When the squid smelled the astaxanthin, it immediately swam to the surface of the sea, following the scent. Even after mutating, the squid's preferences hadn't changed. It was said that astaxanthin could delay aging in squid, a powerful effect that naturally drew them in.
The squid appeared on the surface, only to find its target was a person, suspended in the air. Even while hanging there, the person seemed to emit an enticing aroma.
The squid intended to seize its prey, but one of its tentacles was immediately severed. The squid felt pain, and then the surrounding seawater began to churn, while the currents below also shifted, becoming chaotic.
Although the squid lacked a brain, it wasn't foolish. Seeing the situation, it immediately understood it had been lured. It abandoned its meal and tried to dive back down, knowing that the safety of the deep water was its only refuge.
However, the seawater suddenly underwent a drastic change. The underwater currents shifted, preventing the squid from diving. Moreover, these currents seemed to be converging. The squid thrashed on the surface, creating waves that churned the surrounding water into a white froth, but it was still unable to submerge.
Sensing danger, the squid immediately unleashed its special ability. Hydrogen ions in the surrounding seawater converged, forming acidic water, making it impossible for anyone to approach.
Fang Qinghao's preparations were finally complete. The ocean had gathered enough currents. A single current might not be enough to move the squid's heavy body, but thousands of converging currents created an unstoppable, immense force. "Come out!" Fang Qinghao shouted.
Driven by the numerous underwater currents, the mountain-like squid was finally propelled. The five-hundred-meter-long creature was flung out of the water, not very high, only about ten meters. For a creature of its immense size, this height was barely above the water's surface.
Fang Qinghao collapsed on the ground. Jiang Kui quickly helped him to a resting place, while Ke Yiming also made his move.
"Flying Dragon in the Sky!" Ke Yiming roared, sending a three-meter-thick fire dragon flying forward. The fire dragon, with its fangs bared and claws extended, wrapped around the squid and began to burn it.
Simultaneously, Xun Yan, also an elemental user specializing in fire, attacked from not far away. He had been condensing fireballs in front of him since the squid appeared on the surface. By the time the squid finally left the water, a ten-meter-diameter fireball had formed before him. The surrounding air temperature rose, forcing ordinary soldiers to retreat.
"Go!" Xun Yan saw no need to name his abilities; the application of elemental powers was similar, depending only on proficiency. Naming them was for when they were shouted to unleash their full power, but without the shout, naming them was meaningless.
Xun Yan hurled a massive fireball, targeting the bulging upper portion of the squid, which he believed to be its vital spot.
The fireball and the fire dragon reached the squid almost simultaneously. The squid, now on the surface and away from the seawater it depended on, was naturally unable to evade such an attack.
"Boom!" The fireball struck the squid's body directly, its scorching flames searing half of its body. The squid's dozen or so tentacles thrashed in the air, clearly in great pain. If the squid could speak or roar, it would have been wailing in agony.
But then, the fire dragon controlled by Ke Yiming appeared. Guided by Li Keyi, the massive fire dragon coiled around the squid's tentacles and began to burn them ferociously. The tentacles, which had been flailing wildly, immediately ceased their movement. The parts entangled by the fire dragon could not withstand the intense heat and were severed, falling into the sea.
As the fire dragon burned the tentacles, the intense heat denatured the proteins, filling the air with the aroma of barbecued squid, quite appetizing. However, the fire dragon's temperature then instantly increased, the entire dragon becoming brighter as it charred the squid's tentacles. Finally, the squid, unable to move its tentacles, watched as the burned appendages fell into the water.
Seizing the rare opportunity, Shen Feng swooped down from the sky, a long sword in his hand. Behind him, tens of thousands of wind blades materialized, descending from the air like a dense rain. Their target was directly between the squid's eyes, where its head was located – its vital spot!
The squid, having just been thrown from the water, had no time to react before being attacked. A large portion of its body was seared by the scorching fireball, but the most fatal blow was the fire dragon entangling and burning all its tentacles, severing them. Even its reproductive organs were burned off.
Indeed, the squid's reproductive organs were among its tentacles, long ones that, after degeneration, lacked suckers. In this regard, the squid was truly an animal with its penis attached to its face. Ke Yiming paid no mind to this; they all looked like tentacles, suckers or not, and he burned them all!
At this moment, Shen Feng descended from the sky, accompanied by tens of thousands of wind blades. The squid finally sensed the fatal threat. Although it couldn't see the transparent wind blades, its instincts told it that the danger came from the small human above.
The squid could no longer afford to hesitate. It unleashed its ancestral escape technique. From its mouth, located beneath its head, the siphonophore opened, and a stream of seawater was expelled. The squid's method of propulsion was simple: it inhaled water, opened the siphonophore, and expelled the water at high pressure, using the reaction force to propel itself in the opposite direction.
When faced with danger, the squid's instincts kicked in. It employed its ancestral escape method, instantly shifting its position by over ten meters in mid-air.
Shen Feng, descending from above, had not anticipated such a turn of events. Although in the air, the reaction force from the expelled water was not significant, only moving the squid about ten meters. However, this distance was enough to alter the trajectory of the wind blades.
