Chapter 103
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Chapter 103: When Everything Seems Uncertain, the Monster Grows Larger!
“This fellow is probably a ‘hornstone.’”
Trilobite watched the creature that pushed into his cave through a small opening.
From its shell that resembled a “crescent moon,” he determined its species.
Hornstones lived from the Ordovician to the Carboniferous period, serving as a transitional type from hornstones to ammonites and nautiluses.
The spiraled, rounded shells of ammonites and nautiluses actually evolved from the straight shells of hornstones, which gradually twisted and curled.
The transitional species just beginning to spiral was known as the “hornstone.”
“Whoooo…”
This creature decisively abandoned a few tentacles entangled by “sea spiders” and charged toward the entrance of the cave.
Then, a massive number of long, slender tentacles suddenly surged into the opening. While these tentacles lacked the suckers and claws of an octopus, they were densely packed, and each seemed quite agile.
All the tentacles stretched out in all directions, feeling around and stirring up the seawater inside the cave.
Muddy sand was lifted by the whirlpool, and the currents were disturbed by the tentacles!
“Hmm, although this thing was a bit primitive compared to the more ‘evolved’ cephalopods like octopuses, its behavior was the same.”
“It just loved to stir things up in the cave with its tentacles, not caring about what it might dislodge.”
Octopuses indeed enjoyed using their boneless, soft, and flexible tentacles to rummage through caves and crevices, searching for crabs, small shrimp, and various other small crustaceans.
This hunting method was usually very effective; the cracks and rock caves were no longer safe havens for small crustaceans.
Octopuses adored this hunting style, wanting to poke into every hole they saw.
Sometimes they searched successfully, and many caves hiding small fish and shrimp fell victim to their grasp.
But sometimes, while rummaging, a large moray eel emerged from the depths.
At that moment, the octopus had to retreat to survive; if retreating didn’t work, then it waited for its doom!
“Who would have thought that hornstones also had the ‘bad habit’ of ‘poking into holes’?”
“It was making them pay the price for their ‘bad habit!’”
“Don’t just try to dive into every hole you see!”
Trilobite let those dozens of tentacles rummage around everywhere; he quietly swam to the side of those tentacles, and then…
“Whoosh—!”
His mouth opened wide as he struck from the side, quickly scooping up most of the tentacles that entered the cave into his mouth!
“Ah—mm—!”
His scissor-like jaws snapped shut suddenly, but Trilobite controlled his strength, firmly holding onto the tentacles without tearing them apart.
The hornstone found itself in a bit of an awkward situation.
“Whooo…!”
“Whooo…!”
Its densely packed tentacles suddenly exerted force, trying to pull themselves out of the cave.
But…
It was useless.
“Whoo…!”
“Whoo—!”
The hornstone strained again, tugging at its tentacles.
“Bang—!”
This time, the tentacles shifted, but they dragged out a massive thing with scary fangs that clamped hard on the hornstone’s tentacle. Yet its calcite eyes held no murderous intent.
This only scared the cornerstone more!
Because what it sensed was pure “appetite”!
—-
“Whoo… hiss… whoo…”
The Valaharl war machines’ pilots saw the tentacles, twisting like sea snakes, tremble and spasm as they slowly dropped to the sea floor.
The war machines, tangled and creaking on the edge of breaking, finally got a breather.
But they ignored those tentacles.
All eyes turned to the entrance of the City of Dimensions.
They spotted the Outer God freezing awkwardly; its tentacles seemed stuck in an awkward way.
The Outer God clumsily tried to pull its tentacles out, but after just two tugs…
“Boom—!”
A huge, massive head pushed out from the City of Dimensions.
The Valaharl people realized this head was so enormous that even their proud war machines couldn’t fully measure its size.
The terrifying giant jaws bit fiercely into the Outer God’s trusted tentacle.
Those awful tentacles, like giant sea snakes, were helpless against the Giant God’s massive mouth!
Soon, the Giant God acted again!
“Boom—!”
The Outer God got yanked hard into the City of Dimensions; its whole head was pulled inside, while its big, odd-shaped shell stuck awkwardly outside.
“Roar—!”
The Outer God howled in pain, thrashing wildly with its thin tentacles and wrapping them tight around the Giant God’s head.
But it was pointless.
Usually, eyes are weak spots for creatures or gods.
But the Giant God’s regular eyes, made of many hexagons, were very tough; when the Outer God’s tentacles hit them, they only clanged like metal banging!
“Ah—oo—!”
The Giant God snapped its mouth open wide.
But the Outer God had no time to escape from his mouth. As he moved just an inch outward, he saw the Giant God’s massive jaws snap shut again!
This time…
“Pshhh—!”
The Giant God’s fangs, sharp as guillotines, bit down from both top and bottom, crushing the Outer God’s head!
“Puff…”
The Outer God’s bodily fluids and transparent blood surged out under immense pressure, forming a terrifying tide that swept across the waters.
He was almost completely unable to resist.
However, the Giant God, greedy for the chaotic blood and flesh before him, had no intention of letting this fellow go.
“Thud—!”
The Outer God’s crescent-shaped shell slammed against the entrance of the City of Dimensions again.
Meanwhile, the Giant God, still biting down on the Outer God’s skull, kept pulling him inside!
Soon…
“Boom—!”
With a loud crash, the Outer God’s hollow shell dropped to the ocean floor, and its heavy casing created a terrible current that stirred up the muddy sand.
Many Valaharl war machines already entangled by tentacles were unfortunate enough to be knocked over by this current; the tentacles, now devoid of vitality after their master’s fall, drifted away with the current.
When the dust settled, the entrance to the City of Dimensions returned to calm.
Only the blood octopus Outer God still swam around in the distance.
They seemed to be waiting for something.
—-
“Good! Good! Good!”
“Squid is delicious.”
“Ah, although hornstone isn’t classified under the ten-armed category, strictly speaking, it shouldn’t count as squid.”
“But it’s okay, it’s even tastier!”
In fact, hornstone differed quite a bit from squid in flavor.
It was more like… a super-sized snail.
“Who cares, as long as it’s tasty!”
“Om… om…”
Trilobite swallowed the hornstone in large bites, happily watching the Chaos Energy grow rapidly.
“Now, let’s evolve!”
“Hmm…”
He browsed the “evolution STEAM” page, hesitating about which path to take next.
“Hmm…”
“Should I strengthen my limbs first?”
“Or should I enhance my waterproof skin first?”
The former aligned with his ancestors’ evolutionary steps, while the latter would let him switch freely between fresh and saltwater without osmotic pressure worries, offering more strategic choices.
Trilobite pondered deeply, unsure what to do.
At that moment…
【Cough, cough… how about… how about choosing to grow larger first… cough, cough…】
The sickly system sister’s suggestion brightened Trilobite’s mind.
“Right! When in doubt, quantum mechanics… uh, no, monster grow bigger!”
“You’re the one! Let’s go with ‘grow larger’ first!”
Thus, he spent 10,000 points of Chaos Energy to increase the Pander Fish’s body size by 10%.
【Due to the need for shedding skin, you will require a short hibernation.】
“That’s fine.”
“Hope to dream of the young lady…”
【You have chosen Dream Arrival, spending 20 points of Chaos Energy.】
“…”
This time, the wealthy Trilobite had little to say.
Spending 20 points to dream of the young lady was a great deal!
“Oh—!?”
In the dream, Trilobite saw a young lady with bright red hair, curled up like a "fetus" in a small space!
