep into the Kraken’s flesh. Dark blood spilled into the water.
The creature screamed, its body convulsing. Atheline was thrown backward by the shock waves. He landed on the deck.
Lilith appeared beside him.
"Enough?"
Atheline stood.
"Almost."
The Kraken’s eyes suddenly focused on them. It seemed to understand that it was losing. The creature began retreating beneath the waves.
Atheline raised his bow.
"Don’t let it escape."
Lilith nodded.
Darkness spread across the sea. The water around the Kraken suddenly became unnaturally black. The creature tried to dive deeper but it couldn’t. Dark tendrils wrapped around its body as it struggled.
Atheline drew an arrow. This time, he used multiple elements. Wind compressed around the shaft, lightning crackled along the tip, fire burned around the head and fe formed beneath it. The arrow became surrounded by a strange combination of opposing forces.
Lilith glanced at him.
"That’s excessive."
"It’s a Kraken."
She smiled.
"Fair enough."
Atheline released.
The arrow crossed the distance almost instantly and struck directly between the creature’s eyes. For one brief moment, nothing happened, then the combined elements exploded.
Lightning tore through its body, fire burned from within, ice froze the surrounding flesh, and wind ripped through the wound.
The Kraken’s enormous body went still as its tentacles slowly sank beneath the waves. The storm seemed to weaken almost immediately.
Atheline lowered his bow. Lilith released the darkness.
The Kraken disappeared beneath the sea.
Silence followed filled with relief and only the rain remained. The crew stared at them.
One sailor finally spoke.
"That..." he swallowed. "That was a Mystic-ranked Kraken. It’s famed to destroying ships for the joy of it."
Atheline looked toward the water.
"It was."
Another sailor stared at the sea.
"You’re not even injured."
Lilith wiped a little rain from her face.
"We’ve had worse."
Atheline looked at her.
"Much worse."
The crew quickly inspected the ship.
Fortunately, the Kraken hadn’t caused catastrophic damage. Several sections of the hull had been damaged, but the magical reinforcement formations had prevented the vessel from being destroyed.
The storm, however, remained.
The captain approached.
"We’ll have to slow down."
Atheline nodded.
"How much?"
"The storm is moving east."
He pointed toward the horizon.
"We can continue, but our arrival will be delayed."
Lilith looked at the sky.
"How long?"
"If the storm continues like this..." the captain hesitated. "Afternoon."
Atheline nodded.
"Then afternoon it is."
The ship continued forward.
Several hours later, the storm finally began weakening. The clouds remained thick, but the rain became lighter and the sea calmed.
Then one of the sailors shouted.
"Land!"
Atheline immediately looked toward the horizon but it wasn’t land, at least, not in the ordinary sense. A massive island was floating in the sky, hovering hundreds of meters above the sea.
Its underside was covered in enormous rocks and vegetation that seemed to hang downward. Water streamed from its edges like waterfalls falling into the Ferra Sea.
Atheline stared.
"A floating island."
Lilith nodded.
"I’ve heard of them."
"Have you ever seen one?"
"No."
The captain approached.
"They’re rare."
Atheline looked toward the strange island.
"Is it inhabited?"
"We don’t know."
The ship continued beneath it. For several minutes, everyone watched, then the island disappeared behind them.
The captain checked the ship’s instruments.
"The Kraken cost us several hours I don’t know about this."
Atheline nodded. He looked toward Lilith.
"Another unexpected stop."
She smiled.
"At least this one didn’t try to eat us."
"Give it time."
Lilith laughed.
The little fox appeared beside them, looking considerably less impressed with the ocean than either of them.
Atheline picked her up.
"Don’t worry."
The fox stared at him.
"We’re almost there."
By the time the ship finally approached Dragonic Island, the sun had already begun its descent from its highest point.
The storm had weakened considerably, leaving behind a restless sea and thick clouds that slowly separated above the horizon.
Atheline stood near the front of the vessel, his cloak moving gently in the remaining wind. Lilith stood beside him.
For several minutes, neither spoke. They simply watched the island grow larger. At first, it looked like nothing more than a dark shape rising from the sea, then the details became visible.
There were rocks, cliffs, massive ridges, and jagged mountains that seemed to have been carved directly from the earth. Dragonic Island was nothing like the lush sanctuary they had recently visited.
It was harsh and ancient. The coastline consisted almost entirely of enormous rocky formations, with steep cliffs dropping directly into the sea. Some areas were covered in dark vegetation, but there were no large settlements visible from the water.
There was something strangely untouched about it.
Atheline narrowed his eyes.
"That’s the island."
Lilith nodded.
"It is."
As the ship moved closer, something suddenly happened. The air in front of them shimmered and a faint distortion spread across the horizon.
The captain immediately slowed the vessel as a transparent barrier stretched across the sea. It was almost invisible until they approached it.