The Kono was dragged 20 meters away from the stern of the Flying Leaf by a thick rope. Many kerosene lamps and torches were placed on her deck to allow people to see clearly on the Flying Leaf.
Galadia leaned against the side of the stern of the Flying Leaf and watched the alert Griffith walking around: "Didn't we agree not to carry weapons on the ship? Now I don't have any weapons. It feels like It’s like you’re not wearing any clothes.”
Griffith couldn't help but look at the elf's graceful figure, quickly looked away, took out a dagger from his waist and handed it over: "Here's this for you."
"Yes," Galadia took the weapon, checked the blade, nodded and inserted it into her boots.
"Maybe there is a surviving passenger who is looking at us through the gap," the elf girl said with a hint of complaint in her tone, "He was calling for help, but we didn't hear it due to injuries or other reasons."
Griffith looked at the girl and swallowed back what he was about to say.
Such thoughts and thoughts are not uncommon. When Griffith first set foot on the battlefield, he and his companions often had similar thoughts.
"Have you ever seen family members or friends you know killed in combat or accidents?" Griffith said.
"No," Galadia shook her head, and then asked angrily, "Are you trying to say that I have no knowledge?"
"no."
"Then what do you want to say?"
"I'm thinking that it's hard for people who have never lost something they cherish to experience the regrets at that moment and thereafter," Griffith said with a bitter taste in his mouth, "If possible, I hope you don't have that experience."
The elf girl was stunned for a moment. She looked at Griffith, then lowered her head and thought about it, then nodded as if she understood.
After a few seconds...
"who is she?"
"Um?"
"Is that the girl named Krista?"
"..."
The summer evening was peaceful and peaceful. When the warm night wind blew against their cheeks, for a while, the two of them almost forgot why they were on duty here.
Steady footsteps were heard on the deck, and Lana and Murat, who were patrolling, came to the stern of the ship.
"It's shift change. Is there anything unusual?" Lana looked at the two of them. While he was asking questions, Murat beside him always faced the opposite direction and was alert.
"There is no movement from the Kono," Galadia replied, "The water is also calm. What about you?"
"Some sailors said there were noises in the bottom cabin. We have arranged for people to check, but nothing was found," Rana said. "Students who are not on duty are concentrated in the cabin on the first floor below the deck for the convenience of guarding."
"Okay, let's go take a rest," Griffith nodded to his companions and walked to the cabin with the elf. Lannes and Murat took their place and continued the vigil.
"Do you want to go to the bottom cabin and have a look? I will check it with listening and inspiration." Galadia slowly walked down the escalator to the stern of the ship. "The situation on the Kono is too weird. I think we should carry out patrols and alerts as usual. Not enough."
It wouldn't hurt to go take a look... Griffith nodded, picked up a makeshift wooden shield from the side of the deck and walked towards the lower level.
The two first passed by the cabin where other students were resting. Several Shutorals and sailors, armed with daggers and clubs, stood vigilantly guarding the place. The other first-year students at Homemonworth, regardless of their background, were all resting on the ground bunks with the crew.
The next cabin is the kitchen, dining room and luggage storage. Due to the enforcement of the security guard, there was no one here.
Griffith walked in front holding a wooden shield, checking from time to time whether Galadia was still following him. The ball of light formed by Sonia's spell was still surrounding him brightly, showing no signs of being extinguished.
The third cabin below deck is already below the waterline. From time to time, a dull squeaking sound came from the solid ship plank, as if it was being squeezed.
It is divided into multiple cabins, mostly used to store some wine barrels and food and groceries shipped to Homemon Watts. It can be accessed and loaded through several patios that lead directly to the deck. The oil lamps already set up provided good lighting.
As if nothing was wrong, Griffith carefully opened the doors of each cabin, and then the firelight peeked inside.
"Bah!"
There was a sudden sound of treading water under his feet, and Griffith hurriedly looked down. Colorless water seeped from the floor of a cabin ahead and flowed into the passage.
"Griffith." The elf girl who was following behind grabbed his arm, leaned almost her whole body against him, and asked uneasily and nervously: "There is water here!"
It is not uncommon for sailing ships to see water in their bilges. The wood that makes up the hull swells when exposed to water, so there are gaps between the wood when the ship is being built.
