The se horrified the onlookers. The suddeiohem frozen in shock. But Mikael didn’t stop there. In a blur, he appeared in front of Jason, whose scream faltered as he locked eyes with Mikael. The fury in Jason’s gaze had vanished, repced by sheer terror and overwhelming pain.

  Mikael grabbed Jason by the throat and lifted him off the ground effortlessly. Jason struggled, but his feeble attempts were no matikael's superior strength. Mikael turned his icy gaze toward the remaining four. This time, the impact of his gre was unlike anything before.

  Behind him, Jason’s severed arm y on the ground, blood poolih it. Jason hung limply in the air, his face torted in fear and pain. The four despite their newfound strength, were paralyzed. Their minds, still tethered to the values of Earth, could not recile with the brutal reality unfolding before them.

  Tristan, the self-procimed leader, stood frozen like the rest. The weight of Mikael’s gaze bore down on them, suffog and uing. After a few agonizing seds, Mikael finally spoke.

  “Do you want to participate?” he asked, his voice calm and casual, yet dripping with menace.

  The questio a wave of terror through the group. Their survival instincts took over, and they all shook their heads frantically, uo muster a word.

  Mikael regarded their pathetic dispy with disi. “If you want to overstep your bounds,” he said coldly, “be prepared to face the sequences.”

  “Squelch.”

  His sword, already stained with Jason’s blood, pierced through his heart with unerring precision. Jaso out a guttural sound, coughing up blood. Mikael sidestepped to avoid the sptter as Jason’s body vulsed. With a flick of his wrist, Mikael flung the lifeless body to the side. It nded several meters away, twitg briefly befoing still.

  The remaining four could do nothing but stare in mute horror. Mikael’s attention shifted to a sailor standing nearby. Uhe Earth natives, the sailor appeared far less disturbed, aced to the harsher realities of this world.

  “Throw the body into the sea,” Mikael anded in an authoritative tone.

  The sailor straightened and saluted. “It will be done, Lord!”

  Satisfied, Mikael leaped back to the crow’s without sparing an the petrified group of four.

  After the i, things on the ship ged. The other Earth natives were terrified and locked themselves in their rooms, evewo who hadn’t participated in the ‘flict.’ Fearful for their lives, they didn’t believe they stood a ce against Mikael, especially after witnessing how easily he had taken down and killed Jason.

  Even if they could take him on, it would be a life-or-death struggle with another human, and the ces of dying were high. So, they chose to stay hidden, quietly waiting for the military mission to end so they could leave.

  The sailors' attitudes also shifted. They were now even more polite toward Mikael, realizing that not all of the eight—now seven—sorcerers were equal, and that Mikael was the one in trol.

  Day blended into night, and night int.

  During this time, Mikael stuck to his usual routine: deteg sea beasts, jumping down to kill them, and theurning to the crow’s . Over the hours, he firmed his suspi that the sea beasts’ attacks had indeed increased as time went on. While the trend wasn’t noticeable in the short term, over time, it became clear. Now, it wasn’t unon for two sea beasts to appear when he dove into the water. Still, the fights remained easy for him, thanks to his explosive bat style that granted him near-nd mobility uer. Without this, he would have faced more difficulty.

  At that moment, Mikael was in the crow's , training his trol as usual, wheurned and saw someone climbing up. It was the vice captain.

  “What is it?” Mikael asked, intrigued.

  The vice captain gave a small, polite bow before speaking. “I o inform you of something. We’re about to enter a danger zone, where we could be attacked by gigantic sea beasts. For that reason, unless it’s absolutely necessary, you should avoid attag any sea beasts the moment you see them.”

  “We will remain silent on our side as well, with only the minimum number of crew members w and making as little noise as possible. It would be appreciated if you could do the same, as we really don’t want to attrae of these beasts. Maybe you could kill one; I don’t know your strength, but I guara will be difficult, and the ship may be destroyed. So, you do this?”

  Mikael thought for a moment before responding. “No problem. I’ll keep quiet. But if this is a danger zone, as you say, why don’t we just avoid it?”

  The vice captain gave a wry smile. “I wish we could avoid it, but it’s not possible. It’s the only route to our destination.”

  Mikael accepted the expnation, and after that, the vice captain desded the dder to issue orders to the sailors, with the captain doing the same.

  Meanwhile, the six other sorcerers were warned of the need for silen the ing period. Seventy to eighty pert of the sailradually left the ded retreated to their s, praying that a gigantic sea beast wouldn’t detect them.

  The remaining twenty to thirty pert of the crew were the most experienced, and they took on the necessary tasks to keep the ship moving, all while minimizing here was no talking, and the atmosphere grew eerily tense, with everyone on edge, knowing that even the slightest sound or an unlucky moment could spell their doom.

  Mikael, from his per the crow's , observed all this, and even he couldn’t escape the weight of the atmosphere. His own ay grew. ‘If they’re going to these lengths, these gigantic sea beasts must really be something. Holy, I’d rather not enter ohe sea beasts from before were easy to deal with, but oh the “gigantic” bel will likely be much harder to handle.’

