Sea Dragon Attack

The sea erupted.

A column of water shot up thirty meters off the ship's starboard side, a white pillar over ten meters tall in the moonlight. The spray came crashing down on the deck, soaking my robe and sending icy seawater down my collar.

Then I saw it.

Four tentacles rose from the water, each as thick as a mast. Dark gray skin covered them, densely studded with suckers the size of washbasins, each rimmed with serrated fleshy spines. The tentacles forked at the tips.

"Deep-Sea Giant Tentacle Beast. An A-rank sea beast. I'd seen a bounty notice for it at the Adventurers' Guild in Zant Port. It said, 'Sighted in the Lingus Sea, over forty meters long, four tentacles, each with a weak band.' Forty meters. The Tailwind was barely over thirty meters long."

"Captain!" I shouted toward the stern.

The captain had already rushed out of the cabin, a short knife in his hand and water dripping from his bushy beard. The moment he saw the four tentacles, all the color drained from his face.

"Dump the cargo!" he roared at the sailors. "Throw everything overboard! Lighten the load! Full speed ahead!"

The sailors scrambled to untie the ropes.

"Wait!" I ran up to the captain. "Give me one minute."

He stared at me, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.

"One minute? Are you crazy? That's an A-rank..."

"One minute. If I can't do it, then dump the cargo."

The captain opened his mouth, then closed it again. He glanced at the four tentacles closing in on the ship, then at my left hand, pressed against the railing and already gathering magic.

"Thirty seconds. That's all I can give you," he said.

"Thirty seconds? That's enough."

I glanced back at Eris.

She was already standing at the side of the ship, sword in her right hand and left hand on the railing, leaning slightly forward. Her eyes were fixed on the enormous shadow beneath the water, her brows furrowed.

There was no need for extra words. During our three years on the Demon Continent, she and I had fought together no fewer than a hundred times. She knew I could see the future, and I knew she could act without extra words.

"Eris, the bands at the bases of its tentacles are its weak points. I'll restrict its movements. You attack its weak points."

"Okay."

I took a deep breath.

Magic poured from my left hand, passing through the railing and the air before plunging into the sea. The Saint Rank water magic spread the instant it touched the seawater, and I froze the surface within a twenty-meter radius of the ship.

The seawater's temperature was forcibly driven below freezing, and the surface quickly solidified. Ice spread outward from the ship, white frost blossoming across the sea. The Giant Tentacle Beast's four tentacles were trapped in the ice, their movements slowing at once. Two tried to break free, and cracks appeared in the ice, but it didn't break yet.

"Eris! Left! In two seconds! The band's two meters up from the base!"

She leaped out.

Planting her right foot on the ship's side, she pushed off and arced through the air. Her crimson hair streamed behind her in a long trail under the moonlight. She held her nameless sword in her right hand, its blade flashing white as it reflected the moonlight.

Her target was the leftmost tentacle. The ice restricted how far it could swing, leaving it able to writhe only within a small area.

A glimpse of one second into the future flashed through my Demon Eye of Foresight. Three branches. In the first, the tentacle broke free of the ice and swept sideways, sending Eris flying. In the second, it broke halfway free and flung water into her face. She turned her head to avoid it, but her sword couldn't reach the band. In the third, the ice held, and she landed at the base of the tentacle and struck the band with her sword.

Good, the third branch will work.

"Eris, the ice will hold! Go straight for it!"

Eris didn't hesitate. She landed on the tentacle, her boots slipping on its slimy skin and making her stumble, but her balance was better than anyone's. She brought her sword down, its blade cutting into the band.

Blue liquid sprayed out onto the ice, giving off steam.

The first tentacle was severed. The muscles at the cut twitched, and the remaining half withdrew beneath the water.

"One down, three to go."

Cracks began spreading across a large area of the ice. The Giant Tentacle Beast struggled underwater, shaking the entire surface of the sea. The Tailwind pitched back and forth, throwing every unsecured barrel and coil of rope off the deck.

The second tentacle burst up from beneath the ice, smashing through it from below. Shards flew in every direction like shrapnel. A tentacle swept straight toward the ship, trailing broken ice and seawater.

I saw it.

A vision of two seconds from now. In one branch, the tentacle swept across the deck and smashed the ship's side, flinging three sailors into the sea. In another, I hit one of its suckers with a Rock Bullet before it arrived, knocking it off course so it only grazed the stern.

I thrust out my right hand. A Rock Bullet shot from my palm and struck the largest sucker halfway along the tentacle. The tentacle recoiled in pain, veering off course and grazing the stern, tearing away only a section of railing.

"Right! Two seconds! From below!"

Eris was already moving. Before I'd finished speaking, she was running to the right, keeping low against the deck. The moment the tentacle burst through the ice from below, she leaped to its side.

A swift horizontal slash struck the band.

