Benevolent Heart Clinic, director's office.
The sky outside had turned completely dark, with only two pale moons hanging in the distance, casting a layer of deathly silver frost over this cursed land.
Victor sat behind his broad desk, holding a steaming cup of coffee in his hand, but his face wore a look of... constipated conflict.
"Tentacles..."
He looked at his clean, slender hands and thought back to that Lovecraftian skill icon from moments ago.
"A mythical-grade skill sounds impressive."
"But this name... isn't it a bit of a letdown?"
"If I'm fighting someone in the future, I can't exactly shout, 'Behold my giant tentacles!' The vibe is just too perverted."
Victor shook his head, deciding to personally test the true power of this "divine skill."
After all, practice was the sole criterion for testing truth.
He took a deep breath, concentrated, and began to commune with that ancient, chaotic mark that had just fused into the depths of his soul.
"Come out, my... assistants."
Victor felt that the word "assistants" sounded more professional than "little darlings."
Shush—
There were no earth-shattering special effects.
Victor only felt an itch on his back, as if he had been bitten by a mosquito.
Immediately after.
The space behind him rippled like a stone being dropped into a calm lake, sending out circles of pitch-black ripples.
At the center of the ripples, a long, bottomless narrow slit tore open.
There was no light in that opening, only pure void that seemed capable of swallowing everything.
Then.
Eight... no, as Victor's mental strength increased, there were now twelve massive abyssal tentacles, pitch-black and covered in purple suckers with sharp hooks at their tips, silently emerging from that spatial rift.
They were like a pack of ancient pythons awakening from the abyss, dancing nimbly in the air as they explored this brand-new world.
The surface of the tentacles was slimy yet tough, covered in a fine layer of scale-like cuticles. As the suckers opened and closed, they made soft "pop" sounds, seemingly capable of gripping any object.
"Hiss—"
Looking at the "dance of demons" behind him in the mirror, Victor couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air.
It was indeed... quite oppressive.
And indeed... quite perverted.
"Strength test."
With a thought from Victor.
One of the thickest tentacles shot out like lightning, precisely coiling around a five-hundred-kilogram suit of pure iron knight armor that served as a decoration in the corner of the room.
Then, it applied a slight amount of force.
Creak—
A tooth-aching sound of twisting metal rang out.
That heavy plate armor, sufficient to withstand blades and swords, was crushed into a ball of scrap metal instantly under the constriction of that tentacle, like a fragile soda can.
"Strength is good."
Victor nodded in satisfaction.
"Speed test."
He turned his gaze toward a fly resting on the window.
Shoom!
The tip of another thinner tentacle snapped out, so fast that only an afterimage could be seen.
Slap.
A light sound.
The fly, still rubbing its legs together, didn't even have time to react before it was precisely flattened into a two-dimensional "fly pancake," stuck firmly to the glass.
"Precision is sufficient."
"It's just a bit... disgusting."
Victor looked at the green goo on the tip of the tentacle and shook it off in distaste. The mucus on the tentacle's surface automatically decomposed the stain, restoring its cleanliness instantly.
"Built-in cleaning function? That's good."
Having tested the basic attributes, Victor began to attempt more complex operations.
He discovered that these twelve tentacles were like extensions of his own body, moving exactly as he commanded, even more nimbly than his own hands.
He could drink coffee with his left hand, write in a notebook with his right hand, and simultaneously...
"Tentacle Number One, go grab that human anatomy atlas."
"Tentacle Number Two, throw that scrap metal on the floor into the trash bin."
"Tentacle Number Three, massage my shoulders. Yes, right there, use a bit more force."
"Tentacle Number Four, go close the window. It's getting a bit cold."
...
For a moment.
An extremely eerie scene played out in the office.
Victor sat leisurely in his chair, motionless.
Meanwhile, the twelve tentacles behind him were like a group of well-trained servants, each performing their duties and keeping the room in perfect order.
Some were organizing documents, some were wiping instruments, and one even curled around a rag to wipe the desk.
Multi-threaded work!
This was simply the ultimate divine skill that every researcher and corporate slave dreamed of!
"So... so convenient."
Victor leaned back comfortably in his chair, enjoying the attentive massage from the "power of the abyss," unable to stop himself from letting out a decadent groan.
