The horn did not scream.
It groaned.
A long, hollow vibration that seemed to rise from the harbor floor itself rather than from the tower where the signal bell hung.
The sound pressed against the ribs.
Every hunter inside The Drowned Leviathan paused—not in panic, but in calculation.
Jeather did not stand.
He watched.
Outside, the tide shifted.
Not violently.
Deliberately.
The sea withdrew a fraction too far.
Dock chains tightened.
Ships strained.
A ripple expanded across the harbor surface like something enormous had turned beneath it.
Velkaria's voice entered his thoughts, silver and steady.
"Mana pressure increasing. Origin: below the third dock cluster."
Astrael's tone was softer, analytical.
"Not a mindless surge. There is direction behind it."
The waitress returned briefly to collect empty plates.
She didn't look alarmed.
"Dock Three again," she muttered. "That makes three times this month."
Jeather tilted his head.
"You're not evacuating?"
She gave him a flat look.
"If we ran every time something sniffed the pier, we'd never open."
Interesting port.
He rose at last.
Kael stood beside him.
"Observe only?" Kael asked quietly.
"For now."
They stepped outside.
Hunters were already forming loose perimeter positions.
Beasts moved with them.
The Brine Panther flowed into liquid form beside its master, claws extending like sharpened surf.
The Saltclaw Drakes flared their wings, smoke turning acrid.
The Ironhide Lobstrum clacked its armor plates, bracing at the edge of the dock.
Water bulged.
Not splashing.
Bulging.
Then—
The surface split.
A massive, armored shape rose slowly, displacing half the harbor in silence.
Gasps followed.
Not screams.
Recognition.
A shell, ridged and layered in barnacle-encrusted plating. Coral growths protruded like jagged crowns along its spine. Eight thick limbs extended beneath it, webbed and hooked.
Eyes opened.
Six of them.
Pale gold.
A hunter near Jeather exhaled sharply.
"Coralback Siege Tortoctopus…"
Gold-tier.
The creature was enormous—at least thirty meters from beak to rear shell.
Its weight alone cracked dock beams as it climbed halfway onto the pier.
But it did not thrash.
It scanned.
Searching.
Velkaria's voice sharpened slightly.
"It hunts something specific."
Astrael hummed.
"Or it was disturbed."
The Basilisk stirred inside the Beast Realm.
"Shell integrity high. Weak points at ocular clusters and joint membranes."
The Chimera's tone was eager.
"Release me."
"No."
Jeather folded his arms.
He wanted to see how this port handled its problems.
From the western tower, three figures leapt simultaneously.
Their beasts manifested mid-air.
A towering Azure Tide Golem, composed entirely of compressed seawater and coral fragments.
A sleek Stormfin Raptor, wings edged with crackling static.
And a coiled Deepcurrent Serpent, translucent and glowing faintly from within.
They landed across the pier in triangulated formation.
The woman at the center stepped forward calmly.
Blue academy coat.
Silver insignia.
"Saltwind Tidal Academy — Third Combat Cohort," she announced.
Students.
Jeather's lips curved faintly.
Interesting.
The lead student raised her hand.
Her Tide Golem surged forward, slamming into the Siege Tortoctopus' forward limb.
Water exploded.
The creature reacted instantly.
One massive tentacle lashed outward—
CRACK.
The dock shattered.
The Golem absorbed most of the force, but the impact still hurled it backward.
The Stormfin Raptor dove from above, slicing across one eye cluster. Golden ichor sprayed.
The beast roared—
A low, thunderous vibration that shook nearby ships.
But it did not retreat.
It anchored itself further onto the dock.
It was not attacking randomly.
It was advancing toward—
Jeather's gaze shifted.
Dock Three's storage warehouse.
Velkaria spoke immediately.
"Mana signature inside that structure. High density. Possibly an artifact."
Astrael added:
"The creature is retrieving."
Jeather exhaled slowly.
"So it's not invading."
It was reclaiming.
The Deepcurrent Serpent surged beneath the harbor surface and coiled around the Siege Tortoctopus' lower limbs, attempting restraint.
For a moment—
It worked.
Then—
The shell along the creature's back glowed faintly.
Coral growths flared.
A pulse of compressed brine mana detonated outward.
The serpent unraveled violently, thrown across the water like a rag.
The academy students staggered but did not fall.
The lead student grit her teeth.
"Formation Two!"
Their beasts shifted positions seamlessly.
Disciplined.
But—
The Siege Tortoctopus lifted its head higher.
And the sea behind it rose.
Not as a wave.
As a wall.
