Darkness in the Deep Sea (Ten)

Atop the giant red shrimp, more than a hundred meters long.

A female sea qi over ten meters in diameter controlled the massive creature beneath her through threads of Mental Power that stretched more than a hundred meters.

Millions of tiny male sea qi had piled onto the giant shrimp like a small mountain, but only those closest to the female could inject their meter-long threads of Mental Power into her body.

Compared with the long lives of female sea qi, the males' lives were very short.

Most lived only a little over ten years.

Their purpose in life was to eat, nurture a single tendril of Mental Power, and, on the night of the full moon, inject their Mental Power seeds into the queen's body to carry on their line.

During this process, the female absorbed vast amounts of Mental Power from the males.

And so,

After accumulating it over countless years, it was hardly surprising that these strange creatures had evolved such a structure of Mental Power.

Unlike the males, who were capable of only simple social interaction,

Their long lives gave female sea qi considerable intelligence. Each had her own name. The female atop this giant red shrimp was called the Eclipse Queen.

There were many queens.

But there were only a few Divine Mothers.

"The moonlight is beautiful."

She gazed up at the moon, entranced, and stretched her tendrils of Mental Power toward it as far as she could.

But against the distant moon, tendrils that reached only a hundred-odd meters were pitifully short.

After admiring the moon, she looked toward the evil floating island.

The vast island hanging in the sky resembled another moon, but to the sea qi it symbolized evil and ill fortune. Only during the annual Creation Festival, when all the sea