The enormous octopus covered in eyeballs was, naturally, the shadow's true form.
Great King Puppet Octopus—that was what Research Institute 3154 called it.
It was an extremely rare Transcendent Creature with a very unusual ecology.
At birth, it looked like an ordinary octopus, hunting small fish and shrimp near the surface of the Shallow Sea.
As time passed, this kind of octopus grew larger and larger, and began growing extra eyes.
These eyes could control the corpses of other creatures, allowing them to display the strength they had possessed in life without fear of pain or injury.
Even their supernatural abilities could be perfectly reproduced.
The Great King Puppet Octopus relied on this ability to vastly enhance its strength.
As more time passed, the Great King Puppet Octopus grew more and more eyes, and its control grew increasingly powerful.
Once it grew enough to control creatures of the Main Sea, it could run rampant there.
Once it grew enough to control the Deep Sea Behemoth, it could move freely in the deep sea.
The institute speculated internally that this creature might grow powerful enough to control beings of the Abyssal Sea, at which point it would join the ranks of those forbidden beings.
Although this was only speculation and had yet to be verified, it still demonstrated the Great King Puppet Octopus's terrifying potential.
That said, compared with the other terrifying forbidden beings of the Abyssal Sea, the Great King Puppet Octopus was not particularly powerful.
Its most terrifying trait was its ability to adjust its strength flexibly, allowing it to appear almost anywhere.
According to Research Institute 3154, divisions such as the Shallow Sea, Main Sea, and Deep Sea were not man-made. Rather, exceptionally powerful natural barriers existed between these layers.
These barriers were like enormous nets, trapping powerful