Chapter 67: Karathese Tower! (1)

Descending from the now cloudy sky was a monster that struck complete and utter fear into Arthur. It made his body uncontrollably shake. This feeling was much more intense than the first time Amygdala trapped him in those torturous nightmares. Even the black deer paled in comparison to what he was witnessing before his eyes. Countless huge wriggling tentacles were coming from the sky, each tentacle possessing many large yellow pupils and dark split-irised eyes that were much larger than Arthur, sizing even greater than the large ship he was currently on.

He looked directly at one of the eyes and started to foam from the mouth as his arms moved independently from his mind, clutching tightly around his neck. Arthur was choking himself. Horrible unwanted imagery came streaming into his mind of Amygdala covered in her own blood. She had a sword stabbed through her neck...Arthur looked down to his hands shaking and covered in blood. The laying corpse of Amygdala got up and close to Arthur’s face, leaving only a few inches between them. Her hands clawed at Arthur’s clothes, staining them with streaks of blood.

"W-Why did you kill me Arthur?" Blood spewed out of her mouth as she asked with an anguished expression, covering Arthur’s face with blood.

"N-No, I-I-" Arthur stumbled back. His legs gave out, making him drop to the ground.

Amygdala then leant forward with her hands behind her back. "Ah! T-That’s right...remember, you promised that you’d kill me back then? Do you remember?!" Her neck twisted as she gave a wide, sadistic-looking smile, showing a set of sharp teeth that protruded outwards and circled inwards around the inside of her mouth. It opened wider and shot out pink tentacles with the same yellow eyes as before, only smaller. The tentacles wrapped around Arthur, constraining him. He grit his teeth while feeling a slimy sensation.

"Gah!" He was lifted into the air by these thick tentacles and then forcefully thrown against an unfamiliar stone wall. The slam was more than enough to cave the wall in. Arthur winced at the impact before recomposing himself. He took out his specially-made sword that was sheathed at his side and quickly regained his composure. He rushed at the tentacle monster with his behemoth gem-infused blade, slicing through the air, ready to split open the monster’s head.

It stood there and then transformed back into a spitting image of Amygdala. Her innocent and smiling face made Arthur waver a little, but he wrinkled his forehead and looked at the monster with determined eyes. His sword horizontally severed Amygdala’s head, the lifeless eyes rolled onto the ground.

"GAAACKH!" The monster screamed as it writhed around in pain, squirming tentacles spewing out the top of its neck, entangling with one another. "Who the hell chops their lover’s fucking head off?!"

"Don’t flatter yourself...you could never be her." Arthur coldly focused his gaze on the transformed hardened sharp tentacles that moved at him, attempting to pierce him from all different directions. Arthur swiftly spun around and cut each one that came his way. One tentacle managed to slip past, grabbing ahold of his ankle.

"Shit!" Arthur quickly stabbed the tentacle holding him into the ground to avoid being dragged in.

The monster then exclaimed with pleasure, "HAHA! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW WITHOUT YOUR BLADE?!"

Arthur pointed his index finger, and in an instant, a sharp piercing light penetrated through the left side of the monster. "You talk too much."

The magic stone embedded in the chest of the monster shattered. It made the monster melt and transform into a small ball of tentacles, similar to that of a brain. Arthur looked at the wiggling ball of tentacle flesh in disgust and clicked his tongue at it before crushing it with his foot, which caused blood to splatter the floor and stain his shoes.

*Squelch*

Though it was just an imitation, it did irritate him having to puncture a hole in the Amygdala-shaped body. He looked at his foot one last time before exiting the cave. A shiver ran down the back of his spine as a tentacle stroked him.

"Eek!" Arthur yelped out in an embarrassingly girlish voice.

The large tentacle retracted back inside the cave, which was now strangely made out of fleshy walls. Soon, it closed in on itself, leaving the back of Arthur’s clothes coated in a saliva-like substance.

[Lesser Treasure Obtained: Inky Mucus]

[Description: Allows the owner to exhibit a cloudy black mist from their mouth, which will make the target’s mind see delusions. If the target succumbs to these delusions, they will be digested. Treasure holder cannot be affected. Treasure holder can only use this ability once every night. Treasure holder cannot use this during the day.]

