Beings of the Deep Sea (3)
You never can tell how life will turn out.
That was the personal motto of Ren An, research team leader of the PH-101 research base.
A Third Capital from Ganymede, he had clawed his way up to Prime Capital status through a well-made marriage. An underdog success story — even if his wife was only a branch member of the Zhao family, she was still a Prime Capital, and marrying her had bought him a seat at the very tail end of the Zhao house. Without that, taking command of a research base this large would have been impossible.
Which just went to prove that you really never could tell where life would take you.
Right up until he arrived at PH-101, everything had been going his way. Then came the shipwreck in the deep sea, and ever since, he had been walking steadily downhill. The capture of a mutated Sea Demon had sent his spirits soaring again — sure, plenty of his team members had died during the operation, but that was hardly worth losing sleep over.
The dead were all Mid-Capitals or Low-Capitals. He'd spent cheap, disposable labor to bag a Sea Demon? Anyone could see the trade was a profit.
That was what he'd believed, a few hours ago.
Now, forget rosy futures — it was uncertain whether he'd even survive until the sun rose.
"What on earth happened? That wasn't an earthquake, was it?"
Zone A, home of the First Situation Room. Besides Ren An, team members who had jolted awake and rushed here were frantically piecing together the situation.
"According to the central computer's report, it was caused by an external impact!"
"You don't think it's the Sea Demon? It shouldn't have the strength left for that."
"Or maybe a Dread Hydra. Could be the Pale Mask too, I suppose."
"No way. This base isn't inside either of their territories."
The Dread Hydra was a colossal sea anemone stretching fifty meters in length, and the Pale Mask was a massive predator that fed on them. Both were weaker than a Sea Demon, but they were vicious deep-sea creatures all the same.
Both species made their home in the ocean trench beneath the undersea canyon beside the base. Since the research facility had been built outside their domains, the odds of one of them attacking were slim.
"Zones E and F are completely flooded, and water keeps pouring into C and D as well!"
"The flooding is bad enough, but the water pressure is the real problem."
"Agreed. The environmental regulation systems are under such strain that they could malfunction at any moment."
PH-101's research base sat dozens of kilometers beneath the surface of the deep sea. It had been engineered to endure even the harshest conditions, so the crushing pressure of the abyss was well within its tolerances.
But the people inside were another matter entirely. If the systems maintaining the internal pressure failed, everyone here would be as good as dead.
Tch. Time to cut our losses.
Ren An, who had been listening to his team's reports in silence, finally spoke.
"To stabilize the pressure, we need to jettison E and F from the ring. Issue a forced separation order. For C and D, we'll decide once we've assessed their condition."
"T-team Leader?!"
The team members' faces darkened at the command.
Zones F and G were where the quarters were located. With disaster striking in the dead of night, the number of people still in Zone F easily exceeded dozens.
And now the team leader had chosen to abandon every one of them.
"What are you doing? Did you not hear me?"
"No, sir!"
As the team members hesitated over the order to abandon colleagues who might conceivably survive until rescue, Ren An pressed them harder.
They were about to move on his orders when the base lurched violently. The sudden impact sent everyone in the First Situation Room staggering.
"What now?! Are we under attack again?"
"No! That one came from inside!"
"Don't tell me the pressure—"
"Save the chatter and check the situation, now!"
"Yes, sir!"
At Ren An's command, the team members hurried to the computers scattered around the situation room and began their assessment.
A moment later, one of them went pale.
"Uh, e-excuse me, Team Leader?"
"What is it?"
"I-I think we've found the cause."
At his ashen-faced report, Ren An stepped over to the monitor. A second later, his face matched his subordinate's exactly.
"An unidentified lifeform has breached the outer wall of Zone E and is currently moving toward Zone G?"
The research base consisted of eight zones in total, running from A to H. Because they were arranged in a circular ring, Zone G and H led straight back around to A — to here.
An unknown monster storming into the First Situation Room would be bad enough, but that wasn't the real problem.
Zone H was where the biological research lab was located. In other words, the Sea Demon they had risked so much to capture was caged there.
"Seal off Zone G, right now—!"
KA-BOOOOM
The instant he shouted the order, an impact unlike anything he had ever felt swallowed the situation room whole.
—
Looks like they haven't noticed me yet.
I'd been wandering the corridors plucking the heads off humans ever since I broke in, but aside from sealing the zones, they'd taken no real countermeasures.
Thanks to their sluggish response, I was able to make my way to No. 26 without much trouble.
Every time I crawled forward, the water pooled halfway up the corridor's height sloshed violently. With the zone lockdown cutting off the inflow of seawater, the corridors had stopped short of flooding completely.
Which meant I had to crawl through the cramped passage in an awkward posture. If I so much as lifted my upper body slightly, my head carapace scraped the ceiling.
If the ceiling were any lower, I couldn't have brought the food along either.
