At first, he knew nothing but pain. Ernie had suffered through severed tentacles before, but that was in the before-land, the time before numbers, and levels, and clever System messages.
The serpent spit out his severed tentacles and then let out a bellow of rage as the portal flashed, taking fleshy human Logan away, away to safety! Logan could save his sister! Save his brethren! Even staring down certain death, Ernie felt a flush of pride and satisfaction at having outmanoeuvered the nasty queen. Now, Logan would live, live to fight another day!
The serpent’s green eyes glinted with malice as she gnashed her teeth, her mighty tail lashing like a whip. She was so enraged that she bashed her tail against the stalactites in the ceiling, and they rained down one after the other with massive booms.
The larvae in the water paused as if uncertain, wiggling in mid-swim.
“You deserve death, little octopus,” the serpent hissed. “Death and pain for what that human did to my young. But death is too good for the likes of you. I might make use of you yet.” Crooning to the larvae in the water, she said, “You know what to do.”
Given a command, the larvae jumped, wiggling once again, but this time they went in the same direction—directly towards Ernie.
Through his agony, Ernie straightened and glowered. He would escape! Join Logan, and—
He had nowhere to go. The portal was at his back, the serpent at his front, and the wiggling worms surrounded him on all sides.
Still, he would triumph! Ernie refused to give up! He was a murderous octopus; he rivalled all. He would…
He would…
He would do something! It was just a matter of what.
Pain and nerves washed through Ernie, a jumble of emotions making it difficult to think. It wasn’t fear—never fear! Just uncertainty. For the first time, he realized that he didn’t know what to do.
With the last of his willpower, he used his remaining tentacles to bash away the larvae, hitting them like a battering ram. One after another, he pummeled them, whooshing them through the water away away away! But for every worm he bashed, another took its place. There were ten, then dozens, then a hundred! Worm after worm piled on top of him, spewing their golden, diamond-sharp flower petals.
The petals were alive.
They swarmed his skin, covering him like ants. The petals started crawling towards his wounds, sinking, and burrowing into his exposed flesh. “LOGAN!” he projected mentally, a last, desperate plea for help even though Ernie didn’t want Logan to return. He knew that would mean death.
No! Ernie would overcome! He would triumph! He refused…
He refused…
One blink.
Two.
Everything became foggy, as if his head were stuffed with cotton.
“Bring him to the down-below,” commanded the serpent, her voice like a whip. “It will take time to transform such a strong specimen. Once he’s remade anew, we’ll see what he becomes.”
***
Down, down, down, Ernie went. The larvae worms had latched onto him, carrying him through the water foot after foot.
Ernie had lived in the ocean; he had travelled into the depths before, but at a certain point, even an octopus dared go no further. The water became dark, so dark that even Ernie with his high perception struggled to see. What’s worse, he couldn’t move, and he travelled through the water like a doll, manipulated by worms. The affront! The insult!
And yet he could do nothing.
As they continued to drop drop drop, Ernie could see a faint glow, like an underwater star covered by a cobweb. Each foot closer meant that the light grew brighter, illuminating the ground below.
If Ernie could have moved his mouth, he’d be gaping.
The serpent had an army.
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On the ground, other larvae worms writhed, these ones the size of dolphins. They looked like maggots that had ballooned in size. Amongst them, undead sturgeons, immense titans larger than sharks, slumbered like rumbling giants. Their skin was pale and translucent, dark black sharp ratty fins sticking out of their backs and sides, faces the sizes of crocodiles. There had to be hundreds.
Throughout the gathering, undead fish, both tiny like one of his suction cups, and large like big rocks, flittered around, their undead red eyes darting from side to side, as if supervising the crowd.
But that wasn’t all.
Within the army, there were humans.
Humans stood motionless, a dozen at least. With gold-weave and purple-weave skin, eyes flower petals, tongues flower tentacles. Their tongues wiggled in a mindless motion, like a hibernating snake.
[Level 49 Undead Minion. A human transformed into the undead by Queen Naitaka.]
The larvae set Ernie down on the ground on a bare patch of soil. Sand kicked up in the water as he landed and collapsed in a heap.
He still couldn’t move, and he was looking at everything around him as if it were remote. But Ernie was a murderous octopus, an octopus who rivaled all.
He would gather himself, regrow his tentacles, then launch a sneaky…
A sneaky…
After that, he knew no more.
***
Ding!
