Chapter 72: A Good Suggestion

The suction of the whirlpool grew stronger every second. The lead corvette tilted hard to the right, its wooden hull groaning under the immense strain. Seawater rushed over the lower deck, soaking the boots of the terrified sailors.

"Cut the reserve sails! Wind mages, reverse thrust!" Captain Daniel yelled, desperately holding onto the helm railing. "Keep us out of its mouth!"

The wind mages pushed their hands forward, gasping for air as their mana burned out fast. A blast of wind pushed against the sails, slowing the ship’s drift, but it was barely holding them in place. The Kraken’s massive beak clicked open and shut below, waiting to crush the ship into toothpicks.

Ayanokoji stood back up. His ribs had ached a moment ago, but Miyuki’s healing spell had already mended the cracked bone. His breathing was calm again, his eyes cool and focused on the giant monster.

"Miyuki," Ayanokoji said, his voice flat over the roaring water. "Change of plans. Don’t cast large area barriers. Put all your mana into single-point kinetic reinforcement on my spear, and use your minor deflection charms on my blind spots."

Miyuki wiped the sweat from her eyes and nodded firmly. "Understood. Piercing Edge buff and Wind Repel are ready!"

She pointed her staff directly at his silver spear. A sharp, needle-like green glow covered the spearhead, vibrating so fast it made a high-pitched buzzing sound. At the same time, three small emerald circles floated around Ayanokoji’s shoulders.

"Captain, keep the ship steady," Ayanokoji called out. "Don’t let the ballista crews stop firing. Aim for its eyes."

"A-At once, Hero Ayanokoji!" Daniel shouted back. "Ballistas, reload! Target the head! Give him an opening!"

The ballista teams cranked their iron gears rapidly. Two heavy bolts flew through the air, their fire runes exploding against the monster’s thick forehead. The flames didn’t pierce the armor, but the sudden light made the Kraken blink its giant yellow eyes.

That was the opening.

Ayanokoji launched himself forward. With Miyuki’s haste spell active, he crossed thirty meters of air in a split second, landing right on top of a rising tentacle.

The rubbery flesh buckled under his boots, but he didn’t lose his footing. He sprinted straight up the curving limb, his body leaning forward against the howling wind.

The Kraken realized what he was doing and thrashed the limb violently, trying to throw him off into the black sea.

Ayanokoji jumped just in time. Mid-air, another tentacle whipped toward him from the side like a swinging tree trunk.

"Wind Repel!" Miyuki shouted from the deck.

One of the emerald circles around Ayanokoji’s shoulder exploded outward, creating a small air cushion. It didn’t stop the giant limb, but it shifted the angle just enough for the tentacle to graze past his armor instead of crushing him.

Ayanokoji twisted his body and drove his spear down with both hands.

CRACK!

This time, with Miyuki’s piercing buff focused on a single point, the silver blade drove deep into the monster’s flesh. Colorless aura flared along the shaft, tearing through the tough muscle fibers. Blue, foul-smelling blood sprayed across his face and clothes.

The Kraken roared in pain, a deafening sound that shook the water around them. Ayanokoji dragged the spear downward as he fell, ripping a ten-foot open gash along the limb before kicking off the beast’s body to land back on the bow railing.

"We hurt it!" one of the sailors cheered.

"Don’t celebrate yet," Ayanokoji said under his breath.

The thick cut on the Kraken’s arm was already closing. Thick blue fluid bubbled from the wound, and tiny tendrils of flesh knitted back together in seconds. It had high-speed regeneration.

Before Ayanokoji could catch his breath, the monster went completely berserk.

It didn’t just strike with one or two limbs anymore. Six colossal tentacles rose together from the water, blocking out the moonlight and creating a massive shadow over the entire ship.

SLAM!

Two tentacles hammered down on the left side of the ship, while another two slammed into the right.

The corvette shrieked under the pressure. The main deck splintered open down the middle. One of the heavy ballistas snapped from its mounts and tumbled into the ocean. Several crewmen were thrown into the air, screaming as they vanished into the churning waves.

"Hold on!" Miyuki screamed, falling to her knees as the ship listed sharply.

She slammed the butt of her staff into the deck, pushing out a small, emergency shield over the captain and the wind mages. The shield held, but the shockwave cracked her staff’s wooden base, sending sharp pain through her hands. Her mana bar was dropping fast.

The fifth tentacle came straight for her.

Ayanokoji moved instantly, using a burst of speed to appear in front of her. He swung his spear in an upward arc, meeting the heavy limb head-on.

BANG!

The force was too much. Even with his high S-rank strength stat, swinging against twenty tons of falling muscle was like trying to stop a falling boulder with a stick. The spear vibrated wildly in his hands, tearing the skin on his palms. His boots dug into the deck, sliding back three meters until his back hit the mast.

"Ayanokoji!" Miyuki cried, reaching out to heal him.

"Conserve your mana," he grunted, spitting blood onto the broken deck. His arms were shaking from the sheer impact. "It’s adapting. It’s using its full weight now."

The Kraken raised its massive head higher out of the water. Its huge yellow eyes locked onto the two heroes, glowing with pure fury. It wrapped three tentacles completely around the corvette’s hull, tightening its grip. Wood began to snap and crunch like dry twigs.

High above in the sky, the Global Hawk watched the whole thing.

In the secure bunker thousands of miles away, the room was dead silent. The analysts watched the live satellite feed, tracking the bio-readings and kinetic energy spikes.

"Target Sierra-Bravo managed to deal structural damage to the creature’s outer muscle layer," the analyst reported, reading off the screen. "Estimated depth of penetration was six feet. But the target regenerated in under ten seconds. The friendly vessel’s hull integrity is down to forty percent."

Ritcher looked over John’s shoulder at the glowing monitors. "Those kids have serious combat stats, but their equipment is holding them back. That wood ship won’t survive another sixty seconds of that pressure. If the hull breaks, they drown."

John took another slow sip of his soda, watching Ayanokoji and Miyuki through the thermal feed.

"Well this should give us an idea how strong the heroes are. They won’t match very well against our conventional weapons."

"Sir, I think we should intervene and capture those two heroes. They are the closest people we could get information about Goddess Viona," Ritcher suggested.

"Hmm, you are kind of right," John said. "Patch me through the sub."