In a tributary of the Mur River, the advanced pistol-claw lobster was still leading three intermediate members of its kind and more than thirty beginner mantis shrimp upstream. As the river gradually shallowed, they had gone from swimming to wading and crawling.
At last, a waterfall over a hundred meters high appeared on the slope ahead. It could sense the god calling to it from the pool beneath the waterfall.
Without the slightest hesitation, the pistol-claw lobster charged toward the pool with the shrimp and crabs behind it. By now, the water beneath their feet could only be called a stream, barely soaking their rear legs.
For Magic Beasts of the ocean, leaving the water without authorization was undoubtedly dangerous. Yet every one of the advanced pistol-claw lobster's eyes was fixed tightly ahead.
When it had passed that river mouth a little over an hour ago, it had felt the Sea God's summons—like countless tiny shrimp scurrying back and forth inside its body. It had tried to squeeze into the narrow tributary, and the agitation within it had only intensified.
Feeling the immense power surging from within its body, it knew the Sea God was calling to it. So it had rushed upstream without hesitation. Even as the water grew shallower and the journey more difficult, it continued crawling upstream without once looking back.
The pistol-claw lobster eagerly crawled into the pool. The sounds and pulses within its body were like a symphony, making it feel as though it had returned to the Sea God's side. Yet whether at the bottom more than ten meters below or on the surface, it saw neither a statue of the Sea God nor a single Demigod.
The pool lay inside a mountainside cave, while the waterfall thundered down along the outer edge of