Noah's [Battle Instinct] ability triggered to alert him of his danger, distracting him from the boss's plight. The swarm of devil-fish had arrived. He swatted away the nearest devil-fish with his ethereal purple arms. He would quickly become overwhelmed if he didn't find a solution fast. Noah instinctively reached inside his [Zero-Space Dimension Ring] to withdraw an object he has never used until now. Faced with the countless hungering undead fish, he had no choice. Inside his hand, Noah held a small hexagonal crystal, glowing with red and gold lifeforce.

"Noah, we need to get out of here!" Louis yelled while climbing the vertical mast.

"Don't worry, I've got this," Noah calmly responded.

"What's that in your hand?"

"Salvation."

A devil-fish made it past the fending hands of Noah's [Six Spirit Arms] ability to leap from the water toward his face. Time seemed to slow as Noah watched. Louis was screaming something in the background, but the world had turned silent to Noah's ears. The only sound that could be heard was the drumming of his steady heartbeat. Noah could see his soggy figure reflected in the cold, black eyes of the nightmarish fish as it opened its serrated teeth. Noah still needed to use the gifted razor from the boss to shave his beard. His unkempt hair was matted to the sides of his face, outlining his glowing purple eyes as a smirk formed on his lips. The monster's jaws were less than a finger width from reaching his throat.

"[Inferno]" Noah whispered.

The hero origin crystal inside Noah's grip flared to life as the world returned to normal. Red and golden flames burst outward in response to Noah's command. He felt the fire respond directly to his will. The leaping devil-fish burned into ash before it could close its slavering jaws. The flames ignored Louis atop the vertical pole jutting conspicuously from the ocean. The inferno continued to flow outward in a large radius, incinerating the surrounding water and devil-fish in a cloud of steam. The sandy seabed beneath Noah became briefly visible as it transformed into molten glass. Black origin crystals clattered onto the glassy surface before the ocean surged back in to douse the heat.

Noah felt an immense surge of lifeforce enter his withered body from the destruction of the encroaching devil-fish due to his [Omega role]. Restoring his depleted stamina while exponentially increasing his lifeforce.

"W-What was that?" Louis asked, shaken by what they had just witnessed.

"NOOOOO!"

Noah's reply was interrupted by a cry from the beach. He turned his attention toward the shore as the ocean breeze cleared the steam away to reveal a figure standing atop the ruins of the fishing trawler in the early-morning daylight. It was the wounded form of Roger with his pet mouse on his shoulder.

"You will release him, demon!" Roger shouted.

Noah was unsure who Roger was speaking to. He appeared delirious as he swayed in the wind with his charred right arm. Uncle Joey stood behind him with a hand on his shoulder to steady him with a worried expression on his face. Noah followed Roger’s gaze and saw the boss still clutched in the colossal tentacle. The tentacle had stretched itself thin to wrap itself around the boss's throat to suffocate him. He hung limply, unable to defend himself as he was unconscious due to lack of air.

『How dare mere food make demands of me?』

A familiar voice echoed inside Noah's mind. It belonged to the Kraken. He became unnerved as he recognized the voice. He had suspected what the colossal creature was after hearing Louis describe his encounter with it, but didn't want to believe it.

"Hear me, demon. You will release my son!" Roger cried as blue-lifeforce appeared on the surface of his body.

The wind was picking up momentum. It was becoming more intense than any storm Noah had witnessed. Suddenly, a prismatic beam of light pierced through the fiery clouds above to illuminate Roger's unsteady figure. He was undergoing the [Rite of Heroism].

[Feat of bravery witnessed.]

[Rite of Heroism beginning.]

"Is that?..." Noah said before he was stunned speechless.

"What's happening to him? His lifeforce is turning golden!" Louis yelled over the buffeting wind while pointing at Roger standing atop the shipwreck.

"He's about to become a hero," Noah spoke with awe.

『I don't think I will』The Kraken spoke.

[Rite of Heroism complete.]

The boss unleashed an ear-piercing death scream as the tentacle entangling him and the crocodile corpse suddenly tightened. Crushing the two bodies into a shower of blood and gore. An evil chuckle sounded inside Noah's mind as Roger cried out hysterically. Noah's mouth fell open in disbelief as he failed to react to the finality of it. The prismatic light beam from the sky had altered Roger's blue-lifeforce into swirling, intricate blue and gold patterns.

Noah felt the wind in the surrounding area become still as he couldn't move. It was the same for Louis. The pair were lifted quickly from the water. Noah could see other oarsmen were also being rescued. The exceptions are the red-glowing figure of Avery and the liquid form of Greg. Roger had become silent as he retrieved the oarsmen from the water who had not yet made it to shore. Madness was visible on his face as he became sharply focused by anger and pain.

Noah watched as the water rippled in a wave heading in the wrong direction toward the grotesque form of the boss, held firmly in the Kraken's tentacle. It was Greg who was impulsively attempting to retrieve the boss's corpse. Greg quickly arrived, taking humanoid form on the ocean surface. His arm morphed into a whip to lash against the colossal tentacle, drawing blood.

A scream of annoyance issued inside everyone's mind as the Kraken reacted. A geyser of water arose from beneath the waves to strike against Greg, dispersing his form. As Greg's reformed, another geyser appeared to dissipate him once again before tossing the boss's mutilated corpses and the crocodile contemptuously toward Roger. They fell heavily on the beach in a spray of sand, creating a pit. Strangely a red-glow was emitting from it. Roger's focus didn't falter as he continued to rescue his crew members, only his eyes narrowed in hatred.

Greg reformed again, but this time there was a look of panic on his face. Moments before the next water geyser arrived, his [Water Form] ability was deactivated. The water geyser became dyed red. When it disappeared, Greg was nowhere to be seen. That was the two people closest to Noah, aside from Louis, killed in a short amount of time. He was unable to respond because of Roger's hold on him, due to his [Air Manipulation] ability. Rage surged inside of him, causing him to roar in defiance.

"It's me that you want. Come and get me!" Noah roared.

『You are to be the bait to catch a bigger meal. Have patience, Noah. I'm not finished with you yet.』The Kraken spoke inside Noah's mind.

This enraged Noah, his third ability began to take shape. Purple-lifeforce began to appear on the surface of his skin as it activated. But before it could manifest, a tentacle broke through the ocean's surface to whip toward Noah, interrupting his ability as he was sent hurtling over the treetops of the glowing vegetation below.