Seeing the scene unfold, Miria paused in astonishment, canceling her heavy artillery's firing sequence.
"Master is so strong!" she thought, her mechanical eyes gleaming with admiration.
From her perspective, Zach had casually waved his hand, yet the massive octopus leg plummeted toward the artificial continent below.
The severed limb, with its enormous size and weight, seemed destined to wreak havoc on the man-made landmass. However, reality took an unexpected turn.
As the colossal tentacle fell, it was immediately engulfed by patches of red, resembling a pixelated mosaic. The fragments disappeared almost as quickly as they formed, erasing the severed limb from existence.
Simultaneously, the octopus regenerated with astonishing speed. Red mosaic-like patterns shimmered along the wound as its massive tentacle reformed, restoring itself to its original state in mere moments. The appendage never even reached the ground.
Zach observed in silence, marveling at the octopus's absurd regenerative ability. Though he knew that normal octopuses could regenerate limbs, the speed and scale of this monster's healing were far beyond his expectations.
"It seems to kill this thing, I'll have to go to the source—down in the deep sea," Zach muttered. "No wonder it's been hiding there all this time."
Before he could act, the creature launched a counterattack.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Massive tentacles erupted from beneath the waves, flailing in every direction as they aimed to entrap Zach. The limbs surrounded him like the bars of a cage, coiling and bending backward in preparation to strike.
Zach calmly raised one arm, a blade materializing in his hand. Testing his theory, he swung the weapon in a wide arc, spinning in place.
A cold gust of air burst outward, clinging to the sabre's edge. The chill mixed with the sharp energy of the blade, slicing cleanly through all eight tentacles.
The severed limbs froze mid-fall, their ends encased in thick ice. Though Zach's attack temporarily hindered the monster's regenerative ability, it couldn't fully prevent it. The frozen stumps began healing, albeit more slowly.
"Fighting underwater—or worse, in the deep sea—isn't my strength," Zach admitted. "I need to find a way to force it to the surface."
With that thought, Zach poured all his unused system attributes into his stats at once.
Strength attribute +13,451!
Speed attribute +8,900!
Defense attribute +5,786!
And more...
Now bolstered by tens of thousands of points in raw power, Zach descended toward the creature, selecting one of its writhing tentacles. Wrapping his arms around the appendage, he unleashed his full strength.
"Roar!" A guttural cry reverberated from beneath the waves as Zach pulled.
To his surprise, the tentacle offered little resistance. With a final heave, the monstrous form of the deep-sea behemoth surfaced—a mountain of flesh and shadow.
Zach swung the creature through the air, spinning it before slamming it onto the artificial pier with earth-shaking force.
Containers scattered like matchsticks, crashing and tumbling noisily. Under the pressure of the impact, the pier sank halfway into the sea before floating back up, sending waves rolling in every direction. Despite the catastrophic damage, the pier's sturdy construction held, proving its remarkable quality.
The behemoth, stunned by the blow, lay motionless for a moment.
"It's not dead," Zach noted, scanning for a system notification that never came.
The creature's appearance became clearer. It resembled a colossal octopus, but its skin was rough and uneven, like asphalt. Its gray, mottled texture gave it a sinister, alien quality.
If a fisherman ever encountered this monstrosity, it would spell disaster on an epic scale. A single tentacle could obliterate an entire fleet of ships.
Zach wasn't done. Retrieving another cluster bomb from his system backpack, he ascended to a higher vantage point.
Clutching the bomb tightly, he activated its payload. The mother bomb shattered into sub-bombs, dispersing explosively across the creature's massive body.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The synchronized detonations tore into the octopus's flesh, reducing parts of it to bloody fragments. Yet, within seconds, the red mosaic patterns shimmered once more, and the wounds began to close.
Despair? Hardly.
Zach's lips curled into a smirk as he thought about acquiring such a powerful regenerative skill himself. "Even if I lose an arm—or get turned into minced meat—I'll heal completely. Imagine how helpless my enemies will feel."
The octopus, now visibly enraged, prepared its next move. Several tentacles anchored themselves to the pier, lifting its massive body as it flipped over.
Its enormous mouth—a nightmarish chasm resembling a black hole—yawned open, revealing rows of circular, jagged teeth. Each tooth was unique: some long and pointed, others hooked, thick, or spiraling in different directions.
The abyssal maw aimed directly at Zach, unleashing an intense suction force stronger than any natural whirlpool.
"Ah, so you like to eat, do you?" Zach muttered, his hands igniting with flames.
In an instant, he conjured a fireball ten times larger than before, its size nearly matching the monster's gaping mouth.
As the creature tried to retreat, it was already too late.
Zach hurled the massive fireball with both hands, slamming it into the octopus's mouth with incredible force.
Rumble!
The fireball exploded, sending waves of scalding heat across the ocean's surface. Steam rose in dense clouds, shrouding the battlefield in thick white mist.
The creature thrashed violently, its agonized roars echoing through the fog.
But Zach wasn't finished. Compressing the surrounding air, he directed an intense thrust into the fireball, ensuring it stayed lodged deep inside the octopus's maw.
"Eat this," he growled, ready to finish the fight.