Was that because his question was difficult to answer? Or because of the encounter in the bath? Maybe a mix of both?
Regardless, Asam took it upon himself to answer in Riella’s stead.
“Mr. Starling. We are concerned because it will increase our risk of encountering pursuers from Granvaloa.”
“Pursuers?”
“Yes. We, the adventure fleet, embarked upon this voyage to slay the Abyss Shellder...but the other three fleets were all against it.”
“Is that because they’re concerned fur Riella and the rest of you?”
“Yes. Granvaloa would suffer greatly if we fail.”
“Like hell we’re gonna fail...” Riella muttered.
“Hm?”
“With the death of Fleet Commander Jonathan, Fleet Commander Riella is the last living member of the Granfront family—one of Granvaloa’s four commander bloodlines. Additionally, the crew of this ship is about half of the entire adventure fleet... If we were defeated, the framework of four fleets that has stood since the country’s founding would collapse. To prevent that from happening, the other fleets tried to stop us.”
“And despite all that, you shook off their words and went fur a hunt here in the South Sea?” Shu asked.
“Yeah. We had to do it. Even when they made a huntin’ party themselves, they were all against us joinin’ it,” Riella responded as she turned to look Shu right in the eyes. “I get the old-timers were tryin’ to stop us for our sake, and I sure as hell don’t think they’re wrong. I appreciate their concern and feel bad for throwin’ it aside.”
She didn’t think of them as an obstacle. If anything, disregarding their kindness made her heart ache.
And yet...
“Still... I don’t care who tries to stop us. We’ll avenge my old man and all the others personally.” As she stood looking at him, Shu felt the intensity of the determination in Riella’s eyes and knew instantly that it could not be broken.
Well, you’d need a hell of a reason to go on a hunt like this with just one ship, Shu thought. He strongly believed that victory was always possible, no matter how unlikely—however, he also thought that it was important to consider the tactics available to you and what price you were willing to pay.
Shu was someone who would do anything to achieve his goals. However, Riella’s attempt to slay the UBM with just the adventure fleet had valued the means more than the objective, which had effectively lowered their chances of success. Furthermore, the best course of action changed dramatically depending on whether their ultimate goal was “defeat Abyss Shellder” or “let Riella have her vengeance.”
Riella and her fleet are determined, and I already said I’d help, Shu thought. All that’s left is to make it happen, I suppose.
Riella wanted her vengeance, and Shu had agreed to help her get it. The only thing to do now was give everything he had to seize that possibility.
“You look like ya wanna say somethin’, bear.”
“I got nothin’, actually. I was just thinking I got my work cut out fur me.”
“That so...? Let’s continue the meeting, then, old-timer,” Riella said as she sat down.
“Certainly,” said Asam. “Please look at this.” He used the projection equipment to make the map display some more points of light, this time with dates attached to them.
“What’s this?” Shu asked.
“Information sent to us in secret by fellow fleet members who remained in Granvaloa. These are battle records of the encounters other hunting squads have had with Abyss Shellder here in the South Sea, as well as sites where smuggler ships unaffiliated with Granvaloa were sunk.”
“Mm-hmm... Hm?” Looking at the locations and the dates, though, Shu noticed something strange. “There’s some that happened at almost the same time...but at completely different places.”
Indeed. The map had points that were quite far from each other, but sported very similar dates. Some of the incidents had even occurred within an hour of each other on opposite sides of the South Sea.
“Most of these are Mocks.”
“Mocks?”
“Please look at this,” Asam said as he used the room’s equipment again to replace the projected map with a single image.
Seemingly taken at night, the picture was very dark. The only light was from the flames of what looked like a burning ship, illuminating a huge silhouette.
It was the bizarre form of a massive, shelled monstrosity.
The sight of it made Riella clench her teeth in anger, and the others frowned sternly.
“So this is...” Their reactions made it clear to Shu what he was looking at.
“Yes. This is the Corpse Stronghold, Abyss Shellder. This photo was taken during the adventure fleet’s previous battle against it.”
The darkness made it difficult to see exactly how large the monster was, but the way it overshadowed the ship was enough to make a reasonable guess.
