Jeather wanted to go deeper.
That was the problem.
The ocean beneath him stretched downward in layers of dim blue fading into ink-black silence, and every instinct in his body told him there was more waiting below—stronger, rarer, more dangerous. His collector's pulse throbbed faintly in his chest.
But something else pulsed too.
Warning.
It wasn't fear.
It was limit.
Platinum-tier was his ceiling—for now.
He could fight them.
Seal them.
Barely survive them.
But something further down there… something colder than pressure and older than the currents… made the back of his neck prickle.
His instincts had saved him more times than pride ever had.
He exhaled through salt-filtered lungs.
"Yeah," he muttered underwater, voice muted by the Tidebreath Pearl's effect. "Not today."
He turned toward Lysara and gestured upward.
"I'm heading back," he said calmly through mana transmission. "The Abyss Maw is sealed. Your objective's done."
The students nearby stiffened at the name.
The Abyss Maw—the Platinum-tier horror he had personally captured earlier in the expedition—was now secured in his collection.
Lysara's sharp eyes searched his expression.
"You sense something," she said.
"Something that doesn't want me sensing it,"
Jeather replied lightly.
She nodded once.
Then turned to the others.
"Retreat formation. Mission objective achieved. We ascend."
Some students looked reluctant. Others relieved.
"But what about a full survey?" one asked.
Lysara's gaze hardened.
"The problem we were sent for is solved. I will draft the report and submit it to Professor Helvain personally."
That ended discussion.
Jeather gave a lazy salute and veered off slightly from the group's ascent path.
He still had twenty minutes left on the underwater pill.
Twenty minutes was enough for "side hobbies.
Inside the Beast Realm, commentary immediately began.
Old Man Kael folded his arms, standing on a grassy ridge within the pocket dimension. "He's wandering again."
Astrael's emerald aura flickered with dry amusement. "Our master is incapable of restraint."
Velkaria stood upright, spear grounded beside her. "He hunts even when danger lingers."
Saxum popped his rocky head up from a pile of moss.
"Jett hunting snackies?" the bronze golem asked.
"Yes," Astrael replied flatly. "Snackies."
Jeather ignored them and drifted lower along a coral slope.
He spotted a Common-tier Ripplefin Snapper darting between kelp strands.
Seal.
A Bronze-tier Spineback Urchin lumbering across the sand.
Seal.
A Silver-tier Deepcoil Eel attempted to ambush him from behind a coral arch.
Punch.
Seal.
Three new cards shimmered into existence at his waist.
"Productive afternoon," he murmured.
The ocean shifted subtly.
A rock moved.
Then another.
Not fallen.
Displaced.
Jeather stilled.
There.
A disturbance.
Slow.
Controlled.
Not natural current.
"A fight?" he whispered.
Inside the Beast Realm, Velkaria narrowed her eyes.
"Mana turbulence detected."
Astrael's tone sharpened.
"Something formidable."
Jeather angled himself carefully, movements smooth and silent. He reduced mana output, letting the ocean's dim glow conceal him as he followed the trail of displaced reef stone.
Another coral slab cracked.
A burst of icy vapor spilled into the water ahead.
He crept forward.
And then he saw it.
A spider suspended inside a sphere of crystallized frost.
Not trapped.
Contained by its own power.
The creature was massive—easily the size of a carriage—its body forged in black chitin etched with veins of glowing sapphire. Eight legs extended outward, each joint encased in frost-crystal armor. Its abdomen shimmered like a frozen galaxy, threads of mana-webbing stretching outward like shattered constellations.
The water around it crackled with cold.
Opposing it—
A Twin-Fanged Black Trout.
But calling it a trout felt insulting.
This beast was nearly twelve feet long, its body sleek and armored in obsidian scales that absorbed light. Twin serrated fangs jutted from its elongated jaw like curved sabers, each fang dripping venom that hissed upon contact with water. Its dorsal fin split into blade-like ridges, and its tail snapped with explosive speed, propelling it like a living spear.
The trout lunged.
Water detonated.
The spider rotated within its ice sphere, projecting threads of crystallized silk that hardened instantly upon contact with seawater.
The trout tore through one strand—
But a second wrapped around its midsection.
The trout twisted violently, its tail slicing through reef structures like paper.
Coral exploded in clouds of debris.
Jeather watched, eyes gleaming.
"Rare," he whispered.
Very rare.
The trout snapped forward, fangs slashing into the spider's outer ice shell. Frost shattered outward in jagged shards.
The spider responded.
It expanded its frost sphere violently—
The temperature plummeted.
