Chapter 198: Chapter 186: The Tentacle Monster in the Vortex Eye

The six of them were tossed about on the yacht, caught in the whirlpool’s currents. The air they breathed was intensely hot and humid. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

A closer look revealed that the whirlpool’s rapid rotation generated powerful suction. Yet even within the chaotic vortex, the water seemed to be controlled by a magnetic field, forming evenly distributed, layered tracks.

Every individual seemed insignificant in the face of such a crisis; nature’s traps do not distinguish between friend and foe. The yacht’s engine roared to maximum power, appearing to charge straight for the whirlpool’s center.

The group held on tight, securing themselves to the yacht. They watched as the whirlpool sucked in the objects beside them—including, to their horror, sea creatures nearly the size of their vessel.

The yacht followed an outer track, harnessing the current’s rotational energy. Just as it was about to be pulled down into the next track, it suddenly accelerated, bursting into another one of the whirlpool’s outer lanes.

It used this momentum to cross several outer tracks, its engine still at full power, desperately trying to reach the safe zone less than a hundred meters away.

Unfortunately, the yacht’s engine was no match for a disaster of this scale. In its battle against the suction, it fell just short of the power it needed.

"Keep using the rotational force of the whirlpool’s tracks to jump to the corresponding lane on the other side! We can still buy ourselves some more time!"

"The engine can’t maintain this level of acceleration for long! We have to find another way, or we’ll be swallowed by the whirlpool’s eye before the Boss gets here."

"Flora, what do we do? If we get sucked in, we’re dead for sure, aren’t we?"

"Don’t worry, we’ll be fine!"

Flora Bloom was constantly monitoring everyone’s position, trying to keep an arm’s length from the others. ’If we really can’t hold on, or if something else happens, I’ll have to do what Lex Cross told me.’

The deep center of the whirlpool was like an open eye. At the bottom, a creature as large as the whirlpool itself lay in wait.

It rested at the very bottom of the whirlpool’s eye. Its skin was pale brown, its head round and bulging, with fleshy folds below. It looked like a motionless, crouching jellyfish.

Its eyes, embedded in fleshy tendrils, stared at the things being pulled into the whirlpool. Occasionally, it would unfurl a tentacle, wrap it around a large, struggling fish, and drag it into the depths of the whirlpool’s eye.

The great fish struggled with all its might to escape death’s embrace, only to discover the underside of the tentacle was covered in countless pink suckers of all sizes, which held it fast. Then, with just a slight exertion from the tip of the pale pink tentacle, its tenacious Life Force was drained completely.

The giant fish was swallowed in a single gulp. The creature then retracted its tentacle and resumed waiting at the bottom of the whirlpool’s eye for its next interesting piece of prey.

Suddenly, it noticed a boat on the whirlpool’s outermost edge. It looked like it was being pulled in, teetering on the brink, yet every time it was about to be dragged toward the eye, it would suddenly accelerate and move to another outer track, where it continued to drift.

After several repetitions, the boat—no bigger than an ant in its eyes—continued this cycle of spinning and drifting, yet it remained on the whirlpool’s outer edge, showing no sign of drawing any closer to the eye.

The giant monster, a mix of curiosity and displeasure stirring within it, suddenly unfurled the tentacles hidden beneath its head.

Seventeen thick, long tentacles, each covered underneath with suckers of all sizes. Once it revealed its true form, it was clear: a stupendously large octopus. With its seventeen tentacles unfurled, its body was even larger than the whirlpool itself.

It watched the little ant above, which kept breaking free from the whirlpool’s tracks to charge toward the safe zone. One tentacle rose through the center of the whirlpool’s eye, slowly approaching the struggling pest.

One hour and fifty minutes in. The Crown Prince and Lynx coordinated their piloting, navigating the yacht through the whirlpool’s tracks while anxiously watching the scene outside. They were both drenched in sweat. After nearly two hours of high-speed operation, the yacht’s propulsion system was showing signs of wear.

A rumbling sound began to echo from the sky—an airliner. The Crown Prince, Lynx, and the others looked out the front of the cockpit, a hint of a smile finally gracing their faces.

This Boeing F73n7 was the military aircraft they had flown from Argent to Morhaven. Though it had the appearance of a passenger jet, it was a modified fighter. Its engines could easily counter the atmospheric turbulence generated by ordinary ocean currents.

Right then, Saul Sterling and Five were in the pilot and co-pilot seats, operating the aircraft.

"A little faster."

Lex Cross glanced down at the combat timer on his wrist. His voice was dangerously low, as if suppressed by the weight of an atomic bomb. He looked expressionless, but those who knew him understood that the more tense he was, the calmer and more composed he appeared, betraying no emotion on the surface.

"Boss, we’re already at maximum velocity—five minutes ahead of schedule!" Five carefully adjusted the controls, opening a video feed that projected the situation on the ocean surface onto a screen in the cockpit.

"We’re here. They’re right below, on the outer edge of the whirlpool... Wait, what is that?" Five suddenly cried out, staring at the image of a massive tentacle that had just appeared inside the vortex.

"What is that!" Saul Sterling exclaimed, his face paling in shock.

"Why does that look so much like the leader of the Great Crows from the Outer Battlefield?" Saul Sterling wracked his brain, finally realizing that the tentacle in the whirlpool was a dead ringer for one belonging to the Great Crow leader. But the leader was far too massive; a single one of its tentacles could obliterate this entire whirlpool in one strike. This thing below, even if it was an extraterrestrial lifeform from the Great Crow Clan, was nowhere near the leader’s level!

Lex Cross frowned at the tentacle on the screen and strode quickly to the cabin door.

"Boss, what are you doing! Your superpower is unstable right now! Fighting a member of the Great Crow Clan will drain your strength!"

"Lower the altitude. Open the door!"

Lex Cross’s words were like an imperial edict. Five and Saul exchanged a worried glance, throttled back the thrusters, and began to lower the aircraft’s altitude. Resigned, they pressed the button to open the cabin door.

The moment the door opened, a turbulent, hot gale rushed into the cabin.

A layer of black energy enveloped Lex Cross’s body.

From the sky, the whirlpool looked like a kaleidoscopic vortex, with currents of varying speeds flowing inward to converge into a rainbow-colored eye.

But from that rainbow-colored eye, an enormous tentacle emerged, covered in suckers of all sizes. The yacht carrying Flora Bloom and the others was about the same size as one of the tentacle’s medium suckers. Its sheer, terrifying scale was undeniable.

The tentacle’s target was the yacht. If Flora Bloom had seen it at that moment, she surely would have paled and thought in shock, ’That’s one huge octopus tentacle!’

But she didn’t have time for such thoughts. She didn’t even see a shadow of it before the massive tip of the tentacle shot up from beneath the water and coiled around her waist.

"Flora!"

"Flora Bloom!"

"Ma’am!"

Flora Bloom was completely helpless as she was ensnared and dragged from the yacht. By the time the others could react, she had already been pulled into the center of the whirlpool, her figure vanishing from sight.

"Crown Prince, Lynx, coordinate with Five and Saul to get this yacht out of the whirlpool. Then leave immediately!" The next second, Lex Cross’s form, shrouded in black energy, plummeted past the bow of their yacht. His deep, bone-chilling voice sent a wave of cold dread through them all, a shiver that shot straight to their souls.

SPLASH! With a great spray of water, Lex Cross dove unhesitatingly into the eye of the whirlpool, speeding off in the direction Flora Bloom had been dragged.

’Damn woman. I turn my back for a few days, and she runs off to a deathtrap like this, just to see how far she can push me!’