The deep echoing growl of the creature beneath them was enough for Travis to deduce that Raiya's attack had only angered it rather than killing it. Per Nemo's clear warning, Travis quickly broke away from his position almost seconds before another tentacle shot out from the ocean's surface. The sheer mass and momentum had developed a large enough wave to slam in to and alter the ship's course. However, the tentacle soon did much worse as it then collided with the ship with tremendous and unrelenting force. The intense impact punched right through the lower decks and devastated much of the main deck in the process. Travis himself was tossed into the air as a result from the heavy hit before his stumbled into roll across the main deck.

Shaken from the experience, Travis struggled to get back to his feet but witnessed Nemo engaging the shadowy tentacle that now occupied the deck. Dread returned to his face as the post-explosive haze created by Nemo’s attack soon cleared the field but only to reveal that the tentacle remained intact and hardly even scratched. If anything, the tendril simply slithered back underwater to regroup with its host body.

Just as Travis finally arose did Raiya respond in aggression by firing at the recoiling tentacle with her own spells but little to no effect as well. It was then that she, almost desperately, sought any immediate suggestions to solutions to their endeavor. Given how near alien her expression was, even Travis could easily read Raiya’s clearly forced smile as a growing sign of panic and frustration.

“I’m a scholar, not a monster hunter,” Travis bluntly replied. 

He didn’t want to get Raiya’s hopes up through mere speculation. Honestly, her’s and Nemo’s show of force against the creature further proved that he held nothing of anything effective or efficient value that could top any of their displayed efforts. This was an overall bad sign and hopeless situation, further degraded by Nemo’s factual and unoptimistic tone yet he still tried to pass by a quip in the process.

Everyone was then met with the unsettling sight of the all the sea creature’s tentacles rising from the ocean and surrounded the damaged ship. Travis looked around but found no exploitable gap between the tentacles; they were now essentially within the clutches of the monster below them. The ginormous main body of the beast had now surfaced however the dark storm overhead certainly dimmed most of its physical features all but for a pair of red eyes that peered out of the shade of the storm. Travis stared back and took a step behind him before soon succumbing to fear’s paralyzing embrace. It was now evident that the creature was not only here to bring down their barely floating vessel, it was present to specifically kill them all.

In its final move, the creature had then raised all of its tentacles again but now into a vertically dwarfing line up. Once all the tendrils had seemingly reached and disappeared into the tip of the ebony skies, did they then all literally come crashing down against the surface of the ocean. The combined might of the monster’s appendages breaking into the ocean had generated a tsunami the likes that Travis had never seen before. The towering wall of seawater came surging forth completely unopposed and withstanding any resistance laid against it. Before Seidon’s ship was violently consumer and crushed by the giant wave, Nemo had quickly crafted a physical power around everyone he could but in the end, they too were absorbed by the tsunami. So much had happened at once for Travis that by the point of the wave destroying the ship and compromising their position, the only thing he could recall was then instantaneous melding into darkness.

[hr]

Travis finally begun to stir as each of his natural senses slowly returned to him. Unfamiliar and less chaotic sounds flowed into his ears; a far cry of the storm they had previously endured through. The sound of what appeared to be the chirps of seagulls overhead and the soft crashing of wave against a beach began the turning of the mental gears that were his consciousness. Soon new senses came through too such as the salty breeze and the bright light of the sun penetrating past his close blinds of his eyelids. He eventually awoke with his eyes repeatedly blinking, struggling to open up to from the unrecognizable light that he was not used to bathing in for quite some time. 

Groaning from the displeasure of light that assailed him, Travis quickly regain most of his most of his motor skills as he naturally turned away from the sun and toward something else that wasn’t as radiant for his still-recovering perception. The carried motion brought forth the feeling of him moving against something warm, soft, and grainy; the sensation of sand as he eventually deduced. Travis’ sight then adjusted and finally he could see was now on a beach. They sky was a perfect clear blue, devoid of any abstract colors and soon indicating that the storm had in fact passed by. He slightly tilted his head to see the green foliage of palm trees and other assorted tropical vegetation directly behind him.

However, as he tried to turn to the sound of the waves ahead of him, something large and notably heavy came into view. It would take him a minute before he realized and nearly panicked as he found himself trapped under a large yet small wreck from the ship, likely a torn off piece of the hull. Travis naturally struggled and eventually managed to free his arms out but found that the remaining part of his body, namely his torso and legs were still underneath the weight of the wreckage. It was certainly an uncomfortable feeling but it was clearly and thankfully not life threatening for the moment. Oddly though, he couldn’t feel his legs at all but he surmised that with the amount of time he lay beneath the wreck, it was more likely blood circulation was perhaps restricted; a fact that he knew he needed to fix soon.

At first, he tried to call for help but still found himself too weak to speak. Additionally, he further deduced that he had no idea where he was exactly and how close he was to the others that were swept ashore. As grim as it was, he also accepted the possibility that they may not have made it at all. Still, he had work to do and it would start by freeing himself from the wreck that has him partially pined to the beach.

For another few minute, Travis wrestled with his mana well in trying to promote the flow of mana through his body. Sparks jumped from the tips of his fingers as he tried to concentrate on casting a particular spell that he could use to free himself with. Awhile longer and eventually he had accomplished in casting a typical welding spell as a hot red-glowing field surrounded his right hand. Travis positioned his hand at a loosened section of the wreck and then pressed against, causing the metal to ignite into sparks as he began cutting through it. Because of bright effects of the spell, Travis used his free hand to isolate his eyes while allowing him to still oversee his progress. As an added bonus, the spell’s bright sparking brilliance would’ve been far too difficult not to notice or hear for anyone if they were in the vicinity.