The giant octopus reacted even faster than we did. The moment it sensed the approaching guardian, every trace of aggression vanished. Its remaining tentacles retracted and the colossal beast turned around without hesitation.
Then it fled.
Pure panic drove every movement. The same fear I had witnessed in the whales. The same fear I had seen in countless creatures throughout the Soul Sea.
Silver pointed after it.
"Is it running from Verilux?"
Aurora’s expression darkened.
"Escaping will be the right word."
The distinction wasn’t encouraging.
The guardian’s presence continued growing at an alarming rate. Somehow it had already located us again, and judging by the speed at which the pressure was approaching, we had very little time before another encounter.
My gaze shifted toward the enormous wound still running through the octopus’s body.
Then an idea occurred to me.
A terrible idea.
Which usually meant it had a reasonable chance of working.
I pointed toward the fleeing creature.
"We’re going inside."
The silence that followed from my summons was impressive.
Aurora eventually broke the silence.
"Inside what?"
"The octopus."
There was more silence. Then Silver laughed.
"No."
"Yes."
"Absolutely not."
I looked at him.
"Do you have a better plan?"
He opened his mouth, thought about it for a few seconds and then slowly closed it again.
The approaching pressure answered the question for him.
Moments later we accelerated after the fleeing beast. Soul force continued pouring from the massive wound as the creature desperately pushed itself faster through the sea. We reached it within minutes and entered through the opening before any of us had enough time to reconsider the decision.
The interior resembled a gigantic living tunnel filled with pulsing soul force and biological structures larger than buildings. The creature clearly noticed our presence but showed no interest in attacking. Survival had become its only priority.
Outside, Verilux continued closing the distance.
Inside, the wounded Saint-level predator pushed itself harder and harder, desperately attempting to place as much distance as possible between itself and the approaching guardian.
I found myself genuinely hoping that the monster succeeded.
Inside its body, we could feel every violent movement as the creature pushed itself beyond its limits. The walls of the living tunnel around us pulsed continuously while dense soul force flowed through veins thicker than rivers.
Every so often the entire interior would tremble violently as the beast changed direction without warning, desperately trying to confuse whatever instinct guided Verilux through the Soul Sea.
Nobody spoke much.
The pressure of the guardian remained present. Not close enough to immediately threaten us.
But close enough that none of us could relax.
I sat near the edge of the wound we had entered through and continuously extended my perception outside. Most of what I sensed was chaos. Soul currents were disturbed across hundreds of kilometers.
Entire schools of sea creatures were abandoning territories. Even several Saint-level signatures I detected from afar were moving in the opposite direction.
Verilux was turning entire sections of the Soul Sea upside down simply by passing through them.
Then suddenly the octopus changed behavior.
Its speed dropped. The constant panic that had been driving it forward began fading. Instead of swimming through open waters, it started descending.
Deeper.
And deeper.
The silver light of the ocean surface gradually disappeared behind us. The surrounding waters darkened. Soon even the soul stars overhead vanished completely.
"What is it doing?" Silver asked.
Aurora closed her eyes briefly.
"It knows somewhere."
The octopus continued descending before something finally appeared within my perception.
At first I thought it was a mountain.
Then an island. Then I realized neither description came close.
The thing lying beneath us was enormous.
Its body stretched across a section of the ocean larger than entire cities. Ribs thicker than mountain ranges protruded outward in every direction while a gigantic skull rested partially buried within the sea floor.
Even dead, the creature radiated pressure.
Ancient pressure.
The kind that lingered long after death.
"What in the world is that?" Ragnar muttered.
The octopus answered by swimming directly toward it.
Only then did I notice the opening. One of the gigantic ribs had broken long ago, creating an enormous cavity within the creature’s chest. The hollow space extended deep into the carcass and appeared large enough to swallow mountains.
The octopus slipped inside.
Carefully, slowly, almost respectfully.
Then it stopped moving entirely. The creature lowered itself against the ancient remains and remained perfectly still.
For several moments nobody understood.
Then Knight spoke.
"It is hiding. It has probably done this before."
That made sense.
Predators survived by hunting.
Prey survived by learning.
Any creature that had lived long enough to reach Saint rank inside the Soul Sea would inevitably develop methods of avoiding things stronger than itself.
And Verilux sat at the very top of that list.
The carcass itself possessed strange properties.
The closer I examined it, the more I noticed countless remnants of ancient soul force woven throughout the bones. The pressure released by the remains interfered with perception and distorted the surrounding currents. Even my own senses struggled to penetrate too deeply into the skeleton. The giant octopus had essentially hidden itself inside the corpse of something even more terrifying.
A few hours passed. We simply waited.
The interior of the ancient carcass felt strangely peaceful despite its grim appearance. Vast caverns stretched throughout the skeleton while rivers of glowing soul force flowed between the ribs. Several times I detected smaller creatures moving through the remains, using the corpse as shelter just as the octopus was doing now.
Then the pressure arrived.
Every conversation stopped immediately.
The octopus froze and so did we. The guardian had entered this section of the Soul Sea.
Even from such an immense distance, its presence caused the surrounding waters to tremble. Instinct screamed warnings through every living creature nearby.
For a long time nothing happened.
The pressure moved slowly. Verilux was searching. The giant octopus didn’t dare move.
At one point the guardian’s presence became strong enough that I genuinely thought it had found us. The octopus began trembling beneath us while even Ragnar’s expression became serious.
Then the pressure shifted direction. The searching presence moved elsewhere. The ocean gradually calmed.
The distant pressure continued fading. Until eventually only traces remained.
Nobody spoke for several minutes afterward.
The giant octopus was the first to react.
The enormous creature released a low vibration that echoed throughout the carcass before finally relaxing.
For the first time since we had entered its body, it no longer seemed terrified.
I slowly stood and extended my perception once more and found only the endless Soul Sea.
A smile appeared on my face.
"I think we survived."
Silver immediately sat down.
"Good."
Aurora laughed softly. For the moment, at least, the hunt was over.
And hidden inside the corpse of a forgotten monster older than most civilizations, we finally had an opportunity to breathe before continuing our journey toward Region Five.