Nathan shielded his eyes from the light. After hours in total darkness, having a sun pressed up to your eyeballs was a little bit of a shocking experience.

  He blinked several times until the light cleared away.

  “Nathan, what’s up?”

  Nathan blinked a few more times.

  He craned his head up.

  Mara was sat in the middle of a giant humanoid robot. Her seatbelts were off and flapping at the side. She had her hands gripped on to levers in front of her, a wild grin on her face.

  “I was wondering when that was going to show back up again,” Nathan muttered to himself.

  Three other sets of footsteps rang out.

  Chad walked up to Nathan, streaming window still on and cheeks covered in soot. Emi and Bjorn weren’t much better off, their clothes and hair stained black.

  Nathan made an X sign with his arms. “Cut the stream.”

  Chad’s eyes widened. “Wait, what? But the subathon—!”

  “It’s a cognitohazard. SCP Bullshit. The chat will understand.”

  At the mention of a cognitohazard, Chad paled bright white. Emi and Bjorn stared at Nathan. Meanwhile Mara was too busy doing somersaults using her new giant robot and was thus not a concern for Nathan.

  Chad nodded up and down fast. “Sorry guys, but if Nathan is right, we can’t afford to show this video to the public.”

  Chad muted the stream and turned off the video. On the preview page, the stream cut to a loading screen with an animation of Chad repeatedly slashing enemies to dust using wind based attacks.

  “Okay, so long story short,” Nathan said. “We're about to fight against an eldritch horror who created the entire apocalypse system. She’s older than time, knowing about her slowly destroys your brain, and all of you are going to need your minds wiped after this fight.”

  Chad stared blankly at Nathan.

  “What.”

  “I know that’s a lot to take in, but, uh—” Nathan pointed at Bjorn. “—Bjorn actually found out and had to get his memories erased.”

  Chad squinted his eyes and stared at the ground like he was questioning the foundation of the universe itself.

  “Great,” he said. “So we just have to fight a being of basically infinite power who as a side effect can turn our brains to mush just by thinking about it for too long.” He furled his eyebrows. “Remind me again why exactly we aren't giving up right now?”

  “Because we're only fighting the head of the snake. She’s abnormally weak right now. It seems like she hasn’t left this location, so we have a chance to put her down once and for all.”

  Emi looked up at the sky with an uneasy stare. “This isn’t the right time for a confrontation like this. We should’ve come in prepared.”

  “We might not get another opportunity.” Nathan pulled his harpoon out of his inventory. “Again, I’m sorry to drop all of this on you out of nowhere, but we don’t have time to discuss this any further.”

  Chad twirled his sword in his hand. Sweat had built up on his forehead and created a glimmering sheen. “Hey, if Nathan Lee says we've got a chance, then I believe it.”

  “No pressure, though,” Nathan said.

  “Yeah, obviously. It’s not like if you mess up we're all doomed or something.”

  Overhead, the hole in the sky shifted. It creaked, and wheezed, and there was a flash of dark energy. The hole disappeared, casting them into darkness.

  A long tentacle-like appendage slithered out of the ground. Another, then another, then another. Ten. Twenty. Fifty. One hundred

  Nathan had lost count a few seconds ago. But they kept on coming out.

  He was starting to get a little annoyed by all the squid and octopus-based monsters he was fighting.

  Nathan pulled his harpoon out of his inventory and tightened his fingers around the handle.

  He hadn’t been expecting for things to end this early, but that was fine. He'd put down the Mother System here and now.

  One of the tentacles rushed at him. He dodged to the right and stabbed down with the harpoon, embedding it into the ground. The tentacle flexed and the harpoon was ripped out of the floor. It remained trapped in the flesh, black blood dripping out from the impact wound.

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  Mara’s giant robot jumped into the air and dodged a sweep from one of the tentacles. She pulled a lever and the metal fist of the robot rocketed down and crushed the tentacle that had attacked her. The area split apart like pulp, fluids and meat scattered across the impact area.

  Four tentacles slithered along the ground in wavelike motions at the speed of a racehorse.

  On instinct, Nathan tried to summon [True Maelstrom]—

  His core burned inside of his chest and he winced. He couldn't use the ability.

  His heart jumped into his throat. He was about to be grabbed.

  At the last second, a wave of flames blasted between him and the tentacles.

  He looked over to the source to see Emi, her staff pointed out in the direction of the attack, eyes narrowed into pinpricks.

  A loud grunt drew Nathan's attention.

  Bjorn skillfully deflected an incoming attack with his war hammer.

  He did so a second time, then a third time, but the fourth one coming overhead seemed impossible to stop.

  Nathan launched his fishing hook like a rocket. It wrapped around the tentacle in midair. Nathan pulled back and brought the tentacle onto the ground. He grabbed it with his hand—!

  Then he realized he had no idea what his plan was beyond that moment.

  The tentacle grabbed his leg and lifted him into the air and he let out a totally manly scream.

