As soon as Kraken followers got close, Cridror used her aqua charge to break through the enemy ranks. When Dhaga wondered why the orca did such a reckless thing given how poorly the orcas were equipped when surrounded, he watched as a whirlpool formed out of nowhere with the orca at its vortex. The whirlpool lasted a few seconds but, in those seconds, all the Kraken followers caught within it were sliced to countless pieces. Next, Cridror swam back to the naga.

  Impressed yet? That was my Whirlpool Burst ability! It works really well with my aqua charge.

  Having seen the destructive nature of the ability and the assumption that the ability couldn’t differentiate between friends and foes, Dhaga could see why the aqua charge was so important for the kit. Otherwise, Cridror had to be isolated and encircled to make full use of the spell. Now, she could determine where to strike and where to withdraw at her own whim.

  You seem so excited about it. Have you never had this ability before?

  To the naga’s surprise, Cridror revealed that the orcas only had one ability until recently. While they really honed that ability, they were still limited to a single ability which limited their versatility. None of the orcas was aware that a second ability was possible. Cridror credited this development with the Leviathan’s recent evolution. Somehow, there were a bunch of impossible events that were made possible since the Leviathan's return. No one knew who was responsible for these miracles as even the Leviathan refused to share how it returned but the development would certainly aid the nagas in their fight against the Kraken.

  Now Cridror has an answer to the enemy’s numbers.

  Until recently, Dhaga and the orcas had no solution to the large number of foes. Their attacks were only good against single targets or small groups. Thus, the Kraken followers’ large numbers had posed a serious threat. While it was true that the Naha had an impressive arsenal of spells capable of dealing with large numbers, she was only by herself and such spells were normally mana heavy. To use such spells repeatedly would render her useless very quickly as she would be depleted of mana. The other sorceresses would be even more hindered by this fact given that they didn't have an orb to assist them. Cridror’s new ability would help their flank by crushing their foes faster than expected. If enough time had passed, Cridror could easily stand her ground against the incoming Kraken followers, even by herself .

  Wait, why aren’t they approaching us further?

  Earlier, the Kraken followers paused their advance following Cridror’s demonstration of her new ability. Yet, they had gotten over that and continued advancing for the next couple of minutes before they stopped and backed away.

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  Do you know what they are attempting here, Cridror?

  I fear I’ve never seen the Kraken followers do such a thing. Seems like we aren’t the only ones with surprises in this battle.

  A dark portal suddenly appeared on the flanks between the two belligerents. Dhaga watched as a creature easily twice the size of orcas appeared through the portal. At first, he thought it was a larger version of a great white shark. After a minute of studying it, he concluded that it resembled a blue shark more with its extra long pectoral fins. The portal closed as soon as three such things came through the portals but the naga knew the three of them were enough to strike fear in the nagas. Given that nagas were generally one of the bigger denizens of the seas, the idea of fighting something as big as the creatures before them would terrify anyone. They also had so little experience that they weren't quite sure where to start.

  Cridror, you wouldn’t happen to know what these are and their weaknesses, right?

  No, this is the first time I’ve seen them. I’m actually more curious how the Kraken got ahold of them in the first place.

  Dhaga was also curious about the dark portals as they didn’t match portals he had seen before. He came across demon portals before but the two, despite both being similar at first glance, had nothing else in common. When the portal appeared, the naga tried peering into it and, despite seeing nothing, he could sense something peering back at him. A part of him was relieved that wherever peered back didn’t bother exiting the portal.

  “Ah! What’s happening?”

  Dhaga turned to see some of the nagas facing one of the creatures slowly turn to stone. No matter how they struggled, they couldn’t stop the petrification process. Once they completely turned to stone, the victims sank to the bottom of the seafloor. The creature responsible for the petrification then swam behind the Kraken ranks.

  If that one can petrify its foes, are the other ones also capable of such a thing?

  As if in response, the second creature charged at the nagas. Any naga that came close to it turned to ash instantly. During that time, the creature has a dark aura around it. Like its first companion, the creature only did a quick lap before it withdrew to safety too. Once it was done, the third creature approached the nagas before it sent a shockwave out from its mouth. Following that, it too withdrew to safety.

  What did the third one do?

  After much panic among the nagas, Dhaga figured out what the third one did. Those hit by the shockwave lost one of their senses, though the lost sense seemed to be random. They also had no clue if the loss was temporary or permanent. However, the third creature’s ability was no less dangerous than the first two. One might consider the petrification and instant death to be more impactful but the curse or whatever was used by the third creature had more long term impacts on the nagas.

  They knew that we are tightly knit and wouldn’t abandon the disabled ones. Even if the war was won by us, the nagas with afflictions would be a burden to the nagas, possibly causing the collapse of our great empire.