episode_0023

-Kwazijijik!

The moment we heard a loud cracking sound from below deck, we moved quickly.

“Rubia!”

“Catch it!”

“Let’s go! Emma, just stay still for now!”

Immediately holding her hand as she reached out to me, we started running.

No matter how fast you were, running on the deck of a ship that was shaking greatly from below without falling was not an easy task.

Especially if you are wearing armor and holding a large spear.

However, a vampire that hides in the shadows and hunts its prey has a sense of balance that allows it to run up walls.

On the rapidly tilting ship, Rubia led me by running ahead of me, gliding across the deck.

Following her lead, we arrived at the stairs leading to the oarsmen’s floor below deck…

“Ugh!”

“Please help me!”

“Neptune! Please protect us!”

People tangle and fall, screaming and praying, and purple tentacles rising through the bottom of the ship writhe above them.

An unlucky oarsman who was hit by one of the tentacles that swung around wide as if sweeping the area flew all the way to the other side, hit it with a dull sound, and fell to the ground, unable to get up.

But there was another biggest problem.

‘Damn… The size of the hole is bigger than I thought…’

Sea water was seen rising through the gaps between the tentacles that had already penetrated.

If they were left to run wild any longer, the galley itself would soon sink.

There was no time to think further.

I immediately lifted the spear above my head, holding it with both hands, and jumped down toward the lower deck.

At the moment of falling and landing, I put all of my weight on the tip of the thick spear and stabbed it towards the rampaging tentacles.

Just as a bird of prey swoops down from the sky and tears the flesh of its prey with its claws and beak, the sharp spear blade that pierces from the sky makes a cracking sound and cuts off the tentacles at once.

Before the torn off tentacles could fall to the ground and wiggle, I grabbed the spear again and swung it wide, cutting off several more tentacles.

Then, perhaps recognizing the threat that had suddenly appeared, the tentacles, which until now had only been running rampant to destroy the ship, turned their ends towards me.

Like snakes wary of their natural enemies, they seemed to stop for a moment and carefully examine me.

And after a very brief moment of silence, they rushed at me all at once, as if trying to grab me and squeeze me.

Among them, the two or three tentacles that were charging in front were struck out with all their might and torn apart in one go.

He then rolls forward to avoid the tentacle that swings down, then stands up and swings his spear to cut him down.

Like a busy gardener cutting down weeds, I was constantly swinging and inserting the spear, painting the bottom of the boat, which had begun to fill with water, again with the bodily fluids pouring out from the wounds and torn sections.

I hope that there is a limit to the seemingly endless procession of tentacles sticking out.

——

Meanwhile, Lubia was also continuing to hunt by Liber’s side.

She ran through the darkness below deck, covered in blood and black shadows, quickly drawing red lines on the black background with her sharp fingernails.

The tentacles made up of those lines soon split into several pieces and spilled out onto the floor, and Luvia immediately flashed red eyes and rushed towards her next prey.

“Save me…”

She grabbed hold of an oarsman, tightened her entire body, and lunged toward a strand of tentacles that was slowly killing her, leaping up next to him as if grazing and spinning in the air.

As the tentacle with several blood lines collapsed along with it, Luvia jumped down and caught the person caught in the tentacle before he fell.

“Woo-sigh… Gagging… Hehe-heo…”

The paddler, who had been freed from the tentacles, staggered and gasped violently, as he was unable to breathe properly as his face was caught.

“Hey. Are you okay? Where is it broken-”

“Aaagh!”

Nevertheless, what came back was not a thank you, but a terrified scream and a desperate retreat.

Eventually, the oarsman tripped over something on his heel and trembled, covering his face with his hands.

When Luvia froze for a moment without saying anything at that sight, he narrowed his eyes and examined the situation, then quickly got up and ran towards the stairs leading to the deck.

“…Phew”

The sigh she let out at that moment was to control many things.

Momentary embarrassment, pain, and anger, and the instinct to want blood that boils over for a moment.

Pursue that ungrateful thing, tear it to shreds, and bleed its blood-

‘…it shouldn’t be like this’

And on the other hand, the thought of accepting it while suppressing that instinct.

Even the resignation that it is natural for humans to be afraid of a being who can think of such a thought even for a moment and act on it.

However, because of that, she was a step late in noticing what had happened.

As soon as Luvia jumped back into the air, the tentacles that broke the floor and protruded from underneath her succeeded in wrapping around her ankles and catching her.

“Oh no-”

They pinned Luvia to the floor while still holding her, and began to quickly tighten as they climbed up her body as she forced out her breath in excruciating pain.

“Ugh…”

Even before she could swing her arm to cut it off, the purple tentacles that had already wrapped around her body were pushing their suction cups right into her face.

Even Luvia, who had bitten off the first tentacle with her vampire teeth, was unable to block the constant influx of tentacles with her body still tied up.

Moreover.

‘What… is this? poison?!’

As the suckers began to vomit something sticky, her body, soaked in the fluid, began to lose strength.

‘Oh no.. I need to get out of there quickly… Ugh!’

Now that they had entered her mouth, they began to force the liquid from their bodies down her throat.

