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(BUS)Chapter 37: Octodie!
🕑 Added 2024-11-12 16:21:54 +0000 UTC"Yeah, still hard to reconcile the you I first met all those months ago with the you now." he said honestly.
I shrugged "It's just how my powers work, plus I've gotten a few lucky breaks that have given me some banger traits." I say casually as I walk over to him.
"Ain't that the truth? Never thought I'd see a person breath fire or cover themselves in it without you know, dying. Just glad you aren't one of those psycho nuts that'd declare themselves a god after getting a bit of power." he said with a chuckle.
"Nah, gonna save that for when I'm able to threaten a whole ass planet just by existing." I joke with a grin.
"I'd laugh if I didn't think you'd actually get there eventually. Not sayin it'll be easy mind, but at the rate you're going looks like a matter of time." he said with a shrug.
"Mmm, well you gonna stick around for the next beastie or headed somewhere else?" I asked changing the topic.
"I've got nothin better to do so I'll hang about to watch you work for a bit." he said and I nodded before motioning the keeper dude to release the next beast.
A cage door opens up at the end of the arena and a long glowing yellow tentacle reaches out followed shortly by another and another until the beast fully dragged itself out into the open.
'That's a big ass octopus!' I thought astonished
Indeed this creature that was appropriately named {Craken} was what appeared to be a massive cephalopod. It had twelve long thick glowing yellow tentacles with barbed tips and thick looking plates of metallic armor and a body easily twenty feet long and eight feet wide in the standard bulbous boneless form most octopi have.-
The creatures body much like it's tentacles glowed yellow and had many metallic armor plates over it. Honestly it would look like a tough customer if only it didn't have three huge red eyes that practically screamed "weakpoint". I flat out ignored the fact that the creature was clearly capable of breathing air and didn't need to stay wet to survive unlike literally all octopi I was familiar with. This reality had some fucking weird creatures so this wasn't enough to make me bothered at all.-
I casually drew my gun and pulled the trigger three times in rapid succession at one of the eyes. The three bullets bizarrely turned into six midflight and the first was the only one to land on my target as the tentacles blurred and tanked the rest.
'So that's how it is huh? Alright lets see how you like fire!' I thought upon figuring out the creatures gimmick.
It was a simple but effective one really, defensive surprise factor. Those armor plates were there to protect the creature from harm but the really important part was that the tentacles were basically whip strike fast to catch whatever was attacking it off guard.-
In a manner of speaking this creature traded movement for defense and retaliation or ambush ability. There was a big problem with this however, sustained damage. Anything that causes damage over time like acid or fire were the bane of this type of creature as it simply couldn't escape it. In it's native environment it wouldn't encounter something like that easily but this was not it and I was not a part of it's natural food chain. I sucked in air loudly as my chest puffed up drastically and I activated my [fire breathing] trait as I exhaled in a controlled manner.-
A thick yellow gout of flames erupts from my mouth and baths the arena in fire within a cone shape that the creature sat within the end of. "HIIIIIIIISSSSSSS!" the creature hissed in pain and flailed it's tentacles to try and fend off the fire but unlike bullets fire wasn't a solid object you could swat away. The glowing flesh of the octopi sizzled and burned as the flames scorched it for as long as I breathed out which was unfortunately only about fifteen seconds.-
The only reason I could breath out for so long and at such intensity was because of the enhancements my lungs had gotten. Still once the flames vanished since there was no fuel for them I got to see the damage that my attack had done.
'Oh? How clever!' I thought quite pleased to see that after the initial panic the creature prioritized survival over comfort and bundled it's armored tentacles over it's body sacrificing them to protect it's vitals.
The creature hissed angrily as it unwound it's tentacles that no doubt hurt like hell and glared murderously at me. I raised an eyebrow in interest as I saw the glowing scorched flesh of it's tentacles begin to bubble and repair itself visibly. -
I wasn't surprised since even on earth octopi had strong regenerative abilities though nothing this extreme. I pointed my gun at the beast yet again and pulled the trigger before moving my aim and doing it again. Four bullets aimed at currently vulnerable parts shot out and caused serious damage as two of the twelve tentacles were severed at the base. I reloaded and pulled the trigger another three times with three different targets severing another three tentacles.-
I had to quickly dodge however as the beast cleverly grabbed it's severed appendages and used the extra reach it gave it to whip them at me. It's aim was off a bit due to unfamiliarity with this sort of attack but the rapid adaption it was showing to it told me that just like octopi on earth this fucker was smarter than a normal beast. Perhaps not sentient but close enough to problem solve quickly and improvise tools. I pulled the trigger as I dodged the wild strikes that were getting more and more accurate blasting off another tentacle for a total of five of twelve being severed.-
It became inevitable that I would be struck at this point as five of the beasts tentacles whiped at me with it's severed tentacles while it had two left to defend itself. When the blow came I wasn't disappointed as my shield flickered and I was pressed back against the wall of the arena. The beast went frenzied at this success and began raining whip strikes down on me that my shield was barely holding up under and rapidly depleting. Taking a deep breath I unleashed the entirely of my fire breath all at once in a briefly blue hot eruption actually causing critical damage to the beast this time as it couldn't fully protect its body from the fire.-
The metallic plates at the top part of it's body were melted slag while it chose to protect it's eyes the best it could. I didn't just sit back while it did this but emptied my gun taking off another two tentacles and exposing one of it's eyes. I reloaded and unloaded my gun for a total of fourteen bullets all aimed at that exposed eye and the beast was forced to sacrifice another three tentacles to stop the barrage leaving it only two.-
I reloaded and grinned predatorily "It was a food fight!" I said complimenting it as I unloaded on it now that it was unable to fully block my shots as I aimed for all three eyes simultaneously.
