Free End Online: Volume 5 by D. Wolfin

lighthouses, just on a smaller scale.
    He then turns a second crank several times before releasing it.
At first it appears to have done nothing, but then the sound of gears grinding
can vaguely be heard below the deck. The spot light gradually begins to turn
left, before turning back to the right. The light moves across the water,
clearly operating on some form of spring loaded system.
    “CaptainGordon, is that…?” Unable to hold back my curiosity, I
pry for more information.
    “Aye, my own creation.”
    “Wait, what? You created this?!”
    “That I did.”
    “But how?! And how could…?”
    “Metal craft,” He starts avoiding eye contact, seemingly nervous
about something.
    I am too enthralled by the spotlight to notice his disposition.
“Surely there must be more than that. And what about the source of the gas?”
    Suddenly the boat rocks violently and all the flames in the
lanterns flicker dangerously. We all lose our footing and fall down onto the
deck as well.
    “W-what?!” I cry in confusion.
    Everyone else is clamoring and trying to stand back up. I am not
the only one looking back and forth, trying to find the cause of the collision.
    “It be a sea monster!” CaptainGordon shouts for everyone to
hear.
    I look over the railing at the ocean with Fen next to me. The
night is pitch black, but the lanterns we lit allow me to see the water within
a few meters of the boat.
    There are small waves lapping against the edge of the ship, but
the vessel doesn’t budge an inch. A vague shadow passes under the surface,
followed by several smaller shadows enlarging from pinpoint centers.
    The surface of the ocean explodes as a dozen long, slithering
tentacles erupt upward. They reach a height of fifteen meters, and are about
two meters thick at the water line. The undersides of the tentacles are covered
with dark purple suction cups. In the lanterns’ flickering lights, each
tentacle appears doubly menacing.
    The captain shouts out. “Everyone! We need to fight the
tentacles off until none be left! Each one be an individual enemy with its own
health! Lockon, SomaHealer, Fen, we be the weakest in defense, so we go below
deck an’ man the cannons.”
    Mikhail the Stalwart nods toward his two party members, Lockon
and SomaHealer, to follow the pirate’s orders and operate the ship’s cannons.
Fen looks at CaptainGordon disdainfully for a moment before grasping my arm and
ignoring him.
    I don’t dislike her grabbing on to me and refusing to leave my
side, but I do worry that one day it may lead to her being in danger. At least
I don’t feel like this situation is life threatening.
    “CaptainGordon, Fen will be best off staying up here with me.
She is not defenseless, and I will protect her.”
    “Okay, you know ‘er best. It be your judgement.” He looks
curiously at Fen, but doesn’t pry further.
    “I will, err, answer yer question after,” the captain says
before rushing off to one of the doors leading below deck with the two players
from Mikhail’s party.
    Fen and I move back to the main deck just as several tentacles
begin to attack. Three of them slam down toward the players on the deck. They
don’t move fast but they hit with the weight of a mountain.
    Sir Laurence protects Verde, raising his shield up and using a
sacred art that creates a box of shield sigils around them. The tentacle hits
the shield and multiple fractures spread from the centre of impact, but it
holds and they remain safe.
    Everyone else moves to dodge the other two tentacles which hit
the ship and break several sections of the deck. Mikhail is the most skillful,
dodging with minimal movement and instantly launching a counter attack, a
golden aura emanates from his sword as he conducts a five-strike sacred art. A
health bar appears next to that tentacle, with about ten percent of its health
removed. His party members don’t fight with any synergy, frantically attacking
any tentacle within their reach.
    Fen and I aren’t targeted