Author's note: Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. Chapter 40 was flagged as AI Generated and sent back. I've recently begun using Chat GPT to help with grammar and punctuation. I do not let it add or make changes to my story aside from these two things, Admittedly, it sometimes has made changes that I did not detect until later (replacing cock and pussy for penis and vagina, etc. :P).
Regardless, I ran the chapter through a couple of AI Detectors, because those are a thing now. The best they could come up with was 2% and most of the sentences flagged were for the description of the Kraken, their biology, and ecology. Admittedly it is a somewhat clinical part of the chapter but even that wasn't written by AI (I don't even know how an AI could come up with an ecology for a completely fictional monster, but whatever).
I just want all my readers to know that I will never use AI generation to write my stories. Editing assistance? Absolutely. AI knocks down my editing workload by around 3/4. But no AI will ever write the stories I put here for you.
-Blu
P.S. Someone pointed out that I keep using Commandant instead of Commodore for Scarlet's rank. (Honestly, I should have just used something more descriptive like "Fleet Commander" instead of going for accuracy here, 'cause I've obviously screwed that part up, but it's too late now). Future chapters should hopefully be correct.
The tips of two enormous dark-green tentacles with white suckers rose up beside the ship and draped themselves over the deckrail. A few of the crew stumbled as The Scarlet Bitch swung around the kraken in a shallow arc before coming to a halt. Men and monster-girl alike gripped sword hilts and spears, looking nervously toward their Captain.
"Hold," said Ratt as the sound of smaller tentacles and excited voices drifted over the railing. The four squid-girls crawled up and over the deckrail, followed by what was becoming a disturbingly common sight to Kal, a pale woman hanging limply at the end of a tentacle attached to her back.
The squid's animated chatter died when they looked around and saw all the tense and scared faces of the crew.
"What's wrong?" asked their leader.
"You've brought a kraken to our ship," said Ratt through gritted teeth. "They have a reputation for destroying vessels like The Scarlet Bitch. We haven't attacked because she seems to be a friend of yours and Naivoo's."
The kraken's human avatar spewed water from its mouth before taking a long wheezing breath and saying, "The squid from the south said you wouldn't stab me," in an emotionless monotone.
"Promise not to sink our ship, and we won't," said Ratt.
Scarlet leaned over and whispered to Kal, "I hope you three are prepared if this goes badly."
Kal only nodded in response as Ikuno filled him and Kashka in on what she knew about krakens.
The monster was huge, as Kal could easily tell. It was as wide as The Scarlet Bitch was long, and with its tentacles extended, it dwarfed the ship's length. Unlike their smaller counterparts, the kraken couldn't change color but could make their skin lighter or darker. They also had a swim bladder to help them stay buoyant, unlike smaller squid, who had to constantly use their jets or fins to maintain their position in the water column. The creature's eyes were enormous, with the visible parts alone being bigger around than Ikuno was tall.
Poco represented the most common type of kraken, with a long tapered mantle and long fins on either side for steering and aiding with propulsion. The second family of kraken, found primarily in warmer southern waters, looked more like a bulbous octopus. Both kinds had sixteen tentacles instead of eight or ten, though these were thinner in relation to their body size than their smaller kin. Of the sixteen arms, the squid-style kraken had two much longer tentacles for catching fleeing prey, while the octopus variant did not, preferring to use its camouflage ability to sneak up and ambush its food at close range.
The southern octopus-style kraken was also responsible for most ship attacks. Researchers theorized this was because young krakens fed on the giant clams and oysters in the shallows before their size pushed them into deeper waters. Compared to clam and oyster shells, a ship's hull was hardly a challenge for its massive beak. Squid-like kraken hunted in the top and midwaters of the deep sea and typically ate very large fish or the occasional lone whale. The woody timbers of a sailing ship would be seen as too much bother for the handful of morsels inside.
Both krakens could be driven off if hurt badly enough. Even their non-monster-girl counterparts were known to be highly intelligent, and a ship only needed to cause enough pain to make itself not worth the effort. Unfortunately, most ships would have suffered fatal damage before reaching that point. Fire was particularly effective if used against the kraken's sensitive suckers. Krakens could regenerate lost limbs but could take months or years to regrow.
Kraken beaks, claws, and pen were highly prized by weapon makers but not so prized as to be worth trying to hunt them. When Kal questioned her about claws, she sent back an image of the end of a tentacle but with cat-like claws nearly as long as his arm extending from the center of the suckers. She then explained that the pen was a long, clear, bone-like formation that gave the squid-kraken's mantle structure and was not present in the octopus kraken. In an actual squid, the 'pen' was stiff but flexible, whereas in a kraken, the pen was about as strong as good steel while still slightly flexible. Blades made from the pen were easier to enchant than steel. Its formation inside an enormous magical creature made it naturally attuned to magic, and there was no need to circumvent iron's magic-draining properties.
Ikuno finished by mentioning that kraken ink was highly sought after by mages for the same reason as its pen. The fluid was rarely used since only a few leviathan-class predators posed any threat to a kraken.
Kashka's next question mimicked Kal's when she inquired what creatures could be a threat to a kraken. Ikuno responded with images of a whale, fish, and shark, all with a kraken in their jaws, then followed it with a giant sea turtle with an entire island on its back, whose mouth could take in all four of the leviathan creatures at once.
Kal glanced over at the cat. "Are you sure you want a life of sailing?"
"Focus, please," said Scarlet.
Despite the plethora of information relayed, the exchange only took a few seconds over the bond, during which Poco appeared to be thinking carefully about Ratt's words.
The kraken scanned the crew and began reaching forward with a tentacle. "I will take this one," she said as the appendage stretched toward a male sailor. The sound of steel clearing scabbards swept across The Scarlet Bitch's deck.
The mage activated his speed rune as the tentacle began to move and shouted, "Hold!" as he dashed across the deck. "Ria, staff," he muttered while darting through the forest of blades that had appeared. The crewman Poco targeted had raised his sword to slice at the approaching appendage. Kal's staff appeared in his hand, and he shoved the sailor roughly out of the way before turning to face the oncoming threat.
The tentacle paused for just a moment as its target stumbled away. "You will do," said Poco before it continued forward.
"Swordstaff. No, I won't," said Kal. His staff shortened drastically as the platinum cap expanded to become a full-sized broadsword, complete with a crossguard.