The second tentacle was halfway severed. The remaining part thrashed wildly, smashing a large hole in the ice.

"Two down. The ice won't hold much longer. More than half of it has broken apart, and it has more and more room to move."

The third and fourth tentacles burst out of the water at the same time. Like two giant pythons, they crossed in the air, then came crashing down on the ship together.

My Demon Eye of Foresight flickered wildly. Too many images, too many branches, too fast.

In one image, Eris was caught between the two tentacles. In another, the ship was smashed in two. In another...

"No, don't look at that one."

I gritted my teeth.

"Eris! Duck!"

She ducked, moving before she could think, without asking why. The third tentacle swept over her head, the wind from it blowing all her hair straight up.

The fourth tentacle crashed down right behind it. I channeled my magic to create an ice wall on the deck. The tentacle struck it, shattering the wall, but the impact also knocked the tentacle back slightly, slowing it for an instant.

Eris used that instant to get to her feet. She planted her right foot on the shattered ice wall and pushed off, launching herself toward the base of the third tentacle.

Her sword struck the band squarely.

The third tentacle was severed.

Only one remained.

That tentacle didn't attack us. It withdrew underwater and circled beneath the surface, as if hesitating.

"It's scared. Three of its tentacles have been severed, and it's badly wounded. Even an A-rank sea beast has a survival instinct. It's going to run."

Sure enough, the enormous shadow underwater began to move slowly away from the ship. A section of the last tentacle appeared above the surface, then sank out of sight.

The sea grew calm again. The shattered ice slowly melted in the seawater, leaving only a few white fragments floating on the surface. The air was filled with a strong smell of blood mixed with seawater. It wasn't pleasant.

I leaned against the railing, gasping for breath.

I'd used some magic, but not all that much. The Laplace Factor gave me far more magic than an ordinary person, and the Saint Rank water freezing spell, a few Rock Bullets, and the ice wall had probably used less than a tenth of it. My left eye was just a little sore.

The deck was a mess of broken ice, seawater, shattered railing, and scattered barrels. Three sailors sat sprawled on the deck, their faces deathly pale. The captain stood at the stern, still clutching his short knife, though there wasn't a drop of blood on the blade.

He walked over.

"You two... who are you?"

His voice was much quieter than before. It no longer sounded like thunder.

Eris flicked her nameless sword. Blue blood flew from the blade, tracing an arc across the deck. She slid the sword back into the scabbard at her waist and turned around.

"Dead End."

Her face was expressionless as she said the two words.

"Dead End. A dead end-that was the name of the party we'd registered as adventurers on the Demon Continent. I'd chosen it based on the Superd Race's terrible reputation, to intimidate ordinary adventurers who came looking for trouble."

The captain froze for three seconds.

Then he did something I hadn't expected. He bent down, slid his knife back into the sheath at his waist, and bowed deeply to us.

"Your passage is free," he said. "When we get to Milishion, I'll write you a letter of recommendation for an inn. My sister runs one there. Just mention my name when you go."

"...Thank you," I said.

He waved a hand, then turned to direct the sailors in cleaning up the deck.

Late that night, long after the battle had ended, I went back up on deck.

The moon had drifted west, and the silver band of light on the sea had shifted with it, stretching diagonally from the ship's port side into the distance. The sea breeze had blown away the smell of blood, leaving only the scents of salt and wood.

Eris sat on the ship's side, her legs dangling over the edge and swinging like a child's. Her nameless sword lay across her knees, and she was wiping the blood from its blade with a rag.

I sat down beside her.

She finished wiping the sword, folded the rag, and tucked it into her pocket. Then she tilted her head and rested it on my shoulder.

It was the same position as last night, but tonight felt different. Last night had been peaceful. Tonight, I supposed, we'd survived a brush with death.

"When you shouted 'duck' earlier..." Her muffled voice came from my shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"Did you..."

"..." I said nothing.

She didn't press me right away.

The sea breeze blew her hair across my face. A few strands stuck to the corner of my mouth, but I didn't brush them away.

"You saw it, didn't you..." She paused. "A vision of me dying."

A sharp pain pricked my heart, like a needle.

Had I seen it? My Demon Eye of Foresight showed me many visions in battle. Some might happen, and some wouldn't. In the worst branches...

"I didn't see it," I said. "Not once."

That was a lie.

I'd seen it in the worst branches, more than once. But I couldn't let any of them become reality. Every time, I'd chosen the right branch.

"Then don't ever see it again. Promise me." Her gaze was gentle; she rarely wore that expression.

Her voice was soft but earnest.

"I promise."

She leaned against my shoulder, her breathing gradually growing even.

The ice fragments on the sea had melted completely, leaving only moonlight and waves. On the distant horizon was a faint band of light, the first glow before dawn.

Tomorrow would be the fourth day, with three more days at sea.

Paul and everyone else were waiting for me.