Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The sea level plummeted, and the colossal shadows beneath the waves grew ever larger, spreading across the entire ocean.

Looking down, they saw the water darken everywhere.

An unimaginably vast shadow expanded across the entire sea surface.

Everyone who witnessed this scene couldn't help but get goosebumps.

An ominous atmosphere spread like a contagion, infecting every person present.

The Space Pirate Captain received communication requests from the other leaders. The sight was too unsettling—some wanted to retreat immediately, while others refused to abandon the imminent victory as the inner defense network was on the verge of collapse.

But now, an unprecedented sense of urgency urged them—leave, now.

Yet greed made them hesitate.

Gritting his teeth, the captain ordered a retreat, trying not to disturb whatever lurked beneath the surface. Slowly, silently, they attempted to withdraw...

As the sea level dropped, they finally caught a glimpse of the thing—a towering, pale, translucent membrane filled with murky seawater. Even the partially exposed portion was taller than a small hill.

Seemingly noticing the pirates' attempt to flee, the creature slowly rose. Seawater, thousands of meters high, came crashing down like a waterfall, effortlessly crushing several pirate ships that failed to escape in time.

Amid the raging waves, those ships shattered like grains of sand. Pirates scrambled in panic—some flung open hatches to leap out, only to plummet from dizzying heights.

Even the most battle-hardened pirates could only stare in stunned silence at the unimaginable monstrosity before them.

It was a colossal black jellyfish, its shape vaguely resembling an umbrella, but with a smooth, rounded head filled with turbid water, giving it a dark appearance at first glance. In truth, its surface was covered in a translucent, snow-white membrane—its actual skin. Its massive head nearly brushed against the planet's shattered outer barrier. Beneath its umbrella-like body, flower-shaped suckers had grown into countless thick, winding tentacles, each as massive as a pillar descending from the sky.

The tentacles supported its towering form. As it rose, the sea was nearly drained.

The sky darkened as its colossal body blocked out the sun.

Seawater came pouring down like a torrential storm.

Seemingly recognizing the pirate ships as the aggressors, the creature's brows furrowed in anger. A thick tentacle coiled tightly around one of the fleeing vessels.

The ship pushed its engines to the limit, desperate to break free, but the suction of the flower-shaped suckers held it fast. The ship was helplessly dragged into the depths.

Ship after ship, the pirate vessels were pulled under.

The tentacles moved slowly, but as it grew larger, so did its hunger.

Its shiny black eyes fixed on the pirate ships. After a quick look, it realized it had never tasted such prey before—and it got curious.

*Crunch, crunch...*

Everyone could now hear the sounds of ships being snapped apart—sharp shattering noises, the explosions of energy chambers under pressure, but worst of all, the unmistakable noise of feeding.

The slightest movement of its tentacles sent tremors through the seabed and created kilometer-high waves. Listening to the sounds of its meal, they broke out in cold sweat like waterfalls.

*Ptooey.*

The pirate ships were filled with fuel and metal—crunchy, but disgusting.

Making a face, the creature spat out the half-swallowed wreckage.

These ships, forged from the hardest metals in the galaxy, were as flimsy as paper. What remained was nothing but unidentifiable wreckage.

So terrifying.

Truly terrifying.

Even the cruelest pirates were terrified by the scene.

This would haunt their nightmares for the rest of their lives.

In moments, the dark waters were littered with shattered ship parts—broken decks, shattered storage doors, and an increasing number of pirates floating helplessly.

Some ships attempted to fight back, firing volleys of energy beams at the creature's smooth, soft body—but to no effect.

Milo was searching for the little mermaid with his tentacles, but these annoying bugs kept getting in the way. Annoyed, he wrapped his tentacles around the pirate ships.

He was going to drag them all underwater!

The pirate ships were maneuverable, but the tentacles seemed alive. No matter how they dodged, they were still pulled into the depths, the turbulent waves obscuring their view.

In their panic, some ships collided with others, causing huge explosions and shockwaves powerful enough to destroy skyscrapers—yet Milo wasn't affected.

His brows furrowed in irritation. These flies were so annoying! He stamped a tentacle in frustration—only to forget his own immense weight. The entire planet trembled from the impact.

An earthquake?!

The seabed shook violently. Nearby ships, as fragile as eggshells, were crushed instantly—whether they exploded or were flattened outright, no one would ever know.

The pirates made their final attempt. They activated their high-energy cannons—the most powerful weapons in the galaxy, that could destroy small planets. Firing just one used massive amounts of energy.

But when they aimed at Milo, he slowly turned. His tentacles wrapped around the cannons, pulling them up easily into his mouth.

