Strange Creatures

Han Sen was excited. Already, he was preparing to search for another high-class lonely creature of the sea. But all of a sudden, he felt goosebumps, and his chirpy mood was quashed by a foreboding sense of dread.

"Stop! Don't move!" Han Sen called out to the Mermaid Princess to stop the Crystal Palace. He also wanted the little angels to stop what they were doing and to stop moving completely.

As far as they knew, the Crystal Palace was indestructible. Now that he was safely inside, there should have been no danger. But still, Han Sen felt something wasn't quite right. He couldn't shake the feeling that something awful was about to occur, and because of the worry, his body kept breaking out in cold sweats.

Ever since he had learnt the first tier of Ice Skin, his perception had heightened and its sensitivity had continued growing. Han Sen was a man who put a lot of stock in his ability to perceive what was happening.

He didn't move an inch. He used his eyes to peer through the windows of the Crystal Palace, and into the creeping black of the deep sea. Nothing strange happened. Passing the window, a shoal of fish went by. They looked happy.

Across the resting sands that composed the seabed, various types of marine life ventured.

But Han Sen, despite the serene scene, still felt something was not quite right. His body began to tremble.

All of a sudden, a large creature appeared in Han Sen's vision. It was a 30-metre long silver shark. Its body was composed of metallic scales. As it swam, great waves followed in its wake.

The giant silver shark was terrifying to look at. But after Han Sen gave it a thorough look, he realized that it wasn't the crux of his anxiety. This wasn't what had made him scared.

The silver shark opened its mouth, attempting to swallow a scarily large amount of fish. As if they were to be consumed by a sealing cave entrance, the fish that had felt the danger began swimming in a frantic panic. It was chaos.

As this happened, Han Sen caught sight of a small blue light in the distance. It was getting nearer, and as it did, the power of the blue light increased. It then began to jump strangely around.

As the blue light drew nearer and nearer, the concern in Han Sen's heart grew. When it finally reached a discernible distance, Han Sen at last saw what it was.

It was a three-meter-tall seahorse. Its body was shining blue, as if it was wrapped in a blue, blazing flame.

A giant blue seahorse. Its skin, although blue, was quite faint, faded like the bark of an old, withered tree. Its eyes were the opposite, however, sparkling like two refined sapphires. A cold blue light shone from within them. If you stared into those eyes, it would feel as if you were being drawn into a bottomless well of despair.

Han Sen's forehead was dripping with a cold sweat, and the droplets had already reached his cheeks. As he watched the seahorse, he did not move a muscle. That which he had feared was confirmed in the presence of this new sea creature.

As the seahorse neared, the silver shark's giant body came to a stand-still in the water. It then began shivering, as if it had just seen something most awful.

The seahorse did not swim in haste, instead drifting steadily towards the shark. The closer the seahorse came, the more the shark shook. Still, it was locked in place, seemingly unable to move.

Eventually, the seahorse reached the giant silver shark. Although the seahorse wasn't particularly small, it was dwarfed when compared to the silver shark. How strange it was to see a silver shark of that size be terrified by such a small seahorse! The metal scales that plated the shark rattled in fear.

The blue seahorse took a look at the shark, then opened its mouth like a speaker. A blue flame exited its mouth, yet was not extinguished by the sea water. The flame was shot at the shark's silver scales.

The small blue flame was only about the size of a fist, but when it came into contact with the shark, the entire creature lit up in flames.

The blue flame raged in the water. The giant silver shark writhed in agony, but still refused to flee. The body did move, but only through convulsing from the pain it was attempting to endure. It was an unnerving scene to behold.

A moment later, the giant silver shark was nothing but cinder. Here, deep below the sea, a shark had been incinerated into little more than ash. The blue flame then went out, as the dust of its victim fell to become one with the sandy seabed.

Han Sen, after witnessing all of this, was scared. He could not help but think, "Super creature. This thing must be a super creature from the Second Shelter."

Although he had yet to witness the true strength of the seahorse, all it took was the sight of that blue flame to suggest where it had come from.

While Han Sen stood motionless in fear, the seahorse turned to face the window he was looking out of. All of a sudden, Han Sen's body felt cold. A chill in his heart had taken root, and was expanding.

All the seahorse did, however, was stare. Following that, it turned tail and left. Only a short time after, it had completely disappeared in the black of the deep sea.

Once it had gone, Han Sen fell on to the floor as collapsing from exhaustion. The clothes on his were soaked from his sweat.

"That was terrifying. How strong must that super creature have been? The way it looked and how it behaved was scary enough," Han Sen's voice trembled as he spoke.

The flame that the seahorse had spat out spooked Han Sen. The thought of a creature possessing a flame that could incinerate a giant sacred-blood creature into ash, while submerged deep beneath the sea, was a terrifying thing.

Seeing that the direction in which the seahorse left was the way to the Seabed Shelter, Han Sen endured another chill. "Is the Seabed Shelter the one that resides above a royal spirit shelter?"

While Han Sen was still feeling frightened, he saw a blue flame arise in the distance. What poor creature had fallen prey to the seahorse this time?

Han Sen gritted his teeth and commanded the Mermaid Princess to sail the Crystal Palace slowly in the direction the Seahorse had gone. He did not dare go too quickly, as he fixed his eyes on the blue flame in the distance.

Han Sen thought it wasn't fair, and wanted to see if the seahorse was a creature from the Seabed Shelter. In order to learn more, he now sought to follow it.

Before long, Han Sen was disappointed. They reached an area not far from the Seabed Shelter, and he realized that the seahorse did indeed head towards it. In its wake, the charred remains of various sea creatures had been left to smolder on the seabed. Why was it doing this?

Now, in the distance, the giant Seabed Shelter had come into sight. Han Sen had the Mermaid Princess turn around and leave. If the blue seahorse had indeed come from there, that meant Han Sen would not be willing to visit for many more years.

The Crystal Palace was on its way back when Han Sen noticed that the seawater had lit up. The water around the Crystal Palace was now blue, and as bright as the daytime.

Han Sen's face changed, as if he had just thought of something. He looked back in the direction of the Seabed Shelter and saw it engulfed in a blue flame. It was like a blue purgatory, where a strange blue light burned like mad.