*Byuuur*

And so, the hands of time continued moving onwards. The day had passed by, and another came to replace it. The sun happily viewed the inhabitants of the world below, shining a beautiful golden ray.

The clouds above slowly moved along the large sky above. The seagulls flew through the giant clouds, soft winds moved past. The leaves of the palm trees waved in the slow wind.

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

“Tch…My aim sucks.”

However, not every place was as peaceful as the rest. At one side of the archipelago, loud gunshots can be heard from afar. Waves crashed onto the surrounding islands as a single object broke through the calm waters.

“Pipipi!”

“Piii!”

“Tch.”

Looking behind him, Alex clicked his tongue as he noticed the crabs’ pursuit. He has been shooting for around about…5 minutes? And he has only taken down around 3 or 4 crabs. That would have been fine, if not for the increasing numbers of crabs.

But besides the increasing numbers of crabs, he felt another presence watching him, something much more, powerful.

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

“Gah, fine.”

Seeing as his aim was failing him, he quickly put his newly conjured pistol into his holster on his waist and activated his magic. His index finger lit a soft white light. While still steering his surfboard, he conjured a small cube.

“There.”

Looking back once more, he aimed the cube he conjured, and after waiting for them to group up, he threw it out. Even worse than before, the cube didn’t even make it to the crabs, but as it made contact with the water,

*Boom!*

An explosion sounded across the waters. A powerful wave swept across the water’s surface, causing him to lose control over his surfboard for a moment, but he was quick to response.

Looking past the cloud of white vapour, he spotted the group of crabs previously chasing him, now simply floating on the waters, unmoving.

“Why aren’t I using this more?”

Silently contemplating his life choices until now, he returned his focus back to steering the surfboard, only to realise that he had become off-course. In a slight panic, he quickly tried to adjust his path, but it only made it worse.

In the end, he missed the island he was aiming for, and crashed onto another island close to his target.

Oh well, at least he got somewhat closer, right?

“Pi…”

“Oh, shut up.”

Sighing deeply, he pushed himself up and dusted off any sand that had gotten on his shirt. Sadly, his shirt was wet, and the sand seemed to cling even further.

By the end of it, he simply gave up and threw away his clothes, and wore another set he conjured quickly.

“Pi!”

“What is…”

Just as he was fixing up his belt, the crab suddenly shouted out. Slightly annoyed, he turned around to see what it was calling to, only to tense up as his eyes set upon an enemy he had never seen before.

“Grruuruu…”

“That’s…a big octopus.”

“…Pi.”

Just as he put it, the enemy that had appeared from the ocean depths…was a big octopus with purple coloured skin and beady black eyes. Its body was practically attached to a huge number of tentacles, but most of them were used as its legs. Yeah, legs.

But what was most terrifying about it, were the eight tentacles not used for movements. Instead of being simply jelly-like tentacles, the ends of the tentacles were equipped with a sharpened edge, like that of a blade. A shine gleamed off its shiny surface.

“……Well, sh*t.”

Gulping down his saliva, he took a stance and prepared for battle. The crab seems to have noticed, and it too raised its claws in preparations for battle.

Wait, this thing is gonna fight?!

Woah, that’s amazing!

“Grrururu!”

“?!”

After releasing an odd collage of noises, the big purple octopus sent 4 of its bladed tentacles towards them. By instinct, Alex took a step back and quickly traced a thick square, big enough for him to hide behind. Out from the shining light, came a thick wall of bedrock.

*Prang!*

“Oof, that’s dangerous.”

The bedrock wall he conjured successfully blocked the incoming tentacles, but the blades dug quite deep into the bedrock. A couple more centimetres, and he would have been hit.

“Piii!!”

To his surprise, while he was still hiding, the little crab took advantage of the reduced tentacles and charged in. “Gruru!” The octopus sent its 4 remaining tentacles, but the crab’s little body and agile movements allowed it to dodge the incoming attacks.

“PI!”