It tried but half the bullets went through and green corrosive damage exploded in the soft targets ruining them and sending the beast screaming in agony as it flailed around. I didn't make it suffer for long and unloaded my gun into the remaining eye which did the trick of killing it as I picked up it's status with my powers now.-
{Craken
Lifeforce: 2191
Traits: [Clever mind-Uncommon grade]- 1,000 units, [Quick thinking-Rare grade]- 5,000 units, [Multilimbed-Uncommon grade]- 1,000 units, [Radiation resistance-Epic grade]- 20,000 units, [Regeneration-Epic grade]- 20,000 units, [Hyperflexibility-Rare grade]- 5,000 units, [Biometallic armor plates(Iron)-Rare grade]- 5,000 units}
I wasn't too surprised at the traits the beast had as I had more or less expected them from it's performance. That said I had to admit that this thing was impressively built and for anyone else may have proven a difficult to overcome foe without using grenades or launchers.-
I didn't hesitate to shell out the lifeforce to grab [Clever mind, [Quick thinking], [Radiation resistance], [Regeneration] and [Hyperflexibility] for a total price of 51,000 units. I got a small amount back from the corpse but not really enough to lessen the sting of spending so much. Not that I was too bothered by this given the veritable storm of lifeforce I had swirling within me at the moment. That might change when I went back to Athenas to grab a copy of Maya's powers but that was assuming I still had enough by the time I went through all these beasts that were costing me quite the sum so far.-
The corpse turned into a large pile of dust and after I grabbed the traits and lifeforce and I holstered my gun with a content smile.
"Had me worried for a moment there when it was wailin on you with those tentacles." Clay said as I walked over.
I nodded "Yeah I was under some serious fucking pressure from that and had to take a risk that it'd switch to defense if I sent some flames it's way, paid off in the end though." I said with a grin.
"Helluva maneuver gotta give it to you. So did ya get anythin good from the kalamari?" he asked curiously.
"Some brain traits, a flexibility trait, a resistance trait and regena motherfucking ration." I said with a wide grin.
"Like regrow your arm regen or just faster normal healing?" he asked eagerly.
"Regrowing an arm is actually two or three traits but very fast normal healing more or less. Cuts and bruises are no longer an issue for me." I said happily.
"DAAAMN!~ Really goin for that immortal build huh? Can't say as I blame you, it's one of those things everyone seems to want after all." he said with an impressed whistle.
_______________________________________________
Alexander Drake
Lifeforce: 1,781,290
Integrated Traits: [Gun expertise-Uncommon grade], [Clever mind-Uncommon grade]X3,[Enhanced senses-Epic grade], [Omega body-Rare grade]x4, [Supreme armored hide-Epic grade], [Bone regeneration-Uncommon grade], [Corrosion resistance-Uncommon grade], [Energy projection-Epic grade]x2, [Superior vitality-Epic grade],[Flame breath-Uncommon grade],[Minor regeneration-Rare grade], [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade],[Active camouflage-Epic grade], [Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade], [Amphibious lungs], [Water resistance],[Quick thinking], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Fire resistance-Epic grade], [Elemental body(fire)-Legendary grade], [Shock resistance-Epic grade], [Energetic sustenance(shock)-Epic grade], [Radiation resistance-Epic grade], [Energetic sustenance(radiation)-Epic grade], [True omnivore-Rare grade], [Biometallic bones-Epic grade]
Stored traits: [Energy reservoir-Epic grade], [Shock resistance-Rare grade], [Predator muscles-Common grade], [Armored hide-Rare grade], [Crushing jaws-Uncommon grade], [Elemental body(shock)-Rare grade], [Clever mind-Uncommon grade], [Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Radiation resistance-Epic grade], [Regeneration-Epic grade], [Hyperflexibility-Rare grade]
Comments
Christian Jeffress
Thanks for another really fun chapter
