The captain’s scream hadn’t even finished that the sailors were already rushing to the armory. One of them opened the doors of a large rack full of spears, harpoons and axes and distributed them to each pair of hands. In less than five seconds, the crew of sailors were all armed and ready to defend their lives and the ship.

Mahon, Jorik and the other passengers hadn’t waited idly during this time either. They weren’t used to having their weapons on them at all times on the ship and most ran to their cabins, either to grab their weapon or stay out of the way if they didn’t know how to fight.

On the other hand, Mahon and Triandal stayed on the deck and grabbed a spear from the rack. Mahon swung the spear a few times to feel its weight and balance before he joined the men at watch on the sides of the ship.

“Where is it?” Triandal yelled to the watchman still at the top of the mainmast.

“It’s still under the ship, Captain.” The man answered. “It’s following us.”

“Maybe it will not attack...” A young sailor started to say, but the captain silenced him with a single look.

An instant later, a purple tentacle lazily exited the water. It slowly moved upwards, barely a meter away from the right side of the ship. Its extremity was round and as large as someone’s hand, but as it continued to emerge and rise in the air, it got thicker and thicker until it was a full five meters above the water and as thick as a man.

Everyone was looking at the tentacle without saying anything. Their eyes were glued to the strange appendix of the still hidden monster lurking just below their feet. The tentacle then slightly bent towards them. Its extremity split it two like an eyelid, and a big globular eye appeared, staring straight at them.

It blinked twice, and then chaos ensued.

A dozen tentacles appeared suddenly around the ship and immediately started to hammer it. The sailors tried to avoid them to the best of their ability. Most succeeded, but their formation was now in complete disarray.

Triandal didn’t hesitate long, however, and he threw his harpoon directly at the eyed tentacle. The projectile reached its target in no time, and the eye exploded with a thud pop sound. The tentacles became crazy as a deep howl seemed to come from below the ship.

Another tentacle emerged from the water, five meters away, and opened its eye.

“Best throwers, with me!” Triandal shouted as he grabbed another spear from the hands of a passerby sailor. “All others, cut down the tentacles before they sink us!”

He then threw the spear at the new eye, but the tentacle saw it coming and dodged by waving to the side. A barrage of spears and harpoons followed a second after, and the eye was hit again. A third one appeared almost instantly, another five meters further.

Mahon turned away from the scene to focus back on what was happening on the ship. He swapped his spear to an ax and walked to the nearest tentacle. He chopped at it with all his strength, but the squishy skin of the sea monster negated most of his power, and it only ended up with a small bruise.

“You need to pierce it first!”

An experienced sailor came at his side with a spear and poked the tentacle. It pierced through easily although it didn’t seem to hinder the monster much. Instead, the wooden deck started squeaking under the pressure exerted by the tentacle.

The sailor repeated his gesture another three times before he gestured to Mahon. “Now, chop!”

Mahon obeyed and aimed at the line the man had drawn with his pokes. This time, the ax bit directly into the monster’s flesh.

“Again!” The sailor encouraged him.

Using all his strength and his body weight to increase his power, Mahon managed to cut the tentacle after another four swings. The appendix slowly fell back into the sea, leaving the floor full of green blood and squishy substance.

The sailor pricked the part that had been cut with his spear and threw it overboard. He then moved to the next tentacle, and Mahon followed him.

Jorik and the other passengers finally emerged from their cabins and came to reinforce the sailors. Half a minute later and all the tentacles had been cut. The eyed tentacle had been repelled more than thirty meters away from the ship.

When it finally dove back down into the sea and disappeared, the sailors smiled and patted each other’s back, but Triandal raised his hand to get their attention.

“It’s not gone.” He said with a serious voice.

The crew’s mood immediately switched, and the sailors went back on guard. Jorik walked to Mahon and gave him his lance and sword that he had collected in his cabin previously.

“Thanks.” Mahon nodded to the noble while deepening his Flow.

Jorik did the same, and they soon could pick up the large life form that was biding its time under their ship.

It was almost as long as the ship and looked like a giant version of the squids they had sometimes eaten with the other passengers. It literally had a forest of tentacles attached to a small conical-shaped body with a giant beak. Only a part of the tentacles had been chopped off, and the monster still had plenty more to attack the ship another ten times if needed.

Mahon couldn’t comprehend it entirely through his Flow, but some rhythms were similar enough to human ones to be recognizable. The monster was hungry. And pissed off.

“The fuck is this…” Jorik let out.

“We call them Krakens.” Triandal answered. “They are like giant squids, and it’s one of the biggest and most dangerous creatures out there. Fortunately, they only attack when they’re hungry, and if we show enough resistance, they usually give up. Let’s hope this one will find us too tough to swallow as well.”

Mahon and Jorik exchanged a worried look. Their Flow told them a completely different story.

“I don’t think it’s gonna give up.” Jorik said at the same time the monster started his second offensive.

