Chapter 83 - Tentacles

Leonel's eyes flashed open.

His reaction was impossibly quick. With swift movements, he darted to the back of the shuttle, swooped Aina up, and jumped from the opposing door.

Their free fall would have led to the deaths of even evolved humans who had awakened their abilities. After all, the shuttle had a maximum elevation of 20 meters from the ground. But, Leonel was prepared.

"Aina, your rope."

Even as the fell from the skies, Leonel's gaze held a hidden sharpness. Falling from a tall height? That was what he feared the least. How many times had he done this exact same thing just on a single journey to school?

With a heavy boom, Leonel landed on a fallen building. Due to his preparedness, the fall was barely five meters.

At that time, the tentacle viciously whipped against the shuttle, crumbling an entire side of it with unstoppable momentum.

Leonel's pupils constricted.

As though a ball accepting the swing of a bat, the shuttle deformed and rocketed away at a speed almost faster than its forward momentum.

Leonel felt his teeth getting itchy. What the hell kind of power is this? If he assumed the shuttle weighed a few tons, that was still a vast underestimation. If that was taken into account with its forward impetus... Just how much strength did it take to make it deviate like that?

Luckily, the forward momentum wasn't entirely disrupted. The shuttle spun and flew into the distance, missing Leonel and Aina by a large measure.

It was only now that Leonel got a good glance at just what had attacked them.

The tentacle was massive. Just the portion Leonel could see was over 20 meters in length. The rest of it was hidden behind the building it had attacked from the back of. However, this alone was enough to make Leonel's heart quake.

A strong fishy smell came from it, marring the air with a combination of a salty sea smell and a disgusting, rotting odor. A sticky, viscous liquid dripped, hitting the ground in intermittent intervals.

Every inch of the bottom of the tentacle was filled with suction cups. They were each more than double or even triple the size of Leonel's head. They all vibrated in a rhythm that made it seem like they were breathing. And, judging by the destruction they caused to the shuttle... they definitely weren't as soft as they seemed either.

As though on cue, the shuttle landed heavily on the ground. The resulting explosion was deafening. Even the buildings beneath Leonel's feet shifted as though they might collapse into a further heap once again.

A ring of hot air blasted into Leonel, making him feel as though his skin would be burnt to a crisp at any moment.

It was then that Aina finally handed him the rope he asked for, the very same rope they had made use of to climb the castle walls in Paris. Without hesitation, he swung her to his back, tying her firmly to him with an unquestionable aura emanating from him.

At his current physical level, Leonel's body was far stronger than a horses. In that case, since a horse could carry one and even two passengers at times, how could Aina's petite figure do anything to stop him anymore? In fact, he only barely felt the weight of her family Heirloom that was now strapped to her own back.

And since that was the case, there was only one explanation: it meant that she trusted him unconditionally.

Aina couldn't help but blush when her thoughts reached this point.

The fibers of Leonel's muscles vibrated as one. His expression remained calm, almost cold. He was completely unlike the primitive man who loved battle. To Leonel, there was nothing but objective calculation.

The A-grade Invalid roared, wildly beating its chest before raising its fists high in the air and smashing toward Leonel.

Leonel didn't even blink.

As though a carbon copy of the primitive man, his hips flexed, his thighs bulged, and his toes seemed as though they might rip out from his treasure shoes at any moment. He held onto the ax with both hands, exerting all his might.

BANG!

A small circle of air was left where Leonel's feet were last. He shot forward explosively, appearing behind the A-grade Invalid in less than the blink of an eye.

His breathing was already ragged as though that move had taken everything out of him, but the head of the Invalid flew into the air, leaving its roar swaying in the wind.

Leonel didn't even look back. He broke out into a sprint. As long as he could leave this jungle of buildings, he could pull out his bike. By then, his speed would increase by 50% and he would have a better chance at escaping the range of that ridiculous beast.

But it seemed that nothing in his life would go the easy way.

SSSKKKKKRRRRREEEEEEEEE

BANG! BANG!

Leonel didn't turn back, but he could sense what happened with his Internal Sight.

A tentacle stretched into the skies and whipped downward toward the ground.

Its suction cups bulged and became like dozens of obscenely powerful springs. They rebounded off the ground, launching the creature into the air.

The sky seemed to go dark. A massive shadow covered the land, making Leonel feel as though the world had descended into darkness.

Finally, he couldn't hold back anymore and looked back. Without Aina's ax in the way, his field of vision was much wider. And, what he saw sent shivers down his spine.

It was massive. An enormous eight tentacled beast almost 50 meters from one tip of a tentacle to another.

And... it was descending from the skies and falling down toward him.