*Mmm... burp~*

The chewing sounds were clear. Even as multiple high-energy blasts detonated inside him, the only reaction was a loud burp.

Every pirate now had the same thought—

Run.

Run now!

"Damn it, what the hell is this thing?!" The Space Pirate Captain panicked. He tried contacting the other leaders, but the pirates were always a loose alliance, only working together for profit. Now, no one listened—everyone was scrambling to save themselves.

The sea smelled of fuel and blood.

Mo Lesen's face was white with terror. Death had never felt so close. Shaking violently, he abandoned all dignity, screaming as a tentacle lunged toward their ship.

*BOOM—*

The pirate ship, built from the toughest alloy in the universe, snapped in half. A huge wave rose as the energy chamber exploded, setting everything on fire.

The freezer was swept into the depths by the waves. Luo Ci, half-conscious, curled into a ball, clinging to her tail to endure the turbulence.

A tentacle spotted the sinking freezer and gently coiled around it.

More limbs wrapped around the container like roots, shielding it from the deadly debris flying like arrows.

At the last moment, the Space Pirate Captain launched an escape pod, dragging the catatonic Mo Lesen with him. The man babbled incoherently, terrified out of his mind. The captain would've kicked him out if not for the promised ransom.

"That thing... it just stopped moving..."

Seizing the opportunity, the escape pod along with hundreds of other pirate ships fled in panic toward the breach in the protective shield.

Before they could even catch their breath, a spine-chilling sensation suddenly overwhelmed them all.

Unlike the fear they felt facing the monster, this was a pressure born of psychic energy, an instinctive trembling.

They had never sensed such overwhelming psychic power before—like a raging storm looming over their heads.

The overwhelming psychic onslaught left the pirates nearly paralyzed with terror, their bodies and minds suppressed, bodily functions almost grinding to a halt. Those who couldn’t endure it suffered psychic ruptures, while others collapsed in spasms, gasping for air.

The Space Pirate Captain clutched his collar, panting rapidly. He could no longer pilot the escape pod, which now rocked violently like a wave. Mo Lesen let out a piercing scream beside him. Through the pod’s glass, they saw an obsidian-class light warship hovering in midair.

The sky was darkened almost to obscurity, making it impossible to discern the figures on the deck. But those eyes glinted with reptilian coldness. Standing in the shadows, his features obscured in shadow, Helunen held a gun, its cold gleam reflecting faintly in the dim light.

Mo Lesen’s lips trembled, his jaw locked in a death grip. "Helunen…"

The Space Pirate Captain’s eyes widened abruptly.

*H-Helunen?*

*Wasn’t his psychic abilities reportedly compromised?*

Only now did it dawn on him—Mo Lesen must have withheld the most crucial information. The thought made him gnash his teeth until they nearly bled. Had he known Helunen’s psychic power had recovered, he would've never touched this contract. But now, regret was useless.

Mo Lesen sighed in relief. As a former leader, Helunen wouldn’t execute him outright… Even if captured, there was still a chance to survive.

But his hope was soon shattered.

Helunen stepped out from the shadows of the deck, his face wore an expression they'd never seen, his eyes cold and burning with emotionless intensity. His psychic force crashed down like a tsunami, suffocating the pirates. The cockpit descended into chaos as the pirate ships swayed and collided like drifting leaves.

Hundreds of warships surged into view—the Federation Legion’s fleet. Energy beams lanced from their wing-mounted arrays, targeting the pirate ships’ power cores.

Boom—

Explosions erupted one after another as power cores detonated, sending the crippled pirate vessels into death spirals from the sky.

Smoke from the blasts filled the air, the deafening explosions drowning out all else. Under such terrifying psychic pressure, hardly anyone could muster the will to resist.

A few pirate ships, desperate, attempted to activate space jumps. But the horrifying psychic force swiftly detected their intent, twisting, destroying, and detonating their power cores. Watching this unfold, Mo Lesen’s heart turned to ice.

In truth, due to the suddenness of the attack, Capital Planet’s immediate reinforcements were limited. The pirates had thousands of ships, yet the battle had become a one-sided slaughter…

It was no exaggeration to say that thousands of assembled pirate ships could temporarily match a high-level civilized planet. But under such psychic oppression, they couldn’t even mount a counterattack—a sight that was nothing short of shocking.

One by one, the pirate ships lost their ability to fight back. They tried to connect to the Federation Legion’s comms, signaling their desire to cease fire.

But the communication was unilaterally severed. Every second, pirate ships were crippled or destroyed. Amid the chaos, the terrifying psychic force swept through like a frigid gale, seemingly searching for something, indifferent to the carnage it caused.