"It's not surprising that water leaks from a sailboat. If no clearance is left in advance, the expanded shipboard will deform," Griffith explained nonchalantly. "When I took a Navy transport ship to the East, I lived in such a humid place. I’m about to vomit.”
"But the sailboats of our tribe do not see water," the elf shook his head. "Although our boats are more beautiful and exquisite, they are also made of wood."
Is there no water seepage because the elves' ships have the sealing effect of magic or special materials? Homemon Watts' Flying Leaf is blessed with rapid and stable enchantments, and overall it can be regarded as a huge enchanted item. It is said that it should have a similar effect, so water will still seep...
Could it be!
Griffith's hair stood on end. He cast his gaze towards the seeping cabin, held the dagger in hand and leaned over with his shield, and gently pushed the cabin door.
"Hey~"
The hatch made a tooth-itching sound, and the gap opened allowing soft light to illuminate the small space.
The light of the illumination swayed in the pool of water on the ground. Griffith looked inside and found no danger within sight. However, the light ball that protected the magic spell suddenly became dim, as if it was covered with a thin veil.
The trainee knight quickly looked up overhead. The low deck could not hide the enemy.
If there is something hiding in the cabin, the only place it can hide now is the small space behind the door.
Griffith turned to look at the elf standing aside, nodded to her, and then slammed into the hatch.
The hatch hit something without making a sound. At the same time, the ball of light floating in the cabin glowed with shades of green and black as if it had been splashed with paint, and began to rapidly disintegrate.
Galadia's pointed ears suddenly stood up. She clearly saw that the hatch that was knocked open by Griffith was not close to the wall.
There's something behind! Something that can conceal the aura and pollute the guardian spell! Griffith realized this problem at the same time, he raised his sharp blade and stabbed towards the hatch.
The dagger pierced the wooden hatch, and there was a strange feeling. Before Griffith could figure out what this felt like, a huge force bounced from behind the door, pushing the wooden door and hitting him in the face.
The trainee knight did not expect that such a huge force would erupt in such a small space, and he was hit hard on the face and fell to the ground.
"ah!!!"
At this moment, Galadia, who was standing aside, let out a scream, grabbed Griffith and dragged him away towards the stairs.
Griffith, who was dazed by the shooting, only heard the tearing sound of the whip lashing the air, the huge impact and the shattering sound all around.
The familiar viscous liquid flowed into his mouth. Griffith recognized it as blood coming from his forehead and nose.
Galadia didn't know where the strength came from, and like a gust of wind, she dragged her dizzy companion and fled into the corner of the stairs, leaving only a blurry scene in Griffith's sight——
Many thick shadows broke through the wooden doors of each cabin, like tentacles or worms, waving wildly and twistedly in the narrow passage.
Griffiths was frightened by this crazy scene and could not understand what he was seeing. Unidentifiable murmurs roared in his head. A mixture of fear, timidity and confusion made him lose the ability to think.
If it weren't for Galadia dragging him, Griffith would have difficulty even moving.
…
The Flying Leaf was in chaos, with frightened screams everywhere. Shutoral, who was guarding everywhere, was attacked at the same time.
"Griffith, hold on."
A soft and frightened voice sounded in my ears. Immediately afterwards, two liquids with different flavors were poured into the mouth.
"Cough cough cough!" Griffith woke up and found Sonia looking at him with concern, and his head was resting on the girl's lap.
"What happened to me?" Griffiths sat up like a spring after regaining consciousness, "What's going on now?"
"You fainted," Sonia's face turned pale. "The Flying Leaf is being attacked by monsters. The professor and everyone just sealed the hatch."
Beside the two of them, Galadia and several other Shutorals were holding weapons and guarding the hatches at both ends. Several boys were holding wands and tables and chairs, trembling as they stared at the wooden hatch.
The twin boys they met in the old bookstore were also on the boat. They hugged each other and screamed at the same time in exactly the same tone:
"What the hell is this? (How did it come out!)
"They're coming in! (We're almost finished!)"
There were noisy sounds one after another.
"Rana, where is Rana?"
"Ms. Marianne, we need backup!"
