Creatures of the Deep Sea (2)
After Adhai finished her meal, we set off for the archipelago where the research base stood.
Her injuries hadn't fully healed, but time was not a luxury we had.
She had escaped the research facility four days ago. That was no short stretch of time, and there was no telling what hardships No. 26 might have endured in the meantime.
The Fishrians are moving with her, so her life shouldn't be in danger.
But an absence of visible wounds didn't mean she was safe. The researchers could be injecting her with agonizing substances for their experiments, for all I knew.
And of all creatures, she's the one with the worst memories of laboratories.
The longer she stayed captive, the worse it would be for No. 26. I had to get her out as quickly as possible.
Going by what Adhai told me, the research base seems to be underwater.
It wasn't certain, but it appeared Adhai had escaped using some kind of underwater elevator.
As a Green Gallagon she was highly intelligent, but I doubted she could have operated the elevator alone — No. 26 must have helped her.
The rest, I'll find out when we arrive.
Right now I was swimming, with Mother of the Sky and Adhai riding on my back.
The reason I could stay afloat on the surface despite my considerable weight was the gliding membrane. The membrane that had lain folded between my six combat arms spread wide open, keeping my body from submerging completely.
The webbing between my fingers and the claws studding my body served as oars, while my long, thick tail functioned as a kind of screw propeller.
Since I couldn't hang the loot backpack I'd brought along from my tail, Adhai had slung it around her chest instead.
Back in the Great Swamplands, I had once acquired the Fin trait alongside the Webbed trait.
And so fins now sprouted from both sides of my tail, much like the gliding membrane. They stayed hidden when I crawled on land or dug through the earth, but in the water, as now, they proved quite useful.
Thanks to them I could swim faster than most ships, though slower than my burrowing pace underground.
Of course, my swimming wasn't perfect — my body periodically dipped beneath the surface as we traveled — but neither Adhai nor Mother of the Sky had any trouble with that, both being creatures capable of flight.
Swimming along diligently, I asked Adhai a question.
[Zzz-zzz, zzz-zzzz (How much farther?)]
｢Me｣｢Darkness｣｢Once｣｢Adult｣｢Speed｣｢Similar｣
According to Adhai, she had hidden on one of the scattered islands of the archipelago ever since her escape.
Then, sensing the Psychic Breath I had fired, she had flown for an entire day and night to reach us.
From what she's told me, we should arrive by tonight at the earliest, tomorrow dawn at the latest.
We had swum through the night, and before I knew it the sun hung at the center of the sky.
I was gauging how much farther we had to go when Adhai called out to me.
｢Me｣｢Adult｣｢Question｣
[Zz (What is it?)]
Though she had been the one to call, Adhai hesitated, as if struggling to find the words.
[Zzz, zz-zzz, z, zz-z, zz-zzz, zz-zzzz (You don't have to be sorry. It wasn't your fault.)]
Whether that convinced her or not, she said nothing more.
To comfort her, I fished up a fish with an Erosion Tentacle and offered it to her. She must have known she needed to recover quickly, because she accepted it without protest and gobbled it down.
Along with that, I offered a fish to my other passenger, Mother of the Sky.
Before we departed, I had explained the general plan to her. While I descended to the research base deep beneath the sea, she would take charge of the Fishrian village.
For that, she'll need to conserve her strength.
｢…….｣
Maybe it was just that, plan or no plan, she hadn't gotten used to the idea of me providing food. Having accepted the fish, she began to eat it slowly, her manner awkward.
After a long stretch of travel, we finally arrived — by then, the sun hanging in the sky had already sunk below the horizon.
Among the countless islands, one stood conspicuously apart, artificial lights glimmering upon it. Stilted dwellings stretched from the island's shore out into the shallows — a village inhabited by the Fishrians.
Beside those stilt houses floated an alloy submersible. Its shape resembled an escape pod commonly deployed on Mega Corp starships.
Next to the submersible stood Fishrians — fish heads bristling with anglerfish spines — alongside humans. The humans spoke with the Fishrians, received what looked like fruit from them, and loaded the submersible until it was full.
｢So they really were trading. Hard to believe.｣
[Zz-zzz (So it seems.)]
Once their business was concluded, the humans boarded the submersible, left the stilt houses behind, and headed off somewhere.
[Zz-zzz, zz-zzzz (This is where we split up.)]
Mother of the Sky was one thing, but Adhai was all but incapable of underwater combat. It was best to leave the Fishrian village to the two of them here.
｢Right. That village over there, me and this Green Gal... mmm, Adhai will handle it.｣
｢Adult｣｢Little Adult｣｢Help｣
[Zz (Good.)]
Adhai, perched on my back, spread her wings wide. Perhaps the still-unhealed injuries sent a spike of pain through her — she winced briefly — but soon she was beating her wings powerfully.
