Shadowed Gaze: The Highserk War Saga - Chapter 104

The overwhelming mass displaced the seawater, causing the surface to erupt as if it were rising. As the gigantic shadow was exposed to the sunlight, Walm, who grasped its full extent, couldn’t help but laugh at the sheer difference in scale and the impossibility of the sight before him. The enormous amount of seawater expelled from the funnel fell on the deck like heavy rain. What was astonishing was its propulsion. If Walm’s eyes were functioning correctly, the Kraken had leaped higher than the mast.

“It jumped!!”

Reacting to the sailor’s roar, the Kraken clattered its countless exposed teeth and spread its tentacles wide enough to cover the 50-meter-long ship. The seawater that had been jetting out ceased, and the Kraken, having lost its propulsion, began to free fall. It was a simple collision, but it was a fatal blow backed by its immense mass.

“It’s falling!”

Ignoring the panicking sailors, Walm cast the spell he had finished chanting. A massive fireball scorched the ropes stretching to the mast and the operating lines of the winch as it ascended into the sky. Even Walm, accustomed to playing with fire, had never shot a fireball directly upward before. Fortunately, the fireball bypassed the mast and was swallowed by the Kraken’s mouth.

Flames momentarily dyed the sky, and the shockwave shook the sails. The national flag hoisted on the ship caught fire, and chunks of flesh fell onto the deck. Walm shouted to the sailors who were watching with bated breath.

“Do you like it undercooked?!”

Through the gaps in the flames, Walm assessed the effectiveness of the fireball. Several tentacles were torn off, and large areas of the head and mouth were seared by the heat, but the Kraken’s extraordinary durability had withstood the fierce flames, and its life was not extinguished. Most importantly, the mass had only slightly decreased and was still intact.

“Damn it, we can’t stop it!”

“Run away!!”

Unable to stop the Kraken’s descent, its massive body approached. Some tried to jump off the ship, while others sought shelter in the sterncastle. Walm also tried to turn his body toward the stern but was stopped by a calm yet clear voice. The voice belonged to Berim Beggar, the ship’s captain.

“The impact point is off. It won’t be a direct hit.”

With that, the seasoned captain leisurely walked to the center of the ship. Such a composed old man—Walm also braced himself and held his ground.

As the distance to the Kraken decreased, its size became more apparent. The massive body was following a course that would graze the ship and fall into the sea. Probably, the extended tentacles were meant to adjust the fall, but the fireball Walm had cast blew off the tentacles, causing the fall position to shift.

Even so, not all of its body would fall into the sea. The yards extending from the mast to suspend the sails broke under the weight of the tentacles, and the sails and various ropes got entangled, pinning the tentacles to the deck. Other tentacles tore through the ballista mounted on the deck and the ship’s edge, breaking the planks and falling into the middle deck.

As the main body fell, a water column rose from the sea, and a large wave rocked the ship. Nevertheless, there was no one who faltered. The once invisible attacker now exposed its body between the sea and the ship. Despite struggling with the unstable footing, Walm aimed a second strike at its head. The blast scoured his skin, and the flames scorched the flesh.

“Don’t let it escape, finish it here!!”

Under the deck chief’s command, sailors swarmed the starboard side, shooting crossbows and throwing spears with all their might. The Kraken, transformed into a pincushion from the countless arrows and projectiles, coiled its tentacles like springs and unleashed them. With a careless strike, the outer wall shattered, and caught-off-guard sailors were swept away.

“My leg! I can’t stand!!”

“We’re running out of spears. Replenish from the middle deck!!”

“Why won’t it die?!”

“Damn, the hull’s been gouged again.”

The Kraken, now severely wounded, still posed a threat. A large hole opened in the middle deck, and a sea mage who had been running along the water was struck by a tentacle, tumbling across the sea’s surface. The water expelled from the funnel slashed the sterncastle like a dragon’s breath. A sailor’s arm was split open, and bright red blood gushed from the wound.

“What about grilled squid? You like it?!”

Even as Walm continued to hurl fireballs, a tentacle approached him. Predicting the movement of the extended tentacle, Walm tried to dodge, but his efforts were in vain.

From the topmost platform, Sarshef, wielding a cutlass, twisted his body mid-air and slashed. The blade, with the momentum of the spinning motion, cut the tentacle halfway through.

Instead of applauding the acrobatic slash, Walm launched a fireball. A flower of explosive flames bloomed over the sea, with scattered flesh coloring the fire. The Kraken seemed to understand art, responding by trembling with emotion to Walm’s gift.

As a tentacle, nearly severed, gouged the sea surface to capture Sarshef, he used the resulting wave to escape just in time.

“What the hell is this monster?”

Agreeing with an unfamiliar sailor, Walm shot his sixth fireball. The Kraken, heedless of its severed and burned tentacles, swung them around with its immense size and strength, turning into a storm of flesh.

“…Disgusting!”

One tentacle, as if with malicious intent, wrapped around the ship’s female statue, oozing slime and jostling the nearby sailors. Enraged by the defilement of the figurehead, the captain gripped a spear tightly and hurled it at the Kraken’s head. The spear embedded itself into a wound gouged by the fireball, penetrating up to a third of its shaft.

Their fighting spirit remained unbroken. On the inescapable sea, defeat meant death. This knowledge was etched deep within their bodies and souls. The sailors who supported the archipelago’s shipping network were indeed resilient. Walm could do nothing but praise them for their reliability.

“Take as much as you want!!”

“Move, I’ll use the axe.”

“Gimme a spear!!”

The deck was covered in the blood and flesh of both men and monster, with shattered wood piled up. Sailors who had scavenged weapons from the middle deck threw them haphazardly onto the deck, where their comrades picked them up to face the Kraken. Even those with broken legs leaned against the mast, skillfully loading arrows with their remaining limbs and passing them to their companions.

Amidst them, Walm was about to launch his seventh fireball when suddenly, the rampaging tentacles came to an abrupt halt and collapsed. The main body, which had been writhing, now floated on the surface of the sea.

Still, the attacks didn’t cease. Even Walm suspected it might be faking its death due to the sudden end. Ultimately, the relentless assault on the corpse continued until the captain ordered everyone to stop.

Translator – Lyxxna