Sharks and octopuses were normally non-aggressive creatures. Before the System, both articles of marine wildlife were, at most, neutral to humans, unless starved. Despite modern media, many oceanic connoisseurs would consider a stonefish, or even a pufferfish more dangerous than a shark. The System, however, flipped this reality on its head like a gory omelette as it weaponized a shark and octopus’ hunting efficiency into killing efficiency. At its mutated core, the sharktopus abomination was solely built for bloodshed. While it would no doubt follow that legacy, it was never personal. It felt nothing as it ground the pufferfish abomination in its teeth, and nothing as its tentacles ravaged the human male. It was the same for when it’d nearly killed the human female, but for its constant wrathful inclination in all situations. Even as she tore its flesh in retaliation, it’d felt nothing. That was until the human male reappeared.
Something about the human male was wrong. The spring green glow emanating from him was uncomfortable for its eyes, but that was immaterial next to the feel and smell of it. It smelled of death, yes, but not just a small bit. It smelled like genocide, like the extinction of entire races. It reeked of the death of billions or more, but that wasn’t all. If the abomination were capable of active thought, it would be doubtful that anything human could detect even that, let alone what else it held. The abomination, being what it was, was more closely tied to the System than most anything else in the Macrocosm. The System didn’t deem it necessary to obscure data from half-undead creatures, as they lacked the knowledge to use it, and would be unable to otherwise. Abominations only dealt in death, be it theirs or their opponents. They could peer deeper into the System’s RAM than most, but their nature rendered such an ability impotent.
The sharktopus wasn’t the first abomination Arthur had fought with the Heart of Devotion active, but it was the first boss tier abomination. While it was incapable of coherent thought, it was inherently smarter than the average abomination on account of its nature. This was why, when the light from the Heart of Devotion caressed its scales, it felt true fear for the first time in its brief life. It shivered at the gentle green’s silky touch. It only avoided urinating on the spot because it simply lacked the faculties. It wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go. Its spindled legs quivered as it animalistically considered bashing its head against the wall until either death or freedom took it. It never had the chance, however, as the two humans grew closer. Roaring with a mist of pufferfish blood spraying from its mouth, its only moment of reprieve from pain and wrath was over.
Arthur and Mira ran towards the abomination, which continued to stand still and lash its tentacles at the ground. As they got closer, the sharktopus roared a challenge, a mist of blood and spittle flying as it firmed its stance.
“If this is going to work, we need to get rid of those tentacles!” Arthur yelled over the noise. Mira was next to him in an instant.
“Put your hand out!” She said in answer, keeping pace with him. He was confused, but obliged anyway, putting his right hand out as if expecting something to be put into it.
The next thing he knew, his arm suddenly felt heavier and his hand was full. He felt something rough, wet, and ridged as he looked over. He realized what he’d felt in his hand was the bottom of Mira’s shoe, as she balanced herself on one foot in his hand. Arthur looked bewildered at the sight as Mira looked at him expectantly, crouching in preparation. He knew what she wanted him to do, and he could only make a noise of exasperation as he cocked his arm back.
Arthur had previously moved the weight tolerance properties of his strength stat into vitality. With his vitality stat being far over 200 now, Mira’s entire body weight felt no heavier than a basketball. With the same maneuver, he’d made his already potent strength even more so, giving his force application a qualitative jump and count for more overall. His strength stat was no where near Mira’s brawn, but it was enough to send her soaring over the abomination with a mighty catapult of his arm. He’d originally wanted to throw her directly at the monster, but feared the abomination simply opening its mouth to counter. As Mira sailed in the air, Arthur focused on her and used two stacks of Audacity in succession. The first was to give her a shield from Not Today, and the second was to activate the transactional effect of Exaltation.
Not Today would stay in effect as long as she didn’t get hit, granting her enhanced mana and stamina regeneration until such a time came to pass. The Audacity effect from Exaltation granted the same resource regeneration, with an additional sprinkle of skill cooldown on top. The two skills piled on each other’s effects, granting Mira a grand reservoir of vigor that would persist until she was hit. However, as soon as Not Today wrapped her in its light, she superimposed her own Lifeguard shield over it as insurance before disappearing behind the sharktopus’ forest of tentacles.
The sharktopus, for its part, never strayed its gaze from Arthur. Even after Mira’s impromptu launch, the abomination focused on him rather than attempting to catch the soaring damage dealer. Arthur was slightly confused, wondering if he’d perhaps been afraid of nothing, as the monster didn’t make the correct decision in pursuing her instead of him. He didn’t question its fixation on him for long, however, as he continued closing in.
The monster, for its credit, seemed completely over the fear that had gripped it previously. It let out an ear-piercing screech as it made a loping gallop to meet Arthur in melee. With the sharktopus now contributing to the closing gap, it was only a few seconds before they clashed again. As it went in for a chomp, a tentacle on the side stayed at the ready to slam him should he attempt to dodge. Arthur, however, didn’t attempt to dodge, not entirely at least. When they were close to each other, his fist closed and lowered to the ground, intending to counter with an uppercut.