[Congratulations, Murderous Octopus! You’ve been granted a species change! Marine Cephalopod has been changed to Undead Cephalopod! You will be subservient to Queen Naitaka and forced to do her bidding!]
[Error!]
[Error 2323.2323.2]
[User is a bonded companion!]
[Recalculating…]
[…]
[Recalculating…]
[Undead Cephalopod has been changed to Cephalopod Liche! A master manipulator, your power remains hidden from those more powerful than you. Be stealthy, be smart, and the world will kneel before you.]
[You have been granted the skill, Undead Stamina! This rare skill latches onto your endurance attribute and boosts it by 100%.]
[You have been granted the skill, Liche Creation! This rare skill allows you to infect and seed your undead essence into beings to transform them into undead and add them to your minion army.]
Ernie blinked away the messages and then stared at his tentacles. They were whole once again! And he… was pasty white! So pale he might as well be a corpse! Bah! Disgusting! Straightening, he flexed in the water, commanding his skin to turn into the color of the sand underneath him. It… what… why!
Stinky fish guts! It wouldn’t obey!
Glowering, Ernie huffed and then glanced around him. One of the sturgeons was staring at him in curiosity, red eyes glinting and its mouth opening in a grin.
Startled, Ernie jumped in the water, and then stilled. It didn’t seem to want to kill him. Uncertainty eating at him, Ernie pulled up the latest System message. As soon as he comprehend the change, he jerked in the water like he’d been electrocuted, excitement surging.
Ernie. Rivaled. All.
Cackling, he danced in the water, his tentacles darting, doing a savage, savage dance. He wasn’t just a Murderous Octopus, he was a Mighty Murderous Liche! It had frustrated him to no end when the undead sturgeons had escaped one after another, all because of their undead stamina! Now, Ernie rivaled all.
Not just that, he could create an army, become overpowered, join Logan, and then rain a hell storm of slaughter down upon their enemies and avenge his brethren. He didn’t like that he couldn’t deploy [Mimicry], but when had that ever stopped him? He would overcome and figure out a solution; he would triumph, he would…
The serpent was approaching.
As its immense shadow passed over the army below, the undead cowered, lowering their heads in deference and avoiding the Queen’s eyes.
She came to a stop in front of Ernie, kicking up sand, green eyes bright with curiosity as her long tail slithered through the water. Examining him, she studied his pallid skin, before she turned her attention to his regrown tentacles.
“A handy skill,” she mused.
Something told Ernie that he needed to act like the undead minions around him, mindless, brain-dead. Drooping, he let his tentacles flop and his eyes glaze over.
The wait felt endless.
Then, finally, “I suppose you’ll do,” she said. “A satisfactory change. Go, undead octopus! Go out in the wild and transform beings to add to my army!”
Ernie blinked at the sand. Huh. She didn’t know. Ernie wasn’t just an undead octopus, he was a Liche.
The serpent swam over to the sturgeon who had been grinning at him. “As for you, what a pathetic excuse for an undead sturgeon. A failure, substandard, a disappointment. Where are my undead humans, hmmm? Where?”
The sturgeon cowered and dipped its head, lowering its eyes to the ground, it fins like limp socks.
“Pathetic!” she snapped. Slashing her green claws, she raked the sturgeon’s side, scoring deep scratches and causing a milky-white substance to saturate the water.
The undead fish and other sturgeons averted their gaze, trying to become invisible targets. Nothing to see here.
“I’ll not warn you again. All of you,” she said with a glare around her. “Results! Or you’re dead!”
Then with a last glower, she whipped her tail and streamed through the water.
Ernie blinked after her and then gave the sturgeon a careful glance. “Well, that didn’t seem very nice.”
The sturgeon raised its head.
“You tried soooo hard, and what did you get? Nothing but derision. If I were her, I’d be praising you with compliments, yes yes yes. Such a smart sturgeon, such a powerhouse. And so handsome, too!”
The sturgeon straightened in the water and a red flush spread across its pale, milky white back.
“If you were my minion, I would know when to reward someone for good work!”
Hmm. Ernie rested a tentacle against his mouth. “It’s too bad you aren’t one of mine.”
Pause for effect.
The sturgeon was looking at him in a different way, an intrigued way.
Ernie held back a grin. Yes yes yes! He would start a revolution! A rebellion from within!
Ernie was a master manipulator Liche.
Ernie rivaled all.