*( mood song: "Dropkick Murphys - I'm Shipping Up to Boston")

The thousands of crab man soldiers looked at the imposing cliff going as far as their eyes could see and beyond, then the order arrived and they charged, starting the climb.

The general looked satisfied as his army started climbing the cliff, 'they are all armed and properly supplied with the finest leather armors, sharp bone weapons, and even the last berserker mushroom potions and algae lamps made by our alchemists, our army is unstoppable! we will pave the way to a new era! the king shall have lots of descendants and make a dynasty that lasts to the end of times!' feeling motivated he roared with his sword up "Charge the cliff! for the king!"

The soldiers echoing "FOR THE KING! FOR THE DYNASTY!"

Right, when the last soldiers were about to start climbing though... a sound appeared to be heard in the darkness rapidly approaching.

The general was confused at first, but then his eyes shone 'an injured abyssal! this will be perfect for lifting the army's morale! it's been so long since I ate one...' he was already salivating as several things seemed to be falling at them, he could clearly smell the blood in the water 'weird... it's so energetically shouting even after bleeding so much? it must be gigantic then...' his excitement only grew and he announced to the army "MEN! THE GRACE OF THE KING IS WITH US! PREY IS INCOMING, TODAY WE WILL FEAST TO OUR HEARTS CONTENT, JUMP DOWN AND PREPARE TO FINISH THE BEAST!"

The entire army was excited as the object came into view, soon to grow disappointed, the same thought in all of their minds 'it's just a rock...'

The general sighed and gave orders "make space for it! some abyssal must have knocked it down!" the soldiers moving out of the way, as the general pondered and looked up 'weird... I still hear the calls...' right then he was disappointed again to see more rocks, only to grow alarmed as dozens upon dozens of gigantic rocks were falling in concentric circle formations, covering the entirety of his army that had jumped down expecting a feast, he shouted "avoid it!" but it was already too late.

The first rock landed with the soldiers evading it, the exterior ring of rocks fell then, ring after ring falling and getting closer to the center, squishing hundreds to paste, there were lots of gaps though, so the majority survived, that was until.

*BOOM!!!!* dozens of explosions happened simultaneously, sending rock shrapnel and plumes of bubbles in all directions, the combined pressure waves squishing the survivors to paste.

The general was terrified and gave the order "start climbing! quickly!" he didn't know what that explosion was but he couldn't, retreat as his king would have him executed, so the best option was to keep advancing, he grabbed a nearby soldier "soldier, do a headcount, I need to know how many we have left"

soldier: "yes general! I will get to- huh? what is that?"

The explosion earlier had left them almost deaf, but still the general shaw a particularly bloody rock falling that shined in the dark and emitted sound 'so the sound came from that rock?' he was deeply confused as he ordered a soldier to check the rock once it landed.

Minutes later, the general held a metal sphere that emitted injured abyssal sounds, a high-pitched clacking sound, he grit his teeth and beak, a single thought in his mind 'how... how! ....HOW?! there's no way their technology is superior to our dynasty's! and even then... HOW DID THEY MAKE THIS?!'

A soldier coming at that moment and saluting, being given permission to talk by the general "reporting to the general, we have lost over 60% of our troops, do we continue?"

The general was decisive "we won't let their sacrifice go to waste, climb faster! we will make them pay!"

The hundreds of remaining soldiers continuing the climb with renewed vigor.

General: 'enjoy this small victory while you can... in the end, we shall-'

*CRLK! CRLK! CRLK!* loud clacking sounds reverberated through the area, and thanks to the lights from their lamps they faintly saw an enormous shadow.

The general felt his antennae wrinkle in fear "TAKE COVER!" he instantly yelled, the crabmen hiding where they could, as the beast's tentacles seemed to be searching for something finally touching the speaker seemingly confused and crushing it with a light squeeze.

*CRAAAAAAHHHH* the beast became enraged at the trick, it had separated from the herd to help an injured comrade only to arrive and be tricked.