Mother of the Sky followed, lifting herself into the air to trail behind Adhai. But before she could, I called out to her for a moment.
[Zzuuu, zz-zz, zz-zzz, zz-zzzz (Adhai still isn't well. I'm counting on you.)]
｢...Yeah.｣
She gave a single nod and manipulated the air to soar out over the sea after Adhai.
Having seen them both off, I dove in the direction the submersible had gone. It was nighttime, so there was almost nothing to see, but I had auxiliary organs for that.
The four auxiliary organs extending beneath my jaw detected the underwater wave patterns and began tracking the submersible's course.
This way.
Following the guidance of organs so perceptive they could only be called transcendent, rather than mere sensory equipment, I swam through the darkness.
As I swam, a hazy glow appeared in the distance. I assumed it came from the submersible's lights — but I was wrong. The light, arrayed in a neat column from below toward the surface, belonged to the underwater elevator.
I approached the elevator's location. Stretching up out of the deep sea, the elevator extended to a point roughly a hundred meters below the surface.
Having confirmed the submersible entering the elevator, I dove deeper. I wanted to survey the research base's size and its defensive installations.
Following the long, slender cylindrical shaft downward, I came upon an undersea canyon leading into even deeper waters. The research base sat not within the canyon but along its outer rim.
The base formed a thin ring, roughly two kilometers in circumference. At the ring's center, passageways connected it to the elevator.
But I don't detect any defensive installations on the outside.
It seemed unlikely that people researching Sea Demons would build a base in a place like this and leave it without a single defense. I drew closer to the base.
And soon enough, I understood why.
Unbelievable. This entire thing is Blacksilver.
Astonishingly, this massive high-tech structure was built from Blacksilver alloy.
Blacksilver was by no means the most expensive or rarest of metals, but neither was it cheap. Constructing a structure of this scale would demand an investment so astronomical that even that might not suffice.
So that's how they've managed to stay untouched by Sea Demons.
The Sea Demon was a creature of immense psychic power.
A building sheathed in Blacksilver, which suppresses the effects of psychic power, would shield them from its influence. And the interior was highly likely to be stocked with all manner of equipment designed to nullify or defend against psychic power as well.
Now I understand why No. 26 and Adhai lost.
Both of them were creatures that relied primarily on psychic power. Against an enemy who had prepared so thoroughly for exactly that, they were bound to be helpless. If anything, the fact that No. 26 had somehow gotten Adhai out of a place like this was all the more remarkable.
I swam a circuit around the research base, mapping out its general structure — and then I felt a faint wave, coming from somewhere.
What's this?
The signal was so faint I nearly passed it by, dismissing it as a shift in the ocean currents.
But I couldn't — because this was a wave I knew intimately well.
No. 26!
｢Big Baby...｣
I hurried toward the source of the signal.
When I reached a section of the ring, I pressed my head firmly against the outer wall.
[Zzu (No. 26?)]
｢Big... Baby?｣
[Zz, zz■, ■zz (Yes. I've co■e)]
｢Big Baby!｣
Whether it was the deep-sea pressure or the Blacksilver, the waves I sent through my Monster's Tentacles kept breaking off mid-transmission.
But just as I had recognized her at once, No. 26 had recognized me just as quickly, and sent her waves back.
｢It's been so long!｣
[Zz, zz■-zzz, zz-z■-z, ■zz (I'll get you out soo■. Anything you ne■?)]
When I fired back my fragmented waves, she replied at once.
｢I'm hungry.｣
Hearing that answer, a laugh escaped me before I could stop it. I could feel it — she must have endured far worse than hunger, yet she chose to answer that way on purpose.
I made No. 26 a promise.
[■, zz-zzz■ (I'll get you food soo■.)]
｢Yes!｣
Pulling my head from the outer wall, I backed away a long distance. Once I'd put enough space between myself and the base, I swung my tail and combat arms wide.
My body shot forward at tremendous speed. The black wall of the research base drew closer and closer to my head.
And then the ring-shaped research base — two kilometers from end to end — shuddered violently.
In his bed, Chen Hai, a researcher of the Zhao family, opened his eyes.
The vibration had been powerful enough to rouse him even from sleep.
An earthquake?
There was an undersea canyon near the base. Beneath it dwelled countless fearsome predators, Sea Demons among them, so earthquakes like this happened from time to time.
His research base had been built to withstand even the harshest environments, sturdy enough to shrug off all but the worst impacts. Unless a horde of marine predators went mad and rammed the base itself, that is.
Still, this one feels a little strong, doesn't it?
He tilted his head and stepped out of his room. Out in the corridor, he found he wasn't the only one who'd felt it — several fellow researchers had emerged as well.
