A large amount of dark purple blood immediately poured from the wound, spreading into the surrounding water.
The octopus released another screech.
Its massive body convulsed, and the tentacles that had been struggling against Agony suddenly weakened.
Faust moved away from the creature, bringing the extracted eye with him.
Almost immediately, he noticed another change.
The severed tentacles were no longer regenerating.
Even more interestingly, the eel-like creatures swimming around him had suddenly stopped moving.
One after another, their bodies became limp.
Within seconds, dozens of them were floating motionlessly through the water.
Faust looked from the dead creatures to the eye in his possession.
"So it really was connected to this."
The octopus began retreating.
Its tentacles moved weakly as it attempted to escape into the darkness below. The large wound where its eye had been continued releasing purple blood.
Without the rapid regeneration that had previously protected it, the creature had lost much of its ability to fight.
Agony, however, had no intention of letting its meal escape.
The black substance expanded once again.
An enormous mouth formed above Faust, opening wide enough to swallow several tentacles at once.
It descended upon the injured creature.
The octopus attempted to escape, but its weakened movements were no match for Agony.
Several tentacles were caught and torn apart. Before the creature could pull away, the enormous mouth closed around a large section of its body.
The sound of flesh being crushed traveled through the water.
More mouths emerged from the black mass, biting into the remaining tentacles and pulling the creature apart.
The octopus struggled briefly before its movements finally stopped.
Agony continued feeding.
It consumed the creature's body, followed by the severed tentacles and the dead eel-like creatures scattered throughout the water.
Even the smaller pieces drifting farther away were collected by extensions of its body.
Within a short time, almost nothing remained of the enormous monster.
Faust watched the process with interest.
Some distance away, several large shadows could be seen moving among the rocks and underwater formations.
They belonged to other creatures that had apparently been attracted by the disturbance.
Some were enormous, easily reaching several times Faust's size.
Yet none approached.
After witnessing what had happened to the octopus, they remained at a distance, observing the black substance as it consumed the last pieces of flesh.
Faust noticed their presence but paid them little attention.
Instead, he looked at Agony.
"Where does all the food you eat go?"
The black substance stopped moving for a moment.
A low screech came from within its body.
"It transforms directly into energy."
Faust considered the answer.
"Everything?"
Agony responded with another screech.
"Everything."
A thoughtful expression appeared on Faust's face.
"So you can convert everything you consume directly into energy."
He glanced at the place where the octopus had disappeared.
"If there's really no loss during the conversion, that would be fascinating."
The implications were considerable.
Ordinary organisms could only extract a fraction of the energy contained in what they consumed, and much of the material remained as waste.
Agony, on the other hand, appeared capable of converting all consumed matter into usable energy.
It was an ability that shouldn't have been possible through ordinary biological processes.
However, Faust had already learned that applying conventional biological rules to Agony was often pointless.
For now, there was something else he wanted to examine.
He turned his attention toward the enormous eye floating beside him.
Despite being separated from the creature's body, it continued emitting a weak blue glow.
Faust approached it.
"Let's see what's inside."
A small portion of Agony extended from his arm, transforming into another scalpel.
He began cutting through the eye's outer membrane.
The first layer contained structures similar to those found in ordinary eyes, although their proportions were considerably different.
Beneath the membrane, Faust discovered several layers of unusual tissue surrounding the interior.
Some resembled ordinary connective tissue, while others were much thicker and seemed to contain small vein running toward the center.
He followed those vein with his scalpel.
As he removed another layer, the blue glow became noticeably brighter.
"Hmm?"
Faust carefully pulled the surrounding tissue apart.
A smooth, spherical object gradually emerged from within the eye.
It was a crystal.
The object was approximately the size of a soccer ball, with a clear blue surface that emitted a steady glow.
Faust removed the remaining tissue until the entire crystal was exposed.
He then held it in front of him, examining it from different angles.
The sphere was surprisingly warm.
Even through the surrounding water, he could feel heat radiating from its surface.
More importantly, the crystal appeared to contain a tremendous amount of energy.
Its blue light pulsed at regular intervals, and each pulse seemed to produce a faint reaction in the surrounding water.
Faust recalled the rapid regeneration of the octopus and the strange transformation of its severed flesh.
'Could this be what supplied the energy?'
It would explain several things.
The creature had continued producing new tissue even after losing enormous amounts of flesh.
Yet the moment he removed the eye containing this crystal, both the regeneration and the independent eel-like creatures had stopped functioning.
'Perhaps the crystal provides the energy needed to create new matter.'
Faust examined its surface more closely.
'If that's true, then this thing is far more valuable than the creature itself.'
He could already think of several experiments he wanted to conduct.
Unfortunately, he lacked the necessary equipment to examine the crystal's internal structure properly.
For the moment, he would have to preserve it until he could study it under better conditions.
Just as he reached that conclusion, Agony began moving.
The black substance extended toward the crystal, its surface trembling with anticipation.
Faust glanced at it.
"What?"
Agony released a low screech.
Its desire was obvious.
It wanted to eat the crystal.
Faust immediately pulled the sphere away.
"Don't consume this one."
Agony stopped.
The black mass vibrated for several seconds before another screech came from within.
"Very well. But give me the next one."
Faust looked at the creature.
"The next one?"
Agony responded with an eager movement.
Faust chuckled.
"Sure. If we encounter another."
He turned his attention toward the surrounding darkness.
The large shadows that had previously been observing them were already moving farther away.
Some had disappeared completely.
"Although I doubt anything down here will approach us after that."
He looked at Agony again.
"They'll probably run away the moment they notice us."
Agony released another screech, seemingly dissatisfied with that possibility.
Faust smiled at its reaction.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about that."
With the examination finished, he secured the blue crystal and began swimming toward the surface.
The enormous eye had been left behind, its remaining tissue no longer showing any signs of activity.
Agony returned to its usual position around Faust's body, occasionally shifting as though it were still searching for something to eat.
Faust ignored its movements and continued ascending.
The crystal in his possession emitted a steady blue light, illuminating the surrounding water.
As he moved upward, he occasionally glanced at it, still considering the possible mechanism behind its unusual properties.
The ability to regenerate flesh so rapidly was already remarkable.
However, if the crystal truly allowed energy to be converted into physical matter, its potential applications would extend far beyond simple regeneration.
He would need to determine whether it produced matter directly or merely accelerated some unknown biological process.
Either possibility was worth investigating.
Faust continued upward.
The deeper sections of the ocean gradually disappeared beneath him.
The surrounding water became clearer as the light from above grew stronger.
Occasionally, he spotted distant silhouettes moving through the water.
However, unlike before, none of them approached.
Some immediately changed direction when they noticed him, disappearing into the darker regions of the ocean.
Faust watched one such creature flee before shaking his head.
"Looks like you really scared everything away."
Agony gave a low screech.
Faust paid it no further attention.
With the blue crystal still in his grasp, he continued toward the growing light above.
Before long, the darkness surrounding him began to fade.
The surface was finally coming into view.