51 Monsters of the Deep (2/2)

“Is that like, an eldritch thing or something?”

A tentacle rose from the water, leaning back,

“Do you not fear me? I wonder if that is why you interrupt me.”

I waved him away with a hand,

“Naw, it’s because some guy named Baldag-Ruhl called me a little lamb, and most eldritch that can talk do too actually. Just wondering if it’s something that’s inherent or...?”

The tentacle leaned closer to me,

“All of your kind carries two traits. You are all food, and you all obey a higher order. We do not follow the commands of anyone, unless forced to. Your kind bends at the slightest benefit.”

I rolled my eyes,

“Sounds like you’re just looking for some bullshit excuse to justify yourself. Sounds...contrived.”

The tentacle slapped towards the top of me, causing my knees to buckle.

“Do not question my motives, child.”

With one knee on the ground, my head was bloody but unbowed. I stood with the tentacle across my back, like atlas carrying the sky.

The monster mumbled, “How is something so small so…strong.”

My ascendant mana roared in my armor as my armor grinned. My grip tightened, digging into the flesh of the tentacle. The bright, crimson mana bled from my runes like evaporating blood. The tentacle shivered, no longer able to crush me.

“You are no little lamb…you are a wolf, masked in the skin of a sheep.”

From the tips of my fingers, my armor pierced into the monster. A thousand needles dug into the monster as it attempted to pull me up. My weight stopped the tentacle from leaving me. My armor sapped the strength of the monster.

Unique skill unlocked! Gorger of Mana(lvl 1) – You consume the power of others. +1% to draining speed. -1% to mana drain setup time.

The voice roared through the room,

“Do you believe that you can eat me?”

My armor grinned wider as another tentacle shot out of the water. A splash of water covered me, covering me in the blood of the monster. As my armor absorbed more and more of its energy, bloody spots formed on the tentacle, spreading further down the limb.

With each passing second, the crimson spots on the creature spread further out. The other tentacle slapped towards me. With my feet creating craters, I leapt backwards. The tentacle I held onto tore from the monster’s body.

With a roar of pain, the sea monster missed its strike. The piece of tentacle above me wilted. Once fully drained, I tossed the dry, gray mush aside. More tentacles rose from the water, like the water was coming to life. Three of the eye covered tentacles darted towards me, but I leapt into the air.

One the tentacles slammed into the ground beneath me, another missed. The final one came flying down from above. As it slammed me downwards, I curled into a ball. Spines expanded from my back, jagged and strong as steel. They pierced into the tentacle before the tentacle below me turned over. A circular mouth opened, revealing a sea of teeth.

The top most tentacle pushed me into the gaping mouth before the squirming insides of the creature appeared. The teeth above me closed. Saturated in red light, I pushed my arms and legs outwards. Two sharp, serrated swords grew from my palms, stabbing through the monster. With a surge of mana, a burst of strength exploded in my arms as I turned my palms in a giant circle.

A rain of blood covered me as the cave appeared. The two walls of flesh separated as the kraken-thing roared in agony. The bleeding half of the tentacle retracted back into the water as I landed on the slippery ground. The detached tendril wriggled on the ground like a headless chicken. I stabbed my sword through the armor, draining it of the life force still there.

It wilted in seconds before I turned back to the sea monster. The tentacles wavered near the water, more cautious than before. I stomped my foot into the ground, shards of stone splintering upward near my foot. As the deafening echo radiated through cavern, I picked up two pieces of stone. With a step forward, I tossed one of them like a javelin.

The rock shot through the air before shattering against the monster. More a nuisance than a serious attack, I shot another boulder at the creature. The voice roared,

“Cease your pestering and leave me be.”

I frowned,

“Odd how your kind is so open to fighting until you realize it’s going to be a challenge. Then you’re all about peace and rainbows. Pitiful.”

Six tentacles rose from the water, arcing towards me. I grounded my feet, retracting the swords and pumping my mana into my arms. A tentacle slammed towards my right side, but I funneled force into my left arm. I pulled my right arm back, sliding on my heels before planting a strike into the tentacle coming towards me.

Using a bit my telekinesis, I pulled the tentacle towards me as my fist hit. The teeth and eyes broke and ruptured as my fist landed. Muscles composing the limb tore, as the voice yelped. Another tentacle wacked towards my left side, but I turned on my heels again. Twisting on my feet, my fist drilled through the air before I grounded another strike into a tentacle.

The ground beneath my feet cracked as my fist landed. Like detonating bombs underfoot, two clouds of dust wafted from me. An enormous implosion of sound ebbed from the tentacle, like a tank shell firing beside your eardrum. The force of the blow rippled through the tentacle, exploding out the back of it.

The skin at the other side of the limb split. Flesh ruptured out of it, leaving the tentacle attached by a sliver of skin. A tentacle neared me from above, but I pulled my right arm backwards. Another channel of power formed as I kept my elbows tucked, turning like a top on my feet. The tentacle slammed on me, but I stepped forward with my right foot.

The foot stomped into the ground, forming a cloud of stone dust. The force off the stomp traveled up my foot. I turned my left heel, the weight of the stomp pulsing through my core. Like a gunshot, my left fist landed a fierce uppercut into the creature.

I dug deeper into the ground as another blow landed. A fissure formed beneath me as my fist punctured the tentacle above me. The sheer impact made my knees buckle at just how cleanly the strike landed. A larger cloud of stone dust erupted along with another thunderous boom from below.

Before I could stand up straight again, a tentacle wrapped around me. With an explosive jerk, it pulled me from my spot. I dragged against the ground, the deadly line of water coming closer.

I slammed my hands into the stone, expanding claws into the ground. They held me for a second before chunks of stone cleaved from the ground. With the hunks of stone on my clawed hands, the line of black water grew.

I dug my heels into the stone, the rock cracking. I stopped for another second, but another tentacle wrapped around the first, reinforcing it. The pull doubled in strength, jerking me closer. Before I slammed into the water, I inhaled as deeply as I could.

That’s when the water surrounded me. The piercing cold, the all-encompassing wet, the suffocating embrace of the liquid was like the grim reaper whispering in my ear. The tentacle’s grip tightened around me, like the monster was reminding me where I was.

The black brightened in a flash of light as a gargantuan eye opened right in front of me. Larger than the edge of my vision, the monster stared at me for a moment. Lifting the eye up, countless legs of insects revealed itself. Suckers lined the throat of the monster, like they wanted to pump out my organs.

A voice echoed throughout the water,

“Now, little lamb…You lay in my domain.”