From outside the base came thunderous roars, as though the monsters beyond were locked in some bloody struggle.
"Hey, Hao. What's going on?"
"No idea."
"If it were an earthquake, the warning lights should be going off."
The words were barely out of his mouth when the corridor's warning lights began shrieking. Wailing furiously, as if to say no one had time to stand around chatting, they made everyone in the corridor scowl.
"Let's evacuate first, figure it out later."
"Got it. I'll wake the people in G-Block's corridor."
"I'm headed for F-Block."
Having seen his colleagues off, Chen Hai walked the corridor himself. Partway to F-Block, the warning lights abruptly cut out.
"What now? Is it over?"
If so, there should have been an announcement. But the speaker mounted on the corridor ceiling stayed silent.
Still, it never hurt to be careful, so Chen Hai kept walking.
On his way to F-Block, he noticed the corridor's temperature plummeting.
"Is the thermostat broken?"
Their research base was equipped with systems capable of regulating its internal environment so research could proceed even in extreme settings — the deep sea, outer space, volcanoes.
And yet this corridor wasn't merely uncomfortable; it was as frigid as the inside of a freezer.
Seeing his own breath cloud from his mouth, Chen Hai debated turning back to his room right then. At that moment, the corridor's power failed all at once.
Moments later the emergency power kicked in, and a red glow bathed the entire corridor.
What the hell is going on?
At this point, he had no choice but to find out.
He resolved to head not for F-Block, but for B-Block, where the control room lay.
Down this corridor, around that corner, lay the passage leading to B-Block. Hugging his arms against the bitter cold, he walked on.
The hard alloy floor met his indoor boots with a sound like water slapping — splashing, almost.
Hm? The sound of water?
Only then did Chen Hai sense that something was wrong and look down.
The corridor floor had become a sea of water. The red light had kept everything dim, which was why he hadn't noticed sooner.
"What in the...?"
Only now did he grasp how gravely dangerous this situation was.
That thunderous roar he'd thought he heard outside. It hadn't been the sound of monsters fighting.
The base is flooding!
It was the sound of seawater pouring in through the base's interior.
But his realization had come far too late. From the corner ahead — the passage connected to the control room — water came surging through.
"Aaaaargh!"
He whipped around and ran, but there was no outracing seawater flooding in at tremendous speed.
Water colder than ice swept Chen Hai off his feet.
"Gaaaah!"
As the current carried him down the corridor, he grabbed hold of a door handle. The violently rushing water rose to his shoulders, then momentarily subsided.
Presumably the base's central computer had automatically sealed off the flooded sections.
Damn it! What kind of bolt from the blue is this?!
Looking like a drowned rat, Chen Hai moved first — toward the control room.
"You think I'm going to lose?! Prime Capital is right in front of me — you think I'll give up over this goddamn disaster?!"
Along the way he scooped up a bundle of documents and a laptop that had washed past him. All of it was material that would send shockwaves through the academic world — he could not possibly let it go.
On nothing but sheer, grinding will, Chen Hai pushed forward through the freezing deep-sea water.
How long had he walked?
The letter mounted on the corridor wall changed to a B. Believing he was almost there, he quickened his pace.
Then, ahead of him, the upper half of a person came into view. The red light made it hard to see clearly, but the figure wore a bluish work uniform instead of a white lab coat.
Assuming the man belonged to the facility maintenance team, Chen Hai called out to him.
"Hey! What's going on!"
He shouted at the top of his lungs, but no answer came back. With nothing to be heard but the sloshing of water, there was no way the man hadn't heard him.
"Hey, you Middle Capital rat! What's going on, I said!"
"……."
Shouting again, Chen Hai drew closer to him.
Only once he was near did he get a proper look at what state the maintenance worker was in.
"Why are you ignoring m... ugh?"
The moment he saw the man's face, Chen Hai felt his blood run colder than the icy water around him.
The maintenance worker had no head. The uniform he had taken for blue was soaked a vivid crimson with blood.
And behind the man.
Beneath the red light, a massive beast was gulping down a human head.
"Ah... aaaah..."
At the sight, Chen Hai's spine turned to ice, and his trembling body would not obey him.
The beast, having swallowed the head whole, turned to look at Chen Hai. Even in the darkness, its two eyes glowed vivid and clear.
"The·hu·mans·in·side·number·rough·ly·sev·er·al·hun·dred."
"Hiiiik!"
A deep male voice flowed from the creature's mouth. Screaming, Chen Hai flung away the laptop and documents in his hands.
The thing extended a serpentine tentacle and snatched the fleeing Chen Hai out of the air.
"At·this·point·he·should·be·quite·full."
Gazing at Chen Hai as he trembled in terror, the thing murmured leisurely to itself.