The Heart of Devotion, when it was active, raised all of Arthur’s stats by a respectable amount. Even with that, his strength stat didn’t reach Mira’s, but it was still over 200. Along with its intensified scaling, his overall strength, while Devotion was active, was comparable to hers, albeit still weaker. The difference was that his vitality and defense stats completely dwarfed hers, and not by a small margin. As though an ant were gazing up a mountain, the active Heart of Devotion nearly added another mountain on top of it.
When Arthur attacked the sharktopus with his fist previously, the scales of the beast tore his hand with each strike. His hand had since healed from his previous outrage on account of Mira’s Life Boon, constant Cornucopias, and his own passive healing. Before, the sharktopus simply ignored his pummeling as it did little to nothing. Now, however, was no longer the case. His title pumped up his stats to staggering heights, and while his strength was only about 70 points higher, its scaling quality made it closer to 100 points higher in terms of efficiency. This was to say nothing of his vitality and defense stats, which now reached almost 400 and over 300, respectively. With such high defensive stats, the retaliatory damage would be much lower, if not gone entirely.
Volatile emotions still swirled within Arthur. His only friend had just been chewed up in front of him, with him being completely unable to stop it regardless of his efforts. It’d made him feel helpless, impotent and right where he belonged; the bottom. A sentiment he would’ve been fine with, had it not come with the death of his friend due to his powerlessness. The scene of Puffy’s bones flying with each crunch, its blood dribbling down the sharks malformed maw replayed in his mind over and again. If he wasn’t so filled with rage and sorrow, he might’ve wondered why his title didn’t activate then and only when Mira was threatened. That was nowhere near his mind at the moment, however, as his fist swung upwards with all the strength he could muster.
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When the fist connected under the abomination’s jaw, a resounding thwack echoed throughout the room. The sharktopus’ scaley skin nearly seeming to ripple with the blow, as it yelped in pain once again. Its legs were lifted slightly off of the floor from the impact, its head jerking up with it. As its spindled legs found purchase on the floor again, it stumbled with a dazed look in its partly destroyed eye. It stood and stumbled for a moment, trying to regain its footing, but Arthur gave it no such grace. As he got close for a repeat performance, the sharktopus attempted to keep him at a distance with a combination of tentacle lashes and jetstreams of steaming hot water. This resulted with Arthur turtling up, blocking everything that he could.
Arthur knew he was much more robust now, and could easily take some blows to get closer to the abomination. No matter how much he wanted to slug it again, however, he understood he was not the damage dealer. Therefore, he attempted a strategy once again that he’d tried before; inflicting Enraged on the beast. To this end, he blocked as many attacks as he could, spamming You and Me as often as it allowed, as well as Challenging Moxie.
[You and Me]: Inflicts [Enraged] when an enemy strikes your shield. Expend a stack of [Audacity] to inflict damage in retaliation.
[Challenging Moxie]: Expend a stack of [Audacity] to inflict [Enraged] on all enemies within 10 meters of you. Gain a stack of [Audacity] for every enemy inflicted with [Enraged].
He spent Audacity stacks like they were squares of tissue paper, giving the malformation a nice, deep swig of its own medicine. Retaliatory damage reverberated through its body, every other strike against his trash-can lid causing it pain. Despite having a similar ability, it didn’t understand why, but that didn’t stop it. With Arthur’s weight tolerance now bolstered by a nearly 400 total vitality, he lost barely any stamina blocking the attacks. The Enraged effect had trouble catching onto it, however, as its own boss tier stats shrugged the repeated attempts off. His spamming eventually bore fruit, as an attempted head bash sent him sliding back with the impact. The long awaited notification flashed before disappearing.
Enemy
[Sharktopus Horror]
Successfully afflicted with [Enraged]
The remains of the only eye the sharktopus had glowed red, with the opposing empty socket adopting a red light as well, shining like a firefly was in its head. It growled, as its questionable intelligence fell even further into pure instinct. The first part of Mira’s plan accomplished, and his quarry finally affected, he spent even more Audacity to activate another skill.
[Coordination]: Expend 3 stacks of [Audacity] to grant all allies within your party increased damage against enemies with the [Enraged] debuff. Expend 5 stacks of [Audacity] to grant you and your allies within your party [Coordinated Assault] if at least one enemy on the battlefield is inflicted with [Enraged].
Disregarding the secondary effect he could activate with the skill, he activated only the first, giving Mira even more damage to inflict. As soon as the sharktopus was successfully Enraged, his fierce partner was significantly more dangerous. This was immediately demonstrated by the continuous gouts of blood and missing tentacles from behind, as the abomination continued attacking Arthur. It no longer showed hesitation or prudence of any kind, as it lashed, bit and shot pressurized water at him. It was now fighting for its life, its animalistic fervor a clear cut from its previous cautiousness.
