Chapter 09. Tentacles

-A few moments before.

"Hm, almost succeeded..."

Zen stopped his attempt to form an Elemental core and exhaled.

His Fire-Elemental core was already formed and have proper function, but at the moment, it was too weak when compared to the Elemental core that Zen remembered.

"I think Fire Magic energy from Monster core is too weak. I need more..."

Just when Zen was just thinking of taking out another Fire-elemental Monster core and swallowing it, this Ship suddenly shook weakly.

A commotion rang out from outside, distracting Zen.

"What happened?"

Zen frowned.

The Ship's crew sounded panicked. Whatever happens, it's clear that this is not a good thing.

Without thinking any more, Zen immediately operated [Water Flowing Crystal Technique] at full power.

His <Magic Sense> is expanded. In an instant, the range of <Magic Sense> had become 320 meters with Zen as the center.

Within detection range of Zen's <Magic Sense>, he could see a dark tendrill extending from the ground and wrapping around the Ship's body.

Other tendrils slowly approached from below as if trying to pull this Ship to fall.

"What the hell are these tentacles?"

This airplane flew at an altitude of more than 500 meters, and Zen's <Magic Sense> maximum range was currently only capable of up to 320 meters, so Zen couldn't clearly see the main body of these tentacles.

I had to go up to deck and see it in person, Zen thought.

When Zen activates his <Silent Barrier(imperfect)>, Zen sees that the pirates have already started to fight back.

Warriors such as sword, dagger, or spear users, attacked the tendrils that circled the Ship's body, while long-range attackers such as Magicians filled the Ship's cannon to shoot and the Archers had been raining down tendrils coming from below with arrows ever before.

After a while, Zen and the Pirates, who had previously been in the cafeteria or their own room, had reached the deck.

In front of Zen at this time, 5 men and women were trying to cut a 1-meter-thick purple tendrils that wrapped around the hull of the Ship.

"Damn, we're being attacked by Kraken Pouch!"

One of the Pirates shouted with a sour face.

That Pirate and his 9 companions immediately drew their respective weapons and joined forces to cut through the hard tendrils, while the remaining 12 joined the group of Witches and Archers.

Zen went to the corner and looked down.

"Damn..."

Zen was surprised when he see the true form of the creature that sent these tendrils to them.

"Kraken Pouch, huh...."

Despite having the name 'kraken' in its name, Kraken Pouch turns out to be a giant plant-type monster with form of a dark sac that grows dozens of purple tendrils.

It may be about 20 meters or even larger.

It was very clear that this monster was something very dangerous.

"Will these people be able to defeat that?"

Just as Zen said that, a beautiful woman with red ponytail hair appeared along with a flash of sword.

Because of the woman's slash, the four tentacles that wrapped around the Ship had been severed and made this Ship able to balance itself.

The pirates' faces quickly brightened after seeing the woman.

""BOSS!!""

The woman just nodded before starting to order her crew.

"Archer, increase your rate of fire! Immediately drive away these tentacles! Magician, immediately prepare a full-power shot to kill Kraken pouch! Then... Ben!"

Except for the melee fighters whose job was clearly to repel tentacles that tried to pull or attack the Ship, everyone followed the woman's orders.

After that, the woman immediately turned to a thin man who was holding the rudder of the Ship.

The woman smiled.

"Start maneuver!"

The thin man, Ben, immediately nodded with a smile.

Ben slammed the steering wheel, making the Ship start to turn and tilt to the right.

But instead of falling, the speed of the ship began to increase.

Like a fighter plane dodging incoming missiles, the Ship began to wind through the air quickly and amazingly.

"What the hell is this!?" Zen held on to a nearby fence to prevent it from falling.

But even more shockingly, even when the Ship started to turn around, the Pirates never stopped their attack.

They all stood firmly where they were standing as if their feet had been glued to the floor.

"Damn, are they lizards?"

Zen subconsciously commented.

The Ship continued its maneuvers.

The Ship's propellers placed on both sides of the Ship are slightly tilted forward to increase speed.

At that moment, the Kraken pouch seemed to be getting used to the Ship's movements, so when Ben managed to avoid the 3-tentacle encirclement, a new large tentacle was waiting in the Ship's path.

The pirates' faces became nervous at the sight of how big the tentacle were, but they didn't stop their attacks.

Because their Boss, Martha, had joined the battle!

Martha dragged a severed black tentacle over the deck and then carry it to the side and lifted it as a weapon.

The Kraken pouch's tentacle swiped the outside of the Ship, but before it could completely damage it, Martha immediately swung the tentacle she cut

Tentacle 1 meter thick and 3 meters thick collide violently.

Martha was pushed backwards, and the attacking tentacle were also pushed backwards.

At that moment, the Magicians said, ""We're ready!!""

Before she could even get back to her feet after being pushed back, Martha instantly shouted her orders while several pirates were helping her back to her feet.

"AIM A CANNON AT THAT TENTACLE WHILE THE REST SHOOT DIRECTLY AT KRAKEN POUCH!!"

""OKAY!!""

A loud muffled bang echoed.

Dozens of cannons were immediately fired with the full power of the Magicians' Magic energy.

The 3-meter-thick tentacle that Martha hit back were instantly blown up by a single shot, while the Kraken pouch underneath received the rest of the shots directly.

After all that, Ben immediately pulled the Ship back further and began to move slowly while continuing to pay attention to the movements of the Kraken Pouch.

In the distance, Zen could see that the tentacles of the Kraken pouch began to fall limply downwards.

"Is it dead?" one of the male pirates asked.

His question represented everyone's minds, and everyone was watching the location of the Kraken pouch, which was currently covered in dust mist, with nervous faces.

5 minutes... 10 minutes... 20 minutes...

Time passed, and the dust mist finally fell.

There, everyone can see a tattered figure from what was previously known as the Kraken pouch.

The Kraken pouch was lying limp... With its tentacles pulsing as they pierce the ground.

While Zen thought that they had already defeated it, the Pirates' faces immediately turned pale.

Martha quickly said, "Ben!"

"Y-YES!"

After a brief answer, Ben immediately led the Ship to escape at a speed that was even much faster than when the Ship was maneuvering before.

They now understood why no one had dared to approach Frincaal town before.

The Town was still full of treasures, the zombies that inhabited it weren't very strong, and there were some areas that could be looted safely or with just little fighting.

It's weird if no one is interested to come... except that the Town is actually very dangerous.

'We're just lucky.'

Martha swallowed her saliva as she watched thousands or even millions of tentacles grow out of the ground around the Frincaal town's area.

'If only that creature had awakened since we were still inside the Town, it would be impossible for us to escape...'

The creature was not a Kraken pouch.

Martha recognizes it as a version of Kraken pouch that has evolved after being infected with a Zombie outbreak; Z-Emperor pouch.

It was a super dangerous monster and was a high-level plant-type Zombie monster which was obviously something that a small group of Pirates like them would not be able to handle.

'We are really... Lucky.'

But... are they really JUST lucky?