Chapter 66: Fun
Gray woke from his rest with his HP fully restored and his body humming with renewed energy. The Sunken Hollow had served its purpose and now, it was time to move.
Cindy’s voice slipped into his mind, softer now than it had been before.
"Your regeneration is quite fast. I didn’t expect you to recover so quickly."
’Of course,’ Gray replied, weaving between two coral spires. ’Down here, it’s harsh. I had to adapt or die.’
"Well, you certainly adapted," Cindy murmured.
Gray attention shifted to the coral formations ahead. They were beautiful, their surfaces dusted with phosphorescent specks that blinked like tiny stars. The current moved through them in slow spirals, carrying the faint taste of minerals and distant life.
He reached out with one tentacle, brushing the surface of a coral branch out of pure curiosity.
A sharp sting shot through his flesh.
[-3 HP]
He yanked his tentacle back.
’Tch! stinging coral. Should’ve known.’
"Careful," Cindy said. "Not everything pretty is friendly."
He moved on, gliding over a reef of black coral that twisted upward in dense spirals.
"There are so many creatures down here," Cindy observed. "It’s... surprisingly lively."
’For a graveyard, yeah.’
Cindy was quiet for a moment. Then, with a strange note in her voice, she said, "It seems fun."
Gray paused mid-pulse.
’Fun?’
"Swimming freely... hunting... existing without anyone telling you what to do. Even in the darkness, it’s... liberating."
A flicker of wariness passed through him.
’You’re not thinking of trying to possess me again, are you?’
Cindy’s response came quick and sharp.
"No! Of course not. We’re bound by the contract now. I can’t break it without paying the price. And besides..."
Her voice softened.
"...I meant it. It seems fun. Moving freely in the ocean. I’d like to have that too, one day."
Gray relaxed slightly. The locket hung against his armor, silver and quiet. He could feel her presence there, faint and distant, like light through deep water.
He drifted toward a coral formation that curved in a great ring, its branches woven together like a crown resting on the seafloor. The current moved through the center in a slow spiral, carrying tiny specks of bioluminescent plankton in a lazy, endless dance.
He swam through the center of the ring, his body cutting cleanly through the current.
’Good,’ he said at last. ’Because I don’t want to have to kill you.’
Cindy laughed softly, "I know."
’You know,’ Gray said, ’if you want a body, I could find you a fish.’
Cindy’s voice sharpened instantly. "Ehhh?! No! I don’t want that."
’Why not? Weren’t you just saying you wanted to swim freely?’
"Yes, but if I become a fish, I’ll be a fish forever! I don’t want that!" She huffed, the sound almost petulant. "I still want to be human. To eat human food. I miss it..."
Gray could almost hear the pout in her voice. He let out a slow mental sigh.
’Alright, alright. But do you really think there’s a human out there who would willingly let you possess their body?’
Cindy’s answer came immediately, bright with confidence.
"Of course there is! We just have to find one."
Gray didn’t answer right away. His senses were already reaching outward, coiling through the water like threads of silk.
’Something’s here.’
Cindy’s tone shifted instantly. "What is it?"
Gray didn’t answer with words. He drifted behind a coral spire and let his body go still. His Hollow Cloak folded around him like a second skin. His tentacles spread wide, reading the water.
Then he spotted a Chromatic Krakenling drifting between the coral spires.
Cindy’s voice tightened. "That creature... it seems dangerous."
Gray watched it drift between coral spires, its arms curling and uncurling with confidence.
’Heh. That thing? Just a small fry.’
"You’ve fought one before?"
’Yeah, I’ve fought a few. This one’s smaller than the last’
The krakenling paused, its body rippling through shades of violet and pale green. It hadn’t noticed him yet. Its large golden eyes swept the reef with that same cold intelligence he remembered.
Gray flexed his crystalline barbs, each one catching the faint glow of the coral and scattering it like ice.
"Gray...don’t underestimate it."
’I won’t.’
And then he moved.
Hollow Cloak kept him invisible as he circled wide, positioning himself above and behind the krakenling. His tentacles spread like a net, crystalline barbs aligned. The creature was still searching, unaware of Gray’s presence.
He deployed Neurotoxic Drift. The venom cloud descended in silence, enveloping the krakenling’s mantle and seeping into the gaps between its arms.
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 19 DAMAGE]
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 18 DAMAGE]
[CHROMATIC KRAKENLING — HP: 323 / 360]
The creature convulsed, its body flashing a violent, angry red. Its arms snapped upward, curling and twisting as it tried to locate the source of the attack. But Gray had already begun his next move.
[ABYSSAL LANCE — ACTIVATED]
His body compressed into a spear of crystalline death. The water howled around him as he shot forward. The krakenling turned, but it was already too late.
The barbs punched through its mantle.
[ABYSSAL LANCE — 104 DAMAGE]
[CHROMATIC KRAKENLING — HP: 219 / 360]
[50% DEF PENETRATION — APPLIED]
The krakenling shrieked—a piercing note that cut through the water like a blade. Its arms lashed out wildly, each one coiling and snapping with desperate strength.
"It’s panicking!" Cindy’s voice rang in his mind.
’Good,’ Gray replied coldly. ’Panic makes them weak.’
[GRIP JAW — ACTIVATED]
Four tentacles wrapped around its body and squeezed.
[GRIP JAW — 30 DAMAGE]
[GRIP JAW — 28 DAMAGE]
[CHROMATIC KRAKENLING — HP: 161 / 360]
Overcharge detonated in a violent burst of electricity. The water around them flashed white-blue as arcs of lightning tore through the krakenling’s body.
[OVERCHARGE — 88 DAMAGE]
[CHROMATIC KRAKENLING — HP: 73 / 360]
[STUN — 5 SECONDS]
The krakenling went rigid in his grip, its eight arms twitching as the last of its strength drained away. The vivid violet and pale green of its skin flickered weakly, pulsing once, twice, then dulling to a flat, lifeless grey. Its golden eyes, still open, stared blankly into the dark, empty now of the cold intelligence they once held.
Gray felt the creature’s body tremble against his tentacles, a final shudder that ran from mantle to arm-tip like a fading current. It was already dead. It just didn’t know it yet.
He drew back, crystalline barbs still glinting with flecks of pale flesh, and focused the last of his power. The water around his bell began to heat, shimmering with contained energy as the crystals superheated the sea itself.
One final Cavitation Pulse.
The blast struck true, tearing through the krakenling’s exposed mantle in a burst of boiling water and crystal shrapnel. The creature’s body arched once, then went completely still.
[CAVITATION PULSE — 54 DAMAGE]
[CHROMATIC KRAKENLING — HP: 19 / 360]
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 20 DAMAGE]
[CHROMATIC KRAKENLING DEFEATED — 450 EXP]
The creature’s body went still. Gray held it for a moment longer, then released the corpse and let it drift toward the seafloor.
Cindy was silent for a long moment.
"...You killed it. Just like that." She said. "That thing was strong and you just... tore through it."
’It wasn’t that strong,’ Gray replied, already moving to absorb the body.
His feeding surface dissolved the dense flesh. The familiar taste of ink and copper spread through him.
"See?" he said, his mental voice calm. ’Nothing to worry about.’
Cindy let out a soft breath, still sounding dazed. "I’m starting to understand why you’ve survived down here."