Chapter 38

“What in the world is that…?”

One of the sailors swallowed hard.

Everyone was transfixed by the spectacle unfolding right before their eyes.

The pirate ships had been rendered immobile by the ice coating the sea surface.

Bursting through that thin layer of ice, numerous white pillars rose into the air.

The towering white columns traced soft arcs as they coiled around the ships’ prows, their masts, and their hulls.

They were far beyond the range of ballistae and outdated cannons.

Even so, the sound of hulls being crushed, snap, splinter, seemed to echo in the air.

It was a sight so real, yet so bizarre.

“It’s a monster…”

Someone’s trembling voice snapped everyone back to reality.

“That’s right, it’s…”

“It’s a kraken!!”

A sea monster, the kraken.

It was a creature resembling a giant squid, but its size was beyond all comparison.

Far too massive, far too unnatural.

It was said that no ship attacked by a kraken had ever escaped safely.

Tales of terror were passed down by the lips of sailors who had barely survived by using their comrades’ ships as sacrifices.

According to them, it was the sovereign of the sea.

If the king of the skies was the legendary dragon, then the ruler of the deep was undeniably the kraken.

It trampled humans mercilessly, as if mocking those who built tiny vessels and dared to venture out onto the open ocean.

Every single one of the white pillars crushing the pirate ships boasted a girth surpassing that of a grizzly bear swaggering across the land as if it owned it.

Just how massive must its true body hidden beneath the water’s surface be; the sheer dread of it made everyone’s spine shiver.

“Hard a-starboard! Get us away from here at once!”

Even the voice of the usually calm and composed naval admiral, Sir Curtis McBride, carried a hint of panic.

“The sea monster, the kraken… To think the day would truly come when I’d see one with my own eyes…”

Miriam murmured in a trembling voice.

A legendary existence known to anyone who made their living by the sea.

The symbol of terror… that was the kraken.

“Is there nothing to do but run if we cross paths with it?”

Ignoring the frightened sailors, Alan posed a question to Curtis.

“Ultimately, it’s just a giant squid; it’s not like it can’t be cut down. The problem is just that it’s far too huge, and chopping off a tentacle or two isn’t going to solve a damn thing.”

“Hmm…”

Like ordinary squid, the kraken possessed ten limbs in total, including its uniquely long feeding tentacles.

Even if you severed its limbs, the remaining ones would keep coming and coming.

That was precisely why it was feared as the sovereign of the sea.

“Even if it’s a kraken, this vessel wouldn’t be sunk all that easily… but trying to fight it head-on is far too much of a hassle.”

The Fieran naval warship commanded by Curtis was a massive ironclad vessel.

Even a colossal kraken would not find it easy to sink with just a few tentacles.

Acting on the notion that they should put distance between themselves and the pirate ships immediately, they turned away.

The anomaly was signaled by silence.

The sound of the waves vanished.

The ocean grew as still as if a colossal beast were holding its breath.

“Isn’t it… a bit too quiet?”

One of the navigators standing on the deck asked, his voice shaking.

His gaze was cast anxiously toward the fleet of pirate ships in the distance.

The pirate vessels, which should have been under attack by the kraken, were still right there, unchanged.

This wasn’t normal.

Not a single ship that should have been captured by that monster had sunk.

“Full speed ahead!”

The moment he realized it, a navigator’s scream burst out across the deck.

Simultaneously, the sound of water sent up a flurry of spray.

The eyes of the crew standing on the deck focused on a single point.

White, squid-like tentacles.

At their tips, grotesque suction cups swarmed densely.

Even a single one of them was thicker than the mast of a large vessel.

Such tentacles were swung down from above toward the deck.

“Aaaaaahhh!!”

“Hiiih!”

The giant ship rocked violently, and several navigators were tossed out into the sea.

There was no time to rescue the crew members who had fallen overboard; from the surface of the water, a fresh white pillar rose.

Another tentacle wrapped tightly around the hull this time.

“It’s the end for us…”

“I knew it, trying to trade across the ocean is impossible…”

Cries of terror rose from the pious sailors.

To them, the waters inhabited by the kraken were an inviolable zone.

Convinced that divine punishment was naturally being dealt upon them for trespassing into that territory, their fighting spirit was already fading away.

