Rise from the Depths: Shackles of Qahara

Chapter 7: Fury from the Depths

"Black blood splashed on my face! Dammit, what is this smell?!" Caver spat, wiping away a thick fluid that smelled more like rotten sulfur than ordinary animal blood.

The impact of his axe had been heavy, but the magical Kraken's skin felt like hacking through a rubber tire as thick as a fortress wall. Instead of being severed, the massive tentacle was barely scratched and only grew more enraged.

A violent shudder rocked the deck of The Iron Crab. The sound of cracking wood was painful to Jack's ears as he struggled desperately to stabilize the wheel.

"Caver! The ship won't hold much longer if you just stand there gawking!" Jack shouted, his face flushed red with a mix of panic and anger. "That tentacle is already starting to tear through the port hull. One more pull and we're all toast!"

"Be patient, man! I'm working on it!" Caver shouted back, his breath coming in gasps. His lungs felt like they were being burned by the icy snow he had been inhaling since their escape.

"Mama, be careful!" Karla’s faint voice drifted from a corner of the deck. She sat weakly near the lifeboat, hands clutching her head which was still dizzy from mana depletion, but her eyes never left the black shadow writhing beneath the sea's surface.

Suddenly, a deafening CRACK shattered the air. The main mast of Jack’s ship was struck by a single tentacle whip three times the size of a grown man. Wooden shards flew like a rain of spears.

"Are you kidding me! My ship!" Jack wailed briefly before leaping from the bridge. "Hey, kid! Hang on! The monster is trying to pull us into the vortex!"

Caver didn't have time to respond before a smaller but more agile tentacle coiled around his waist. He was hoisted into the air within seconds.

"Caver!" Karla screamed hysterically. She tried to stand, but her balance vanished as the ship tilted drastically.

"Don't come over here, Karla! Stay back!" Caver struggled. The coil felt like being crushed by a giant hydraulic press. His ribs began to protest, letting out a sickening creak.

Caver looked down. The dark seawater frothed from the monster's fury. In the middle of the churning water, a massive yellow eye with a glowing red vertical pupil stared up at him with pure hatred. It wasn't the eye of an animal. It was the eye of something that had been twisted by Agrasuuman black magic.

"You... you damn circus monster..." Caver growled. His hand still gripped the axe, though his arm was tingling as the blood flow was constricted by the tentacle's grip.

"Hey, you up there!" A cold, flat voice cut through the sound of the waves.

Caver glanced up at the remains of the mast that was still standing. There, Lyra stood tall with her massive bow. The gale-force sea winds didn't seem to affect her balance at all.

"Mother always said high-caste monsters have a weak spot behind their eye membrane. Can you focus for a second, slave?" Lyra notched an arrow with a tip glowing with a pale green light.

"Shut up, Lyra! Help me first!" Caver yelled while trying to hack his axe into the tentacle binding him. The axe bounced off again. "The skin is way too hard! You think this is some ordinary monster?!"

"That's because your axe is as dull as Jack's brain!" Lyra released her first arrow.

SWOOSH!

The arrow soared, striking true into one of the suckers on the tentacle holding Caver. A small explosion of energy occurred there, making the monster wince and slightly loosen its grip.

Caver seized the momentum. He took a deep breath, fighting the pain in his chest, and used his elbow to smash the joint of the tentacle before finally sliding down to the deck.

Thud!

"The days of being a lone hero are over, Caver!" Jack suddenly appeared beside him, carrying a large spear with a mechanical gear system that creaked loudly. "I need your help to lure its eye to the surface. I've got a 'gift' in the lower cannon that I haven't shown off yet."

"What cannon? Your ship is about to sink, man!" Caver stood up while clutching his bruised stomach.

"Just follow my lead if you still want to see your wife get healed!" Jack pulled a hidden lever on the deck. The wooden floor in the center of the ship slid open, revealing a short barrel made of black bronze engraved with ancient runes.

