Chapter 110: Instant Kill
’I don’t want to hear that from someone who got swallowed by a fish.’ Gray said.
Cindy’s voice flared with indignation. "That’s because people gave me strange orders! I was following my mission!"
’And that’s because you were stupid enough to accept them.’
Cindy sputtered, caught off guard by the bluntness of his words. "Wha— How dare you! You don’t even know what happene—"
Before she could finish, Gray’s tentacles snapped taut. His body went still in the water, every sense locking onto something ahead. The familiar ripple of displaced water. The faint shimmer of something reflective moving through the dark.
A Mirage Squid.
It was smaller than the one they’d fought before, maybe two-thirds the size, but it was moving with that same fluid, predatory confidence. Its chromatophores flickered as it drifted past a cluster of rocks. It hadn’t noticed him yet.
’Cindy,’ Gray said, cutting her off mid-breath. ’Mirage Squid. Small one.’
Cindy’s indignation vanished instantly. Her voice turned sharp and focused.
"How far?"
’Twenty meters. Moving left. It doesn’t see us yet.’
"Should we engage?"
Gray watched the creature for a long moment. It moved like oil through water, its body bending in ways that seemed to ignore the current entirely. Its arms drifted behind it in slow, hypnotic spirals.
’Yeah,’ he said, his serrated bell tilting forward. ’I owe its species a rematch.’
"Alright," Cindy said, her voice steady but cautious. "But be careful. Even though you’ve gotten stronger, that squid has troublesome abilities."
’I know,’ Gray replied, already drifting forward. ’I won’t fall for the same trick twice.’
"Then don’t get cocky."
’When have I ever been cocky?’
"...Do you want me to list the times, or should I just pick the most recent one?"
Gray ignored her and focused on the Mirage Squid ahead. It was still drifting lazily between the rocks, its arms curling and uncurling with that deceptive grace. Its colors shifted from pale blue to deep violet and back again, a living kaleidoscope that made it hard to track.
He extended his electroreception, feeling for the faint electrical pulse of the creature’s nervous system beneath the shimmering skin.
’Target acquired.’
He circled wide, keeping to the shadows of the rocks, Hollow Cloak wrapping him in near-invisibility. The squid hadn’t noticed him yet. It was too busy hunting a cluster of glowing shrimp hiding in a crevice.
Gray positioned himself above and behind it, where its arms couldn’t reach without turning.
’Cindy,’ he said quietly. ’I’m going to kill it before it even knows I’m here.’
"Can you do that?"
’Watch me.’
He hovered in silence, waiting for the perfect moment. The squid drifted beneath him, its mantle exposed, its attention fixed on the crevice where the shrimp were hiding. Its chromatophores pulsed slowly, lazily, completely unaware.
Gray gathered his mana. Abyssal Lance charged, his body compressing into a spear of dark crystal, the serrated barbs aligning along his tentacles like the teeth of a closing jaw.
Then he dropped.
He plunged down like a blade from the dark, the crystalline barbs punching through the squid’s mantle before it could even register the threat. The impact drove it toward the seafloor, pinning it against the rock.
[CRITICAL HIT!]
[ABYSSAL LANCE — 162 DAMAGE]
[MIRAGE SQUID — HP: 338 / 500]
[STUN — 3 SECONDS]
The squid convulsed, its arms splaying wide in shock. Its chromatophores flickered wildly, trying to form illusions, but Gray didn’t give it a moment to recover. He wrapped four tentacles around its body, Grip Jaw locking on with crushing force.
[GRIP JAW — 44 DAMAGE]
[GRIP JAW — 40 DAMAGE]
[MIRAGE SQUID — HP: 254 / 500]
The stun broke. The squid thrashed, its arms lashing out blindly. One caught Gray across the bell, leaving a thin line of pain.
[-18 HP]
[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 1022 / 1040]
But it was too late. Gray was already inside its guard. He pressed his bell against the squid’s mantle and fired Cavitation Pulse point-blank.
[CAVITATION PULSE — 118 DAMAGE]
[MIRAGE SQUID — HP: 136 / 500]
The squid shrieked, its body convulsing. Its water control flickered, trying to form a shield, but the pressure was too much, too fast. Gray didn’t let up. He fired Overcharge directly into the wound.
[OVERCHARGE — 156 DAMAGE]
[MIRAGE SQUID DEFEATED — 1100 EXP]
The squid’s body went limp, its arms drifting weightlessly in the water. The colors faded from its skin, leaving only a dull, lifeless grey.
[TRAIT FRAGMENT ACQUIRED: "Water Flow Mastery" (2/5)]
’See?’ he said. ’Instant kill.’
Cindy’s voice came, quiet but impressed.
"...That was terrifying and efficient."
’That’s the idea.’
He drifted down and began to absorb the squid’s remains. The flesh was briny and sharp, with that familiar electric undertone he remembered. It tasted like victory.
But he only got halfway through the meal before his tentacles went rigid.
A vibration rippled through the water, followed by another.
’We’ve got company.’
He abandoned the half-eaten corpse without hesitation and activated EMP Shroud. The electromagnetic pulse rippled outward, erasing his electrical signature, and he slipped behind a jagged spire of dark rock, Hollow Cloak folding around him.
Two shapes emerged from the gloom.
They were Mirage Squids, both smaller than the one he’d just killed, but moving with that same fluid, predatory grace. Their chromatophores pulsed in slow waves of deep violet and pale blue as they drifted toward the corpse.
The first squid hovered over the body, its arms curling slowly downward. The second circled once, then twice, its colors dimming to something darker, almost grey.
Cindy’s voice came, soft and uncertain.
"...Gray. Are they... mourning?"
Gray watched them from behind the rock, his electroreception tracking the faint electrical pulses of their nervous systems.
’They can feel it,’ he said quietly. ’They know one of their own is dead.’
The two squids drifted closer to the corpse. One of them reached out with a single arm, brushing against the dead mantle as if confirming what it already knew.
Gray watched the pair for another moment, his tentacles slowly coiling beneath him.
’Then I should take responsibility,’ he said. ’And send them to join their friend.’
Cindy’s voice sharpened immediately.
"There are two of them, Gray. You barely handled one before."
’I did handle one before,’ Gray corrected. ’And I’ve grown since then. Besides...’ He angled his body, reading the currents, tracking both squids’ positions through his electroreception. ’If the timing is right, I can kill them before they can coordinate. And with your barrier, I can control the angle.’
"My barrier?"
’You cut off one of them at the critical moment. I take the other. Then we finish the survivor together. In and out before either of them gets to use their abilities.’
Cindy let out a resigned sigh. "....You’re not going to let them go, are you?"
’No,’ Gray said. ’They came looking for their kin. That’s a mistake they don’t get to walk away from.’
He shifted his body, positioning himself above and between the two squids, where both were in range of his opening strike.
’Cindy. On my signal, cut the left one off from the right. I’ll handle the right first.’
"Understood."
Gray drew in a slow pulse, letting the water still around him.
’Three... two...’
The two Mirage Squids lifted their heads in unison, as if sensing something wrong.
’...One.’