The wizard's journey

Chapter 12: A Narrow Escape

"Roar..."

The sea monster outside the door, upon seeing the people, nearly went into a frenzy, desperately slamming against the wooden door with incredible force that left everyone somewhat disbelief.

Through the cracks of the wooden door, Grim and the others could clearly see other sea monsters being gradually attracted from afar, which instantly filled them all with despair.

In terms of combat power, it was already considered good if the wizard apprentices in this room could kill one sea monster, assuming Lafi could use that vine magic.

Everyone firmly resisted against the door, buying time, when suddenly, a relatively calm male wizard apprentice among them shouted, "There's still hope!"

Saying so, he rushed towards the large hole that had just been breached in the cabin, and almost at the same time, everyone thought of something, igniting hope in their hearts!

Because they remembered that on both sides of this ocean liner, many lifeboats were densely hung with ropes, which were connected to the railings on the deck.

At this moment, Yorkris's room was on the fifth level of the cabin, only five to six meters away from the deck, and everyone could still climb up using their own strength along the ropes.

The male wizard apprentice was the first to rush out, grabbed a rope, and began to climb up, followed by the other wizard apprentices who had reacted, rushing towards the ropes.

Yorklianna, due to her frail body and an injury to one of her eyes, was carried on Yorkris's back as they climbed upward.

Grim, despite a leg injury, was not hindered in his climbing at all. Having been accustomed to physical labor from a young age, a distance of seven or eight meters was not a problem at all for him.

As for Lafi, spoiled from childhood and with a naturally weak physique as well as a shoulder injury, she barely hung onto the rope and could not bring herself to climb, looking somewhat anxious.

The unknown female wizard apprentice, who had been stabbed in the abdomen with a wooden stick, was already on the brink of death, having lost too much blood and become delirious, and the table and bed blocking the room's door had already been pushed open by the sea monsters.

However, at this moment, those on the ropes were stunned by another sight.

They discovered that on this side of the ocean liner, there were actually three gigantic "sea serpent" emerging from the seafloor, crawling towards the deck!

My God, could it be that these giant "sea serpent" move in groups?

And to think, the hull of this ocean liner was over thirty meters high, which gives an idea of the length of these "sea serpent."

Boom!

Suddenly, a thunderous explosion erupted from above the deck, and everyone felt the temperature drop significantly. Then, to their horror, they saw that one of the "sea serpent" climbing up beside them was rapidly enveloped by a layer of solid ice, spreading downwards at a visible speed...

"Woo..."

As the ice spread, the ocean liner began to shake violently, as if a giant monster was rising from the seafloor. With a surge of breaking waves, a huge "octopus" head emerged, emitting a painful howl and stirring the surrounding sea into towering waves.

"An... octopus?"

Seeing this scene, everyone uttered disbelieving voices, and their expression changed suddenly, realizing something.

Could it be... those so-called "sea serpent" were just the tentacles of this terrifyingly large octopus?

If so, how enormous must this terrifying creature be!?

For the wizard apprentices who had never seen such a spectacle, this was a monster that only appeared in nightmares, truly of legendary proportions...

Suddenly, as the ice spread over the tentacle beside them, it seemed to lose its strength and with a loud crash, slid into the sea, whipping up huge waves.

Grim felt a gust of wind hit him, causing the rope to sway violently, and he had to use all his strength to hold on tightly.

"No, help me!"

A voice of despair fell downwards, and Grim looked down to see that it was the male wizard apprentice who had climbed the highest, falling into the vast sea.

Falling into this boundless sea area was almost a declaration of complete death.

At this moment, Grim suddenly realized that not just one person had fallen; Lafi too had been blown off by that gust of wind, but fortunately, at a critical moment, she used her magic to conjure a vine, tightly grabbing the rope and suspending her body in mid-air.

However, sustaining magic requires magical power, and considering Lafi's magical power, it was already impressive that she could last a few minutes. Therefore, she was constantly in a critical state, likely on the brink of death at any moment.

By this time, Lafi's delicate face is bloodless, her teeth tightly clenched to prevent herself from crying, yet tears swirled in her eyes.

After a powerless glance at the turbulent sea below, Lafi looked towards everyone with a plea, but whether out of fear or dignity, she just bit her teeth harder, unwilling to utter any words of begging, her body trembling incessantly.

At this moment, only two people could help Lafi, Yorkris and Grim.

However, Yorkris, carrying his sister, had already reached his limit, thus he was obviously incapable of helping, leaving only Grim.

Seeing Lafi's pitiful eyes, yet her stubbornness in not wanting to lower her pride, Grim's heart softened.

Even though this lady of the manor usually held herself in high regard, looking down on Grim, a commoner, she had inadvertently helped Grim gain a lot of knowledge about the wizarding continent without using her magic to bully him.

