MUNCH— MUNCH— MUNCH— MUNCH—
I am not very fond of squid.
Even when I was in the army, if squid soup was served, I skipped that day's meal.
About the only way to eat squid and enjoy it is to stir-fry it with pork belly?
'But that's just the pork belly being tasty. They say fried squid is tasty, but....... Honestly, when it comes to frying, even a sheet of A4 paper tastes good fried.'
I thought, chewing on the corpses of my kin.
-<Kraken 'Infant Form'>
-The larva of some cephalopod.
Having just hatched from the egg, it has almost no combat ability.
-Combat Power: 321
-Traits: <Absorption>, <Basic Poison Resistance>, <Cannibalism>
Before I knew it, my Combat Power had passed 300.
It had risen this much after I buried several hefty kin that came at me, one after another, in the anemone forest and finished them off.
The rest of my kin had vanished somewhere in the meantime.
Just then.
FLA-SH!
My body began to shine brightly.
I knew what this light meant.
'Evolution? At a time like this?'
Evolution means metamorphosis into a higher species.
Individual values rise far higher and more powerful skills appear.
However, the conditions for evolution were extremely varied, so it was not something that happened just because Combat Power went up.
'Ah, right, there were higher species you could evolve into once you'd committed cannibalism a certain number of times or more.'
I looked at the status window that had appeared before my eyes.
-DING-DONG!
<You have met the requirements.>
<Evolving into a higher species.>
▶Kraken 'Juvenile Form': Blade-Tooth Madam
▷Kraken 'Juvenile Form': Deadly-Poison Sucker Eight-Legs
▷Kraken 'Juvenile Form': Ironclad-Scale Bouncy Jelly
▷Kraken 'Juvenile Form': Lantern Anglerfish Ghost Tentacle
'No need to even think it over.'
I picked my option at once.
▷Kraken 'Juvenile Form': Blade-Tooth Madam
▷Kraken 'Juvenile Form': Deadly-Poison Sucker Eight-Legs
▷Kraken 'Juvenile Form': Ironclad-Scale Bouncy Jelly
▶Kraken 'Juvenile Form': Lantern Anglerfish Ghost Tentacle
-DING-DONG!
<You have selected the higher species 'Kraken Juvenile Form: Lantern Anglerfish Ghost Tentacle.'>
In that instant.
TSSSSS......
My fingertips, no, my tentacle tips grew very itchy.
At the same time, I felt a hot sensation at my tentacle tips, as if flames were blazing up.
'Got it!'
Looking at my tentacle tips, glowing dimly as if a lamp had been lit, I let out a cry of triumph.
My tentacles had increased by two to make 10, but that was not the important thing right now.
Like the lantern anglerfish's light organ, I had gained organs that give off light from the tips of my tentacles.
The size of my body had not changed much, but I could also feel that my strength and stamina had grown.
-<Kraken 'Juvenile Form': Lantern Anglerfish Ghost Tentacle>
-The juvenile form of some cephalopod.
It has taken on a fair shape, but it is still weak and immature.
Trailing an eerie light from the tips of its tentacles, it swims the threshold of the abyss.
-Combat Power: 1,000 [+679]
-Traits: <Absorption>, <Basic Poison Resistance>, <Cannibalism>, [+]<Powerful Luminescence>
My Combat Power had risen greatly and a new trait had been added.
-<Trait: Powerful Luminescence>
-Emits a blindingly bright light from the tips of the tentacles.
'All right. Now I can finally see a bit of what's ahead.'
I gave off light from my tentacle tips and lit up the way ahead.
The area without anemones, that is, the far side of the cave packed full of darkness, was laid bare.
I saw a few kin that had failed to evolve, no, lower species, startle at my light and hide.
'The vision perk is a huge deal.'
There was a reason I had given up the other powerful-looking morphs and deliberately chosen this luminescence meta.
After all, isn't there an old saying, 'If the body is worth a thousand nyang, the eyes are worth nine hundred'?
If you asked a blind person, 'Would you like your body to turn into a muscular giant's? Or would you like to be able to see?' the answer that came back would be obvious.
A hundred out of a hundred would choose being able to see.
'The deep-sea zones that lie ahead are so dark you're in big trouble without light.'
Of course, there is also the method of honing touch, hearing or smell to sense your surroundings.
But there were no such morphs among the evolution options that had come up for me.
I looked carefully over the evolution options I had not chosen.
'......Blade-Tooth Madam was the meta where you get pointed, sharp teeth like a shark's, right? Attack power does rise sharply, but it's meaningless when your vision is pitch black. It's over once a far stronger enemy ambushes you.'
'......Deadly-Poison Sucker Eight-Legs. I do covet this one a little. With a high-rank deadly poison, natural enemies up to a certain level wouldn't attack you. But hunger is scarier than natural enemies, and to catch prey, what can you even do unless you can see first? If you starve to death, having a deadly poison is meaningless too.'
'......Ironclad-Scale Bouncy Jelly. A coward meta that goes almost all in on defense alone, and this one is meaningless too if you can't see.'
