Blood tax

Chapter 31 Tentacles
The Kono was dragged 20 meters aft of the Flying Leaf by thick ropes.A number of kerosene lamps and torches were placed on her deck so that they could be clearly seen on the Flying Leaf.

Galadia leaned on the side of the ship at the stern of the Flying Leaf, watching Griffith walking around on the side: "Didn't you say that you can't bring weapons with you on board? Now I don't have weapons, I feel like It's not like wearing clothes."

Griffith couldn't help but look at the slim figure of the elf, and hastily withdrew his gaze, took out a dagger from his waist and handed it over: "This is for you."

"Well," Galadia took the weapon, checked the blade, nodded and inserted it into her boots.

"Maybe there is a surviving passenger looking at us through the gap," the elf girl complained slightly, "he was calling for help, but we didn't hear it because of his injury or other reasons."

Griffith looked at the girl and swallowed 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 a familiar family member killed in battle or accident?" Griffith said.

"No," Galadia shook her head, and then asked angrily, "Are you trying to say that I don't know anything?"

"No."

"Then what are you going to say?"

"I'm thinking, it's hard for someone who hasn't lost their treasure to feel the regret at that moment and after that," Griffith said with some bitterness 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 for a while, and nodded as if understanding.

After a few seconds...

"who is she?"

"Ok?"

"Is that the girl named Krista?"

"..."

Summer nights are calm as usual.When the warm night wind brushed their cheeks, for a while, the two almost forgot why they were here on duty.

There were steady footsteps on the deck, and the patrolling Lana and Mura came to the stern.

"Shift change. Is there anything unusual?" Rana asked, holding on to the two sharp axes stuck at his waist.While he was questioning, Murat, who was beside him, was always on guard in the opposite direction.

"The Kono is silent," Galadia replied. "The water is calm, too. How about you?"

"Some sailors said that there was a sound in the bilge, and they had already arranged for someone to check it out, but nothing was found," Rana said. "The students who are not on duty are concentrated in the cabin on the first floor below the deck, which is convenient for guards."

"Okay, let's go to rest for a while," Griffith nodded to his companions, and walked to the cabin with the elf.Lana and Murat took their place and continued the vigil.

"Would you like to take a look at the bilge? I'll check with my listening and inspiration," Galadia slowly walked down the stern along the escalator, "The situation on the Kono is so weird, I think it's routine to patrol and guard. Not enough."

It's fine to go and have a look... Griffith nodded, picked up a makeshift wooden shield from the deck and walked towards the lower level.

The two first passed the cabin where the other cadets were resting.Armed with daggers and sticks, a few Cytorals and sailors guarded the place vigilantly.The other first-year students at Homonwarts, regardless of their background, rested on the bunk with the crew.

The next level of the cabin is the galley, dining room and luggage storage.Due to the enforcement of the alert, there is no one here.

Griffith walked ahead holding the wooden shield, checking from time to time if Galadia was still following behind him.The ball of light formed by Sonia's spell still surrounded him brightly, showing no sign of dying out.

The third deck below deck is already below the waterline.From time to time a dull squeak came from the sturdy board, as if being squeezed.

There are several compartments here, most of which are used to store some wine barrels and food and groceries for Homonwarts, and can be accessed and loaded through several patios that lead to the deck.Oil lamps already set up provide good lighting.

There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary, Griffith carefully pushed open the doors of the cabins one by one, and then the firelight penetrated inside.

"Come on!"

Suddenly there was the sound of treading water, and Griffith hurriedly looked down.Colorless stagnant water seeped from the floor of a cabin ahead and had run into the passage.

"Griffith." The elf girl who followed behind grabbed his arm, leaned almost her entire body, and asked nervously, "There is water here!"

For sailboats sailing in the sea, it is not uncommon for the bilge to seep water.The wood that makes up the hull swells when exposed to water, so spaces are left between the wood when the boat is built.

