World's Best Protagonist [BL]

"The building—!" Lexie’s voice came, but before he could finish, another violent tremor rocked the entire structure.

The floor tilted, and in the distance, a massive dark shape loomed.

"It’s bigger than before!" Etienne shouted, gaping at the thick, writhing tentacles that emerged from the flooded streets below, wrapping around the crumbling building.

"We killed the babies, so the mother came," Terrius said.

Noir gawked at him. "You’re telling me those are just babies?!"

"Newly hatched ones. The mother should be dead, so why is she here? Is it her ghost?"

I didn’t know Terrius could joke.

"It’s dying. But since we killed her children, maybe she wants to take revenge until she wastes away," Allen remarked.

"That’s a bit sad," I replied.

Claude gave me a weird look. "Let’s get out of here first. It’s trying to collapse the building."

Everyone jumped out into the open and landed on the fallen debris scattered everywhere. As soon as we did though, monster fishes began attacking us again, flying out everywhere like their group was disturbed.

"There they are!"

An unfamiliar voice was heard from afar. I looked in that direction and found the other team members surfing toward us. Oh, they’re still alive. I’m not that worried about them but thank goodness we won’t be carrying their corpses once we return.

Lexie cursed under her breath. "What the fuck are they doing?!"

Only then did I realize that the bastards brought the remaining baby octopuses to us. They were chasing the members, and there’s a lot of them. Instead of fighting them, they’re trying to drag them to us.

Crazy fuckers. I don’t mind carrying their corpses now. Where the fuck did their confidence go?

"You! Heal our captain!"

Some spiky-haired arrogant Seeker pointed at Etienne and ordered him like he was the boss. I almost kicked him out of his surfing board and made him fish feed.

Etienne, on the other hand, rushed and helped him carry the captain—what was his name again? Jericho? Jeremiah?

"Captain Jerome! Hang in there!" The vice-captain of the Charlie team exclaimed. He left his captain on Etienne’s side and went back into fighting.

I guess they didn’t mean to drag the monsters to us. They were merely concerned about their captain dying from blood loss since his gut was bitten to the side. I’m surprised he’s still breathing despite that massive wound.

I stood behind Etienne and slashed any flying hungry fish coming our way. The rest of the Charlie team had indeed had a hard time defeating one baby octopus, so I gave Claude a meaningful look.

"Go ahead. The mother’s dying anyway. We can defeat it without your help," he said before jumping into the air and landing a strike on the mother.

I knew it was dying, but it was enraged, so its movement was unpredictable and faster than the little ones.

I focused on widening the range of my ability and weakened the monsters within that range. The Charlie team was overwhelmed before, but the tides turned over after Allen gave them support. They killed them one by one.

Once my ability was locked, I focused next on protecting Etienne and watching the Alpha team take down the mother.

"Ah, shit. It doesn’t look like it’s dying!" Lexie yelled, frustrated that her spears were just bouncing back and not piercing the skin of the monster.

"Terrius, freeze them," Claude ordered as he landed on the top of the fallen building.

The mother’s tentacles were half as large as the building Claude was standing at. So, Terrius’ power could only freeze one at a time.

A sharp crack filled the air as icy spikes formed along the writhing limbs, but the creature was strong—strong enough that even the ice didn’t hold for long before it shattered.

Another tremor occurred, followed by a deep guttural sound. The water rose and fell because of the tentacles, and within it, all creatures came out, raining on them. Allen did not only support both teams but shielded the three of us as well.

He was floating in the air, barely above us, so I could see his face covered in sweat, and his hands trembling as he controlled the shapes on his shoulders. He’s buffing the alpha team.

"Lexie, try attacking it with your weapons again! You have a ten-minute buff!" Allen shouted.

Lexie dashed, summoning ten massive spears. Allen used his telekinesis ability to make them float, following Lexie as she moved. Lexie grabbed one and stabbed one of the giant tentacles. Unlike before, the tip of the spear’s blade pierced the skin.

Lexie screamed, gathering her strength, and with the increase of the weapon’s damage, the spear pierced through the whole limb, cutting it into two.

The cut part fell on the water, making the flood overflow. The mother octopus’ remaining tentacles thrashed around in pain. It became more aggressive and flipped every debris in the water, threw it everywhere, rained poisonous ink on us, and grabbed anyone it could by its tentacles.

The whole scene was a mess, but the Alpha team wasn’t disoriented. They took advantage of it and coordinated their attacks with each other. Lexie’s buff allowed her to cut two more limbs, Terrius froze the water for a few minutes to trap the monster.

Noir, unable to take control of the giant mother, used the other creatures nearby to attack it instead, while Claude blinded the monster’s sight with his thick mist.

I felt a tug on my long coat, and when I looked down I saw Etienne’s fearful gaze.

"What’s wrong?" I knelt beside him. His eyes went past above me. I instantly knew what he was afraid of. Looking back at the team, I shouted at the top of my lungs, "Finish it before Allen loses control!"

Everyone’s gaze briefly flickered on Allen. He forced a small, reassuring smile, but anyone could see by his bloodshot eyes and the dark veins appearing on his arms and neck.

Even the Charlie team was worried.

The Alpha team wasted no time and attacked the mother beast again. My gaze fixed on Allen. His gaze shifted on me. I wanted to tell him to come to me, but his weary, bloodshot eyes told me he’d endure it a little more.

I was worried. Genuinely. And I felt afraid too. It was the same fear I felt when I watched Claude lose his mind to his Nightmare. But I trusted Allen, though my eyes never left him since then.

Once the Charlie team defeated all the baby monsters, my power was locked next to the mother. It slowed down, visibly weakened. Everyone attacked at once and the next thing happened, the head of the mother octopus flew in the air. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Everyone prepared themselves for the flood water and toxic fluids to rain, but Allen’s last attempt to help was to stop it from falling and throw it far away from us using telekinesis.

After that, he blinked, his eyes gradually turned black, and he started to fall. I ran to catch him, but I just knew I wouldn’t be able to reduce the impact.

That was when a figure went past like a shadow, stealing Allen in the air before he fell into the water.

I wasted no time and jumped to where Claude landed, pushing Allen down on the surface. All the debris, even the dead monsters, and Seekers began to float.

"Grab on!"

I heard Lexie shout while holding a rope she threw on the Charlie team.

Nullifying Allen’s ability might save them, but that will increase my dark energy instead. So, I’d rather use Absorption. I’m going to increase it anyway no matter which way I choose.

Allen’s darkened face and blackened eyes began to return to normal. I felt myself slipping away from consciousness. I tried to remain awake, recalling what I said to Claude back in the meeting, but a pair of hands grabbed my shoulders and pulled me in.

Then, a calm yet grateful voice whispered above my ear. "Take a rest. We’ll protect you while you sleep."

I nodded off right after hearing that gentle voice.