Chapter 31: | A King?
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[Your skills have fused.]
[You have gained:]
• † Razorfin Soarer [Ascension I]
• † Seismic Pincer Drive [Ascension I]
• † Stormpiercer Horns [Ascension I]
• † Matron's Reach [Ascension I]
• † Predator's Multisense [Ascension I]
• † Thornplate Bastion [Ascension I]
• † Thundercoil Descent [Ascension I]
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† Razorfin Soarer [Ascension I]
Silken fins stretch like wings—blade-edged, flexible, and deadly. You carve through water or burst above it in soaring arcs, twisting mid-air with predatory grace. Each motion is offense and defense, a dance of speed and slashes. Your fins aren't just for steering—they're weapons honed by grotesque mutation.
† Seismic Pincer Drive [Ascension I]
You hurl yourself forward like a boulder shot from a cannon, claws primed to strike. Upon impact, you slam both pincers in brutal succession, aiming for weakened or prone foes. The momentum amplifies each hit—shattering armor, breaking bone, and embedding enemies into the earth. A charge becomes an execution.
† Stormpiercer Horns [Ascension I]
Twin horns spiral with built-up lightning, storing energy from motion and ambient mana alike. Every charge channels that force into a focused burst on impact—stunning, piercing, and overloading nerves with raw voltage. Vital strikes can cripple movement or knock enemies unconscious. Built to ram. Designed to break.
† Matron's Reach [Ascension I]
Tentacles burst outward in a violent surge, each limb guided by instinct and mana-sensitive flesh. They wrap, crush, and slam with spine-laced precision—binding prey or breaking them against the terrain. Every strike channels mana through the limbs, enhancing strength, grip, and reaction speed. Multipurpose. Merciless. Inescapable.
† Predator's Multisense [Ascension I]
Your crystalline compound eyes rotate and focus with unnatural speed, locking onto multiple moving targets while adjusting seamlessly to light shifts. Heat signatures, motion trails, and minute vibrations are etched into your vision, while sensitive auditory filaments track shifts in air and water pressure. Stealth means nothing to you—every movement is seen, heard, and anticipated.
† Thornplate Bastion [Ascension I]
Your armored shell is layered in enchanted stone and bristling with bone-bloom thorns. Resistant to elemental force, corrosion, and direct magic, it shrugs off both sword and spell alike. When under threat, sharp barbs erupt across your surface, punishing contact with bleeding cuts and deterring all but the boldest close-range foes. Defense becomes deterrence—unyielding and painful.
† Thundercoil Descent [Ascension I]
You plunge from above or below with electrified speed, coiling your body mid-strike to ensnare prey. Upon impact, your charged horns discharge a violent surge that arcs across multiple foes, paralyzing and scattering them. It is an ambush, a crash, and an execution—all in one seamless motion.
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The skills I acquired were overwhelming, so much so that defeating me now would be nothing but a dream for most.
I smirked, my blood boiling with anticipation.
I needed a challenge.
A worthy opponent.
But where?
Before I could even ponder my next destination, an apocalyptic presence crushed the currents around us like a weight dropped from the heavens.
Liora stirred beside me, instantly leaping back as an enormous tentacle lashed out.
My tendrils, no, tentacles, moved instinctively, swirling and shifting into a colossal fist that met the strike head-on.
The water trembled.
The surrounding flora shook from the sheer force of its attack.
And I chuckled.
This was the kind of pressure I lived for.
Thundercoil Descent.
Blurstep Surge.
My body blurred and reappeared in front of the source, a monstrous mass of limbs.
An octopus, no, a Kraken, hundreds of meters in size, using its appendages to crush a massive, ancient gate carved with sacred murals.
Liora shouted, stunned.
"A dungeon! Our providence was truly right guiding us here."
She grinned wickedly, then pointed at the beast.
"Kill that bastard, and this dungeon is ours!"
I nodded.
My throat expanded as mana surged through me.
Lightning crackled between my horns as I gathered power.
Then, I unleashed it.
Flames spewed from my maw, searing the waters and boiling the ocean in an instant.
The scent of scorched flesh filled the currents.
But it didn't even flinch.
Its burned limbs regenerated instantly, flesh knitting together like nothing had happened.
Then a massive shadow loomed above me, and then.
Pain.
My mind screamed as a blow crushed me and sent me spiraling through the currents.
This thing might be impossible to defeat.
Liora dove forward, her body blinking out of sight, then reappearing above the Kraken.
She unleashed a devastating smash.
But the monster didn't care.
One swipe, just one, and she was sent flying like a ragdoll.
I looked again, closer now.
This wasn't just any mutated octopus.
I saw it clearly, horns, exoskeletons, scales, armored segments, a chimera of adaptations.
A biological nightmare.
Could it really be strong enough to obliterate Blooming Colossus Bastion?
