Chương 360: Chapter 346

The force of the explosion slammed into him and his shield, shattering both. It felt like a full-powered hydraulic hammer slammed into him, sending him hurling through the air. He didn't know what was up or down. He had no idea where he was or where he was going. His body rag-dolled violently, the very air – maybe even space and time – seeming to shatter around him as the explosion roared through the broken harbor. Sam had no sense of how long he flew.

The disorientation swallowed everything – it could have been seconds or even hours before his body hit something solid. Another impact struck him from a different direction. The air was driven from his lungs. It felt as if his body had shattered. His mana reserves strained to absorb the damage, but even they struggled to keep up. Whatever he had hit stopped his uncontrollable flight and allowed him to slide to the ground – at least, he hoped it was the ground – collapsing into an undignified heap.

A sound somewhere between a groan and a moan escaped him as he struggled to get his arms under control. The system blared notifications into his mind while those same arms felt like they were made of jelly. Finally gathering enough strength, he pushed himself up, then forced his body into a kneeling position. He pulsed his cleaning spell, stripping away the thick layer of muck clinging to his face and armor. At least, he told himself it was mud. He had no desire to think more deeply about what it actually was.

Opening his eyes – silently thanking the re-breather protecting his mouth from the gunk – he looked around. Surprisingly, most of the harbor was intact. The explosion hadn't reached as far as he had expected. The real destruction centered around the kraken. A kraken whose body was already tilting to the side, gravity reasserting itself. A massive hemisphere had been blown out of its body where he had planted the explosives, exposing its insides to the open air – as if something had taken a colossal bite out of it.

A deep blue rain fell from above–caustic blood, shredded flesh, and seawater mixed into a deadly slurry. One of the creature's eyes was gone. The other dimmed steadily as the last traces of life faded. The entire area was coated in semi-vaporized flesh of the kraken, painting everything an ugly shade of dark red – while the stone and wood debris beneath it started to melt. Sam pushed himself to his feet, wincing at how empty his mana felt. Tanking that explosion had drained his shield. Or maybe the landing had…

Sam glanced around once more before stretching carefully, feeling for anything broken, then let out a quiet, relieved breath when he found nothing. Pulling out his higher-quality potions, he removed his re-breather and began chugging them. Health returned. Mana surged. The wounds and tears across his body closed themselves. Feeling refreshed, he scanned the area as the kraken's massive corpse began to tip forward, its considerable bulk falling into the waters of the harbor.

It sent a fresh wave of water everywhere, flooding the nearby parts of the stone wharf with mud and salty water. Not seeing anyone – or sensing anyone – aside from his rapidly approaching teammates, he checked his notifications. It was mostly a list of damage taken, wounds acquired, and status effects. But at the end, like some trophy, sat a few simple lines. His favorite. [Congratulations! You gave the death blow – figuratively and literally – to the Mutated Kraken!] [You received the following experience points…] A slight grin tugged at his lips as he turned toward the two women approaching him. Katie's sword has returned to its normal size and rested on her back while she escorted Isabella, a worried look on her face as she fussed over the lighter-armored woman. Isabella was limping slightly, still holding her arm to her side.

"Hey! Come here often?" he asked, giving them a cheeky wave. Katie snorted. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Isabella did too – then immediately winced.

"Hah – ow! Don't make me laugh," she said, shooting him a half-hearted glare.

"That last ulti locked down my healing for another ten minutes." Sam nodded in understanding and turned his eyes toward Katie. She simply shrugged.

"I used up almost everything," she admitted without a hint of awkwardness.

"Give me an hour, and I'm good to go!" she declared with enthusiasm. As if she hadn't spent the last who knows how long fighting two titanic tentacle monsters.

'Still just as crazy as when I met her…' Sam smiled, then it turned into a grimace. That sounded like he would be heading to the next objective alone. His mana surged once more, reestablishing the Mana Scales over his body. A faint, almost invisible shimmer passed over him as the defensive layer settled into place. He let out a small sigh, feeling marginally better now that he had at least some protection again.

"Anything I need to know?" he asked, already checking his equipment. The acid hadn't been kind to his armor, though it had already begun to repair itself – the shadowy cloth weaving itself back together.

"Haven't seen anything…" Katie said with another shrug. Her hand still on Isabella's shoulder.

"A lot of people tried to join the fight – I think they thought it was some kind of field boss event." She didn't say what happened to them. She didn't need to. It didn't take a genius to do the math.

"Did you see any Blood Army people?" he asked his next question. Isabella sat down on a nearby rock, helped by Katie, and answered.

"No. They just burst out of the water as if they'd always been there…" She looked off into the distance.

"It was a fucking hell to fight them." Then she smiled faintly.

"At least I got three level-ups out of it…"

"Even if somebody stole the kill…" Katie added, shooting Sam a glare.

"Sorry about that," he said, dipping his head slightly.

"I was worried about the harbor." Isabella snorted.

"What harbor?" she asked, pointedly looking at the maze of debris littering as far as they could see. Sam let out a tired sigh, running his hand through his hair – then freezing. Slowly, he pulled his hand away and looked at it with disgust before hitting himself with a cleaning spell several times.

