Chapter Eight: The Great Battle Against Mr. X

If he had been thinking clearly, Ember should have turned back at once and waited until the reinforced, charge-charged telescopic baton finished evolving into an anomalous piece of equipment before coming to investigate. At the very least, he ought to have first gotten the candy from the equipment artisan to prevent any mishap. But now that the ship’s bottom was only a few steps away, Ember simply could not force his legs to retreat.

“Since I am already here, it would be a real shame not to take a look. Besides, I have a protective skill; if things look bad, I can just make a run for it.”

Once he had made up his mind, Ember went down. After only a few steps, he had set foot at the bottom of the ship. The darkness here was far thicker than before; if not for Ember’s perception having reached two points, visibility would probably have been less than five meters. He groped forward along the wall, and before long he discovered a locked access door. With the clearance granted by the guidance form, it could not be opened at all, and that immediately reminded Ember of the golden key he had seen earlier.

“There really is something fishy about this.”

A glint flashed in his eyes as Ember pressed on. After a few more steps, he made an unexpected discovery.

The “Captain Jones” who had happily left after eating the candy was still hiding within the darkness. By the time Ember arrived, it was lying on the ground, fast asleep. If that were all, there would indeed be nothing surprising about it. The problem was that while “Captain Jones” slept, its body was rapidly changing. The tentacles clustered around its jaw, which resembled a beard, gradually withered and disappeared, revealing a bare chin; its burly frame also thinned out until it was little more than a stick.

After the transformation, the face was still that of an octopus, but the nose, huge and club-like and hanging low, stood out especially starkly. Gray-green skin, a bald head, and three deep furrows across the forehead gave it a thoroughly aged appearance. Its legs had also become four tentacles, writhing and flipping over one another with the movements of its body.

“So that is how it works!”

Having witnessed the transformation of “Captain Jones,” Ember realized that the little fellow must change once for every candy it ate. In other words, neither the Kraken nor Captain Jones was its true identity, and both its first appearance and its current form were probably not its normal state.

Looking at the sleeping bald octopus, Ember tried activating his Insight Eye and successfully brought up the information panel.

...

Name: Squidward
Boss-class anomalous spawn / asleep / ???

Health: 150/150

Attack Level: Average (20)

Defense Level: Average (15)

Attack Speed: Normal

Alert Range: Far

Skills: Tentacle Lunge, Tentacle Bind, Octopus Noise

Description: A creature of the deep sea, fond of music, with a yellow neighbor and a pink neighbor.

[Hint: Defeat “Squidward” and hand it over to the captain to obtain a qualification seal.]

[Hint: “Candy” can weaken “Squidward”’s strength.]

...

“A boss-class boss?”

Ember looked a little surprised. He had not expected this assessment to include a being above the ordinary elite tier. However, this boss-class creature’s attributes and skills were nowhere near as outrageous as those in the Life Forbidden Zone. Besides, Ember was no longer the same as he had been before, so he felt no fear at all in the face of this challenge.

He planned the allocation of his remaining points according to Squidward’s combat characteristics.

[Hint: You used one major attribute point, raising Strength Level to seven.] (0 remaining)

[Hint: You used one core attribute point, raising Vitality Level to five.]

[Hint: You used four core attribute points, raising Willpower Level to eight.] (0 remaining)

“I want candy...”

While Ember was carefully assigning his points, the little fellow in slumber—or rather, Squidward now—began to call for candy again. Even in its sleep, it had not forgotten that exquisite flavor.

Its mouth opened and closed as if savoring it in a dream, but the hollow emptiness of its mouth made it start searching for food unconsciously. It grabbed the captain’s hat that had fallen to the floor and stuffed it into its mouth. There was no sign of chewing, yet the broad-brimmed hat vanished all the same. In no time at all, most of the clothes Captain Jones had left behind were devoured clean.

Only when its tentacles reached toward the key hanging around its neck did Ember realize that he had to act.

Charge!

Lowering his shoulder, twisting his waist, and stepping forward in a violent burst, Ember without the slightest hesitation unleashed the movement skill he had just acquired against the sleeping Squidward.

The effect of doubled movement speed granted Ember unmatched mobility. Before Squidward’s tentacles had even touched the key, Ember had already slammed straight into it and sent it flying!

[Hint: You used “Charge” against “Squidward,” dealing fifteen direct damage.] (8 points of Strength equal 30 damage)

[Hint: Determination in progress... determination successful! The target’s Strength Level is six, no higher than your Strength Level +1. The “Battering Ram” effect triggers. During the collision, the target will suffer secondary damage upon striking any object.]

[Hint: “Squidward” suffers seventeen points of collision damage!]