As if the scripts had been flipped between the two beings, Arthur now became calm and non-aggressive. With the monster finally Enraged, he could dedicate himself completely to defense. Mira was currently boosted by four aspects of enhanced damage, on account of the Enraged combination he’d employed since the beginning. That same combination now welcomed another member to its family with the Coordination skill, stacking the mordant efficiency of Enraged like a layered cake. Such was a confectionery that Mira thoroughly enjoyed, as her Lightblades and Barrages bit deeper than ever before.
Finally, the battle reached a fever pitch. Arthur had felt like fewer tentacles had been attacking him, to a point where it was almost none. Making a final desperate attempt, the sharktopus bit towards him with speed unlike any before. Surprised, Arthur grabbed its snout and the bottom of its maw in an attempt to stop it. He kept the shark’s mouth open while one or two tentacles lashed at him, unable to do anything but take the blows. After all the attacks, all the time under Mira’s empowered Life Bane, and the retaliatory damage from Arthur’s You and Me skill, it was on its last legs. It would use those last legs to impale its attackers, as it attempted to take him down with it. It would kill him the same way it killed Puffy, then expire itself and be free of its eternal torment.
As Arthur held the sharktopus’ gaping jaws at bay, he looked up to see Mira jumping on top of the shark’s head. She was covered in even more blood than before, but it was clear it wasn’t her own, as his shield still encased her. Lifting her harpoon up high, she plunged it deep into the abomination’s skull, causing it to let out a screeching roar. It started thrashing to throw her off, Arthur flapping about like a flag on a pole as he kept his grip on the monster. Mira joined its cacophonous wails with a roaring bellow of her own, pushing the spear deeper in and twisting it about. The thrashing got worse, and the sharktopus became more desperate as it charged towards a wall with Arthur in tow. With a thunderous crash, it slammed its head and Arthur’s back against the wall of the boss room. He held all the abominations’ strength at bay, his teeth clenching hard enough to break, had his defense not been so high. The abomination pushed endlessly, releasing a guttural roar that smelled worse than corpses and rotten eggs into Arthur’s face. His arms were on fire, the contest of strength quickly tiring him as he pushed back against certain death.
One would think that his bloated weight tolerance would be in effect, but that wasn’t entirely the case. Arthur was not only lifting or withstanding a blow on his shield, he was pushing back. He had to, as if he didn’t, the abomination would swiftly devour him. The situation he currently found himself in, while partly accounting for weight tolerance, mostly fell under force application. This meant that he was pitting his strength stat against a boss tier monster’s, the strength stat of a level 27 versus a level 40. While Arthur didn’t have the mental capacity currently to take that into account, he did have just enough to hear Mira’s shout.
“NOW ARTHUR, DO IT NOW!” she shrieked, holding onto her harpoon lodged in the skull of the abomination. It had surely struck its brain and had done disastrous damage. If Arthur could finish the plan and get it on its back to push the harpoon in entirely, it would likely finish it off.
Arthur didn’t think about any of that. He heard Mira’s voice, and that was enough. The lustrous gleam of his viridian eyes intensified as the glow around his body radiated anew. He grunted a savage growl behind his teeth and activated a skill.
[Intricacies of Engagement]: Changes bonuses gained from [Audacity] stacks to a small bonus to STR, DEX and damage. You deal greater damage to enemies with the [Enraged] debuff. Gain a stack of [Audacity] whenever you defeat an enemy. Gain enhanced experience whenever you defeat an enemy. Expend a stack of [Audacity] to grant yourself increased stamina and mana regeneration, as well as offensive skill cooldown. No cooldown.
This was the first time he’d activated this skill since receiving it, and he felt the enhanced strength and damage dealing capabilities. It would not be as great as Mira’s but it would be enough. He activated it in its entirety, granting himself greater stamina regeneration as well. Both mana regeneration and skill cooldown were useless to him at the moment, as he began to push once again. He got under the shark’s jaw and pushed up, finally feeling himself gain ground. He shoved back with all his might, even slugging the bottom of the sharktopus’ jaw occasionally for the extra damage and pushback. After all of that, and with a roar of his own, he made for a final push. The sharktopus toppled over entirely, and with his victory, he reactivated Exaltation to grant Mira the damage boost once again. She dove off of the sharktopus, landing with a sloppy side roll as the abomination slammed fully onto its back, pushing the harpoon not only in, but all the way through. The point of the harpoon pierced through the other side of the sharktopus, causing it to flail violently with sharp gurgling screeches.
The Enraged combination was still in full effect. The harpoon’s edge was still shining with Lightblade, and they had just made a critical strike to its most vulnerable point. The result was, after a long moment of severe thrashing and flopping about, the shark head of the sharktopus exploded, showering the two humans with gore and viscera.
Congratulations!
You have slain
[Sharktopus Horror]
This marks the end of the current instance
Calcuating rewards…
Congratulations!
You are the first to clear this dungeon
Rewards will be adjusted according to your accomplishment
Adjusting rewards…
Rewards successfully acclimatized!
Level Up x5
You’ve reached level [32]
Your stats will be allocated appropriately for your class
You have [8] levels until you are allowed to allocate your free points
You have [72] free points