My six Erosion Tentacles were currently wrapped around the corpses the way a snake coils around its prey.
The look of it — like a string of dried fish bundled for market — was less than dignified, and it made moving around cumbersome, but there was nothing to be done. Back on Yu Seong's research ship, when we'd first met, the researchers had never properly fed No. 26 either. They'd supplied just enough nutrition to keep her from dying, and not a scrap more.
She must be starving by now.
A little discomfort on my end was nothing compared to watching No. 26 go hungry.
Is this the place?
Past the corridor marked H, a thick metal blast door blocked the way. I'd already smashed through one blast door, but this one looked even sturdier.
Made sense — this was a facility built to research dangerous marine life like the Sea Demon, so its security was a notch above the rest.
Not that it matters.
I pressed the auxiliary organ beneath my jaw against the door. There was a second blast door behind the first — a double-seal configuration — but it made no difference.
A slab of metal like this couldn't bend my will.
[Zzz zzzzzzz (I'll get you out of there right away)]
｢Okay!｣
Having reassured No. 26, I backed away.
My acid fungi would lose half their potency underwater, so this called for the primitive approach.
Keeping a proper distance from the door, I lowered my head so my horn could skewer it, and charged.
The six combat arms mounted on my upper body hammered against the floor and walls of the corridor, hurling my body forward. The clawed feet on my submerged tail and hindquarters churned furiously as well, shoving the current aside and driving me ahead at speed.
After all, I was the one who had punched through this base's outer walls — walls engineered to withstand even the deep sea.
The thick blast door that met my horn shattered into fragments. Not content with that, the second door behind it crumpled like squeezed paper and went flying inward.
Seawater from the corridor behind me came pouring through the broken doors.
Hm?
"Gurgle?"
"Enemeee. Grrgle."
I smashed through the blast door to find no humans inside — instead, other beings were waiting for me. Fishrians in work uniforms stared at me.
Fishrians?
I'd seen humans trading with Fishrians aboard the stilt houses on the surface of the sea, but I hadn't expected them here at the research base.
They were even wearing work uniforms — apparently, they handled security and guard duty around here.
"Grrgle. That one turned the humans' nest into a messs."
"Grrgle. Looks strong — offer it as a sacrifice!"
"Sacrificcee!"
The creatures let out grotesque sounds and raised their claws to their sharpest. Eyes that had been glinting in the dark vanished beneath the water.
Any human would have bolted on the spot. Typical fanatics — no brakes on these things.
Didn't expect to run into them here.
In the game, Fishrians usually appeared as minions of powerful marine life. Fitting their lore as worshippers of deep-sea predators, they served as combat support for terrifying hunters like Sea Demons and the Pale Mask.
Frankly, to players fighting quasi-boss-tier creatures like the Sea Demon, Fishrians were nothing more than bothersome gnats — but even so, they weren't something to be dismissed outright.
Male Fishrians have venom in their claws and spines.
Those iridescent spines jutting from their backs and heads — so like the venomous spines of a scorpionfish — weren't just for show. Just as the poisons of the sea's beasts were usually ferociously potent, Fishrian venom was extremely dangerous.
Better still, they could modulate the venom's potency at will, making their toxin effectively a superior version of my own neurotoxin.
The unfortunate part for these fellows was that I possessed the Complete Immunity trait. One of the perks of the Young Adult stage, Complete Immunity granted near-perfect resistance to poisons and disease. Unless a player specialized in toxins, there weren't many beings who could hurt me with venom at all.
And also…
"Grrk!"
The diving creatures closed the distance in an instant and burst up out of the water at me. Their claws raked across my outer hide.
"Grrgle?!"
"It's harrrd!"
When the claws couldn't even break the skin, the venom was useless. The only way it might have worked was if they'd squeezed their venom glands and flooded the water with toxin.
I lashed out my combat arms and seized the Fishrians by their waists. Their eyes wavered wildly — clearly they hadn't anticipated this. I clenched my fists, and their spines snapped with a crisp crack.
"Monsterrr! It's a monsterrr!"
"Grrgle! Sacrifice is harddd!"
The ones I hadn't caught finally grasped the situation and turned to flee. I hurled the dead Fishrian's corpse aside and lunged after them.
Having added the Fishrians to the list of prey bundled in my Erosion Tentacles, I turned my attention to the remaining bodies.
Awkward to carry, but maybe I'll just have a taste.
I bit into a Fishrian's head and tore it off in a single bite. The fishy tang of raw fish, the sharp, searing bite of the venom lingering in the glands, and then a texture with a truly distinctive savor — all of it tickled my mouth pleasantly.
Delicious.
Not quite the food of the heavens, like gene-modified humans or Swamp King, but a remarkably unique flavor all the same.
