Chapter 718.1: The Crab and The Fish

Above the vast blue sea, a propeller aircraft painted in ocean-blue camouflage floated quietly against the ocean surface, rising and falling with the rolling waves like a drifting plank of wood.

The pair of pontoons beneath the plane had replaced the usual 20mm cannons, resting beneath the fuselage like sled runners. A depth charge equipped with a pressure sensor clung tightly beneath the belly of the aircraft like a blade hidden beneath the blue sea.

Everything around it was silent except for the endless sound of waves.

All of a sudden... Light Wind, who had been lying in the cockpit with her eyes closed, abruptly jolted awake and sprang upright from her seat. Because she moved too violently, her forehead nearly slammed into the cockpit canopy.

Fortunately for her, the safety harness stopped her from embarrassing herself.

With a series of creaking mechanical sounds, the silent aircraft seemed to come back to life.

Almost simultaneously, the familiar duck-like came through the communication channel.

“... The fish have taken the bait!”

The next moment, the channel crackled with static. At the same time, the VM strapped to Light Wind’s thigh lit up, displaying strike coordinates calculated based on friendly positions and relative distance.

Without the slightest panic, she calmly pulled a piece of chocolate from her pocket and tossed it into her mouth while skillfully flipping open the cockpit instrument panel and starting the engine.

The propeller at the nose roared to life, dragging the lightweight aircraft forward against the waves.

Keeping the speed precisely at the threshold of takeoff, Light Wind did not immediately pull up the nose. Her finger lightly tapped rhythmically against the control stick.

The endless sound of the tides was swallowed by the increasingly violent roar of propellers as the once peaceful sea suddenly erupted into motion.

It wasn’t just one aircraft either, but 50 of them!

One after another, W-2/H naval strike aircrafts skimmed tightly across the rolling sea like high-speed boats, racing toward the attack coordinates shared by allied forces...

...

Above the sea, waves churned violently. Beneath the sea, the currents were no less turbulent.

Harsh screeching cries swept through the water like harpoons scattering schools of fish and marine Mutant Humans as a horde of blue-scaled monsters clung tightly to the seabed, rapidly swimming toward the undersea freshwater pipeline west of Ring Island.

Behind the Mutant Humans followed an enormous sea monster. Its body resembled a mixture of serpent and fish, somewhat similar to a prehistoric plesiosaur.

Its tail stretched over 10 meters long, covered in dragon-like scales. Its protruding head resembled the jaws of a crocodile, while its sharp teeth looked like chainsaw blades capable of biting a small ship clean in half.

Local fishermen called it a Laken, a name taken from an old folk song of the southern seas meaning “Dragon of the Deep.”

Although the Law of Cognitive Influence made direct mind control difficult against large-brained creatures like this, intelligence itself could still be weakened through drugs and other methods.

For the Torch Church, such a thing was hardly difficult. After all, they could turn the survivors of an entire province into mindless puppets, let alone a mutant beast far less intelligent than humans.

The target rapidly approached and one aquatic Mutant Human separated from the group and accelerated ahead of the others, pulling a thermite bomb the size of a palm from its back.

The weapon had also been bestowed upon them by the Torch Church. Once activated, it could not only burn underwater, but even melt through over a 100mm of steel plating.

The blue-skinned Mutant Human twisted its disgusting face into a hideous grin and let out clacking laughter before pressing the bomb’s activation button.

A 30 second countdown instantly appeared on the screen.

However, at almost the same moment, when it was less than 50 meters from the undersea pipeline, a faint disturbance suddenly rippled through the water from the side.

Something was rapidly approaching.

The Mutant Human had just sensed danger and was about to react when a sharp projectile suddenly pierced through its waist from the side, blasting it upward toward the surface with a muffled explosion.

A hoarse, agonized scream burst from its throat as massive bubbles instantly swallowed its face and the gills hidden beneath its jaw. Writhing violently in pain and completely losing balance, it flailed desperately in the water, yet forgot to release the thermite bomb clenched in its hand.

By the time it finished struggling, the countdown reached 0.

A blinding white flash erupted amidst an explosion of bubbles, instantly swallowing the mutant whole. The slow-blooming underwater explosion resembled a blooming mandala flower on the ocean floor.

The entire advancing army of blue-skinned aquatic Mutant Humans froze in shock.

They had no idea what had happened, but panic instantly spread across their faces as they frantically looked around for the source of the attack.

