"WATCH OUT!" Alex's voice echoed across the deck.
At that moment, Jaz felt it too—a presence, something fast, something deadly. Her instincts screamed, a sharp pulse of danger that felt eerily similar to the fearsome aura she had encountered when facing Grak.
Then it struck.
Crimson aura surged around Jaz's body, her reflexes barely keeping pace with the invisible force crashing into her. A gust of wind howled as the impact sent her hurtling across the deck, her boots screeching against the wooden planks.
She gritted her teeth, arms crossed in a guard stance, her aura-infused limbs absorbing the brunt of the attack. Still, pain erupted through her muscles—her arms trembled, a deep red bruise forming beneath her sleeves.
What the—?!
Sol's breath caught in his throat. The strike had been too fast for his eyes, a blur of violence beyond his comprehension. But the confusion didn't belong to him alone—Jaz and Alex shared the same question.
Who had attacked them?
There was no one there.
Jaz barely had a moment to catch her breath before her instincts screamed again—another attack! But this time, it was too late.
"Ice Frost!"
Alex's voice boomed, his breath crystallizing as an icy mist escaped his lips. A wave of frost spread outward in an instant, racing across the deck. A piercing chill swept through the ship as the temperature plummeted, freezing everything it touched. The unseen force that had assaulted Jaz suddenly materialized—trapped in the ice, frozen in place.
Jaz's eyes widened, not at the spell's power, but at the horror before her.
A massive tentacle.
Thick, muscular, and stretching several feet across, it stood frozen mid-attack, just inches from her face. Even in its rigid state, she could see the sheer power behind it, its grotesque, scaled flesh glistening beneath the ice. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears.
As the ice continued to spread, a forest of shadows rose from the sea.
More.
Seven more colossal tentacles loomed around the ship, their blackened forms frozen in twisted, grotesque poses, encased in Alex's magic. They towered over them like prison bars forged from flesh, trapping the crew within their monstrous grasp.
The sight sent a shiver down Sol's spine. He had seen killers—madmen, desperate people willing to do anything for survival. But this? This was something beyond human understanding. A primal terror. A nightmare made real.
What is this?!
His thoughts shattered as the ice cracked.
A tremor coursed through the frozen appendages, the deep groans of splitting ice reverberating through the ship. Jagged fractures on the frozen layer spread like lightning bolts, sharp cracks splintering through the frost.
Jaz's grip tightened around her sword.
Alex readied himself, his breath steady but his muscles coiled like a spring.
Sol, despite the storm of fear in his mind, stood his ground. He refused to cower. Not this time.
Then, the first tentacle broke free.
The massive limb recoiled slightly before curling backward, as if preparing to strike again. Then another one moved. And another. One by one, the frozen appendages shattered their icy prisons, shaking off remnants of frost, the ground trembling beneath their weight.
The ship was surrounded.
Eight monstrous limbs, flexing -- twisting -- preparing.
The air thickened with tension. Time seemed to slow. Ice crystals fell like drifting embers. The crew was trapped, encircled by the monstrous cage of writhing tentacles.
Alex's eyes flickered with urgency. "Move!"
Jaz didn't hesitate.
With a powerful leap, she flipped backward into the air, just as the appendages surged forward, attacking from all directions.
"Glacial Thorns!"
Alex retaliated. The ice remnants clinging to the tentacles transformed—elongating into jagged spikes. They shot forward with lethal speed, puncturing deep into the monstrous flesh.
SPLAT! SPLAT!
A sickening squelch filled the air as the spikes buried themselves deep. A thick, putrid green blood gushed from the wounds. Some tentacles recoiled in pain, but others pushed through, unrelenting.
Jaz landed smoothly, her sword unsheathed in an instant, a deadly glimmer of crimson aura enveloping the blade.
"For injuring my arms..." she growled, fury darkening her voice.
"Beast Slash!"
A single, vicious swing—
_SLASH!_
The tentacle closest to her split apart, severed in two. A screeching wail echoed as it writhed, recoiling from the devastating strike. But Jaz wasn't done.
She spun, her heel carving into the deck as she twisted her body.
"Cut... Zero"
Another slash. Then another. And another.
Her blade became a blur of crimson fury, each strike clean, precise, merciless. In mere seconds, she had reduced another tentacle to ribbons, its severed pieces splattering against the ship like discarded limbs from a butcher's block.
Then—
A shadow loomed over her. Another attack!
She turned, ready to defend—
"Awahhhh—!"
Sol's voice rang out.
The boy lunged forward, gripping a jagged ice spike created from Alex's spell. His hands burned from the cold, but he didn't falter. With every ounce of strength he had, he drove the weapon forward—
The frozen thorn barely pierced the thick, rubbery flesh.
The tentacle barely reacted. Sol's eyes widened in horror. It was too strong.
And then—
The wounds inflicted by Alex's ice, Jaz's fury, and even Sol's desperate attack— slowly, they began to heal.
The tentacles' flesh wove itself back together, grotesquely knitting their wounds closed. The process was sluggish, but undeniable.
"Just like Grak..its healing!" Sol whispered, realization dawning on him.
In this world, monsters possessed the ability to regenerate. Its a well-known knowledge, yet rarely witnessed—most either perished before the need arose or took too long to heal in battle. However, one undeniable truth remained: the faster a monster regenerated, the more dangerous and powerful it was.
As Alex and Jaz observed the creature before them, they noticed its wounds mending at a sluggish pace. A silent knowing glance exchanged between them—this monster was not as fearsome as they had initially feared.
Then, without warning, the tentacles withdrew.
One by one, they slithered away, sinking beneath the ocean's surface, vanishing into the depths from where they came. The sea stilled. Silence took over.
The battle wasn't over. The enemy hadn't been defeated. The tension on deck remained thick, the crew's senses sharp, waiting for the inevitable return.
[THUD]
The gate to the underground floors slammed open, jolting them.
From the shadows emerged an authoritative figure—Dominus. His presence crashed over them like an oppressive tide.
The Captain had entered the battle.