I clenched my jaw.
Fear clawed at me, but I surged forward anyway.
Blooming Wrath.
Thundercoil Descent.
Blurstep Surge.
Time slowed.
Countless afterimages shimmered in the depths.
Then pink lines spiderwebbed across its body.
Boom.
Its flesh ruptured.
Tentacles fell.
Blood splashed everywhere.
Razorfin Soarer had truly done its work.
But then, horror.
The wounds closed.
The severed limbs reconnected.
In a second, it was as if I hadn't landed a single hit.
How?!
Even with my regeneration, it would take me hours to recover from that, not seconds.
Disbelief crushed me.
Beside me, Liora coughed blood and wiped her mouth.
"Run… run! This bastard is beyond our understanding!"
Her voice trembled.
She knew.
This thing, this abomination, was a foe no one should face.
Liora turned pale as she vanished into motion.
"Fucking run! That guy is a **Zenith**!"
Zenith?
My mind reeled.
She shouted again.
"There are three categories in each monster class, Lower, Higher, and Zenith!"
If what she was saying was true…
Then I was absolutely, undeniably fucked.
Then I heard it, the roar of the currents being torn apart as the creature's tentacles surged forward.
Pain followed.
Searing and immediate.
One of its limbs cleaved through my flesh and bone llike it's made of paper, and the force of the blow hurled me into a wall of stone.
Liora screamed.
"Escape now, or you're dead!"
My vision blurred.
My body ached.
But even through the haze, I saw it, a massive tentacle, poised to strike her.
Without a single thought, I roared.
A thunderous bellow shook the cavern.
The pressure in the water shifted as the tentacle froze mid-swing.
Then, I felt it.
A presence invaded my mind.
A voice it was soft yet terrifyingly feminine.
"You… You're quite an interesting foe. Entertain me, and I shall let you live."
Entertain her?
Like a monkey in a cage?
I'd had enough of that.
Enough!
My blood boiled.
My form flared red with rage.
Adrenaline surged.
Then I launched forward like a comet.
Behind me, Liora cried out.
"Stop, you damned bastard...!"
But she was intercepted.
A tentacle caught her midair and smashed her into the stone like a lifeless doll.
She coughed blood.
Her spine, snapped.
Her bones shattered upon impact.
Her body crumpled.
My mind went blank.
Rage replaced thought.
Murderous intent erupted from me and slammed into the monster like a tidal wave.
Its response?
"Entertain me more, whark~!"
Tentacles blurred and rained down in a storm of lashes.
But I wasn't the same creature from before.
Blooming Wrath, activated, then Thundercoil Descent, Blurstep Surge, All of them was pushed to the brink.
My form vanished, then reappeared within striking range.
A shimmer of light, thousands of pink lines spiderwebbed across its limbs.
Then, it ruptured.
Its tentacles exploded, severed and scattered across the abyss.
And yet... she laughed.
"Fufufu… It seems I've found something decent today. You may live, but entertain me more, whark~."
I gritted my teeth.
From behind her, countless weapons of mana manifested, swords, spears, arrows, all floating, and aimed at me.
My own tentacles had already shifted, merging into a monstrous claw.
I slashed it upward, forming a barrier as the first wave of projectiles launched toward me.
Clang.
Boom.
Sear.
I blocked them, one by one.
Behind me, Liora was coughing blood, barely conscious. She tried to speak, to warn me.
"...You need to… run…"
But her words were lost.
Her eyes rolled back.
She passed out cold, body limp from her shattered spine.
I couldn't hear her, but it didn't matter.
Mark my words, Liora...
I will get your revenge.
Pain seared through my body as she laughed, unbothered, cruel.
Countless projectiles rained down from every direction.
I slashed, clawed, blocked, again and again, deflecting the barrage with everything I had.
Then, agony.
An arrow pierced my left eye.
As my vision shattered into darkness.
I gritted my teeth, the pain was unbearable, then a guttural growl tearing from my throat.
Still, I didn't stop.
Not when a massive sword came next, cleaving down and embedding itself into my brow.
I roared, twisted in pain.
Was this it?
Was this truly my end?
To die so pathetically... to a mere octopus?
She giggled sweetly, mockingly.
"Oops... did I go too far? But really, who would care if an insignificant little whark died?"
Insanity cracked at my mind.
My vision spun, the world narrowed, and something in me snapped.
Insignificant? Me?
Don't fuck with me.
You bitch.
Crystals erupted from my skin, spikes of rage, of wrath.
They burst outward in a flash of light, enveloping me in a crystalline armor.
My form pulsed.
Grew.
Blooming Colossus Bastion, fully activated.
My eye regenerated, then glowed like a shard of diamond.
Cold.
Focused.
Unforgiving.
I met her gaze without fear, without doubt.
Round two.
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