Chapter 45: Trench Myriapod
Gray drifted through the impenetrable darkness of the abyss, his Hollow Cloak rendering him nearly invisible in the already lightless depths. The only illumination came from the faint, distant flickers of bioluminescent creatures far below — tiny stars in an infinite black sky.
The chasm wall beside him was jagged and broken, riddled with cracks and crevices. He’d been following it for what felt like hours, searching for anything that could serve as shelter.
’Hahh... why did I have to fall into this place?’ he muttered, the words a weak pulse of thought in the silence of the deep.
His tentacles swept the water ahead, reading the terrain. Then they caught the shape of something solid. A cluster of volcanic boulders jutting from the cliff face. A narrow gap between them led into a small hollow.
He squeezed through the gap, his bell compressing to fit. The hollow was small but stable, the stone walls thick enough to provide some protection. He extended his senses, scanning for vibrations and electrical fields. Nothing immediate. No predators lurking nearby.
He let himself settle against the cold stone.
’This is all because of that ugly fish,’ he muttered, his tentacles curling with frustration. ’If it weren’t for that thing, I wouldn’t have been dragged down by that tentacle. Damn it. Next time I see it, I’m going to kill it.’
The words felt hollow. He was Level 18. The Abyssal’s level was still unknown, its HP a string of question marks. But the anger felt good. Better than fear.
He drifted deeper into the hollow, exploring the narrow passage that extended beyond the initial chamber. The stone walls pressed close, the darkness absolute but irrelevant. His electroreception mapped every contour of the rock, every rough edge and narrow gap. The passage opened ahead into a wider chamber.
Then his tentacles caught something.
A vibration. Small but sharp, the rhythmic skitter of multiple legs against stone. It was coming from deeper in the passage, where the hollow opened into that wider space.
Gray pulled his tentacles closer and drifted forward, his senses on high alert.
He rounded a corner, and his electroreception painted the creature in vivid detail.
Its body was elongated and segmented, like a centipede crossed with a shrimp, nearly four feet long from head to tail. Dozens of jointed legs lined its flanks, each one tipped with a curved, chitinous claw that clicked against the stone as it moved. Its carapace was dense, ridged with sharp, angular plates that jutted outward like thorns. Two long antennae swept the water ahead of it, twitching with constant, hungry awareness.
Its head was the worst part. His electroreception traced the shape of scythe-like maxillipeds that opened and closed with a wet, crunching sound. Below them, a circular mouth ringed with needle teeth pulsed with a faint electrical signature — some kind of bioluminescent organ, though Gray couldn’t perceive its glow directly.
[Trench Myriapod — Level 20]
HP: 220 / 220
Threat Level: MODERATE
« Analysis »
A predatory arthropod native to the Abyssal Veil. The Trench Myriapod is a solitary hunter that relies on vibration detection and chemical sensing to locate prey in the lightless depths. Its segmented body allows it to compress and squeeze through narrow crevices, making it an effective ambush predator in rocky terrain. Its scythe-like maxillipeds can shear through flesh and thin armor, and its mandibles inject a digestive enzyme that liquefies prey from the inside.
Weakness: Joints between segments are less armored. Vulnerable to electrical attacks. Slow to turn in confined spaces.
Gray’s tentacles twitched with disbelief.
’Level 20... are all the creatures down here this high-leveled? Is everything in this abyss going to be a fight to the death?’
The Trench Myriapod’s antennae swept toward him. Its maxillipeds clicked together, and its segmented body shifted, orienting toward the faint electrical field of his body.
It had sensed him.
Gray didn’t retreat. His tentacles sparked with involuntary electricity.
’Oh, you’re challenging me?’ He spread his tentacles wide, electricity dancing along their translucent length. ’Fine. I’ll take you on. I’m already pissed off, so you picked the wrong time to pick a fight.’
The Trench Myriapod lunged first. Its segmented body shot forward through the narrow passage, dozens of clawed legs skittering against the stone with a sound like scraping metal. Its scythe-like maxillipeds spread wide, aiming for Gray’s bell.
Gray pulsed sideways, but the passage was too narrow. His bell scraped against the volcanic rock, slowing his dodge. The maxillipeds closed around the edge of his margin and tore.
[-22 HP]
[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 90 / 395]
’These tight quarters are killing me—’
He deployed Neurotoxic Drift, flooding the passage with venom. The invisible cloud engulfed the myriapod’s segmented body, seeping into the gaps between its armored plates.
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 17 DAMAGE]
[TRENCH MYRIAPOD — HP: 203 / 220]
[PARALYZE — RESISTED]
The myriapod didn’t slow. Its mandibles opened wide, and a stream of viscous, pale-green fluid shot toward Gray. The digestive enzyme splashed across his bell, and pain erupted where it made contact—a burning, corrosive agony that ate through his translucent flesh.
[-18 HP]
[CORROSIVE ENZYME — 6 damage over 8 seconds]
[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 72 / 395]
’Fuck?! It’s hurts!!!’
He pulsed backward, putting distance between them. The myriapod pursued, its dozens of legs propelling it forward with terrifying speed. The narrow passage offered no room to maneuver. It was a straight line, and the myriapod was built to dominate straight lines.
Gray activated Overcharge. Electricity erupted from his bell in crackling arcs, shooting toward the advancing creature. But the myriapod did something he didn’t expect. Its legs dug into the stone with a violent, churning motion, and the volcanic rock crumbled like wet sand. The creature burrowed downward in a spray of debris, its segmented body disappearing into the stone just as the electrical discharge passed overhead.
