Chapter 361: Hart

The tentacles of these few mind flayers were thick and sturdy, posing a certain threat in close combat as well.

Rod casually swung out a sword.

The very first mind flayer actually knew how to deflect force, forcibly dodging at the cost of one tentacle, while simultaneously spreading its arms to grapple.

The other three also arrived, daggers and longswords hidden in their hands, their fierce little eyes filled with the look of men resolved to die.

Clang!

The sharp blades passed through the grappler's body and struck Rod's skin—some pressed directly onto the top of his head, others attacked from the side, viciously stabbing at his flanks.

But without exception, they all produced the crisp, clear clang of iron being deflected away.

"Hahahaha—"

Rod met their despairing gazes as his golden longsword whirled, and four octopus heads soared into the air.

The little black slime on his hand shed a great net in midair, enveloping every one of the octopus heads into its belly.

He looked toward the main brain in the nutrient pool; it writhed faster, thumping like a heartbeat.

"Your turn, little thing."

"Hold on a moment."

A voice sounded right by Rod's ear.

This was not a psionic ability, but a rather basic message-sending spell.

"Not slow—Little Black, swallow it."

The slime, its surface like black fluid metal, activated 【Multi-Form Shift】 and 【Hyper-Speed Splitting】, continuing to swell in midair, transforming into a giant frog's head, a toothless great mouth trailing slime descending from the sky to engulf it.

"I can block the gaze fixed upon you!"

The main brain shouted out this sentence at top speed.

The frog's great mouth slammed on the brakes.

Rod's face went cold as he stared at it in silence.

In recent years he had offended quite a few powers, and the one that felt most troublesome was that 【Gaze of the Unknown Rat-Person】 from the Rat Extermination Operation.

This was the debuff he had obtained after slaying that grey-robed lord rat-person, Lady Lady Ruike.

This debuff should have also carried a 【Focus Decay】 effect that countered mages, but it had been nullified by 【Will of the Firmament】.

Although the thing was already a dead letter in name, it remained stuck on his status bar—extremely disgusting.

High-level beings had strange and mysterious methods; who knew if they might sniff out the trail and come looking for him again.

Rod crossed his arms.

"You should understand—I came to slaughter your kin precisely to disgust you. If all you have is this tiny little trick, it won't save your dog life."

One threat weighed against another; of two evils, choose the lesser.

Rod was more inclined to kill the mind flayer main brain before him that coveted the method of crafting magic rings.

"I can control slaves! There are still unhatched eggs in the brain pool—they can continue to produce more of my kind, and I'll control them all to serve you!"

The main brain hurriedly pledged its loyalty.

There was even a sobbing tone in its words; it really sounded as though it didn't want to die.

Rod stroked his chin.

A mind flayer community, huh.

It sounded a bit dangerous—after all, he still didn't consider himself very familiar with this kind of monster.

What if the mind flayers didn't listen to the main brain?

Don't forget, there was a lone mind flayer up on the Twilight Hills that Lady Aona of the rabbit-folk still hadn't found.

He deliberated for a moment.

Rod tossed a Nu Yi Zhou at the main brain.

As expected, it failed.

And indeed—how could a big brain possibly have a distinction between male and female?

"Anyway, don't even think about keeping your current form. How about this—I'll give you one chance to live. Make yourself into a female; I need to have definite control over you."

"Huh?"

"You have three seconds to consider—three, two—"

"I'll change! I can change! I can devolve back into a mind flayer—as long as I deliberately choose an incomplete metamorphosis during the transformation period!"

The main brain barely hesitated, hurriedly saying so.

A mind flayer's main brain evolved from the brains of countless dead mind flayers; it had gone through long ages of growth, and the memories of an ordinary mind flayer were mostly forgotten, but to stay alive it was willing to act against its own heart.

Since it had no ability to do anything itself.

Rod fetched a female corpse from a spare brain-marrow vat on one side for it, then tossed it into the main brain's nurturing pool.

Of course.

He also picked with a touch of selfishness—it was a plump woman with rather obvious feminine features; her face was nothing special, but then again, after the main brain devolved it would be an octopus face anyway.

About half an hour later.

The psionic ability had no light pollution, no roar of magical power.

It was plain and simple, like having taken an afternoon nap.

The woman's corpse suddenly sat up from the nurturing pool, already transformed into an octopus head.

However, her figure hadn't become as thin as a bamboo pole like her kin's, though she had indeed grown taller and considerably slimmer; more importantly, the corpse's plump features had been successfully preserved.

The big brain beside her visibly slowed its writhing, even looking a little on the verge of death.

After becoming a mind flayer, the main brain was clearly not as cute as it had been in its big-brain phase.

Her gaze was cold and cruel, carrying a natural arrogance and conceit—exactly like the rest of her kind.

Most likely, this is the Mind Flayer's innate personality.

Rod controlled the Slime Little Black to swallow the gradually deactivating main brain, then reignited the Wraith Fire to burn down the remaining unhatched Mind Flayers.

The female Mind Flayer on the side wore an expression of agony and resentment.

If anyone else saw that look on her face, they'd inevitably be terrified.

But Rod wouldn't.

Not only wouldn't he, he even reached out and grabbed her.

Though she didn't have the reaction a woman ought to have, that's all.

"Your name."

"My full name is /*/*2/**&%……%*&%￥#."

"."

Alright, the latter part was probably their Mind Flayer language; Rod didn't understand it anyway, and couldn't be bothered to translate.

"The past is the past. From today on, your name is Hart."

"."

He slapped on the Nu Yi Zhou.

【Nu Yi Cheng Gong】 — Failed

Clearly, to save her own skin, she outwardly submitted, but inwardly she was not convinced.

Without a word, Rod drove a sword straight through her body.

Hart's eyes went wide, and she instinctively flung back a Psionic Blast — useless.

The longsword was pulled out, bringing with it purplish-black blood that scattered onto the Wraith Fire, hissing and crackling.

She staggered two steps and weakly dropped to her knees.

"Wh-why? Didn't we agree—"

【Nu Yi Cheng Gong】 — Success

【Enslaved Target 14: Hart (Real Name: /*/*2/**&%……%*&%￥#)】

【Race: Mind Flayer (Incomplete, Deformed)】

【Age: 403】

【Obedience: 24】

【Evaluation: A race adept at psychic abilities. No one knows their past; a brand-new species unseen even in the vast cosmic other-realms.

Who would have thought to enslave a Mind Flayer? You son of a bitch, you're a real genius! Octopus mouth, big tentacles — you don't get to leave until you're satisfied!】

"Sick."

That evaluation was a bit lewd, to say the least.

Who would get aroused by an octopus head?

Rod expressed his utter contempt.

Only then did he notice that the Mind Flayer Hart seemed to be on the verge of death — stuck upside down with her rear sticking up, more breath going out than in; she had probably already met her maker.

She had only just transformed, her body was extremely weak, and that sword had gone clean through her, carrying with it a sharp spiritual edge — it would be a miracle if she didn't die.

Rod was startled too.

He hurriedly pressed down on the wound on her chest and cast 【Necrotic Symbiosis】 to heal her.

Oh—

But you know what, seriously.

The transformed Mind Flayer's body had a rubber-like elasticity, and her chest went *boing boing* — quite amusing.

(End of Chapter)