Hunters

2. Kraken

She moaned once more.
"Why Japan again?
It's so unspeakably gloomy at this time of year"

"Come on now. It's a quick job.
We'll probably be in and out in a week or so. We are lucky that the commission was for a Kirin and not its older cousin. Qilins are so much harder to find these days.
And didn't you complain how boring everything was just a few weeks back?
Kirins are still almost as rare as the white dragons of England."

Kora groaned and leaned onto the railing, watching the raging waves below.
"Why did you even take that commission?"

Eren leaned back next to her, observing the crew busily moving about, trying to cope with the strong currents.

"We still have to get our hands on that Omamori talisman to compensate Seya for the thing in Europe, remember?"

Kora did not continue laying out her complains, but stayed silent, attracting Erens attention.
"Don't you think these currents have been getting a bit too strong for these waters?", she suddenly asked.
Eren glanced at the water below the ship.
"Certainly.", he said, watching as a large shadow slowly rose from the depths of the sea.

"How do you always know when these cursed things will appear? We haven't even come close to their usual dwelling grounds yet!", Kora asked annoyed and pushed herself off the railing.

Shouts bellowed as others on the ship noticed the creature as well.

Eren just grinned.
"On for a swim?"
His sister rolled her eyes and grabbed her harpoon.
"Let's get it over with!"

They put some distance between them and the railing, standing back to back, each of them keeping an eye on one side of the ship.

As the first tentacles rose into view Kora said: "You think that stingy captain will actually give us the bonus he promised?
If it hadn't been for the pressure from the company I doubt he would have hired us in the first place."

Eren shrugged.
"If not we'll leave him a present."
He could practically feel Koras wicked grin and the sparkle in her eyes.

The first tentacle shot across the deck, searching for prey but found none.

At the beginning of the journey they had made it clear to all the others on the ship that they were to leave the deck in case of emergency to prevent any unnecessary deaths. The crew had followed these instructions surprisingly fast.

The siblings separated, watching as more and more tentacles slowly rose above the ship, tightening their hold.

The wood groaned and the railing gave way in some places, but it was not yet time.
The Krakens grip tightened even further and the ship leaned sideways as the huge main body of the creature started to surface.

As if on cue the two lone figures propelled themselves forward.

Eren drew two short swords and, at the same time, pulled his hood back, revealing his long black hair that was so similar to his twins. He exuded an air of calmness even as he sliced through the Krakens arms.

His sister on the other hand, holding the harpoon in one hand and a saber in the other, cleaved her way across the ship like a storm, leaving behind a tangled, bloody mess.

The beast screeched in pain and anger. The severed tentacles slowly regenerated and flew once more across the deck.

Eren frowned as the slimy liquid that the beast exuded drenched his clothes. It emitted a terrible stench of fish and decay.
Kora grinned at his antics and continued her deadly dance undisturbed by blood and goo covering her surroundings.

She avoided one that came from the left and sliced another one in half that tried to wind itself around her ankles.
One more, then two, then three.
Step by step she drew closer to the Krakens head.

Suddenly she heard her brothers voice.
"Kora... watch out!!!"

Her head whipped around just in time to see one of Erens swords piercing a tentacle onto the mast.
"Thanks!", she yelled back and used the small opening the now immobile tentacle had created to close the distance between her and the beast with a few swift steps.

The Kraken screeched in rage once more, an invitation Kora couldn't refuse.
Letting go of her saber she propelled herself off the railing accurately burying her harpoon deep into the gaping maw.
She grinned as she dived into the red, blue sea.

Meanwhile, Eren made sure that the dying Kraken did not take the ship down with it.
He was just about to relax when the ship shook once more.

It seemed as if, attracted by the now dead beasts howls of fury, another Kraken, quite a bit smaller than the first one, had decided to join the fray.

He silently cursed as the monster carefully heaved itself onto the deck. It was not big enough to even attempt to wind itself around the ship.
It seemed to have missed Kora due to the still sinking and bleeding corpse of its predecessor.

Eren sheathed his remaining short sword, deciding to change his weapon. Instead, he unwound a long metal chain from his arm that ended in a short but sharp blade, gleaming in the sunlight.

With a seemingly light flick it lashed out and wound itself around the Krakens body like a snake.

A short flash of light and the chain tightened. A muffled groan was the last thing that escaped the Kraken before it exploded into a million pieces.

Quite a bit of its remains hit Eren, covering him in blood, slime, skin and other unidentifiable chunks of meat.
As he surveyed his state he immediately questioned his choice, cursing all the entities he could think of. The list was quite long.
Maybe his sister's suggestion to stay in America a bit longer hadn't been that bad.

Kora, who had climbed back onto the ship and had picked up her weapon, positioned herself right in front of the door as the crew came back onto the deck.

"The beasts are dead.", she announced, pointing her saber towards the still faintly struggling tentacles on deck and the pool of blood beside the ship.
"I think that should be more than enough to justify the contract fee and bonus."

The captain, a man of strong build named Andrews, took one look at Koras dripping figure, Erens blood covered appearance and the mess surrounding them and readily agreed. No trace of his former reluctance to be seen.

Eren was intrigued by the sudden change. It was almost impossible after all, he mused, that it was the sailors first time encountering such creatures after he had proudly announced that he had been at sea his entire life.

He wasn't too surprised though. After all, many a confident and proud man backed down after being confronted with the reality of the hunt. Not to forget that Kora herself could have a certain effect on people.

Not paying the crew much attention he collected his sword from the mast and went below deck to try to clean himself just enough to get rid of most of the eye watering stench.
The first thing he would do, he decided, after returning to shore, would be to take a nice long bath.

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Kraken:
- Legendary sea monster of enormous size
- Known for sinking ships, devouring humans
- Subject of sailors' superstitions and mythos
- Often mentioned in literature works