Book 1: Chapter 64

Aqua The monster isn’t all that much higher level than me. Just three levels total. And on top of that, my bonus from being an Abyssal Kraken with that fifty percent boost in strength underwater is becoming more and more prevalent the higher my level is. The more strength stat points I have. At this point my strength should be a lot higher than the octopus’s. Even with its higher level. The only issue is that this is a mage type monster. So a lot of its stat points must be allocated to magical strength. My eyes narrow as I hold myself back from the monster trying to pull me in to eat me. Overall, my goal is clear in this battle. Get close to the monster to kill it with my physical strength. Which should be more than enough to tear its tentacles off since it should specialize in magical strength. Plus a lot of squid and octopus type monsters don’t have the greatest defenses. They specialize more in regeneration. So with that in mind, I begin to rush around to the sides of the large monster. All while sending bullets of pressurized water at the monster. Something I’ve been working on over the past couple days instead of relying on blades. It’s still a work in progress, but it should be enough to give this thing stomach problems. I stand corrected when the monster ignores the bullets as they tear into its mouth, only for the wounds to heal. Right. Regeneration. Better regeneration than my own... Then again, the faceeater’s regeneration can’t grow stronger unlike mine. So whatever. When I get close enough and the monster’s face-tipped tentacles begin rushing towards me, I summon my own large tentacles from portals around me to slam into the monster’s own tentacles. With mine clearly winning. Even though the faces on its tentacles are kind of biting my tentacles. Which is both creepy and gross, but whatever. I continue swimming towards the octopus from the side. Swinging around my trident to slash straight through the tentacles that aren’t being blocked by Abyssal Kraken’s Embrace. All the way until I reach the octopus’s main body and pull back my trident to strike. Only for the faceeater to suddenly do something unexpected. Yet at the same time expected. Every one of the faces on the monster’s body suddenly opens their mouths and start to scream. Making an ear piercing scream echo throughout the entire throne room and possibly the rest of the castle beyond it. I notice blood dripping out of my ear into the water around me as I feel dizzy. But that sight just has me narrow my eyes while the stupid faceeater begins launching several tentacles straight at me. Then I use my skill Abyssal Reversal, sending my own mental attack at it and coating its entire body in that deep bluish purple aura. Instantly making the tentacles all rush to slam into the walls in the opposite directions of where they were previously heading. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I take a moment to recover from the mental attack while shaking in place for a bit, feeling incredibly dizzy. Meanwhile the monster makes erratic movements, clearly trying to figure out what is going on with its body right now. And the moment I finally recover enough to pull my trident back, I stab the thing straight into the faceeater’s side. Making it let out another scream of pain. Except this one isn’t a mental attack. It’s just a scream. Which is weird in and of itself, seeing as octopi don’t generally have vocal cords. Or, ever, really. Because the trident isn’t enough on its own, I shapeshift to make several tentacles grow from my back before they wrap around to bite into the large octopus. Turning the tables around on it and seeing how it likes having tentacles biting it. And since the tentacles from my shapeshifting skill use my own strength too, they dig very deep into the creature. Then I finish the monster off by summoning some large tentacles with Abyssal Kraken’s Embrace that I literally slam into its mouth before stretching the thing apart in every direction. Making it cry out in pain again. I cross my arms with my trident in one arm, not even bothering to personally kill it as the tentacles from my back rush in to finish it off. Directly targeting its eyes. But right when they’re about to hit, the octopus makes its eyes flash a bright blue color. And not just the eyes in its main body but all the eyes on the many faces across its tentacles too. Searing light straight into my eyes as I grunt and lower my head. It’s too late for it to stop me though as all my skills continue on their course, finishing the faceeater off and making a dinging sound echo in my head. Marking the end of the mage type monster. My eyes and head continue to burn as everything around me looks bright blue with very little details. For over five entire minutes in fact. Eventually though the light begins to fade and I can see again. Only to find my own blood filling a good chunk of the water around me. Some of it coming from my ears and some coming from my eyes. Stupid mental attacking monsters. I let out a sigh before dumping this monster into my storage ring. Then I go ahead and check my System Messages, making a smile cross my face. Nice! [You have killed a level forty Deepsea Crowned Faceeater. 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 38! As the current First Ranker of Oceana, your total free points have increased by three, and your mana stat has increased by ten. Allocate the free points whenever you please.] [Congratulations! You have now reached level 39! Your total free points have increased by two, and your mana stat has increased by ten. Allocate the free points whenever you please.] Two levels from it. Although most likely because I’m pretty sure I was on the verge of reaching level 38 already. Which means just one more level before I get to level forty and get another skill. I can’t help but smile at that thought as I glance at the throne that the faceeater was covering. Then I leave the throne room while ignoring the skeletons filling the place. Since it feels wrong to touch something else’s prey. Even if that something else is my prey. Plus they’re just bones. Ones that look withered a bit after being scraped of flesh, blood, and organs. And I doubt I could get much from withered bones anyways. So I continue swimming through the castle until I arrive at the dungeons. Where another powerful mana source is. But this time I can tell that it’s just a single monster. Not the area itself. Meaning a powerful monster just decided they liked this place while passing by and made it their home. Rather than a monster settling in and evolving. Hmm... This particular dungeon – an actual dungeon with cells and the like, not a Gate leading to a dungeon – has a large gate leading into an underground part of the castle. Which pretty much just looks like a random extension to the bottom of the castle that’s visible from the outside. I have to admit, it’s kind of weird to see from far away. Still. It’s my next target. And I actually didn’t use much mana against that faceeater. Around eighty or so mana total. Which leaves me with over three hundred left. Plenty to handle another boss level monster. So after grabbing the metal bars and lifting the gate with my hands, I walk into the dungeon. Only to instantly find everything going dark when I do. I can still see though. But only after shapeshifting my eyes to that of the Abyssal Kraken’s eyes. Looks like whatever monster this is, it has dark magic. Making everything around it incredibly dark. I narrow my eyes a bit, briefly glancing at the chat to find them all curious. Then I continue into the dungeon. Ready to fight another difficult fight.