Aqua

Since the thing is blind, it doesn't take me that long to kill it. All it takes for me to kill it is destroying some sort of pulsing wooden orb thing at the center of the ship.

But after destroying it, I find a rather annoying surprise.

Specifically the fact that I fail to extract its blueprint five times in a row. Even though I extract numerous other monsters around me in my attempts.

The hell?

And what's even more bizarre is how the pirates previously on the ship don't even have an identify result. On top of that, not a single one of them succeeds in the extraction. And the aura snaps away from them at the same time as when it snaps away from the haunted ship.

Making me realize that the pirates on the ship really are part of it.

Seconds after failing to extract the blueprint, the other haunted ships all make it to me and begin attacking me. With the pirates on the ships firing harpoons at me while the ships try to chomp me and eat me for a snack.

I summon dozens of abyssal servants before having them attack the pirates on the ships. Slaughtering them one by one while trying to avoid their own attacks as much as I can.

Which pretty much amounts to just avoiding most major injuries.

Except when they pierce one of my minor hearts with a harpoon, making me grit my teeth and cry out in pain.

It hurts just as badly as losing a limb, but I push through it to use Abyssal Ruler to extract more blueprints. Only to fail again when I try extracting the haunted ships blueprints.

And again.

And a third and fourth time.

It isn't until my fifth try that I finally manage to extract two of the ships' blueprints. And at this point I'm so exhausted from blood loss that I feel my vision beginning to go hazy.

Without hesitation, I have the two haunted ships fight against the last two remaining haunted ships here to let me head towards the entrance. All while checking my status to see how much mana I have left.

Which is only a little over three hundred.

I grit my teeth as my vision grows hazier and hazier. And after seeing more haunted ships beginning to head in this direction along with swarms of other undead unrelated to the haunted ships, I let myself fall onto one of my haunted ships – after the haunted ships finish off the two ships here – and have the other abyssal servants I have summoned rush to defend me.

All while having the haunted ship carry me towards the entrance to the other cavern.

But the swarms of undead and haunted ships quickly begin to wipe out my own lower level forces. Leaving the two haunted ships I have rushing straight into the exit of the cavern with a swarm of other undead beginning to enter after us.

My vision continues to grow hazy as trails of my blood follow me and my abyssal servants.

Right before I lose consciousness though, I activate Maw of the Abyssal Kraken right behind me and the haunted ships. Making the last sight that I see before everything goes dark being that of the maw opening up and beginning to devour the swarms of undead.

Stolen story; please report.

Along with the dinging sounds of System Messages echoing through the darkness.

Within the Azuranth Estate

Kaelthas lets out a sigh of relief when he sees what's on the screen in front of him. And he's not the only one as every Kraken Bloodliner around him shows the same relief.

As they watch Aqua being carried away from the undead by one of her servants, with all of the undead chasing her ending up being devoured by her skill. One after another, nonstop.

Kaelthas faintly smiles while watching the undead practically pouring themselves into the large maw that opened up in the middle of the tunnel instead of appearing in the ground for the first time. Meanwhile Aqua's own level begins to rise at a fast pace.

And soon enough, the broadcast cuts off thanks to Aqua falling unconscious.

The Patriarch of the Krakens continues staring at the blackened screen for several seconds before turning his focus onto the other awakened Kraken Bloodliners in the room.

"It looks like the emergency is over," he declares while faintly smiling at the thought of just how much this will help her after she wakes up. Not feeling even the slightest bit worried about her injuries thanks to what Aqua said before about the Abyssal Kraken along with what he's seen of her regeneration so far. "Therefore it is now time to return to the topic of our meeting."

All of the other Bloodliners nod their heads in agreement with his words.

"Since it is believed that the assumed Abyssal Kraken is immortal, we will all go down into the Abyss to search as a group tomorrow," Kaelthas states as he narrows his eyes. "Do not search for it on your own. We've disclosed details about the monster that we've learned on our own, excluding what my granddaughter has told us, to the Bloodline Research Center's new head, and they've determined that the tentacles we've seen down in the Abyss most likely belong to an undiscovered Ancient Monster."

"Understood." "As you wish, Patriarch." "Yes, Uncle."

"We will all go down together to be safe, but do not let the monster discover you as you travel deeper into the Abyss," Kaelthas continues while placing both of his hands on the table in front of him. "I swear we will find Orvyn, Rithral, and Seravina and bring them back home."

The three all respond in affirmatives once more before leaving the room to make their own preparations for the journey. Then Kaelthas turns his attention back to the screen behind him as it turns on to show different data they've collected so far about the monster that is most likely the Abyssal Kraken.

Up until now, they've had run-ins with it numerous times.

Sightings of enormous deep blue, almost black scaled tentacles stretching further than their eyes can see. Swarms of abyssal servants rising from the depths of the water. And strange changes in the water currents making it possible to enter the middle layer of the Abyss at any time while also making it more dangerous inside of those layers through random currents.

Currents that feel like they're caused by something moving. Like someone moving around in a swimming pool.

Except supersized to the size of entire planets.

But the most unusual disturbance in the Abyss they've seen since is the occasional flash of light so bright that it's like a sun. A deep blue light that sends chills down the spines of all the Kraken Bloodliners just from the sight of it.

The light is clearly coming from deeper down in the Abyss. Maybe even down in the deep layer of the Abyss or even the bottom of it, yet it's still so bright.

And it only sometimes appears before disappearing for a long time.

It's almost like a sun deep down in the Abyss brightly lighting up everything within it. One that comes and goes sometimes without warning.

And once in a while the light flickers for some reason.

Just what is it? Is there some sort of light or energy core down in the Abyss? Or maybe…

A possibility does come to mind, but Kaelthas refuses to even consider it.

Because if it's really true, then it would be utterly terrifying.

Kaelthas shakes his head at the thought before focusing on the data again.

Everything they've seen so far implies that whatever they're facing is most likely an Ancient Monster.

The levels of the abyssal servants so far away from whatever created them. The enormous size of its tentacles. And even the fact that it shares similarities to Aqua's skills.

But one of the biggest things leading them to believing it's an Ancient Monster is that the identify result when they try identifying the tentacles comes back as blank.

Nothing but question marks for both the name and level.

And the only things that are in the six or seven digits in levels are the Ancient Monsters. On top of the question marks for its name, which usually means the monster is too large for the user to identify from where they are.

Kaelthas lets out a sigh before leaving the room to go make his own preparations.

Fortunately for them, with the major currents changing so frequently, they won't be locked down in the Abyss this time. So if anything happens, they can periodically come back up to check on Aqua.

That's good at least…

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