It would be a lie to say I had no lingering regret for the road not taken.
But you have to be alive even to harbor that regret.
'By the way, I'll hardly be able to get the Cannibalism perk from now on.'
The Cannibalism trait doubles the effect of absorbing one of your kin, but that applies only to the same meta at the same stage of evolution.
In other words, having evolved into the Ghost Tentacle meta, I could get the perk of the Cannibalism trait only by eating another Ghost Tentacle.
'For now, shall I take a look at the terrain around here?'
I adjusted the amount of light properly so that my eyes would not tire.
Before long, the inside of the undersea cave came into view.
The floor was full of the remains of dead kin.
Beyond the egg strings that hung from the ceiling, swaying limply like ghosts.
'......!'
I saw a huge shadow.
GRIND— GRIND— GRIND—
It was one of my kin, no, a huge thing that could no longer be called kin.
One that had devoured countless kin and evolved into a powerful higher species.
Her body was crowded with scars, and where her right eye should have been sat one especially large scar.
-<Kraken 'Juvenile Form': Blade-Tooth Madam>
-The juvenile form of some cephalopod.
It has taken on a fair shape, but it is still weak and immature.
Along the rims of its tentacle suckers are attached many fearsome saw blades that spin at high speed.
-Combat Power: 5,000
-Traits: <Absorption>, <Basic Poison Resistance>, <Cannibalism>, <High-Speed Grinding>
She had five times my Combat Power, and on top of that seemed to have gained a powerful attack skill called 'High-Speed Grinding.'
GRRRRRRIND!
The one-eyed kin ground up every anemone blocking her way with her tentacles.
Countless suckers were attached to her tentacles, and sharp saw blades were attached to the rim of each and every one of those suckers.
They spun at ultra-high speed and tore whatever was in front of them to shreds.
...KA-BOOM!
The one-eyed kin that had evolved into a Blade-Tooth Madam advanced, laying waste to the anemone colony.
She was stung several times by the anemones along the way, but did not seem to mind that much.
'She shouldn't have poison immunity either, yet she's tough. But if she goes out making a racket like that......'
I carefully shone my light toward the outside of the cave.
At that very moment.
BO-OM!
I saw it.
The moment the one-eyed Blade Madam went out of the cave, something huge snatched her body away in an instant.
'Wh-what was that?'
I broke out in a cold sweat.
It was too brief a moment for me to see, but black and white had been mixed together, and I think its big eyeball was especially frightening.
That monster had knocked a Blade Madam with a Combat Power of 5,000 out of the game in an instant.
'......Hm. As expected, it's dangerous outside the blanket, no, outside the cave.'
Had I gone out there without even securing my vision, I would not have escaped death.
And it was because I had secured my vision that I could learn the outside was dangerous.
'I'd better play inside the cave for now.'
I turned my head toward the side opposite the cave's exit.
Where I had been was the entrance of the cave.
Further in, a narrower, deeper tunnel ran on with no end in sight.
...FLASH!
With a tentacle fixed in place like a lantern, I went deep into the undersea cave.
To live, I had to catch something in there that could serve as prey.
***
In the depths of the cave, past the cramped single path that had been full of anemones, a spacious area opened up.
A plaza full of pointed rocks.
Coming out into an open place, the closed-in feeling seemed to ease a little.
Of course, this too was an eerie deep-sea space, so the cold and the dark could not be helped.
'It's seriously scary as hell. There's no knowing what will jump out from where.'
If you fell into a horror RPG Maker game, I think it would feel exactly like this.
I wandered about, lighting up this place and that with my luminous tentacle.
BURRRRRBLE—
A huge mass of bubbles rose, forming a mountain.
With the pressure and darkness of the deep sea bearing down, something came into view within the halo of light I gave off.
'......!'
It was an ancient ruin.
A large building covered in barnacles, oysters and coral.
It looked like the temple of an ancient god now forgotten and gone.
Carved on pillars broken in half were a 'giant red crab,' a 'dragon with nine heads,' and an 'evil god with the head of an octopus.'
And at the center of that temple I could see a huge structure lying fallen at a slant.
Wrapped in long seaweed was the skeleton of a large ship.
'Ah, I remember this map.'
I recalled this place.
The 'Dock of the Ancient God' that sank beneath the sea a very long time ago...... or so the lore of this place goes.
That structure in the middle of the temple was the ship of adventurers who had come to explore this temple.
'If I go inside that sunken ship, I think there'd be things people used. Shall I have a look?'
Trailing a faint light, I descended toward the sunken ship.
At that very moment.
'Wait, I think there was something to watch out for on this map......?'
I remembered.
This sunken ship was not an object that was merely there to set the mood.
'Raising a Hungry Kraken' is a vicious survival game built so that when the map changes, the danger level shoots straight up with it.
Sure enough.
THOOM—
The moment I approached, the huge sunken ship began to shudder.
Before long, two large shadows rose up from beneath the submerged ship.
'......! ......! ......!'
They were pincers large beyond imagination.