Not far away, at the edge of a forest of underwater seaweed, a series of crab-like metal machines silently lay in ambush, thick gun barrels already aimed directly at them.

If the Xilande Empire’s soldiers had been present, they would have instantly recognized the scene. Those heavily armored iron monsters looked almost identical to the Emperor Crab amphibious armor units that rampaged through Port Gallon!

Well... They were the same armor units. The only difference was that the twin 37mm cannons mounted on the arms had been replaced with chainsaws designed for deep-sea combat and a supercavitating underwater weapon known as the Harpoon.[1]

The principle behind it was exactly what the name implied, using supercavitation to reduce water resistance.

The tail housed a nitrate-based propellant system, while the warhead used an aluminum-magnesium mixed explosive charge. Essentially, it was a miniature torpedo with a 19mm caliber.

The launcher shared the same platform as the 19mm cannon gun, allowing users to switch ammunition after returning to land and continue combat seamlessly. Unlike 19mm explosive rounds, however, the 19mm Harpoon only had an effective killing range of 200 meters and a minimum safe distance of 10 meters.

That combat radius was somewhat lacking against ships, but against near-surface torpedoes and frogman assault units, it was devastatingly effective.

Although that was the New Alliance armory’s first attempt at underwater weaponry, with technical support from Coral City’s survivors, Boulder Town Arms Industry quickly solved several major engineering problems and integrated the weapon onto the New Alliance’s Emperor Crab.

That was the Harpoon’s first live combat deployment.

So far, its performance was absolutely spectacular.

Watching the firework collapsing toward the seabed in the distance and the agitated swarm of aquatic abominations behind it, Prone Model grinned from inside his Emperor Crab.

“Never thought the Jungle Corps would one day moonlight as a navy.” A teammate's voice came through their communication channel.

“In a sense, kelp forests count as jungles too.”

“Hell yeah!”

“Doesn’t matter. The enemies are Mutant Humans either way.”

There was no reason to show mercy to those monsters. They deserved to descend into hell and repent.

“Confirmed direct hit! Fire away!” Bubbles burst from the Emperor Crab’s shell as Prone Model drove the machine forward. “Don’t let our fish get away!”

Excited responses instantly echoed in his years.

“Roger!”

“OH YEAHHH!”

The moment the attack order was issued, all 22 Emperor Crabs opened fire simultaneously, launching underwater illumination rounds toward sonar-detected targets.

One blinding white flare after another exploded amidst the aquatic Mutant Humans, instantly transforming the pitch-black depths into broad daylight.

The aquatic Mutant Humans, whose eyes had long adapted to the darkness, screeched in pain and instinctively raised their arms to shield themselves from the blinding light.

At the same time, streams of bubble-trailing Harpoon rounds streaked through the illuminated waters like the scythes of death harvesting lives.

Within mere breaths, dozens of aquatic Mutant Humans were blown apart into clouds of flesh and blood, crimson mist spreading wildly through the sea.

Death spread rapidly and fear climbed into the heart of every mutant.

Unlike the green-skinned Mutant Humans on land, those creatures that nested beneath cold, damp reefs had inherited more of a fish’s cunning than a beast’s bloodthirsty madness.

Just as morale began collapsing, the leader hidden among the swarm released a deep howl. “It’s humans! They’re below us! Charge and tear them apart!”

Hearing their leader’s roar, the aquatic Mutant Humans finally regained a sliver of courage and kicked downward furiously toward the seabed.

As they descended, the water pressure steadily increased, squeezing their bloodshot eyeballs and muscular chests.

Finally approaching the seabed nearly three hundred meters below, the blinding lights gradually faded behind them.

“KA...!”

As the darkness returned, the thousand or so Mutant Humans regained their vision and roared wildly to dispel their fear, charging toward the attackers with every kind of weapon imaginable.

Coincidentally, their enemies had the exact same idea. The 22 enormous Emperor Crabs activated their searchlights almost simultaneously, charging straight at the blue-skinned monsters while swinging chainsaw-equipped crab claws and massive mechanical legs!

Excited roars echoed through the comms.

“Crush them!”

“AOOOOOO!”

1. In hydrodynamic engineering, supercavitation is the artificial generation of a cavitation bubble to reduce skin friction drag on a submerged object and enable high-speed travel. Applications include torpedoes and propellers - wikipedia ☜

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