The Nightmare Wizard
Chapter 69 – The Kraken Appears

Chapter 69: Chapter 69 – The Kraken Appears

The ship shook with brutal violence, throwing William from side to side as he tried to reach the deck. Every step was a struggle against the chaotic swaying; his legs could barely support him.

When he finally made it out, the salty wind whipped his face, but what he saw left him completely petrified. The scene was straight out of a sailor’s worst nightmare. Tentacles. Enormous, dark and gleaming, as thick as ancient tree trunks, they had coiled around the entire hull of the ship. They squeezed it, enveloped it, like a gigantic boa constrictor suffocating its prey. The sound was the most terrifying thing: creaks of wood, planks that looked like steel bending and splintering like mere twigs under the monstrous pressure. The ship groaned, complained, a dying creature in the clutches of something incomprehensible.

The magic apprentices were casting spells at full capacity, bursts of elemental energy impacting the tentacles like exploding fireworks. Fireballs, gusts of wind, and jets of salt water crashed against the beast’s dark, gleaming skin, while the sailors and knight instructors attacked with their swords, their movements precise and powerful. Blades clashed against the tentacle’s flesh, making sounds like metal striking metal. However, despite the fury of the combined attacks, the Kraken seemed unmoving. Spells dissipated without leaving a mark, and sword cuts barely seemed like superficial scratches on the monster’s leathery skin. Despair began to spread among the crew.

Suddenly, Captain Thenerev leaped forward, his imposing figure standing out amidst the chaos. His sword, imbued with formidable energy, unleashed a strike that left a large red glow in the air. The blow was clean, precise, and to everyone’s astonishment, it cleanly severed one of the Kraken’s tentacles. A guttural scream, a sound that made the ship vibrate to its foundations, escaped the beast. The remaining tentacles thrashed violently, like gigantic whips, trying to wipe out everyone on deck, their fury unleashed by the pain.

William stood there, completely stunned, mouth agape, not knowing what to do, his mind unable to process the magnitude of the horror in front of him.

A gut-wrenching scream snapped him out of his trance, breaking the spell of fear.

"William! Be careful! Move from there...!" It was Renno, his voice barely audible above the roar of the cracking wood.

But William was slow to react. His brain, still processing the image of the tentacles, couldn’t order his muscles fast enough. A tentacle moved with deceptive speed. It struck him with such force that it launched him through the air like a rag doll. He flew thirty meters, feeling the air whistle around him before impacting against one of the ship’s masts. A painful groan escaped his lips as he collapsed, almost unconscious, the world seemed to be spinning around him. The sharp, piercing pain jolted him awake.

He crawled, gasping, and quickly checked his torso. Fortunately, he found no serious wounds, but when he tried to move his left arm, an unbearable pain shot through him. He looked down. His arm was completely destroyed, bent in an unnatural direction while blood began to soak his shirt sleeve.

"Shit," he whispered, hissing through clenched teeth, his breath escaping in a gasp. "This... this is going to hurt tomorrow." The irony of his comment, amidst the imminent destruction, was almost absurd. His mind, despite the shock, was already calculating the damage, the recovery. But the arm... the arm was a mess.

The pain exploding in his arm brought William back to clarity. Something wasn’t right. Everyone on deck was fighting desperately for their lives, but where were the mages? The situation was spiraling out of control. He got up with an effort, his body protesting, and ran towards where the sailors were fighting the tentacles.

When he got there, he saw Brannik. He was buried under a pile of splintered wood, his body motionless. "Hang on, Brannik! I’ll help you!" William yelled, pushing his way through the debris.

A muffled voice responded from below. "I’ll be fine... run!"

With only his good hand, William frantically moved the wood, only to discover the horror. Brannik had lost both legs, and blood was flowing like a river from his abdomen, soaking the broken wood. "Doesn’t look too bad, right?" Brannik asked, with a weak smile and watery eyes.

William felt a knot in his throat, but forced a smile. "Just a few stitches and you’ll be good as new, old man." He started screaming desperately for a medic, but his words were lost in the pandemonium. Too many sailors around him were in the same situation, bleeding out, screaming in pain. Chaos was total.

Seeing it was useless to ask for help, William tried to move Brannik, but as soon as he did, one of the Kraken’s tentacles lunged, grabbing the sailor’s body and tearing him from William’s hands. As if thousands of snakes were pouncing on the wounded, the Kraken began to drag them skyward. William looked up, and there it was. The Kraken. A colossal being, much larger than the ship, towering over them, staring with a single gigantic, bright green eye. The monster’s mouth opened, a dark abyss, and it devoured all the wounded instantly. The sound of wails and pleas for help echoed across the deck, but the mages still hadn’t appeared.

Lia, who had come out of her cabin, was extremely scared as one of the tentacles moved towards her, a dark, viscous mass approaching rapidly. Without fear, William drew his sword and ran to save her. The tentacle managed to wrap around Lia’s body, lifting her into the air. William didn’t hesitate. He lunged with one hand, his sword cleanly slicing through the tentacle.

In that instant, the sword, as if awakened from a millennia-long slumber, began to glow with an intense crimson red. Ancient letters, engraved on the blade, were revealed by the light. William recognized them. It was his family’s legacy, the words of his lineage: "The immortal shall never fall in battle, the coward shall not see the light, only he who is judged and approved shall obtain true power."

The sword seemed to have a life of its own, and it sent a clear message to William’s mind: Plunge me into the tentacle. William didn’t hesitate. He plunged it into the tentacle’s flesh, and as if it were a voracious leech, the sword began to suck all the interior of the Kraken’s limb.

Crack, crack, crack! The sound of bones breaking echoed in the air. As blood and energy entered his body through the sword, his damaged arm returned to its original position. William moved his arm: there was no pain. A smile emerged on his lips as he looked directly into the Kraken’s eyes.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.