Thirty hours later, Sarah's swift ship had sailed across the sea for two full nights and an entire day. Along the way, they passed through a bank of fog and a reef-strewn region, and even suffered an attack from a sea monster.
The waters around Bilgewater were filled year-round with all kinds of dangerous sea monsters. These creatures lurked beneath the waves, and some were even larger than mountains.
If someone encountered a sea monster of that size on the surface, their only option was to flee.
Following the route Rafen had deciphered from the nautical chart, the crew finally spotted a small island after the second sunrise.
"Captain, there's an island!"
Dar called out excitedly, holding up a spyglass.
Before long, a fully armed Sarah emerged from her cabin. She took the spyglass and examined the island, delight appearing on her face.
"Good! Full speed ahead!"
Her gaze drifted to the right, where Luke was reclining leisurely against the side of the ship. There was not the slightest trace of tension anywhere on him.
The man seemed to have no bones. If he could sit, he would never stand, and if he could lie down, he would never sit.
He was completely unlike the industrious Demacians people spoke of.
Fortunately, Sarah had grown accustomed to the sight recently and could no longer be bothered to criticize him.
The ship soon came to a slow stop beside the island, and the group quickly disembarked.
The island was not particularly large, perhaps not even a tenth the size of Bilgewater. Vegetation covered nearly every visible part of it.
Sarah surveyed their surroundings and issued an order.
"Split up and search. Be careful. No one knows what that bastard might have left on this island."
"Yes!"
Everyone answered before immediately spreading out. They were all experienced veterans, so they formed groups of two or three and began searching in different directions.
"I'll go this way."
Sarah glanced back at Luke, chose a direction, and set off.
"Then I'll take this side."
Luke chose another path.
Sarah followed a narrow route through the island's jungle. She joined up with two other groups along the way, and before long they reached a location near the center of the island.
A vast lake lay before them. Its water was somewhat murky, but its surface was perfectly still.
Sarah stopped upon reaching it. Her gaze moved across several scattered skeletons nearby.
"Some are human, while others belonged to animals. There's something dangerous here. Stay alert!"
The danger arrived before she even finished speaking.
The murky surface of the lake suddenly churned violently. An enormous tentacle burst out of the water and slammed down toward Sarah.
Sarah reacted quickly, kicking off the ground and darting aside. At the same time, two gunshots rang out. Two powerful bullets left the barrels of her pistols and blasted large holes through the tentacle.
Boom!
"ROAR!"
A deafening noise erupted from the center of the lake. A tremendous amount of water exploded upward alongside a furious roar.
It was as though some sleeping beast had been awakened, and water rained down across the surrounding area.
Everyone's pupils contracted when they saw the massive figure rising from the lake.
"A giant octopus monster?!"
Sarah frowned and immediately cursed.
"Damn you, Gangplank! You actually raised a monster like this to guard your property!"
Standing within the lake was a monstrous octopus more than sixty feet tall. It was an appalling sight, and that measurement only accounted for its body. Its tentacles were clearly much longer.
Every tentacle was extraordinarily thick, and there were twelve of them in total.
This made Sarah even more certain that Gangplank's treasure was hidden here.
Why else would anyone keep such a monster on this island?
The surrounding skeletons were clearly its work. There was no telling how many people who had accidentally stumbled upon the island, or deliberately come searching for it, had ended up inside the sea monster's stomach.
Sarah showed no fear.
"Kill it! The treasure is right in front of us!"
As she spoke, she raised her pistols and fired at the octopus monster's eyes.
The creature sensed the attack and closed its eyes a moment beforehand, but it had underestimated the power of Miss Fortune's pistols. The moment the bullets struck, they blasted two bloody holes through its eyelids and continued into its eyes.
"ROAR!"
The octopus monster became thoroughly enraged, its roar nearly deafening everyone nearby. It began thrashing its tentacles in a frenzy. Twelve enormous, muscular limbs whipped through the air and crashed down toward the group.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Everyone scattered while launching their own attacks.
There were certainly sea monsters larger than this giant octopus lurking within the ocean, but this creature was already an extremely lethal marine predator.
Its most notorious trait was its impressive regenerative ability. Its tentacles also possessed tremendous strength, and anyone caught within their coils would find it almost impossible to escape.
At that very moment, the bloody holes Sarah had blasted through its eyes were already rapidly healing.
Everyone had experience fighting sea beasts, so they understood that they could not compete with a monster like this in a battle of endurance.