"It's not surprising that a sailboat seeps water. If you don't leave a gap in advance, the swollen board will deform," Griffith explained indifferently. "I used to live in such a humid place when I went to the east on a naval transport ship. Almost vomited."

"But our clan's sailboats won't seep water," the elf shook his head. "Although our boats are more beautiful and delicate, they are also made of wood."

Is there no water seepage because the elves' ships have a magic or special material sealing effect?The Flying Leaf of Homemonwatts has been blessed with the spells of haste and stability, and it can already be regarded as a huge enchanted item as a whole.Ordinarily, it should have a similar effect, so there will still be water seepage...

Is it!

Griffith's hair stood on end.He turned his gaze to the seepage cabin, clenched his dagger and held a shield, leaned over, and gently pushed down the cabin door.

"Buzz~"

The hatch made an itchy sound, and the open gap allowed a soft light to illuminate the small space.

The light of the illumination dangled in the standing water on the ground.Griffith peered inside and saw no danger in sight.However, the sphere of light of the guardian spell suddenly dimmed, as if it was covered with a veil.

The apprentice knight looked up quickly, the low deck could not hide the enemy.

If there was anything hiding in the cabin, the only place it could hide now was in the tight space behind the door.

Griffith turned his head to look at the elf standing aside, nodded to her, and then slammed into the hatch.

The hatch slammed into something, and there was no sound.At the same time, the sphere of light floating in the cabin began to disintegrate rapidly as if it had been splashed with paint, casting shades of green and black.

Galadia's pointed ears pricked up.She clearly saw that the hatch that was knocked open by Griffith was not clinging to the wall.

There's something behind!Something that can hide the breath 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 through the wooden hatch, and there was a weird feeling.Before Griffith could understand what it was like, a huge force bounced from behind the door, pushing the wooden door and hitting him in the face.

The apprentice knight did not expect such a huge amount of power to erupt in such a narrow space, and was hit to the ground by the blow on the face.

"what!!!"

At this moment, Galadia, who was standing by the side, let out a scream, grabbed Griffith and dragged him to the stairs.

Griffith, who was dizzy and dizzy, heard only the ripping sound of whips hitting the air, loud banging and shattering sounds all around.

The familiar viscous liquid flowed into the mouth.Griffith recognized blood from his forehead and nose.

Galadia didn't know where the strength came from, dragging her dizzy companion into the corner of the stairs like a gust of wind, leaving only a blurred vision in Griffith's vision——

Many thick shadows broke through the wooden doors of each cabin, like tentacles, like worms, waving wildly and twistingly in the narrow passage.

Griffith, startled by this crazy scene, couldn't understand what he was seeing.Unintelligible babble whistled in his brain.Fear, timidity, and confusion mixed together, and he lost the ability to think.

If it weren't for Galadia dragging him, Griffith would have difficulty even moving.

……

The Flying Leaf was a mess, screaming in horror 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!" Griffith woke up and found that Sonia was looking at him with concern, and his head was resting on the girl's lap.

"What happened to me?" Griffith, who regained consciousness, sat up like a spring, "What's the situation now?"

"You fainted," Sonia said palely, "The Feiye is being attacked by monsters, and the professor led everyone to seal the hatch just now."

Beside the two of them, Galadia and several other Shutorals were guarding the hatches at both ends with weapons in hand.Several boys, holding wands and tables and chairs, stared at the wooden hatch as they shivered.

The twin boys I met in the old bookstore were also on the boat. They hugged each other and screamed at the same time in the same tone:

"What the hell is this? (How did it come out of here!)
"They're coming in! (We're about to die!)"

The chaotic voices came one after another.

"Lana, where is Lana?"

"Ms Marianne, we need support!"

Everyone had a terrified expression, and several freshmen collapsed to the ground, drooling from the corners of their mouths, and lost consciousness like Griffith before.

