The Oceanic Kingdom

Chapter 7: Hunters at the Fence

Ethan did not chase the Black-Tide Serpent at once.

Only fools ran into elite monsters while wounded and half-flooded. First came repairs, then traps, then timing.

But another enemy arrived before the storm eye.

The Tide Fence chimed in a pattern Ethan had set for human movement.

Mira crouched by the door, shoulder bound tight. “Cole?”

“Likely.”

Three rafts emerged through the rainbreak. Six survivors rode them. They stayed just outside the territory boundary, which meant someone had explained beginner protection.

Their leader wore a clean blue coat with the Cole crest stitched over the heart. Not family. A paid contract hunter.

He raised a speaking shell. “Dead Sea survivor. Cole Group offers rescue and patronage. Lower your fence and submit core inspection.”

Mira muttered, “That sounds friendly if words mean nothing.”

The hunter smiled. “Beginner protection prevents us from attacking your territory directly. It does not prevent salvage, monster driving, or lawful trade enforcement.”

“Cole Group has declared resource priority in this sector.”

There it was. A fake rule, backed by future force.

Two hunters dropped bait sacks into the water. Blood scent spread fast.

Mira’s eyes hardened. “They’re luring monsters through the boundary.”

“Cut the west corpse loose,” he told Mira.

The dead Stormspawn Hatchling lay tied near the broken fence for later harvesting. Mira understood and moved.

“Cole Group hunting party using monster bait against beginner territories in Dead Sea. Witness record open.”

The hunter’s smile vanished.

“Cole again?”

Ethan lifted a cheap vision shell taken from the hunters’ earlier trade victim? No. He had none. So he used the core’s territory view and spent storm energy to broadcast ten seconds.

A costly choice.

The channel saw the bait sacks, Cole crest, and rafts outside a beginner boundary.

Mira released the stormspawn corpse. The larger scent drifted away from the hut and toward the hunters’ left raft.

The hunters cursed and stabbed down with poles. Their formation broke.

Ethan activated the damaged west fence manually. Blue sparks jumped through the water, not enough to hurt humans at range, enough to drive crabs sideways.

One crab slammed into a hunter raft. Another climbed the bait rope.

Mira threw a hooked cord around the nearest bait sack and dragged it across the boundary line into a prepared pit. Beginner protection did not stop her from taking abandoned bait that entered their territory.

[Black Ribbon Eel defeated.]

The hunters lost one raft to a crab claw. No one died, but two fell into the water and had to be hauled out. Their clean formation became wet panic.

The leader pointed at Ethan. “You will regret humiliating Cole.”

“You came here for my core,” Ethan said. “Leave with your people while you still can.”

The hunter chose pride.

He threw a hooked chain at the Rain Catcher. It crossed the boundary and latched onto the frame. Not a direct attack on the core or occupant, but sabotage by tool.

Mira moved first. She cut the chain with the shell knife, but the strain tore the Rain Catcher half loose. Their clean water supply spilled into mud.

Cost paid.

[Tide Fence surge available.]

Blue force pushed upward. The raft flipped.

The hunters splashed into shallow water outside the boundary. The crabs turned on the easiest prey. The Cole leader shouted retreat at last.

Ethan did not pursue. Pursuit would void protection and waste strength.

Mira leaned against the wall, pale but standing. “Water catcher’s ruined.”

“And the hunters?”

They harvested the eel core, two crab cores from monsters killed in the chaos, and recovered one intact pole from the wrecked raft. Real gains, real damage.

“Cole crest confirmed.”

“State your name. Richard Cole does not tolerate misuse of family reputation.”

Far away, in a higher-grade sea zone, the failed hunters reported to Julian with wet clothes and lowered heads.

Julian’s face went white, then red. “A Dead Sea nobody did this?”

The leader hesitated. “He knew our loopholes. He used public broadcast. The core light was blue.”

Victoria Cole stood behind Julian’s chair, listening. Her expression did not change, but her fingers tightened around her notebook.

Richard entered near the end of the report.

“Blue core,” Victoria said softly. “Tactical restraint. Public pressure. That is not a nobody.”

Julian swallowed. “Ethan is dead. He never transferred near us.”

Richard’s cold gaze fixed on the ranking screen. “No body exists in this world unless the System confirms it.”

Victoria closed her notebook.

“Then we do not send rafts,” she said. “We send contract breakers, siege tools, and enough witnesses to control the story.”

Julian nodded too quickly. “I’ll lead them.”

Richard looked at his son as if measuring an asset. “You will not fail publicly.”

Across zones, the Cole broker ran damage estimates. Raft repairs, bait supplies, and a lost Rain Catcher: a quick tally. A Rain Catcher at market value cost two weeks' labor for a coastal beginner team to replace, plus three crates of tarp and a spool of reinforced cord. The broken raft meant bent ribs and one steering pole gone—replaceable, but embarrassing after a Cole-backed operation.

Julian heard the numbers and his jaw clenched. They were small losses compared to face. That made the decision easier: escalate.

The family discussed force composition. Siege tools meant ballast weights to anchor bigger rafts, grappling booms to pull cores in, and contract breakers trained to disable territory functions without triggering System penalties. Witnesses would be priority hunters and a legal scribe to ensure any public record favored Cole’s version.

“We need more than muscle,” Victoria said. “We need optics, evidence control, and tools that negate public broadcast.”

Richard nodded. “A clean takedown, no collateral beyond what the System allows. If he really is an anonymous beginner with a blue core, we make him transfer or die under the System’s rules. If he is a fraud, we crush the fraud. Either way, we win the story.”

Julian’s voice hardened. “I’ll gather twenty, three siege booms, two breaker teams, and one witness raft. We approach under beginner cloak where we can. We will not be caught on a public feed losing face.”

Victoria’s fingers relaxed from the notebook. “And collect any cores. Bring proof of transfer or a corpse. Public channels must show a definitive result.”

Richard’s smile was thin. “Send a message to all subordinate houses. Make the cost clear: anyone interfering with this operation will be compensated for losses, and anyone leaking will be cut. This is our sector.”

Their decision solidified before the black storm eye reached Ethan’s waters.

They would mobilize superior force.