Henry dove low, making his skin pitch black as he sent a clone above the green ray.

He was ready to trigger Bahamut Whale’s Resilience, but held off on it. He assumed it wouldn’t stay on for long, and he had to make the most out of the single charge.

The serpent shot its ray at the clone, and Henry summoned two more clones. He sent one circling to the right, one to the center, then he circled left around the serpent.

The monster looked at everything approaching it, then it did something Henry hadn’t seen so far. “What’s this now?”

The serpent shut its jaw. The green light intensified for a moment, then it spat down a ball of green light in front of it.

A wide green detonation rocked the middle clone, shoving Henry away. His skin burned as the wave of green magic washed over him while, on the other side, the second clone dissolved as well.

His eyes burned. He held his breath but knew some of the stuff had gone in.

Henry’s insides seized for a moment. His muscles wanted to stay locked, but it thankfully didn’t last.

Toxin Resistance and his Constitution were working overtime.

He used the same formation again, but stayed further away from the clones. Henry glided toward the serpent, watching it as it prepared the same attack.

Henry activated five charges of Hoard Vitals, feeling the healing magic course through him, alleviating the cold grip that threatened to lock up his muscles. His mana reserves refilled as well. “Good thing I got the mana upgrade.”

The Ink Clones were costly, but this fight might have already been lost without that Skill. He couldn’t have approached the serpent otherwise.

The serpent took the bait and aimed at the two clones–then its eye flicked left, right before it spat the poison bomb at the clones.

Henry dove, dodging the tail that whipped toward him.

“Smart bastard. But I got you.”

Henry spread his tentacles and pushed himself forward with his siphon. His tentacles hit the throat of the serpent and the suckers activated. He spread his grip around the throat as he gingerly tried to not get his tentacles impaled with its back spine.

The serpent whipped back, trying to dislodge him. Henry tightened his grip, and with two tentacles he’d left free, he whipped the throat above him with Razor Tentacles.

One tentacle skidded, another lodged into the serpent’s scale. Henry cursed as the world turned upside down. Of course, it wouldn’t be easy.

Henry eyed the tight scales under him. They were only a bite away, but the thought made his hearts beat faster. “Too soon.”

He didn’t want to use Bite. What had happened to the Whipcrack shark was still fresh in his memory, and he didn’t want to push his resistances to the point where they would be overwhelmed.

Henry dislodged his stuck bladed tentacle as the serpent continued thrashing, and he began whipping with both tentacles, again and again.

The serpent roared. Henry continued, barely making a dent through the scales at first, but with every impact, he could feel them give a bit more with every slash.

The serpent stopped thrashing, then slowly unrolled upward, lifting its head. Henry looked up–without stopping his attacks–and saw the green light shine through the long fangs. The green hue grew brighter. Then the reptile tilted its head back and to the side, and poison spilled from between its fangs like molten metal.

The blobs of luminescent green oil rolled down the serpent’s neck, some adhering to its skin, while others free-fell toward Henry.

Henry used his Slick Coat and triggered the Resilience of the Bahamut Whale.

His skin grew taught and hardened. It took a familiar gray shade, and even his hits seemed to dig through the scale faster. Henry slashed at the throat. The scale finally ripped, exposing pink, green-veined flesh. The serpent flailed and roared, moving Henry away from the free-falling poison, but he knew he wasn’t out of danger just yet.

Henry saw a blob of venom roll along the serpent’s scale toward his face. He pulled together the dregs of mana he had left to push it away with Telekinesis, but all it accomplished was spreading the venom thinner

Henry squeezed his eyelids shut and held his breath, tilting his face as far as he could from the serpent's neck without detaching himself. He couldn’t let the liquid get to his mouth. He began tasting blood from his bladed tentacles, so he continued digging.

“I can’t…stop…now.”

The concentrated poison touched some of his tentacles first. Slick Coat held for less than a second before it disintegrated, and the liquid felt cold as it coated its way down.

A moment later, the cold faded. He couldn’t feel the water against his skin. Then the spasms began.