Pirates…

This was unbearable.

No one would survive this night.

Inside the escape pod, Mo Lesen struggled against the turbulent currents. His fingers trembled as he tried to connect to the Legion’s comms via his neural comms—he had seen Totsuka reporting to Helunen.

From a distance, he faintly saw Helunen raise his gun. In an instant, a coruscating blast seared his retinas. Mo Lesen’s entire body shook, while the Space Pirate Captain curled up like a baby.

For the first time, he felt true, overwhelming fear…

At this moment, the galactic networks were in meltdown. The pirate invasion of Capital Planet, the sudden appearance of the DeepSea Monster, the massive earthquake, Helunen’s annihilation of the pirates—any one of these would be explosive news.

Capital Planet Media rushed to the scene, but their surveillance drones couldn’t get too close.

Everyone in the galaxy knew Helunen’s psychic power was unparalleled. Footage of his war against the Bahai leader still circulated widely online. But as time passed, Helunen faded from the public eye, and many memories blurred. His deeds—his rescue counts, his kill counts—became mere numbers in history books. Now, through their screens, people once again felt that primal, atavistic terror.

The surveillance drones kept their distance. Any that ventured too close shattered one after another.

Even those watching remotely could barely breathe. The pirates facing Helunen directly were paralyzed with terror. The psychic feedback overload from his psychic force drove many to madness, drowning them in dread. Never had they wanted to flee so desperately.

They couldn’t understand… Their ships held a king's ransom in loot, and they had already surrendered. Why wouldn’t the bombardment stop? What had they done to enrage Helunen so?

But soon, they had no time to ponder.

Unable to find the little mermaid, Helunen’s psychic force unleashed like a psychic maelstrom across the sea. Countless pirate ships were crushed and obliterated, their wreckage raining down like a storm, dyeing the sea blood-red.

The horrifying scene stunned all who witnessed it.

Helunen stood on the dark deck, his greatcoat whipping like a battle standard in the wind. Leaning on the mast, he coldly observed the carnage below, his gaze utterly unmoved.

—

The sea was now unrecognizable, littered with shattered debris and the reek of ionized flesh and molten metal.

Not a single pirate ship escaped. All had fallen in the storm, reduced to fragments on the seabed, mingling with still-smoldering power cores. A deathly silence settled over the scene.

The sky hung heavy, as if brewing an even greater tempest.

Thick gray smoke drifted over the ashen seabed, leaving only fine white sand sifted from the wreckage.

The rescue team conducted grid-pattern sweeps. Every five minutes, Totsuka reported to Helunen: "No trace of the little mermaid yet."

Helunen remained immobile as a monolith—until he suddenly remembered something. If she wasn’t among the thousands of pirate ships, and hadn’t been found on the seabed…

Then only one place remained.

His gaze shifted toward the figure who'd remained facing away all this time…

Leaving the deck, the troops snapped to attention as he passed.

The once-turbulent waters now barely covered the seabed. The massive black jellyfish’s head pressed against the planet’s protective shield, its tendrils reaching deep into Capital Planet’s Derrian Trench, over ten thousand meters below. The sheer size of the creature kept rescue ships at bay, forced to detour around it.

Helunen walked to the shoreline, his boots wading through the water. At the sound of footsteps, Milo’s blubbery mass quivered.

Helunen noted the reaction. What had been suspicion was now near certainty.

His voice was calm, devoid of expression. "Give her back to me."

Milo trembled again, the surrounding waters convulsing. A wave splashed against Helunen’s pants, but he didn't deign to look, his eyes fixed on Milo.

Everyone watching through the star network held their breath, their breath caught. The pirates clutching at shattered hull fragments on the seabed perked up, certain conflict was inevitable.

But what happened next defied all expectations. The colossal leviathan began to whimper like a chastened pup. How could they tell it was crying? The same tentacles that had been flensing ships moments before now curled up to rub its tearful eyes.

The pirates looked ready to hemorrhage: "?!"

*The hell kind of act is this?!*

Milo had always held a grudge against Helunen. He wanted his mistress to hold only him, but she clearly favored Helunen more. He still remembered their first meeting—Helunen had separated him from his mistress, and ever since, he’d orchestrated their separation… Even now, grown to monstrous proportions, those childhood wounds never healed.

Milo pouted and turned away, wiping his teary eyes with his tentacles, unwilling to respond. Yet the overwhelming psychic energy looming over him carried an unmistakable threat. Milo shivered fearfully, his glossy eyes still spilling tears.

Slowly, he lifted his tentacles—dozens of them intertwined tightly, as if carefully shielding something within.

