Chapter 11
Shadow
The monster lunged toward Laios, but something held it back—or rather, disrupted its leap.
One of its legs was severed, and as it fell, blood of a violet-red hue burst out. The wound began to bubble, grotesque spheres of flesh forming, pulsating as if trying to rebuild themselves.
As he turned toward where it had been before, he saw an arm gripping a blue sword wrapped in a green aura.
The wooden debris and several metal plates began shifting to the sides.From among them emerged the man from before—the officer who had handed Eilor his uncle's sword.
He stepped out of the wreckage wearing an irritated expression, a green light covering his abdomen, right where his uniform now showed an open, bleeding hole.
When he turned his gaze back to where he had been a moment before, the first thing he saw was an arm raised, firm, wielding a blue sword that burned with a vibrant green aura, like a restrained fire.
Every step made the fragments of wood crunch under his boots, while the sword in his hand breathed with an electric hum that filled the scene.
He spat blood to the side, the red thread mixing with the dust still floating in the air.He lifted his gaze, locking eyes with the monster. His body lowered into a stance, ready to spring.
But before he could move, a fleeting flash—a claw slashed across his face, carving lines of fresh blood.The blow came from another of the cryptids, lunging from the side.
Suddenly, the metallic clash resounded in the hall. A sword with a bent hilt cut through the air and deflected the attack at the last second, pushing the creature back.The twisted trajectory of the weapon did not diminish its force; it had saved a life that, a moment before, seemed already lost.
Immediately after, Laios lunged at the creature, about to reach for the sword. But the cryptid was faster: it sank its fangs into Laios's right hand before he could slam its head against the ground.
The pain was immediate, fierce, but Laios did not stop. With his left hand, he caught the beast's jaw, preventing it from clamping down harder. Its fangs sank into his flesh, but advanced no further.
A flash burned in Laios's eyes. From his right hand, still trapped in the monster's teeth, fire erupted.Flames overflowed inside the cryptid's mouth, spilling out through its gaping jaws.
Its roar turned into a strangled scream, a mix of pain and rage, as its body thrashed and twisted violently.In just a few seconds, the convulsions ceased. The monster lay motionless, smoke and fire escaping from its blackened throat.
Laios slowly withdrew his hand, his skin marked by bites and blood, while the flames around him died out.
As Laios was barely getting back up, the six-limbed monster lunged at them once more, a deep roar vibrating in the air.But before it could reach them, a barrage of gunfire struck around it, diverting its attention for an instant.An instant was all they needed.
Laios and the officer didn't waste it.The officer charged with a clean slash at its opposite leg, while Laios aimed straight for the abdomen, trying to drive his sword in.
The blade bounced against the toughness of that monstrous flesh. Laios pulled back and repeated the strike with quicker momentum, now wrapped in a red aura that managed to pierce… barely.
The sword sank a few centimeters, but the resistance was brutal. Not enough strength… Laios thought with a flash of frustration.
The officer's cut, though precise, only managed to slice part of the leg. The flesh bubbled and sealed shut instantly, not leaving so much as a scar.
The monster answered with a brutal strike that swept the air in front of them.Both retreated, panting, barely dodging the charge. The force of the impact sent splinters and dust flying around them.
They withdrew further, splitting off in opposite directions, leaving the monster right between them, crouched, its head swiveling from side to side like a predator sizing up its prey.
Laios cast a quick glance at the battlefield, measuring everything in seconds.Of the fourteen cryptids at the start—thirteen, if he didn't count the six-limbed monster—fewer remained now.
Three had been crushed in the first charge of the monster itself.One more he had killed himself, when saving the officer.Four had fallen to Körper's fury and the other two.
That left only five cryptids still standing… plus the monster.
The air reeked of iron and charred flesh. The twisted bodies of the fallen lay scattered on the ground, while the remaining ones growled.
In the center, the six-limbed creature breathed with a harsh rasp, its wounds closing as if mocking death itself.
The numbers had dwindled, but not the tension.An enemy like this didn't need an army to wipe them all out.
A crash shook him. Laios reacted to the sound and snapped back:the officer was in front of the monster—or rather, barely surviving against it.
He dodged, deflected, and blocked with difficulty. In the strikes he couldn't intercept, translucent green squares appeared, interposing themselves exactly where the blow should have landed, absorbing the force instead of his body.
Laios didn't stand and watch. He leapt in to help, but first hurled his weapon with all his strength. The sword struck the monster's torso and, to his horror, the blade snapped in two with a dry crack.
Laios's mouth opened in disbelief, but he immediately pressed his lips tight, shoving the astonishment aside. There was no time to think.
The monster twisted violently. Its body rammed like a wall and dragged the officer, flinging him through the air.
The man crashed against the ship's edge, breaking part of the railing, left hanging at the brink of the void.
At the last instant, a strong arm caught him.The burly man had grabbed him, nearly falling with him, but managed to hook himself onto a firm part of the structure. Both dangled, hanging by a thread.
Laios dove to the side, rolled across the deck, and dodged another charge that shattered the planks in its wake.
