Under the sea.
The Fishmen looked somewhat like bloated, twisted frogs. Their upper bodies had ugly fish heads and huge mouths, while their limbs were thin. They would probably struggle even to stand on land, but this was the sea, where they could use the webbing between their claws to swim swiftly through the water.
For some reason, though these creatures were called Fishmen, they had no tails like fish. Instead, they had four limbs and were covered in scales.
The Fishmen had gathered together. In the crude camp, quite a few Fishman miners were busy working the mine with pickaxes.
Their thin, weak limbs clearly were not suited to wielding pickaxes, and the tools themselves did not fit their hands very well. Yet the Fishmen still dug diligently along the seafloor. Even without supervisors, their enthusiasm remained high.
From the distant coral thickets, pairs of cold eyes watched the busy Fishmen.
"That's right. They're still the same—working for no reason at all, mining with fanatical fervor." Nini muttered to herself. "Should we gather some ore later?"
"There's no need. The target of this mission is those black serpents. Don't get distracted." Ash's tone was calm and devoid of emotion, yet the fire of vengeance churned in her eyes.
"Where are those serpents? Why can't I see them?"
Ash said nothing. She merely raised a hand and pointed toward the distant seafloor.
"Hmm?!"
The seabed there appeared to be nothing but ordinary sand and stones, but upon closer inspection, a subtle ridge could be seen. Like plant roots beneath the soil, it had pushed up a long swell across the seabed.
At a few spots, the sand and gravel atop the ridge had fallen away, revealing pollution slowly squirming beneath.
They truly resembled long serpents—serpents growing beneath the earth, their