Rampage

Sure enough, the moment Dunn approached the tentacle, all its eyes turned toward him in unison.

Then came an unending barrage of blows. From the looks of it, this tentacle was even more frenzied than the other four whose eyes had been stabbed.

At this, the corner of Dunn's eye twitched slightly before he resigned himself to reality.

As the five tentacles flailed in fury, their movements grew wider and wider, gradually exposing the head buried deep at their base.

At that moment, Jaeger's head still had no idea what it was about to face. Even as the cover around it gradually disappeared, it showed no reaction.

Engels kept his eyes fixed on Jaeger's head as he shifted position, adjusting his angle.

The arrow in his hand already rested lightly on the bowstring, ready to fire at any moment.

Suddenly, Engels stopped moving. Looking at Jaeger's fully exposed, shriveled head, he abruptly raised his bow, took a quick aim, and loosed an arrow.

The arrow sliced through the air toward Jaeger's head, reaching his eyes in an instant. Yet even with the arrow right before him, Jaeger's head showed no reaction, still giving that bizarre laugh.

"Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee... Roar!!"

With a wet squelch, the arrow plunged into Jaeger's right eye and out through his head, finally cutting off his bizarre laughter and drawing a shrill roar.

Although he appeared to have suffered a grievous wound, the crucial point was that Jaeger had not died from it.

Amid the shrill roars from Jaeger's head, all the tentacles grew even more frenzied, their movements picking up another notch. Several pirates who failed to dodge in time were struck and instantly reduced to pulps of flesh.

Then four tentacles quickly drew together, twisting around one another like braided dough and wrapping Jaeger's head tightly within them.

Yes, four tentacles. For some unknown reason, the one facing Dunn actually ignored Jaeger's head entirely and continued bombarding Dunn, its attacks growing faster and faster until even he struggled to cope.

But because this tentacle's "hatred" remained firmly locked onto Dunn, a gap remained in the tentacles' protection of Jaeger.

The others, who had been bitterly disappointed when the arrow failed to kill Jaeger, were instantly overjoyed at the sight.

"Captain Dunn, hang in there!" Engels shouted to Dunn, immediately moving swiftly to adjust his position.

Although that arrow had not killed Jaeger, judging by the tentacles' reactions, Jaeger's head was undoubtedly important to them.

So continuing to attack Jaeger's head was certainly the right approach.

Meanwhile, the other captains gathered their remaining men and moved into the safe area behind Dunn, beside Green and the two pirate underlings.

Because the tentacle had focused entirely on Dunn for some unknown reason, the three could do nothing to help and might easily interfere with him. They could only retreat to the safe area at the rear and watch.

As for the other four captains, even if they could help Dunn now, they probably would not have lifted a finger.

In this brief span of time.

Of the twenty-person party, excluding the captive Elvin, all four Navigators had died under the influence of the eerie whispers, and three pirates who were not professionals had also died to the tentacles' attacks.

Even two second-tier professionals had been careless for a moment and were slapped to death by the tentacles.

Now only eleven people remained in the entire party,

Grant and Astor each still had one professional subordinate alive.

Feishman and Hawkins were now commanders without any men.

Only Dunn's side had not lost a single person!

The balance had already begun to subtly shift, and only now did the captains calm down enough to notice it.

Watching Dunn dodge awkwardly under the tentacle's attacks, the captains wore different looks in their eyes. Although this was not a suitable time to do anything, it was not hard to see that they still harbored thoughts of doing something.

After Dunn narrowly evaded the tentacle's attacks several times, Grant finally found an opening. He nocked an arrow, drew his bow, and fired decisively. The arrow passed through a tiny gap between the intertwined tentacles and struck Jaeger's head with precision.

"Roar!!"

An earthshaking roar rang out again. Seemingly realizing that this offered no effective protection, and still unable to call back the tentacle fixated on Dunn, the intertwined tentacles abruptly spread apart, exposing Jaeger's head.

Before anyone could react.

Two tentacles braced against the ground like four legs, and Jaeger's enormous body rose upright.

Like an enormous starfish, he stepped forward on two tentacles as though they were legs, charging toward the group with pounding thuds.

Everyone was stunned at the sight. Jaeger's head was now at least several dozen meters above the ground, and because of the tentacles' uneven bodies, it was completely invisible from below.

Unless they could fly up there, they could not attack Jaeger's head at all.

In an instant, everyone sank into despair. They could no longer reach Jaeger's head; it could be said that they had lost all hope of defeating him.

Even Dunn's expression darkened. Although Geppo could take him up there, he lacked maneuverability in midair. Once he went up, his inexplicable "attraction" to these tentacles would basically make him a target.

He could not withstand attacks from at least three tentacles. Even with Tekkai active, taking more than five consecutive blows from the tentacles would endanger his life.

"There's nothing else we can do. Everyone, let's gamble with our lives. We'll get out as fast as we can, then set sail in five different directions and bet on which of us it chases." Even as Astor spoke, he was already moving, running toward the doorway.

The moment Astor moved, the others instinctively began running after him.

"It's not time to despair yet. We still have one option." Just then, Green's voice suddenly rang out, drawing everyone's gaze.

"No matter how real it looks, that body of his was ultimately transformed through a career ability. He isn't a real sea monster." Facing their gazes, Green said calmly, "Any career ability consumes energy. With that abnormally huge body, its energy consumption must far exceed that of an ordinary third-tier professional.

"We can stall it. Of course, that's also very risky. We might be killed by him before its energy runs out."

At Green's words, everyone's eyes flickered as they quickly weighed the gains and losses.

"Just a reminder, everyone: we're almost at the doorway. You'll have to make your choice soon." A certain stamina specialist, who had made up his mind the instant he heard Green's proposal, offered a quiet reminder.

No one spoke. Although countless calculations ran through their minds, they all kept their heads down and sprinted until they reached the doorway.

Without exception, everyone abruptly made a sharp turn and ran in another direction.

Crash!

Jaeger, who had almost caught up with them, failed to dodge in time and slammed into the wall around the stone doorway.