Tentacle Assassin

Chu Hengkong opened his eyes and found himself in a bizarre summoning ritual.

Dim candlelight flickered in the secret chamber. Blood and ink flowed along carved grooves into the floor, forming a triple-ring magic formation nested within itself. White-robed figures stood around the formation, their thin, pale bodies resembling humanoid worms. The worms' leader wore a purple pendant and held a large silver book. His voice was exceptionally loud, his chant booming like thunder:

"Hear my call. Compiler of the Original Spirit Scroll! Master of abyssal wisdom! Great Magic Eye, Tentacle of Inquiry..."

The titles that followed grew longer and longer, like some otherworldly dish-naming challenge. Chu Hengkong silently memorized them while idly observing his surroundings. There was nothing else he could do at the moment, because he apparently had yet to "manifest"—he had perception but could not move. Even his viewpoint was fixed at the center of the triple circle, as though he had been pressed flat into a sheet of paper without thickness.

Thirteen people in total, dressed in white cloth robes with no defensive value. Most held cold weapons such as daggers, clubs, and spears. Their stances were highly unprofessional; they looked like the private soldiers of some folk cult. The space around them was small, with only one door ten meters ahead as an entrance or exit. They had nowhere to run.

Not a threat.

As Chu Hengkong reached that conclusion, the summoner's one-breath dish-naming challenge finally came to an end as well. His face had turned the color of pig liver, yet he stubbornly refused to gasp for air, forcefully squeezing the last thread of breath from his lungs. "...All-Knowing God, sovereign of mysteries! Bestow wisdom upon us with Your sacred runes, and redeem this despairing world!"

The lengthy chant ended, and the summoning ritual was complete. The large silver book rose into the air out of nowhere. Its blank pages flipped rapidly, and though it was only paper turning, it produced the thunderous roar of a howling gale. A true storm swept through the secret chamber. Not only were the heavy iron candlesticks blown away, but all thirteen believers were swept into the air as well. Before their eyes, the formation within the storm turned dusky yellow like twilight. An indescribable existence emerged from that dusk, releasing the first ray of light as a great being descended upon the Sinking Motion Realm!

"Desc... desc, it has descended!" High Priest Alex roared excitedly. "The god has descended!!"

Though the gale tossed them wildly through the air, the fanatics still did their best to open their eyes wide and greet the god's majesty with devout hearts. Bit by bit, they caught sight of that indescribable, magnificent body: a left arm gleaming with mysterious silver light, skin of an unsettling flesh color, a maddeningly monotonous green coat, hair as deep as night, and a face as calm as a marsh...

The appearance of the divine lord truly surpassed the limits of human imagination. One fanatic could not help crying out:

"...Why does it look like a person?"

Then the twilight within the formation faded, and the gale abruptly stopped with it. The fanatics flying all over the room crashed to the floor in a clattering heap, cries of "Ack!" and "Gah!" ringing out one after another. Alex had flown the highest and fallen the hardest. The instant he landed, he caught the large silver book. Just as he was about to roar at this intruder, he suddenly froze. "No! Look!"

The fanatics all focused their gazes on one spot, their expressions turning as uncertain and alarmed as the High Priest's. Chu Hengkong paid no attention to the madmen's reactions. He let out a long breath. His body and five senses, which had vanished for a time, had returned. He could move freely again. Compared to before, it was like changing from a paper cutout back into a living, breathing three-dimensional person. The contrast felt like being granted a new life.

Being able to move was a good thing, at any rate. But the problem now was...

He slowly shifted his gaze, looking toward the same place as the dumbfounded fanatics. Everyone's eyes converged below Chu Hengkong's left sleeve, where a section of silver gleamed—a slender, mucus-covered—

Tentacle.

Chu Hengkong swiftly rolled up his left sleeve and saw silver running from the tip of the limb all the way to his shoulder. The part below his shoulder once known as his "left arm" had now completely become a long, narrow thing. This abrupt and marvelous change left him stunned for a full second.

What the hell? Why has my arm turned into this?!

It was a tentacle. No matter how he looked at it, it was a tentacle. There were no fingers, no bones to be felt, let alone joints—but it could move. All he could sense was a mass of supple, boneless "muscle" moving. It did not extend and contract normally, but writhed—the kind of "wriggling" in which an insect tensed its body and shot forward a long distance in a flash... And there was sticky secretion at the tip of the thing! If he moved too much, the slime whipped around like snot!

