Chapter 361: Hart

These few mind flayers' tentacles were thick and posed a certain threat in close combat.

Luo De swung his sword casually.

The frontmost mind flayer actually knew how to deflect force, sacrificing one tentacle to dodge outright, while spreading both arms to embrace.

The other three arrived simultaneously, daggers and longswords hidden in their hands, their vicious little eyes filled with fatal resolve.

Ding!

The sharp blades pierced through the embracer's body and struck Luo De's skin; some slammed directly onto his head, others attacked from the side, stabbing hard into his ribs.

But without exception, all emitted the crisp clang of shattering metal.

"Hahahaha—"

Facing their desperate gazes, Luo De twisted his golden sword, and four octopus heads shot skyward.

The slime on his hand, Blackie, unleashed a vast net midair, swallowing all the octopus heads into its belly.

He turned to the main brain in the nutrient pool—it writhed faster, thudding like a heartbeat.

"Your turn now, little thing."

"Take your time."

A voice sounded beside Luo De's ear.

It was not psychic ability, but a basic transmission spell.

"No time. Blackie, swallow him."

The slime with its surface of black liquid metal activated 【Multiple Transformation】 and 【Ultra-Fast Splitting】, continuing to swell midair into a giant frog head, its toothless, slime-dripping mouth descending like a sky-covering net.

"I can block the gaze fixed upon you!"

The main brain shouted this rapidly.

The frog mouth slammed to a sudden halt.

Luo De's face grew cold; he stared at it in silence.

In recent years, he had angered many factions, but the most troublesome sensation came from the 【Unknown Rat-Person's Gaze】 during the Rat Eradication.

This debuff was acquired after he killed the gray-robed rat-lord, Ruike.

This debuff originally had another effect—【Focus Deterioration】, which counteracted mages—but it was exempted by 【The Will of the Azure Sky】.

Though the thing had long since lost all practical effect, it still hung in his status bar, utterly nauseating.

High-rank beings wielded strange, mysterious methods—who knew if they might sniff him out again?

Luo De crossed his arms.

"You should know—I came to slaughter your kind precisely because I find you repulsive. If this is all the use you offer, your dog's life won't be spared."

One threat versus another—choose the lesser evil.

Luo De preferred to kill the mind flayer main brain, who coveted the method of crafting magic rings.

"I can control slaves! The brain pool still holds unhatched eggs—they can continue producing your kind, and I'll control them all for you!"

The main brain hurried to pledge loyalty.

Its voice carried a sob, sounding genuinely unwilling to die.

Luo De stroked his chin.

A mind flayer community, huh.

Sounded somewhat dangerous—he still didn't fully understand these demons.

What if the mind flayers refused to obey the main brain?

Don't forget, there's a lone mind flayer still roaming the Twilight Hills; the rabbit folk's Aona hasn't found it yet.

He fell silent for a moment.

Luo De hurled a slavery spell at the main brain.

As expected, it failed.

Of course—how could a giant brain possibly have gender?

"Since you're in this state anyway, you can't keep it. Here's your chance to live: transform yourself into a female. I need absolute control over you."

"Huh?"

"You have three seconds to decide. Three. Two."

"I'll change! I can change! I can regress into a mind flayer—I just need to choose incomplete metamorphosis during the transformation!"

The main brain spoke without hesitation.

The main brain evolved from countless dead mind flayers' heads, having endured long years of growth; it retained little memory of ordinary mind flayers, but for survival, it was willing to commit acts against its nature.

Since it lacked physical mobility.

Luo De pulled a female corpse from a nearby backup brain-marrow tank and tossed it into the main brain's nurturing pool.

Of course.

He chose it with a touch of personal preference—a woman with pronounced female features, plump and full-bodied; though her face was ordinary, it hardly mattered—the main brain would become an octopus face anyway.

About half an hour later.

Psychic energy caused no light pollution, no magical roar.

It was dull and plain, like taking a nap.

The woman's corpse suddenly sat upright from the nurturing pool—now with an octopus head.

But her figure wasn't as gaunt as her kin's bamboo-stick frame; she had indeed grown taller and slimmer, yet crucially retained the corpse's plump features.

Beside her, the giant brain's writhing slowed drastically, almost lifeless.

The transformed main brain was clearly less adorable than its giant-brain form.

Her gaze was cold and cruel, radiating arrogance and conceit, identical to her kin.

Presumably, this was the mind flayer's innate nature.

Luo De had Blackie devour the gradually dying main brain, then ignited resentment fire to burn the remaining unhatched mind flayers.

The female mind flayer beside him wore a face of agony and hatred.

Anyone else seeing her expression would be terrified.

But Luo De wasn't.

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

Though she showed no female reaction whatsoever.

"Your name."

"My full name is /*/*2/**&%……%*&%￥#."

"."

Fine—the rest was probably their own language; Luo De didn't understand it and didn't care to translate.

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

"."

He cast the slavery spell.

【Slavery Failed】

Clearly, she submitted in action but not in heart.

Without hesitation, Luo De drove his sword through her body.

Hart's eyes widened; instinctively, she flung a psychic shockwave backward—useless.

The sword withdrew, spilling purple-black blood onto the resentment fire, sizzling wildly.

She staggered two steps, collapsing weakly to her knees.

"W-why? We had an agreement—"

【Slavery Successful】

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

【Race: Mind Flayer (Incomplete, Deformed)】

【Age: 403】

【Obedience: 24】

【Evaluation: A race skilled in psychic abilities, whose origins are unknown—even the vast cosmic void has never encountered such a new species.

Who could imagine enslaving a mind flayer? You're a fucking genius! Octopus mouth big tentacles, don't leave till you're writhing!】

"Crazy."

This evaluation was definitely influenced by that.

Who would get aroused over an octopus head?

Luo De sneered.

At that moment, he noticed Hart seemed near death—her ass in the air, face-down, breathing in shallow gasps, likely already seeing her great-grandmother.

She'd just transformed; her body was weak. This sword pierced through her, carrying sharp spiritual energy—of course she'd die.

Luo De was startled.

He quickly pressed his hand over her chest wound and cast 【Decay-Unity】 to heal.

Oh—

But don't say it, don't say it.

The transformed mind flayer's body had a rubbery elasticity; her chest bounced duangduang—quite amusing.

(End of Chapter)