Chapter 125: Paid in Full

The Sablemaw’s tendrils retracted, flowing back into the gaps between its armor plates. Its chambered body pulsed with a slow, rhythmic contraction, and Gray realized with a chill that it was healing. The scarred tissue was the only part that couldn’t regenerate, but the rest of its wounds were closing, the cracked plates smoothing over.

’I need to finish this before it heals completely.’

He gathered every scrap of mana left in his core and activated Abyssal Lance.

The Sablemaw anticipated him this time. Its maw opened wide, and instead of dodging, it lunged to meet him head-on. Gray’s crystalline barbs punched into the scarred tissue but the Sablemaw’s circular maw closed around his bell simultaneously.

The needle teeth spiraled inward, grinding against his armor.

[ABYSSAL LANCE — 188 DAMAGE]

[SABLEMAW ABYSSAL — HP: 1404 / 3000]

[-156 HP]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 248 / 1040]

’GAAAHG!!!’

The pain was blinding. The teeth bored through his cracked armor, searching for the soft tissue beneath. He could feel the maw tightening, pulling him deeper toward the black, bottomless throat.

And then his venom-tipped spines fired.

[VENOMOUS RIPOSTE — ACTIVATED]

[TOXIN VULNERABILITY — APPLIED]

The spines along his bell margin lashed out automatically, injecting concentrated neurotoxin directly into the Sablemaw’s maw. The creature convulsed, its grip loosening for a fraction of a second. Gray tore himself free, leaving a chunk of his bell margin behind in its teeth.

[-128 HP]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 120 / 1040]

’Tch... that riposte bought me one breath.’

The Sablemaw’s tendrils burst from the gaps in its armor again, a writhing net of hungry mouths. But Gray noticed the Sablemaw’s movements were slower now, the toxin from his riposte working through the creature’s system.

’You’re rotting from the inside,’ he thought. ’And your regeneration can’t touch that scar.’

He couldn’t afford another direct hit. But the Sablemaw was sluggish, the tendrils moving with a delay that hadn’t been there before. Gray circled wide, using Flow State to stay ahead of the grasping mouths, and fired Riptide Slash at the scarred flank.

[RIPTIDE SLASH — 116 DAMAGE]

[SABLEMAW ABYSSAL — HP: 1288 / 3000]

The Sablemaw groaned, its tendrils retracting to guard the wound. That was the mistake Gray had been waiting for. It had pulled its defenses inward to protect the scar which meant there was nothing guarding the seafloor beneath it.

He activated Subterranean Ambush and vanished into the sediment.

The Sablemaw’s tendrils swept through the space where he’d been, finding nothing. Its massive body coiled, confused, its electrical senses tracking the seabed.

Gray erupted beneath it, driving his serrated bell and every remaining barb into the scarred tissue from below.

[CRITICAL HIT!]

[SUBTERRANEAN AMBUSH — 102 DAMAGE]

[SABLEMAW ABYSSAL — HP: 1186 / 3000]

The scar tore wider, the old wound splitting open again, and this time it didn’t close. The failed regeneration couldn’t keep up.

Gray didn’t let up. He fired Cavitation Pulse point-blank into the open wound.

[CAVITATION PULSE — 148 DAMAGE]

[SABLEMAW ABYSSAL — HP: 1038 / 3000]

Then Overcharge detonated into the open scar, and the chambered organs beneath the torn flesh seized one after another.

[OVERCHARGE — 164 DAMAGE]

[SABLEMAW ABYSSAL — HP: 874 / 3000]

GRRRRAAAAAAHHHH!!

The Sablemaw screamed, a deep, resonant shriek that shook the water for dozens of meters. Its tendrils lashed wildly, and one of them caught Gray across the side.

[-86 HP]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 34 / 1040]

’Ghhak!!’

[CRITICAL CONDITION DETECTED]

[WARNING: STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY FAILING — MOVEMENT AND SKILL USAGE IMPAIRED]

Gray tumbled backward, his vision flashing white.

He forced himself to move. His tentacles dragged, his bell flickered weakly, but he found a rock spire and pressed himself against it, using it as cover. The Sablemaw turned toward him, its scarred flank leaking dark fluid, its tendrils coiling for the final strike.

’Two seconds,’ he thought. ’I just need two seconds for Overcharge to come back.’

The Sablemaw lunged with savage ferocity. Its tendrils reached for him. The needle teeth inside them gnashed at the water, closing in from every direction—

Overcharge came off cooldown.

Gray let the tendrils close around him, let them bite into his cracked armor. Pain exploded through his body and his HP flickered at the very edge of death.

And then he detonated.

[OVERCHARGE — 168 DAMAGE]

[SABLEMAW ABYSSAL — HP: 706 / 3000]

The electricity erupted directly into the tendrils wrapped around him, surging through the creature’s nervous system at point-blank range. The Sablemaw convulsed, its tendrils locking rigid, its maw snapping open in a silent scream. For three full seconds, it couldn’t move.

Gray tore himself free, trailing fluids and fragments of his own armor. He gathered the last of his strength and activated Abyssal Lance one final time.

’It’s game over, you damn fish!’

His body compressed into a spear of dark crystal and he shot forward, straight through the scarred flank, tearing the old wound open from edge to edge.

[ABYSSAL LANCE — 196 DAMAGE]

[SABLEMAW ABYSSAL — HP: 510 / 3000]

[SCARRED TISSUE — CRITICAL DAMAGE]

The Sablemaw’s body went rigid. Its tendrils drooped, its maw gaping open. The bleed from the ruined scar was draining its health now, faster than it could heal.

[SABLEMAW ABYSSAL — HP: 510 → 442 → 380 → 318 → 260 → 205 → 150 → 98 → 40]

Gray hovered in the water, his bell heaving, his HP barely above thirty. He watched the creature that had dragged him into the abyss slowly sink toward the seafloor.

[SABLEMAW ABYSSAL — HP: 0 / 3000]

[SABLEMAW ABYSSAL DEFEATED — 8,500 EXP]

[LEVEL UP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

[You are now Level 39.]

[40 Stat Points available for distribution.]

[4 Skill Points available.]

[TRAIT FRAGMENT ACQUIRED: "Abyssal Regeneration" (1/5)]

[New Trait Discovered!]

[ABYSSAL REGENERATION — Preview]

« Analysis »

A rare regenerative trait derived from creatures with redundant biological systems. Allows the user to recover from severe wounds at an accelerated rate, even without external healing.

Effect at Completion:

· Grants a new passive skill — [Rapid Regeneration]. Restore 2% of max HP per second while out of combat. 0.5% per second while in combat.

· Passive: 15% increased resistance to bleed and laceration effects.

Gray stared at the notification, then at the corpse of the creature that had started everything.

’Heh... I win.’