Chapter 352 – Crown Lightning Bolt
"So what do we do now? How do we make this invisible thing let go of us? The Crown Abyss Diver has weapons, right? It has to. This is a tier-5 spirit artifact after all," Leyvi said, his tone hopeful.
"Daa hahaha! You guessed right!" Dastan puffed his chest with pride. "We will deal with the thing stopping this prince's Crown Abyss Diver… using electricity!"
"Oh? Electricity?" Leyvi raised an eyebrow, curious. "Where did you get that from? Did you harvest electricity from thunder strikes or demonic electric eels?"
He recalled his past encounters with demonic electric eels—painful but effective training sessions. Later, in Bara City, he had even considered continuing his body training with electricity. But in the end, it was too troublesome. Lightning strikes were rare and dangerous to catch, electric eels couldn't be found nearby, lightning spirit stones were hard to come by, and cultivators with lightning elements were rarer still. People had even claimed volcanic eruptions could produce lightning, but the Bara Volcano hadn't erupted in a while—and frankly, Leyvi wasn't suicidal enough to stand near an eruption for some zaps.
Dastan didn't answer immediately. Instead, he strode to the side of the control room, twisting a few knobs that made the spiritual gauges flicker with new readings. His fingers tapped an array panel adorned with a stylized lightning bolt symbol.
"Let's watch outside," Dastan said, his grin widening.
Everyone's eyes shifted to the viewing screens.
A deep hum resonated through the Crown Abyss Diver, followed by a sharp rising pitch—like the sound of a storm gathering in a box. The lights dimmed slightly as energy rerouted. Moments later, brilliant arcs of electricity surged across the submarine's surface, crackling and crawling outward like angry serpents.
The electrical discharge expanded in all directions, wrapping the vessel in a dazzling web of lethal blue-white energy. The surrounding water lit up in pulses, briefly turning the murky depths into a glowing, alien world.
The arcs of electricity struck the unseen force restraining the submarine. With a violent shimmer, the creature's form began to materialize, rippling into view like an oil stain spreading across the water.
Massive, sinewy tentacles revealed themselves first—each one thick as a fortress tower, their dark, rubbery flesh marred with streaks of scorched red from the electric assault. They coiled tightly around the Crown Abyss Diver, the suckers leaving faint imprints on the vessel's shimmering barrier.
"Huh? Tentacles? Is this a squid, a cuttlefish, or an octopus? But where is the body?" Dastan mused aloud, peering through the viewing screen. The enormous limbs dominated nearly every angle, blotting out the murky underwater world beyond.
Leyvi, however, didn't rely on the viewing screen. His spiritual sense stretched outward, tracing the long tentacles back to their source. What he found made his eyes narrow.
The owner of those monstrous limbs lay kilometers below, nestled against the bulged lakebed. It was a huge demonic octopus whose bulbous, pulsating body dwarfed even small mountains. Its flesh quivered from residual electric shocks, but its grip on the Crown Abyss Diver remained ironclad.
It was there all along. Leyvi didn't even notice it when he inspected the bulged lakebed previously. Its ability to stay undetected by his spiritual sense was incredible.
"This thing is a commander-level demonic octopus! It's a few kilometers down there!" Leyvi relayed calmly.
"What? How does it have tentacles this long?" Dastan's eyes widened, his voice teetering between disbelief and fascination.
"Probably one of its bloodline powers—stretching ridiculously long." Victor's tone was cool and matter-of-fact. He shifted his attention to a bottom-view screen, hoping for a glimpse of the octopus's massive body. But the dense tangle of tentacles obstructed the view entirely.
Moments later, the octopus recovered fully from its electric shock. Its movements grew more aggressive as rage surged through its immense form. With terrifying force, it tightened its hold, attempting to crush the Crown Abyss Diver like a mere shellfish in its grasp.
The pressure readings on the control panel spiked dramatically. Yet the vessel's tier-5 defenses held steady. Its reinforced hull didn't so much as groan under the strain, its array systems dispersing the crushing force with quiet efficiency.
Dastan watched with a smirk as warning lights danced harmlessly across his instruments. "Daa hahaha! As if a mere commander-level demonic beast can do anything to my Crown Abyss Diver! This octopus must be stupid. Right, Tantan?"
"Dii hihihi!" Tantan let out a chittering squirrel's laugh, her tail flicking with amusement as she nodded in agreement.
