Qing tucked his shoulders and clutched his glaive as water tore at him, the Kraken propelling itself through the water with terrifying speed. His face slid back and forth across the slick, alien-like skin of the Kraken. It felt like a soap covered blanket put in water.

He held his breath. His previous attack had merely enraged the beast, and now it charged their ship. If it rammed or even slapped the vessel once with a tentacle, all would be lost. His quest would fail, and his friends would die.

No way I’m letting that happen.

He opened his inventory and equipped all his items, boosting his stats. It made him less aqua dynamic, but he was many times stronger, making it overall easier to resist.

This monster has to have vulnerable spots. Eyes? If I can blind it...

The creature was swimming so fast that Qing didn’t dare cast Blink, fearing it might leave him behind. Instead, he straightened his fingers and punched straight through the Kraken’s skin, sinking three inches in. After unequipping his glaive, he punched in with his second hand and pulled himself forward, as if climbing a foam wall.

Water tore at his entire body, slamming him against the Kraken’s hide, threatening to tear him off, but he climbed towards its top. Three punches later, as he raised his fist to strike again, the Kraken cast Earth Armor. Qing’s fist glanced off the stone covering its skin.

Suddenly, the Kraken twisted, barrel rolling underneath the sea, tentacles splayed out. For a moment, Qing hung on, but with only one grip, it was too much, and he was throwing away from its body. The tentacles whipped through the water and Quick Reflexes proc’ed, sending Qing twisting, a tentacle whipping past his head, sucking him along in its wake, spinning every which way.

Where is up?

With his heavy gear on, Qing sank fast, and only his innate light pushed against the never-ending darkness of the deep blue sea. He let out a single bubble of air and followed its trajectory with his eyes.

Qing cast Blink up towards the surface, his lungs burning. He looked around for the Kraken and cast Blink again. This time, his head burst through the surface and he heaved a breath of air before casting a third Blink toward the ship.

He appeared in the air, and his stomach dropped as he fell towards the water.

There!

The Kraken speed through the water, a mere two-hundred feet from the ship.

I’ve got to slow it.

He checked his mana.

Mana: 500/750

He was burning mana fast, but grateful that he’d put the twelve stat points he’d gotten from defeating Wazir into Intelligence.

It’ll have to do.

As he fell, Qing cast Chrono Shift right in front of the Kraken. Magic poured out of him, tearing at his insides and giving him a mental brain freeze.

He’d expected the waves to somehow slow, but they didn’t. Everything looked normal until the Kraken, swimming a few feet under the surface, hit the wide bubble of magic that Qing felt as much as saw. In an instant, the entire monster started moving in slow motion. Qing equipped his glaive and Blinked above the monster.

If I can land on top and sprint along its back before it rolls or dives, I can cause enough damage to kill it or make it flee.

Qing struck the water feet first, glaive angled down. It was like jumping into a kiddie pool with two feet of water, barely slowing his fall. But he plunged his weapon deep into the Kraken’s skin. Time felt no different to Qing, but with the kraken’s reduced speed, the water streamed past much slower. Walking on top felt like wading through a river rather than being pulled behind a speeding motorboat.

The Kraken’s eye and tentacles were further down its body, but he didn’t want to blink there in case a tentacle slammed into him. Instead, he set about carving the kraken into pieces as he ran along its body. The Kraken started rolling, spinning its body, but slowed as it was, Qing easily compensated.

He was halfway down to the eye when he felt magic gathering. A tentacle lifted and cast Water Surge, sending a mini tsunami rushing towards Qing.

Doubting his magic shield would protect him, Qing pulled in magical energy and cast Arcane Explosion, timing it just before the wave hit. The spell ripped a globe-sized hole through the wave, and it passed around him as if he stood in a glass tunnel. Not only that, but it carved a hole in the monster’s body, and Qing dropped in, water rushing across him.