"Holy crap, isn't that an illegal relic from the Caste Wars?!" Caver was stunned.

"To hell with the castes, we need to survive! Now, Caver! Get its attention! Make it open its mouth or eyes wider!" Jack shouted while busily pouring black powder into the cannon's breech.

Caver turned toward Karla, whose face was growing even paler. He knew if they didn't end this now, Karla wouldn't make it to medical help in time. Something inside Caver seemed to explode. The anger and the pressure of being a slave all condensed into a single surge of power that made his hands stop trembling.

"Fine, Jack. Get your firecrackers ready," Caver said, his tone turning cold.

Caver ran to the edge of the shattered deck. He intentionally stood on the wobbling railing.

"Hey, you fried squid!" Caver screamed at the top of his lungs. He raised his axe high, then sliced his own hand slightly on the sharp blade. The scent of fresh human blood immediately spread through the air.

The monster responded. The sea's surface in front of the ship erupted. Its head, as large as a mining shack, surfaced. Its jaws swung wide, revealing rows of jagged teeth coated in hissing black energy.

"Crap, it's even scarier up close," Caver muttered. His heart hammered against his ribs, but he didn't back down an inch. "Lyra, now!"

Lyra, from atop the mast, didn't waste a single precious second. Three arrows launched simultaneously. None of them aimed for the body; instead, they targeted the roof of the Kraken's mouth.

BOOM!

The energy explosion inside its mouth made the monster groan in agony and tilt its head, exposing its massive eye clearly toward the ship's deck.

"NOW, JACK! FIRE!" Caver roared.

"Eat this! Take it out of my repair bill!" Jack pulled the trigger of his bronze cannon.

A massive boom shook the entire island—if there had even been an island there. A bolt of electric blue light shot from the cannon's muzzle, slamming directly into the Kraken's pupil.

The monster convulsed violently. Its roar turned into a sound of magical static that was painful to the ears. Black energy began to seep out of its ruptured eye, but it wasn't dead yet. Instead, its tentacles went wild, thrashing at everything in front of it in a blind frenzy.

"It's still not dead?!" Jack cursed while trying to reload his cannon. "Damn, it's jammed! The engine overheated!"

Caver saw the energy core in the center of the destroyed eye—a dark crystal that continued to pulse. That was the Agrasuuman magical 'brain.' As long as that crystal remained intact, the monster would keep regenerating.

"I'll finish it," Caver said curtly.

He didn't wait for a signal. Caver jumped. Not toward safety, but instead leaping toward one of the tentacles thrashing chaotically. He clung to the slippery, slimy skin and began to climb with a movement fueled by pure adrenaline.

"Caver! Are you insane?!" Karla's voice could be heard faintly behind the thundering roar of the water.

Caver didn't care. He was already on top of the monster's head. The foul stench of its energy grew even more pungent. With the last of his strength, Caver raised his mining pickaxe with both hands.

"This is for every lash I took in the mines! And this is for my wife!"

Caver slammed his pickaxe right into the center of the dark crystal embedded in the monster's eye socket.

KRAAAAACK!

The shockwave slammed Caver back onto the deck. The crystal shattered into a thousand pieces. The monster let out one final shriek before its massive body began to melt into a shapeless black sludge, which was then swallowed by the waves.

Silence.

Only the sound of small waves lapping against the wreckage of the ship. Caver lay flat on his back on the deck, staring at the night sky as it began to brighten slightly on the eastern horizon.

"Is it dead... it's really dead, right?" Jack asked softly, sitting beside his cannon, which was now smoking and sparking with electricity.

"Its eye shattered into dust, man. It should be," Caver answered weakly.

Lyra slid down from the remains of the mast with elegant grace, though her face showed her exhaustion as well. "You’re reckless, slave. But not bad... your technique back there wasn't too embarrassing to watch."

"Thanks... I guess that’s a compliment," Caver muttered as he tried to sit up.

