Yama Rising

The underworld was still in the so-called cold weapon era. There were cannons, but the current firearms weren't very useful. After one round of fire, it would often take half a day of cooldown before the weapons could be fired again, so they were far more useful for intimidation than for practical battle.

The several hundred ships on the sea were firing their cannons in unison, and half of the sea was illuminated a fiery red color, presenting a spectacular sight to behold. A thunderous roar of fury rang out as countless balls of dazzling flames erupted all over Kraken's mountainous body.

Even though it was only a single round of cannon fire, a collective bombardment from so many warships at once still produced an incredible amount of destructive power. Even the mighty Kraken was unable to bring its tentacles down in the face of the cannon fire and was forced back by the force of the explosions, crashing heavily into the sea to send massive waves rising up in all directions.

The cannon fire lasted for a full minute, and flaming cannonballs rained down in a torrential downpour. Thick smoke wafted over the surface of the sea like a cloud of mist, and Leoric was standing at the bow of ships. His fingers had already dug into the railing that he was holding onto, and his teeth were grinding together audibly due to excessive tension and adrenaline as he stared intently into the mist.

He wasn't the only one. Dalton, Orel, Erza, all of the other Marquesses... Everyone had their attention focused on the cloud of mist, while the sailors behind them were frantically reloading the cannons and waiting for the barrels to cool down sufficiently for the next round of fire.

This was only the opening salvo.

Kraken was one of the six kings of the underworld, an extremely formidable being even among death gods, and it was ridiculous to think that it could be felled by just a single round of cannon fire. However, why had it suddenly become so subdued?

In fact, it wasn't just subdued, the entire scene had become deathly silent.

The turbulent sea was reflecting the countless ships gathered here, and aside from the sound of crashing waves, there was no other sound to be heard at all. It was as if the gargantuan Kraken had simply vanished into the mist.

Leoric's heart was thumping like a jackhammer, and every single part of his soul was tense and on-edge. His upper body was inclined forward as he stared directly at the surface of the sea, frantically trying to spot the enormous Kraken, and wisps of Yin energy were seeping out unconsciously through the gaps between his tightly gritted teeth.

He could clearly sense that Kraken's terrifying Yin energy hadn't been weakened in the slightest. Instead, it was rapidly converging like lava right before a volcanic eruption.

All of a sudden, thousands of golden eyes lit up in unison within the inky-black sea amid the deathly silence. It was like seeing a starry night sky, except it was in the sea!

It was scenes like this that acted as inspiration for the most awe-inspiring and terrifying of nightmares.

Every single person felt as if they were facing the starry night sky alone. It was an extremely beautiful sight to behold, but it evoked within the beholder nothing more than a sense of sheer horror that welled up from the deepest parts of their hearts.

It's coming... The netherfire in Dalton's eyes were flickering erratically as he gripped tightly onto the railing of his ship, and his throat had run completely dry.

How long had it been since he had been struck by this type of feeling, the feeling of dancing on a knife's edge between life and death?

Risk and reward truly came hand in hand. In order to become a god, one had to transcend beyond a god!

Amid the tense silence, the sound of violently gushing water rang out from the sea again as one tentacle after another was raised up into the sky. There were even more tentacles on this occasion than during the last attack, and immediately thereafter, white netherfire was ignited upon the tips of the tentacles before they came crashing down like mountains toward the fleet amid an earth-shattering roar!

Kraken was going all-out here!

Never had anyone dared to provoke it like this during its entire life!

"Fire!!" The netherfire in Leoric's eyes instantly contracted drastically at the sight of the gigantic tentacles concealing the entire sky.

As the order was issued, a thick metal chain shot out of the bows and sides of all of the ships, and all of these chains were tipped with sharp triangular spears. At the same time, more chains emerged from the sides of the ships, instantly connecting all of the ships as one. Meanwhile, all of the spear-tipped chains pierced accurately into the flailing tentacles in the sky as if they had eyes to guide them.

None of the followers on the beach knew what material these chains were constructed from, nor how they were being propelled, but they were somehow able to force back Kraken's tentacles a little, and Kraken let loose a roar of disbelief upon seeing this.

However, their resistance proved to be futile in the end.

In the next instant, a massive tsunami erupted over the surface of the sea, striking several dozen ships at once. However, in the instant that the ships were struck by the devastating waves, countless peculiar runes appeared on their surfaces. As a result, a protective barrier appeared around the ships, preventing those mountainous tentacles from coming into direct contact with them.

Despite this, there was no way to nullify the immense power behind the tentacles!

The most fearsome thing about Kraken wasn't its arts. In fact, it barely had any arts in its repertoire. Instead, the most terrifying thing about it was its sheer size.

Of course, having such a massive body often proved to be quite inconvenient, but on the battlefield, particularly large-scale marine battlefields like this one, it was the undisputed king!

Kraken could sense that its tentacles hadn't actually struck the ships, but instead of pulling back, thick veins began to bulge on every single one of its tentacles as it exerted even more force to try and break through the defenses with brute strength alone!

Leoric's ship was at the forefront of his fleet, and most of it was pressed into the sea, causing even the deck to be completely submerged, much to his alarm and horror. Above the protective barrier around the ship, one could clearly see the giant suction disks on Kraken's tentacles squirming violently, and the protective barrier began to creak and groan audibly as if it were going to shatter at any time.