[OVERCHARGE — MISSED]
’What the—it BURROWED?!’
The passage went silent. Gray extended his tentacles, reading the vibrations in the stone. He could feel it—a rapid, churning movement beneath the floor, circling around to his left. The myriapod was tunneling through solid rock with terrifying speed, its chitinous legs shredding volcanic stone like it was soft sediment.
’Who the fuck designed this thing?!’
The vibration stopped directly beneath him. Gray pulsed upward, flattening his bell against the ceiling of the passage. An instant later, the stone floor exploded. The myriapod erupted from the rock in a shower of debris, its maxillipeds snapping at the space where he’d been floating moments before. A second stream of corrosive enzyme shot upward, and Gray barely twisted aside, the glob of pale-green fluid splattering against the ceiling and sizzling as it ate into the volcanic rock.
[CORROSIVE ENZYME — MISSED]
’That would have melted my bell!’
He deployed Neurotoxic Drift again, catching the myriapod as it pulled itself fully out of the burrow. The venom seeped into its joints, and the damage ticks resumed.
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 18 DAMAGE]
[TRENCH MYRIAPOD — HP: 185 / 220]
The myriapod’s antennae swept toward him, locking onto his electrical field. It lunged again, and Gray prepared to dodge—but there was nowhere to go. The passage was too narrow, the ceiling too low.
’You want a piece of me? Fine. Let’s trade.’
He dove directly toward the charging creature and wrapped his tentacles around its head. Overcharge activated at point-blank range.
[OVERCHARGE — 73 DAMAGE]
[TRENCH MYRIAPOD — HP: 112 / 220]
[STUN — 5 SECONDS]
The electricity surged directly into the gaps between the myriapod’s armored plates, bypassing its thick carapace entirely. The creature seized, every segment locking rigid, its dozens of legs twitching uselessly, its maxillipeds frozen mid-snap. The bioluminescent organ in its throat flickered erratically.
Gray held on and layered Neurotoxic Drift directly into its joints.
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 19 DAMAGE]
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 17 DAMAGE]
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 20 DAMAGE]
[TRENCH MYRIAPOD — HP: 56 / 220]
The stun broke. The myriapod thrashed, its segmented body coiling and uncoiling with desperate strength. Its mandibles sprayed corrosive enzyme in a wild arc, splashing across Gray’s tentacles. The burn was immediate and intense.
[-15 HP]
[CORROSIVE ENZYME — 6 damage over 8 seconds]
[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 57 / 395]
He didn’t let go. His tentacles tightened around its head, pressing into the gaps between its segments. Neurotoxic Drift deployed again, flooding its body with venom.
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 18 DAMAGE]
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 19 DAMAGE]
[TRENCH MYRIAPOD — HP: 19 / 220]
The myriapod’s movements grew sluggish. Its legs scrabbled weakly at the stone, no longer coordinated enough to burrow. Its mandibles twitched, but no more enzyme came—it was spent.
’Not so tough now, are you?’
One final Overcharge. The electricity surged through his tentacles and into the creature’s core, lighting it from within.
[OVERCHARGE — 75 DAMAGE]
[TRENCH MYRIAPOD DEFEATED — 280 EXP]
The myriapod went limp. Its segmented body drifted slowly to the stone floor, legs still twitching with residual nerve impulses. The bioluminescent organ in its throat flickered once, twice—then went dark.
Gray released his grip and let the corpse settle. His bell heaved with exertion, his tentacles still sparking with residual electricity. He deployed a cloud of Neurotoxic Drift to clear the lingering enzyme from the water, then began to absorb the myriapod’s body.
The dense chitin dissolved against his feeding surface, and the familiar warmth of a new trait fragment settled into his system.
[TRAIT FRAGMENT ACQUIRED: "Rapid Burrowing" (1/5)]
[New Trait Discovered!]
[RAPID BURROWING — Preview]
« Analysis »
A mobility trait derived from creatures capable of high-speed subterranean movement. Allows the user to burrow through soft and moderately dense substrates, creating temporary tunnels for ambush, escape, or traversal.
Effect at Completion: Grants a new active skill — [Subterranean Ambush]. Burrow into the seafloor at high speed, becoming untargetable for up to 10 seconds. Emerge beneath a target to deal bonus physical damage and [Stun] for 2 seconds.
[LEVEL UP!]
[You are now Level 19.]
[10 Stat Points available for distribution.]
[2 Skill Points available.]
’I need one more level.’
He allocated quickly. Five points into SPD, three into INT, two into LUK.
[SPD: 70 → 75]
[INT: 57 → 60]
[MP MAX: 490 → 520]
[LUK: 18 → 20]
He stared at the numbers.
[HP: 57 / 395]
’Too low. I need to recover before I fight anything else.’
He drifted deeper into the hollow, away from the myriapod’s corpse. The passage opened into a small chamber, its walls lined with faintly phosphorescent minerals that cast the space in a pale blue glow. It was quiet. Secluded. Defensible.
[LOCATION DISCOVERED: ABYSSAL HOLLOW]
[This location is suitable for rest. Would you like to designate it as a temporary shelter?]
’Yes.’
[SHELTER DESIGNATED: ABYSSAL HOLLOW]
[Regeneration: +25%]
He settled against the stone floor, letting the regeneration bonus wash through him. His HP began its slow climb upward.
’This will do.’
His tentacles relaxed against the stone, and he let exhaustion take him.