The monster stopped abruptly, spun, and with grotesque speed grabbed a cryptid that lay on the floor, bleeding out from bullet holes.It lifted it by the legs, as if it were a broken doll.
Seriously…? Laios thought in disbelief. Is it going to use that as a weapon?
The beast didn't wait.It pushed off its two hind legs and, with a roar, leapt at him.
In that instant, a lightning bolt split the night, illuminating the monstrous figure in the air.The vision seared itself into Laios's retinas: the six-limbed colossus, wielding in its hands a dying cryptid turned into a macabre club.
The fraction of a second froze him. And in that instant of hesitation, a brutal impact struck him: a direct kick to his left side.
The air blasted from his lungs as his body was hurled away, scraping against the ship's wet wooden deck.
The kick had thrown him several meters farther, air wheezing from his chest.But it hadn't been the monster that struck him.It was Körper.
He had coated his body in water and, at the last moment, propelled himself with that liquid force to escape just in time—using Laios as an improvised projectile to avoid taking the hit directly.
In the brief flash of the maneuver, Laios saw it all as if in slow motion:the dying cryptid, still clutched by the monster, bending grotesquely under the pressure of the movement; and then, the brutal crash against the deck.
But what was unexpected wasn't the body.Instead of breaking as it should have, the floor beneath it began to sink, bending with a dreadful crack.
Wood splintered, metal plates gave way, and with each spasm of the corpse the fissure spread further and further, as if it were the ship itself that had been wounded.
Within seconds, the deck was carved by a deep gash, a tear threatening to split it in two.
The monster landed right on the fissure.All its weight came down on it, and the wood groaned like thunder. The gap bent even deeper under its mass. A deafening crack ran across the deck before the floor gave way completely.
The creature vanished from sight, falling into the breach.
At the same time, Körper landed, rolling across the drenched floor just a moment later.
A fleeting spark crossed his mind.The water still coating his body spread under his feet, propelling him like a projectile toward the nearest mast.
With a gesture, he dispersed the water and let himself glide over the wet surface, rain striking his face. He raised his sword and the blade began to vibrate, now wrapped in a red aura.
He twisted his torso and swung a downward slash, all his strength concentrated in the edge. It traced a horizontal arc on a descending diagonal.
The sound of impact was dry, like bone breaking.
The slash ripped through the mast's wood with a sharp cry. The structure tore apart and, overcome by its own weight, collapsed. It began to fall, dragging sails, ropes, and pieces of metal.
Until the entire mast crashed onto the deck, breaking into fragments that violently sealed the fissure.
One of those pieces struck a cryptid directly, crushing and obliterating it in an instant, a burst of blood and splinters.
Other fragments pierced the floor, shattering planks and tearing down a staircase that fell amid the chaos, leaving the deck a wreck of debris and damp smoke.
The roar of the wind now mingled with the creaks and the momentary silence after the collapse.
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The rain pounded relentlessly, but for the first time they could breathe in peace.
Körper dropped onto his back on the ground, exhaling hard, the water still clinging to him sliding off into puddles beneath his body.
Laios struggled to his feet and ran to the burly man, still hanging on the ship's edge.
Bang.The thunder of a shot jolted them, forcing them to turn.
The girl held her smoking rifle; at her feet, the last cryptid fell limp, a hole in its forehead.
Laios nodded wordlessly, then grabbed the officer by the arm and helped him climb back onto the deck. Together, they hauled the burly man up to safety.
The group was finally reunited.
All of them collapsed, exhausted, sitting or lying on the wet wood, struggling to catch their breath.
Around them, the deck was a graveyard: dismembered cryptid bodies, mast splinters, broken railings, and pools of blood mixing with the rain.
The ship groaned under the weight of the battle just ended, as if it too were breathing with them after surviving.
One of them broke the silence with a weary voice:—We should go inside… rest under a roof, now that we can.
But no one answered.
The words hung in the air like a slab, because as they heard them, they all thought the same thing… something none had considered until that moment.
What if they weren't the only ones?What if others, further below in the ship, had also started to transform?
The soft patter of rain on the deck turned into a heavy noise. None dared move, their eyes fixed on the doors leading to the lower levels.
Dark, silent, shut… too shut.
The air thickened. Fatigue urged them to surrender, but doubt gnawed at their nerves.
Because the six-limbed monster wasn't dead.They had only delayed the inevitable.
And now, the possibility they weren't alone made every shadow seem like an enemy lurking.
Another lightning bolt tore through the sky, illuminating the storm and the horizon for an instant.
This time, however, the light revealed something impossible to ignore: a colossal shadow, like a dark blot falling through the air from a gigantic bridge and crashing into the raging sea.
The roar of the impact came quickly, shaking both the ocean and their bones.
—Hey… —the officer's voice cracked with a tremor he couldn't hide—. Did you all see the same thing I did?
No one answered at first.
The silence lasted only a second, but it felt eternal.
—Yeah… —the four replied in unison, with a tone that blended disbelief and fear.
The echo of the word was lost in the rain, while their gazes stayed fixed on that shadow that should not have been there.