Jeather's eyes narrowed.
"That's not standard Gold-tier output."
Velkaria confirmed.
"External mana reinforcement. Something deeper is feeding it."
The Basilisk hissed softly inside the Realm.
"Pressure beneath it increases."
The Chimera's voice rumbled.
"Bigger predator below."
Ah.
Now it made sense.
The Tortoctopus wasn't here alone.
It was fleeing.
The harbor darkened.
Not from clouds.
From below.
A vast shadow moved under the Siege.
Tortoctopus.
Larger.
Slower.
Predatory.
The water parted.
And something ancient looked upward.
Two colossal eyes opened beneath the surface.
Blue.
Cold.
Abyssal.
The temperature dropped.
Several weaker beasts along the dock whimpered and withdrew instinctively.
The Siege Tortoctopus hesitated.
Then tried to retreat back toward open sea.
Too late.
The water exploded upward.
A massive jaw breached the surface—lined with curved, inward-facing teeth like a vortex trap.
It clamped onto one rear limb of the Tortoctopus.
The sound—
Wet.
Crushing.
The Tortoctopus shrieked for the first time.
The academy students froze for half a heartbeat.
One whispered:
"Abyss Maw…"
Not Gold-tier.
At least High Gold.
Possibly touching Platinum.
The creature did not fully emerge.
Only its head and upper spine surfaced briefly before dragging the Tortoctopus downward violently.
The sea swallowed both.
The harbor churned.
Then—
Silence.
Broken docks floated.
Blood thinned into the tide.
Jeather stared at the water.
Slowly smiling.
"There we go."
Hunters stood stunned.
The academy leader clenched her fists.
"That was not recorded in patrol logs."
Of course not.
Platinum-class threats rarely registered politely beforehand.
Kael spoke quietly beside Jeather.
"You intend to pursue."
"Yes."
"Into the ocean."
"Yes."
He tilted his head slightly.
"You despise swimming."
"I despise inconvenience. Not opportunity."
Velkaria's voice flowed calmly.
"The Abyss Maw is wounded from its clash. Mana turbulence suggests instability."
Astrael added:
"Sealable. If timing is precise."
Jeather's pulse quickened.
A Platinum-tier aquatic predator.
If he sealed that—
His Beast Realm would stabilize at a higher density.
Future integrations would become smoother.
And more importantly—
He would own the sea.
Academy Interference
Before he could move, the academy leader approached.
Her eyes were sharp.
"You didn't summon during the clash."
Statement.
Not accusation.
"Didn't need to," Jeather replied lightly.
Her gaze flickered to Kael.
Then back.
"You sensed the second presence early."
He didn't deny it.
She extended her hand.
"Lysara. Saltwind Tidal Academy."
"Jeather."
No surname offered.
Her eyes narrowed slightly at that.
"You're not registered here."
"Passing through."
She studied him.
Then glanced at the fractured docks.
"We're organizing a scouting dive at dawn.
That thing won't leave harbor waters if it found something valuable."
Jeather smiled faintly.
"I'll be there."
Beast Realm Strategy
That night—
He returned briefly to a rented upper room above the tavern.
He entered the Beast Realm fully.
The landscape expanded slightly as his consciousness solidified.
The Basilisk coiled elegantly atop obsidian ridges.
The Chimera paced restlessly along volcanic slopes.
Velkaria hovered like silver mist.
Astrael stood near a warped bronze tree structure formed from demonic residue.
Saxum rolled down a hill happily.
Jeather looked at them all.
"We're hunting underwater tomorrow."
The Chimera grinned.
"Finally."
The Basilisk's golden eyes narrowed.
"Water reduces my maneuverability."
"You're staying sealed."
It hissed softly but did not argue.
Velkaria's tone remained composed.
"The Abyss Maw is territorial. If sealed, the harbor becomes indebted to you."
Jeather shrugged.
"I'm not here for politics."
Astrael's voice was amused.
"Politics follows power."
He ignored that.
Instead—
He extended his awareness.
The Beast Realm trembled slightly.
He could feel it now.
A faint resonance.
Deep beneath the ocean floor outside.
A pressure point.
Not just a predator.
A nest.
Or something older.
His smile faded into something sharper.
"Interesting."
Final Scene
Back at the harbor, beneath moonlight—
The sea glowed faintly.
Deep blue pulses.
Far below—
The Abyss Maw circled something submerged within a collapsed ruin buried under sediment.
Ancient stone.
Carved symbols.
And a dormant core.
It did not notice—
A thin thread of Jeather's consciousness tracing it from afar.
For now.