Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
The clouds were dark and thick. The rest of the ocean was in complete darkness, apart from the SOS light that was flickering in the distance.
There were six teams and five ships. Apart from Cao Qinqin, who was able to control a rapid wave and carry someone on it, the other Water Mages could only control the tide to increase their ships’ speed.
The rescue team had traveled a few kilometers. The light of the beacon at the dam faded into the distance.
The view of the ocean at night was not as stunning as some had imagined. The rescue team found themselves in pitch-black darkness, surrounded by strong winds and chilly water. It was like they were wandering aimlessly into an utterly terrifying abyss!
“Why is the ship moving away from us?” the patrol captain, Tang Peng said.
The ship requesting backup was roughly five kilometers away. They had already covered a distance of around four kilometers, but they were surprised to see the SOS light was still quite a distance away.
“Perhaps the Viscera Hunters are dragging the ship away!” Jiang Shen, the leader of one of the teams said.
“Then we should pick up our pace. It’s going to be very dangerous if they enter the deep ocean area,” Tang Peng said.
“Deep ocean area?” Mo Fan asked. He was obviously an amateur.
“The sea monsters heavily rely on the seawater to move around. The deeper the water is, the greater the space for them to move around, thus allowing them to conceal themselves. Their attacks might even be stronger there. We usually call the area with a depth of two hundred meters the shallow area; the area with a depth of two hundred to a thousand meters is called the intermediate area, and the area with a depth of one thousand to three thousand meters is called the deep sea area!
“The shallow area with a depth of two hundred meters is more advantageous for us. Our spells are much more effective at this depth. In the intermediate areas, some of the bigger sea monsters will be able to move quite freely, posing a huge threat to us. As for the deep sea area, not only will the sea monsters be able to conceal their presence perfectly, thus making it difficult for us to estimate their numbers, they will immediately dive deep into the water whenever we are casting powerful spells. They will use the water as part of their defense; there is nothing we can do,” Tang Peng explained. He could tell that Mo Fan was not experienced with battles in the ocean.
Mo Fan recalled the East Maritime Fortress in Tokyo when he heard Tang Peng’s words. It turned out that the depth of the water was an important aspect of battling in the ocean. He immediately took note of Tang Peng’s explanation.
“So if the shallow area is the most advantageous for us, the maritime battlefield is most likely going to be set in this area, too?” Mo Fan asked.
“Of course! Not every sea monster has the ability to walk on land, especially those that are enormous. Even though the creatures that are a few dozen meters long could still swim around within a depth of two hundred meters, it’s like a huge whale swimming inside a narrow river. They have suddenly become obvious targets. It’s a lot easier for us to deal with them once their movement is restrained,” Tang Peng said.
It explained why the sea monsters had suddenly become humans’ natural foes when the sea level rose. Mo Fan was able to learn something that he had never understood after listening to Tang Peng’s explanation.
—
“I can see it, it’s just ahead of us. The ship hasn’t sunk yet!” one of the leaders yelled.
They kept going forward. They could finally see the ship that was giving out the SOS signal after traveling for around three kilometers.
“Secure the ship first,” Captain Tang Peng ordered the squads.
The five squads swiftly split up and surrounded the ship. They were planning to set up a defensive perimeter around it.
Mo Fan and Cao Qinqin jumped onto the ship right away. They could not be bothered with the procedures. They wanted to see if anyone on the ship was injured.
The ship was very clean. There was no sign of damage. Even though the ship was made of high-quality material to prevent the sea monsters from being able to smash it into pieces, it was still unreasonable that the ship was not damaged if it was attacked in the middle of the ocean.
“That’s strange, why isn’t there anyone on it?” Cao Qinqin said with a confused look.
Mo Fan quickly searched the ship, but he did not see anyone on the deck, the cabins, not even the bridge…
“Are they all dead?” Jiang Shen who boarded the ship with his squad said.
“There are no corpses, no smell of blood; are we currently in the deep sea area?” Mo Fan turned around and asked Cao Qinqin.
“I believe so, the water is more than fifteen hundred meters deep,” Tang Peng said.
“Did we come too late?”
“Damn it, these filthy Viscera Hunters!”
—
Mo Fan went to the deck and observed his surroundings. He could smell something fishy on the sea breeze.
Mo Fan’s vision was limited, even though he normally had outstanding vision at night because of his Shadow Element. For some reason, he had an uneasy feeling.
“Fire Burst: Rupture!”
Mo Fan tossed a ball of fire into the air.
The fireball reached a hundred meters in the air. The flames of the Ardent Sunset exploded at Mo Fan’s order. The fiery tongues surged wildly and scattered onto the surface of the pitch-black ocean like sparkling fireworks…
The blazing red light revealed countless eerie heads scattered across the surface of the ocean!
These heads had eyes, without the slightest shine to them. They were like eyes of the dead, belonging to a bunch of cunning carnivores that had been waiting for their prey for a long time!
Mo Fan was shocked!
A trap?
It’s a trap!
These sea monsters were using the SOS signal to set up a trap by luring the humans away from the dam before surrounding them!
There were more than a thousand heads revealed by the light produced by the explosion, and there were a lot more of them outside of their range of vision. The light of the explosion had only revealed the tip of the iceberg!
Unlike demon creatures, humans were intelligent. Their wits had helped the human race not lose the prolonged battle against the demon creatures, despite being inferior physically. However, to Mo Fan’s surprise, the sea monsters were smart enough to set up a trap to lure them to the deep sea…
They were currently in the deep sea area that put the sea monsters at an advantage!
“We have to go, now!” Captain Tang Peng yelled with an ugly expression.
“We have been surrounded…”
“My Heavens, why are there so many of them!?”
“Come up to the ship!” Mo Fan yelled at the rest of the rescue team when he sensed that something was not right.
These Viscera Hunters were tough creatures. Mo Fan had no problem fighting them on land, but he was currently in the middle of the ocean. Even Mo Fan would struggle against them, unless they jumped up to him one by one!