  It sent him back into the ground and he collided with the black translucent floor. The impact knocked the air out of his lungs and he let out a pained groan.

  “Ow,” he said.

  The tentacle tightened its grip around his leg and started to lift him up again.

  A flash of fire.

  The tentacle flinched and unwrapped Nathan’s leg in a hurry.

  Chad rushed over, sword raised and a fierce expression on his face. "Back off, foul creature of the nether realms!"

  It was then that Nathan had a very good idea.

  He grabbed the tentacle and prevented it from moving.

  It pulled back, but Nathan somehow managed to grip the ground with his fingertips.

  The sword swung down and sliced the tip of the tentacle. Chad pulled back—

  And sliced in a flurry of movement.

  The tentacle quivered, then dozens of perfect squares of meat exploded in every direction. Viscera and black blood exploded all over them like something out of a particularly cheap and shocking horror movie.

  Nathan flicked his hand and what looked like a chunk of intestine—how did that even get there?—flew off.

  There were still a metric ass-ton of tentacles just hanging back and watching.

  “She’s playing with us,” Nathan said. “If she was at all serious about this, she would’ve sent in all of those to take us out.”

  Chad made a sound of pain. “You’re kidding me! I thought we were done!”

  The tentacles hanging toward the back twitched.

  Nathan grimaced. “Looks like it’s about to be, one way or another.”

  The hundred tentacles raced toward Nathan like a tidal wave.

  In that moment, his heart dropped.

  If only he had [True Maelstrom] ready to go.

  The flesh wave crashed into him and he was swept with the tide.

  Nathan struggled against the flesh.

  He couldn't break out.

  Every breath seemed to give him less and less air. Every movement allowed the flesh to tighten around him.

  Is this how he was going to die? Squeezed to death by a bunch of tentacles?

  Last time this happened, he managed to get out by taking the next step in his development.

  He didn't want to do it. He didn't think he was ready. There was a real chance that he would just turn into a puddle of water and that would be the end of him.

  It was also rushed — it wasn't supposed to happen this fast.

  But there was no time for hesitation.

  He shut his eyes and focused on the core of his being. The edges of his fingers turned to water. The tips of his feet shifted into liquid. He repeated a mantra in his mind, over and over.

  My name is Nathan Lee. I'm a human.

  His legs disappeared. He couldn't sense them.

  My name is Nathan Lee. I'm a human.

  His chest and torso were gone. In the background, he could hear a few faint things. The blue light of a system window appeared in front of him. He couldn't be bothered to read it.

  My name is Nathan Lee. I'm a human.

  Nothing remained but his head. His eyes flickered shut. The world turned black.

  My name is...

  My name —

  "Nathan!"

  Nathan's eyes snapped back open.

  How did he forget?

  His name was Nathan Lee.

  [Ascension complete]

  [Nathan Lee] - Lv. 94

  Age: 22

  Race: Water Elemental (A-rank)

  Nathan had never felt this way before.

  He felt like the smell of the salty ocean breeze. He felt like a tsunami contained in the shape of a puddle. He felt more free here than he ever had in his entire life.

  He could sense it — if he allowed himself to fall into the sensation, there would be no coming back.

  No matter what my stat sheet says, I'm still human, he thought. I'm a person. And my friends need help.

  With his new form, he slid between the gaps left by the massive black tentacles, drawing water from inside himself and creating a complex web of liquid.

  He'd filled out almost every crevice, only leaving a little bit around where his friends were so that they would have a chance to breathe.

  He expanded out. It was as easy as flexing an old muscle.

  His form blew apart the tentacles and blasted them in every direction.

  His friends dropped to the ground.

  "Ow," Chad rubbed his forehead. "I just had the weirdest dream, guys."

  Emi gasped for air. "Didn't you sense that massive explosion of energy?!"

  Nathan tried to communicate to them, but he was unable to.

  He had no mouth. No vocal cords. It was a little bit strange that he was even capable of conscious thought at all.

  Emi! He thought. It's me! I'm here!

  No one responded. A sense of despair washed over him.

  Damn it all—

  Nathan? Is that you?

  The thought was foreign, but familiar. And he recognized that voice.

  Lily.

  His senses expanded.

  She'd fallen to the ground in the chaos. Her roots were extended out over a section of the ground, blindly grasping out in very direction.

  We haven't talked like this in ages, she said. Where did you go? One second you were there, the next you were gone!

  It's a long story. I don't know if I'll be able to change back to normal, but right now we have bigger problems to deal with.

  There was a beat of silence, and Nathan thought that Lily was about to get angry over their separation.

  Lily's voice blasted into his brain, bright and clear. I'm with you! Let's face this creature and put her down, once and for all! Not just for you, but for Mara and the others!

  If Nathan had a mouth, he would've grinned from ear to ear.

  The tentacles twitched.

  They closed in.

  Nathan's form roared to life, a swirling cyclone not unlike [True Maelstrom].

  His focus sharpened to a fine point.

  Time to kill an eldritch horror.