'Ted's dead? What a useless old man. Shit! Shit! Shit! Now what am I supposed to do with my ridiculous useless traits? The only way left is for me to hide well.'
Ian could feel the vibrations of the Apex's every movement above, his heavy footsteps sounding like death tolls to him.
[System, display a selection of weapons I can use]
[Ding! Here are the weapon options that can be used... Zero! Players can choose or purchase various gifts after getting rewards...]
'What a terrible fate I have.'
[... or by completing an additional mission - quest; in the game]
'Huh? What was that? Completing an extra mission?'
[What missions are there in this game and what are the rewards?]
[Ding! There are three missions in this apatite-level game, namely]
An image appeared showing a treasure chest guarded by a chimera shaped like a combination of a mermaid fin and an octopus head carrying a trident.
[First mission; Steal the treasure in the chest of King Gorpódis; the treasure obtained can be used to buy the gift the host wants]
The screen then shows a woman trapped in an iron capsule at the bottom of the deep sea, with a look of panic on her face like someone running out of air.
[Second mission; Rescue the trapped girl by exchanging 80% of your remaining energy level; the reward is a potion to transform]
The last image showed the wall of a deep trench, in the center of which appeared a narrow and dark cave mouth, there did not appear to be any guards in front of it, but Ian knew there was no way this was an easy quest.
[The third mission; Escape by passing through a very complicated submarine fault maze, if the player can pass through before the game time runs out then the player is declared successful and out of the game, but if the player is trapped after the game time runs out, then the player returns to his original form and will not be able to exit the game forever]
Gulp!
Sure enough, the risk was just as great.
Ian imagined his body back in human form trapped in that narrow passage, forever and ever. Just thinking about that made Ian shudder with horror.
Considering the three quests delivered by the system, Ian thought hard. Which one should he choose? To face the Apex in its current form was tantamount to suicide.
Outside the game, Bartwin and a few of his men acting as operators stared at the large screen that displayed the game in its entirety. Several other monitors displayed active screens of people wearing masks and anonymous usernames betting on the game.
In real life, those people had big names and were well-known figures in a good society. This is how they seek solace, as mainstream entertainment no longer satisfies their lust.
Bartwin typed on the discussion screen ["Gentleman, please bet what choice our number 1 player will take, I also prepared a choice whether our player would prefer to directly face the Apex predator. Given the trait he chose, it seems our player is just lucky to have gotten this far.
Well, though I'm glad you all did, because a lot of your early predictions were wrong, assuming he would be the first to go down so I could make a big profit as the bookie. I have to give him credit for that one. Alright gentleman, my selections are open"].
Only the active notification sound displayed their choices, and everyone guessed Ian would choose Quest number 3, Bartwin smiled.
["Woah-woah, is it because of his squid traits that can pass through narrow passages? Okay-okay, very interesting. But remember, our player this time don't seem to be predictable. Can I lock in all of the gentlemen's choices?"]
One of the participants with the username "Magenta" suddenly changed his choice.
["Okay, on the count of three, if no one else changes their choice then I will lock the choice, please enter your bet amount now. 1... 2... 3, okay we wait together what Quest he will choose."]
The screen then displayed the Quest chosen by Ian. There were screams of disappointment from the participants whose choices were missed. Their digital money moved to an account with the username "Magenta", Bartwin watched the game with real excitement.
This is the first time their game has become interesting, several anonymous accounts that were previously inactive now seem to ask permission to join the bet. These were his previous customers from before, but because they found the game less interesting and predictable, they quickly lost interest.
Bartwin had spent a lot of money on these machines in the past. He almost closed down this branch of his game, and now Ian Worth has managed to bring it back to life.
Magenta's account relayed the message ["Thanks for your money, I'll put it to good use, hahaha"]
["Damn it! You're just lucky!"]
["Shut up! Give me my money back!"]
["Shush! Shut up already, you can get the money back easily, I heard that the public hospital construction project cost more than it should..."]
["Hahaha, I know who formulated it"]
["And I know who won the bid!"]
The participants' discussion column was lively as Ian Worth, Bartwin tapped his stick merrily. This is how the game is! Long live you Ian Worth to maintain the fun atmosphere of the game!
