From the Depths

Gregor’s plan was simple at this point, instead of trying to replicate their herculean feat, now that such a grievous wound had been inflicted upon the Kraken they could simply wait until it bled out. Apparently, simple enough for the Beast itself to intuit, as it tried to go on the offensive.

Thrashing its remaining tentacles around wildly, the Kraken attacked the Legionnaires surrounding it. Arasaka was hit, and some members of other Squads, but they were extracted before anything serious resulted.

Its rampage continued on, as the frontline members from the respective Squad’s tried to slow the Kraken’s push. Logan even saw a wall of stone erupt on one side, evidence of Divinity at play.

Of course, the Beast's bulk immediately knocked it over, but Logan at least saw the attempt. The sight reinforced just how impressive Larry’s strength was. It also made Logan wish the other Squad’s had worked together with them, but it didn’t seem like it had mattered in the end.

After the initial surge, the Squadrons fell back, and the Kraken wasn’t able to rapidly pursue them across land. But it did try, leaving a great wake of oily blood behind it. Logan could hear its large beak snapping, but its pursuit was in vain, serving only to exacerbate the Kraken’s bleeding, as it gradually slowed.

Then, the Beast let out one last cry, before slumping over, the tension leaving its boneless limbs. Its body seemed to deflate, like it was a balloon, being saturated with blood.

As Logan looked around the gory docks, he saw that most of the Squadrons were in the process of finishing their foes. There were a couple of groups still engaged in combat, but it seemed that they were in no danger of being overwhelmed.

Instead, what drew Logan’s attention was the wake headed towards shore. From its size, whatever was making it must be just as large as the Kraken, if not larger. Then the wake vanished, about a hundred feet from shore, leaving Logan in a lull.

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Just as Logan was about to dismiss it, a huge spray of water erupted over the docks, spraying as far as the buildings almost thirty feet away. Then, another familiar form emerged from behind the temporary curtain of water.

A Salt King had brought its bulk onto the docks, and not just any Salt King. Logan saw a milky left eye, courtesy of Frear Squadron’s very own Lexie, which was a dead giveaway that this was the surviving Salt King from the Squad’s last encounter with them.

The nearly thirty foot croc opened its mouth in challenge, before it spied Logan from its good eye. Very slowly, the Beast closed its enormous jaws, and making its movements as smooth as possible, the Salt King backed into the water. It had remembered.

Logan watched the croc’s spines crest through the waves, as it swam along the shore looking for a safer spot to sun.

“How unusual…” Logan heard Jerry mutter under his breath, as the Legion went to clean up their battlefield.

Logan joined Gregor and Amar as they went to do just that, looking for a chance to catch up with the young man after a couple of weeks apart. He found them separate from most of the other team’s working on dissecting the corpses, investigating the severed Kraken tentacle instead of the main body.

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“Hey, good work out there, nice plan.”

Gregor back over his shoulder at him, “Than-… What is that?”

Logan followed his gaze back out past the docks. Once more a large wake was forming in the water, approaching Langst Harbor. It was hard to tell from this distance, but if anything, it looked to be even larger than the trail left by the Salt King.

Then the sound of more footfalls turned Logan’s attention again. Behind him, two more Squadrons joined Major Micah and Captain Frear out onto the docks. She looked somewhat upset, but the Major was all smiles.

“Perfect,” The Major announced, “Everyone’s here just in time. Good work recruits. Now, this is where the fun begins.”

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With the full might of the Company arrayed before him, Logan felt untouchable. Regardless of the threat they faced, it seemed impossible that the Legion could lose, with Captain Frear and the Major supporting them.

But, Logan realized he had judged the distance of the wake completely wrong. It was both much further out, and much larger than he had originally assumed. The wake was just now reaching the point that Logan spotted the Salt King's wake, but was significantly bigger, creating a sizable wave headed towards the docks.

Logan was still confident, but as the wave slowly approached shore, he felt a sense of apprehension wash over him. He couldn’t quite place his finger on it, but something was off.

“Alright everyone, the initial engagement will be the decider. Brace yourselves accordingly.” Major Micah shouted across the battlefield.

At his words, people began standing at the ready, waiting for their adversary to land. It didn’t seem like it wanted to keep them waiting. As the rush of water approached shore, it gained pace before their gathered eyes, causing beads of sweat to appear on multiple foreheads.

Then, suddenly, it was on them. The huge wave crashed into the docks to the sounds of raging waters and splintering timbers. The resulting spray didn’t just reach the buildings closest to the docks, its force slammed Legionnaires into them, leaving men and women injured.

Logan himself had almost been caught, but had timed his teleport perfectly, blinking through the solid wall of water, to see what lay behind. The resulting sight made Logan’s jaw drop.

The creature that was assaulting the Legion was by far larger than anything Logan had ever seen before. It had the size of the Horde Mother that attacked Alteep, but it had to have been at least seventy five feet. Logan couldn’t tell exactly, as it was too massive to drag it scaled and barbed form completely to the docks.

That was what had splintered the boards earlier, the creature’s gargantuan mass. Still, it had managed to bring some of its bulk onto the docks, even if they quaked under its weight. After all, they were facing a hecking dragon.

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When the water fell behind Logan, he heard exclamations of panic and gasps. He even heard some distant footfalls, as someone ran away. He couldn’t focus on them as he was listening for one voice in particular.

Jerry exclaimed, “A Depth Wyrm, but… what are those barbs, and why… why is it here? Can we really handle this type of foe..?”

This didn’t inform Logan that much, but the tone of his voice was enough to send the message. This fight would be out of their hands, and they would be forced to rely on the Major and Captains.

There they were, closing in on the Depth Wyrm, the Major trailing behind his eight Captains, when the unthinkable happened. One second, everyone was on the same side, perfectly healthy.

Then Major Micah, in one swing of his sword, ruined everything. Lined up perfectly and in their blind spots, Micah swung horizontally from left to right, decapitating seven of the eight Captains, before hastily being blocked by Captain Frear’s Soul Sword Ability.

Then, before Logan even had a chance to comprehend what was happening, the Depth Wyrm roared. Its massive voice shook Logan’s body, and then he realized it was doing more than just that.

The reverberations started to quake his mind and spark, filling Logan with a terrible pain on every level imaginable. He tried to withstand the attack, and managed to last long enough to see the rest of the Legion succumb, before Logan too fell to the ground.

However, the sensations of the Void instantly jerked him back to consciousness, despite the pressure his body was under. Logan didn’t have the wherewithal to do more than lay there on the ground, camouflaged among the other unconscious bodies on the ground.

Logan’s spirit almost broke as he heard Major Micah laugh over the sound of the waves, the Depth Wyrm’s call ended. Instead, he remembered a reason to steel his resolve. Looking around through closed eyes, Logan tried to recall one of the souls he had spent the most time around.

There you are. A sigh of relief let out in Logan’s mind. Amar was lying just to his left, almost a hundred feet away. He would get her out, and save himself too while he was at it. He owed it to Jeremiah to at least try.