Even Jeather felt the chill through the pill's protection.
The trout's scales iced over along its dorsal ridge.
It roared underwater—a violent vibration that shook sand from the seabed.
The spider's legs moved in synchronized precision.
Four legs anchored to reef stone.
Four lashed outward.
Webbing wrapped around the trout's tail,
tightening with lethal precision.
The trout attempted a final burst—
But the ice sphere contracted.
Compressed.
Crushed.
A final snap echoed through the water.
The trout's movement ceased.
Its massive body drifted limply.
The spider floated in place, frost dissipating slowly from its sphere.
Exhausted.
Jeather didn't hesitate.
He surged forward, sealing formation already spinning into place.
Mana circles flared beneath the spider.
The exhausted creature reacted instantly—too fast for something that had just fought.
Its eyes flared icy blue.
A leg struck.
The first sealing ring shattered.
"Oh, come on," Jeather muttered.
The spider lunged weakly, but still dangerous.
Jeather twisted sideways and drove his fist forward.
Mana-enhanced strike.
The impact launched the spider backward into the reef wall.
Stone cracked.
The entire formation trembled.
The spider screeched, legs scraping violently against coral as frost surged again.
Jeather expanded his second sealing array.
Three rings.
Five.
Seven.
The spider fired webbing—
Jeather dodged, the threads slicing through reef like razor wire.
He closed distance again.
Another punch.
This time directly into its crystalline abdomen.
The shockwave rippled outward.
The spider faltered.
The rings collapsed inward.
For three long seconds—
The creature resisted.
Mana flared.
Ice cracked.
Then—
Silence.
The spider dissolved into light.
A card formed in Jeather's palm.
He exhaled sharply.
"Got you."
Inside the Beast Realm—
Saxum clapped.
"Big bug friend!"
Astrael hummed. "Impressive."
Velkaria observed quietly. "That was near Diamond-tier potential."
Jeather glanced at the fading remains of the Twin-Fanged Black Trout.
He considered sealing it too—
But his chest tightened.
The Tidebreath Pearl.
He checked the internal mana timer.
Five minutes.
"Oh."
He looked up toward the distant surface.
"Time to not drown."
He shot upward, mana reinforcing his ascent speed.
Pressure lightened gradually.
His lungs tingled.
The cold faded.
He burst through the surface in a spray of seawater and gasped as the pill's effect dissipated completely.
He swam toward shore.
Collapsing waves carried him onto wet sand.
He rolled onto his back, breathing heavily.
"Well," he muttered to the sky, "that was refreshing."
Astrael's voice echoed dryly in his mind.
"You nearly ran out of time."
"I had five minutes."
"Four minutes and twelve seconds."
"Details."
He pushed himself upright—
And froze.
A figure lay several feet away on the beach.
Face down.
Unmoving.
Long dark hair spread across wet sand like spilled ink.
Jeather blinked.
"…I just wanted a peaceful hobby dive."
He crawled closer cautiously.
"Hey," he called lightly. "Ocean's closed for today."
No response.
He nudged her shoulder gently.
Still nothing.
He glanced around.
Empty coastline.
Waves.
Seabirds.
Just him.
And an unconscious girl.
He rubbed his temple.
"Okay. Options."
Inside the Beast Realm—
Kael sighed.
"Master, perhaps check if she is breathing."
"Oh. Right."
Jeather flipped her gently onto her back.
She coughed suddenly, sputtering seawater directly onto his shirt.
He recoiled.
"Ah—alive! Excellent. Also rude."
The girl blinked weakly, eyes unfocused.
"…Where… am I?"
"Beach," Jeather replied helpfully.
She stared at him.
He stared back.
Saxum's head popped out of a portal briefly.
"Jett found human snack?"
Jeather slapped the portal shut.
"Absolutely not."
The girl slowly pushed herself upright.
Then looked at him suspiciously.
"Did… you save me?"
Jeather considered.
"I saved a spider. You're bonus."
She stared.
He grinned.
"Relax. You're fine."
He glanced back toward the ocean horizon.
That feeling of danger…
Still there.
Distant.
Watching.
He stood, brushing sand off his clothes.
"Well," he muttered quietly, "today was productive."
New rare spider sealed.
Common and Silver beasts collected.
No drowning.
And apparently—
A mysterious unconscious girl added to the inventory.
He sighed.
"My hobbies are getting complicated."
Behind him, the waves rolled gently onto shore.
But far out at sea—
Something deep beneath the abyss stirred again.
And this time—
It had noticed him.