He grinned as an idea formed, and if the Kraken could have seen him then, it might have begged for mercy. He walked forward along the Kraken’s body, carving his way. When one of its tentacles reached up and swiped at him like a cat trying to push a glass off a table, the difference in their speed made it almost comical.

Qing ripped the glaive out of the Kraken’s body, cast Smite on it, and Aegis on himself. Then, with a roar, he struck at the whipping tentacle, carving through it like a sushi chef dissecting a live octopus. The top tentacle bounced off Qing’s armour, while the other half whipped impotently past.

Before the water could tear him off, Qing plunged the glaive back into the Kraken’s body, anchoring himself, and sprinted forward. The creature twisted, but despite its slippery hide, Qing kept his balance. Its body was simply too large, its movements too slow.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Captain Thundershield called for bracing positions, and the Kraken’s body rippled underneath him. Qing looked behind. They were nearly at the ship. It was preparing to ram.

Then a glowing ballista bolt splashed through the water to sink into the Kraken’s body, the entire projectile disappearing. But nothing happened.

If we don’t find its brain, I’ll have to carve it into pieces to make it stop. It’ll take too long. But where does a squid keep its brain? Or, more accurately, where does a demonic kraken keep its brain? Does it even have one?

He’d made the gamble that it was close to its eyes, and he was nearly there, the orange and red eye looming fifteen feet ahead. He pulled in mana and cast Magic Missiles. The orbs flashed out, but before they could impact the eye, a massive tentacle slammed across its body, blocking the spell.

If it’s offering tentacles, I’ll chop them apart.

He cast Smite and charged.

The beam he’d seen Cedric fire against Wazir lanced down, digging like a laser into the kraken’s flesh. A tentacle swatted at it, but the only thing it accomplished was getting sliced in two.

Qing jumped towards the eye, but as he did, the Kraken cast Earthen Bulwark, and a massive wall appeared. Qing smacked into it, and a shock ran through his body, his muscles seizing up. The wall was lightning-empowered. It wan three times his height, and circled the monster like a skirt.

The sudden appearance of the wall stopped the Kraken dead in the water, launching Qing backward like a surfer whose board hit an immovable object. He tumbled along the monster’s body. When he came to a halt, the tip of the kraken was so close to the ship Qing could have reached out and touched it. But it was safe for now.

Qing prepared to Blink towards the lower half of the monster when the oversized squid floor disappeared beneath his feet. The kraken flipped itself, head down, tentacles up. Qing slid into the water, and before he could move, the Earth Wall smacked down on him, electrocuting him and pushing him underwater.

Despite its grievous wounds and losing three tentacles, five remained – more than enough to smash the ship to flotsam.

Qing checked his mana.

Mana: 400/750

He cast Blink, appearing at the edge of the earth wall that had now transformed into a platform. Before he could sink, he gritted his teeth and grabbed on. Electricity zapped into him, but he forced his muscles to contract, pulling himself up.

For a second, Qing could do nothing but stare at the sight above him as it burned itself into his memory.

Somehow, the wall of earth floated, and with the Kraken standing on its head, it looked as if the monster was wearing a big inflatable tube bopping along on the stormy ocean. The kraken stood tall like a redwood and thicker than a rocket ship. Its five remaining tentacles spread out, having slammed down towards the ship.

Yet Cedric stood on the Sea Serpent’s railing, his white staff held aloft, roaring up at the kraken. He had halted the massive tentacles, mid strike, just as he had done to Qing and King Sharyar before. But holding a monster this size was another level, and a line of blood ran from his nose.

Jenny stood at the railing, spitting insults at the monster. Next to her was Rowan, his face set in a calm frown as if this was just another zombie horde. Down on the main deck, Knut and Morgana stood, firing, arrows and bolts thudding into the gigantic body.

Aria was nowhere to be seen, nor Queen Ruqiya. But Ghida stood with Morgana, the Arcanist’s Prism staff in her hand, a wind spell at the ready. Likely in an attempt at deflecting a tentacle. Sailors by the dozen stood on the deck, staring slack-mouthed at the monster. What could they hope to do against such power?