This time, he popped three eyes out of the water and immediately started the same attack he did before. Its heavy tentacles pulled on the ship to take it down in the depth of the sea. The sailors didn’t waste a single instant before they hacked at them, but the kraken didn’t let them.

Slim tentacles emerged from the water and whipped at the sailors who tried to cut his other tentacles. Mahon and Jorik saw them coming just before they emerged from the water, and they were already on the move even before the sailors noticed them.

Jorik cut down two that were coming in his direction. His sword directly passed through. The tendrils-like tentacles were quicker than the bigger, heavy ones, but much less sturdy.

Mahon used his lance, and with his wider reach, he managed to cut four tendrils before they hit the sailors. The latter were still caught unprepared, however, and they ended up with big gashes or even thrown overboard from the remaining tendrils.

Curiously, the kraken ignored the few sailors that fell into the sea as if it knew it had to focus entirely on the battle instead of being distracted by small appetizers. The tendrils doubled in number in no time, and soon the sailors were all running around, trying to dodge their swipes. They had no time to cut down the tentacles, and the ship was slowly getting pulled towards the depth.

In the meantime, Mahon noticed the experienced sailor that had taught him how to cut a tentacle before, and he drew his attention with a quick whistle.

“Cut down this one,” Mahon gestured to the nearby tentacle, “I’ll protect you.”

The man didn’t seem to hesitate for long, and he grabbed another sailor with him before rushing in Mahon’s direction while dodging the tendrils. They reached Mahon quickly after, and the man started to poke at the tentacle.

Immediately, the nearby tendrils reacted and rushed at him. But Mahon acted faster. He easily predicted their moves with his Flow and cut them swiftly before they could go under two meters of the sailors.

Seeing this, the second sailor regained hope, and he hacked at the tentacle with new strength. The tendrils became even more crazy as the man cut deeply into the tentacle, but Mahon was ready.

He jumped on the ship’s balustrade and jumped again to reach even higher. He then pivoted in the air, in an aerial imitation of the Fourth Step of the Lance, and cut down three tendrils.

When he touched the ground, he rolled forward and stabbed at another tendril. A step backward followed by a large swipe chopped the last one, and Mahon was back at the sailors’ side, ready for another attack.

Under his protection, the two sailors could fully focus on cutting down the bigger tentacle, and they made quick work of it. They then proceeded to the next tentacle.

Jorik quickly caught up with Mahon’s strategy, and even though his sword had less reach than Mahon’s sword, he recruited one of the bodyguards, and together they protected their own couple of sailors. Following their examples, the crew quickly organized itself, with people throwing spears at the eyes or other cutting down tentacles while the others protected them from the tendrils.

The battle lasted longer than the previous one, but slowly the sailors got the upper hand. The ship squeaked and cracked, with deep gashes and even holes in the deck at some places, but the kraken failed to bring it down.

Tentacle by tentacle, tendril by tendril, eye by eye, the sailors removed every single appendix that emerged from the sea.

With the help of his Flow, Mahon grew more familiar with the tendrils’ attack pattern, and he quickly adjusted to it. Two minutes into the fight, and he could already protect two different groups of sailors by himself.

He twirled and swirled between sailors, tentacles and tendrils, his lance always finding its target. Sailors only saw a passing whirlwind protecting them from the kraken. Tendrils only witnessed a flash of metal before finding their death.

The kraken finally gave up when it didn’t manage to hit even one sailor for a full minute. All its different tentacles escaped back into the sea, away from the biting metal of the humans. It then moved away from the ship with a quick motion that propelled him more than fifty meters away in a single second.

Mahon didn’t need his Flow to see the creature leave, and everyone was able to witness the monster retreating as it emerged for a short instant, flashing its impressive size to all like a final pout to its rebellious meal.

This time, Triandal let the sailors shout their joy without interruption with a victorious smile. His smile didn’t last long, however, when he realized the state his ship was left in.

“That fucking monster.” He raged. “This will cost me hundreds in repai…”

“Careful!” Mahon screamed just before the whole ship suddenly shook as it was pushed a full meter to the side, and everyone fell on the floor.

With his Flow he had seen the monster coming back to them at full speed. It had directly rushed into the hull of the ship, and even though it appeared to be dazed from the shock, it quickly got back its bearings and left again.

“What was that?” Triandal stood up with a puzzled face.

“The monster.” Mahon answered. “It rushed right at us. Maybe he tried to crack the hull.”

“Impossible…” Triandal muttered before switching to an authoritative voice. “You three, go check it!!” He ordered some of the sailors that immediately rushed inside the ship.

“It’s not broken.” Jorik informed the captain, as he finished checking the hull with his Flow.

“Yet.” Mahon added with a sinister voice. “It’s coming back.”

He pointed to a large black form that was rushing to them, followed by a little wave on the surface of the otherwise calm sea.