When the great beast made its attack, the Gilded Throne was one of its victims. The massive ship was completely shredded by the sheer force of the tongue tentacle ripping through it. The only survivor was Drackenn. His increased stats let him act quickly and jump from the ship. He found himself sitting in the water that was getting darker by the second. Then a rope dropped down from above.

  Vorin had seen the pirate king jump from his ship and threw down a rope to pull him aboard the Windswept. Drackenn looked mortified and the plague doctor didn’t have to guess it was about how he had just lost his entire crew. In an instant, those that sailed under him were dead or being devoured by the beast. This was always a possible outcome, but to feel that overwhelming loss all at once is a lot for anyone, no matter what level you are.

  Two tongue tentacles rose at the back of the ship, towering above the waves. They jumped into action without any words. Vorin’s skills weren’t effective against the kraken since he couldn’t touch it, but he had other methods. One was to coat throwing knives with plagued blood and throw them into the wounds. Another was simply to carefully do damage with his scythes.

  Luckily, the pirate king was centered around distance combat. His spells were doing massive amounts of damage and leaving gaping wounds for Vorin to aim at. Drackenn summoned skeleton pirates that jumped on the tentacle and chopped away. They weren’t as effective as the cannon spells he was casting or the mana bombs he was throwing, but any damage mattered.

  Back-to-back they fought. Surprisingly, they were in sync without any words needing to be said. Two leaders desperately trying to protect their people. Even with their combined efforts on a single tentacle, it took roughly two minutes to take down. Drackenn had mana to spare due to his level, but he wouldn’t be able to keep this up. This wasn’t a fight you won in one battle.

  When the tongue tentacle finally fell in a bloody explosion, they moved onto the next one. It was then that the first word was spoken between them.

  “Drackenn, I know you want to take down this monster, but we weren’t expecting something this powerful. We may have to make some decisions.”

  “I was thinking the same thing. I’ve already assessed that the ocean to the Southeast has the fewest tentacles. We should start to clear a path that way and make a tactical retreat. I believe we need to ask some class masters for their aid here.”

  “Then we are on the same page. Let’s target the tongue tentacles in our path to safety. We need to get our people to safety.”

  With that Drackenn activated a skill that marked all twelve tongue tentacles to the ships Southeast. Black skulls and bones appeared in the air above each. Instantly the armada turned their ships and started heading in that direction with their cannons rapidly firing at anything in range.

  Kumo had come to Vorin during this which saved him the time of going to his crew. The Windswept turned. They were waiting for Synexus to return in order to set sail towards their safety. Vorin was about to yell to Kumo to go. They couldn’t wait any longer. Synexus would have to find a way to survive on his own. But then Drackenn turned his attention to something in the distance.

  The ocean was being parted near the surface by something massive, but there wasn’t anything there. The tongue tentacles at the edge of the attack started to be erased from existence. It was a slow process, but you could tell it was happening.

  Sunlight hit the object in just the right angle and Vorin realized it was a fin. A shark fin. Then something else occurred to him. The water around the Windswept was strong with the stench of the kraken’s blood. They had taken out two. Kumo and Prith had taken out one. Zuls and her animal companions had severely wounded two.

  “We need to evacuate everyone now!” Vorin yelled, but it was too late.

  The Windswept got hit by a massive invisible figure. It capsized immediately. Some people were thrown off with the initial force, but some found themselves under the pitch-black water trapped beneath the overturned Windswept.

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  Vorin found himself confused in complete darkness. He knew he was under water but couldn’t tell how deep or what way was up. All light was obscured. His heart was pounding. He was in the domain of the kraken, and whatever that shark was. There were probably countless other threats around him, but he wasn’t worried about himself. Instead, his thoughts were on all the people without classes in the bottom of his ship that just had gotten capsized or obliterated. He wasn’t exactly sure, but he knew that they needed to be saved.