Karla crawled closer, her face covered in a cold sweat as she leaned against Caver’s shoulder. "You're safe... Thank God."

"But my ship isn't safe, guys," Jack’s voice sounded truly miserable. He pointed downward.

Caver and the others looked at their feet. Seawater was starting to rise through the gaps in the deck planks. The sound of water rushing into the ship's interior was unmistakable. The hull of The Iron Crab had taken too much punishment from the tentacles earlier.

"Sinking, boss?" Caver asked blankly.

"Yes, sinking, you idiot! We're going down right now!" Jack panicked again. "There's only one lifeboat, and even that has a small leak!"

"Lyra, you're the navigator, right? Find us some dry land or something before we actually become shark bait!" Caver shouted as he tried to carry the helpless Karla.

Lyra scanned the surroundings, her eyes narrowing as she searched for something through the thick sea mist. She pointed northwest, toward a dark silhouette emerging in the pre-dawn light.

"Over there," Lyra said. "There's an island. But I've heard some nasty stories about that place."

"I'd rather those nasty stories come true later than drown here!" Jack started moving the remaining food supplies to the small lifeboat. "Hurry! If the ship goes under, the suction will pull us down with it!"

They worked as fast as possible. Caver helped lower Karla into the boat, followed by Lyra and Jack, who still managed to bring a small chest he called his "emergency treasure."

As they pulled away from the ship, The Iron Crab finally gave up. Jack's pride and joy tilted backward, then slowly vanished into the dark ocean with a loud gurgle of air bubbles.

"Goodbye, Iron Crab... I'll send the repair bill to Agrasuuman's address later," Jack sighed deeply, rowing the boat away from the wreck.

Silence returned, accompanied only by the sound of oars hitting the water. Caver held Karla tight. The Polar Forest was far behind, the magic monster defeated, but the challenges ahead seemed never-ending.

Caver stared at the silhouette of the island before them. An island covered in trees that glowed with a purplish light, surrounded by sharp rock formations that seemed to warn anyone not to approach.

"What island is that, Lyra?" Caver asked quietly.

"The Island of Whispering Death," Lyra replied shortly, her hand gripping her bow tight. "Home to Oxa, the guardian fairy of Qahara who hate the outsiders."

Caver swallowed hard. "Isn't she a fairy? Aren't they usually the good guys in fairy tales?"

Jack laughed bitterly, his voice dry from thirst. "Kid, you live in a world where slaves have their blood squeezed for streetlight energy. You still believe in 'good' fairy tales?"

Their lifeboat continued toward the black sandy shore that became clearer under the pale dawn light. Caver could feel a completely different aura from the island. It was as if every tree and rock there was watching them hungrily.

Just as the tip of their boat touched the black sand, a soft laugh—sweet but cold—echoed from behind the trees.

"Welcome, new prey..."

Suddenly, from beneath the sand, tree roots emerged and immediately coiled around their boat with immense strength, crushing the wood until it shattered.

"Dammit, not now!" Jack yelled as he tumbled onto the sand.

Caver immediately grabbed his pickaxe again, even though his body was shaking violently. At the edge of the beach, a figure with transparent wings and skin the color of a full moon began to reveal itself.

"Oxa?" Lyra whispered, her usually calm face now filled with fear.

The giant fairy figure landed slowly, her pupil-less eyes staring straight at Caver's heart. "Lowly humans... how dare you bring the black blood of a monster to my sacred land."

Caver stood at the front, positioning himself between the fairy and the terrified Karla. "We're just passing through! We're not enemies!"

Oxa smirked, a smile more terrifying than the Kraken they had just fought. "That's what every corpse currently buried under this sand said."

The island shook violently as Oxa’s voice rose, as if nature itself bowed to her command. Any hope of rest vanished instantly, replaced by a new, far more psychological and deep-seated horror before their eyes.

"Enough!" Karla shouted, her eyes suddenly glowing with a faint golden light—a sign that the remnants of Elven magic in her blood were attempting a final defense.