With its claw prepared, it slashed down on its jelly-like skin.

“GRRUU!!”

A surprisingly big wound opened up on the octopus’ skin. Purple blood flowed out of the wound, but the wound quickly closed up in seconds.

“P-Pi?”

“GRRUUU!!!”

Seeing as its attack was ineffective, the crab quickly backed away while dodging the enraged octopus.

*Bang!*

“G-Gru?!”

From behind his bedrock wall, Alex drew out his desert eagle and shot. The bullet somehow hit with his terrible aim, but it hardly did any damage. The octopus’ skin seems to have the ability to easily repair itself.

If so, then how is this thing supposed to die?!

“Grruuuuuu”

“…?”

While he was racking his brain for ways to take down this beast, his ears caught an odd sound coming from behind the wall. Carefully peeking his head out from the wall, he took a glimpse at what the octopus was doing. And-

“GRRUUU!!!!!”

*Buuuuuusshhhhhh*

“Gah?!”

To his surprise, the octopus used the time he gave it and fired off a small yet powerful jet of water at his bedrock wall, after it took out its tentacles of course. Under the intense power of the water cannon, the bedrock wall was pushed back, and as a result, he was forced to plant his face against a block of incredibly hardened soil, or something along those lines.

Luckily, he was spared from being crushed under it, as the bedrock wall was blown off the island and landed into the waters. Seeing the tough wall slowly drift away, a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as he was forced to open grounds once more.

“Take this!!”

Activating his magic, he quickly conjured a handful of explosive cubes. Setting his sights at the idle octopus, he threw the handful of cubes at it.

“Gru?”

In pure curiosity, it watched as the cubes flew across the air and landed on its jelly skin. But to its surprise,

“Gru?!”

*Boom!*

*Boom!*

A group of explosions occurred upon the octopus, sending a large cloud of sand and dust into the air, blinding the figure of the octopus.

“Is it…?”

*Wiiish!*

Just as he was starting to feel slightly secure, a chill crept up his spine, and following it, came a pair of tentacles, all aimed at him. Quickly, he conjured another wall of bedrock and hid behind it. However-

“Gua?!”

*Puchi!*

One of the tentacles made it through the thinner wall of bedrock, plunging straight into his chest. A splash of blood came out and hit the wall of bedrock.

*Puchi!*

And right after the first tentacle, the other tentacle broke through the wall and stabbed right into his left arm. An explosion of pain surged through his veins as blood splashed out into the air. His face paled as his eyes fell upon the red liquid.

“Pii!”

Seeing its comrade injured, the little crab quickly jumped back into battle and sent a flurry of slashes to one of the tentacles. After several cuts and slashes, the tentacles caved in, and was torn off. A burst of purple blood exploded out.

“Gruu!”

In pain, the octopus withdrew its tentacle, leaving the other one behind, still stabbed into his chest.

“H,Haa…”

With shaky hands, he quickly pulled off the bladed tentacle and backed away. Blood poured out of the open wound.

“G-Grruuuu……”

Seeing its injured tentacle, the octopus’ eye narrowed dangerously. A slight tinge of red could be seen glowing from its eyes.

To prepare for an upcoming attack, it began to suck the surrounding waters, before letting them out and gathering more.

“Huh? Why is it…Wait.”

Just as he was watching it gather even more water into its mouth which was…somewhere, his brain suddenly received a brilliant idea from his deep-rooted index of random knowledge he picked up from reading countless random books.

After spending some time waiting for its water beam to appear, and also for his pain to ease up slightly, he quickly conjured a set of cubes. Out from the shining light, a group of small white cubes.

“Grruu!”

And then, using the water it soaked up, it formed a small and dense ball of water, floating closely to it, but far enough to not hit itself. That would be stupid.

“Please hit.”

Praying to the heavens above, he aimed his cubes, and after a moment of tension, he threw out the cubes. Just like before, because of his terrible aim, most of the cubes went flying off, but one fateful cube, managed to hit the water ball it was forming, and the results were-

“BOOM*

Devastating.