  He used his other senses and although he couldn’t explain why he chose a certain direction, he decided on one and swam. It took him a full minute to breech the surface of the water back into the afternoon sunlight. His senses started to overwhelm him. There was destruction everywhere and people were screaming at the pain they were in. Some people were bleeding from stumps where limbs used to be. Other’s bodies were like tongue tentacles and were slowly being erased from existence. The quiet ones were melting away into the same darkness he had just swam through. It was a devastating sight, but he had to focus.

  After taking the battlefield in, he spun to locate the Windswept. Vorin found it nearly a hundred yards away and swam as fast as he could to it. It had capsized, but a quarter of it was missing completely. Water was flooding in, and it was going to sink. It didn’t look like the passenger and crew compartments were damaged. The ship had gotten hit hard.

  When he got over to it, he had found Zuls floating in the water with a bad cut on her head. She was recalling her animal companions since half of them couldn’t swim. He asked her if she had seen any other survivor. Her silence said everything.

  Diving down back into the darkness with his hand guiding himself along the ship, Vorin started to feel the dread. He couldn’t have lost them. This was not happening. It was his worst nightmare, and no matter what he was about to discover, he had to face it head on. This would either haunt him forever or be a miracle.

  When he got into the interior of the ship, he quickened his pace to find what he was looking for. Inside of an air pocket he had found Prith with most of the passengers and crew. They seemed alright except for some lacerations and a couple were unconscious. Prith was working on cutting them a way out rather than risking them getting lost in the darkness. Not everyone was accounted for, but so far, they were all alive. Prith told him that he checked every living compartment, so if the others were alive, they had gotten thrown off the ship.

  It took twelve of Priths strongest cuts to finally see sunlight. He had essentially cut the remaining wreckage in two. The passengers rejoiced only to realize how bad the fight had been. The smell of melting flesh and blood hit them instantly. Some screamed in horror. Others stared in overwhelming shock.

  Vorin had them swim back over to Zuls who was now with a group of survivors. Drackenn was there holding an unconscious Kumo and a barely conscious Shell.

  “I found them when I was swimming my way up. I think they will live, but they are defenseless. We need to get this group out of here. I don’t see any intact ships. Most were destroyed in whatever that was. A couple escaped, but they won’t be coming back.”

  “Thank you. We will have to start swimming.” Vorin turned and did a head count and then looked at his group. “We are missing Synexus, Gene, Rupert, and Layola. Has anyone seen them?”

  There was no answer, only blank stares. Then Laiko spoke up, “I will not leave my sister. I will die here if I have to, but Captain Vorin, I can’t.”

  “I understand, but there is no way we can find them in this mess. We will start swimming our way out and hope they are doing the same.”

  Zuls broke her silence. “I saw Synexus swimming to the ship just before the attack hit. I think he was far enough away, but I haven’t seen him since. Gene was below deck, or they should have been at least. Gliya is already in the air searching for people in need of help.”

  Laiko resisted, but they dragged him along as they started their swim. Vorin felt for him. He had known Layola since she was a baby. They had grown up together. He didn’t want to leave if there was any chance, he could find her, however, if he stayed then he’d be putting everyone else at risk. As a leader, you must make the hard decisions, so the people who trust you don’t have to.

  The kraken seemed to be busy with the new threat. It must have been the other Ullashtt. It felt like the world was ending. The tongue tentacles started to retract, but massive waves were being caused by the battle. It helped speed up their retreat, however, the class expected were struggling with the power of the ocean. This was a dire situation. They were officially lost at sea.

  Another hour passed before Gliya found them. Zuls face became grim, and everyone knew it was bad news before she even spoke.

  “I’m sorry, Laiko. She found Layola’s body. She’s dead. Rupert was also found, but his body had been torn in half, and it was fading fast.”

  Laiko screamed in pain. It was like he was yelling at the universe itself. His tears were heartbreaking. His eyes were filled with hopelessness, and he soon lost his voice.

  The rest of the group remained silent. They were processing and letting Laiko mourn the loss of his twin sister. Both her and Rupert would be missed deeply. Vorin had been completely silent since the news was shared. Zuls knew he would blame himself for this.

  With the grim news looming over them in the hopeless situation they found themselves in, hope for Synexus and Gene’s survival was nearly gone.