Chapter 72: Cold-Blooded Killer
The sphere trembled. Fractures splintered through the silver-blue light, spreading fast as Cindy’s strength gave out. Inside, the Reef Kraken was still convulsing, its remaining arms twitching as residual electricity arced through the toxic water.
Gray didn’t wait for the barrier to fail on its own.
"Gray...! I can’t—" Cindy’s voice cut off, strained and thin.
’Drop it on my signal,’ Gray said. His bell was already heating, the crystalline structures along his margin vibrating as they superheated the water around them. ’Get ready.’
"What are you—"
’Trust me.’
A quiet pause hung between them. Then she whispered back.
"...Fine."
The Kraken’s body began to still. Its regeneration was already starting again, new tissue creeping over the seared wounds, the stumps of its severed arms twitching as they prepared to regrow. The Undying Heart trait was activating once more.
’Now!’
Cindy released the barrier.
The sphere shattered outward, and in the same instant, Gray unleashed everything he had left.
Cavitation Pulse detonated at the center of the collapsing sphere. The superheated water and crystal shrapnel tore outward as the barrier fragments still humming with residual Overcharge energy were dragged into the blast. The combination was catastrophic. The confined lightning, the pressurized steam, the razor-edged shards of Cindy’s barrier, and the venom-saturated water all erupted at once.
The explosion swallowed the Kraken whole.
[CRITICAL HIT!]
[CRITICAL HIT!]
[CRITICAL HIT!]
The shockwave slammed through the coral maze. Towers of black coral shattered. The seafloor cracked. Gray himself was hurled backward, tumbling through the water, his armor shrieking as debris pelted his bell.
He caught himself against a broken spire and looked up.
The Reef Kraken hung motionless in the water. Its body was torn open, the mantle split down the center. The golden eyes were dark, empty. The arms drifted in limp spirals, their suckers no longer pulsing.
[REEF KRAKEN DEFEATED — 620 EXP]
[LEVEL UP!]
[You are now Level 28.]
[10 Stat Points available for distribution.]
[2 Skill Points available.]
[New Title Unlocked: "COLD-BLOODED KILLER"]
[Title Effect: +12% damage against enemies below 50% HP. +8% critical hit chance when attacking from stealth.]
[TRAIT FRAGMENT ACQUIRED: "Undying Heart" (1/5)]
[New Trait Discovered!]
[UNDYING HEART — Preview]
« Analysis »
A legendary defensive trait derived from creatures whose bodies refuse death. The Undying Heart grants the user a chance to survive otherwise fatal damage, entering a brief regenerative state.
Effect at Completion: Upon taking lethal damage, 20% chance to survive with 1 HP and enter [Regeneration] state for 10 seconds, restoring 30% of max HP. Internal cooldown: 10 minutes.
Gray floated in the wreckage of the coral maze, his body aching, his tentacles trembling with exhaustion. The Kraken’s corpse drifted slowly to the seafloor, settling into the black sand like a fallen king.
He let out a long, slow pulse.
’You did good, Cindy.’
"...Thank you, Gray."
He watched the last fragments of Cindy’s barrier fade into the dark water.
Undying Heart. A second chance at life when everything went wrong, except twenty percent wasn’t a guarantee. It was a roll of the dice, and Gray had never been lucky when it mattered most.
’It’s not something I can rely on,’ he thought. ’But it’s better than nothing. A safety net for when I’m already dying.’
He pulled up his status screen.
His LUK had been his silent workhorse for a long time now, boosting fragment drops, tilting fights in his favor in ways he could never quite see. And now, with a trait like Undying Heart in his possession, luck felt more important than ever. A 20% chance became a lot more meaningful when LUK was pulling the strings.
He put five points into LUK.
[LUK: 20 → 25]
’Maybe that’ll help the next time I’m one hit from death.’
The remaining five points he split between SPD and DEF.
[SPD: 135 → 138]
[DEF: 65 → 67]
[HP MAX: 690 → 710]
Then the skill points. He had been leaning on Abyssal Lance and Cavitation Pulse more and more. They were his openers, his finishers, his answer to almost every problem.
One point into Abyssal Lance.
[ABYSSAL LANCE — Lv. 7 → Lv. 8]
One point into Cavitation Pulse.
[CAVITATION PULSE — Lv. 8 → Lv. 9]
He turned his attention to the Kraken’s corpse.
’I’m starving,’ he said, drifting down toward it.
Cindy’s voice came, faint and drained. "Go ahead... eat. I don’t think I could complain even if I wanted to."
Gray pressed his feeding surface against the Kraken’s ruined mantle and began to absorb. The flesh was dense and muscular, tougher than the Chromatic Krakenlings he’d eaten before. But there was something strange about the taste.
’It tastes... different.’
"Different how?"
Gray paused, considering. ’Burnt. Like something scorched and there’s a sharp edge beneath it, maybe from the electricity or the barrier fragments. It’s not bad, but it’s not the same.’
Cindy made a weak, breathy sound that might have been a laugh. "You cooked it with lightning and that explosion."
’...I guess I did,’ Gray admitted. ’First cooked meal in the abyss. Should’ve invited you.’
"Next time," Cindy said, her voice fading slightly. "I’m... very tired, Gray. The locket’s energy is almost gone. I used too much during the fight."
Gray continued eating, his feeding surface working slowly through the dense flesh. His hunger was dropping, and his HP was climbing, but he felt his own exhaustion pressing down on him too. The fight had drained more than just his MP.
’Me too,’ he said quietly. ’That thing almost killed us. We should rest.’
"...Back to the shelter?" Cindy asked.
’Yes, back to the Sunken Hollow. We’ll recover there.’
He finished absorbing what he could from the Kraken’s remains. His hunger was sated now, and his body felt heavy with fatigue.
He turned away from the ruined coral maze and began the slow swim back. The dark water stretched before him, quiet and cold, and for once, the silence felt almost peaceful.
Cindy’s voice came one last time, barely a whisper.
"Gray...?"
’I’m here.’
"Good night..."
He pulsed gently through the water, heading for the hollow.
’Good night, Cindy.’