Master Of None

The party turned and backed in to the surf slightly while looking at the large creature rising from the swamplands to glare at them with beady red eyes. Hidden in a tangle of vines small scaly fingers with webbing in between held a rotting pointed stick. A sharp spiky tail waved side to side before the creature retreated back with a his and a grumble. 

"Are lizardmen supposed to be that big?" There was a shiver in Gil's voice as he hoped that this was the end. But as he looked harder he saw there were easily ten or fifteen more of the monsters roaming around on the edge of the swamp lands. 

"Su, that was a good call coming toward the saltwater. They are lizardmen that are used to fresh water. Well, rotting water. The salt must be painful on their skin so they won't even come over here where the ocean spray might get them." This was the simple conclusion for Walker to make while he helped Alice stand straight. 

Alice had run fr her life. This was the scariest thing she had ever experienced and she had no idea how they had survived it. Not only had she managed to use a skill that she was not able to fully master, but she had used the skill chorus of light with Onyx on top of it. There were so many things that could have gone wrong that she firmly believed that someone in the party had a hidden luck skill of some sort. 

"Just take your time and breathe slowly. It will be fine. We are safe for now." Remey said this as calmly as possible even though she was dying to take deep breaths herself. She had gotten used to controlling herself when her younger siblings had thrown tantrums then couldn't catch their breath. Now was the same result but a different situation, yet, she still knew how useful a calm voice could be.

"We are staying close to the water the rest of the way. As long as we walk that way we should leave the rest of the swamp lands behind us and get to the port town… huh, I never knew the beaches were so rocky." Walker had come to the beach for the first time. He was sure that he had been told about the perfectly clear sands that would soften each step. But from what she could see he would be stepping on and over rocks constantly. 

"Crabs." Alice shook her head while leaning a little more on Walker and pointing to one of the rocks. 

"Is it…It is! These are crabs? Rock crabs? I didn't know they would be in their breeding season. There are so many!" There were some stories about the massive number of rock crabs that could be hunted during this time of year. Walker had totally overlooked that the timing lined up just right for them to see it while also leaving to the port towns to assist them. "Midnight, they are edible raw. That means you can eat as many as you want. Just remember to avoid the edge of the swamps until we are more north. I don't trust those lizardmen." 

"Just because we can't see them doesn't mean they gave up. I have a pretty good feeling they are waiting ahead of us or they are blending in and waiting." This hunting prey and hiding to ambush them was what Gil had a lot of experience in. He was not going to let anyone he saw fall for a trap such as this. 

Midnight carried Onyx on her back while he consumed the light elemental crystal Walker had given him. She snapped her jaws over the smaller crabs and they were eaten in a blink of an eye. As much as Walker had thought her dragonkin form was cute, he knew that the real Midnight who was always eager for food and to nap in a warm place was the true meaning of cute. 

"I will keep an eye on the waters. I don't trust that we can't tell what is going on under them. If there is a swarm of kraken how will we even know?" Remey had some faith that Walker would be able to sense it coming. However, she had not realized just how vast the ocean really was. Part of her was whispering not to even risk going there. 

"We should. I don't see any birds floating offshore or any ripples of fish or other monsters." Remey had a feeling that the crabs may not be there for breeding season and instead there so that they could escape the baby krakens. 

"Why do we have t keep planting red flags like that in life. I just messed up in the swamps and attracted the very monsters that could have ended out adventurers forever and you-" Gil was cut off by a larger wave breaking on the shore. The entire party looked over at it to see pieces of wood being washed up. 

"That might be a part of a ship." Walker wanted to investigate but they felt the air get denser and pressure descend on them. It was the same pressure that came with the royal and elder dragons. It was the sign of a powerful creature coming near. 

"That is what turned the ship in to broken planks." Remey pointed a shaky finger at the massive tentacle that had extended out of the water and seemingly grasped at something else floating in the water. 

I think the mother is larger than a whale. Much much MUCH larger than a whale!" Out of all of the,m, it was Onyx that was freaking out about this. He had imagined that the kraken mother would be smaller than what he saw. His lack of knowledge of the world came crashing on him. He had no idea how they would be fighting this even with a few dragons in tow. 

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