Meanwhile, in the game of life and death, Ian swam quickly to the bottom camouflaged among the seaweed and coral reefs to avoid being detected by the Apex.
Unfortunately, he was about to change places when he was slapped by the underwater current, causing his body to be lifted up.
… It's bad... It's bad!!! His body was exposed!
The Apex plunged straight into the water to hunt him down!
Already exposed, he used his remaining time to swim quickly to the bottom to the capsule! He used his flattened body to fight against the underwater pressure and continued to the bottom without a hitch.
Luckily in terms of swimming, the squid had a 2:1 advantage over the combined of that Platypus-Wolf-Eagle Apex.
The Apex was 1 foot behind when Ian touched the glass tube and exchanged his 80% level of energy level which was only 90% left.
[Ding! Congratulations! Your energy level exchange was successful!]
[Ding! Congratulations! You obtained the transformation potion!]
[Ding! Your remaining energy level is... 10%]
[Ding! Perform immediate recovery so that your life span can be extended]
[Ding! The remaining time is... 10 minutes]
Ian ignored the system's warning and immediately drank the potion. His cumulous body suddenly enlarged 130 times! Now he turned into a Giant Squid (Architeuthis dux) with a gigantic body size of 13-meters in size.
Now in front of him, the Apex looked like a small obstacle, the "suckers" on his long-giant tentacles trapping the Apex's body.
The discussion board on Bartwin's screen was getting more and more lively and exciting. Incoming message notifications sounded like a barrage of bullets. Many were amazed at Ian's way of thinking. They did not expect Ian to be able to turn the game around in such a critical situation.
Bartwin brought up the choice of betting, Ian died or lived, winning for surviving to the end or for being able to kill the Apex. His mouth whistled happily. This was his most memorable game in his history of managing gambling.
Where there were originally many doubters of Ian, now the vote had split into two equal camps. There were still those who felt that the Apex had superior traits, as Ian's squid lacked of lethal abilities.
The Apex trapped by Ian's sticky sucker was writhing around trying to break free. Its Wolf snout bit Ian's tentacles off, then its Eagle spurs tore through all parts of Ian's body, every time Ian's tentacles were about to get close then just as quickly the Apex's spurs and snout cut them off.
Ian's giant body was not as agile as when he was still normal-sized. Parts of his tentacles were exhausted and scattered everywhere.
[Ding! Time remaining... 3 minutes!]
Silence fell, the suspense of waiting to see if the game would stop immediately? Ian seemed to be motionless, and the Apex came swiftly towards Ian's mantle!
Hundreds of chat discussion threads were chanting the same thing, "Die!"
The Apex's spurs were about to slice through Ian's giant mantle, but suddenly Ian's giant tentacles blocked its movement and quickly wrapped around the Apex again.
People were confused as to what was happening, even though they knew that Ian's tentacles had been dismembered earlier.
What they didn't know was that squid tentacles can regenerate, and the regeneration ability of this giant species of squid was extremely fast!
["Hohoho, how unexpected! Bartwin! Where did you find this player?! Don't you let him get away! If he's still alive of course..."]
["What a thrilled-game Bartwin! Totally unexpected. I really like this game!"]
["Why didn't you pick a good player in the first place, Bartwin..."]
Bartwin replies ["If player 1 can survive tonight, I will force him to keep playing gentlemen, just prepare a lot of money to bet..."]
["Hahaha, if you keep him playing, I'm not afraid to throw money at it, Bartwin"]
Ian, now facing the Apex calmly, just kept the Apex busy with its tentacles while he waited for the game to end. Every time the Apex managed to dismember its tentacles, it would quickly grow back.
[Your remaining energy level is... 2%]
Oh shit! He forgot to consider that! Now its regeneration ability was weakening. Its tentacles were gone. The Apex plunged its sharp Eagle spurs right into his exposed mantle!
If the mantle was damaged, then that was it.
[Ding Dong Ding Dong]
[The game is over!]
[Congratulations! The player who emerged victorious is]
[Ian Worth]
[Congratulations! A reward of £1,000,000 has been deposited into the player's bank account]
[Congratulations! Your energy level has been restored to... 100%!]
Ian's consciousness was sucked in just as the Apex's spurs sliced past his eyes.