The giant octopus that was also Karn attacked aggressively, extending out its giant tentacles in several different directions, going towards Jack in pretty much every direction.
As for Jack, out of an extremely compelling urge to do so, swung the mace with all his power. Even when just moving through the air, screeching sounds rang out.
Several bangs resounded in succession. When the club did smash against the tentacles, it burst straight through it, not impeded in the slightest. And with just a single swing, all of Karn's tentacles were reduced to a mess of gray blood and flesh.
He let out a painful scream, wiggling around the stubs that were left. However, it seemed like it wasn't just Jack that had a degree of regenerative power as bubbles formed around the stubs and began restoring themselves.
Jack didn't seem too concerned though, and let out a deep, yet childish laugh.
"Wow! Is this the kind of fun that Clubby has? It makes me so happy! Oh, I think there was also something like this..."
After a bit of thought, he lifted up his free hand. For a moment, nothing happened. Then out of nowhere, a black lightning bolt appeared. It shot out about an inch in every direction, as a translucent black barrier formed around it.
"Um, I think it was like this?"
Karn was in a muddled state of mind, but even so, the moment he laid eyes on the strange black charge, he instinctively felt a sense of fear and desperately attempted to get away. Unfortunately, his tentacles had not regrown to such a capability that he could walk. As such, he could watch as Jack let out a deep hum and threw it in his direction.
The black charge began glowing and remained in the air for just a second.
Then, an ear-shattering explosion shook the entire cave.
A massive black lightning bolt conjured, slamming into Karn, leaving nothing but a trail of destruction where it went. That wasn't enough, as it continued on further into the darkness, slamming into stalagmites one after another.
If there was anybody caught along the path, they could only blame their horribly bad luck for being struck.
Jack gave one last glance in Karn's direction before trying to scratch his head, but just hitting his arm against the roof.
"Um... I guess that's it. He was really nice to leave when I said to stop soon, but he left a little quick..."
His form rapidly shrank, while the club in his hand turned back into a sculpture. The only difference being the feet of the sculpture were now a dull and dirty gray, instead of the lustrous black that it had once been.
Jack let out a small gasp seeing this.
"Oh no! The statue got dirty... Aw."
He attempted to clean it, thinking that he could rub it a little bit. Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple. In the end, he just gave up and turned to take a look at Seedy, who was still in the process of consuming the entirety of the leech.
"Seedy! What's happening to you?"
Both of the flowers let out excited growls, while the giant leech's body was gradually replaced with green vines. Jack tilted his head to the side, rather confused as to what was happening, but gave a thumbs up anyway.
"Ah, it looks like you two had lots of fun! Anyway, we should go back now."
Seedy nodded a few times before the flower heads retracted within, rapidly chewing and eating up what was left. His vines sprawled out after he finished, proving to be considerably bigger than what he was before, nearly twice as big. As for the two heads, they looked at each other curiously, one tilting its petals to the side, while the other panted with a tongue out the side.
While being part of the same body, they had separate minds.
Jack flipped open his storage deck and put Seedy inside. He then looked at the katanas at his feet with a finger on his chin.
"Hmm."
He ended up taking three of them. There was also gray blood on his body that began to harden, making him uncomfortable. He took out a bandage that he got a while ago and cleaned himself off with it before tossing the thing aside.
Jack tried to go back to the initial camp as silently as possible, trying not to wake up either Jessica or Mia. However, that was a needless concern as both Jessica and Mia were already wide awake.
The moment they saw him, they panicked and ushered him over with fervent whispers.
"Jack! What are you doing over there? Come here quickly!"
"Are you insane? There's something out there practically causing an earthquake and you're just wandering around like that?"
Jack pouted slightly while looking down.
"Seedy was having some fun, so I joined in. I even found all these things as well! There's one for each of us."
He raised up the three katanas with a smile.
Mia's eyes widened slightly as she leaned in to get a closer look.
"Woah, these cost three 5's in the shop, don't they?"
Jessica crossed her arms, still not satisfied.
"It's not something that you should go out of your way to risk your life for!"
Jack looked down at the ground with shame.
"S-Sorry. I didn't know."
Jessica let out a sigh, unable to stay mad at him for much longer.
"Well, at least this time the result was good. Thank you for getting us weapons."
Jack nodded with a smile. He put two of them on the floor, while he wielded one, swinging it around in the air for some fun. Mia picked it up and used her lantern to take a better look at it.
"Oh my god..."
She gently put a finger against the blade, before raising it up to her face, showing dark and fresh blood.
"There's so much blood on these, and it's even still warm. How the hell did you get these?"
Jack shrugged his shoulders.
"They were on the floor, so I picked it up."
A bitter smile formed on Mia's face.
"I see..."
Jessica placed her hand against the flat part of the blade, slowly moving it across, smearing the blood over the palm of her hands. Her eyes were glazed over slightly, almost like she was in a trance.
Mia blinked a few times as she watched that.
"A-Are you alright?"
Jessica gave a small nod.
"Of course. I'm just... a little intrigued."
Mia opened her mouth and closed it, deciding not to question any further. She shook her head and closed her eyes, trying to listen in for any sounds.
"It sounds like whatever was happening calmed down. Things might not be safe here, so we should probably move."
Jessica let out a hum before yawning.
"But we haven't had a real rest yet. And if the action is over, then it probably means that things are safer now. Even if we were to move further, there's no guarantee that we are actually going further."
Although she was using logic, she was mostly making that point just because she wanted to get a little bit more shut-eye. As for Jack, he let out a soft hum.
"I don't really want to go to sleep. I'm having so much fun all the time!"
He then let out a yawn, stretching his arms up into the air.
"But for some reason, I feel really tired..."
Mia looked between the two of them before letting out a small sigh.
"I guess it wouldn't be bad to rest for a little while longer. Having this lantern on does make us a much more noticeable target, all things considered. And if you are having fun, it's not like it will go away just because you sleep. There will be plenty of it for later."
Jessica gave a mumbled agreement before going back into the tent and going to sleep.
Jack also took out Seedy. One of the heads was letting out snores, while the other was looking around excitedly.
"It's time to rest, Seedy."
The one head that was awake rapidly nodded before vines scooped up and cradled Jack, covering him up with vines. Mia furrowed her brows, noticing the increased size and extra head.
"I-It looks like your pet has grown... C-Can you still control it properly?"
Jack let out a giggle.
"What do you mean? Seedy is a little bigger, but he's still the same Seedy he always was."
As though agreeing, the awake head nodded enthusiastically while his tongue was sticking out the side. If you could ignore the strangeness, then it would be quite adorable. Mia scratched her cheek lightly before smiling.
"I suppose so. Worrying was probably unnecessary."
She then went into the tent and went to sleep with Jessica. Jack looked up and reached out with his hand. Seedy lowered his head into his hand and gently rubbed against it. Jack let out a soft humming sound before he fell asleep himself.
"Goodnight, Seedy."
He then had a dream.