"Whimper..." Reluctantly, Milo whimpered, his body trembling as if about to cry out another wave of seawater.

Helunen lowered his gaze as the tentacles unfurled one by one, revealing a perfectly preserved freezer pod. He opened it cautiously, and a snow-white merbaby appeared before him. The little one's soft face was buried in his tail, like a pearl in the inky darkness.

Bending down slowly, Helunen cradled the little mermaid gently in his palms and pressed her tightly against his chest.

The little snow-white bundle in his hands was soft and tiny, cool to the touch, barely any weight at all.

His heart pounded fiercely, his palms closing tighter around her. He nuzzled gently against the small, snowy form. "I'm here."

...

"Mmm..."

The capital city welcomed the first light of dawn.

Luo Ci had slept uncomfortably. The smell inside the freezer pod was nauseating, and the pirates had drugged him. He struggled to stay alert amid the turbulence but couldn't even open his eyes. Later, sensing a familiar presence, he finally drifted into a deep slumber.

Unaware of how long he had slept, sunlight warmed his eyelids. Frowning, he rubbed his eyes and sniffed the air.

So soft... and that forest scent—Helunen's scent.

He coiled his tail around a pillow, hugging it comfortably as he rolled over.

"Awake?"

Luo Ci's ear fins fluttered, his eyelids trembling as if still in a dream.

"Open your eyes if you're awake."

Helunen's deep voice was unreadable.

Luo Ci was indeed awake. He remembered his reckless wandering and how he had nearly been snatched away by pirates. Realizing the gravity of his mistake and knowing Helunen must be furious, he deflated.

Resting his chin on the soft blanket, he burrowed into it with his cheek, wriggling his tail as he burrowed deeper.

Helunen lifted the blanket.

Silence hung. Luo Ci kept his eyes shut, playing possum, his tail flicking as if searching for something.

Finally, his tail hooked onto a thin sheet and yanked it over his face before settling down again.

Helunen's lips curved faintly, finding the little mermaid both adorable and exasperating. "If you're still asleep, I'll have them take the snacks away."

No sooner had he spoken than Luo Ci's stomach growled loudly.

He had been starving, and the mention of his favorite treats made him rub his eyes exaggeratedly before blinking open his big, shiny eyes. "I'm awake, I'm awake... What pastries?"

He peeked around but saw none.

Helunen patted the space beside him. "Come here."

Luo Ci hesitated. He desperately wanted to throw himself into Helunen's arms, especially after the fright he'd endured, craving his embrace and comfort. Yet he feared Helunen's anger—after all, his mistake this time was serious. Torn between the two impulses, he lowered his little face, fingers twisting the tip of his tail.

In the end, his longing won out, and he scooted forward inch by inch.

Several minutes passed, and he still hadn't reached Helunen.

Helunen simply swept the little one up onto his lap.

Seeing Helunen reach for him, Luo Ci instinctively shut his eyes and hesitantly placed his tail in Helunen's palm.

In a tiny voice, he bargained, "Don't smack my tail, okay? It hurts too much."

His ear fins trembled faintly amid his kelp-like strands, as if genuinely terrified.

Feeling Helunen's hand lift, Luo Ci covered his eyes and sighed.

Helunen: "I haven't done anything yet. Why the sigh?"

Luo Ci mumbled with a pout. "...Just practicing."

Helunen said nothing, cradling the delicate little tail in his palm. He unscrewed a jar of ointment, dipped his fingers in, and applied it meticulously over the delicate scales. Perhaps from the jostling inside the freezer pod, the scales showed faint scratches.

He had already applied the ointment once while the little mermaid slept. A couple more applications, and the marks would vanish.

Feeling Helunen's gentle care, Luo Ci relaxed instantly. If Helunen was this careful with medicine, how could he bear to punish him?

Smug now, he squirmed and burrowed into Helunen, tilting his little face up as his lips parted. "I won't run off again, I promise... And I'm sorry for worrying everyone. Are the Sea Clan warriors okay...?"

Before he could finish, the door groaned ominously, then crashed inward with a heavy thud.

Luo Ci looked up in alarm to see Sea Clan warriors piled up with the door. Those behind pressed against the ones in front, and they toppled like dominoes. Only those in back kept their footing, while the rest were pinned under the fallen door.

Their emperor had been kidnapped right before their eyes. Though it was largely due to an ambush and the crowd tearing them apart, the warriors were racked with fury and guilt—especially after the pirates' demise, leaving nothing but shame.

They hadn't dared disturb the emperor's rest, keeping silent vigil instead. Even after he awoke, they couldn't face him... They didn't deserve to face him.

They had resolved to stay hidden—until the door betrayed them.

"..."