The ship lurched violently, the wooden frame groaning under the sudden shift. Orn’s stance widened instinctively as he gripped the railing, his muscles tensing to keep his balance. The motion wasn’t natural. It wasn’t the pull of the tide or a shift in the wind—it was something far worse.

Alya reacted immediately, pressing her palm flat against the wood beneath her. Her ability surged outward, reinforcing the ship’s stability, locking it into place so that whatever had gripped them couldn’t pull them further. The sudden jerking stopped, but the pressure remained. The ship wasn’t moving forward. It wasn’t moving at all.

Ikar had already turned toward the side of the deck, scanning the water’s surface. His brow was furrowed in concentration, his fingers twitching at his sides as he felt for something unseen. His ability to sever influence extended beyond what was visible—he could feel the way space itself had changed around them. And right now, something was wrapping itself around the hull, pressing against the boundaries of their domain.

Tark, standing a few feet away, gripped his spear more tightly, his stance shifting. He wasn’t afraid, but he was ready. There was no room for hesitation. Whatever was beneath them had started acting.

Orn’s mind worked quickly, running through the possibilities. There were creatures in the Dead Sea that dragged ships under, but they didn’t move like this. If it wanted to kill them outright, it would have struck with full force, ripping them beneath the waves in a single overwhelming moment, taking advantage of Alya releasing her hold. But that hadn’t happened. Instead, it had stopped them.

Why? Orn thought it was trying to control the battle.

Orn took a slow breath and turned to Ikar. "How much of its presence can you feel?"

Ikar didn’t look away from the water. "Too much. It’s spread around us. Whatever it is, it’s using the sea itself as its domain." His fingers curled slightly. "I can cut a path, but if it’s this large, it’ll just shift around us again."

That wasn’t surprising. Depth Dwellers of a higher tier didn’t fight in a single location. They extended themselves, their will affecting the world around them. And they usually had their emergence in water.

Alya’s voice was calm but firm. "I’m keeping us steady for now, but I can’t hold against an unknown force forever. If it decides to tighten its grip, we’ll be crushed before we can react."

‘Such a strong will.’

Orn’s mind sharpened, assessing their options. They couldn’t overpower something they didn’t understand. And they couldn’t just wait and react. They had to disrupt whatever was trying to establish itself before it had full control.

He turned to Tark. "How far can you send a pulse?"

Tark’s grip on his spear shifted slightly as he considered. His ability to amplify and reverberate force meant that any strike he landed would carry through, repeating itself again and again through a target. It was a disruption.

"Depends on what I’m aiming at," Tark said. "If it’s a physical target, I can spread the force through it directly. But if it’s just using the water…" His eyes narrowed slightly. "I’ll need to focus it through something solid."

That was an answer Orn could work with.

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Of course as their leader, Orn knew how their abilities worked in general, but the details were a bit unclear as this was their first hunt together with a new batch of Emergents.

“I see. Then we have no choice but to force it out in the open.”

He turned back to Ikar. "If you sever an opening, how long until it reforms?"

"A few seconds. Less if it’s intelligent."

They weren’t aiming for damage, they were however, aiming to disrupt. If they could force it to shift again, Ikar could sever it, even if only temporarily.

"That’s long enough." Orn’s gaze shifted to Tark. "Hit it the moment Ikar cuts. Make it last."

Tark nodded once. "Understood."

Alya didn’t need to be told what to do. The moment Ikar severed space, the sudden break in pressure would try to displace the ship. She would anchor them in place, stopping them from being thrown into an unstable current.

Orn took a steadying breath. "Cut."

Ikar didn’t hesitate.

His fingers flicked, and reality split open.

It wasn’t something that could be seen with the naked eye, but they felt it. The grip on the ship vanished for an instant, the weight against the hull lifting like a thread being snapped, and it took the bait.

The ocean roared.

And in that moment of vulnerability, Tark struck.

His spear slammed down against the deck, and the force spread outward in a violent, shuddering wave. The energy carried through the hull, into the water, through the unseen thing that had been lurking beneath them. But Tark’s ability didn’t just strike once.

It was an echo.

The impact carried again and again, multiplying in strength with each pulse, forcing its way through whatever was beneath them.

And then—

The water around them convulsed, as though the sea itself had been struck in the gut. The pressure that had been building, the presence that had remained had reacted.

However the reaction was not an attack, but it was a response.

The force beneath them recoiled violently, but not in a way that suggested it had been injured. It was correcting itself, shifting its domain, adjusting to their strategy.

Orn understood that now they made it serious. That was the plan, anyways.

Alya let out a slow breath. "That was a mistake," she muttered.

Orn nodded grimly. "I know. But it was always going to happen. At least now we know what we’re dealing with."

The sea was no longer calm. The surface rippled unnaturally, as though the water itself was thinking. The weight around the ship hadn’t vanished. It had simply moved.

And Orn knew, with absolute certainty—this thing wasn’t going to let them leave. But that was fine. Because now, they weren’t going to let it hide either.

The ship stabilized, but the sea did not.

Whatever had been wrapped around them had shifted, but it hadn’t left. That much was clear from the way the water moved—not like a current, but like something breathing.

Orn kept his grip on the railing as he scanned the surface. Tark’s strike had forced a reaction, but what kind? Had they actually disrupted its control, or had they simply triggered the next phase of whatever it was doing?

If it was forming a full domain, then they had seconds, not minutes, before it adjusted completely. The time to act was now.

Alya exhaled sharply. "Pressure’s changing again."

Orn turned toward her. "Stronger?"

"No. It’s different."

That was a problem. If it wasn’t just reinforcing its grip, then it was doing something else entirely. But what?

Ikar was already focusing again, his jaw tight. "It’s not fully surrounding us anymore. It’s concentrating in one pla-"

He cut himself off. His expression shifted from focused to alert.

Orn understood why a second later.

The water below them was sinking inward. Something beneath the ship was collapsing the space around itself.

Alya reacted immediately, reinforcing their position to prevent sudden movement, but the ship wasn’t the target anymore.

Orn’s mind worked quickly. If it was pulling the area inward, then it wasn’t trying to sink them—it was concentrating its form.

This wasn’t just a domain. It was clear that it was the creature manifesting.

"Prepare for impact," Orn ordered. "Tark—"

Before he could finish, the water beneath them split open.

It quite literally vanished.

A void, chaos, perfectly circular, had formed beneath the ship.

And in the next instant—something rose from it.