Chapter 48: Brain Pulse
The Phantom’s three eyes blazed with furious silver light. Its brain pulsed crimson, faster now — the rhythmic flashes building toward something. Gray felt the electrical charge gathering in the creature’s body, stronger than before, more concentrated.
’It’s charging up—’
The Phantom’s fins spread wide. But instead of releasing another AOE, the electricity surged inward. The creature’s sleek body began to glow from within, silver-blue scales shimmering with arcs of contained lightning. Its three eyes brightened until they were almost painful to perceive.
Then it moved.
The speed was impossible. One moment the Phantom was hovering in the corridor; the next, it was directly in front of Gray, jaws already closing around his bell.
[-52 HP]
[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 178 / 395]
’WHAT THE—’
Gray thrashed, tearing himself free. The Phantom’s teeth left deep gashes in his bell margin, but he didn’t stop to assess the damage. He pulsed backward through the glowing fronds, putting as much distance between them as possible.
The Phantom’s brain pulsed crimson again. Its body flickered — and vanished.
Gray’s tentacles swept the water frantically.
’Where—’
The Phantom reappeared above him. Its jaws clamped onto his bell from above, teeth sinking deep into his translucent flesh. The impact drove him downward, slamming him against the volcanic rock below.
[-48 HP]
[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 130 / 395]
He deployed Neurotoxic Drift at point-blank range, flooding the water around them with venom. The Phantom shot backward, but not before the toxins seeped through its gills.
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 19 DAMAGE]
[TRICULARIS PHANTOM — HP: 160 / 310]
Gray pushed himself off the rock, his bell throbbing with pain. The Phantom circled above him, its body still crackling with contained lightning. Its brain pulsed that deep crimson rhythm — the source of the teleportation, he realized.
’It’s using its brain as a bioelectric engine. The crimson pulses are the charge-up. When it’s silver, it’s thinking. When it’s crimson, it’s about to—’
The Phantom flickered.
Gray activated EMP Shroud. The electromagnetic pulse radiated outward just as the Phantom materialized directly in front of him. Its jaws snapped shut on empty water. Its three eyes darted wildly, searching for the prey that had vanished from its senses.
He drifted backward through the glowing fronds, his Hollow Cloak combining with EMP Shroud to render him completely undetectable. The Phantom circled the spot where he’d been, its brain pulsing silver again — confused, searching, unable to find him.
Ten seconds. That was all the time EMP Shroud bought him. He used it to study the creature’s movements, watching the rhythm of its brain pulses. Silver was perception — tracking, calculating, hunting. Crimson was action — teleportation, electricity, attack. The transition between them took roughly two seconds.
’Two seconds. That’s my chance.’
He positioned himself behind a thick cluster of sea plants, angling his tentacles through the fronds. The Phantom’s brain was still silver — it hadn’t found him yet. But the EMP was about to expire.
EMP Shroud faded. Gray’s electrical signature flickered back into existence.
The Phantom’s three eyes snapped toward him instantly. Its brain shifted from silver to crimson.
One second.
Gray deployed Neurotoxic Drift directly in front of his position, creating a wall of venom between himself and the Phantom. The creature would have to teleport through it to reach him.
Two seconds.
The Phantom flickered. Reappeared directly in the center of the venom cloud. Its jaws snapped forward—
Gray was already moving. He’d never been standing where the Phantom thought he was. The electrical signature it had locked onto was a decoy — a concentrated pulse of bioelectricity he’d released into the water while EMP Shroud was still active. The Phantom had teleported to the decoy. Directly into his trap.
’Got you.’
He wrapped his tentacles around the Phantom’s body from behind, pressing himself against its sleek scales. The creature thrashed, but Gray’s grip held. His tentacles found the gaps between its scales, the soft tissue beneath and deployed Neurotoxic Drift at maximum concentration.
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 20 DAMAGE]
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 19 DAMAGE]
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 18 DAMAGE]
[TRICULARIS PHANTOM — HP: 103 / 310]
[PARALYZE — PROC]
The Phantom’s body locked rigid. The crimson pulse in its brain stuttered, flickering erratically as the venom overwhelmed its nervous system. Its three eyes went glassy, the silver light dimming.
’Four seconds. Make them count.’
He tightened his grip and activated Overcharge. The electricity surged into the creature’s body at point-blank range. Most of it dispersed harmlessly through its resistant scales — but not all of it. Some of the current found the gaps between its scales, the soft tissue beneath, the nerve clusters that controlled its fins.
[OVERCHARGE — 18 DAMAGE]
[TRICULARIS PHANTOM — HP: 85 / 310]
It wasn’t much. But combined with the venom already burning through its system, it was enough.
The paralysis broke. The Phantom thrashed weakly, its teleportation ability offline while its brain struggled to recover from the venom’s effects. Gray deployed Neurotoxic Drift again, layering fresh toxins over the creature’s body.
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 19 DAMAGE]
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 20 DAMAGE]
[TRICULARIS PHANTOM — HP: 46 / 310]
The Phantom’s brain pulsed crimson one final time. It teleported out of Gray’s grip, reappearing ten feet away near the edge of the glowing forest. Its sleek body listed sideways, one fin beating slower than the other. Its three eyes flickered with fading silver light.
It was dying. And it knew it.
The Phantom turned and fled.
Gray watched it go. For a moment, he considered pursuit — seventy-five SPD could probably catch it in its weakened state. But pursuit meant leaving the cover of the glowing forest. It meant exposing himself to whatever else was hunting in the abyssal darkness.
’...No. Let it run.’
He drifted in the quiet water, his bell heaving with exertion, his tentacles still sparking with residual electricity. The Phantom’s silver-blue form disappeared into the darkness, its three eyes the last thing to fade from view. The creature’s brain pulses grew fainter, more erratic, until they too vanished into the abyss.
He was about to turn back toward his shelter when a notification flickered in the corner of his vision.
[DISTANT KILL DETECTED]
[TRICULARIS PHANTOM DEFEATED — 520 EXP]
[LEVEL UP!]
[You are now Level 20.]
[10 Stat Points available for distribution.]
[2 Skill Points available.]
[EVOLUTION AVAILABLE]
The notification hung in the darkness like a golden promise.
’...What?’
Gray stared at the words, his tentacles frozen mid-twitch. The Phantom was gone. He hadn’t pursued it. He hadn’t landed the killing blow. But the venom must have finished it off — the Neurotoxic Drift still burning through its system as it fled.
’...It died while running away?’
A slow pulse of satisfaction rippled through his bell.
His tentacles curled with something between pride and amusement.
’That’s... actually kind of terrifying.’
He let the thought settle, then pulled up his status screen.
[EVOLUTION AVAILABLE]
’Wohooooooo!! Hell yeah babyy!!’