In the frozen hell's bottom layer.

There was nothing left of the ferocious water wyrms' previous liveliness in those waters.

The previously blue-green crystalline water had become tainted with red blood.

Countless lumps of flesh clung to the surface of the water, undoubtedly belonging to the wyrms that used to lived there.

A vortex forms slowly but steadily in the midst of that sea of blood.

The whirlpool had grown to insane proportions and rotational ferocity a few minutes later.

Dozens of long and thin black-red tentacles emerged from the depths of the water, meandering out like tentacles coming out of hell itself.

Suddenly a child-like figure jumps out of the water, his body covered in countless black-red tentacles that are attached to him like limbs.

The child propelled itself onto the wall and began to climb it instantly, dragging the entire appendage out of the water, and as the last strand was extracted from it, it also dragged out something big, long, and heavy.

The creature's entire body was revealed after being completely extracted from the water; it was a green yet bloodied snake-like creature with spikes all over its body, wings on its back that appeared to be designed for an aquatic environment rather than flying, and its long tail was terminated by a caudal fin.

That creature was a Water Wyrm, a magical beast.

Once out of the water, the boy dragged the wyrm up the wall by the wyrm's neck.

The creature let out a series of screeches, which the boy simply ignored before tossing the creature into the air and finally impaled the wyrm with his tentacles.

The tentacles that had turned as hard and pointy ended as the sharpest edged spear ever smithed, swiftly penetrated through the wyrm’s body through and through and through.

The creature twitched and debated like a lively fish out of water for several minutes before passing away.

On the child's face, something resembling a smile appeared.

***

Another month went by.

I was still in the middle layer, though I had to move further away from where I had purged the Wyrms of the bottom layer because the scale of the destruction I had caused had far exceeded my expectations.

But still, it was worth the expense.

My three months of hard work paid off.

All the blood and sweat shed was not in vain.

I've gotten a lot of new appendages, and they're nothing like my old ones.

Those appendages were superior in every way: they were longer, thinner, and more malleable.

This month, I've been practicing with those news appendages; using it wasn't much different from using the previous one, but this one provided more possibilities because of its thin and overly malleable characteristics.

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I could make a net-like barrier with my previous appendage, but with this new one, I discovered I could do more than just that.

I realized that wrapping those around my entire body would create something resembling an armor; with their thread-like properties, the new appendages would simply adapt to my body like a tailored suit.

Those, combined with my net-like barrier provided excellent protection against both damage and what I had previously feared the most about Dragonoid: fire breath.

And then another thought occurred to me:

Since my entire body was wrapped with it, except for my forearm, or more specifically, my right forearm, which was lacking, why not no putting the missing part to good use.

For a time, I've been trying to think of a way to use what was left of my right arm, maybe attach a prosthetic blade to it or something like that, but I never got the chance nor the component to make it, and when I got my tendrils, I in a way completely buried the idea because my tendrils were doing a great job as limbs.

Today, however, things are different. I was able to form something resembling a forearm with those new appendages. To be more specific, it resembled a dragon claw rather than a forearm. At first,

I considered making it look like a simple forearm, but then I realized that something like a dragon claw would be far more useful in this situation than an ersatz of a human hand. Naturally, the first thing I did was put that new prosthetic claw to the test in a real battle.

I was very satisfied with the results, as I was able to sever a magical beast's head in one blow with my mightiest claw attack.

There was no doubt about its power.

I became stronger, or at least several times stronger than when I was forced to run here, but it was still insufficient, so I decided to train myself for another month.

Yet I couldn't think of a better way to improve myself or my understanding of what I already knew.

In the last one month, I've realized one thing: there's nothing else to be afraid of in the middle, first, or bottom layers.

Wyvern: Even without those new appendages, I was able to put up a good fight, even against their magical beast counterpart.

Wyrm: I think I'd always win against these things as long as I didn't drown in an underwater fight.

Drake: I don't think I need to say anything about this one.

On top of that, perhaps it's because of the devastation I've caused, but finding a monster to kill here lately has become akin to looking for a needle in a haystack.

Not impossible, just tedious.

In short, there was no longer any monster worth being challenged here.

Challenges led to improvement, and there was no more room for that in the Frozen Hell for me.

I suppose It's finally time for me to leave this place...

And to face that last challenge awaiting me.

That DeathSeeker.

To be honest, I don't know if I'm strong enough to take it on one on one, but I want to make it pay for the pain and humiliation it has inflicted on me with a proper hand.

As a result, the best I can do is prepare myself and what I have for that moment.

***

I took a deep breath as I climbed the first layer to reach the Ivohy.

How long has it been since that day it forced me to flee to the Frozen Hell?

Five? six months?

I couldn't tell anymore, but I knew it had been like an eternity to me.

Things have changed dramatically here.

The weather was no longer as cold as it used to be.

The area smelled greener than before.

The place seemed strangely silent, as if devoid of life; the only thing that seemed alive around was a water stream flowing not far away.

I scouted around with my tentacle, looking for a suitable location, to finally reach a place that was, for me, the perfect place to engage a fight with that thing.

Taking a deep breath, I then with my tentacles swooped the entire area, blowing off every tree of the surrounding area.

I don’t know if that thing was around, but if it was, I’m sure it would respond to this call.

I waited a while before glimpsing that monster's very distinct signature behind me: a slithering noise accompanied by loud grunts.

It was there, there was no doubt about that.

Clenching my chest, I felt my heartbeat accelerating.

“Ah~ I remember that time my heart also beat this fast but that time it was out of fear, today it’s because I can’t wait to tear that thing apart.”