Shadowed Gaze: The Highserk War Saga - Chapter 103

“A-Ahhh?! It’s the demon of the deep sea!”

“Damn it, why the hell is there a Kraken here?!”

There wasn’t a single person on the ship who wasn’t screaming. Walm also wanted to join in the frantic shouting, but he couldn’t afford to. The massive tentacle closing in on him was oozing foul mucus, reaching out to grab him.

“Get down!”

Walm shouted with all the volume he could muster. Fortunately, the merchants quickly hit the deck, and the man standing in the opening was thrown aside but still groaning in pain. With nothing between him and the tentacle, Walm twisted his body and struck out with his longsword as swiftly as possible.

The Strong Strike, imbued with magic, sliced off the tip of the filthy tentacle. Avoiding the remaining thrashing tentacle, Walm continued to slash and cut, though the confined space of the ship and the dense crowd of people severely restricted his movements. The tentacle managed to scrape off the outer layer of his skin and the magical barrier protecting him.

After about ten slashes, the tentacle was finally severed. Its muscular build and viscous mucus made it incredibly difficult to cut through.

“Damn, this is sticky,” Walm muttered, glaring resentfully at his dirty beloved sword. Meanwhile, the mask on his waist continued to vibrate with excitement. He understood it had poor taste, but he never imagined it had a tentacle fetish. It was truly an irredeemable demon mask.

Ignoring the mask, Walm moved to help a sailor struggling with another tentacle. Several sailors had already been grabbed, their limbs twisted like mere twigs. Spears and single-edged axes were embedded in the tentacles, but the thick flesh and mucus hindered the blades, preventing them from cutting through.

“Ahhhhh, my arm!”

“Ugh! A-aaah!”

“Damn it, stay away!!”

A tentacle aimed for a crewman swinging his saber. Walm sprinted along the wall and swung his longsword down, barely missing the ceiling. He successfully sliced through the tentacle at its base where it had entered the ship. Despite being severed, the tentacle thrashed around as if it were still attached.

“Hey, everything’s gonna be okay, right?!”

A sailor, chopping up the severed tentacle pieces, cried out desperately.

“Of course not, it’s a Kraken!”

Though they had managed to destroy two tentacles rampaging through the middle deck, the assault continued on the upper deck. The sounds of fierce fighting, including explosions likely caused by magic, were echoing from above.

“The mast is under attack. Defend it!! Don’t let it get close!!”

“First squad, strike at the main body!!”

Walm called out to the passengers hiding in the corner.

“Hey, take these and defend yourselves!”

He pulled out swords from his magic bag and threw them onto the floor. He had wanted to keep the existence of the magic bag a secret, but the situation was dire, and letting the ship sink would mean losing everything. With this many people, they should at least be able to handle the smaller tentacles.

“I’ve never held a sword before.”

“I’ll pay you, just please protect me!”

Walm kicked away a passenger who tried to cling to his leg.

“Are you an idiot? Did you see those giant tentacles? If the ship goes down, it won’t matter how many you cut. If you can’t wield a sword, then at least grab a tentacle and be a decoy. I’m heading up to help.”

“Wait, the captain said to protect the passengers!”

A sailor, being dragged by a tentacle, bravely tried to stop him, but Walm sneered back.

“Do I look like a passenger to you?”

The sailor didn’t stop him any further and focused on securing the middle deck. Walm gripped his longsword tightly. A halberd would be even more unwieldy than a longsword on the ship and wouldn’t be effective against the tentacles’ muscular mass.

He dashed up the half-destroyed stairs, and the sight that met him was chaotic. Multiple tentacles were attacking from the port side, assaulting the sailors. Captured crew members were being thrown against the deck and mast, their screams rising and falling chaotically.

“Damn, it’s like a bad B-rated disaster movie.”

Walm couldn’t help but mutter a phrase from a world that didn’t exist here as he readied his longsword.

“What are you doing? Get inside—”

Walm intercepted a tentacle trying to grab a sailor with a Strong Strike. The tentacle, cut in half, flailed about as it retreated into the sea.

“Inside? What about it?”

