...He dashed forward.
Not running so much as gliding across the ground. Or more accurately, literally sliding.
What touched the earth wasn’t his feet, but two slick, mucus-dripping tentacles growing from his waist. Positioned like the wheels of a motorcycle, front and back, they supported his weight as he occasionally kicked off the ground for bursts of acceleration. The tentacles glistened as they propelled him forward in smooth, gliding bursts.
From beneath the deep hood of his black parka, his gaze locked onto the enemy: a monstrous villain resembling the Thousand-Armed Kannon, covered in countless limbs. The creature swung its massive arms wildly. A single blow could easily crush a human being, and even a Sacred Knight — a heroine of justice — would suffer devastating damage if struck directly. The multi-armed villain roared in irritation.
"Slippery, slippery... You’re so fucking annoying, you tentacle bastard!"
Dozens of arms rained down like someone swatting flies.
Facing the storm of limbs, I flashed a sarcastic grin.
"Don’t be so cold, you multi-armed pervert!"
I dodged at the last possible moment, scooped up the woman collapsed on the ground, and retreated. There was no way I could face a muscle-brained freak like this head-on.
I glanced briefly at the woman I was carrying. Her body bore bruises from being beaten, and her clothes had been violently torn away. She — along with the others — had been on the verge of being violated. I used my remaining six tentacles to grab the rest of the fallen women and evacuate them to safety.
My greatest strengths were my sheer number of tentacles and the versatility of the mucus they secreted. If I fought fair and square, I’d be turned into mincemeat in seconds.
That was why my role was simple: dodge, dodge, and keep dodging the powerful swings... then snatch up the fallen women with my tentacles and withdraw.
Every time I did so, the multi-armed giant roared in frustration.
"Gaaah! Damn it! What the hell do you even want, you tentacle villain— No, Vigilante Atel Octo!"
The multi-armed villain charged. Its countless arms reached for me.
I drifted across the ground like a car in a high-speed turn, evading the blows meant to kill me. The ground shattered nearby, and the shockwaves traveled through my tentacles.
While the multi-armed brute cursed me, I kept a relaxed smile on my face — though cold sweat ran down my forehead.
(Yeah, one solid hit and I’m dead. No question about it.)
On the surface I looked composed, but my heart was pounding in terror.
In the first place, I wasn’t a being built for combat. I could freely extend tentacles from my body and secrete various types of mucus, but every single one of those abilities existed for one purpose: to violate women.
These tentacles were stronger than a normal human’s limbs, but they were still inferior to a power-type monster like the one in front of me. The mucus I could produce wasn’t capable of creating lethal poisons either.
Because the power of a tentacle monster like me was this: "Restrain powerless women, dull their resistance with aphrodisiac mucus, and violate them."
What I was doing right now was basically an exploit — using my abilities far outside their intended purpose. Fighting a power-obsessed monster with abilities like these was anything but sane.
"You became a monster villain too, right!? Didn’t you think you could finally do whatever you wanted!? Steal whatever you like, rape whatever women you like, right!?"
"——Well, I won’t deny that."
If I were some saint who could outright reject those words, I probably never would have awakened as a tentacle monster in the first place.
——Of course. These tentacles were undoubtedly a reflection of my own heart.
I wanted to use inhuman power to make life easier. I wanted to take cute girls and make them mine however I pleased. I wanted to melt their brains with pleasure and turn them into my personal possessions. Just like the tentacles in those adult games.
In that sense, the monster in front of me — a giant with multiple massive arms, a pure power-type abomination — was actually far more honest and straightforward than I was.
"But still... there was something I wanted to do even more than that kind of violation."
I did have desires.
After awakening to the power of these tentacles, I felt little resistance to the idea of freely violating women as I pleased.
If I were alone, I probably would have been doing exactly what the multi-armed villain wanted to do.
But even so...
There were girls desperately working to make the world even slightly better. I simply couldn’t bring myself to defile something so precious just to satisfy my own lust.
"That’s how it is — All the hostages have been rescued, Sacred Saber!"
"——You have my thanks, Vigilante."
At that moment, a beam of light poured down from the sky and pierced the multi-armed monster.
No — it was a slash.
A figure that had descended at high speed from above had swung its blade.
The monster let out a scream of agony as the evil-slaying strike hit. Yet it still reached out with its countless arms, as if refusing to accept defeat.
That wasn’t the resolve of a warrior refusing to give up the fight.
No — it was pure lust. The white, radiant warrior who had dealt the fatal blow was a girl. A beautiful, lovely girl. And because she was so beautiful, the monster desperately stretched its arms toward her, wanting to defile her.
——She was a girl with blue and white coloring.
Long hair the color of a blue sea flowed behind her. She glared at the multi-armed villain with a face both dignified and adorable. Her slender body was clad in a pure white dress reinforced with blue armor at the vital points.
For a brief moment, the hem of her dress fluttered, revealing a glimpse of her thighs — white like the dress, yet full of healthy, powerful vitality.
The multi-armed villain’s eyes grew bloodshot. That’s mine. I’m the one who should defile her. Even as he was pierced by the shining blade of water, he still reached out desperately.
"Begone, you filthy cur."
But his wish would never be granted.
The blade flashed. The clear, beautiful sound of the slash was immediately overwritten by the dull thud of flesh being severed. Thump. Thump. The severed arms rolled across the ground at the monster’s feet.
As the villain writhed in pain, she calmly walked toward him.
In her hand was a long, clear blue sword.
Aqua Holy Sword Arontina — said to be blessed by the Spirit of the Fountain. It was gentle toward the innocent, but possessed terrifying sharpness against evil.
She raised the sword, which gleamed like sunlight reflecting off water, and brought it down without mercy. The monster let out a death cry filled with agony and vanished into the light.
All that remained was a single black core that had been embedded within his body.
Having had both mind and body corrupted by the power of darkness, a monster villain had no path left but annihilation.
That fate... was no exception for me, either.
Saber turned around.
In her eyes were trust, mixed with a faint hint of caution.
"...We meet again, Atel Octo."
"I don’t know who decided on it, but that name’s really caught on, huh."
I couldn’t help but smile bitterly at the name that had somehow become widespread.
If this were German, I could’ve laughed it off as chuunibyou, but this was Latin. It might actually be even more chuuni than German.
Saber tilted her head and muttered, "Chuu...ni...?" apparently not understanding the reference. Normally she tried to maintain a dignified tone, but in moments like this, her voice sounded like a girl her age — and it was cute.
When I unintentionally smiled, Saber’s face flushed red and she glared at me.
"If that’s the case, why don’t you just tell me your real name? You tentacle monster villain — no, the man who calls himself our vigilante protector."
"That’s impossible. So feel free to call me Atel Octo or Black Tentacle or whatever you like."
With those words, I fired out a tentacle.
I anchored the tip to the roof of a nearby house, secreting adhesive mucus to fix it in place. Then I kicked off the ground and leaped. Using centrifugal force and releasing the adhesive at the right moment, I launched myself like a catapult.
At this speed, not even a Sacred Knight could catch up. Thanks to this method, I had managed to keep my true identity hidden until now.
——Why am I doing this?
Why am I, a tentacle monster, fighting against other monsters?
As I leaped from rooftop to rooftop by anchoring my tentacles, such thoughts crossed my mind.
But to explain how it all started, I need to turn back time to the moment I regained my memories from my previous life.
Back to the moment I witnessed Sacred Saber fighting against a monster villain....