"Calm down, calm down," cried the demure Provost Lady Marianne, holding her wand. "We've closed the door and it won't come in. The professors of Homonwarts and the royal fleet will arrive soon."

After listening to Ms. Marianne's words, the noisy cabin was quiet for a while.

At this moment, a series of screams and curses suddenly came from the deck above, followed by the loud noise of heavy objects hitting the deck one after another, as if a giant used the deck of the Flying Leaf as a drumhead. Hit hard.Immediately afterwards, the doors at both ends of the cabin were also knocked.

The freshmen, who had just calmed down a little, screamed again.

Griffith grabbed a torch and rushed to the hatch.At this time, there was a slight pull on his waist, and he hurriedly turned his head to look, only to see Sonia opened her eyes wide, pointed to the wall on one side, and said 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 hatch of the Conor.

There was an extremely small gap in the closed porthole, and a twisted, dead gray mass of what looked like a mollusk tentacle was squeezed through the gap little by little, and then quickly expanded, stretched, and swelled.

"what!"

Several freshmen witnessed the horrific scene and screamed together, and several of them fainted to the ground.

Before Griffith and the others rushed over to chop the thing up, more tentacles squirmed and squeezed through hatches, portholes, ceilings, and deck gaps, popping out as if growing out of wood. Twists and twists in the cabin.

One of the tentacles slowly approached the frightened Fiona, swaying from side to side within a meter in front of the girl, as if observing something.

Still worrying about Lana's safety, Fiona, who usually likes to read adventure stories and is brave enough, shivered like an alarm clock in the morning.Beside her, the freshman Fisher poked the disgusting tentacle with his wand.The thing shrank back immediately.

"Haha!" Fisher's terrified face showed a terrifying smile, "This thing..."

Before he could finish speaking, the swollen, dead-grey tentacles swooped in, splitting the slippery skin and splitting six petals like a flower.Inside the cracked tentacles, there are layers of fangs and a huge mouthpart that is black and bottomless, filled with the stench that only a corpse has.

Fisher was so frightened that he fell to the ground, and the mouthparts covered with fangs rushed towards Fiona like a foraging snake.

Griffith pounced like lightning, pulled Fiona away, faced the open mouthpart, and inserted the lit torch into it.

The tentacles twitched immediately, and the open six-lobed limbs danced like an epilepsy patient.Immediately afterwards, the tentacles exploded with a "boom", and the splashing mucus and bone fragments smeared Griffith.

"Counterattack!" Griffith, recovering from the confusion and dizziness, raised his ax and shouted loudly, "Byeland—Wan Sheng!"

"Hurrah!"

The apprentice knights who were almost petrified by the sight in front of them instinctively roared in unison.Although there are not many of them, the battle cry they issued at the same time is like the momentum of hundreds of soldiers.Ms. Marianne, the teaching assistant, and several brave freshmen who were using the magic spell to resist the tentacle attack were all shocked, and the magic power gathered on the wand disappeared in an instant.However, those freshmen who did not cast spells felt refreshed and had the courage to resist.

The exuberant blood energy surged in the confined space, and the tentacles that opened their mouths seemed to have hit an invisible wall, and they retreated one after another.

Galadia felt that she saw a familiar scene again, and immediately put away the useless wand and put it aside.The apprentice knights present immediately gathered around Griffith, waving their weapons and slashing at the tentacles that were wriggling everywhere.

"Ms. Marianne, please cover everyone behind us," Griffith split a tentacle, turned his head and shouted at the somewhat dazed professor, "Everyone follow!"

Although it may not be safe on the deck, it is better than staying in this cabin surrounded by tentacles.Relying on the effect of the battle cry, nearly a hundred students ran towards the upper deck together.

Countless swollen, twisted, dead-grey tentacles had wrapped the Flying Leaf.They wriggle wildly in various crevices, or open their disgusting huge mouthparts greedily for food.

(End of this chapter)