“Looks like it’s over,” Asam told Riella as they both watched the battle from the bridge.
The Serpent didn’t seem to be looking at the Adventure II. Having defeated the chimera, it seemed like it would now return to its lair. Asam was slightly relieved that they wouldn’t have to fight a monster here.
Riella, however, simply glared at the frozen chimera, not saying a word.
As things were, she didn’t even need binoculars to see it in its entirety, and she had absolutely no trouble reading the name above its head...
It was three words: “Abyss Mail Kraken.”
Just as expected, it had the “Abyss” name element common to all Mocks.
But that wasn’t the problem here.
“‘Kraken’?” It looked just like the serpent it had been fighting, yet the name didn’t match its appearance. Krakens were large, squid-like monsters with massive tentacles—nothing like the serpent this appeared to be.
As she pondered what this could mean, the frozen body shattered, freeing a great many tentacles.
The body... The shell had been dispersed by the Purge skill that Mail Dragons and Mail Serpents possessed. This ability scattered their armor, sacrificing it to damage those around them and multiply their AGI several times over.
“S h o o...?!” The serpent was shocked by this change, and the chimera used the opening to wrap its tentacles around it.
The dragon’s maw was now bound shut, preventing it from releasing its icy breath again.
The chimera then spewed some kind of liquid from its own mouth, dousing the serpent.
This wasn’t ink like that of an octopus or squid. Instead, it was something of a milky color.
Unable to evade, the serpent thrashed, attempting to wash the liquid away in the seawater. Perhaps the serpent thought it was a simple poison, but it was too late—it had already lost the moment the liquid had touched its flesh.
“S h o o...”
In the blink of an eye, the serpent became milky white—and less than a few seconds later, its entire body transformed into a pearlescent crystal that reflected the moonlight.
“G h e u...” The chimera then used its tentacles to pull the pearl serpent closer, clinging to it as it gradually began to feast.
The sight made Riella and everyone else on the Adventure II fall utterly silent.
The script had been flipped too suddenly, and the sight now unfolding before them was unnerving.
A shelled squid that had masked itself as a sea serpent and turned its prey into pearl before ravaging it.
It was behavior that made no sense for any marine organism. Even being a chimera could not explain this.
Riella and her crew were seafaring folk, so they found this sight especially disturbing.
Still, Riella was the first to take action.
“Start firin’! Get that Mock!”
“Aye, aye!”
She gave the order to attack the Abyss Mail Kraken.
One of the many guns installed on the Adventure II fired, and its projectile struck the ocean surface right next to the chimera.
“Near hit confirmed!”
“Adjust for accuracy!”
“All guns, fire!” Using their first shot as a guide, the remaining guns adjusted their aim and quickly showered the chimera in firepower.
All of them hit the feasting creature, tearing through its flesh and scattering its red blood into the moonlight.
Octopuses and squids should have blue blood, damn it, Riella thought as the bombardment continued. Man, this is why chimeras freak me out.
“G h e u o u...” However, the attack did nothing to stop it from devouring its prey. Even as the pearl serpent shattered, it continued consuming the pieces. Its disregard for its own injuries as it fed, combined with its twisted chimerical form, combined to create a vision of pure madness.
After a brief moment that felt excruciatingly long to the onlookers, the chimera removed its tentacles from the serpent and submerged itself.
“We still have its location! It’s approaching us from two o’clock!” said the spotter, keeping track of it even after it vanished from sight. “Ready the depth charges! Torpedoes too!”
Anything that attacked from below was a good target for depth charges.
“The chimera is in depth charge range... No! It’s coming up!” Shortly before it entered the range of their artillery, the chimera began ascending to the surface, even though it was still too far away to reach the ship with its tentacles or cover it in the liquid it had used on the serpent.
This action didn’t make sense.
The way it beat the serpent tells me it ain’t stupid... But...
Whatever the case, they couldn’t simply let it do whatever it wanted.
“The moment it shows its face, give it a warm torpedo welcome!” If the creature avoided the depth charges dispensed below, then Riella would fire torpedoes straight at it.
