On the other side.

Hera casually found a rock to sit on, clutching her chest, trying to suppress the strange excitement within her.

Because of her childhood albino disease, Hera never dared to have any strong emotions, so her first thought was to suppress them.

However, this feeling did not subside; instead, it grew stronger over time.

This inevitably made Hera uneasy.

In the very next moment.

Hera's body suddenly trembled, and she instinctively leaped forward.

Bang--!

The instant she jumped away, a huge, black mouth swallowed the spot where Hera had just been.

It stirred up ripples in the seawater.

Hera turned around in fright at the noise and saw a large-mouthed catfish, about five meters long with strong limbs, lying there.

The sound of rocks shattering came from its mouth, and pieces of rock were spat out.

Hera felt a wave of fear wash over her. If she hadn't dodged by some uncanny impulse, the giant catfish wouldn't have been chewing on a stone, but on herself!

The large catfish looked at Hera, its round eyes revealing a hint of confusion.

He didn't seem to understand why Hera was able to react to his sneak attack.

Seeing that the other party was in a daze, Hera quickly swam frantically in the direction the spirit shark had left.

Seeing Hera's retreating figure, the giant catfish shook its head and then suddenly pushed itself against the ground.

The fish leaped off the seabed and chased after Hera, waving its tail.

The catfish swims in a strange, even comical, manner, with its limbs swaying back and forth as its tail moves.

But he was not slow at all; he closed the distance between himself and Hera in just two breaths.

Hera turned around in horror, staring at the gaping maw of the abyss that seemed to want to swallow her whole.

His speed suddenly increased.

Surprisingly, they managed to create a distance between themselves and the catfish.

The catfish was startled again, and desperately thrashed its short limbs in an attempt to catch up.

However, the distance between the two is constantly widening.

Seeing that it had no chance of catching up, the catfish simply stopped chasing.

Then, as if it had seen something, it turned and swam in another direction.

...

"Come on, baby! I believe you can swim here."

Inside a room.

A chubby little fish-man who looks only five or six years old is struggling to swim towards his parents, just like a toddler learning to walk.

"Hey, almost there, son, keep it up, keep it up!"

His parents stood in front of him, encouraging him. The little mermaid, with his two waving little hands, finally swam into front of them.

"Baby is so great!"

The two happily hugged the little mermaid and each kissed him on the cheek.

"You can swim right after learning to transform into human form, that's amazing!"

"Hehe, I have hands now, I can go catch crabs!"

After saying that, the little guy started to wriggle his rather uncoordinated limbs, preparing to swim out.

Just then, a huge, dark face suddenly shoved in from outside and blocked the entrance.

The powerful surge of water propelled the fish away, sending it crashing into its parents' arms.

"Fish!"

The fish-man's parents quickly hugged him, and after seeing that he was unharmed, they hurriedly looked towards the door.

The little fishman opened his eyes, but his pupils contracted immediately after seeing the other person's face.

"Blackie?!"

The fish-man's parents also recognized the giant catfish as the black goby that often played with their children in the neighborhood.

The fishman father, seeing that something was clearly wrong with Blackie, whose eyes were filled with ferocity, warily shielded his wife and children behind him.

"What happened to you? How did you get like this, and why are you covered in injuries!"

The black creature kept trying to squeeze into the room, and cracks began to appear on the door frame.

"Hungry...so hungry..."

A deep voice came from his mouth, like a final groan before death, making the listener's hair stand on end.

"Mom, Blackie looks so strange..."

The little fish-man clung to his mother's leg in terror, tears welling in his eyes and scattering into the sea.

"roar--!!"

Blackie roared and kept trying to squeeze inside, causing the cracks in the door frame to widen.

The rough rocks tore at Blackie's body, leaving shocking wounds that grew larger and larger.

But it seemed to have lost the ability to feel pain and kept burrowing inside.

Soon, half of his body was inside.

Its black hole-like mouth opened and closed, trying to bite the three of them, but it always missed by just a little bit.

However, this was enough to terrify the three people inside the house.

"Ah!!! Guardians! Come save us!"

Boom!!!

Finally, the ring of stones that had been restraining the black creature shattered, and its massive body plunged into it.

"ah--!"

Bang!!

Just as the three screamed in agony, a rapidly approaching rock struck Blackie's head like a missile.

The immense force deformed its head, causing it to slam heavily onto the floor.

A few meters behind her, Hera stared blankly at the black doll that had been hit by the stone she had thrown, somewhat at a loss.

At first, out of fear, Hera was torn between whether or not to run away.

But seeing the other person go straight into the house, he didn't think too much about it and took out a stone and threw it at them.

Who would have thought that this stone would have such great force when thrown?!

With that kind of power, it could probably kill a brown bear in one hit!

Blackie was also stunned by this powerful force, standing there dumbfounded and at a loss.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!