Its height alone is over twice that of Baldr’s Offense Mode, he thought. That meant the creature was more than two hundred metels tall. Sea monsters had a tendency to be large, but this was enormous even by that standard. It might even have been larger than the Whalunder Shu had defeated that same day.
“Now, look at this.” Asam then showed another photo—a good few of them, in fact. They were varied in time of day and subject, displaying a great variety of creatures.
Though, they looked a bit too varied.
“Chimeras?” The creatures in the photos were all completely different. However, one thing they did have in common was that they were unsightly combinations of features from other creatures—krakens, seabirds, seabeasts, starfish, and more. Shu had therefore assumed they must be chimeras.
“Reports of encounters with large chimeras like these have increased. And it has been discovered that Abyss Shellder is actually a chimera as well,” said Asam.
“These Mocks mess with our search,” said Riella, clearly irritated. “Though Granvaloa’s huntin’ them too.”
“Sonar does not give us the names, after all,” said the crew member in charge of that area of the ship. “Even if we limit the search to only large chimeras and use depth charges to lure them to the surface, we’re just as likely to encounter one of these as our target. Even their names are not consistent.”
Any chimeras with confirmed names in the photos were labeled. While they all had “Abyss” in them, the rest of their names were things like “Kraken,” “Seadragon,” and so on—each one was different.
“Okay. I think I get it now. How much power can these Mocks bring to bear, though?” Shu asked.
“They are quite large, so even the weakest are at least Pure-Dragon-tier, but there seems to be a lot of variation between them. Their END is notably low. Apparently, just the depth charges can deal a lot of damage to them... Meanwhile, Abyss Shellder did not flinch even under fire from an entire fleet. They cannot begin to compare.”
“Mm-hmm...” Chimeras were monsters created by combining multiple different creatures, and it wasn’t unusual for failed chimeras to be especially fragile—though Abyss Shellder, despite being a chimera itself, did not seem to have this flaw.
“Based on our examination of the combat data and their visual appearance, we have surmised that the monsters used as materials for the chimeras were not all that powerful—Demi-Dragons and below.”
“Because of their shared typing and the ‘Abyss’ in their names, Granvaloa thinks all this devastation comes from some ruins,” Riella added.
“Ruins?” Shu asked.
“Yes,” Asam said. “Multiple pre-ancient facilities called ‘Seafloor Excavation Forts’ have been discovered in the oceans around the continent. While they sometimes have valuable technology to salvage, they can also contain immense danger. Not too long ago, carnivorous monsters broke out of the Fourth Seafloor Excavation Fort and nearly destroyed the ecosystem.”
Apparently that problem had been quickly dealt with by a Superior—Great Admiral, Antimicrobic Soy Sauce.
“And they’re pawsitive this is related?”
“Yes. Popular opinion holds that there is an undiscovered, eighth Seafloor Excavation Fort. It was used to develop chimeras to use as bioweapons—to create what we might call the ‘Abyss’ series—and that Abyss Shellder is the ultimate fruit of this research.”
“And that’s why the hunters kill the Mocks too,” said Riella. “Those things and Abyss Shellder are basically all part of the same catastrophe.”
“I see,” said Shu. “Hmm...”
“Is anything the matter?” Asam asked, noticing the strange air surrounding the man in the bear costume. Even though his face was hidden, Asam got the impression that something wasn’t adding up for him—that he still had some questions.
“There’s a little something on my mind,” Shu said. “Would you mind copying these photos fur me?”
At this request, Asam looked to Riella, who simply said, “Do it.”
“Very well. I will give them to you after this meeting is concluded.”
“Thank you so beary much.” Shu’s expression of gratitude matched his goofy appearance.
However, there was a question whirling deep within his mind.
All these chimeras came from the same facility; it’s just that the Mocks are failures while Abyss Shellder is a success, he thought. That makes sense. It’s the obvious conclusion... But then why are they...?
The meeting continued even as he pondered. The subject had changed to other topics like navigation, so being a layman in this regard, he merely listened.
As he digested what they’d said, he continued contemplating the question...and the strange feeling that had come over him.
Every instinct told him he had to puzzle it out.