Sea-Raiding Giant Squid

It was as if a bomb had been detonated directly on the surface of the water.

Enormous waves rose all around them, spraying vast amounts of seawater.

"Enemy attack!!"

"It's a sea beast!"

Several wizards flew out from the upper deck, their voices carrying down from the sky.

Charles gripped the railing in terror. He did not dare move recklessly now—the sea ship was pitching in the waves, and if he let go, who knew where he might be flung.

Two or three wizards flew out from each of the dozen or so ships. Hovering in the air, they launched frenzied attacks at the sea and the tentacles rising from it.

Charles felt as though he could barely breathe, as if a huge boulder were pressing down on his chest.

He could not make out the wizards' voices in the distance at all, and even his vision began to blur.

Fear filled his heart, so intense that he wanted to let go right then and flee back into the cabin.

But Charles relied on his powerful self-control to keep from releasing his grip.

"Boom!"

Another heaven-shaking wave surged into the air. A gigantic squid tentacle, at least ten-odd meters thick, burst out from beneath the sea.

Who knew what kind of terrifying colossal sea beast was hidden beneath the surface?

The massive tentacle slammed down hard onto a moving sea ship.

"Crackcrackcrack!!"

The ship's upper masts, sails, and even its wooden upper cabins were smashed directly to pieces.

Charles collapsed onto the deck, feeling as though he could not breathe. Staring in horror, he blurted out, "Holy shit!"

But it was not over yet. The tentacle wrapped around the enormous sea ship and, accompanied by a teeth-grating sound, coiled tighter and tighter.

"Crack! Crack!!"

As the tentacle continued to constrict, the sea beast gradually revealed more of its body. Several more tentacles clung to the sea ship in succession.

From afar, it looked like an enormous squid, with no way to tell just how many thick tentacles it possessed.

The instant the flying wizards saw the sea beast's true form, they scattered like birds and beasts.

A wizard flew over Charles's head, and his shriek reached Charles's ears.

"It's a Sea-Raiding Giant Squid!!"

"How could there be a sea beast like this here?!"

What the hell was that? Charles's heart shook violently.

He looked at the enormous octopus-like sea beast in the water and guessed that this was the name of the creature.

And as the wizards stopped harassing it, the coiling tentacles grew tighter and tighter.

Amid the teeth-grating sound of the wooden ship splintering apart, the sea ship was finally dragged straight into the ocean.

Charles seemed to hear the terrified cries of countless lives aboard the ship.

As the sea ship shattered and vanished, enormous bubbles and whirlpools churned across the surface.

Fragments of wood and all kinds of debris rose along with them.

After an unknown amount of time, Charles finally recovered. His legs weak, he stood up and looked into the distance.

The sea had become calm again, but when Charles looked at the pitch-black depths below, a shiver ran through him.

His hands unconsciously tightened around the deck railing. He stared at the sea, not knowing what he was thinking.

The lives aboard a sea ship had not possessed even the slightest ability to fight back against such a terrifying sea beast before being dragged into the sea.

Only one road likely awaited them: death.

The wizards who could fly had all fled in terror after seeing the Sea-Raiding Giant Squid's true form, and they still had not returned.

Only then did Charles notice that his face felt slightly numb and prickly. When he touched it, there were traces of blood on his hand.

He had apparently scraped himself at some point without realizing it.

He opened Wu Duo Duo Mall, and sure enough, a new merchant had appeared.

Sea-Raiding Giant Squid*****.

He could not even see the full name. Only the words "Sea-Raiding Giant Squid" were visible, while everything after them was hidden.

The merchant was grayed out now and was no longer online.

This eased Charles's mind somewhat. If it were still online, that would mean the Sea-Raiding Giant Squid had not gone far and was ready to launch another attack at any moment.

Not long afterward, little black dots flew in from the horizon.

Charles looked up and saw that they were the wizards who had fled. They had only dared return after observing from afar and confirming that the Sea-Raiding Giant Squid had gone.

The wizard Charles had met before spotted him on the upper deck, soaked like a drowned rat.

He swooped down and landed not far in front of Charles.

Looking Charles over, he said in surprise, "You actually held out until the end. Why didn't you run?"

The wizard was tall. Charles had not felt that way when the man was seated before.

Now, however, he seemed at least a head taller than Charles.

Charles wiped the seawater from his face and bowed respectfully. "Sir, my legs went weak from fright. The ship was shaking too badly, so I couldn't run."

"After we left, what did you see?" the wizard asked.

Charles honestly recounted everything he had witnessed.

After hearing Charles's account, the wizard visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Looks like it really did leave."

"You should hurry back too. Don't come out for the next few days—the sea isn't safe!"

Charles nodded repeatedly.

Only after the wizard left did Charles return to his quarters, sighing inwardly.

What a shame. The wizard had not even given him any sort of reward.

The room was a complete mess. Molly was tidying it up.

It seemed the earlier incident had frightened her badly as well.

When she saw Charles return, Molly's eyes reddened. Not caring that he was soaking wet, she rushed over and wrapped him in a bear hug, muttering nonstop:

"I was scared to death! I was scared to death!"

Who knew whether she had been afraid Charles would die, or afraid she herself would die.

Charles patted Molly's back and comforted her. "It's all right. We're both still alive."

After letting Molly go, Charles rinsed himself off, changed into a fresh set of clothes, and lay down on the bed.

Thoughts spun ceaselessly through his mind.

Although he did not know what Isata Academy was really like—whether it was a kind place or some vicious den of demons—Charles did not want to remain at sea for another moment.

He had originally thought the Merman attack was already dangerous enough. After moving to the upper cabins, he had assumed he would not encounter anything else that threatened his life.

Yet something even more dangerous came knocking right on its heels.

During the Merman attack, Charles had at least had some room to fight back. At worst, he could have risked his life to take down a few Mermen.

But if he ended up like that unlucky sea ship, facing an attack from the Sea-Raiding Giant Squid, all he could do was pray for a quicker death.

Being suffocated to death was not a comfortable way to go, no matter how he thought about it.

Days passed one by one. In the blink of an eye, more than a month had gone by, and they finally left the deep sea behind, leaving that black expanse of water behind as well.

The atmosphere aboard the sea ship visibly relaxed. Even the old wizard apprentices, whose expressions had once been so grim, now showed far more smiles.

The Wizard Continent was finally within reach!