116: Chapter 116 Cthulhu? I think you're just a takoyaki!

"So... noisy!!!"

That roar, a cacophony of billions of resentful Souls' shrieks, slammed into the shields of the Abyss like an invisible giant hammer.

Hummm—

The pale blue hexagonal shields flickered violently. Everyone on the bridge felt as if steel needles were piercing their eardrums, leaving their minds blank.

Before this roar, the demonic electronic version of the "Great Compassion Mantra" was like the buzzing of a mosquito, instantly and completely drowned out.

[Warning! Ultra-high intensity mental shock detected! Sanity check... Check failed!]

[Your Sanity -20!]

[Your Sanity -25!]

The Sanity bar, which had just been pulled back by the divine song, now plummeted like floodwaters through an open gate.

The players on the bridge found their gazes becoming unfocused once more.

"So many... so many legs... they're smiling at me..."

A player in charge of weapons control suddenly clutched his head and squatted on the floor, letting out a silly laugh.

"Mom... I see you... you're waving at me..."

Another player reached out toward an empty corner, a blissful yet eerie smile on his face.

Even Li Qiang felt as if ten thousand screaming monkeys had been stuffed into his head, his temples throbbing wildly.

At the edges of his vision, distorted, writhing, indescribable patches of color began to appear.

Boom—!!!!!

Before anyone could recover from the mental shock, a massive shadow carrying enough terrifying power to tear open a trench slammed into the bow of the Abyss!

It was one of the Kraken's tentacles.

A tentacle thicker than the entire submarine.

Crack—

Under this strike, the indestructible Phase-Deflection Shield actually made a sound like glass shattering, its surface covered in web-like cracks.

The entire Abyss was sent flying backward for several kilometers by the massive force, tumbling a dozen times in the deep sea before barely stabilizing.

Inside the bridge, all unanchored items flew into the air, and players were thrown about, crashing into one another.

[Alert! Shield integrity dropped to 45%!]

[Alert! Structural damage detected on the port armor!]

"Dammit!"

Li Qiang gripped the armrests of the captain's chair tightly to steady himself. Shaking his dizzy head, he roared into the communicator.

"Wang Wei! Turn the music up to the max! The absolute max!!!"

"Copy that!"

Wang Wei's mechanical prosthetic eye flashed with a dangerous red light. He bypassed the safety limits and forcibly routed part of the power core's energy into the broadcast System.

"Namo Ratna Trayaya..."

The electronic Buddhist sutra mixed with the "pure land of ultimate bliss" exploded within the bridge like a mental atomic bomb, ten times louder than before!

The terrifying sound waves even stirred visible ripples in the seawater surrounding the submarine.

This time, it wasn't to counter mental pollution.

It was to use pure, physical noise to stimulate everyone's nerves and force them to break free from their hallucinations.

"Ah—! My ears!"

"I'm deaf! But I'm awake!"

Clutching their bleeding ears, the players recovered from their frenzied state. Looking at the gargantuan creature slowly approaching outside, their eyes were filled with the terror of a narrow escape.

This thing... was impossible to fight.

Its size was too immense.

It was large to an unreasonable degree.

When their main cannons hit it, the wounds were smaller than a single pore, and they vanished instantly, healing immediately.

Meanwhile, a casual strike from the opponent had nearly shattered their turtle shell on the spot.

"All batteries! Fire at will! Hold it back!"

Li Qiang gave the order with bloodshot eyes.

All the armor plates on the sides of the Abyss opened. Hundreds of modified laser cannons, plasma cannons, and kinetic cannons began a frantic barrage against the Kraken's mountain-like body.

Multicolored energy beams fell upon the Kraken like a rainstorm, exploding in brilliant bursts of light.

However, it was all in vain.

To the Kraken, these attacks weren't even a scratch; at most, they were like summer fireflies, slightly dazzling.

Within its countless eyes, a human-like emotion called "impatience" surfaced.

It opened one of the giant mouths on its body.

There were no teeth in that mouth, only concentric circles of inward-rotating, hook-covered folds like a meat grinder.

Hummm—

An invisible suction force emanated from that mouth.

The seawater around the Abyss formed a massive whirlpool, pulling the submarine uncontrollably toward the mouth.

[Alert! Propulsion System overloaded! Unable to counter the traction force!]

"Increase power! I don't care if you burn out the engines, get us out of here!" Li Qiang roared.