The sticky liquid flowing down the inside of my throat gave me goosebumps, but the bigger problem was…

‘I can’t… I’m unconscious…’

Despite her desperate efforts, her consciousness was becoming increasingly blurred.

As the prey’s rampage weakened, the tentacles of the predator that had grabbed her slid across the floor, dragging Luvia along with them.

To take her forever to the cold sea beneath the hole from which they emerged.

At least that’s what I was going to do right after I heard something hitting the floor, before a terrifying sound tore through the air.

Of course, those tentacles had no ears, but the reason they responded nonetheless was because the vibration of the air they pushed out as they flew was felt on their skin.

Of course, now that I realize it, nothing has changed.

As soon as Liber noticed the crisis Rubia was in, he immediately turned to her.

He changed his grip on the spear, which he had been swinging with both hands, to one hand, lifted it and pulled it behind his shoulder.

When I took a stance to throw a spear by stepping forward with one foot first, the wooden floor cracked and broke due to the force exerted on that foot.

The moment the tip of the spear decided on its target, the moment the hand and arm holding the spear moved through the air, the muscle strength that had been compressed to its limit bounced up like an explosion.

Liber, in the most ideal posture, poured all of that power into the spear that was fired from his fingertips.

The javelin, which splits the air with its tip, rushes over the tentacles holding Rubia.

The time of contact was short.

Liber’s spear pierced through and tore off the bundles of tentacles at once, leaving the remains hanging on the floor, causing the body to tremble.

As the bundles of tentacles cut off in the middle fell helplessly and rolled on the floor, Rubia, who they were holding on to, also broke free and fell.

“That’s it…that’s it! Rubia! Are you okay?… Rubia?!”

Liber saw the javelin cut off the tentacles holding Rubia.

However, when Rubia fails to wake up again despite his call, he is very surprised and quickly starts running towards her.

The few remaining tentacles seemed to think this was an opportunity and aimed at Liber, who had thrown away his main weapon, the spear, but he still had his sword left, so he pulled it out and ran, cutting down the tentacles.

As soon as he got to Rubia’s side, he lowered his head to check for her breathing. He felt relieved when he realized that she had only lost consciousness for a moment, but he soon realized that the situation was still not good.

‘It looks like there are already too many holes in the ship… First, we need to bring Luvia back up to the deck-‘

River pulled out his spear from the ground again and tried to enter the battle, but he had to immediately cover his ears.

-@$!@!%!!

Below the bottom of the ship, beyond the holes filled with sea water, an unintelligible sound rang out.

The legionnaires, who were barely able to take a breath thanks to him and Rubia cutting off most of the numerous tentacles sticking out from under the ship, were also in pain as they clutched their helmets.

A terrible sound that seems to be full of pain, suffering, sadness, and anger.

Rather than the roar of a monster, it sounded more like a human scream that had been forcibly amplified.

With that scream, the tentacles that had penetrated the bottom of the ship retreated all at once.

Some soldiers cheered when they saw it, but the experience and intuition accumulated during his life as an adventurer at Liberga clearly spoke to him.

That means it’s not over yet.

River, who was carrying Rubia up the stairs in a hurry to get back on deck, sadly had to confirm that his prediction was correct.

-Cow!

As soon as it came up on deck, the galley shook loudly with a roar once again.

Liber, who hurriedly bent down and quickly balanced himself on the spear pole placed on the deck, barely managed to avoid dropping Rubia.

However, looking at the scene before my eyes, I didn’t think I could continue holding her.

While the ship’s commander was busy giving orders to his soldiers, the tentacles were now trying to climb up the side of the ship and directly onto the deck.

However, he couldn’t fight while carrying the unconscious Luvia on his shoulders.

Normally, Luvia would call out shadows to block the sunlight, which was a weak point of vampires, but now that she was unconscious, she moved violently, relying only on the cloak that roughly covered her body, in case her shoulders were exposed to the sunlight. …

Liber gritted his teeth as he remembered the image of Luvia burning alive.

“Owner! Are you okay?! Why is she doing that again?”

“Ema! First of all, please accept Rubia! ”

Fortunately, River found Emma, who had come to see him after dragging her tired body, and immediately handed Rubia over to her, feeling much more relaxed.

“Everyone! Get ready! When it fully emerges from the water, attack all at once!”

Meanwhile, River heard the commander’s voice coming from the watchtower above and quickly looked around.

Soldiers on the deck and on the watchtower were waiting for orders with their javelins raised, and the ballista on the watchtower was also pulled taut with a huge harpoon attached to it.

To aim for only one target.

And finally, the target emerged, rising to the surface.

As if trying to sink the entire ship, there are countless tentacles pressing down on the deck and trying to climb up, but what moves them at the source and center is…

“…Huh?”

Liber was momentarily embarrassed and muttered.

Because it was completely different from what he expected.

Until he was struggling with the tentacles below deck, he had thought it was some kind of Kraken-like monster that had attacked the galley.

However, the being that has now appeared on the surface is…

“Hmm…”

A woman crying, covering her face with both hands.

Her upper body was clearly human, so foreign to the numerous tentacles extending down her waist and legs.

“What?…”

“Now!”

And the moment he questioned it, numerous javelins and huge harpoons rained down on her.