With almost no fat, the meat was clean rather than greasy, and the dense muscle gave it a genuinely satisfying chew. The venom seeping from the glands between the brain and the spines delivered a tingling pleasure — like eating sashimi topped with a dab of wasabi.
I'll bring these to No. 26.
Dumping a few of the human corpses from my Erosion Tentacles, I replaced them with Fishrians. As a Sea Demon, No. 26 had even greater venom resistance than I did — she'd be able to enjoy the meat without a care.
Though when I feed Adhai, I'll have to skip the venom gland parts.
Deeper into the zone, past that thought, I found a prison that looked impressively solid.
And inside it was a very welcome face.
｢…Big Baby?｣
[Zzzzzz (It's been a while)]
｢Big Baby!｣
At the sight of me, No. 26 bounced up and down with joy.
She was far smaller than when I'd last seen her — the body that had once been around five meters had shrunk to barely two or three. Her pink flesh, once plump like a cat's paw pad, looked dull and withered.
She must have been under a lot of stress.
The suffering she'd endured was laid so bare before my eyes that I flinched in spite of myself.
But No. 26, seeing me, was evidently beside herself with delight — her whole body glowed as she fired off wave after wave of psychic pulses.
｢Big Baby got so big! Way bigger than me!｣
[Zzz zzzzz zzz (I've been eating well)]
｢Eating well, that's great! Big Baby did good!｣
[Zzz zzzzz (I'll get you out right now)]
｢Okay!｣
[Zzzzzzz zzzzzzzz zzz zzz (I brought tasty food — eat when you're out)]
｢Wow!｣
Leaving her to bounce with happiness, I examined the cage.
I see. A Star Union special containment cell.
Now I understood why she looked so drained.
The cage's bars were made of pure Blacksilver, black as the abyss. Sprinkler-shaped devices studded the gaps between the bars, the floor, and the ceiling.
Those devices drained the energy of other creatures, just like a Blood Reaver. The stolen energy powered the mechanisms themselves, meaning that no matter how powerful the prisoner, they could be held indefinitely.
There's water everywhere, so Gremlin Moss is out of the question.
I moved to the management computer beside the cage and prodded it with one of the small arms on my chest, but the flooding that had poured into this entire zone had knocked it out of commission.
Guess I'm opening this the old-fashioned way.
With the control computer wrecked, those energy-drain devices would die on their own eventually — but waiting for that was not remotely on the table.
I gripped the cage bars with all six combat arms.
The moment I took hold, energy began streaming out of my body, but I ignored it. Bending these bars would take more force than the drain could siphon away.
The bars I seized bent like taffy, then tore free with a short, sharp crack. A few repetitions, and I'd broken enough of them for No. 26 to squeeze through comfortably.
Then I pulverized every energy-drain device clinging near the wrecked bars, making sure nothing would sting her on the way out.
[Zzzz zzzzz (You can come out now)]
｢Wow! Big Baby so strong!｣
Finally free, No. 26 bounded over and wrapped herself around me. When we'd left the space city, our bodies had been roughly the same size — now she was far, far smaller.
This takes me back.
Holding her shrunken form, an old memory surfaced. Our first meeting aboard Yu Seong's ship, and those early days on the space city, when I used to carry her around perched on my head.
Those days are over, though.
Until I acquired the Giant Organism trait, piggyback rides would be the best I could manage.
[Zzzzzz (You've been through a lot)]
｢I'm okay. What about you, Big Baby?｣
[Zzzzz (You can see for yourself)]
After stroking her a few times, I released the hug and handed over the food I'd prepared in advance.
｢Thank you! I really love it!｣
She must have been starving — tentacles burst from her body at once and began devouring the meal. I kept stroking her, wanting her to feel how much her hardship had meant to me.
Rescue accomplished. Next up…
No. 26 made short work of the food I'd brought. I didn't imagine this would fully sate her hunger.
｢Big Baby! I have something to say!｣
Just as I'd predicted, she called to me the moment her meal was done.
[Zzz zzzzz (Still hungry, aren't you?)]
｢Yeah. But this is more important.｣
[Zzz (Hmm?)]
｢The limb-creatures here. They're very bad.｣
[Zzzzz zzz zzzzzz (By limb-creatures, you mean humans?)]
｢Yeah! Humans are bad!｣
No. 26's body swelled enormously, her light flashing in a frantic, dizzying staccato. I had never seen her this angry.
[Zzzzz zzz zzzzzz zzzzzz (Don't worry. We're going to go punish them)]
｢Yeah! Let's punish them!｣
[Zzz (Good)]
No. 26 shook her fins and tentacles in a menacing display.
Looking at that adorable display of fury, I made my resolve all over again.
The ones who had made No. 26 this angry — they would pay the price in blood.
I was planning that anyway, but…
I was starting to think a simple death would not be enough.
Every soul in this deep-sea research base would die thrashing in pain and despair.