"Rebuilding is going to be expensive…" he muttered, glancing around with a critical eye.

"Lucy is going to be angry…" Katie sing-songed. Isabella and Sam both rolled their eyes.

"Anyway… are you going to continue?" Isabella asked after a moment. Sam frowned, then pulled up his messenger and tapped the call button. A moment later, Adam's face appeared. He looked just as bad – covered in blood and grime, like he had gone through a meat grinder.

"Krakens are dead," Sam reported promptly. Adam let out a long breath.

"There is that, at least…" Sam stayed silent, letting the other man gather himself.

"We've caught the people behind the explosions, so that's also handled," Adam continued with a frown.

"Dan is doing well with the grass. Most of the guild mages are helping him, so that's under control too."

"That leaves the blood cloud, right?"

"Right," Adam nodded.

"Steel Lions are in there. David is leading them, but the reports we've managed to get out don't paint a good picture."

"Eh, big bro can handle it…" Katie said, waving a dismissive hand.

"He's cool like that!"

"I'm more worried about them digging in…" Adam said.

"We need to stop them before that happens."

"Any backup?" Sam asked as he began loosening up again, rolling his shoulders and flexing his fingers. Adam shook his head, his expression sour.

"I'm just glad Tim managed to pull all the Ark people out of Brightgarden."

"Let me guess… the Blood Army released some kind of abomination between them and Deepanchor?"

"How did you know?" Adam asked flatly, rolling his eyes.

"But yes. They poisoned the local wildlife and triggered a frenzy. Very imaginative. As you may expect, that didn't go over well with a guild full of druids and rangers."

"Went bonkers, huh?"

"I've seen war documentaries with less blood rage…" Adam replied dryly. Sam let out another sigh.

"Fine. The krakens are dead, so I'll deal with the blood cloud. Whatever the hell it is…" Adam glanced down, clearly reading something, then looked back up.

"One of my experts thinks it's there to prepare for a portal."

"Ahh…" Sam nodded slowly, turning the idea around in his head. That made sense. The portals his master, Fitzgerald, built were stable, but once set up, they couldn't be moved. At least not without high costs. Any invading army would need its own method to open a path into enemy territory. With the Blood Army, that probably meant a lot of blood sacrifices…

"Send a group to the harbor so that they can start assessing the damage..." Sam said, ignoring Katie giggling beside him.

"Katie and Isabella will stand guard." Adam nodded, gestured to someone off-screen, before turning back to him.

"I have to go. They found another pocket. They've brought blood berserkers…"

"Have fun!"

"Thanks…" Adam muttered before the call cut out. The screen vanished, leaving Sam alone with his thoughts – and the two women.

"You two good here?" he asked, a faint edge of guilt creeping into his voice as he effectively assigned them to guard duty. Isabella gave him a small, reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, boss. We still have our familiars, and Katie's a menace even without her ultis." Katie immediately straightened, planting her hands on her hips and lifting her chin.

"That's right! Anyone who comes close is going to feel my wrath!"

"Good," Sam said with a relieved nod.

"Just try not to destroy any more of the harbor. I don't want to hear Lucy complain even more…" Katie lowered her head slightly, leaned forward as if ready to share a juicy gossip, then smirked.

"Well, if you're worried, I do have an excellent distraction technique–""Bye!" Sam cut in instantly, already turning on his heel and breaking into a run. There were conversations he absolutely did not need to have right now. Running forward, Sam summoned Lucky. The wolf had managed to recover somewhat and quickly flowed over his body, transforming into a flexible yet solid metallic armor that encased him completely. It replaced the worst of the damage to his gear while reinforcing his defenses.

Next came the re-breather, sealing over his lower face, followed by a pair of goggles pulled from his inventory – courtesy of Liz.

'Make a note – have her design a full head covering for next time…' With his defenses upgraded, he leapt upward, landing on the nearest rooftop before continuing forward in long, powerful bounds toward the unmoving burgundy cloud. As he crossed from roof to roof, his mind raced. What the hell were those idiots doing? He had pushed the timeline so far off course that any prior knowledge was useless now. A portal was the most likely answer – but the location was terrible for it.

In the middle of the city, with no proper defensible positions nearby. Maybe they were building a bomb? No… he would have felt that in the mana. Some kind of blood-borne plague? Then why keep it contained in one place? Sam frowned as he ran. For once, he had no idea. That alone was reason enough to be careful. Reaching the last rooftop before the suspended cloud of red miasma, he came to a stop. The air itself seemed heavier here.

The cloud hung unnaturally still, as if frozen in time – thick, dark, and wrong in a way that set his instincts on edge. He crouched low behind the crumbling remains of a chimney, letting the shadows conceal him as he focused. Then he extended his mana sense. A pulse spread outward. Then another. Each wave of impossibly thin mana – only able to manage that due to his inhuman control – slipped into the cloud as he narrowed his eyes, concentrating. At first, there was nothing. Just… a lot of miasma.

Mana thick and dense, obscuring most of his vision. He pushed harder, refining the pulses, threading them deeper. Searching. A moment later, his eyes snapped open. Without hesitation, he launched himself forward. There was no more time to think. Sam dove into the churning crimson cloud, letting it swallow his figure.