  With these thoughts, he kept his watch over the ship, while tinuing his training. After all, he couldn’t afford to waste time if he wao grow stronger.

  Time tio pass with a tense and eerie atmosphere surrounding the ship. The stillness of the water and the quietude abave the impression of calm before the storm.

  Surprisingly, the first hour passed without i, followed by the sed, but as they he third hour in the danger zone, what they had feared finally happened.

  At that moment, Mikael’s attention was drawn to multiple dark shapes moving ier around the ship. However, remembering the vice captain's instrus, he didn’t make a move—at least not yet.

  The unknown forms seemed to lightly probe the hull of the ship, as if unsure of what it was. The ship began to shift slightly uhe force exerted by the unseen sea creature. The sailors on deck fell to their krembling, yet they remained silent, knowing that even the slightest sound could mean their demise.

  Minutes passed in tense silence as the ship tis steady course. The sea creature, uerred, kept “pying” with the ship, but the force it applied remained manageable, which is why Mikael refrained from ag.

  Then, from the left side of the ship, one of the dark forms slowly rose from the water, revealing itself to be a massive squid tentacle. Its size was extraordinary—its length unknown, but its width more than four meters. It was covered in suckers.

  Mikael, from the crow’s , inwardly cursed. ‘Are you kiddihat’s a damn Kraken!’ He looked around at the other dark shapes ier and quickly firmed, ‘If all these dark forms are squid tentacles... if this isn’t a Kraken...’

  He cursed again, this time in disbelief. ‘Seriously, what’s with this sudden jump in difficulty? We went from dealing with “small” sea beasts ueers long to fag a Kraken as big as the ship! And that’s not even its actual size—I don’t even know how big it really is!’

  As Mikael was lost in thought for a few seds, the supposed Kraken made its move. The loacle that had surfaced slithered onto the main deck, moving aimlessly as if searg.

  The nearby sailors were paralyzed with fear. Some mao maintain their posure and silently moved away, but ripped by terror, stood frozen. The tentacle, expl its surroundings, soon reached one of these immobilized sailors. The man saw it approag and tried to move, but his legs refused to obey.

  The tentacle ed itself around him in an instant.

  “Ahhh!” The sailor’s cry of terror echoed across the deck. Whether it was the sound or the sensation of a living creature, the Kraken's attention was drawn. The suckers oentacle, which had been harmless moments before, suddenly transformed, sprouting rows of razor-sharp teeth.

  Before the sailor could react, the suckers bit into him. In mere moments, there was nothi of him—only a streak of blood trailing dowentacle and dripping onto the main deck. The remaining sailors stared in horror, their faces pale and their breaths shallow.

  Even Mikael felt a chill run down his spi the gruesome sight. But he didn’t hesitate. After a quick t, he unleashed the only offensive first-circle wind spell he had learned: Wind Ssh. A sharp bde of wind streaked toward the tentacle, which had momentarily paused after its "meal," pletely unaware of the ining attack.

  The wind ssh struck true, carving a deep gash into the limb. The tentacle thrashed violently in response, filing across the de pain. Fortunately, its soft, pliable structure prevented any signifit damage to the ship.

  Mikael frowned as he assessed the situation. This was his first enter with an enemy of such immense size, and his attacks were poorly suited for it. A strike that would have been fatal to a smaller oppo only left a wound on this one—and this was just oacle among tless others hidden in the depths.

  Wasting no time, he leaped from the crow’s , propelling himself downward with an explosive burst of fire to accelerate his fall. Just as he reached the thrashiacle, he infused both his sword and body with aura, sshing downward and using his momentum to amplify the strike. The bde tore through the tentacle, carving a deep, jagged gash that ran the length of its massive form as he nded on the deck.

  Blood sprayed across the pnks, painting them crimson. The tentacle twitched a few more times before colpsing with a loud thud, lifeless.

  Mikael sed his surroundings cautiously, fully expeg further attacks. He wasn’t disappointed. Moments ter, the sea around the ship ed violently, and more tentacles began to rise from the water. First ohen two, then five—until more than ten massive appendages surrouhe ship, with even more emerging.

  At this sight, Mikael’s expression darkened. For the first time, he truly felt the immense powerlessness of man against a creature of such monstrous size. Even with his siderable strength and fiden his ability to fight and perhaps kill the Kraken, its sheer enormity meant it could attack from multiple angles simultaneously. He doubted he could bring it down before it obliterated the ship, jeopardizing the entire mission.

  He took a deep breath, steeling himself to act. Every sed ted in this desperate race against time. Without wasting a moment, he sprang into a, his physical strength, aura, and explosive style bining to propel him forward. The force of the three w together allowed him to easily break the sound barrier, moving so fast he appeared as nothing more than a blur to any onlookers.

  In an instant, he was airborriking at one of the newly emerged tentacles. A deep cut appeared, but the tentacle didn’t sever due to its enormous size. As Mikael prepared tet another, he saw the first tentacle was still alive. ging direid-air with a small explosion, he adjusted his course.