The ship was groaning under the weight of the massive tentacles that wrapped around its wooden hull like giant snakes. The screams of the sailors mixed with the sound of the black oily waves crashing. The "Fog Kraken" was a monster of which only its glowing blue eyes could be seen from the depths.
Argyus (shouting): "You magic users! Cooperate all of you to create a barrier to protect the ship, do not let the tentacles reach the masts!"
Damn, it used magic to cover the upper layer of the sea with oil to protect itself from any attacks coming from above. If only we were near the Fog Islands, I would have frozen everything without care and made a path using ice to reach its land, but we are still far from it, and if I use my magic, the ship will surely be damaged, in addition to the damage caused by the Kraken, and there is no guarantee it will hold until we reach our destination. Damn, what is the solution now?
Despair began to creep into everyone's hearts, except for Raymond, who was walking with steady steps toward the edge of the ship, with blackness emitting from his sword like smoke obscuring the view because of the black mana he was pumping into the blade of his sword.
Raymond stood before a massive tentacle that almost crushed a group of mercenaries. He closed his left eye for a moment, recalling that feeling that came over him when he used magic for the first time in the morning—that turbulent fire that was out of his control.
Raymond (to himself): Fine, let's do it. I must control it, no, control alone is not enough, I must master it.
Raymond remembered Ron's words that magic depends on a person's imagination. This time he did not imagine an ordinary fire; before he closed his eye, he had analyzed everything happening around him as he learned from Maxim.
The Kraken and its tentacles wrapped around the ship's hull, and the sea surface which it turned into oil to protect its body from attacks coming from above, and also that if he used fire recklessly, he might burn the ship before they reach their destination.
Based on this analysis, he imagined a fire suitable for these conditions, and a black fire erupted from the blade of his sword. It was not hot, but rather "cold" to the point that it froze the air around it before burning it.
With one strike, Raymond sliced through the air. It was not an ordinary attack; his black sword blade cut the giant tentacle like a knife cuts butter, and what was truly terrifying was that the cut part did not bleed, but rather "eroded" and disappeared as if it were nothing.
Ron (in amazement and laughter): "My God! It doesn't just burn the body... it burns the mana inside the monster! Raymond, you aren't fighting, you are erasing the mana!"
From behind a magic barrier, Argyus was watching the scene in silence. His eyes narrowed as he saw Raymond's strength.
Argyus (in his mind): This is not the strength of a human... not even ordinary mana strength. I miscalculated; this boy is not just a mercenary, he is the 'variable' that might ruin my plan. I must keep him by my side to exploit him, and if I cannot exploit him, I will wait for the right moment to get rid of him.
While Raymond was preparing for another strike, the ship shook even more violently. The Kraken was not the only danger; from the middle of the black fog, another ship appeared, silent as a grave, carrying no lights, and on its torn sail was drawn a "skull and two axes surrounded by lightning."
Ron (excitedly): "Hahaha! First a Kraken and now pirates, what a fun adventure! Don't you agree with me, Raymond?"
Raymond turned with cold blood, the black fire still burning on his sword, and said in a voice that shook the souls of everyone on the ship:
"Monsters... humans... or pirates. It doesn't matter who they are... whoever stands in my way toward my quest will die."
The unknown ship began firing massive iron hooks, piercing the wood of Prince Erik's ship and creating bridges for crossing. From the fog, masked men jumped, their eyes glowing with unstable mana.
They were led by a man with a massive body, a bald head with a thick black beard, and what distinguished him more was his lack of a nose, and also his black axe surrounded by lightning.
The pirate leader gathered mana in his throat and shouted in a hoarse voice: "Prince Erik! Surrender yourself peacefully and we will deliver you safely to your brothers, and if you don't and we catch you ourselves, we will torture you throughout the journey until we deliver you to them. I will give you time until we finish off everyone on board your ship and loot what is in it... As for the rest, your death will be slow! Ho-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
After hearing him, the adventurers and mercenaries on Prince Erik's ship drew their weapons in preparation for the fight, but the pirates threw their weapons on the ground in surrender and completely lost the will to fight once they saw that pirate flag and heard that man's voice. The mercenaries and adventurers shouted: "What are you doing, you cowards?! Don't you feel shame? Pick up your weapons and fight, otherwise we will all perish, for they outnumber us!" One of the pirates laughed, his face filled with fear, and said: "Well, cowards you say, ha-ha-ha, ignorance is truly a blessing. Let me educate you a little, you ignorant fools. Here there is no such thing as honor or integrity, for these matters will not keep you alive at sea. What keeps you alive here is your mind and your strength, it doesn't matter how you use them, whether with malice or cunning, for our lives here are always on the line. Because of this matter, we know that our chance of staying alive in this situation is very slim. On one side there is that Kraken, and on the other side, their numbers are not the problem, but the problem lies in their leader. Even if we defeat them all, what is the use if we cannot defeat their leader? Even the ice mage is no match for him. If you have on land the Protectors of the Six Continents, we have seven kings who rule the sea, and the one before us is one of them: 'Lightning Axe Brandon'."
