Kumo was staring up at the clear blue sky. There were only a few clouds hanging over the armada. It had been a beautiful day. She heard the pirates complaining it was hot, but she had her breeze for comfort. This Ullashtt didn’t seem like it would show up, which relieved her a bit. Of course she wanted to fight. Unleash the tempest to its full force but it was safer to avoid a fight all together.

  Her eyes locked onto one particular cloud. It was lazily floating by which perfectly captured the feeling of that day. That’s when she heard a loud noise that sounded like millions of logs being chopped in half at once. In that same instance the sky was no longer clear. Hundreds of tentacles filled her vision, and they seemed to touch the bottom of the clouds. This was the Ullashtt and the sheer size alone made her certain they wouldn’t be able to end it.

  She took in the destruction for all of ten seconds. So many ships and people were completely destroyed in the time it took her to look down from the clouds. Her body reacted before her mind did and soon a new cloud formed over the chaos. It was black and humming with power. Soon rain started to fall, and lightning started to hit the tentacles like lightning rods. They sizzled and fractal shapes were burnt into them. This didn’t seem to deter them at all.

  While her lightning struck from above, she shot cloud blades at the closest tentacle to her. They left small cuts, but damage was damage against something like this. Still, it hurt her pride a little that even her newly enhanced skills weren’t doing more. Sometimes she forgets that her class had only made it to level 10. In the midst of her barrage, a strange voice rang through her head.

  “This is Shell. Synexus instructed me to relay information about the tentacles. They are tongues and they secrete a vile saliva. Do not touch it. It causes you to become paralyzed while it melts away your flesh. He has an anti-paralysis, but the acid must run its course. Be careful.”

  The tongue had struck out at her right as she heard the mental message, and she barely dodged out of the way. They were faster than she thought they would be. Like the wind, she danced around it while glancing at where the voice had come from. There was a girl with blue hair laying on the deck. Synexus had just jumped into the water. What was he thinking? That was what ran through her head at the sight, but she had problems of her own to worry about.

  Her rain was helping to slow the tongues down across the battlefield, but not all of them were caught under the range. That’s how massive this beast was. Her lightning would stop before they even took down one tongue. All she could do was keep doing damage and hope for the best.

  Kumo caught four tongue tentacles in range of her Thunder Surge skill. She wasn’t sure how to tell if the tongues were disoriented or not, but it helped to push them back momentarily. Her lightning seemed to be most effective. If she had a skill to harness that power, then maybe she could do some real damage. Instead, she was slowly making her way through one of the tongues with her cloud blades. They were tough, however, within minutes of hitting the same spot she was about a fourth of the way through. The beast started to pull it under water just enough to hide the injured spot. Using the Thunder Surge had stopped the retreat.

  Dark blood was oozing from the wound and Prith must have noticed. Out of nowhere he rushed in like a storm of blades and sliced at the damaged part. A sharp line of energy seemed to be released from his blade as he cut into the tongue. It grew and grew as it slowly pushed through. The energy finally dissipated, and the tongue was barely being held together. The top half was now toppled over into the water. It was only attached by a sliver to the bottom half and its own weight continued to sever the connection. The dark blood mixed with the black water. The smell was foul, and the beast seemed to finally feel pain.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Kumo could tell this had exhausted Prith which didn’t surprise her. He had been going at full steam for almost ten minutes straight now. His class required him to get in close and that required a lot of movement. It was exhausting just watching him. Of course, it didn’t help that he hadn’t had his rest shift in almost 24 hours. Still, they were able to take down one of the tongue tentacles. One down, and countless more to go.

  “I’m not sure this a fight we will win. At full force it’s taking close to a hundred cloud blades to make a decent dent.”

  “I agree. I want to avenge our friend, but we are not ready for this yet. I’ve used that attack to clear half a forest before and it couldn’t even get through the rest of that thing.”

  “Alright. We need to get this ship out of here then. These class expected will die if they get hit. I will conjure a strong wind once everyone is back on board. I don’t feel right fleeing, but I fear our overconfidence will lead to a massacre.”

  Prith nodded and took off to drop the sails. Kumo looked around for Synexus, Vorin, and Zuls. She knew Synexus had jumped into the water to try and help people with the effects of the saliva. His skills weren’t really effective in this type of battle anyways unless he could somehow conjure up an insane poison herb that could be administered from a distance. She would worry about him last. Zuls and her animal companions were at the front of the ship holding off two tentacles on their own. The penguin’s massive inferno blasts were searing the tongues more than her lightning bolts. The fox was trying to freeze the saliva which was effectively slowing the tongue. The bat was throwing blood onto the tongue which sizzled like acid. The chameleon produced a poison gas that started to turn part of the tongue a sickly green color. A lot was going on, but Kumo ran up to Zuls.

  “Prith and I have decided that we need to get this ship away from here to preserve the safety of the passengers. This is too dangerous. More than I think any of us realized.”

  “I agree. I want to kill this monster, but not at the cost of innocent lives. There has been so much death already today. In seconds it felt like half the people disappeared.” Kumo saw a tear fall down Zuls’ face.

  “Alright, Prith is getting the sails down and then I will push a strong wind to get us moving. I’ll tell Vorin. We also need to get Synexus back here now. He jumped overboard to help those that the saliva touched.”

  Zuls turned sharply with a look of shock and horror on her face. “Why would he be so reckless?”

  “His heart is too pure sometimes.”

  She turned and left to find Vorin. She found him at the back of the ship fighting side by side with Drackenn. They had already taken down one tentacle and were working on a second from the looks of it. Kumo wasn’t sure why the pirate king was on the Windswept, but the help was welcome.

  “Captain Vorin, this is a fight that none of us feel confident in winning. We will stay and fight if those are your orders, but we need to get the passengers out of here. Prith is dropping the sails.”

  “I was about to come find all of you. The pirate king here and I have come to the same conclusion. This is beyond us. All those pirates died in an instant. This creature hit us hard and fast. There was nothing we could have done to be prepared for a power like this. Take off toward the Southeast as soon as the sails are down. Do not wait for anyone. The least number of tentacles are that way. We are focusing fire in that direction to save as many lives as possible.”

  “Synexus went to help people who were struck by the saliva. He is off the ship. I will not leave him.”

  “I’m sorry Kumo, but all these lives are in danger. Try to find him quickly, but no one else leaves this ship.”

  She nodded and got an idea. Running back to where Shell was lying on the deck she quickly knelt and asked her to send a message to Synexus to get back to the ship now. They needed to go.

  “I’m doing it now. We cannot leave without him. I owe him my life.”

  “So do I.” Kumo smiled and then started to run to the sails to get ready for when Synexus made it back. The ship was turned and ready to go. They just needed him. She was getting worried after another minute passed, but then she finally saw him swimming back. It would take him another minute which they didn’t have. She went to yell out and tell him to hurry up when there was a loud noise and everything went black.