Rampage

(PS: Following the doctor's advice, in a few days I'm planning to take my parents and children somewhere cool for a vacation, to improve the relationships among the family members... Actually, no one has done anything terribly wrong. It's just the accumulated result of long-term family friction. There's no point in saying who is right or wrong between the two elders. I'm their son, so I'll bear it.)

"...Bagdat!"

In the deepest part of the Misty Sea, the wreckage of over a hundred ships floated upon the surface. Judging by those wrecks, quite a few had once been famous vessels of Ocean Dream World. Level-seven and level-eight ships were everywhere, and there was even a level-nine legendary vessel: a five-tiered tower-style battleship called Bloodiron, the flagship of Elman Aisha, the Bloodiron Grand Admiral of the Aisha Empire.

At this very moment, that legendary vessel, whose might had shaken all of Ocean Dream World, lay shattered here. Half its wreckage was slowly sinking, but before it could peacefully take the final step of its glorious, legendary life, a mass of twisted flesh suddenly shot straight out from the seabed.

That twisted flesh was mixed with mud, rocks, coral reefs, broken wooden poles, torn cloth, and mangled flesh. It was impossible to tell whether it contained fish, shrimp, shells, or human remains. As it writhed and swept past, Bloodiron's wreckage was smashed to pieces. Some fragments merged into the tentacle, making its surface look even more grotesque. Then, a long spear swept out from the shattered wreckage and collided head-on with the tentacle, which was at least five meters thick.

A pitch-black metallic gleam erupted. A crater at least a meter deep was blasted into the tentacle's surface, while the spear was forced back. Its wielder was a sallow, emaciated old man,