It didn’t take long for the chimera to surface.
“P H O O O O O...”
“FIRE!” The chimera began taking in the air around it, making its body expand.
The torpedoes released were about to reach its face...
“G H E O U O O O!”
...but it welcomed them by releasing something white from its mouth.
This wasn’t the liquid that had turned the serpent into pearl, but a gaseous breath.
This icy exhalation, released in a straight line, froze all the torpedoes in place.
Its effects didn’t end there, though. The breath created a wall of ice that stood in the way of the Adventure II.
“An ice breath...?! It can do that too?!” This attack was strikingly similar to the breath of the Frost High Serpent it had just defeated.
Wait... No way...! A thought came into Riella’s mind, making a chill run down her spine that was far colder than the freezing air.
“Ngh...! Starboard! Quick brakes!”
“Aye, aye!” However, she quickly recovered and changed the ship’s course right on time.
The vessel’s left side scraped against the wall of ice with a terrible screech, but the ship’s quick deceleration kept damage to a minimum.
“G H E O G H O G H...”
Unfortunately, this loss of speed gave a chance for the chimera to close the distance.
What would become of the ship if it was hit by that strange liquid or its icy breath from up close?
“...We’re usin’ JotA.”
“But we only have three of—!”
“I know!”
The Javelin of the Atmos was a precious weapon found in a Seafloor Excavation Fort. Its power was immense, but there were only three cartridges left. It wasn’t something to be used lightly, and the enemy before them not only wasn’t their mark; it wasn’t even a UBM.
However, as things were going, they would be defeated if they did not take decisive action. Desperate times called for desperate measures. They simply could not let themselves be defeated by a mere Mock before they even caught sight of their true target.
Thus, although it pained her to do so, she gave the order to use this weapon...
...but then, there were thunderous, ceaseless sounds of something hitting the sea.
They did not come from the Adventure II or the chimera.
“Three o’clock... There’s an unidentified warship!” Someone had suddenly appeared on the battlefield.
“The hell’s that?”
The sounds of water hitting the sea were accompanied by the night-veiled silhouette of a ship. It was smaller than the Adventure II—not even two hundred metels in length. By Granvaloan standards, it was closer to a heavy cruiser than a battleship.
However, its shape as it rose from the dark was bizarre for any warship.
It was long, but had a significant width as well, due to a sizable broadside.
Instead of on the flanks like a conventional ship, this vessel had immense weaponry mounted to face straight ahead. Usually, weapons were mounted on the ship’s deck as well, but this vessel did not seem to have any significant artillery there. It didn’t look at all like a typical warship.
Obviously, this was not of Granvaloan make. The Granvaloans lived with their ships, and this one flew in the face of all their design principles.
Still, their knowledge of seafaring meant the Granvaloans on board instantly realized one thing.
Despite it all, this was still a battleship.
“Open combat.”
Paying no mind to the gobsmacked Adventure II crew, the ship flew into action.
“Stardust Genocider.”
It began by firing countless missiles. The silos on its surface opened up to release many dozens of these.
Leaving trails of smoke and fire, they all flew directly at the chimera and exploded.
“G H U O O O O...?!” The creature writhed in pain as the battleship focused its broadside cannon at its massive body.
“Twin Quintuple Cannon. Loading armor-piercing firebombs. Barrage.”
The main cannon fired its piercing, incendiary shells.
The supersonic projectiles easily penetrated the chimera’s skin and armor before setting fire to its insides. It burned from within even when it tried to dive beneath the waves, and the cannon fired a follow-up at it as though the sea was no obstacle.
“G H E O... G H O...”
Thus, the freakish chimera was overwhelmed and dissolved into motes of light.
The creature that had massacred a High-Dragon serpent and nearly cornered the Adventure II had suffered a completely one-sided defeat.
“It vanished! And so did the battleship... There are no signs of any other monsters or vessels...”
Once the chimera was gone, the battleship also disappeared, as though its role were over.
This had all felt illusory, like a dream, but the ammo they’d used and the icebergs still floating around them were proof that all they’d just seen was real.
No one on the bridge said a word.