Book 1: Chapter 34

Aqua Both of us are immediately sent flying with our own injuries. But both of us also immediately return for another attack. And another. And yet another, leaving clear injuries on each other with every attack. But neither of us stop despite the injuries. At this point I have bruises and fractured bones all across my body, and the starfish has bleeding holes across each and every limb. Meanwhile I see the chat going wild at the intense underwater battle going on right now. I continue piercing the starfish with my trident over and over again while occasionally using my bare hand to grab the starfish and throw it. But the starfish proves to be surprisingly durable. Not in the way that it can endure a lot without getting hurt, but in that it seems to be able to survive perfectly well even with enormous amounts of damage done to its body. Which is shocking just how much damage it can endure. Then again, I’m not one to talk in this situation. Considering that my wounds are very slowly healing. At a visible pace for some of the lighter wounds in fact. Still. This battle is dragging on for too long. So right as we’re about to clash, I activate multiple skills at once. First I summon two tentacles that move straight in to hit the starfish, slowing its spin down and crashing its momentum. Second I activate Call of the Abyss, making me let out a cry that makes the starfish flinch while I’m in the middle of charging at it with my trident. And to finish it off, the orcas that are summoned all go to different limbs of the starfish and begin chomping down on it. Proving just how powerful the jaw strength of a deepsea orca is as they chomp through its flesh. Distracting and stopping it just enough to let me send my trident straight into its mouth to pierce the darkness within its mouth. The very same place I killed all the smaller starfish by attacking. A faint smile spreads across my face when the massive starfish begins to convulse after my attack. But the smile flinches a little when I notice something strange. Instead of its usual clear blood, the blood coming out of its mouth is yellow. Huh? Then a small explosion occurs within its mouth, sending both me and my trident flying to smash into a wall. I ignore the pain from the injuries though as I quickly float forwards again with my eyes glued to the starfish. And what I find is more than a little unexpected. Because it’s the sight of a smaller starfish leaving the body of the massive one. This starfish looks exactly like the larger one except with a much more sleek and shiny look to it. Everything else is the same. The black color, the shape, everything. It’s just smaller and shinier. But more importantly, its identify result says it’s the same monster. And this one is barely injured, other than a clear stab wound leaking yellow blood on its upper limb. Unlike the large starfish though, this one actually shows fatigue from the wound. Making it difficult for the thing to move its wounded limb. I guess that explains why the large one kept ignoring all its wounds. That was just its outer shell. Or something like that. I have the tentacles and orcas stop attacking the large starfish and turn their attention to the smaller one. Only for said smaller starfish to suddenly move far faster than the large one in the blink of an eye. Slamming straight into and actually slicing through one of the tentacles. Cutting it in half. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Huh. And this is with it being injured? Wait, its bleeding even more now. Is it ignoring its own injuries to attack recklessly or something? Because that’s not very smart... Regardless, I rush at the thing as the orcas do the same. But the stupid starfish proves to be too fast even as it bleeds. So it keeps dodging us over and over again while occasionally attacking. First killing off the other tentacle. Then taking out the orcas one by one. The starfish isn’t the only one doing things though as I finally manage to stab a second limb on the opposite side of its body around the time it kills the last orca. And by now the thing is slowing down quite a bit thanks to its blood loss. Slow enough that I finally manage to catch it. Grabbing one of its uninjured legs with my hand and crushing it as I slowly stab my trident straight through its mouth like all the other starfish. [You have killed a level twenty-five Deepsea Eater Star. EXP has been granted accordingly.] [You have killed a creature underwater. Apex Predator of the Depths has been activated, increasing your REGEN stat by one.] [Congratulations! You have now reached level 25! Your total free points have increased by two, and your mana stat has increased by ten. Allocate the free points whenever you please. Additionally, you have now unlocked your fifth skill and your third trait.] And there we go. I pant in exhaustion as my wounds throb all over my body. But little to none of them are open wounds. With almost all of them being bruises or fractured bones. Which at least means they won’t make a mess of my clothes. Although for some reason I feel a stinging sensation that is very different from the pain of the bruises and bones throbbing all across my torso. But I can’t quite place what the pain is and it doesn’t last long. Regardless though, I begin making my way back home again. Deciding that I’m too injured and low on mana to continue any further today. So I’ll just take the rest of the day off. And, of course, while I head home, I make sure to check out my new trait and skill. [REQUESTING STATUS: USER AQUA FALLEN] [STATUS RETRIEVED] [Name: Aqua Fallen] [Level: 25] [Mana: 27/250] [Strength: 46(31)] [Dexterity: 21] [Constitution: 21] [Magical Strength: 20] [REGEN: 257] [Free Points: 0] [Traits: Physique of the Abyssal Kraken, Apex Predator of the Depths, Lifeblood of the Abyssal Kraken] [Skills] [END STATUS] Lifeblood? Does that mean some sort of regeneration or constitution boost? I select the trait to see. [Lifeblood of the Abyssal Kraken – The Abyssal Kraken’s lifeblood reigns supreme, allowing the Abyssal Kraken to naturally heal and regenerate every type of harmful status to their body in existence so long as a single cell of theirs remains unharmed. This includes all types of injuries, illnesses, infections, missing body parts, and any other type of damage and source of damage to the body. Death occurs ten seconds after the Abyssal Kraken’s hearts and brain are all destroyed so long as they are not regenerated within that time.] Oh. So it’s pretty much the ultimate form of regeneration. Interesting. Judging by the fact that my wounds clearly aren’t just suddenly healed, along with the fact that it says naturally heal, it likely just makes it so I can heal and regenerate from anything using the regeneration I have from the REGEN stat. Including infections, like what I had before. It even mentions missing body parts. So that’ll be very useful if I ever lose a limb somehow. A smile crosses my face at that as I feel more than a little satisfied with my new trait. Looks like I won’t have to rely on antibiotics anymore. And I won’t have to worry about having to get a prosthetic through a sponsorship if I lose a limb or something. I will just have to wait until the limb grows back if that happens. That said though, I thought the Kraken’s regeneration trait was weaker than this? Since I don’t remember anything about them being able to regenerate from just a single cell. The rest of it holds true from the public knowledge on Krakens, but not the ‘single cell’ part. So does that mean this is unique to the Abyssal Kraken? Regardless, the trait makes me effectively immortal at higher levels. When I have my REGEN stat high enough. At that point, so long as my regeneration outlasts the damage I take, I won’t be killed. One other thing I noticed about that trait though. It said hearts. Do I have more than one heart? I glance down to stare at my chest as I swim before placing my hand around where my heart is and trying to feel for my heartbeat. But the water makes it difficult to do so, not to mention my armor. So I eventually stop that and continue swimming. Deciding that I’ll check when I get back home and can take off my armor. Wait a second, that stinging pain from earlier... I’ve heard that traits can actually alter the body as you get them. So maybe this trait gave me extra hearts or something? It is talking about my lifeblood after all. Hmm. Well, for now I should check my new skill.