It was useless.

Before that black-hole-like suction, the Abyss's struggles appeared utterly pathetic.

Everyone watched helplessly as they drew closer to the giant mouth that could swallow everything, even smelling the stench wafting from it—a rot that could decay the Soul.

Despair enveloped everyone.

Was this... where the exploration would end?

At this critical moment.

Li Qiang's bloodshot eyes stared intently at the BOSS growing larger on the screen.

He saw it.

On the Kraken's massive body, there were countless relatively "small" tentacles dancing wildly with the current.

Those were its sensory tentacles.

And the only part of its body that looked "destructible."

"Old Wang!" Li Qiang suddenly shouted. "Give me control of the right-side mining arm! Quick!"

Though Wang Wei didn't know what he intended, he immediately transferred control.

From beneath the right armor plate of the Abyss, a fifty-meter-long mining arm with a high-frequency vibrating cutting wheel at its tip lunged out.

This was a tool originally designed for excavating mineral veins in the deep sea.

But at this moment, it had a brand new mission.

A fierce light flashed in Li Qiang's eyes. He controlled the massive mechanical arm, not to attack the Kraken's main body, but to aim with all his might at one of the nearest sensory tentacles—only as thick as a barrel—and sliced down!

"Snap, dammit!"

The high-frequency vibrating cutting wheel burst into a shower of brilliant sparks against the tentacle's slimy skin.

Accompanied by a tooth-grating screech, the tentacle snapped.

From the Kraken's countless mouths came a faint but pain-filled shriek.

The terrifying suction force also paused.

However, that wasn't what caught the players' attention.

It was the stump of the severed tentacle.

There, instead of the expected disgusting, foul-smelling purple-black blood...

...a drop of jelly-like substance slowly seeped out. It was as crystal clear as the purest quartz, emitting a faint golden glow.

As soon as that drop of jelly touched the surrounding seawater, it released an indescribable, sweet fragrance—a scent that seemed to blend all the beautiful aromas of the world.

This fragrance seemed alive, penetrating the thick alloy armor and the noisy electronic sutra, wafting into the nostrils of every player on the bridge.

Everyone froze.

Li Qiang instinctively sniffed.

Fragrant.

It was incredibly fragrant.

He had never smelled anything so wonderful in his life.

It wasn't the scent of food, but a more primal "flavor" that made every cell in the depths of one's life jump for joy.

In the moment he was dazed, a System notification that no one expected popped up.

[System Notification: You have successfully collected an unknown divine substance. Analyzing...]

[Analysis complete.]

[Item Name: Deep Sea Divine Collagen (Fragment)]

[Quality: Legendary · Ingredient]

[Effect: Upon consumption, permanently increases all attributes by 10 points and grants the passive 'Deep Sea Blessing' (Underwater Breathing, Pressure Immunity).]

[Description: The life essence of an ancient being born at the dawn of Chaos. Every drop contains the vitality of a world. It's not meant for eating; it's meant for creating life. Of course, if you insist on eating it... it should taste pretty good.]

The entire bridge fell into a dead silence.

Even the music that had been splitting everyone's heads seemed to have its mute button pressed.

All the players stared blankly at the System notification, then at the golden jelly on the screen that was slowly dissolving into the seawater, radiating a fatal temptation.

Legendary... ingredient?

All attributes... permanent +10?

Gulp.

Someone, it was unclear who, was the first to swallow hard.

This sound, like a switch, instantly ignited the entire bridge.

"Did... did I see that right? Permanent... attribute boost?"

"Holy shit! This thing is a supplement? Not poison?"

"Then... that giant octopus... it's not a BOSS. It's a walking experience baby, an attribute gift pack, a top-tier buffet?!"

Li Qiang's eyes widened bit by bit.

He looked at the Kraken's despair-inducingly massive body on the screen—the countless dancing tentacles, the dense clusters of eyes and sharp mouths... The fear vanished.

Awe was gone.

In its place was a primal urge from the depths of his Soul called "appetite."

It was no longer a monster.

It was... the world's largest, freshest, highest-quality plate of octopus sashimi.

A suspicious liquid slowly trickled from the corner of his mouth.

He slammed his hand onto the console and roared into the communicator.

That voice was no longer a command for battle, but that of a diner who had been starving for three days, urging the kitchen to hurry up with the food.

"Everyone, listen up!!!"

