Bertram stared at the demonic blood octopus in front of him.
This creature from another dimension had invaded the city.
Bertram stood in one corner of the training room, while the demonic blood octopus occupied the opposite corner.
Its eerie eyes locked onto Bertram, making him feel like he was standing in the depths of hell.
The octopus let out a series of creepy sounds, stretching out several scarlet tentacles. The rows of teeth on them expanded and contracted, giving off this disturbing hungry vibe.
"There are way more demonic blood octopuses invading the city than just the two under the Doomsday Squad base!" Bertram thought as he got into position with his newly learned Autumn Cicada Fist.
He smacked away the tentacles that tried to reach him.
But the octopus didn't back off. It kept attacking from all directions like it was desperate to eat him.
Inside the room, Bertram relied on his Autumn Cicada Fist, forming a tight defense around himself, just like that mysterious girl he had once seen back at the martial arts school.
"This demonic blood octopus is way smaller than the two at the Doomsday Squad base!" Bertram sighed in relief.
"There seem to be quite a few of these things in the school. I can't waste too much time on this one. I need to take it out quick!" He wasn't sure if there were more octopuses the same size as those at the base lurking outside.
He swung his Autumn Cicada Fist again, knocking away another wave of attacks. His eyes went cold as three silver threads shot out like sharp blades.
With a few clean slashes, several of the octopus's tentacles got sliced off and dropped to the floor.
The demonic blood octopus screeched in pain, going totally berserk as it charged straight at Bertram.
"You're asking for it!" Bertram shouted coldly.
Silver threads instantly wrapped around the Devil Blood Octopus, and with one powerful yank of his arm, the threads cut deep into its body.
In just a blink, the entire Devil Blood Octopus was hacked into dozens of pieces.
Chunks of flesh, blood, and organs flew everywhere, splattering all over the training room.
"Good thing it was just an F-rank Devil Blood Octopus. If it had been a C-rank one like the ones at the Doomsday Squad base, I probably wouldn't have made it out alive!" Bertram thought, a chill running down his spine.
After finishing it off, Bertram didn't waste a single second. He shoved open the door of the training room and rushed out.
In the hallway, a bunch of students were screaming in total panic, running for their lives.
Right behind them, another F-rank Devil Blood Octopus, about the size of a millstone, was chasing them down.
"Quick, find a teacher! Find a teacher!"
Facing monsters from another world for the first time, the students could only pin all their hopes on their powerful teachers.
But... there was no one.
Even though things were this bad, none of the teachers were around.
Bertram could only think of one possibility: a stronger Devil Blood Octopus had appeared at the school, and the teachers were all caught up fighting those ones.
That meant the weak students had no choice, they had to survive on their own.
"Right now, this school's probably a whole nest of Devil Blood Octopuses."
"And of course it had to happen during the cooldown of the Infinite Life Simulation!"
"So even with that, I can't rely on it. I've gotta get stronger myself."
Unlike the other students who were losing their minds, even in the middle of all this chaos, Bertram stayed calm. That calm came from going through countless life simulations.
Bertram shot out silver threads from his hands and attached them to the hallway window.
In one smooth move, he swung himself out. Using more threads for control, he quickly descended down the side of the school building.
Once he hit the ground, he took off running toward the edge of the school grounds. No matter how many Devil Blood Octopuses there were, they couldn't have overrun the entire city.
If he could just stay away from the core outbreak zones, he'd be a lot safer.
All around him, those creepy ee-ya ee-ya sounds echoed. Devil Blood Octopuses were crawling through every corner of the school, chasing down students.
Some areas already had corpses lying still, people he probably recognized.
A gust of wind blew past Bertram's ear. A thick, scarlet tentacle lashed out at him like a whip.
Bertram reacted fast. He tightened his grip and the silver threads flew through the air, wrapping around the tentacle. With a quick cut, it fell to the ground.
But losing one tentacle just made the Devil Blood Octopus even crazier. It screeched loud and launched itself at Bertram.
"I'm trying to escape here! Can you not waste my time?" Bertram muttered, irritated, his brow furrowed.
His hands moved like lightning, the silver threads dancing through the air. They wrapped around the whole Devil Blood Octopus, and with one powerful pull, he tore it apart.
"This Devil Blood Octopus is even stronger than the last one. Cutting through its silver threads isn't as easy!" Bertram thought, his heart on high alert.
This place was seriously dangerous; he had to retreat fast!
He dashed toward the school gate.
Running at full speed.
All of Bertram's martial arts skills were focused on escaping.
When he reached the gate, he saw a Devil Blood Octopus the size of a truck near the teaching building.
The principal, teacher Javion, and the other teachers were still fighting the creature like their lives depended on it.
"Time to bail!" Faced with such a powerful otherworldly being, Bertram knew he couldn't help.
He just hoped the principal, Javion, and the others could hold out and survive.
Bertram quickly reached the wall, shot out a silver thread, and swung himself over it, landing in the alley behind the school.
As soon as his feet hit the ground, a chill ran down his spine.
In the alley, three Devil Blood Octopuses were sucking the blood from a few humans.
Their once-bloated bodies quickly shriveled up into dried-out corpses.
And Bertram, just by pure bad luck, landed right in the middle of the three Devil Blood Octopuses.
If you connected their positions, it would form a perfect triangle, with Bertram stuck right in the center.
"Aw, crap!" Bertram cursed under his breath.
What kind of cursed luck was this?
Meanwhile, the three Devil Blood Octopuses grinned wickedly. It was like they'd just won the lottery, food literally dropped in front of them.
The three Devil Blood Octopuses struck at Bertram with all twenty-four of their scarlet tentacles.
In a split second, Bertram was in serious danger.
He quickly shot out silver threads, forming a web-like barrier around himself.
The scarlet tentacles slammed into the silver thread web.
Each thread instantly tightened.
But the scarlet tentacles didn't break right away. Instead, they started pushing through the gaps in the web, inching closer and closer to Bertram in the center.