“It’s a Dreadkraken!” Jonah shouted. He slumped against the cabin door, his teeth chattering. “According to legend, this sea creature from Wailing Deep feeds exclusively on living humans.”
As he spoke, more tentacles lashed out from every direction. Some wrapped around the mast and snapped the sturdy timber clean in half. Others thrust into the cabin, smashing the supplies to bits.
A young soldier was grabbed by a tentacle and hoisted high into the air. He screamed his comrades’ names in terror before being flung into the crashing waves, disappearing beneath the surface.
The ship lurched violently to one side. Several crew members lost their footing and went tumbling across the deck.
A military medic with his medical kit rushed to help wounded soldiers, but a tentacle that came out of nowhere knocked him down. The kit spilled open on the deck, scattering the herbs that were instantly soaked by seawater.
Suction cups along the tentacle latched onto his leg. He shrieked in pain and helplessly watched as he was being dragged toward the ship’s edge.
“Help!” He stretched out his hand, crying out in desperation. One soldier grabbed his spear and jabbed at the tentacle. It sank into the flesh but was instantly gripped by the suction cups.
The soldier pulled hard, only to be dragged forward several steps by the tentacle’s strength. Another tentacle suddenly whipped in from the side, knocking him to the ground and causing him to drop his spear.
Grace saw what was happening and immediately drew her sword. Sword energy flashed like silver lightning through the rain, slicing clean through the tentacle holding the military medic’s leg.
Dark green blood sprayed onto the deck, sizzling as it burned through the wood. But the wound quickly sprouted new tissue and healed visibly before her eyes.
This terrifying regenerative ability made her frown. Before she could process it, an increasing number of tentacles swept toward them.
She slashed her sword rapidly as the soldiers armed themselves and began striking back at the Dreadkraken’s tentacles.
But the tentacles seemed endless as each one severed was quickly replaced by another rising from the sea to launch new attacks. For a moment, the entire ship was thrown into chaos.
Just when Grace and her team were being overwhelmed, Dustin suddenly launched himself skyward and hovered above the ship.
With a single sweep of his hand, streams of golden light cascaded down, forming dozens of gleaming blades that severed every tentacle breaking the surface.
A furious roar echoed from the waves. The sea creature beneath was clearly enraged as hundreds of tentacles shot up from the pitch-black depths like cannonballs, targeting Dustin. A golden barrier suddenly materialized around him, blocking every strike.
His form flickered several times in rapid succession. Suddenly, all those hundreds of tentacles split apart, falling like chunks of torn flesh into the bottomless sea below.
Just then, Grace shouted, “The sea creature’s main body is on the seafloor.”
With the Dreadkraken’s vitality and rapid regeneration, severing its tentacles wouldn’t be enough. They had to destroy its main body to finish it off for good.
Without hesitation, Dustin transformed into a streak of golden light and plunged into the raging waves. Compared to the vast, stormy ocean, his small form was barely noticeable. The golden light penetrated the surface without so much as a splash and disappeared into the depths.
The Dreadkraken seemed to sense the threat and suddenly withdrew all its tentacles back underwater.
The sea churned violently, forming a massive whirlpool. The Wavebreaker was dragged downward, and the wooden planks of its hull cracked under the pressure.
Down in the depths, Dustin moved like a golden sword and dove toward the sea creature’s main body. After diving over 300 feet down, he finally glimpsed the enormous creature lurking on the seafloor.
It was a colossal Dreadkraken with what looked like thousands of writhing tentacles. Its head was as large as a ship’s cabin, dotted with countless compound eyes that glowed an eerie green in the darkness. Rows of spinning, razor-sharp teeth lined its maw like tiny saw blades. The sight was absolutely horrifying.
“You’re asking for it!” Dustin muttered, narrowing his eyes. Without hesitation, he swung his sword downward. A sword aura stretching over a hundred feet long shot out, striking straight at the Dreadkraken’s head.
The ocean floor trembled, and waves burst violently around them. Wherever the sword aura passed, the sea split apart, revealing a deep chasm like a bottomless pit. Before the Dreadkraken could even react, the sword aura pierced right through it.
The Dreadkraken let out a deafening roar filled with pain and fury. It thrashed its tentacles wildly, churning the surrounding water into a muddy froth, but nothing could stop the sword aura’s devastating power.
After a brief moment, the Dreadkraken’s massive body suddenly exploded. Blood gushed out and turned the sea’s surface green.
The previously turbulent sea instantly calmed. The raging tentacles drifted down like dead vines, sinking slowly into the depths. A second later, Dustin burst from the waves in a flash of golden light and landed smoothly on deck.
Cheers broke out across the entire ship. Defeating such a fearsome sea monster alone and saving everyone from certain death was an almost unbelievable display of power.
Jonah, who’d been paralyzed with fear just moments before, now stared at Dustin as if he were looking at a god. His face was filled with awe and reverence.
