Nick had been going back and forth for several seconds now, and he could feel the Fallen becoming more ferocious.
Fallen were extremely shrewd and intelligent. If they weren't, they wouldn't have become Fallen.
'It thinks I already called for backup, and it wants to finish it before the backup arrives. I don't have much time!'
'Additionally, the Specter Cage will come back down soon. Its acceleration is not fast, but its terminal velocity is brutally high due to its density.'
Nick tried to find a way to kill the Specter without entering the ocean.
That was when he noticed a peculiarity.
'Its tentacles are attacking me from the side. It makes sense that they wouldn't attack me from below since that would throw me further away from it, but why is it not curving its tentacles and attacking me from above?'
Nick realized the reason.
'That's my chance!'
Nick became careless and got hit by one of the tentacles, his body being thrown to the side.
His Barrier shone, but that was just a deception.
In truth, he blocked the tentacle with his body, but the Fallen couldn't see that due to the mist surrounding him.
The short flash of light getting past the mist would make it seem like his Barrier blocked the strike.
Nick quickly recovered, but the avalanche of attacks didn't stop.
He managed to cut another two tentacles before several more crashed into him.
BANG!
Nick used another flash of light to make it seem like his Barrier broke.
In an instant, the gigantic tentacles turned into countless thin tentacles, which rapidly wound around his body.
They squeezed tight, and several bones inside Nick's body broke.
However, when Nick felt the bit of Zephyx that was being injected into him by the tentacles, he knew that he had guessed correctly.
It was trying to keep him from dying to his own Zephosis.
The Specter had continually attacked him, but it avoided throwing him into the ocean.
Why?
Well, Nick would fall under the Salt Trident's control and would become its food.
Naturally, Specters only wanted one thing.
To become more powerful.
Of course, the Fallen could just kill Nick in the air…
But did this Specter grow more powerful by killing humans?
Maybe, but judging by the way it was attacking, it didn't seem like it.
Despite its avalanche of attacks, it was striking in a very deliberate and controlled manner.
It was like it was scared of accidentally killing Nick.
It wasn't striking to kill.
It was trying to suppress Nick.
Naturally, Nick hadn't actually gotten careless.
He let himself be struck deliberately.
Nick's entire body was engulfed by the tentacles, and he couldn't move anymore.
A moment later, the gigantic body of the Fallen rapidly moved to the surface.
The Salt Trident's domain was a hindrance to Nick, but it was also a hindrance to the Specter.
If it pulled Nick into the sea to consume him, he would become the Salt Trident's food.
That was why it had to move to the surface.
This Fallen had suppressed many Agents before, and it knew how humans functioned.
As soon as their Barriers were broken, they were helpless.
The body of the Specter came out of the ocean.
It was a gigantic maw, and all the tentacles came out of its mouth.
The insides of its body were completely black, and Nick couldn't sense what was inside due to the Specter's will.
The tentacles rapidly pulled Nick into the maw.
Nick went past the gigantic teeth.
And then…
He turned into mist.
The tentacles lost their grip on him, and Nick moved towards the top of the Specter's jaw.
He turned back into his physical form and struck.
BANG!
A gigantic cut was left on the Specter, and Nick squeezed into the cut.
An army of tentacles shot after him, and more tentacles appeared inside the cut.
It seemed like the Fallen could turn any part of its body into tentacles.
Nick was rapidly surrounded by tentacles again,but he just turned part of his body into mist to escape.
Nick was cutting through the Fallen's body and took note of the Zephyx.
He was trying to find its core.
While the Fallen was trying to suppress Nick, it entered the ocean again.
By now, the Specter was just trying to kill him as quickly as possible, but Nick just kept turning into mist.
Back when Nick had been a new Extractor, turning into mist had come with a tremendous weakness.
But now, it was an advantage.
He was an actual Force Specter in this state, and suppressing Force Specter was unreasonably difficult.
Nick wouldn't even be able to suppress an Initial Demon Force Specter.
This Fallen did not have the skill set to suppress a Force Specter.
Nick came closer to the Specter Core.
"I surrender!"
Nick heard the Specter's voice in his mind.
It could tell that Nick was a Specter as well by now, and it used the unique method Specters used to communicate with each other.
Nick stopped advancing.
"Go to the surface, or I'll kill you," Nick transmitted.
The Specter hesitated.
The next moment, its body split apart, and a flood of ocean water entered.
In the Specter's mind, since Nick had said that it should go to the surface, it probably meant that he was afraid of the ocean.
So, it covered him in ocean water.
However, Nick's expression didn't change.
"I said, go to the surface!" he transmitted.
"I will," the Specter answered.
It was helpless.
There was nothing it could do anymore.
It moved to the surface, and Nick slowly advanced to its Specter Core.
"As long as you comply, I won't kill you. You will even have some food," Nick transmitted.
"First, catch the black cube falling from the sky."
Several tentacles extended into the sky and took hold of the falling Specter Cage.
The next moment, Nick summoned a second Specter Cage.
"Enter or die," he transmitted.
"It's too small," the Specter answered.
"Then, you will die," Nick transmitted as he readied his blade to destroy the Specter Core.
"I comply, but I will lose all my food."
At that point, Nick's eyes narrowed.
Things just became more troublesome.
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