Endless Ocean: Survival Begins with a Dugout Canoe-Chapter 43 - 41: War Trophy

HISSS—

As everyone knows, octopuses don’t have vocal cords. But the giant octopus facing Shi Ming and his crew let out an extremely shrill hiss the moment its tentacle was severed.

Its remaining seven tentacles shot up in that instant, and a high-frequency sound wave capable of shattering eardrums washed over them like a tsunami.

Fortunately, the wanderer ship finished starting up at that very moment. The sound wave had disoriented the helmsman, leaving him dazed, but the ship roared to life all the same. It shot away from the furious, gargantuan sea beast at top speed, narrowly avoiding a powerful strike just before its other seven tentacles could slam down.

The giant octopus’s seven tentacles thrashed the surface of the sea as it howled and shrieked ceaselessly.

It intended to chase down and destroy the fleeing steel behemoth.

But alas, its massive, unwieldy body was not agile enough. Coupled with a missing tentacle, its speed was no match for Shi Ming’s wanderer ship. It could only watch helplessly as the steel behemoth disappeared into the distance, taking one of its severed tentacles with it.

ROAR—

Its seven tentacles whipped up colossal waves, one after another, killing countless innocent fish in the roiling water.

Even the corpses of the fish were torn to pieces by the octopus’s intangible rage, left to float on the turbulent surface of the sea.

...

*Phew...*

Shi Ming planted his blade into the deck, tilted his head back, and let out a long, heavy breath.

’If I hadn’t used my body as a shield to block that giant octopus’s strike just now, the ship’s cockpit would have definitely sustained massive damage. We wouldn’t have been able to escape so quickly, and the losses would have been huge!’

’Thankfully, that combo not only blocked the attack but also severed one of the beast’s limbs in the process!’

"So you thought you could eat my prey, huh? I’ll take one of your tentacles as compensation."

At that moment, Shi Ming’s body was streaked with a mixture of blue and red blood, resembling some kind of abstract street art.

The blue was the blood that had gushed from the octopus’s severed limb, and the red was from the Scolding Scale Flying Fish’s head he had decapitated earlier.

His tank top had been thoroughly turned into a "work of art" and was no longer wearable.

The severed tentacle was still on the deck, twitching and spasming violently. Like a worm sprinkled with salt, it twisted, straightened, flipped, and writhed in a near-frenzy. No one dared to approach it except for Shi Ming.

It was just the severed limb’s instinct; it posed no real threat.

"Captain, are you all right?"

"I’m fine. Go check the wanderer ship for any damage and make repairs immediately."

"Yes, sir!"

The crew members who had witnessed Shi Ming’s battle with the octopus felt an even deeper admiration for him. That giant octopus, at half the size of their ship, was clearly no ordinary sea beast. A regular wanderer ship would have stood no chance of escaping unscathed. Even back when Chunyi was the leader, during the exploration team’s prime, they wouldn’t have been able to gain the upper hand.

At least half the crew would have died!

A total wipeout wouldn’t have been out of the question.

Meanwhile, Shi Ming, once again drenched in blood, received another notification from the system.

*DING!*

[Congratulations! You have severed a tentacle from the B-rank sea beast "Eight-armed Hunter," bathed in its blood, and, as usual, domineeringly drained all the energy from its severed limb.]

[Acquired B-rank skill "Severed Limb Lure."]

[Severed Limb Lure: When in danger, you can voluntarily sever one of your own limbs to forcibly draw all enemy attention.]

[Skill "Severed Limb Lure" is below A-rank and has been assimilated and devoured by the S-rank skill "Black Tortoise Shield," significantly increasing the host’s damage resistance.]

[Damage Resistance: 8]

[Even without activating "Black Tortoise Shield," you have become more durable.]

Shi Ming’s mouth twitched as he read the system notifications.

’Octopuses are a bit like geckos. When they encounter a major threat, they’ll voluntarily detach a limb to distract the enemy and give themselves a chance to escape.’

’Good thing it was devoured. A useless skill like that would just be dead weight.’

’It’s much better to have it boost my stats.’

’And judging by this note, does this mean any skill that isn’t A-rank or higher will be devoured by an S-rank skill? And then converted into power to strengthen me?’

’S-rank skills truly are something else! So domineering!’

’It’s like the system is trying to turn me into a perfectly balanced, all-around fighter.’

Shi Ming wiped the blood from his face and thought about his other S-rank skill, [Fight to Survive]. That powerful passive skill had remained quiet all this time, and he hadn’t seen it devour any other skills.

He sheathed his blade and walked over to the severed octopus tentacle, carefully observing the limb that had been cleanly sliced through the middle.

The tentacle’s twitching was no longer as frantic as before, which allowed Shi Ming to get a clear look at its details—

Countless circular suckers were arranged in dense, neat rows, opening and closing, contracting and expanding, in a uniform rhythm, like the breathing lights on an electronic device.

The slick skin around the suckers was also covered in numerous tiny, fleshy growths and bumps, resembling barnacles clinging to a reef. It was a truly sanity-draining sight.

A small amount of blue blood oozed from the clean cut, pooling on the deck.

The blood no longer contained any of the energy that could awaken abilities. The moment the tentacle was severed and the blood splashed onto Shi Ming, all of it had been absorbed by the crimson markings on his right arm.

Shi Ming looked at the crimson markings on his right arm, recalling his awakening in the Xuanwu Blood Pool. He had frenziedly absorbed the entire pool’s energy, robbing a whole pond of worms of the home they depended on for survival.

’So damn domineering!’ 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

’This blue octopus blood is useless now, but the meat should still retain some of the powerful sea beast’s energy. If it’s safe to eat, I might as well share it with the crew. It could strengthen their bodies a bit, so they won’t be completely helpless the next time we face danger.’

’Still, with how sanity-draining this tentacle looks, it would take a special kind of person to stomach it.’

It reminded Shi Ming of the blue "Stargazy Pie" he had seen in his past life.

But that was not even a tenth as unsettling as the suckers and fleshy growths before him.

Looking at the crew bustling about the ship, Shi Ming felt increasingly satisfied. His original expectation for them was simply to maintain the ship’s equipment and not be a burden in a crisis. But during that emergency, their reactions had been plenty fast.

The operation of so much equipment on this ship depended on the crew’s hard work.

’Of course, if one or two of them show any promising talent, I certainly won’t be stingy about training them.’

...

Under Shi Ming’s command, the half-tentacle—now completely lifeless and limp—was cut into sections the size of tree stumps and carried down to the wanderer ship’s galley on the second sub-level.

Skinning, washing, deveining, tenderizing... Old Yang himself would handle the preparation, serving the crew a grand octopus feast.

For ordinary crew members, the meat of a B-rank sea beast was a rare and magnificent gourmet banquet.

And there was more than enough for everyone.