"Target! That giant octopus ahead!"

"Main guns! Aim for its fattest part of the belly! Fire! Don't worry about mangling it, we're having hotpot!"

"Torpedoes! Switch to cutting warheads! Slice off its tentacles one by one! Remember, slice them thin! If they're too thick, it'll ruin the texture!"

"Wang Wei! Drop that damn automatic fishing net! I want it alive! Alive, you hear me? This thing needs to be killed and eaten fresh!"

"Lin Xiaowan! Quick! Have your people get the ice and storage boxes ready! If we can't finish it all, we can pack it up and sell it!"

After a brief stupor, the players on the bridge also erupted in a frenzy of shouting, even more insane than when they faced death.

"Coming, coming! The kitchen staff is in position!"

"Soy sauce! Wasabi! Who brought some?!"

"Don't use the laser cannons! You'll char the meat! Use the kinetic cannons! Physical slicing!"

"Brother Qiang! I suggest saving one eye! As a specimen! Or... I've heard popping eyeballs are delicious!"

The Kraken, the Lord of the Abyss who had slumbered for eons, was currently enraged because its sensory tentacles had been severed.

It was preparing to launch its next attack and completely crush these noisy insects before it.

However, it suddenly sensed that the insects' gazes... had changed.

It was a look it knew well.

It was the look it had when preying on weak creatures.

Greedy, burning, and full of... appetite.

For the first time, the Kraken's chaotic mind produced an emotion called "confusion."

These insects... want to eat me?

Before it could figure it out...

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The firepower of the Abyss covered it once more.

But this time, the targets of the attacks became exceptionally tricky.

All the fire precisely avoided its vital points, concentrating instead on the roots of its fattest, thickest tentacles.

That wasn't an attack.

That was... butchering.

The Kraken angrily flailed its remaining tentacles, trying to swat this annoying fly.

But the players already had a brand-new tactic.

"Port side, evade! Watch out for the saliva on the shields! That stuff is toxic!"

"Starboard batteries! Yes! That thickest one! Break it off! I'm going to use it for takoyaki!"

"Fishing net launched! Warning! The target's strength is too great! It's dragging us! Quick! Break its legs!"

The style of the battlefield had completely shifted from an epic battle between gods and demons to... a massive seafood slaughterhouse.

The Kraken roared in pain; it wanted to flee.

In its billions of years of existence, it felt the emotion of "fear" for the first time.

It tried to dive into a deeper trench to escape these incomprehensible lunatics.

However, hundreds of giant grappling hooks made of Dwarven Runic Steel, connected to ultra-high-strength nano-cables, shot out from all directions of the Abyss and embedded themselves firmly into its body.

It was held fast.

Like a giant octopus pinned to a cutting board by a harpoon.

It watched helplessly as that black submarine, like a giant and efficient kitchen food processor, dismantled its body bit by bit.

Despair.

Endless despair.

Li Qiang looked at the screen. Seeing the once-invincible Lord of the Abyss now struggling like a fish waiting to be slaughtered, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

But it wasn't enough.

He looked at the Kraken's largest main eye, located right in the center of its head like a murky nebula, and licked his lips.

The most choice part had to be taken personally.

"Old Wang! Eject the Solo Assault Pod! Equip it with the largest 'Thermal Cutting Blade'!"

Wang Wei was stunned for a moment. "Brother Qiang, that thing hasn't been tested yet! It might disintegrate underwater!"

"Who gives a damn!"

Li Qiang leaped from the captain's chair and rushed toward a small ejection tube on the side of the bridge.

That was a person-sized, torpedo-like miniature deep-sea mecha.

"This is a Legendary ingredient! I have to be the first to taste it!"

He climbed into the mecha, put on the helmet, and gave the final order into the communicator.

"Boys! Hold it down! Don't let it die!"

"I'll be right back!"

Before his voice had even faded...

Whoosh—!

The miniature mecha shot out from the Abyss's ejection port like a cannonball, trailing a long wake of bubbles in the deep sea as it charged toward the Kraken's main eye, which was larger than a truck, at an incredible speed.

Li Qiang controlled the ten-meter-long, glowing-red Thermal Cutting Blade on the mecha's arm. His eyes shone with the fanatical and focused light of a chef seeing a top-tier ingredient.

"Don't run!"

"Let me have a taste! I want to see... if your eyeball pops!"