Henry continued to dig into the serpent’s throat, tasting its blood on his bladed tentacles. His health began to plummet faster and faster. He used five charges of Hoard Vitals, pushing back against the numbing and muscle-locking toxin, and replenishing some of his spent mana.

The green liquid fell over the right side of his face. His eyelid spasmed and opened enough for the toxin to get through.

It didn’t burn, but the light immediately distorted, and a second later, he could only see a muted gray from that eye. Feeling the toxin reach his other eye, he squinted as hard as he could, hoping to minimize its effects.

Thankfully, the serpent couldn’t endure the pain any longer and whipped away, shaking off most of the toxic substance from Henry. Some residue still clung to him, but at least he wasn’t completely covered anymore.

Henry tasted more blood around his bladed tentacles. His limbs began to tire and spasm. His skin burned, but he persisted in digging through the serpent’s now-softened skin. The scales no longer blocked him.

He needed to breathe. He couldn’t tell how long he’d been hacking at the serpent’s neck, and he was surprised at how long he could hold his breath. Probably because of his Constitution. But the timer was ticking and holding on to a flailing 40-foot monster was taxing him.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

The water surrounding him was probably unsafe. Henry kept slicing with two razors. Blood was flowing, but the serpent was still writhing.

“21% health.”

Henry activated five more charges. Blood kept gushing; finally it surged out and spread enough for him to taste it with all of his tentacles.

He couldn’t hold his breath anymore. His limbs ached. He hadn’t noticed because of everything that’d been happening, but he couldn’t feel three out of the six tentacles he’d used to attach himself to the serpent.

The serpent spat more poison rays at the sky and ocean floor in its panic as its blood gushed out.

Henry kept his gills shut until his brain forced them open against his will, and the poisoned blood rushed into his gills.

His innards flared with pain, and his awareness swam. He couldn’t see anything, one eye was shut, another saw only gray, but the world began tilting and turning. Sounds echoed. Even his muscles relaxed.

Henry activated all remaining charges of Hoard Vitals. However many he had left.

The serpent was moving less. Henry’s limbs were leaden. They weren’t getting a lot of resistance anymore, but to be fair, he couldn’t feel them that well, anyway.

He kept cutting. Again. And again. And again.

In Henry’s dread-filled daze and single-minded focus, something broke through. Henry continued slicing and vaguely tried to understand what it was saying.

1x Juvenile Sea Serpent Core (D) was collected.

Henry slowed his tentacles. He tried to relax the others and detach, but they refused to obey him. Everything was oddly muted around him. He felt sleepy. He felt sick.

Really sick.

Henry looked at his health and mana through his interface. Alarm nudged him, but he wasn’t panicking like he should. 8% health. 7%. 6%.

He didn’t overthink it. He chose instinctively and consumed the new Core. That was the only way out.

He hoped it worked, because he couldn’t see the usual light. His second eye wouldn't open. Maybe it got injured.

Henry waited, hoping the magic would do its job. Tremors shook his body and a new wave of pain entered his limbs. It felt oddly therapeutic. It was as if the pain was shaking the tension loose and burning the venom away as it sunk into him.

Strength entered his body and Henry felt his mind wake from its toxin empowered stupor. A bunch of notifications floated up his interfaces, but he couldn’t focus on them as pain continued flaring all over his body. Bile rose up his throat, and he felt himself vomit. With every second, more fortitude and vitality entered his flesh, and it made him feel worse. More poison was entering his gills, but it wasn’t as bad anymore. Probably because it got diluted.

“Ouch. Crap. Shit.” Henry breathed out, struggling to crack open his shut eye. It was swollen for some reason, but he managed to glimpse his surroundings. The other eye still saw only gray.

He was lying on the seabed, still attached to the dead serpent. The water was tinted red, and wisps of blood still flowed out of the monster’s butchered throat. He couldn’t see it very well from this angle, but he could see shredded flesh floating out of the injury.

Henry tried to pull his tentacles away from its back and from under its body. The top ones came back, while from the three trapped under its body only one came out.

When he tried to pull the others, he felt pain.

“They’re stuck in the spines, aren’t they…”

Henry sighed and looked up. The cloud of blood was clearing out. His health was up to… “19. What?”

