Chapter 685.1: Sisi and Tail’s Exciting Battle With Tentacles |
On the other side, the very moment the submersible Sisi was piloting was struck by a tentacle as thick as a water barrel, the wildly swinging floodlight vanished together with the submersible into the distant, silent depths like a snapped matchstick flame.
“Sisi!” Tail couldn’t help crying out, but with the heavy diving helmet over her head, no sound could escape.
Nearly a full minute passed before a thunderous rumble echoed from afar.
The submersible seemed to have crashed into the support frame of a turbine generator, triggering a partial collapse. Watching the muddy cloud rolling through the darkness, Tail panicked hard, but there was nothing she could do.
The communication channel was completely silent, and the rising silt snuffed out the last trace of light.
The sea returned to its terrifying quiet.
There was no light, no air, and no sound.
Only boundless silence and darkness, with the occasional cold vibration brushing past her like the whisper of an unknowable abyssal being.
Controlling her breathing, Tail carefully retreated toward the ruins and curled up beneath a protruding metal beam, trying to make herself smaller.
At last, Tail understood where that earlier current had come from, the one that knocked the probe off course.
It had to have been the monster’s roar.
Realizing the creature was just beneath her, Tail’s scalp tingled. Her gaze drifted toward the little metal sphere clinging to the terminal.
“GIAO! So when does this thing finish collecting?… Huh? It let go?” Just as she spoke, the little probe suddenly retracted its mechanical arms from the metal frame.
The current was about to sweep it away, Tail reacted instantly, reaching out and hugging it tightly against her chest. “Got it!”
Holding the probe in her arms, she exhaled in relief, smug satisfaction spreading across her face.
But her grin froze almost instantly.
The problem came. How was she supposed to bring this thing back?
Their part of the sea lay near the center of the southern waters, it took four hours even by speedboat.
With only her diving suit, she would sooner die of exhaustion than swim back, not to mention the possibility of encountering even worse underwater mutants than the tentacled monster.
“Oh crap… we’re toast!” She had celebrated way too early.
Just as she was panicking, static crackled over the comms, followed by a broken voice. “Tail… what’s your status?”
Hearing that familiar voice, Tail let out a tiny, excited gasp. “Sisi! Thank goodness, you’re alive!”
Sisi, in the submersible, relaxed visibly once she confirmed Tail was alive, even letting the corner of her lip curl upward. “What kind of line is that? I’m not that easy to kill… but since you’re joking, I guess you’re fine too.”
Tail chuckled enthusiastically. “Oh! Of course, Tail’s great right now!”
“Good… by the way, Tail, can you see where that thing that hit me went?”
“Uh… that’s hard.” Tail carefully poked her head out from the gap in the ruins. Everything around her was pitch black, like being submerged in ink. “It’s too dark, I can’t see anything at all.”
Sisi sighed. “Figures…”
This was the deep sea. Even in daytime, barely any light would reach their depth.
Listening to the static, Tail took a deep breath. “Want me to lure it out? I’ve got a flashlight…”
“Absolutely not!” Sisi cut her off instantly. “Our weapons might not even work on that thing. We should avoid fighting at all costs. I’ll fire some signal flares near your location, they’ll mark your evacuation path. If possible, bring the probe too, we need its data.”
“Okies! Leave it to Tail!”
Hearing the confident reply, Sisi smiled with relief. “Alright! I’m counting on you!”
Tail may have acted silly, but when it mattered, she was shockingly reliable.
Sisi switched the remote weapon station to signal flares and fired several rounds.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Pale bubbles streaked forward, bursting into vivid orange light mid-water.
Like matches struck in the dark, the flares outlined a crooked path through the ruins.
Using the glowing flares to confirm her escape route, Tail hugged the probe tightly and pushed off, drifting toward a half-buried turbine blade illuminated by the light.
The monster was nearby. She couldn’t get too close to the flares or she would be spotted. Too far, and she would be blind.
In the overwhelming silence, her heartbeat pounded loudly in her chest, she could hear her own pulse.
“Giao…”
This is way too intense.
The darkness enveloping her felt like a beast’s open maw, merely looking into it drained her courage. Inside the submersible, Sisi was just as tense, eyes glued to the blinking green dot on the screen. “Good job, Tail!”
Only 50 meters left!
Her palms were sweaty, gripping the controls tightly.
40 meters.
35, 30…
The green dot was about to leave the ruins when suddenly, it froze, as though hitting a wall.
Sisi jolted. She instantly switched on the floodlight. A beam pierced the darkness, revealing Tail struggling as she was caught.
A tentacle as thick as a water barrel had extended from the ruins, coiling around the heavy diving suit.
The high-pressure deep-sea suit held for the time being, but judging from the muffled noises she was making in the communication channel, Tail was in big trouble.
“Blrgh, Grrl, Urfffauhg!”
Seeing Tail seized, Sisi panicked and moved the weapon station’s aim to the tentacle.
“Hang on, Tail!”
She fired immediately.
Two harpoons shot out, white trails streaking through the dark.
One missed while the other hit the tentacle squarely. It pierced the creature’s skin, and the explosive charge detonated.
A burst of bubbles and fire lit up the water. A basin-sized wound opened on the tentacle, green fluid leaking out. Even though those weren’t proper underwater weapons, the blast still hurt the monster badly. But, it didn’t let go.
The deep-sea suit groaned under the crushing pressure.
By floodlight, Sisi saw fine hairs wriggling across the wound, rapidly knitting it shut.
That blast could flip a tank, what kind of monster heals like this?!
She couldn’t wait any longer. