Seeing the majestic, crackling lobsters quickly grow larger in his vision, Henry was reminded of the first time he'd taken one of the Riptide sharks head on. Of that first time where he'd really thrown caution to the wind and taken the risk of baring his beak at a predator, declaring himself a predator of his own. And while his nerves and hearts were singing in his ear, he could frankly say that he wasn't nearly as terrified as he'd been back then.

But maybe he should have? After all, this being was the same as that massive turtle he'd encountered not so long ago. But then, he recalled all the fighting that had taken place in the Wave. And he recalled facing Velistraine.

I'm on a whole other playing field nowadays. Especially with the extra boost I've gotten from the recent evolution, he thought seeing his own giant form flash through the water from his satellite clones, the water only churning and kicking up sand long after he had passed it.

Like the seals Henry had fought months ago, a barely visible, multicolored sheen stuck to his skin, making his blitzing form cut seamlessly through the water toward his opponent. Only the most perceptive of beings would have been able to perceive it with how fast Lightning Dash was carrying him. Unfortunately, the A-rank electric lobster was most likely such a creature, and even though it merely took Henry a blink to reach the lobster, both of its pincers were already raised in a casual guard, ready to receive the two stabbing arms coming toward it.

It even had time to correct its angle to really kill the two stabbing arms' moment, daring Henry to pierce through its chitinous armor. So Henry channeled his mana into the leviathan's two teeth and had the pleasure to see the twitch of alarm course through the lobster's antenna, a beat before the two teeth punctured the two giant claws, sinking through the tough blue exoskeleton and forcing a curse out of Henry's thoughts as a jolt of wild current burned through his arms.

Looking down at the stab as his green Octomind healed his electric's burn, Henry's surprise contrasted with the pulse of outrage that slipped out of the lobster's usually impassive demeanor, and by the time the momentum of his improvised weapons slowed, his teleport was already channeling and as the body of the lobster crackled, Henry re-appeared some distance above the lobster right as a pulse of violent blue magic exploded out of the crustacean's frame and vaporized the clone before it could detonate.

Got it. Don't stick around after I land a hit, Henry concluded.

The light was blinding, sending electricity arcing through the water and even as it faded, the bolts of light continued to shudder and flash. But Henry's wasn't going to let up. Teleporting back behind it, his form crackled once more as he sped toward the lobster like a glowing bullet. The lobster began to turn, claw raised to intercept and slap him away as thinner and faster deep blue bolts danced on its chitinous shell, and Henry, beak gritted, pulled on his Octominds and a good dollop of Thaumaturgy before shoved the arm down with Telekinesis, exposing the furiously gnashing maw before his Predation empowered arm stabbed toward the lobster's face.

Then two of his Octominds blared at him to immediately back away.

Before he could fully process why, Henry threw himself to the side with a couple of short-ranged Blinks before he looked back.

Right below the lobster's head were two smaller clawed arms. Well, relatively smaller. They were still larger than a fully grown man each, and unlike the two massive pincers, these two smaller ones were glowing with an intense blue as lightning danced between them as if they were two tesla-coils.

Okay yeah, that might have hurt, he thought. Arms still trembling from some residual electricity, Henry pooled three of his frontal arm, lengthening them, then tipped the improvised lance with three teeth, aligning the sharp end to create one single point.

He couldn't afford to get too close, so he needed a little bit of range.

And maybe it's time to revisit an old Skill, Henry thought. But it was a little annoying how weak it was going to be. After all, until now he hadn't needed that many ranged attacks. He was mostly focused on getting on a creature and just blast and cut into it until it died. But with the lobster, that wasn't a good call, and Echoing Arm was decent for range, but it wasn't as great with something that sported such high physical defense.

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I mean I haven't tested it yet, but if that shell needs a mana-charged leviathan teeth to pierce, then Echoing Strike will struggle. I'll test it still, but I don't have high hopes.

Eying the annoyed lobster below as it ignored him to examine the holes in its arm, Henry grumbled.

Alright. Screw it. Time to get some spicier ranged attack.

With a flex of his will, a piece of familiar green-scaled meat popped out of his Maw and into his arm before he used one of his suckers to bite into it, and just to be quick about it, he pushed a little of the hungry Predation concepts into the sucker. To really taste the meat and make sure Magic Mimic got all that it needed.

Magic Mimic: Toxic Ray (D) was copied temporarily

At least it showed up stronger than it had been before, he thought as he ordered one of his Octominds to begin integrating the Skill within Predation so it could use this battle to really settle in and integrate in his soul. It was probably because compared to back then, Henry was much more in tune with venoms and his body in general.

Let's kill some time, then, he thought as he spread out his non-fused arms and began whipping them down at the lobster. Giant arcs of blue energy flitted down as fast as Henry's arm whipped down, kicking up a storm of sand whenever any of them missed. But since the first one hit before he lost visibility, his theory was proved right as the ghostly strike just smacked into the shell with the same impact a feather would as it fell to the ground.

Ugh, knew it, he thought as he changed tactics. As he pulled on his Renewal and Shadow essence and turned himself invisible, floating above the cloud, Henry had one of his Octomind apparition wait in his place, waiting for the lobster to appear.

That didn't mean he could take his eyes out of the cloud, of course. He wasn't underestimating the damn thing, and while his essence-empowered camouflages had historically being effective, the lobster had also shown itself particularly perceptive. So Henry wasn't about to be ambushed while he himself was trying to catch the monster unaware.

The sand parted to show the lobster still in its spot, antennas waving about as it peered left and right.

"Go," he ordered the red and shadowy Octomind. At the same time, he sent twenty of his clones down, primed and ready to blow up while he lined himself up right above the monster with the three-arm spear pointed down. A quick look inwardly told him the Octomind was still working on moving the flimsy, temporary Skill deeper into Henry's soul. With it being temporary, it was as if it had been appended to the edge of his spirit by Magic Mimic, and it would be washed away or destroyed in time if it wasn't maintained. But that wasn't enough. Henry needed it to set its roots deeply and safely.

"Keep going," he urged the Octomind as he watched the fight below. There were two other Octominds away, one of which was overseeing the looting of the lobster's stash, but he couldn't spare them his attention as the clones began peppering the annoyed lobster with their explosions, and when the action reached its peak—though it still was completely one-sided—Henry sped down.

But he didn't activate any Skill. Not yet. He recalled very well how the lobster had detected his presence when he'd used an ability in the past.

Henry pulled his arm back as he urged his red Octomind to go wild, drawing as much of the lobster's attention as it could, and when Henry was only a few yards away, he activated everything.

Krakenbane's Wrath and Crimson Surge bathed the world in red as his body coiled with barely contained strength. Lightning Dash made him cut through the remaining distance in the time it took the lobster's antenna to twitch. Evershifting Strike accelerated his strike and promised a tremendous amount of pain wherever the point would strike.

Henry stabbed down, mind straining with the focus of holding all the Skills together, and right as his spear was about to impact, a blue ball of wild lightning bloomed out the lobster's back.

Then there was only light and pain.

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