"Wait, if you compare them to the Protectors, do you mean they are in the Purple Rank as well?"
"Ha! Of course they are."
Raymond was listening to what they were talking about. Raymond smiled and then whispered in a low voice: "If he is in the Purple Rank, this means he is as strong as Maxim. This means he is the right opponent. Oyi, Ron, I will leave the Kraken to you, while I will take care of these pirates."
Ron: "Ha! Wait, I also want to fight them... Ha! This rascal has already gone. But was I imagining it, or was he smiling just now? Does he love fighting that much?"
Raymond walked toward the iron hooks that linked the two ships, and did not wait for them to start the attack. He plunged his sword into the first pirate who tried to jump, and instead of killing him with the sword, the "black fire" transferred to the pirate's body, and he began to scream as he saw his body disappear piece by piece without a drop of blood flowing from him.
Argyus (shouting): "You, mercenary! Where are you going?! Leave the pirates to me and the mercenaries! You and your friend focus on keeping the Kraken away, if we sink now, killing the pirates won't help us with anything!"
Raymond did not turn, but said as he cut another iron hook: "You take care of your ship, O mage... As for these, they came at the right time, for fighting them will benefit me more than that stupid creature."
Argyus thought in his mind: Damn, everything here has gone out of control, starting from the Kraken, then the pirates, and now this mercenary. But at the same time, everything is going smoothly. Did the spy trick me? No, that's impossible. Before sending them, I made them sign a mana contract with me, and the contract stipulated that whoever betrays me, the mana wrapped around their heart because of the contract will stop their heart in case they do it. Also, the contract jewels I have did not disappear; not a single one of them was destroyed. So how did they know we would come here if there was no traitor? It seems that someone from the princes' side deduced that we would take this path, and if there is someone who can do that, there are two people who can do it: the First Prince Andrick or the First Princess Clara.
Raymond walked on one of the shaking iron hooks, while Brandon's purple lightning bolts were striking the water around him, turning the oil spread by the Kraken into distorted balls of flame. Brandon was watching the one-eyed boy's progress with curiosity mixed with sarcasm.
Brandon (with a thundering laugh): "I thought the Prince would send one of the pups that guard him, but you look like a rabid dog who doesn't realize the size of who stands before him. Is this black fire, which made one of my men disappear without a single drop of blood flowing from him, your only trick, boy?"
Raymond did not answer. Instead, he lowered his body into the attack stance that Maxim had taught him, but this time, he was not aiming just to cut the body. The black mana exploded from under his feet, and with lightning speed his image vanished, only to appear behind Brandon in the blink of an eye.
Brandon was shocked by the speed, but his experience as a King of the Sea made him raise his black axe just in time. The sword collided with the axe, and the collision resulted in a pressure wave that pushed the fog away for a distance of a hundred meters.
The purple thunder tried to penetrate Raymond's body, but the black fire was literally "swallowing" the lightning, exactly as Ron told him; it erases mana.
Brandon (in amazement): "What is this?! The lightning disappears as soon as it touches your blade? Who the hell are you?"
Raymond (with a mocking smile): "I am just a rabid dog who loves tearing off noses."
Meanwhile, on the ship's deck, Ron began to release soul mana and summoned "Lower Sea Spirits" to shackle the Kraken's tentacles. He was laughing as he saw the chaos, while Argyus was weaving a massive ice spell, not to kill the Kraken, but to freeze the ship in its place so it wouldn't be pulled by the waves during Raymond's battle.
Argyus (in his mind): This boy... he is contending with the Lightning Axe. Even I wouldn't be able to hold out against him for a minute, but he is holding out against him using only black mana without using the power of the soul signature. Who the hell is this mercenary?