That was precisely why the fanatics were so uncertain. Everyone suspected that he was some unlucky fellow who had blundered into the summoning ritual, yet he possessed that incomparably beautiful, great Tentacle. Perhaps the All-Knowing God's aesthetic sense truly differed from that of foolish humans, and the god had deliberately fashioned Its flesh into this form?

Caught in such hesitation, none of them dared act rashly for the moment. At that moment, Chu Hengkong raised the tentacle. The fanatics held their breaths, thinking that if the god Himself had truly descended, this would be Its first divine oracle.

"So ugly!" Chu Hengkong exclaimed.

That heartfelt remark instantly changed everyone's expressions. Their faces twisted and their eyes turned vicious, as though someone had insulted their mothers to their faces. The next moment, High Priest Alex's roar exploded through the chamber: "How dare you insult the divine lord! Kill this ignorant fool who intruded upon the ritual! Offer his flesh and blood to the god's Tentacle!!"

The fanatics all drew their weapons, the savagery in their eyes turning to killing intent. Intrusions were a common summoning accident. They had long prepared for such a contingency: if the god failed to descend completely, they would immediately kill the intruder and use the partially descended divine body for a second summoning.

At that moment, the three people closest to Chu Hengkong attacked at once. The man directly in front raised a hand crossbow to fire. The burly believer on the right thrust a spear at him. The man behind drew a dagger and stabbed straight for Chu Hengkong's heart from behind. They deliberately avoided the tentacle, every strike aimed at a vital point of the human body. They did not hesitate in the slightest to kill him.

At the same instant, a flash of silver passed through everyone's eyes.

That silver light was like strange lightning descending from the sky, spreading through the crowd into a dazzling ring. The first three attackers were sent flying the instant they touched the ring, and the fanatics' breathing stopped.

They saw the silver ring's true form. It was the tentacle, raised high and then slashed downward. It moved as fast as lightning, yet its power was as immense as a tidal wave. Three grown men had been blasted away at a single touch, but the tentacle's rotation had yet to stop. Its reach was even continuing to extend!

The silver tentacle possessed extraordinary elasticity, its length surging as its force increased. It could reach every person in the secret chamber. The fanatics hurriedly used their weapons to protect their heads and other vital areas. Yet Chu Hengkong lowered his body and bent one knee, and the second rotation struck at everyone's legs. A silver trail swept across the entire room.

This was probably the longest sweeping leg strike in history, its radius reaching an astonishing five meters. The fanatics were swept into the air on the spot. They could never have imagined that a human could possess such tremendous strength—enough to sweep thirteen adult men away with one hand. This time, however, they could not land so easily, because the tentacle was still rotating.

Chu Hengkong straightened up, raising the height of the rotating tentacle with him. He was like a madman swinging a hammer throw in a secret chamber. The excessive acceleration turned the tentacle into an incomparably powerful blunt weapon. For a time, heavy impacts against flesh rang without end, and a silver whirlwind rose within the chamber!

When the whirlwind finally subsided, only one person had escaped unharmed. High Priest Alex stood pressed against the chamber wall, the large silver book in one hand and the purple crystal pendant in the other. The hard book had served as a shield, allowing him to withstand the tentacle's blows. The purple crystal pendant enhanced his perception, allowing him to see his enemy's movements clearly.

Alex seized the moment the attacks stopped and sprang out from the enemy's right. He released the pendant and instead gripped a pitch-black cane. It was Black Baleful Stone produced by a distant volcano, famed for its exceptional hardness. Even iron doors would groan beneath its blows. From this angle, the tentacle would have difficulty coming to the enemy's aid at once. He would seize this chance to take the enemy's life.

His hand halted in midair as another powerful force intercepted the strike. It was Chu Hengkong's instep! His right leg erupted upward like a dragon ascending to the heavens. In a single instant, the fierce kick knocked the cane away. The tremendous force covered its surface in cracks, shattering it into fragments that filled the air.

Chu Hengkong followed through with a downward split kick, his heel smashing into Alex's shoulder. The High Priest was knocked to the ground by the blow. Raising his head, he saw the young man bathed in black dust, his gaze sharp as a pointed blade.

"Just who are you?" Alex's voice trembled.

The young man used his tentacle to deliver the final blow, then shrugged at the unconscious High Priest.

"My name is Chu Hengkong. I'm an assassin."