Pirate: Crew of Desire and Bonds

Chapter 85: Chapter 85: Sea Beast

After a short while, Jake and Grace stepped out.

As soon as they emerged, they noticed something was off as the ship was unusually lively.

A large crowd of peoples and passengers had gathered along the railing, murmuring excitedly and pointing toward the open sea.

Jake frowned and gently pulled Grace closer as they approached the railing.

"Excuse me, what’s going on?" he asked a nearby middle-aged man who appeared to be an adventurer.

The man turned around and paused briefly when he saw Grace’s beautiful face, but he quickly hid his surprise and smiled.

"Ah, there are currently Sea Beas—"

Before he could finish, the ocean surface nearly two hundred meters away exploded violently.

ROOOAAARRR!!!

A massive sea beast burst out of the water, sending enormous waves crashing in every direction.

Its body was covered in dark, armored scales that glistened beneath the sun.

Multiple long tentacles whipped through the air, while its gaping maw was lined with rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Screams erupted across the deck.

The creature let out another deafening roar and charged straight toward the ship at terrifying speed, its tentacles thrashing wildly.

"Sea Beast attack!!" someone shouted in panic.

Jake and Grace stared at the monstrous creature in shock, feeling the overwhelming aura radiating from its enormous body.

Its roar echoed across the sea, causing the deck beneath their feet to tremble.

Its massive body churned the ocean into white foam as it rushed toward the ship.

Several thick tentacles lashed through the air, smashing into the waves and sending towering sprays of seawater high into the sky.

Just as panic began spreading among the crew—

A lone figure suddenly burst into motion.

Splash!

A man dashed across the surface of the sea at incredible speed, his feet barely touching the waves as though the water itself was supporting him.

His movements were swift and powerful, leaving only faint ripples in his wake.

Jake’s eyes widened as he recognized the man.

"It’s Garrick...!"

The veteran captain shot forward like a blur, heading straight toward the rampaging sea beast.

In his hands were a long blade that gleamed dangerously beneath the light of the setting sun.

The sea beast roared furiously and lashed several massive tentacles toward him.

BOOOM!

BOOOM!

The attacks stirred towering walls of water that threatened to crash down upon Garrick.

Garrick didn’t hesitate.

"Too slow!" he shouted.

He suddenly spun through the air, his blade blazing with a fierce blue aura.

In one smooth yet devastating motion, he unleashed a powerful technique.

"Raging Tide Cleave!"

SHING-!

A brilliant crescent arc of blue energy erupted from his blade, slicing through the incoming waves and tentacles as though they were made of paper.

The water exploded into a sparkling mist as the slash surged forward without losing any momentum.

Then the glowing crescent struck the sea beast squarely across its massive body.

For a brief moment, everything seemed to freeze.

Then—

SPLUUUUUURRRRT!!

The enormous creature was cleaved cleanly in half from head to tail in a single, overwhelming strike.

A fountain of dark blood sprayed into the air as both halves of the beast crashed into the sea with a thunderous splash, creating massive waves that rocked the ship violently.

The entire deck fell silent for a heartbeat before erupting into thunderous cheers.

Garrick landed gracefully on the water’s surface, his blade still dripping with the sea beast’s blood.

He gave them a light shake before sheathing them and calmly walked back toward the ship as though nothing had happened.

Grace stood beside Jake with her mouth slightly open, her golden eyes sparkling with awe.

"He’s... really strong..."

Jake also stared at Garrick with widened eyes, genuinely impressed.

"...Holy shit."

But what intrigued him even more was that the man could walk on water.

Jake narrowed his eyes, focusing intently as Garrick approached.

Thanks to his sharpened Instinct and the passive awareness granted by his Aura Warrior class, he could faintly sense it.... a thin, almost invisible layer of energy surrounding Garrick’s feet.

’Aura...’ Jake thought, carefully analyzing what he was seeing.

’He’s using aura to support his weight and repel the water’s surface... He’s manipulating it with incredible precision to create a stable platform beneath every step.’

Jake’s respect for Garrick grew even further.

He could tell that making such a difficult technique appear effortless required an extraordinary level of mastery.

At the same time, Garrick’s display had opened Jake’s eyes to another way aura could be used.

He looked down at his own fist and slowly tried to coat his body with aura.

Then a faint crimson aura flickered around his hand and forearm before gradually stabilizing.

Jake concentrated harder, attempting to spread the aura into a thin, nearly invisible layer over his entire arm just like what he had sensed from Garrick.

However, the aura remained unstable.

Some sections became too thick, while others faded almost completely, making the coating uneven and inefficient.

Jake frowned.

’It’s harder than I thought...’ he muttered inwardly.

Coating aura around a cold weapon was completely different from coating a living body.

A sword was nothing more than an inanimate object.

Its shape was fixed, and its surface never changed, making it relatively straightforward to envelop with aura.

The human body, however, was far more complex as every muscle constantly contracted and relaxed.

Blood flowed through countless veins without pause.

Even breathing caused subtle movements throughout the body.

So trying to spread aura evenly over all of that without disrupting its flow demanded extraordinary precision.

Even the slightest lapse in concentration caused the aura to fluctuate.

Some areas became overly dense, wasting energy, while others grew so thin that the coating nearly vanished.

It was like trying to paint a perfectly smooth layer over an object that never stopped moving.

Grace noticed his focused expression and tilted her head curiously.

"Jake? What are you trying to do?"

Before Jake could answer, Garrick who had just finished speaking with the crew walked over with a knowing smirk.

"Trying to copy what you saw, kid?" he asked gruffly, though there was a hint of amusement in his eyes as he noticed the unstable aura around Jake’s arm.

"Not bad for a beginner. But aura manipulation like that takes years of practice."

"Don’t push yourself too hard while you’re still recovering."