To kill this kind of octopus monster, they had to completely destroy its head.
"Damn it!"
Sarah fired continuously, flashes of flame bursting from the muzzles of her pistols. The two guns had undergone special modifications and possessed almost magical power, as well as an exceptionally large ammunition capacity.
Even so, dealing with a monster that regenerated this quickly was difficult.
Had they arrived aboard a warship, several dozen cannonballs would have blown the creature's brains apart.
That was precisely why Gangplank had stationed an octopus monster here. Without the cannons that served as its natural counter, the beast could run rampant across the island almost entirely unopposed.
Rumble!
The ground shook continuously beneath the blows of its tentacles.
Seven people were currently fighting the creature. They spread out and struggled to evade its attacks.
A single direct hit would likely leave any one of them in terrible condition.
No one wanted to be struck, but their stamina was steadily declining.
The octopus monster wrapped a tentacle around a tree several yards tall, violently tore it out by the roots, and hurled it toward the largest cluster of people.
Several crew members hurriedly dodged, but multiple tentacles surrounded them at the same time.
In the blink of an eye, three men were caught by the thick tentacles and lifted into the air. Their legs kicked and struggled wildly, but it did them no good.
"Krieg! Jonah! Brue!"
Their companions shouted anxiously and rushed toward them. If they did not intervene immediately, the fate of those three men was easy to predict.
The octopus monster was already beginning to retract its tentacles.
Seeing this, Sarah took a deep breath, and her gaze became even sharper.
She abruptly raised both pistols and pulled the triggers at astonishing speed.
One magically empowered bullet after another flew through the air, leaving streaks of light behind them before striking the three tentacles with perfect accuracy.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bloody holes exploded across the limbs. In less than a second, Sarah's barrage forcibly severed all three tentacles.
The three men fell to the ground and escaped the severed coils with the help of their companions.
Sarah was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when she suddenly sensed two tentacles silently approaching from behind her. At the same time, another tentacle swept toward her from the front.
Bang! Bang!
In the blink of an eye, she found herself surrounded and in grave danger. Without hesitation, she fired two shots. Two of the tentacles were struck, abruptly freezing in midair as their attacks were interrupted.
The third tentacle, however, was already about to slam into her back.
A flash of sword light appeared.
A perfectly clean cut opened across the tentacle, and the severed limb fell to the ground.
Swish! Swish!
Two more flashes of sword light followed, and the other two tentacles met the same fate.
Sarah turned around and saw Luke standing behind her. She finally relaxed slightly.
"This monster is powerful. Be careful."
There was no time for conversation. The moment she escaped danger, Sarah immediately raised her pistols and resumed firing at the octopus monster.
There was a trace of anger in her movements. Had Luke not arrived in time, that blow to her back would probably have left her severely injured.
Her bullets struck the octopus monster as though ammunition cost nothing, but the creature once again demonstrated its astonishing regenerative abilities. The flesh around its wounds writhed disgustingly, recovering with every passing second.
The three tentacles Luke had severed also began growing anew from the stumps.
"How are we supposed to kill it?"
Luke had never seen an octopus this large before. It was revolting.
"Its vital organs are hidden inside its head. Unless we destroy that area directly, it will continue regenerating."
Sarah answered without pausing her gunfire.
The octopus monster was not a stationary target. Although every one of Sarah's shots connected, it kept protecting its vital areas.
Combined with its regeneration, her attacks almost seemed to be healing the creature instead.
"It's fine. It won't be able to regenerate much longer."
Wind Intent gathered around Luke's body. He swung his sword, infusing the strike with Sword Intent, and severed most of an incoming tentacle in a single blow.
The sheer power of the attack left several nearby crew members staring in amazement.
They had never expected the pretty boy their captain had brought along to be this powerful.
Sarah knew that Luke was a prince of Demacia, but she was still somewhat surprised when she personally witnessed his strength.
It took her at least seven or eight shots to sever one of those tentacles, while Luke only needed a single swing of his sword.
She also quickly noticed that after Luke's strike, the octopus monster's regeneration had suddenly slowed.
The beast seemed to notice it as well. Its two enormous black eyes turned toward Luke, filled with fury and hostility.
At that moment, all its tentacles began thrashing even more violently, as though it intended to end the battle immediately.
"What did you do to it?"
Sarah increased her speed as she dodged and asked in confusion.
"This sword of mine is known as the Tetanus Blade. It specializes in dealing with things that regenerate quickly."
