episode_0024

Of course, apart from the human hesitation I felt for a moment, my reason did not consider the attacks that were all aimed at her to be so unfair.

No matter what that woman’s story was, at least at this moment, the tentacles swinging to sink the military ship we were on into the sea were a stark reality.

After the ship sank, what would her tears mean to those swallowed by the sea?

Even the possibility that this itself was a kind of hunting tactic could not be completely ruled out. It induces sympathy and hesitation and then strangles the prey’s breathing space and cuts it off.

Moreover, in this world, regardless of the race to which they belong, even if there are similarities between races, they do not have much meaning.

The soldiers’ response was really no different from when a hideous monster like a Kraken came out.

If you just have any questions…

‘What on earth is that?’

I had never seen such a race even when I played ‘Slave Maker’.

As far as I know, the only aquatic races that appeared in the game were mermaids and water nymphs. Although there were various types of mermaids, the difference was mostly in the species of fish on their lower bodies.

Could it be an octopus or a Kraken mermaid?

Of course, for most soldiers, such questions would be meaningless.

To them, regardless of her identity, she was just a monster who had to be hunted according to orders.

However, you may have come up with a question that is similar but has a completely different meaning.

“What on earth is that…”

One of the soldiers was heard muttering in shock.

The tentacles that were squeezing and pounding the deck to destroy the galley quickly used themselves as shields to catch the javelins and harpoons as attacks rained down on the main body above them.

The javelins pierced through the slippery and tough surface of the tentacles at once, and even when the spears were broken by the force of the wriggling tentacles, the blades were still stuck deep and did not fall out.

However, she did not stop going on a rampage, even as she screamed in pain and fluids poured out from her numerous injured tentacles.

Even the harpoon fired with terrifying force from the large ballista placed on top of the watchtower tore off all the tentacles that were in the way, but there were countless other tentacles to replace the tentacles that had been torn apart.

In the end, the harpoon, which had enough power to kill even a whale with one blow, was wrapped in tentacles, shattered, and scattered into the sea.

“Reload the ballista immediately! The soldiers gave the following javelins-!”

Even in that situation, the commander of this galley was trying to calmly give the next command, but unfortunately, his words did not last until the end.

-Cow!

She immediately rushed forward and hit the ship with countless tentacles.

We were struggling to regain our balance on the boat, which was greatly shaken by the impact.

“Hmm…”

I held onto Emma, who was carrying Luvia, to prevent her from falling, and stuck the spear blade on the deck to hold on. I quickly raised my head and looked up when I heard a cry that passed my ears.

Her face was still covered in her hands and she was crying as she draped her body over her stomach.

And the moment I thought that for some reason the cries seemed to be getting louder even though I was quite far away, I quickly shouted.

“Everyone, cover your ears! Quick!”

Emma quickly covered her ears following my words, but most of the soldiers seemed to be busy getting back up from the previous collision.

Moreover, there was a big problem on our side as well.

‘Oops! Rubia!’

There was no way she could have blocked her own ears as she had already lost consciousness.

I quickly looked around to see if there was anything I could use to cover my ears, but there was no way I could easily find something like that on a ship that was already in shambles.

“Damn…”

The moment I finally took my hand away from my ear and tried to wrap it around Luvia.

Emma came out of her body and hugged Luvia, then immediately covered her ears again.

And at the same time, between the woman’s hands hanging at the end of the tentacles, a drop of her tear fell.

The moment when that single teardrop fell between the soldiers who had barely regained their readiness and were about to throw their spears, and fell onto the deck that was creaking in the aftermath of the impact.

-Ahhhh!

A sound that seemed to magnify the woman’s scream hundreds or thousands of times poured out from the broken teardrops.

“Ugh!!”

The soldiers, who accepted the grief right into their eardrums, also belatedly covered their ears and screamed.

Instead of tears, blood was flowing from between their hands.

“Kkeuheook…”

-dump.

In the end, one or two soldiers who were unable to overcome him lost their weapons and fell down, and the deck was quickly filled with soldiers who lost consciousness.

“Hey.. Hey!”

“Come to your senses! Hey!”

