The water at the rear of the pirate formation began to churn heavily.

But it wasn’t chasing the pirates—it was swiftly forming a circle.

As if it were trying to engulf the trailing end of their fleet.

“Let’s see here...”

I traced the curve of the swirling surface with my finger, trying to estimate the radius of the forming circle in advance.

The rough calculation I arrived at suggested that five boats near the rear would be caught in the vortex.

These were the ones that had fallen slightly behind in the tightened formation, where boats were spaced barely ten meters apart for the return journey.

Judging by the flow speed and the size of the forming circle, those five boats were going to be caught for sure.

The sun hadn’t fully risen yet, so I couldn’t see anything in the water from above. I quickly turned to Yeondu.

"Yeondu! Stick close to us, and if any boats flip, help rescue the people immediately!"

—Shaaaa. 『Got it, So-ryong!』

"Cho! Let’s flank around the back! Don’t fly directly over the swirling water’s head—understood?"

—Ssrrr! 『Got it, Dad!』

I wasn’t an expert on fish the way I was with venomous insects, but I knew one thing for sure:

Fish have wide vision and can see directly above them.

Thanks to their eye structure, they have convex lenses with a field of view over 160 degrees—what’s called a “fisheye.”

So if this thing in the water was a fish-type spirit beast, approaching from above would be too risky. We aimed to chase from behind the vortex’s starting point and began descending.

Even birds that dive from the sky get spotted by fish easily—so we couldn’t afford to be careless.

The blind spot for fish is directly behind the tail.

"Let’s go!"

Yeondu, Cho, and I dove in quickly, angling toward the swirling water.

Our plan was to get there before the whirlpool fully formed, but even in the few seconds we’d exchanged words, the circle was already halfway complete.

Now I could see the boats at the rear beginning to row desperately.

—Splash, splash...

They were rowing frantically, trying to escape the encroaching spiral.

But the water’s flow was accelerating faster than expected.

We still had quite a distance to go, but the whirlpool had already closed its circle—and once it did, the speed of the current doubled.

It seemed that once the vortex completed its loop, the flow took on a self-reinforcing momentum.

That’s the nature of water—once the path is established, the rest flows with ease.

Of the five boats I predicted would get caught, four were already being pulled in. One straddled the edge but barely escaped.

“This fast?”

—Swoooosh...

—KRAAAASH!

The sixth boat had just broken free—

When suddenly the surface frothed violently, and the whirlpool burst into a full spin.

The water and foam churned so quickly that I could no longer see where the vortex began. The center was gone in a froth of chaos.

Which meant—I couldn’t see the creature anymore.

With all the foam and rushing water, I had no way of knowing where it was swimming.

“It’s too fast... and I didn’t anticipate this much frothing.”

Inside the vortex, the caught boats were in pure chaos.

One boat that had just reached the outer edge of the current was being drawn toward the center, slowly, helplessly—its crew screaming.

"Aaah! It’s a whirlpool!"

"Row! Row, damn it!"

"It’s no use—it’s too fast!"

‘Seriously, you’d think they were being dragged to hell... They saw us rescue people earlier!’

Despite our earlier demonstration, the pirates were screaming as if they were going to die.

The ones being sucked in had thrown themselves flat against their boats, clinging for dear life.

‘Yeondu can rescue them if they flip. For now, I should go underwater and find whatever creature is causing this.’

From above, visibility was impossible—but maybe from below, I’d spot it.

Of course, breathing underwater would be a problem, so I’d need to sync perfectly with Cho.

But Cho and I? Our teamwork was flawless.

She could wear my shoes as gloves, and I could wear her gloves as shoes—that’s how in sync we were.

We were father and daughter, after all.

‘No doubt about it.’

With safety measures in place for the pirates, I was just about to ask Cho to dive—

When a pirate clinging to one of the outermost boats looked up, spotted me, and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Sir! You have to help us before we get dragged in! If more boats get pulled in, they’ll crash into each other and break apart!"

“...What!?”

I paused and quickly did the math.

A whirlpool, by nature, pulls everything toward the center.

Unless there’s a hole in the lakebed, nothing gets sucked downward—it all rotates inward.

That meant the boats were going to collide in the middle.

And once they did?

Just like the pirate said, they’d crash into each other and shatter.