Henry pulled his notifications and his jaw dropped.

Stalking Threat - Level 7 achieved!

…

Stalking Threat - Level 53 achieved!

9x Stat points awarded.

5x Strength Stat points awarded.

5x Constitution Stat points awarded.

2x Class Skill Slots added.

2x Class Trait Slots awarded.

“Gambling worked I guess. Strength passed 20. And I… also passed 30 in Constitution? When? Oh…”

Juvenile Sea Serpent Core (D) contained significant Constitution stats. 1x Constitution Stat points awarded.

Juvenile Sea Serpent Core (D) contained significant Spirit stats. 2x Spirit Stat points awarded.

Juvenile Sea Serpent Core (D) contained significant Strength stats. 1x Strength Stat points awarded.

His health was above 20%, and he decided it was time to free himself from under the serpent. Already, his blinded eye began seeing vague shapes and colors.

With his improved strength, Henry pulled. Hard. He grimaced at the pain as the spine tore into his limb, then the spine broke.

A few moments later, his tentacles were out from under the serpent. The end of them were gray and numb, but it was nothing he couldn’t heal once he got some rest.

“Now let’s see… Skills.”

Toxic Ray (F) was copied by Magic Mimic. Added to Ephemerals.

Superior owned Traits analyzed by Magic Mimic.

Trait Evolution Unlocked: Toxin Resistance (D)

Trait Evolution Unlocked: Venom Production (E)

Mimicking Tentacles (E): Level 8 -> Level 10

Inkjet (E): Level 2 -> Level 5

Tentacle Whip(F): Level 4 -> Level 10

Hoard Vitals (E): Level 4 -> Level 6

Slick Coat (F): Level 1 -> Level 3

Telepathic Message (F): Level 1 -> Level 2

Bite: Bite of the Sea Serpent acquired

Inkjet: Poisoned Ink (Sea Serpent) acquired

Mimicking Tentacles: Scales of the Serpent acquired.

Venom Production (E): Sea Serpent Blood acquired.

Venom Production (E): Sea Serpent Bile acquired.

That had been dangerous. More than he’d expected. But the gambit paid off extremely well.

“Magic Mimic has more functions than what is described in the Skill. And Mimicking Tentacle got to 10. Along with Tentacle Whip. And I might get a chance to test all of this.”

Calls had begun echoing louder around him, but Henry wasn’t worried. The seals had been barely able to injure him before the massive boost he’d just got, so even though his health and mana were low, he didn’t expect them to be able to do much.

While he waited for the seals to get there, he triggered Tentacle Whip’s upgrade.

Upgrade Tentacle Whip (F)

Pick the focus of the Skill upgrade

Added weight

Or

Increased speed

Henry took the weight upgrade. He waited for the Skill to finish leveling up as he floated up and watched the seals come out of the green-gray horizon. With every second, the sight of his blinded eye was getting better. He looked down at the throat-torn serpent, deciding he would harvest a few parts of it. To work on his toxin resistance. To see if there were any other Skills or Traits he could get out of it.

Though to be fair he’d probably ingested everything he could or needed to through the blood he’d bathed in.

The seals surrounded him. Henry looked down at the two necrosed or dead extremities that had been impaled on the serpent.

Henry lifted both, then sliced them with a third tentacle, cutting through the dead flesh like a scythe through dry wheat. With that done, he looked up at the seals as they bared their teeth at him.

“[Leave.]”

Henry sent it to the largest seal. What he assumed to be their leader.

The seal twitched at the noise. Then it attacked, and Henry whipped it with a blade-less tentacle in the face. His large tentacle impacted the 14-foot seal with a crack that burst its protective bubble and completely killed its momentum.

The seal laid limp for a few seconds. Then it woke up, startled. The seals stared at him. Henry stared back.

Henry raised two tentacles and glowered at the seals. He looked at the one just slapped and spoke again. “[One more time. Leave.]”

A new notification arrived, and Henry carefully glanced at it. Then he couldn’t look away.

Congratulations! A new option has been added to the potential species evolutions.

The leader made a throaty call, and all the seals attacked.