"Using this thing for fighting is honestly a waste of talent."
"This is clearly the most perfect... life secretary!"
Just as Victor was immersing himself in this corrupt lifestyle of having everything handed to him.
Knock, knock.
The office door was knocked.
"Come in."
Victor responded casually, forgetting to retract the "secretaries" behind him.
The door opened.
Alice, Elizabeth, and Mia walked in carrying freshly made midnight snacks.
Then.
They witnessed a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
Their respected director was leaning back in his chair with a look of pure bliss.
And behind him, over a dozen slimy, black, sucker-covered massive tentacles protruded.
Some tentacles were pounding his back.
Some were fanning him.
One was even coiled around a small piece of cake, carefully feeding it into his mouth.
That image...
No matter how one looked at it, it resembled a hero who had been captured by an abyssal demon king, had utterly fallen, and was now addicted to pleasure.
"..."
The air was deathly silent.
The trays in the hands of the three god-chosen almost fell to the ground simultaneously.
"Di... Director?"
Alice looked at those tentacles, which were more flexible than her great scissors, her red eyes sparkling with a mix of curiosity and envy.
"Did you... grow new arms?"
Elizabeth took a half-step back with a face full of disgust, as if she had seen something extremely unholy.
"Director, although I know you've been under a lot of pressure lately."
"But... don't you think you should go see a psychiatrist?"
Only Mia.
Her clear, large eyes were filled with pure confusion.
She tilted her head, pointed at one of the tentacles scratching Victor's itch, and asked curiously:
"Director, is that... edible?"
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Victor almost spat out his coffee at their reactions.
Only then did he remember he had forgotten to deactivate the skill.
"Don't make a fuss."
Victor forced himself to remain calm, explaining with a straight face:
"This is a 'multi-functional bionic prosthetic' I recently developed, specifically designed to assist in high-difficulty surgeries."
"I was just performing routine functional testing."
As he spoke, he controlled a tentacle to precisely pick up a small biscuit from Alice's tray with a fork.
"See? How convenient."
"In the future, during surgery, I won't need you to hand me things."
"Hmm... this massage function isn't bad either."
Victor controlled two more tentacles to comb the hair of Alice and Mia nearby.
The suckers at the tips of the tentacles wriggled like countless tiny fingers gently massaging their scalps, making both little girls squint their eyes in comfort.
"Ooh... so comfortable..."
"The director's massage technique... is so good..."
Elizabeth looked at the warm scene of "fatherly love and filial devotion" before her, then looked at those slimy tentacles.
She felt her stomach churning.
What kind of prosthetic was this?
This was clearly an organ torn from some indescribable monster!
This man...
He really has gone mad.
Just as the vibe in the office was about to completely derail into some strange "tentacle massage parlor."
【Warning! Warning!】
【Host is using a mythical-grade skill to perform extremely low-tier, undignified 'housekeeping services'!】
【Severe Warning!】
【Please cease this blasphemous behavior immediately!】
【Please respect the dignity of the old ones!】
【Do not use world-ending tentacles... for a full-body massage!!!】
A row of blood-red pop-ups filled with frantic and collapsing emotions from the system sprite suddenly exploded in Victor's vision.
The massive exclamation marks were even dripping blood.
Victor blinked.
"Full-body massage?"
He looked at the tentacle scratching Mia's belly and the one braiding Alice's hair.
"I'm clearly... promoting doctor-patient... no, promoting team harmony through friendly interaction."
He curled his lip and somewhat reluctantly retracted the tentacles that were "neglecting their duties."
"Fine, since you put it that way."
Victor stood up and stretched.
The twelve abyssal tentacles behind him slowly unfurled like a peacock's tail, emitting a suffocatingly terrifying aura.
"It is also time..."
"To let these little darlings out to stretch their muscles."
He walked to the window, looking at the unknown forest outside that crouched in the night like a giant beast, a cold arc curving at the corner of his mouth.
"Elizabeth, help me look into something."
"Where nearby can I find some disobedient 'patients'?"
"Preferably the kind... that are thick-skinned and can take a beating."
Victor turned around, his pitch-black eyes flickering with the fanatical light of an experimenter about to begin a brand-new trial.
"These new 'scalpels' of mine..."
"Are already starving."
Rate on N.U.