Frustrated, the monstrous octopus yanked with all its might. Its titanic tentacles began retracting rapidly, coiling tighter around the Crown Abyss Diver as it dragged the vessel downward. The submarine tilted sharply, pulled inexorably toward the creature's lair—an ominous crevice nestled deep within the salt dome's jagged folds.
Although the Crown Abyss Diver boasted exceptional defensive capabilities, it wasn't built to resist this kind of forceful towing. Inside, Leyvi and the others staggered as the sudden pull sent them crashing into walls and consoles.
"Dammit! This stupid octopus is asking for it! Tantan, watch and learn! Your master will beat this thing using a full-power lightning bolt!" Dastan shouted, clutching his head where it had smacked into a support beam.
With fierce determination, he spun several knobs on the control panel, cranking voltage and current to their absolute maximum. The hum of energy building within the vessel's systems grew deeper, sharper, vibrating the very air. Dastan's fingers danced across switches as he narrowed the lightning output—from a broad discharge to a focused, deadly lance.
The Crown Abyss Diver continued its forced descent, the octopus's lair now looming in the viewing screens like the gaping maw of some ancient leviathan. The water around them shimmered faintly with rising currents and disturbed silt.
"Brace yourselves!" Dastan barked, and with a dramatic flourish, he slammed his palm against the lightning array panel.
A pillar of searing light erupted from the submarine's emitters—a concentrated bolt of electricity thick as a fortress column. It cut through the dense water like divine judgment, striking the octopus squarely on its massive, bulbous head.
Instantly, the creature convulsed violently. A piercing, guttural shriek tore through the depths, so powerful it reverberated even inside the Crown Abyss Diver. The sound rattled their bones and set the viewing screens quivering as if the water itself was screaming in agony.
The electric bolt struck with a blinding flash, lighting up the dark water like a second sun. For a heartbeat, the demonic octopus's fleshy form turned eerily translucent, its rippling mass of muscle and tightly coiled innards laid bare beneath its rubbery skin.
The beast convulsed violently. Its titanic grip on the Crown Abyss Diver broke in an instant as violent spasms tore through its monstrous tentacles. Some curled inward like dying vines; others whipped about uncontrollably, slicing the water with deadly force.
One massive limb slammed into the submarine's side, sending it hurtling sideways. The Crown Abyss Diver spun several times in a sickening horizontal roll before stabilizing.
Outside, steam hissed and frothing bubbles churned as scorch marks spiderwebbed along the octopus's slick surface. Faint arcs of residual lightning danced across its skin, glowing like sinister runes in the gloom. The creature's movements grew frantic, its massive form writhing in pain.
It had gravely misjudged this prey.
Then, in a desperate bid for survival, the colossal octopus expelled an enormous cloud of black ink, smothering the water in darkness. Visibility on the viewing screens instantly dropped to zero as the ink spread like a suffocating shadow.
Hidden within the inky shroud, the octopus shrank its vast body, collapsing into a much smaller form with unnerving speed. Then, like a liquid shadow, it slithered into the jagged cracks of the lakebed and vanished without a trace. It dared not risk another lightning strike—it knew the next one would end it.
Inside the Crown Abyss Diver, silence hung thick for a few moments. The crew slowly stood, regaining their balance after the chaotic spin. All eyes turned to the viewing screens, but only pitch-black nothingness stared back at them.
Only Leyvi had seen what transpired before the ink bomb swallowed everything.
"The octopus survived and probably ran away. Ah, what a waste. If it died, we could have such massive commander-level seafood," Leyvi said.
Victor rolled his eyes at Leyvi's remark. Other people would've celebrated endlessly just for surviving an encounter with a commander-level demonic beast, but this guy? He felt disappointed instead—already dreaming about eating it.
"Tch. It's not strong enough. What a disappointment," Dastan scoffed, folding his arms. "This prince will make sure to upgrade this Crown Lightning Bolt weapon when we get back. Can't even kill a commander-level demonic beast at full power. Hmph. Our Royal Formation Masters clearly need some beatings."
Victor let out a quiet sigh. Of course that's his takeaway…
"Let's get out of here first," Victor suggested, his tone sharp. He couldn't relax knowing they were still enveloped in that suffocating ink.
But Dastan shook his head and gestured toward the glowing radar arrays. "This prince doesn't think we can move yet. Look at the radar readings—they're haywire. Probably because that stupid octopus's ink has some sort of disruptive effect, interfering with our systems. Well, that's fine. We'll wait it out here for now."