The general observed the beast and knew they had no choice but to fight, he grit his mandible and gave an order "unit 12, take your berserk potions and jump on top of that creature, look for weak spots, units 1, 3, 7 and 11 launch harpoons for cover, unit 13 and 17, continue climbing"

"yes sir!" the orders were given as the remnants of unit 12 took their potions, soon losing all sense of fear, jumping at the beast as its tentacles bated them away like flies, some managing to land on the beast, stabbing at the vase of its tentacles and cutting them off as more of the surrounding tentacles squished them to paste.

Meanwhile from below and the cliff wall hundreds of harpoons were launched, either stabbing tentacles or ricocheting after hitting the thick shell.

Little by little the beast started weakening, at the cost of the near extermination of the 12 unit, and several casualties on surrounding units.

The general was frustrated and excited at the same time, while he had lost lots of soldiers, if at least they brought the abyssal back, then his king might spare him 'come on... it's almost dead...'

After a while more the beast started trying to run, most of its tentacles cut off, and some chips on its shell.

The general was excited "ALL UNITS! FINISH IT! FOR OUR DEAD BROTHERS!"

however... as the first unit approached, a bus-sized tentacle swatted the entire unit away, most turning into mush.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

--- octopeople city ---

They all stood in a circle as they watched the hunt, thanks to infrared cameras and infrared flashlights mounted on the cliff wall for the elevator, they all could see as unknowingly to them, the herd had surrounded them, coming to the rescue of the young adult that had first come and had been calling for help for a while, the enormous matriarch slowly approaching.

Something broke the serious atmosphere though.

Erik: "jaja... jajaja... JUAJAJAJA!!! THAT! WAS! PERFECT! JUAJAJAJAJA!" hitting a table with his fist as he loudly laughed.

[you laugh like a villain (꒪⌓꒪) ]

Erik slowly calmed himself, still chuckling loudly as everyone looked at him weirdly *chuckle* "I'm... I'm fine" and took deep breaths.

[you realize that's an invading enemy army aiming to destroy and enslave all you care for? how can you laugh in such a situation]

Erik: [ ...well, isn't that the reason? I was way more efficient]

[what? be clear..., don't make me read your memory for no reason (・ι_・ ) ]

Erik: [what I mean is, think about it, it was hard calculating those rocks trajectories and -]

[i did that]

Erik: [yeah..., and it sounded really hard..., but the idea was mine, anyway, seeing them so confident in themselves and failing so miserably in the end... it feels amazing, so fulfilling...]

[you are a weirdo]

Erik: [yeah yeah, said the pot to the kettle...]

[... ¯\_( ◉ 3 ◉ )_/¯ ]

By the side, Shana nudged Inky and asked her "do you know why he's laughing?"

Inky was confused too, the survival of their race was at stake after all "I have no idea"

Shana nodded and started giving orders "I need all available soldiers to come with me, grab your weapons, those dirty demons won't catch us unprepared, be ready! we set out immediately"

By that moment Erik had recovered and stopped them "w- wait..., if any survive don't kill them, I've had an amazing idea... it's so evil and perfect jejeje" just thinking of his new plan making him chuckle again.

What no one knew and only he had noticed, was that on the back of the video he had seen one of the abyssals with a couple of young with her 'they are lactating... milk... cheese... pizza...'

[if I had a physical body there I would slap you, maybe a nanobot arm... do you mind getting closer to a wall (・ω・)]

Erik: [well... reading my mind without permission is rude you know? friends don't do that]

[...hmmm, okay, but arent the sheep about to be born? you can make cheese from them]

Erik: [you see Rose..., that's great and all but... a pizza and cheese made from a giant alien oceanic beast... you can't help but think about it right?]

[not really... please don't get yourself killed for stupid reasons...]

Erik: [fine... I will let it be... for now...]

[by the way, what do you want the prisoners for?]

Erik: [well you see, you can't access their brains, and if I just control them as puppets I will be found out if I try to infiltrate, so... I was thinking trying to read their brains somehow and infiltrating using that information, from there the possibilities are endless, from murdering their king to declaring war to other tribes, or combining both ideas by telling others it was another tribe poisoning the king, as I said... the possibilities are endless...]

[... are you sure? brain reading is much more complicated than just replacing the brain you know?]

Erik: [well, I can just interrogate them if it turns out to be too hard, I have ideas for that too, maybe trying some acids to dissolve parts of their shell..., and anyway I always have Trutk as a backup plan, once his claws grow back and I add some gadgets to him... hehe~ I could cause quite the carnage]

[and... are you gonna kill them all?]