Because the Charge skill carried an internal combo effect, the secondary damage was slightly higher. For those who specialized in Strength, this skill was not only a means of improving mobility but also a rare offensive technique.

That single ferocious impact took away a fifth of Squidward’s health. Slammed against the wall and jolted awake, it utterly forgot about swallowing the key and immediately launched a furious counterattack. Of its six tentacles, only two remained to support its body; the other four transformed into blades and stabbed out in an instant, forming a rectangular assault that pointed directly at Ember’s shoulders and legs, sealing off every path of evasion.

Tentacle Lunge!

Having been robbed of its sweet dream, Squidward aimed all its fury at Ember, and thus unleashed its strongest opening assault. Not only did this skill possess formidable destructive power, it also carried a poison effect that could inflict a normal-grade poisoned state on targets with less than five points of Vitality. The reason Ember had raised his Vitality Level was precisely to deal with poison. Yet at this moment, he chose not to tank the damage head-on. Instead, he activated the effect of the Sun Emblem.

[Hint: You activated the equipment effect of the Sun Emblem: Solar Golden Body. For the next two seconds, you are immune to all damage, but you are also unable to take any action.]

Clang!

It was as if a smith’s hammer had struck Ember and instantly turned him to gold. Squidward’s four tentacles were all bounced away, and the lunge was effortlessly neutralized. Seeing that the attack had failed, Squidward flew into a rage. Two more tentacles shot out, unleashing the control skill Tentacle Bind in an attempt to wrap around Ember once his golden body faded, briefly robbing him of combat ability.

[Hint: “Squidward” has used “Tentacle Bind” on you. You need a Strength Level of six to break free!]

[Hint: Determination in progress... determination successful! Your Strength Level has reached six. You have broken free of Tentacle Bind.]

[Hint: Squidward’s tentacles carry poison; if your Vitality Level is below five, you will suffer normal-grade Poison damage.]

[Hint: Determination in progress... determination successful! Your Vitality Level has reached five. You are immune to Poison damage.]

Through his Insight Eye, Ember had long since mastered every detail about Squidward. Thus, relying solely on his own attributes, he completely ignored the control effects. In an instant, offense and defense reversed. Brilliant golden light flared around Ember’s body, but this time he was no longer using Solar Golden Body. Instead, he had activated Solar Radiance, a skill that strengthened both offense and defense while also granting immunity to control.

[Hint: You activated the equipment effect of the Sun Emblem: Solar Radiance. For the next three seconds, you will enter an indomitable state. Your attacks cannot be interrupted, and both damage and defense increase by fifty percent.] (Equipment effect, counted as equipment bonus.)

In his indomitable state, Ember was wrapped in a pale halo of light. No matter how Squidward’s tentacles struggled, they could not stop the reinforced, charge-charged telescopic baton, after its power had built to full, from smashing down on its head.

[Hint: You activated the weapon “Reinforced Charge-Charged Telescopic Baton” special enhancement effect “Energy Infusion,” increasing the attack tier of your next three strikes by one.] (45-56)

[Hint: You activated the active skill “Staff Technique: Headshot,” reducing the target’s head defense by one level.] (15/2.5 = 6)

[Hint: You dealt forty-nine points of damage to “Squidward.”]

[Hint: Squidward’s Agility Level is below five; it cannot ignore the “Sluggish” status of normal grade. For the next five seconds, both attack speed and movement speed are reduced by twenty-five percent.]

[Hint: Squidward’s Agility Level is below three; it cannot ignore the “Paralysis” status of weak grade. For the next three seconds, there is a chance its actions will be interrupted.]

Ember, having entered the indomitable state and awakened the weapon’s stored charge, saw his combat ability soar to its own limit. Not only were his damage numbers astonishing, he could also ignore any interference. Under indomitable state, nothing could quench his obsession and drive to land headshots. If the telescopic baton were replaced with a brick, then Ember, with nothing in his eyes but the head, would surely earn the title of “The Iron-Blooded Headshot Maniac of the Streets.”

After two blows, Squidward had nearly lost its life. Seeing the fatal attack rushing down upon it, it could only open its mouth and attempt to use another control skill, Octopus Noise, to preserve its life. Yet indomitable state ignored control, and could not slow Ember’s movements in the slightest. Besides, even without indomitable state, with his Willpower having reached eight points, he could completely disregard the effects of sound.

[Hint: You dealt forty points of damage, killing the boss-class anomalous spawn “Squidward” and obtaining a large amount of contribution points!]

[Hint: “Squidward” has regressed into a “Little Onion Squid” and has fallen into a ten-minute coma. Hand it back to the captain to obtain a qualification seal.]

[Hint: Obtaining the captain’s qualification seal will immediately end this assessment.]

[Hint: You obtained the key to the Lower-Hull Prison.]