Jake’s eyes widened slightly as the cracked, smiling mask continued to stare at him.
’...What the hell is this?’
The longer he looked, the more wrong it felt.
This wasn’t like any sea beast he had heard of or encountered before.
There was no thick hide, no natural beastly form... only that long, dark extension rising from the black water and the disturbing human-like mask at its peak.
His gaze followed the elongated neck-like body stretching down toward the dark sea below as he realized something.
’No wonder I couldn’t see anything under the door... so it was floating from the sea the entire time...’
But then another thought struck him.
’...But how did it make footsteps?’
As if responding to his confusion, the creature began to move.
The long form leaned forward and pressed against the side of the ship.
Those limp, human-like limbs suddenly stiffened and braced against the deck.
Then—
Step.
Step.
Step.
Using those arms like twisted legs, the creature pulled itself further onto the ship and began "walking" toward him in a deeply unnatural manner.
Each movement was uneven and wrong, yet the sound of its steps matched the earlier footsteps perfectly.
The cracked mask with its strange smile remained fixed on Jake the entire time.
Jake’s grip on his sword tightened, aura beginning to rise more sharply around the blade.
Yet something felt wrong.
His [Instinct]... was quiet.
There was no sharp warning, no sudden sense of lethal danger flooding his mind like before.
The absence of that familiar alert made his brows furrow as he hesitated.
’...Shit! Is this thing weak? Or strong?’
He couldn’t tell.
If it were weak, he would kill it right here and now.
But if it were strong, he planned to stay on the defensive until Garrick arrived.
And what was worse... he couldn’t see any lines of aura from this strange creature at all.
Even so, his body reacted on its own.
A deep, almost primal sense of repulsion crawled under his skin, as if every part of him rejected the existence of the creature in front of him.
It wasn’t fear exactly... it was closer to pure disgust, an instinctive revolt that made his stomach tighten.
Jake’s eyes remained locked on the advancing form for another second before he glanced back slightly.
"Grace—"
The words stopped short.
Grace was completely still.
Her golden eyes were widened in pure shock, and her mouth hung open as she stared at the elongated creature crawling onto the deck.
There was no readiness in her posture, no raised gun... only frozen disbelief, as if she were looking at a monster that should only exist in fairy tales.
"...Impossible... How...?"
The usual focus and tension she showed in dangerous situations were gone as she murmured to herself.
"...Grace?" Jake called again, his voice lower.
But she still didn’t respond.
Then—
"JAKE, WATCH OUT—!!"
Grace’s sudden shout snapped through the air.
Jake’s body reacted instantly.
In the same moment the warning left her lips, the elongated creature lunged.
Its dark, stretched form shot forward with unnatural speed, one of the human-like limbs swinging toward him like a twisted spear.
Jake raised his sword just in time.
Clang—!!
Sparks exploded between the blade and the creature’s limb as the impact rang out across the deck.
The force behind the strike was heavier than expected, pushing Jake half a step back as the metallic clash echoed into the night.
His arms tensed under the pressure as veins and muscles bulged while he looked forward.
The cracked mask remained inches away from his face, its frozen smile never changing even as the creature pressed forward.
Jake’s eyes sharpened.
Behind him, Grace finally snapped out of her daze and raised her gun with trembling hands.
But in that instant—
One of the limp, human-like arms suddenly stretched.
It extended unnaturally, shooting forward like a dark spear aimed straight at Grace.
"—!"
The twisted limb tore through the air with frightening speed, its elongated form bending and lengthening far beyond what any normal arm should allow.
Grace’s golden eyes widened as the spear-like hand was about to stab toward her chest.
Jake’s expression changed at once.
"Grace—!!"
In that split second, something inside him erupted.
A surge of strength exploded through his body as his aura flared violently along the blade.
Without hesitation, Jake twisted his stance and swung with everything he had.
"Slash!!"
A sharp, brilliant arc of power tore through the night.
The glowing edge of his sword cut cleanly through the elongated limb mid-extension.
SPURT!
The dark, spear-like arm was severed in a single decisive stroke, the cut clean and ruthless.
The detached portion of the limb spun through the air before hitting the deck with a wet, unnatural sound.
Dark, viscous fluid sprayed from the severed end as the remaining part of the arm jerked back violently before dissolving into black mist.
The creature’s cracked mask tilted slightly, its frozen smile still fixed in place even as its body recoiled from the sudden loss of the limb.
Jake did not give it time to recover.
He stepped forward at once, aura surging along his blade as he prepared to launch a fierce slash toward the elongated body.
The creature reacted instantly.
In the span of a single breath, the missing limb regenerated, dark flesh and twisted structure reforming out of black mist until a new arm had fully taken shape.
The moment it finished, the creature lashed out.
Both of its elongated arms began to move like flexible weapons, sweeping and stabbing from multiple directions at once.
The air around Jake was instantly filled with dark, spear-like trajectories as the monster’s assault intensified like a storm of attacks engulfing him.
Jake’s expression hardened.
He raised his sword and poured more aura into the blade, his body shifting rapidly as he blocked, parried, and cut through the continuous barrage.
What followed was an extremely fast exchange.
CLANG!!
CLANG!!
CLANG!!
Sparks exploded one after another under the night sky as the relentless exchange continued, the cracked smiling mask never once changing its expression even as its limbs blurred through the air.
The two sides clashed in a rapid blur of movement.
Jake moved his sword at full speed, the blade flashing repeatedly as he intercepted the storm of whip-like attacks.
Each collision sent sharp vibrations up his arms.
The force behind every strike was heavier than it looked, and the speed was relentless.
Amid the storm of attack, Jake gritted his teeth.
’So fast... and strong!’
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