Only a few soldiers who had stopped their ears in time to my warning, or to the ominous warnings of their own intuition, were struggling to wake up their fallen comrades.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like they were dead, but unfortunately, seeing the tentacles creeping up on them as they stretched out and writhed, it didn’t seem to make much difference.

The soldiers who did not lose their senses tried to block them by picking up their comrades’ javelins and throwing them, but there was no way they could stop them with the javelins thrown by just a few people as the tentacles were able to withstand a barrage of javelins thrown by many more soldiers at the same time.

As I watched all of that, I got back up from Emma’s arms, still shaking.

Trying to somehow analyze the attack just now.

“This… is not a simple scream or roar… Rather, it is closer to magic or a curse… This is the poison that was injected into Rubia earlier…”

If so, it also makes sense that the same poison was not visible when the tentacles were torn open with a spear.

“Owner. Are you okay?”

“Uh, I’m fine. thank you. Emma. You handled it well in the moment.”

If it hadn’t been for Emma who immediately came out to protect them both, they would have both ended up like those fainted soldiers.

Of course, Luvia had already lost her mind, but even if it wasn’t a curse that instantly killed anyone who heard it, it wouldn’t have been good for her to be attacked like that again while she was already unconscious.

“Nothing to say. But magic? Does that mean… it’s not like a monster running rampant without intelligence?”

“Uh, I’ve fought against enemies that used magic before, and that was definitely magic.

But then, why didn’t they use any special magic when they first attacked? Besides-”

“Ugh…”

From the moaning we heard at that time, we knew that Rubia had also come to her senses.

“Ruvia! Have you come to your senses?!”

“Yes… Yes… I even remember getting caught by that guy… And then he forced me to- Wow! Wow!”

Luvia suddenly covered her mouth, turned her head, and spit out purple liquid from her mouth.

“Choke… I’m sorry.”

“No. are you okay. If you feel like you can’t fight, get yourself together first. Is the sunlight okay?”

“…Yes. I don’t have the strength to move properly, but it would be possible to just block out the sunlight.”

“Okay. Because I can’t leave you here and go fight.”

I raised my head and looked at the situation.

After neutralizing half of the military ship’s resistance, the tentacles were not in a hurry, but were slowly but steadily wrapping around the entire ship.

It seemed as if they were trying to wrap the entire ship, destroy it, and drag it into the ocean.

If we don’t stop it quickly, we on board will naturally end up in the same situation.

“Ema, can you run well now?”

“No problem. master. If we use the blessing given by Epona, balancing will be much easier than it is now.

Moreover, because it was holding the ship, the shaking was almost gone.”

“Then I will ask you a favor.”

Emma nodded and immediately stood up and changed her appearance.

In the form of a half-man, half-horse that can run faster than anyone else, it is a blessing that is envied by her compatriots.

So that I can get on her back and fight.

“Ruvia, hold on tight to you too.”

“…Sigh… It’s humiliating.”

With Luvia behind me, who I couldn’t leave alone in this mess, I aimed the spear forward again.

At the end, there were tentacles that covered almost the entire deck.

“What do you plan to do, master?”

“I don’t know if I should call the main body of those tentacles just for a moment… but I can finish it as long as I get close to that woman.”

Emma didn’t ask me how on earth I was going to accomplish something that had failed even though I had mobilized a tens-meter-long galley, its soldiers, and a huge ballista.

I just answered like this.

“I understand. Hold on tight.”

And Emma shot straight at us with all four legs.

The untimely sound of the horse’s hooves penetrates the sound of the crashing waves, bringing the meadow, her home, to the boat on the open sea.

Is it because the strange feeling is annoying or is it just a reaction to the vibration? The tentacles rush towards us instead of squeezing our stomachs.

But none of them could hold Emma or us on top of her.

Every time Emma takes another step, my spear, moving together, pierces, cuts, and rips off countless tentacles.

With the shield on her left arm in front, she hits the mass as she was running, blowing it up, and swings the sword in her right hand, scattering the shredded remains.

Her four running legs keep running without stopping, stepping on the tentacles extending from the deck with their hooves.

Until the deck of the ship was completely repainted with their blood.

And when I finally reached the end and faced the end of the tentacles heading this way, I faced an unknown woman.

Emma jumped into the air.