Disgusting

Shu's hand seemed to wield an invisible longsword, unseen and intangible, yet capable of slicing through anything he desired.

The tentacle wrapped around his ankle was severed instantly. But Shu groaned, stumbling, barely regaining his balance.

After his initial miscalculation, he'd activated a thought-acceleration buff the moment he entered the blood rain.

Everything slowed to a crawl. He could now react to the tentacles, even number them.

At least a thousand…

This was a true tentacle monster!

Unlike what Ethics had reported, Shu didn't sense any significant defense from the [Champion]. Cutting these tentacles was easier than cutting through zombies.

Was the defense concentrated in the main body?

But where was the main body? Everywhere beneath his feet? Or was he inside it?

Clutching his arm, he ran and thought.

The phantom pain subsided slightly, but a particularly sharp pain lingered on his left arm—feedback from severing the ankle-binding tentacle.

He glanced back at the pursuing tentacles, a dense, dark net closing in.

Thousands of tentacles could seal off every escape route. He had to cut them.

He slashed at the tentacles blocking his path, opening a gap and darting through, his face paling further.

The biggest problem wasn't finding the main body; it was this damned shared sensation!

He'd tried to shut it off from the very first instance of phantom pain, but he couldn't. It bypassed his pain suppression entirely.

What kind of idiot designed this cursed ability?!

He cursed his uncontrollable power, gritting his teeth and focusing on finding a solution.

Thousands… that many couldn't attack simultaneously. And he wasn't running in a straight line. So why weren't they tangled?

After a series of seemingly desperate dodges, punctuated by sonic booms, he finally saw where the tentacles originated.

They only emerged from one specific area. Their roots never moved!

But they were incredibly long, long enough to reach him anywhere on this level.

That must be it!

That area was likely the main body!

Or, at the very least, he could eliminate the source of the attacks.

Accelerating, he burst through the encirclement, gripping his invisible blade, and charged towards the "root" of the tentacles.

Better a quick, sharp pain than slow torture. He could endure the feedback from a single, decisive blow.

Channeling more [hope], the outline of his sword became faintly visible.

Golden. Intricately patterned. The unnamed Xuanyuan Sword wielded by Li Sushang.

He swung. The nearest tentacle was meters away, yet, in that instant, half the tentacles before him were severed.

Intense phantom pain surged through him, his body buckling, slamming him onto the fungal mat. He rolled a long distance.

The sensation was like being flayed alive. His face was ashen, soaked in cold sweat.

For a moment, his limbs felt disconnected. He couldn't get up, falling short of severing all the tentacles.

Pain… agonizing pain…

But what shocked him more was the state of the tentacles before him.

Some were only partially severed.

He hadn't cut through them all.

That wasn't the plan. He'd expected to be in worse shape, but he'd also expected to sever all the tentacles.

He'd have had time to recover before the next wave of attacks, time to confront the [Champion]'s true body…

But something had gone wrong. His initial slashes had been…

Shu's pupils contracted.

The feel of each cut had been different. The first, effortless slash had severed a hundred tentacles. The second, cutting the ankle-binding tentacle, had met slight resistance, a fraction of a second.

The third had felt like cutting through wheat…

He remembered Ethics's report.

[C-4 Housing: mutant developed gills within 30 minutes of submersion. B-12 Housing: mutant grew wings after two falls, gaining gliding ability. C-9 Housing: mutant developed cut-resistant skin…]

Cut-resistant!!

The tentacles had adapted to being cut in three strikes?!

He hadn't severed them all. A large cluster remained behind him, but even more tentacles had bound his limbs, lifting him from the ground.

And then, the ground trembled. The entire eleventh level quaked as a massive, grotesque arm erupted from the fungal mat.

The [Champion], hidden beneath the fungus, finally revealed itself.

It was a colossal, humanoid figure, as large as the Wotan, but twisted and deformed, like a monstrous, patchwork doll.

Its head was its body. Arms sprouted from where its ears should have been. A gaping maw opened, revealing teeth of fused flesh and bone. The fleshy pillars were its teeth.

Hundreds of clouded, distorted eyes were crammed into a few sockets, all focused on Shu.

Utterly disgusting…

He looked at the tentacles binding him, connected to the spaces between those grotesque eyes. It looked like countless parasites clinging to the eyeballs.

Shu closed his eyes, his lips pressed tightly together, silent.

The tentacles tightened, drawing him towards that abyssal maw.

…

"Disgusting…"