"Increase your Yin energy output! Do you want to die here?!" he turned around as he frantically yelled while the entire ship swayed like a leaf within a storm. "Increase your Yin energy output, damn it!! We have to withstand this!! We are the death gods who are going to stand at the pinnacle of this entire world! How can we be killed by a monster like this?! We are the hunters, not the prey!!"

Everyone was aware that it would be nothing short of suicidal to be holding back at a time like this, and bright blue light began to glow from every single one of te metal chains. Through the combined efforts of the hundreds of interconnected ships, they were able to withstand this devastating attack from Kraken!

On the shore, all of the followers were completely dumbfounded.

This was the sea monster mentioned in the divine prophecy? How was it so powerful?! It was fighting on even terms with the divine envoys sent down by their god! No, in fact, it was gaining a slight upper hand!

An elderly man fell to his knees with a dull thump and began to pray with all his might. Countless followers quickly followed suit and joined their hands in devout prayer.

Prior to witnessing this scene, they had been full of anticipation and excitement, hoping with all their might that the divine decree would come true.

Only after witnessing the divine decree unfold did they come to realize just how mysterious and perilous the world of the gods was. Even bystanders like them could sense the terrifying power surging through the sea at this moment.

One tentacle after another rose up from the depths, flinging an enormous amount of seawater up into the sky. Kraken's countless golden eyes blinked in a slightly dazed manner, as if it were surprised that these ants had managed to withstand an attack from it.

Orel was panting heavily as he gripped onto the hilt of his rapier with his right hand with all his might. The rapier had already been stabbed into the deck of his ship, and only then was he able to prevent himself from being flung away by the force of the previous impact. At this moment, boundless seawater was receding all around him, and his entire ship had almost been submerged just now, but it had risen to the surface again. Looking around as his familiar ship and crew, he felt as if he had been given a new lease on life.

We've survived the attack of a death god! We’ve weathered the storm, and it's our turn now!

A bloodthirsty smile appeared on his face as he looked up at Kraken, even as he was still panting heavily. In order to bring down Kraken, they had prepared painstakingly and extensively. No matter how powerful Kraken was, it was still just a wild beast with no intelligence!

"Attack!" He pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his own face with, only to find that the handkerchief was already soaking wet. He tossed it aside as he stood at the bow of his ship amid the mountainous waves, then pulled out his rapier and pointed it at Kraken from afar as he yelled with all his might, "Brave warriors of the Black Shirt Navy, attack!"

"Everyone..." At the bow of the Black Pearl, Leoric was holding a skeletal warhammer with its sharp tip pointed directly at Kraken as his clothes flapped violently in the fierce wind.

His voice was filled with fanaticism and excitement, as well as an indescribable sense of anticipation and desire.

He knew that with Kraken's enormous body, its main weakness would be its lack of agility. It would take at least several minutes for signals to be sent to its brain through its nerves, and that was the main thing that they had in their favor.

"Some people have called us lowly maggots! Some people say we're not worthy of speaking on the world stage, and that no matter what we do, we'll only be puppets of Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa in the end."

Countless Yin soldiers were already standing behind him on the ship with scorching netherfire burning in their eyes.

"But I say no to that!! No one is lowly forever! We are going to make everyone see us through new eyes and make Usonia great again!! Attack!!"

With that thunderous roar, countless Yin spirits rose up into the air from all of the ships. Through the use of some type of art, black wings of Yin energy appeared on their backs as they rushed forward, taking them higher and higher up into the sky, making it appear as if a flock of countless crows had surrounded Kraken!

All of Kraken's golden eyes dimmed slightly, immediately following which massive tsunamis erupted rapidly in all directions.

However, right as this happened, bursts of golden light began to emanate from the bodies of all of the Yin soldiers, giving them the appearance of holy angels or countless miniature suns.

This was a military formation at work!

"For the new age!!" someone roared, and in the next instant, all of the glowing Yin soldiers plummeted from the sky like a golden meteor shower, giving the entire sea a bright golden hue.

This was the divine miracle that the followers had been promised!

………………………………………………

It seemed to have taken all of Leoric's energy to deliver that address, and he clasped a hand over his own chest as he fell to one knee on the deck of his ship. At the same time, two figures appeared beside him.

They were the other two death gods of the Caribbean.

"Do we strike now?" the blond death god asked with a grim expression. "The Red Eagle Navy and Black Shirt Navy are willing to help us, but they won't be willing to continue to lend us their assistance if things get any worse than this. They want to escape from the control of Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa but don't want to defect to any of the current death gods, so we're only collaborating temporarily with them."

She looked up at the sky before continuing, "With the forces that we currently have at our disposal, even with the Four Winds Military Formation, we don't have enough firepower to slay Kraken. This is our trump card, and the display we've put on is already enough to convince our followers that they're witnessing a divine miracle, so we should begin wrapping things up now. If we keep dragging this on, the losses we'll suffer will be far too severe!"

Leoric took a deep breath before turning to face Kraken with a determined expression.

"Alright."

He rose to his feet again as he declared, "Let me put an end to all of this!"