Everyone had a frightened expression, and several freshmen collapsed on the ground, drooling from the corners of their mouths, and lost consciousness like Griffith before.
"Calm down, calm down," shouted the dignified Madam Marian, the provost, holding her wand. "We have closed the door and it can't get in. The professors from Homemonworth and the royal fleet will be here soon."
After listening to Ms. Marian's words, the noisy cabin became quiet for a while.
At this moment, a series of screams and curses suddenly came from the deck overhead, followed by loud noises of heavy objects hitting the deck one after another, as if a giant was using the deck of the Flying Leaf as a drumhead. Same as hitting hard. Immediately afterwards, the hatches at both ends of the cabin were also knocked on.
The freshmen who had just calmed down started screaming again.
Griffith grabbed a torch and prepared to rush to the hatch. At this time, there was a slight tug on his waist. He turned around quickly and saw Sonia's eyes wide open, pointing to the wall on one side and saying in a trembling voice:
"That, there."
Griffith hurriedly turned his head to look, and instantly understood why there was no sign of damage to the Kono's hatch.
There was a tiny gap left in the closed porthole, and a twisted, dead gray thing that looked like the tentacles of a mollusk was squeezing in through the gap little by little, and then rapidly expanded, stretched, and swelled.
"ah!"
Several freshmen witnessed the horrific scene and screamed together, and several of them fainted and fell to the ground.
Before Griffith and others could rush over to chop the thing into pieces, more tentacles squirmed through the gaps in the hatch, portholes, ceiling, and deck, emerging as if they were growing out of wood. The cabin was twisted and twisted.
One of the tentacles slowly approached the frightened Fiona, swaying from side to side less than one meter in front of the girl, as if observing something.
Still worried about Lana's safety, Fiona, who usually liked reading adventure stories and was bold enough, was shaking like an alarm clock in the morning. Next to her, the freshman Fisher poked the disgusting tentacle with his wand. The thing immediately shrank back.
"Haha!" Fisher's face was already distorted with fear, showing a terrifying smile, "This thing..."
Before he could finish his words, the swollen death-gray tentacles swooped over, cracking the slippery skin and opening six petals like a flower. Inside the split tentacles were layers of fangs and a huge, bottomless black mouthpart, filled with the stench unique to corpses.
Fisher was so frightened that he fell to the ground, and the fanged mouthparts rushed toward Fiona like a poisonous snake looking for food.
Griffith rushed forward like lightning, pulled Fiona away, faced the open mouthparts, and inserted the lit torch into it.
The tentacles immediately twitched, and the six-petal limbs spread out and danced like an epileptic patient. Immediately afterwards, the tentacle exploded with a "boom", and the flying mucus and bone fragments covered Griffith's body.
"Counterattack!" Griffiths, who had recovered from the confusion and dizziness, raised his ax and shouted loudly, "Byeland - Won the victory!"
"Hurrah!"
The trainee knights, who were almost petrified with fright at the sight before them, instinctively roared in unison. Although there were not many of them, the war cries they sent out at the same time were as powerful as hundreds of sergeants. Ms. Marianne, the teaching assistant, and several brave freshmen who were using magic spells to resist the tentacle attack all felt their hearts shaken, and the magic power gathered on the wand disappeared instantly. However, those freshmen who had not cast spells felt refreshed and had the courage to resist.
The strong blood energy surged in the closed space, and the tentacles that opened their mouths seemed to have hit an invisible wall, shrinking back one after another.
Galadia felt that she saw a familiar scene again, and immediately put away her useless wand and put it aside. The trainee knights present immediately gathered around Griffith, waving their weapons to attack the tentacles squirming everywhere.
"Ms. Marian, please cover everyone and follow us," Griffith split a tentacle and turned to the somewhat dazed professor and shouted, "Everyone, follow us!"
Although it may not be safe on the deck, it is better than staying in this cabin surrounded by tentacles from top to bottom and left and right. Relying on the effect of the war cry, nearly a hundred students ran towards the upper deck together.
Countless swollen, twisted death-gray tentacles have wrapped around the Flying Leaf. They twist wildly in various crevices, or open their disgustingly huge mouthparts to feed greedily.