"Swish," "Swish"... Countless wind blades fell, slicing through the flesh and skin of the squid's head. The squid was not a particularly resilient creature, and this attack by the wind blades left its body torn and bleeding.
Unfortunately, only a portion of the wind blades successfully hit the squid. The majority landed in the water. Out of tens of thousands of wind blades, only two thousand struck the squid; eight thousand simply fell into the water, creating splashes but having no other effect.
As Shen Feng descended, he hurled the steel longsword he held with all his might at the dodging squid. "Ching!" The sword pierced the squid's eye, blinding its left eye.
Sadly, Shen Feng's attack ended there. Just as he was about to fall into the water, he manipulated the wind, using his paraglider to return to the cruiser.
Shen Feng's expression was grim. He hadn't expected the well-executed plan to falter at his hands. He had been tasked with the decisive blow, yet he had failed to deliver it.
The squid finally fell back into the water with a "splash," its massive body creating a large wave. However, it was clear the squid was not dead, as it began to take in water.
"Watch closely, this is not how you kill a sea beast. I'll teach you how!" At this moment, an excited voice echoed from a distance. It was Gong Changfa making his move.
Beside Gong Changfa stood a strong man who, pushing his hands forward, condensed wind to propel Gong Changfa's body into the air. Or rather, it couldn't be called flying, but being pushed into the air. The powerful wind force temporarily overcame gravity, giving the illusion that Gong Changfa was flying.
How could a stone fly? The answer was simple: speed. With sufficient speed, even a stone could take flight.
Shen Feng witnessed this and was immediately surprised. "Another wind elemental user, but their method is different from mine."
Shen Feng had now encountered two wind elemental users besides himself: Yi Xingzhong, who was beside Wang Aoye, and now Gong Changfa, a member of the Celestial Selection Bureau, who was being propelled through the air.
Li Keyi watched the battle on the sea intently. Shen Feng had returned, and the plan had ultimately failed. However, unexpectedly, Gong Changfa had also seized the opportunity to attack.
But after witnessing Gong Changfa's actions, Li Keyi inwardly sighed, "What a pity!"
As Gong Changfa flew to the squid near the water's surface, he mustered all his strength, his muscles bulging. Clenching his fists, he began to attack the squid below.
"Bang, bang..." Each punch Gong Changfa landed on the squid caused immense destruction. Gong Changfa never boasted about his destructive power, knowing it was sufficient.
With every punch, a chaotic flow of particles erupted within the squid. These particles wreaked havoc inside the creature, with each blow causing dozens of meters of tissue to die, cells to rupture, nerves to snap, and receptors to be destroyed.
However, in Li Keyi's eyes, while the attack was powerful, it was misdirected. Gong Changfa was currently attacking the bulging upper portion of the squid, its torso, not its vital spots.
If Gong Changfa had attacked the squid's head, a single punch could have destroyed its nervous system. Instead, he was wildly striking its torso. Even though it caused significant damage, as long as the squid's nervous system remained intact, it would not die and might even recover.
A twist occurred at this moment. While Gong Changfa was attacking erratically, the squid had already accumulated a surge of water within its body. It opened its siphonophore, expelling the water. Using the reaction force, the squid quickly moved a considerable distance on the surface. Gong Changfa fell into the water, unable to pursue the squid any further.
The squid, having narrowly escaped, immediately opened its ink sac and sprayed its ink, turning the water surface pitch black. The others could no longer see the squid's exact location.
At this point, Shen Feng suddenly retreated, removing his paraglider as he did so and handing it to Hou Xiaohua. The others didn't understand what Shen Feng was doing. Was he trying to escape because he couldn't accept the squid's escape?
However, Shen Feng said to Li Keyi, "Figure out the squid's location immediately. I have one more move!"
Li Keyi nodded quickly and contacted the command personnel on the cruiser, requesting sonar to locate the squid. Once its position was identified, it was reported to Shen Feng. The squid was still near the surface. The reasons for this were speculated to be: first, the squid's severe injuries prevented it from diving; second, it needed to accumulate water to submerge.
Shen Feng paid no mind to these details. Once he ascertained the squid's final location, he began a powerful sprint on the cruiser. His speed instantly surged. The moment he left the cruiser, Shen Feng broke the sound barrier!
"Boom!" The people on the ship were thrown off balance by the massive shockwave. Accompanying Shen Feng's breaking of the sound barrier was the sonic boom, and Shen Feng himself had vanished.
"Where did he go? Where did he go?" Yue Hengyi exclaimed in astonishment, noticing Shen Feng had suddenly disappeared from his sight. What had happened? How could a person just vanish into thin air?
Li Keyi, realizing something, quickly said, "Look at the sea!"
Li Keyi was shocked. She had never imagined that a human could achieve sonic speed with their bare body. Could the human body withstand such velocity?
"Rumble!" A massive water column suddenly appeared on the surface, as if a cannonball had struck the water. But then, a new situation unfolded on the sea's surface. A colossal body struggled violently in the water. The surrounding dark water could not conceal the enormous form of the squid as it thrashed about.