The creature didn't roar when it attacked.
It simply erased the distance.
One moment it stood across the sinking sea, its massive form towering over the broken water. The next, it was already there, its arm cutting through the air with a force that made the ocean scream beneath it.
"Move your ass!" Ragnar barked.
Arin was already gone.
She shot forward instead of back, her body ripping through the air, her blade forming in her hand as she closed the distance head-on. The pressure alone clawed at his skin, but he grinned anyway.
"Come here, you ugly fuck."
Her blade slammed into the creature's neck.
CLANG.
The impact shook her entire arm, the invisible barrier absorbing the strike like it had teeth. The force traveled back into his shoulder, rattling bone and muscle.
"…Oh, you're hard," Arin muttered, eyes lighting up. "I like that."
The creature answered.
Its limb came down like a falling building.
Arin twisted mid-air, barely slipping past it as the attack ripped through the space beside her. The shockwave caught him anyway, slamming into his ribs and throwing her backward across the water.
She skidded hard, boots tearing through the ocean until he forced himself upright.
"Fuck," she breathed, laughing under it. "That's one hell of a welcome."
Behind him, Murray stepped forward, rolling his neck once.
"Step aside."
The second creature opened its mouth.
The sea behind it rose instantly, folding inward, compressing into something dense and violent. The air vibrated as the pressure built.
Then it fired.
The attack crossed the distance in a blink.
Murray didn't move.
It hit him.
The ocean exploded behind him, splitting apart for hundreds of meters as the force bent around his body. Water screamed outward in towering waves, but Murray stood still, unmoved, unbroken.
He lowered his hand slowly.
"…That tickled."
Miss Sham laughed under her breath.
"Careful," she said. "You might fall in love."
Murray smirked faintly. "Not my type."
The third creature moved.
Jinha stepped forward to meet it.
Her eyes stayed calm. Focused. Her hand lifted slowly as energy gathered along her arm, thin lines of light crawling across her skin.
"Come on," she whispered. "Try it."
The creature lunged.
Jinha moved at the last second, her body sliding past its strike with surgical precision. Her hand came down against its exposed side.
The impact was silent.
Then the creature's armor split.
A deep fracture tore across its body, black blood spilling into the sea.
It staggered.
Arin laughed.
"Oh, that's fucking beautiful."
The first creature turned toward her again, enraged now, its massive body shifting as it prepared to crush him outright.
Ragnar stepped forward.
Ice spread instantly beneath his feet, racing across the ocean in violent cracks. The temperature dropped sharply, the air itself turning hostile.
His voice cut through the chaos.
"Enough."
The sea froze around the creature's legs.
It struggled.
It failed.
Arin didn't waste the opening.
She shot forward again, faster than before, her blade cutting through the broken barrier and deep into the creature's throat.
This time—
It went in clean.
The creature screamed.
The sound tore across the Arabian Sea, violent and furious.
Arin twisted the blade deeper, grinning like a madman.
"Yeah," she breathed. "You bleed just fine."
Black blood poured into the water.
Behind him, the other two creatures moved together.
Not panicking.
Not retreating.
Advancing.
Ragnar watched them come.
His expression didn't change.
"…Good," he said quietly.
His hand lifted.
The ocean answered.
"Let's see how long you last."
The moment the first one screamed, the sea went insane.
The other two didn't hesitate anymore.
They charged.
Not separately.
Together.
"—Shit," Arin muttered, ripping her blade free as the wounded creature collapsed backward, its massive body crashing into the water and sending waves violently outward.
The second creature reached Murray first.
It didn't swing.
It rammed him.
Its full mass drove forward like a moving mountain, its armored shoulder slamming into him with catastrophic force.
The impact shattered the frozen surface beneath Ragnar's control. Ice exploded outward in every direction.
Murray didn't fly back.
He held it.
His boots dug into the water, his body locking in place as veins bulged along his arms.
"…You heavy bastard," he growled.
But the creature didn't stop.
It pushed harder.
The sea beneath Murray began to sink.
His legs trembled.
Ragnar turned instantly.
"Murray—move!"
"I can't," Murray gritted out. "If I let go, it reaches you."
The third creature appeared behind him.
Too fast.
Too fucking fast.
"—Behind you!" Jinha shouted.
Miss Sham moved.
She didn't think.
She didn't hesitate.
Space twisted violently around the creature's arm, forcing its trajectory off-course just enough—
CRACK.
The limb punched through her torso.
Time stopped.
Arin's grin vanished.
"…Sham?"
Her body hung there for a second, impaled against something that didn't belong in this world. Blood spilled down slowly, dark against the endless ocean.
Her lips parted.
She coughed.
"…Fuck," she whispered.
The creature pulled its arm back.
Her body dropped.
Arin moved without thinking, catching her before she hit the water.
Her weight felt wrong.
Too light.
Too still.
"…Hey," she said, her voice breaking slightly. "Hey—stay with me."
Her eyes struggled to focus.
She looked at her.
Then past her.
Toward Ragnar.
"…Finish it," she breathed.
Her hand fell.
It didn't rise again.
Something inside Arin snapped.
"YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"
She vanished.
The wounded creature didn't even have time to react.
Arin's blade tore through its skull, splitting it open completely. Black blood exploded outward as its massive body collapsed lifelessly into the sea.
Behind her, Murray roared.
The second creature pushed harder.
His arms shook violently now, his muscles tearing under the strain.
"…Captain!" he shouted.
Ragnar turned.
He saw it.
The third creature moving again.
Moving toward Jinha.
Toward the others.
Toward everyone.
Murray saw it too.
His eyes hardened.
He stopped resisting.
Instead—
He grabbed it.
Wrapped his arms around its massive frame and pulled it in close.
"…You're not getting past me," he growled.
The creature responded instantly.
Its jaws opened.
And closed around him.
Jinha screamed.
"—MURRAY!"
The sound of bone crushing echoed across the ocean.
Blood spilled into the water.
Still—
He held on.
Even as his body broke.
Even as his strength failed.
"…Captain…" he forced out.
"…Now."
Ragnar moved.
For the first time since the battle began—
He unleashed everything.
The ocean froze.
Not just the surface.
Everything.
Water solidified instantly, trapping the final creature completely. Ice spread upward, locking its body in place, crushing it from every direction.
The creature struggled.
It screamed.
It failed.
Ragnar raised his hand.
His voice was cold.
Empty.
"Die."
The ice collapsed inward.
The creature shattered.
Its body broke apart under the pressure, crushed completely as black blood froze mid-air and fell silently into the sea.
Silence followed.
Only the sound of broken water.
Broken ice.
Broken breathing.
Arin stood there, still holding Miss Sham's body.
Jinha fell to her knees beside what remained of Murray.
Neither of them moved.
Ragnar stood alone at the center of the frozen sea.
Three S-rank monsters.
Dead.
Two S-rank hunters.
Gone.
The Arabian Sea was quiet again.
But nothing about it felt like victory.