Matthias’ fleet had just entered the mist-shrouded depths of the Eastern Sea, where lead-gray clouds pressed low over the horizon. Even the salty sea breeze carried a metallic, rusty tang.
Standing on the main deck of the Surgebreaker, he rolled a small white stone between his fingers while scanning the fog – swallowed horizon.
The three escort ships sent to scout the route had been out of contact for half an hour, leaving the supposedly safe channel marked on their charts silent and still at the bottom of a deep well.
“Your Highness, something’s off with the current,” the elderly helmsman beside him said. He suddenly gripped the compass as its bronze needle spun violently and frost formed along its edges.
“This fog… It’s alive.”
Before he could finish speaking, a sharp cracking sound erupted from the west.
A massive waterspout burst through the thick fog, revealing the wreckage of half a ship twisting and flipping through the rolling waves. Lanterns on the deck flickered twice like dying fireflies before the dark green water swallowed them whole.
“That’s Patrol Three!” the lookout shouted, his voice trembling with panic. ” It’s gone under!”
Matthias clenched the white stone so tight the edges dug into his palm. Just as he was about to order a closer inspection, the fog on the east side ripped apart. It revealed the upturned hull of another guard ship with a gaping hole nearly ten feet wide running along its side.
The wooden planks at the edges had been twisted like rope under immense force while seawater rushed in with a bubbling, relentless roar.
“There’s something in the fog!”
Panicked shouts erupted across the deck as bluish-gray shadows flashed through the dense mist, moving fast as lightning.
Screams erupted from the second and third escort ships as well as the cracking of splintering wood mixed with soldiers’ wails, echoing across the fog-choked sea.
Matthias suddenly noticed something around the vanishing wreckage. The sea surface was slowly rising, as if some black mountain range was emerging from the depths.
“Fire the flares,” he shouted, drawing his sword toward the fog. His dark battle robe whipped in the wind, revealing the silver-threaded dragon embroidered along its chest.
Three sulfur flares streaked skyward before exploding in brilliant light that instantly pierced the mist. During that illuminated moment, everyone gasped.
Dozens of ship fragments floated on the surface, each piece showing clean, precise cuts as if severed by a giant blade. Even more horrifying were the floating corpses where soldiers’ armor and flesh had been severed at the waist, the cut edges smooth and mirror-like.
“What is that?” Someone pointed at the rising sea surface with a trembling voice.
Under the blinding light, the gray-green shape finally revealed its outline. It was a hulking mass covered in countless knobby growths, each the size of a fist and glinting with a metallic sheen.
Eight thick, jointed limbs plunged into the water beneath the creature. Every stroke sent waves nearly ten feet high while the hooked tips glowed with an eerie blue light. Suddenly, that hulking mass shifted.
A dark shadow whipped out of the fog with a piercing rush and slammed into the side of the Surgebreaker.
The thunderous crash left a dent in the three-inch-thick hull planking. Through the flying wood chips, the crew could see it was a shell-covered giant claw with pincers stretching over 20 feet across.
Inner serrations sharper than sword blades slowly opened and closed while fragments of broken armor still hung between the teeth.
“It’s… It’s a Brineclaw!”
The elderly helmsman slumped against the wheel, his eyes wide with terror.
“A Brineclaw bigger than our ship!”
As the thick fog slowly dissipated, it revealed the full scale of the monstrous creature. It was nearly half the size of the Surgebreaker with a dark blue-black carapace encrusted in layers of barnacles like natural armor. Two protruding compound eyes rotated on their stalks, glowing a menacing crimson.
However, the most terrifying part was its massive pincers. The right claw gleamed with dark gold along its edge, clearly worn smooth from crushing hard objects for years. Meanwhile, the left claw bristled with backward-facing spikes, dripping thick, dark green liquid.
The Brineclaw slowly rotated its enormous body, and water droplets rolled off its shell and splashed into the sea below. When its crimson compound eyes turned toward the Surgebreaker, it was as though the entire ship were gripped by invisible hands, and the air itself seemed to freeze
Matthias tightened his grip on the sword hilt until his knuckles went white. He finally understood how those ships had sunk.
The Brineclaw didn’t rely on brute force to destroy vessels but used those blade-like giant claws to slice through hulls like cutting sheet metal.
The creature seemed to sense his stare and suddenly raised its right claw, swinging it down hard toward the Surgebreaker’s main mast.
As the air itself was torn with a sharp rending sound, Matthias’ pupils contracted sharply.
