The cannonballs didn't even graze the beast.
It was unfazed and still headed straight towards them.
"More to the left this time. Aim …. Fire!" Shouted Lord Carnelian.
It was no use. Leon and the others were far too inexperienced with cannons even if they were trying their best.
Leon grabbed at the mechanism, then banged it with his fists, frustration evident on his face.
The cannonballs themselves were very thick and heavy and made from iron.
Fear made their hands tremble, and it took a lot of time to lift them and fit them properly into the slot.
Should they manage to land a hit on the monster.
The idea behind their plan was that the cannonball would cause it to have a gruesome and gory injury and deter Kanakika's pursuit of the ship.
After the third volley of cannonballs reigned down on the fast, moving octopus.
It seemed to sink under the hits and blue blood covered the area.
The crew cheered loudly as it seemed as if they had landed a direct hit.
This was bad, under the cover of blood they couldn't tell if they silenced the sea monster permanently.
No one was going to volunteer to deep dive and check.
It could be anywhere, the eerie silence that followed after the sea monster was hit, creeped Zyra out.
Kanakika let out a fierce ear splitting shriek, to let them all know it was still alive.
It let out a loud, menacing wail while it adopted an intimidating stance.
If it wasn't angry before it was now. Its eyes were huge and glowing red.
Aggression was emanating from the sea monster as it felt its territory was under threat.
The sneaky bastard came up from under the right side of the warship, its massive tentacles pulling on the railings as it tried to overturn the boat.
It was so angry its skin couldn't stick to one color.
Switching to more darker tones the angrier it got.
"Cut that blasted sea monster off my boat." Yelled Lord Carnelian.
Verity reached over to comfort Nyla and the two girls hugged.
"Let's fight back to back," Nyla said.
She felt ashamed of her screaming.
It was something you would expect from the doll like Verity, not her but here Verity was calm as ever and Nyla felt her body shaking life a leaf.
She was glad she had Verity to lean on and it hardened her resolve.
They would get through this together.
In the pandemonium, as the ship was being pulled under once more, they got separated and Nyla was on her own.
It felt like the more she hacked the more tentacles were attacking her.
She was having a hard time being on the offense with her back unprotected.
Finally, after looking all over for her, she found Verity.
She was okay but hunkering down behind some barrels.
Verity tried her hardest but she was not much of a fighter and when she saw a man not too far away from where she hid got pulled away, she fainted.
Nyla saw what had happened and got distracted in trying to get to Verity's side.
It was Leon who saved her by doing away with a tentacle and bringing up the rear so Nyla could slash her way through to Verity's side.
"How is she?" Leon asked as he battled another of the tentacles.
"She's okay, she just fainted."
"That's good because I thought she had a heart attack."
"Not funny. How can you even think about making jokes at a time like this."
"Not doing it deliberately but it also helps me to not feel dejected. If you get what I mean."
"I think I do."
A mutual understanding passed between two of them as they fought back to back while shielding Verity's unconscious body.
Everyone had drawn their machetes and started hacking, chopping and poking.
Anything to get the monster to let go and still dodge its suckers on its tentacles, that were trying to end their life.
It was a lot to take in because blue blood splattered everywhere.
People were gnashing their teeth and wailing in despair.
Not only did Kanakika's blood stink but it burned and left behind mottled flesh, with blood and pus, gross looking as the acid from the blood ate away at their skin.
One unfortunate soul got the octopus blood in his eyes.
"I'm sorry." Zyra mouthed to him.
No one could calm him down, he was running and thrashing his machete around like a mad man, he was losing it mentally.
He was screaming, "help me!" To anyone who would listen but everyone was too busy battling to save their own life.
All it took was one lone tentacle to grab him.
He managed to cut himself loose but he was in the sky.
So he fell to his death when he landed on the rooftop of the ship instead of the sea.
Yelping in pain the sea monster started thrashing and sending its tentacles flying everywhere.
Trying to either grab or toss the ship mates overboard.
As much as Cyril was having a grand time with all the excitement he was also worried.
They had left Terranite territory and been at sea for over a few months now.
Aside from one or two thunderstorms the route they had taken had been very calm.
Fuegolian harbor where his warship had been stashed was one of his favorite places.
Pristine white sand, coconut trees for days and crystal blue waters that were great for swimming.
He hated leaving the safety of the harbor but this mission was important and as an ambassador for his people a lot of responsibility fell on his shoulders.
As they coasted along the meandering river that led out to sea.
Cyril said a sad goodbye to the misty mountains and active volcanoes.
Somehow he felt it in the pit of his stomach that he wouldn't be seeing it again for a while.
So far their journey to Aguatian territory had been boring but manageable.
Other than a thunderstorm or two, they had a peaceful journey until now.
Curse those Aguatians no doubt, they somehow managed to genetically modify the blasted octopus making his life a whole lot harder for nothing.
While Terranites were mostly artisans and the Fuegolians were predominantly hunters.
The Aguatians were for the most part scientists and they considered every other wolfbeasts intellectually inferior.
Since they had to share this planet with the other wolfbeast.
They protected what was theirs and moved the science laboratories under the sea.
Everytime Zyra moved a tentacle was blocking her path, she watched as a crew mate got knocked backwards by a tentacle.
He tried to hold unto the ship's railing for dear life but another tentacle descended and whacked him across the head.
The shock of it made him instantly let go.
Then another one descended to scoop him up by the ankles.
He was dangling for dear life but was too high up for anyone to assist.
Zyra watched all of this with horror.
Why didn't her plan work? This wasn't supposed to happen now.
She felt like so many lives were lost because they depended on her negligent plan.
After this, if she survived somehow, she wondered how she could sleep at night and live with the guilt for the rest of her life.
Was she any better than Captain Rolf and his test?
They needn't have tried because the unfortunate man's soul was sealed.
The octopus opened its gigantic mouth and swallowed him whole.
Everyone watched helplessly as the man got swallowed and Nyla's frantic screaming only made the disturbing scene even more intense.
"Zyra don't…no sudden moves okay."
"Help me, it could use its tentacles to kill me," Zyra snapped.
A tentacle came awfully close to her and she shuddered.
Kanakika slowly moved away. Zyra dropped to the ground and started to crawl away on her belly.
When she was sure she was safe enough she got up and started to run.
Her movements drew Kanakika's attention to her and even though its other tentacles were occupied fighting the crew, it didn't matter, the beast was still greedy.
So it went after her as well.
Cyril cut away at least 5 more tentacles to get to Zyra's side as the sea monster was regenerating rapidly.
Zyra screamed as she felt the wind from a tentacle near her before its wet sliminess brought her to her knees as her feet went out from under her.
Her machete fell out of her hand and another tentacle descended to slide it even further from her reach. She was going to die.
"Zyra, I'll help you but you need to have faith in me. You are a woman who is always trying to save others but right now, just listen and let me help you. You trusted me once before, will you trust me again?"
No one was paying them any mind since tentacles were everywhere. "Cyril, I hope you know what you are doing."
"Zyra, you should know by now I wish nothing but the best for you. Let me show you once more."
Cyril wanted to be gallant, especially since he had just risked his life to save Zyra's.
But he had never been that close to Zyra before, her body only an inch away from his.
He felt an overwhelming urge to pull her closer to him.
If they had been in private he would have whispered sweet nothings to comfort her, but they weren't alone and she wasn't out of harm's way yet.