Book 4 | Agent 34 and the Last Gem

Chapter 55 | The Kraken

Water dripped from the squid as it roared, revealing its beak to them. The boat rocked with danger, the soldiers onboard not knowing what to do.

More tentacles slapped onto the dock, trying to grab at the men in the middle. They all clumsily slapped their blades against the squid's limbs, scaring it away for a brief amount of time.

Thad quickly ran to a tentacle and spun his hammer in his hand. He raised it high and slammed it down, the tentacle pulling away quickly and the squid shrieking in pain. Anger appeared in the beast's eyes as it began to grab at the soldiers more quickly and aggressively than before.

"Agent 34!" Thad called. The elf was standing on the edge of the front of the ship, simply watching what was going on. "Help me!"

He nodded, drawing his white and purple blade. A tentacle slapped onto the wooden ship right in front of him, grabbing onto the elf. He held onto his blade tightly, keeping his arms in the air as the tentacle wrapped around him.

"What the hell are you doing!?" The dwarf cried when he saw Agent 34 getting lifted into the air by the squid. The squid lifted Agent 34 towards it's face, between its eyes and beak. The elf was sure it was planning on eating him.

Quickly, Agent 34 slammed his blade into the slimy and wet tentacle that wrapped around his body. The squid shrieked and lost its grip on its meal, flailing its arms around in pain.

Agent 34 wrapped his arms around the tentacle, trying to keep a grip on it. He began to slip off when the tentacle shot into the air. The elf lost his grip and was sent flying upwards, holding onto his blade tightly.

When he came down, he came down upon the squid's head. Agent 34 lowered his sword downwards towards his opponent and drove the blade deep into its eye upon impact. The squid was blinded by both blood and pain. The squid shrieked and slammed its tentacles around the ship, ripping a few boards up and causing a few soldiers to shriek.

Agent 34 withdrew his sword, sliding down the squid's head and onto a tentacle. He climbed the tentacle back onto the ship, nodding at Thad.

Thad walked over to the tentacle Agent 34 had previously walked over and slammed his hammer down on it. The squid cried as it pulled it off, pulling a limb up to hold its bleeding eye.

The beast shrieked one last time before disappearing back into the sea. It was going to find food elsewhere.

Agent 34 pumped his blood-stained blade into the air. The soldiers all proceeded to do the same thing, cheering for the Destigem before them.

"Listen," Thad said to the soldiers. "Not to be rude, but you guys didn't do much. At all," the dwarf told his men. "You can't act like that on the battlefield. That was nothing compared to what Braunick has hidden behind his castle walls. Do not be afraid of the danger itself. Be afraid of what it can do. Always remember you can prevent what it will do,"

The soldiers cluttered in the middle of the boat separated, embarrassed of their actions. They scattered across the ship, nightfall falling upon them.

Wait at shore, Thad sent a message to Sercon mentally.

What's wrong? the human replied.

We got caught up with a kraken, he explained.

A kraken? I thought those went extinct!

Apparently not, the Destigem said. Agent 34 stabbed it in the eye with ease and defeated it in ten minutes top.

Woah, Sercon said, interest filling him. That's impressive,

We will be there in about half an hour.

See you then, Sercon said, ending their mental conversation.

Thad approached Agent 34, who sat by the edge of the ship, drenched in water. "Nice job," he told him.

"Thanks," 34 replied.

"That was amazing," the dwarf told him.

Agent 34 simply shrugged. "I could've done better,"

"Dude, no one on this ship could've done what you just did. You defeated a giant squid, man! Be proud! I doubt a Destigem would be able to mirror your strength!"

"Ismara could," Agent 34 said quickly. "Me and her are equal. We have practiced together a bit and we always end up the same every time: just out of breath with the same amount of bruises and cuts on each of us,"

"Yeah," Thad said. "You two are pretty good together,"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," he repositioned himself a bit. "You two are like meant for each other. It's obvious, man. She has something for you that I've never seen before. She jumped off a dragon for you because she thought you died, right?" The elf nodded, confirming Thad's statement. "She was willing to jump into an ocean full of thousands of creatures, most of them wanting your blood, just to try to save you even though she knew she had the smallest sliver of a chance. Have you never realized that before?"

Agent 34 looked off into the ocean again, mouth gaping and brows thickening.

"You should really talk to her before all of this goes down. It could be our last battle together even if we beat Braunick or not," The dwarf stood up, leaving Agent 34 to his many new thoughts.