And, after all, they were together on a journey to the unfamiliar wizarding continent for studies, perhaps requiring mutual care in the future...

Grim, with a firm resolve, no longer hesitated. After taking a deep breath, he slid down to the end of the rope, where the lifeboat was, then managed to secure himself on the lifeboat at the bottom of the rope, hurriedly pulling up the vine that had been transformed by magic.

Having endured much hardship throughout his life, Grim, with all his strength, finally pulled Lafi back from the brink of death.

"Whew..."

Due to the urgency, Grim was noticeably exhausted, gasping for air as he rested on the hanging lifeboat, while Lafi, equally shocked, just stared blankly at Grim, her eyes shiny with tears spinning in her eyes.

Grim, seldom stared at by such a beautiful girl, casually wiped his nose, somewhat unaccustomed to the attention, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Putting aside Lafi's personality, purely in terms of appearance, she was indeed a rare beauty, an exceptional sight that had secretly made Grim and others gulp when they saw her at Zerlato port.

"Uh..."

Just as Grim was about to say something to lighten the mood, suddenly, a gust of fragrance hit him, and Lafi clung to Grim, sobbing, "Wuwuwu, I thought I was going to die, I thought you were going to abandon me. I had told my father not to go to the wizarding academy, a place that devours people without spitting out bones, wuwuwu..."

Feeling the warmth from the graceful body in front of him, Grim suddenly felt extremely nervous, his body stiffening, unsure where to place his hands, and even the words meant to ease the mood got stuck in his throat, unable to speak.

Lafi's tears seeped into Grim's neck, but Grim dared not move.

After a while, Lafi managed to calm her emotions, seemingly realizing her overreaction, no longer clinging to Grim. She looked at Grim with red, shy eyes and saw Grim's clumsy, dazed expression, and chuckled, "What are you still doing hanging around? Do you want to stay with me on this lifeboat forever?"

"Uh? Oh... no, no."

Grim stuttered, ironically moved by the beautiful girl in front of him for a moment.

After all, Grim had never really liked this arrogant girl who looked down on commoners, though he didn't despise her, there certainly was no good feeling.

But just now, Grim had felt his heart stir!

After calming the turmoil within his heart, Grim forcibly stopped his wild thoughts, steadied his emotions, and nodded, saying, "Alright, let's climb up quickly."

Then, noticing the blurred wound on Lafi's shoulder, Grim hesitated before offering, "Should I carry you up?"

"Okay!"

Without any hesitation, Lafi nodded in agreement, hugged Grim from behind, her curvaceous body pressing tightly against him, Grim could even feel her breath on his neck.

Suppressing the strangeness in his heart, Grim took a deep breath and started to climb up, carrying the hundred or so pounds of Lafi on his back.

On the other side, seeing that Grim and Lafi had resolved the crisis, Yorkris no longer paused and began to climb up with his sister on his back, quickly reaching the deck. Then, he started pulling the rope Grim was climbing, aiding Grim.

Later, Grim and Yorkris, exhausted as dogs, leaned on the railing to catch their breath. However, as they took in the hellish scene on the deck, they involuntarily gasped, forgetting their fatigue.

The deck, hundreds of meters long, was pockmarked everywhere, littered with the bodies of hundreds of sea monsters that had invaded the cabin, and even the center of the deck had a severed giant octopus tentacle twitching unconsciously, leaking dark green blood with a foul stench.

However, among the many sea monster corpses were the bodies of sailors and a few wizard apprentices, occasionally with bodies so mangled or died in such strange ways, it was impossible to tell if they were human or sea monster before death.

Boom!

A loud noise drew everyone's gaze to the room where the wizard Dilah lived, which was already in ruins. However, with the giant octopus tentacle's attack, it was completely erased from the deck, turning into countless scattered wooden planks.

At this moment, Dilah's face unnaturally flushed, the black eye mask already removed, revealing a complex mechanical gear turning non-stop, looking extremely eerie.

Underneath Dilah's feet was a completely frozen sea monster corpse, protected for unknown reasons. Even with a giant tentacle, over twenty meters long, attacking, Dilah still chose to use magic to resist, conjuring a giant ice shield several meters tall for defense.

With a "bang" ice shards flew everywhere.

Dilah once again cast magic to block the giant octopus's attack, guarding the frozen sea monster corpse beneath him.

On the other side, the remaining sailors desperately blocked the cabin door to prevent the sea monsters from entering.

Among these resisting sailors, Grim and the others were shocked to find the male and female wizard apprentices who had come from Dilah's room that day!

Moreover, these two wizard apprentices were now casting strange and powerful magic, unbelievably strong.