Upon contact, the cube suddenly heated up and exploded. The same goes with the cubes that landed into the waters around the octopus, causing a large explosion to occur on impact. The surrounding air was covered in a thick cloak of steam.

“…Is it…over?”

Putting his hand over his eyes, he patiently waited as the cloud of steam slowly dissipated. The battlefield turned silent, so quiet that he managed to hear his own heart beating. The soft howls of the winds echoed in his ears.

And then-

*Puchi!*

“W-What?!”

To his surprise, a single bladed tentacle flew out and hit his right arm. Luckily, because he was holding up his arm, his eyes were spared from any damage, but a surge of pain exploded in his mind as the tentacle dug into his right arm.

“G…Gr..uu…”

And, as the steam finally ascended into the skies, he realised that the octopus was, in fact, still alive, just barely holding onto its consciousness. Beads of sweat rolled down his pale face as he felt his blood slowly drip down from his wounded arm.

“T-Tch…”

By instinct, he withstood the pain in his left arm and used it to pull out the tentacle, which was, to his surprise, not attached to the octopus. It seems that it shot out its tentacle as a last attempt to score a kill, but his arm got in the way.

By now, the two sides were injured, with Alex near unable to move both his arms, while the octopus was holding on barely.

The crab simply watched from the side-lines.

Hey, weren’t you in the battle? Finish this!

“P-Pi.”

…Seems like it’s reluctant to attack.

“D-Damn i-it…”

Seeing as the octopus was wide open to any attack, he wanted to take advantage of this moment and send the finishing blow, but the only thing he could move was his left ring finger. He couldn’t even feel his right arm anymore…

“M-Move…”

Using his left ring finger, he traced a badly morphed cube, and finished it off with a terrible writing of ‘Explodes on contact’. Shining brightly, a small cube dropped onto the sandy bed, but he was unable to pick it up.

“G-Gruu…”

Finally seeing its defeat, the octopus slowly begun to move back, withdrawing from the battle. Alex grit his teeth seeing such an attempt.

“D-Damn it…MOVE!!!”

Shouting a shout of pure determination, he fought against the agonizing pain and moved his left arm. Oddly, the pain seems to have lightened, and an odd sensation could be felt eminating within his left arm.

Not bothering to question what this was, he quickly picked up the cube, and with one look, he threw the cube.

“G-Gru-“

*Boom!*

And so, with that last explosion, the octopus’ figure blurred into the dust cloud.

“Hah…hah…hah…”

Panting in exhaustion, Alex looked over to the octopus. With the cloud now gone, he got a good view of the octopus, floating across the waters, lifeless.

This was…his victory!

Realising his victory, he sighed in relief, and showed a faint smile as he brought up his status in curiosity.

Status: Damian Alexander Lv 10

Health: 23/120 (+40)

Mana: 31/165 (+55)

Strength: 42 (+14)

Intelligence: 60 (+20)

Resistance: 51 (+17)

Agility: 57 (+18) (+3)

Skills:

{Illustrator} Rank 1 (14%)

{Blood Borne} Rank 2 (%)

[Agility] Rank 1 (13%)

[Cleaving] Rank 1 (05%)

[Blood Hound] Rank 1 (09%)

[Magic Manipulation] Rank 1 (03%)

Titles:

(Blood Borne)|

“…”

[Magic Manipulation]

Rank 1

Allows the user to control the user’s own Magic.

Allows the user to learn Magic based skills.

03% to Rank 2

{Blood Borne}

Rank 1

The User’s body had become more resistant to any diseases.

Skills gain experience slightly faster

User’s HP has been increased by 50% permanently.

User’s stats have been increased by 25% permanently.

Rank 2

User’s MP has been increased by 50% permanently.

User’s stats have been increased by 50% permanently.

Resistance to poison has been increased.

% to Rank 3

“…Isn’t that a bit…too OP?”