The voice in Arthur’s mind ceased.

He clutched his hair while processing what he heard. "I-Inky mucus...master did mention something about treasures, is this one of them? Well, it looks like it doesn’t have any downsides...just limitations, though I would prefer a better name for it."

Arthur observed his surroundings, a look of astonishment befelled his expression, "T-The sky, it’s an ocean!"

Above him was an ocean floating with a myriad of sea creatures, including a whale, all flying over him. He then turned his attention to the ground, which was made completely out of sand. Arthur couldn’t help but admire the beauty of the ocean floor glistening and reflecting off the surface.

≡

Karathese Ocean,

Stasis Ship

"H-Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!" Holo exclaimed to Zenith.

"It’s exactly as it sounds, kid...it’s better off dying right now." He then gave a nasty smirk, "Unless you want to be tortured first before being killed. Gahahaha!!"

Just then, the same tentacles that Arthur saw descended from the sky. All the adventurers on board witnessed firsthand the grandness and scale of those yellow-eyed tentacles. All the adventurers were shaking in fear as they dropped to their knees upon bearing witness to those eyes. Some started screaming and others started mumbling to themselves.

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‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ [You have now entered the tower]

Holo looked around to see people foaming from their mouths, others clawing at their own faces until they passed out. Zenith had also fallen unconscious in a sitting position. He looked to his side in a panic and saw Shun laying there unconscious.

"Shun!" He exclaimed, and just then one of the large tentacles he saw came down and wrapped itself around the ship, crushing it in half. Holo tried latching onto anything, but he couldn’t grasp a single thing. To his side he saw Shun sliding into the deep ocean. The whole ship was sinking, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Holo looked up at the yellow eye as he was falling. Slowly his eyes closed and soon he too fell unconscious. Holo could feel himself drowning as if he was being dragged, though strangely, he didn’t feel the need to gasp for air.

Soon he woke up feeling a grainy sensation on his back. Beside him was Shun and further away was a bald-headed man with a beard, who was clutching tightly onto a battle axe. He then gave Holo an intense glare, which made him flinch. The man got up and walked menacingly over to Holo.

"Eek! S-Stay back!"

The man then reached out his hand and ruffled Holo’s hair. "You okay kid?" He asked in a gruff voice while still keeping his scary expression.

"Huh?"

"Don’t worry, I ain’t gonna hurt you. Picking on a kid ain’t really my style."

"O-Oh...right."

Holo’s mind thought of Zenith, who always constantly belittled him and hurt him.

"Sorry mister! There’s this one really mean wolf-man."

He then smirked, "Don’t worry, it doesn’t bother me." The man then turned his attention downwards to Shun. He lightly kicked him to wake him up.

Suddenly, Shun grabbed his sword from his side and lunged at the man. Sparks flew as they both clashed their weapons.

"Damn! That’s a nasty look you got on you." The man gritted his teeth.

Shun pressed harder, pushing the man back. "W-Wait! I’m friendly."

"Shun, he’s a good guy!" Holo exclaimed.

Shun then took a moment before easing up. He sheathed his sword and nodded his head as an apology.

"A big guy like you lunging at that speed...it really gave me a heart attack. Were you just pretending to be unconscious or something?" The bald-headed man scratched the back of his head.

Shun shook his head in response.

The man’s face expressed astonishment, "What?! So you just reacted like that? You’re a real piece of work. Haha!" He then reached out his hand to give a handshake, "It’s best I introduce myself. My name’s Weiss. Nice to meet you!"

Shun reached out and shook his hand. He then turned his back and walked away. Weiss tilted his head and then reached out his hand, "Hey, wait! Aren’t you going to tell me your name?!"

Holo quickly answered for Shun, "Ah! His name is Shuros...and he’s not being rude. He can’t speak. Also, my name is Holo." He turned his head to Shun, who was just walking aimlessly off into the distance. Holo’s ears flopped as he turned back to Weiss, "...At least I think he’s not being rude? Hehe..."