Erik: [Nah, bastards exist everywhere, absolute power corrupts absolutely after all, but the kids and civilians could be kept, that's why an infiltration plan is important, there should be crab people unhappy with their king, just need to find them and help them rebel]

[seems like I will never get bored with you around ( ๑˘ω˘ ) ]

Erik: [likewise Rose] he looked at the screen [oh, seems like they are running away...]

--- back at the bottom of the cliff ---

The general and surviving 600 soldiers quickly climbed the cliff "break formations and keep climbing in a fan formation!" the general giving an order to reduce the casualties, 'with some luck the abyssals won't follow us' was the only hope of the general as he hurriedly climbed up.

Thankfully the herd was more worried about their injured member than going after them, the scare lasted them though, not a single soldier daring to stop until they were totally exhausted, and it would take them days just to regroup by smelling the general, but... they were still plenty.

--- greenhouse lab ---

Erik was currently walking through the lab, whistling inside his power armor as he was observing his specimens, they were a bit starved but nothing serious as he brought plenty of food, from weak prey though, as they wouldn't get any fancy mutations that way.

Looking at the quickly eating crab people Erik could only sigh 'seems like I will need to get a caretaker for them... such a pain...'

He came to Trutk's cell, seeing him just munching on food, his eyes opened wide but looking at the nothingness, his sight always straight.

Erik was a bit weirded out [he didn't get damaged right?]

[maybe he's just traumatized? (¯―¯٥)]

Erik: [that can't be right? he's such a big guy already] he hit the bars, only to see the big and once-mighty Trutk cowering to a corner in fear [....wtf..., if I wasn't going to replace his brain then I would be really disappointed right now].

[well, if you only like their body that's fine]

Erik then looked at Trutk and passed him a bowl full of a white dough paste, it was lots of bones and bone weapons, Erik had already ground them into a powder earlier to try making Trutk's shell tougher, most of the mix had gone to all the elders, him included though as stronger bones were essential in the deep, "eat that" he commanded.

Trutk: "yes Lord" and ravenously ate what was given.

Erik then also passed it a culture of human nerve tissue, as if it developed human nerves, then it would be faster and easier to control.

He checked on the others, and quite a bit were injured and weak, some cells with more than one crab for the case of the females that were less violent, some even seemed to be carrying eggs 'future slaves or food... if I raise them properly they could be great soldiers...'

And finally, he arrived at the dry lab, passing through a pair of pressurized doors, inside waited the old hybrid crabwoman that had a lost look as she focussedly looked at a wall, not even paying attention to Erik as he observed her way more bloated body.

Erik: [wow... Timberly really had some fun with her huh...]

[yeah... why did you had to go away?! I missed it... (T⌓T)]

Erik rolled his eyes [... well, anyway, gotta test her] he clicked his fingers, getting the woman's attention "hey, I'm gonna check if you are pregnant okay" he saw the crab woman nod and sit on her back, Timberly having already literally fucked her to submission, she was much more obedient.

He pulled out a probe and a camera and slowly introduced it on her womb, crossing her cervix, he noticed her shudder at the cold insertion, her torn pussy also seemed to be almost healed 'their healing is as impressive as always' he thought impressed.

Looking at the screen, the probe detected pregnancy hormones, and looking through the camera she could see some of Timberly's eggs and also the crabwoman's eggs, Timberly's were apparently not fertilized, but the crabwoman's were, so he decided to extract them by hand, Timberly had stretched her thoroughly so putting his hand in was easy, the crabwoman moaned but he just ignored her and fisted through her cervix, touching the eggs inside, Timberly's eggs were 2 times bigger than the crabwoman's so they were easy to differentiate just by touch.

He quickly filled 2 buckets full of Timberly's eggs and one egg from the crab woman's, he was planning to put it on a small incubator and record its entire growth cycle for future research.

He looked at the panting crabwoman and said "so? how did it feel to be bred, you liked it?"

Her face was at first confused as she answered "...yessss"

Erik chuckled and fed her some meat he was carrying. He then patted her still bloated belly, and soon after went away with the two full buckets, letting her rest.