But Qing’s friends were buying him the time he needed.

He activated the ability on his glaive.

Flight of the Blood Claws: Once an hour, gravity’s effect on the wearer may be reduced, allowing them to soar across the battlefield. Their mass is unchanged.

Gravity released its hold, and he sprang towards the monster, aiming midway up, with Magic Shield activated.

The massive eye, one and a half times his height up its body, focused on him and blinked. A gigantic eyelid closed like drapes, then opened. As it did, Chrono Shift ended, and electricity arced out, striking towards him as the Kraken cast Chain Lightning. It struck his Magic Shield with no impact except a drain on his mana.

Game over, cat-food.

With a roar, Qing finally lanced his glaive into the black iris at the center of the kraken’s eye. It slid in like a knife through pudding.

Uh-oh.

Qing splashing into warm, gooey eye-liquid, and he felt more than heard the vibrations of an agonized scream.

Still, the monster refused to die.

But Qing had it right where he wanted it.

He cast Arcane Explosion, and for a moment, he hung suspended in the air as all the surrounding matter was blown away.

Falling, he stuck his hand into a hole, grabbing hold of something white and hard like bone. It had to be a piece of its skull. Air pushed out through the hole, bringing with it a stench of rotten seafood and digestive juices.

Before he could move, gravity seemed to change, slamming him against the fleshy roof of the little cave he’d excavated. The kraken had had enough and thrown itself away from the ship, dispelling its floaty wall.

Seawater flooded in around Qing, tossing him every which way.

As the kraken dove straight downwards, the water pressure skyrocketed. In just a few seconds, he felt the crushing force of the ocean pressing in around him, and anger surged. This monster had dared attack his friends. It threatened his quest.

If I let it go now, will it come back in the dark of the night to sink our ship? No mercy.

He activated Shadowsight, and as he did, time seemed to slow. His eyes moved, glancing around. Everywhere he looked, undead souls clung to the sides of the demon.

How many has it killed?

Qing cast Grasp of the Dead, selecting massive swaths of the fallen, preparing himself for the mental struggle. But it never came. With his bonecaller mastery, the spell was simple. A hundred pairs of spectral arms reached out–sailors hungry for revenge–and grasped hold of the demonic kraken, anchoring it so it couldn’t move, ripping at its soul.

Then Qing cast Skeletal Legion, targeting the kraken’s insides. His team of undead rose from the fleshy walls and started ripping the monster apart from within. The skeletal warriors hacked and slashed through tissue, while bursts of necrotic energy from the mages ate away at the monster from the inside out.

Yet Qing needed to breathe. But if he left now…

Without hesitating, a disgusted look on his face, he shoved his head through the smaller opening and into the belly of the beast. Water rushed in past him, but it had yet to fill the cavernous interior. Hoping this wouldn’t be his last act, Qing took a deep lungful of air.

Without the practice of the living tapestry, he would have coughed up his lungs in disgust then and there. As it was, he held on and took a few deep breaths, flooding his blood with oxygen. Enough to fuel his one mission. To find the kraken’s brain and destroy it.

Ready, Qing cast Arcane Explosion, blowing the hole wide open. Water rushed in, carrying him head over heels. His head bounced off a hard surface, and if not for his innate light illuminating the water, this would have become his watery grave. But the object he’d hit was clearly the creature’s spine.

Qing cast Smite and plunged his glaive straight through the kraken’s spine. A shiver ran through the walls, and he swam upwards, casting Magic Missiles upwards before anchoring himself at the top of the interior, right behind where the eye had been.

There he cast Arcane Explosion, blowing upwards and inwards. And again. And again. But all he found was pink flesh and orange blood.

This is bad. My root will run out soon, as will my oxygen.

He’d gambled on the brain being close to the eyes.

Continue or get out while I can?