Monster Beneath the Sea - Part 3

Just as he went to bed with Kojja, the ship hit something and it came to an abrupt halt. The inertia threw them off the bed.

"What the hell was that?" Arrluk asked Kojja as soon as they could stand on their two feet.

"I don't know. It felt like we hit a rock or something big like a ship."

"Maybe we are under another attack!" Kojja said, her heart filling with dread.

Arrluk immediately went for his bow and the quiver which was full of arrows. Kojja too followed after him and picked her bow and arrows. Fortunately, they hadn't started just yet, so they were fully dressed.

As they came outside onto the deck through the door, they found people rushing towards each side of the ship. Perhaps, a few unlucky souls standing near the rails fell down into the sea due to the hit. A man has already died it seems. He was the lookout stationed at the top of the mast. He must have fallen down just like others but instead of water, he fell down on the hard deck, head first. Arrluk turned his attention to the front where people were already gathering to see what had hit them.

It didn't seem like any ship was nearby except the slave ship and that was also at least fifty meters apart from them so they couldn't have hit each other.

Just as they saw Quhuru coming out of his cabin, a loud scream erupted from the front as the sailors gathered there quickly backed away from the bow of the ship in terror.

"What are they screaming?" Kojja spoke in confusion. The scream of men and women did not let her hear properly.

"Kraken! They are saying it's a Kraken!" Arrluk shouted after making out the words from the screaming.

Kojja didn't ask how he knew the summer island word for Kraken becasue she paled hearing those words.

Quhuru must have heard Arrluk so he too became fear-struck for a moment but it wasn't for long. He immediately barked an order which translated to, "Everyone, spread out and get yourself a harpoon or anything that you can grab. Red archers take your position and coat your arrowhead with flammable oil. Dorbhass!"

"Aye Captain?" he replied.

"You go and get every cloth you can find below the deck. We will need it. Other get ready with nets! Go, Go, Go!"

"Kojja!" Quhuru turned towards her daughter and Arrluk and ordered, "Go and help the Red Archers!"

"Yes, Pa!" Kojja then pulled at Arrluk's hand to take him towards the stairs.

Arrluk's eyes fell onto the door of the chamber where the kids were resting. He saw peering outside from behind the gates in fear.

"Close the door and hide under the bed. Don't come out no matter what!" Arrluk shouted at them. There was nothing more he could do for them other than advise them to hide. His ears could hear something big ascending the walls of the ships and he soon saw what it was. From the right side came three big and long tentacles into his view.

Others also saw them and grew quiet. For a moment there was silence on the ship but for Arrluk it was not silent at all. He heard the numerous heartbeats of the terrified crew and he heard the creaking of the wooden ship as the Kraken slowly tightened its hold on the ship.

The Sea Monster, Kraken, was a legendary giant octopus that they only heard the legends of, and now it had become a reality in everyone's eyes.

"Kraken! It's really a freaking Kraken!" Arrluk cursed under his breath. The arms were still hovering above them like a death scythe of a Death God.

Arrluk immediately made a comparison with the Kraken from The Pirates of the Caribbean Sea and the one in front of him looked similar to that monster.

No one made the first the first move for a few minutes and tried to stay as quiet as possible moving around. The Kraken didn't make any move to attack other than drowning the people that had fallen in the waters.

The slave ship seemed to have seen the monster that had caught us in its hold and was slowly turning its direction away from us.

A wise choice if you will ask Arrluk or the Captain of Cinnamon Wind because staying here would only invite their doom. Perhaps they could have helped but Arrluk knew it would amount to nothing as the men on that ship with weapons amounted to single digits. The rest were helpless, tired slaves.

If they had been caught then Quhuru would have also ordered his men to leave them and make their escape as soon as possible.

But the stalemate ended when two men carrying drums filled with flammable oil tripped in their haste and dropped it on the ground. The tentacles immediately moved towards the two men, causing them to scream in terror but it was cut short as they were caught and dragged from the ship and into the sea below.

The remaining tentacle also moved in but the people started defending themselves with every ounce of their strength. They slashed at the tentacle as wide as their height and tried to cut it short. The tentacle shrinks back due to being cut but soon more tentacles came to support it from below the sea and smash into a few people in their path, sending them flying back.

"Fire!" The red Archers were not idle. They had knocked their bows with arrows and dipped its head into the oil drum in their reach before igniting the cloth wrapped around it and fire themed as soon as they could at the tentacles.

With a swish, the fire arrows fired from the Goldenheart bow pierced the tentacles deeply causing them to shrink and squirm in pain.

The sailors on the deck used that opportunity to hack the tentacles but they had little success as the tentacle would fall back into the sea below with another tentacle slam onto the deck taking its place.

One such tentacle managed to wound itself around the main mast and break in half causing it to fall on the side, crushing a few unluckily souls that were standing on the deck.

Arrluk shot arrow after arrow at the arm of the Kraken, but they did little damage. He finally used the wind magic to push arrows to their full might, and the arrow managed to sink more than half of its length into the flesh of the monster. But it only made the Kraken angrier as a piercing screech rang from beneath the ship, especially hurting the Arrluk's head.

"Arrluk! Get down!" Kojja screamed at the top of her lungs.

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