“N-Never mind… do as you please.”

The resistance from the sailors on the upper deck was fierce, and four tentacles had already been severed and lay on the deck or were retreating back into the sea. Including the two Walm had cut, that made six tentacles down, but there were still more than six left intact.

“If it’s a squid, there should be ten. An octopus has eight… huh, the numbers don’t add up.”

In terms of the number of tentacles, this abomination wasn’t a squid or an octopus. Moreover, it had far more tentacles than either squid or octopus, making it an exceedingly troublesome opponent. A new tentacle scraped along the ship’s edge, advancing towards Walm. Though Walm braced himself, he moved reflexively when he saw a shadow covering his body.

“Two at the same time, I see.”

It seemed the Kraken had taken a liking to Walm, generously swinging its limbs at him. He detected the ambush from above and rolled out of the way, only to have a second tentacle approach where he had evaded to. Walm let himself fall to the deck. Ironically, the mucus stuck on the deck acted as a lubricant, making it exceedingly slippery. The demon mask in his waist bag was frolicking in the slime.

“Show some restraint, why don’t you?”

Instead of the unstable footing, he thrust his longsword into the deck and forcibly pulled himself back up. Walm sprang up like a catapult.

Without missing a beat, he thrust his longsword into a lying tentacle, slashing it apart. The tentacle, which supported a massive weight, lost its delicate movements as its muscles were damaged and it could no longer bear its weight. Sailors swarmed the tentacle, turning it into instant slices of calamari. With the number of tentacles reduced, Walm gained a slight space to breathe and scanned the sea.

“What on earth is that?”

On the sea churned by the Kraken, sailors were gliding around. Whether it was an application of water attribute magic or a skill, Walm couldn’t tell, but it was an act he couldn’t hope to imitate. Among them was Sarshef, his guide.

Sarshef swiftly turned his body and slashed an incoming tentacle before firing a water bullet at the sea surface. Contrary to his good-natured smile, he possessed exceptional combat skills and magic. Walm was astounded by his high level of proficiency.

“So that’s a sea mage.”

Sailors from the Archipelago Countries, reputed to be unrivaled on the sea, were displaying their prowess. Another sailor wrapped seawater around his body and launched a spear with water pressure. Walm also knew techniques to launch daggers and spears with wind magic, but they were showcasing these on the sea.

It was only Walm’s speculation, but the naval forces of Selta, the only part of Mayard to escape the Highserk Empire’s grasp, probably had such sea mages.

Turning a blind eye to the sea mages, Walm prepared to face new tentacles, but they all withdrew into the sea.

“What’s this? The tentacles have withdrawn.”

Maybe the Kraken had given up after the painful counterattack—harboring such faint hope, Walm remained vigilant.

“It’s under water!”

“Did it flee?”

The sailors kept a close watch on the sea surface, but Sarshef shouted anxiously.

“It’s bad, a top attack is coming!”

With Sarshef’s warning, chaos erupted on the ship as if a beehive had been struck.

“Where’s the chef?”

“I’m out of magic power. The others are down too.”

“Hey, what’s happening? What’s a top attack?”

Left in the dark, Walm demanded an explanation from a trembling sailor.

“The Kraken dives deep and then leaps onto the ship!”

“No way, that thing jumps up?!”

“Yeah, it jumps higher than the main mast.”

If that massive body leapt higher than the mast and fell onto the ship, even a large vessel would suffer immense damage. At worst, the keel could break, splitting the ship in two.

“Hey, I’ll burn the ship a bit, okay?”

“Huh, you’re a magic user?”

“Yes, what about it?”

Replacing the hesitant sailor, the captain of the Adelina, Berim Beggar, answered Walm concisely while holding two sabers.

“Burn it a bit if you must. If you want to make it to shore, just avoid the mast.”

“Alright, I’ll try.”

With consent obtained, Walm concentrated his magic power, readying himself for the Kraken. Other sailors armed themselves with crossbows, throwing spears, and other projectiles, quietly preparing. Their eyes brimmed with murderous intent, waiting for the right moment.

Translator – Lyxxna