“Stop spouting nonsense! Nothing is over yet! We can’t use the cannons at this distance, but prepare the ballistae!”

Amidst it all, the one who raised a voice of rebuke was naval admiral Sir Curtis McBride.

Walking across the swaying deck without a hint of fear, he issued orders one after another to the crew.

“You ladies should retreat to the cabin. Unless there is an unlikely chance the ship sinks, that place is the safest.”

Curtis’s sharp gaze turned toward Diana and Miriam.

It was a judgment that Miriam, devoid of combat capability, as well as Diana, who had expended a considerable amount of magic during the battle with the pirates, should be sent below.

Worse still, this was a rolling deck.

For Diana, who was unaccustomed to ships, there was a constant danger of falling overboard.

Understanding this, Diana and Miriam could only nod obediently.

“Oh, swords work against the kraken, don’t they?”

Alan’s thick fingers tapped the hilt of the sword hanging at his waist.

His provocative gaze stared straight at Curtis.

“The footing is terrible, but can you manage?”

“Aye.”

Even upon a ship, this was a battlefield.

Though sparse with words, there seemed to be a mutual understanding between them.

Hearing Alan’s reply, Curtis gave a small nod and turned on his heel to resume command.

“Forgive me, but I leave Diana in your care.”

Entrusting Diana to Miriam, Alan also headed toward the prow of the ship.

“Lord Alan…”

Diana could do nothing more than watch his retreating back steadfastly.

As Diana and Miriam headed toward the stairs leading down to the cabin, the deck was a flurry of sailors rushing back and forth to deal with the kraken’s assault.

Slipping past them, they aimed straight for the cabin.

As if mocking the two of them, the hull tilted to an extreme angle.

“What is that!?”

The sailors turned their astonished gazes toward the source.

Clinging to the prow of the ship was a gigantic “something.”

Realizing that merely entangling its limbs wouldn’t sink an ironclad, it had thrust its face directly above the water; a creature vastly larger than the ship itself.

With a squid-like torso and turbid, colossal eyes.

Gazing menacingly right where it stared was Alan, brandishing his drawn sword.

“—Kyaa!”

“Miriam?!”

Meanwhile, at the stern, Miriam lost her footing on the tilted hull and slid down the slope.

Had she continued sliding down the slope, she would have eventually been hurled into the sea, but Miriam was narrowly spared from falling overboard by the hand Diana extended.

With her right hand gripping Miriam’s hand and her left hand clinging desperately to the bulwark, Diana’s body screamed as if it were about to be torn apart.

“Hey, are you alright?!”

A sailor’s voice called out to them.

Confirming that he had rushed over to help Miriam up, Diana finally let out a breath.

At the front of the ship, her husband was taking the vanguard, slashing fiercely at the kraken.

While feeling a sense of relief at his dependable figure, she glanced over the wretched state of the ship.

(What a dreadful mess…)

An invader far too massive, far too unreasonable.

Unlike pirates, the scale was entirely different, and to make matters worse, there was no reasoning with this thing.

To get trade with the Fieran Kingdom on track, this was an obstacle that could not be avoided; yet even in her previous life, Curtis must have lost many subordinates subduing the kraken.

Even so, she couldn’t help but wish… if it was Alan…

Indeed, the kraken that had emerged from the water was flailing its tentacles about frantically in an attempt to escape Alan’s blade.

The sovereign of the deep was struggling like a common beast.

(If it’s Lord Alan, he will surely be fine…)

The moment Diana felt certain of that, one of the thick, white limbs swept across the stern.

“Ah—”

The bulwark she had been gripping was smashed to smithereens, and Diana’s body floated up into midair.

The hull tilted heavily, and directly below her, the sea surface shimmered ominously.

The moment the blade in Alan’s hand plunged deep into the kraken’s brow; Diana’s body plummeted straight down toward the sea.

“Diana!”

Miriam’s agonizing cry failed to reach the prow of the ship.

However, it certainly reached the ears of the man who had been commanding from the center.

“Damn it.”

The spot where Curtis’s gaze swept after noticing the voice… what he saw there was the figure of Diana hurled out into the sea.

As everyone held their breath, a shadow moved swiftly.

As if pursuing the falling Diana, Curtis leaped into the sea without a moment’s hesitation.