Conan the Barbarian #32 (1973)

Conan receives a mission from Narim-Bey, his commanding officer in Aghrapur, to spy on the westernmost khitan city of Wan Tengri to check if she is ripe for conquest. He is smuggled into Wan Tegri by a shepherd. The sky above the city is covered in a reddish, harmless flame. Upon his arrival in he city, Conan pays the shepherd, then steals a purse from a passerby, and is surprised that the magical flame wind whispers to him to halt. The wind also tells the guards where Conan is, and soon he is chased by several soldiers. He shakes them and heads to Tsien Hui, the contact of the shepherd, to cash in the gems he has stolen. Unfortunately, the purse belonged to a wizard, who magically teleports the gems away and replaces them with a viper. Frustrated, Conan kills the viper just as the soldiers find him once again. He escapes into Tsien Hui's harem chamber and lingers a few moments with the women there. A beautiful blonde explains that the only exit is through a secret passage under the pool, and she takes Conan underwater. True to her word, a cavern leads her and Conan out, but while they are under, she reveals her true monstrous form, that of a tentacles sea creature. She entangles Conan and stings him repeatedly with her suckers until he finally frees his sword and slays her. Desperate for air, Conan swims toward a light source and climbs out of a pool elsewhere on the estate. He collapses in pain and exhaustion, not noticing the slouching, shadowed form moving towards him.