I remembered something: even steel ships aren’t that durable under lateral impact, especially not in storms.

And these weren’t steel—they were wooden boats.

Made in the Central Plains.

‘Might as well be paper boats.’

I’d intended to go into the water, but under the circumstances, I had no choice.

No matter how sketchy these pirates were, I couldn’t let them get injured.

‘This is way outside my plan, but there’s no helping it.’

I quickly shouted to Yeondu.

"Yeondu! Start with the outermost boat—pull it out! Then get the others out of the whirlpool one by one!"

—Siaaa! 『Understood, So-ryong!』

I tasked Yeondu with dragging the edge boats out of the vortex, while Cho and I turned toward the spiraling center—

To the boats that were now circling helplessly, closer and closer to impact.

"Cho, let’s pull out the innermost boat first!"

—Ssrrr. 『Yes!』

—Swoooosh...

As we shot toward the center of the whirlpool, we saw a boat spinning violently in place—twisting like a top.

—Ssrrt. 『Dad, it’s spinning too fast!』

"Yeah... one wrong move and this could go very badly."

Cho was clearly flustered by the speed. Then I noticed something fluttering—ropes.

Those were the very ropes we # Nоvеlight # had used earlier when Geumdo towed the boats.

If the spinning boat collided with Cho, the hull would crack, but ropes were a different story.

"Cho! Grab that rope! Rotate in the same direction and slow it down before pulling!"

—Ssrrr!

Responding instantly, Cho snatched the fluttering rope midair.

Centipedes, after all, are naturally agile hunters.

She began spinning in sync with the boat, gradually slowing down the rotation.

Then, at the right moment, she yanked the boat sideways—and like a board skimming over a wave, it bounced once, twice, and was flung out of the vortex.

—THUMP. THUMP. Splash!

"We—we’re alive!"

"Thank you!"

Cho didn’t use to be this strong. Had she gotten stronger lately?

But I didn’t have time to reflect on Cho’s growth.

There were still more boats trapped in the whirlpool.

‘Which one’s next?’

As I turned my head, I saw Yeondu had already pulled the outermost boat to safety and was now swiftly dragging out another.

"Cho, next one’s that one!"

—Ssrrrrt!

We rushed in and dragged another boat out.

Then suddenly, shouts erupted from ahead.

"This time—it’s over here!"

"Get out of there! Row, damn it!"

There was still one boat left, spinning like a soaked cat in a washer, but the water currents generating the vortex had shifted.

The swirl was dying down.

These pirates didn’t get seasick, so once the current calmed, they’d be able to paddle themselves out.

Time to assist the front.

『"Leave this one—head to the front!"』

—Siaaa! (Understood, So-ryong-nim!)

—Ssrrr. (Got it, Dad!)

We couldn’t talk through the noise of screams and splashing water, so I sent the message through our group link. The responses came back immediately.

Then, from the chat, Hwa-eun suddenly chimed in.

『"So-ryong? Did it show up!?"』

"Yeah! Just now! It’s creating whirlpools all over—we’re struggling to keep up!"

She must’ve been waiting anxiously in the group chat this whole time, dying to hear what was happening.

I didn’t have time to explain in detail. After sending a quick update, I rose back into the sky.

And there they were—pirate boats fleeing ahead, having gained some serious distance.

Either Sagong Won’s sharp orders or just pure survival instinct had scattered them in all directions.

This time, fewer boats were caught in the vortex—only two by my count.

If it was just two, Yeondu could easily handle them.

But if we kept getting yanked around like this, I at least wanted to see what this thing looked like.

If another attack happened, I might not get the chance again.

『"Yeondu, pull out the boats. This time, I need to see what this thing looks like!"』

—Shaaa! (Got it!)

As Yeondu darted toward the first boat, I took a deep breath.

Then I turned to Cho.

『Cho, dive straight into the center of that swirling water ahead!』

—Sst! 『Yes!』

Flying just above the water’s surface, Cho spun opposite the forming current and dashed straight into the heart of the swirling zone.

—Splash! KRAKAKAKAK!

Cold water slammed against me—face first.

My eyes closed instinctively.

Then, I heard Cho’s voice.

『—Ssrrrrt! (Dad, there!)』

Snapping my eyes open through the cloudy water, I saw it:

Something—something—was swimming straight toward us.

‘What is that...?’