Luke moved with extraordinary agility, effortlessly evading the attacks of six tentacles. Every time he swung his sword, another section of the octopus monster's limbs fell to the ground.
With his arrival, everyone's confidence suddenly soared.
Sarah found that her own attacks had become far more effective and exclaimed in admiration, "That's one impressive weapon!"
"Of course it is."
Luke's sword, Snowglance, had once absorbed the effect of Executioner's Calling. It now naturally inflicted Grievous Wounds, making it particularly effective against creatures with rapid regeneration.
Looking at all the tentacles scattered across the ground, Luke suddenly had an idea.
"If its regeneration is this powerful, wouldn't capturing one alive mean we'd never have to worry about food again?"
"You're not the first person to have that idea. First, you would have to capture a monster like this and bring it back alive. Second, its flesh tastes absolutely awful. Don't mistake it for an ordinary octopus."
Sarah realized that she somehow had enough freedom to casually chat with Luke during the battle.
The main reason was that the giant octopus monster's twelve tentacles were rapidly dwindling before her eyes. Only a few remained, while all the others had been severed.
Only then did she realize that the man who acted unbearably lazy every day was actually extremely powerful.
The octopus monster realized this as well. It possessed intelligence comparable to a five-year-old human child, and a trace of fear appeared in its gaze as it looked at Luke.
Seeing how few tentacles it had left, the creature felt an overwhelming sense of danger. It immediately raised its ink sac, spraying a torrent of black ink like a waterfall.
"Get out of the way! Its ink is poisonous!"
Sarah shouted and immediately turned to flee. However, the moment she turned, she saw that Luke had remained standing where he was.
She stopped at once, hesitating for a brief instant.
During that moment of hesitation, she saw a formidable aura gather around Luke's body. It was as though a whirlwind had begun circling him.
The next instant, he swung his sword.
A tremendous gale erupted from the ground, roaring as it formed an impassable barrier.
It swept up all the incoming ink and hurled it back onto the giant octopus monster.
Sarah's eyes widened. The sight was deeply shocking.
She had lived in Bilgewater for many years, yet she had never witnessed anything like it.
The octopus monster's enormous body was stained completely black by its own ink. Naturally, its poison had no effect on itself, but the humiliation filled it with tremendous rage.
"ROAR!"
It released a furious bellow and charged toward Luke with its massive body, swinging its remaining tentacles at the same time.
This kind of octopus monster had been born for battle. It tirelessly hunted its own kind and humans alike, and attacked ships sailing across the sea.
Naturally, it could not tolerate such humiliation from a human.
"Everyone, open fire!"
Sarah shouted the order and continued shooting without pause, bullets screaming from her pistols.
At the same time, gunfire erupted from every direction.
Every bullet struck the octopus monster, yet none of them slowed it for even an instant.
Facing a brutal charge like an oncoming mountain, Luke showed no fear whatsoever. Instead, he leaped directly toward the beast.
He landed on one of its swinging tentacles and rapidly approached its massive head. In the blink of an eye, he unleashed several sword strikes.
A series of clean cuts appeared across the octopus monster's head, and its frenzied movements gradually ceased.
A revolting stench poured from inside its skull, causing Luke to immediately leap away.
He finally understood why the creature tasted so terrible. Its head was filled with rotting flesh that reeked of decay.
The next second, the octopus monster's enormous body crashed heavily to the ground and stopped moving.
Luke had clearly struck its vital organs.
Sarah breathed somewhat heavily, her full chest rising and falling as though the battle had consumed a great deal of her stamina. She approached Luke and slapped him on the back.
"We owe this victory to you. Once we find the treasure, I've decided to give you an even larger share. I'll thank you properly after we return."
Without Luke, they probably would have needed to pay a considerable price to defeat this monster.
Several people might even have died.
In any case, the battle would never have ended this easily.
Luke smiled.
"Why not simply give all of it to me?"
"Dream on."
Sarah rolled her eyes at him, her tone carrying a trace of playful annoyance.
To the surrounding crew members, the exchange suddenly seemed rather flirtatious.
They all pretended not to notice.
Sarah did not pay attention to their subtle looks. An elegant, cold smile appeared on her face.
"Now it's time to find that bastard's treasure. I can't wait to see his expression when he discovers what happened."
There was no doubt that this was one of Gangplank's treasure sites.
Otherwise, how could an octopus monster that lived in the ocean possibly have ended up inside a lake on an island?
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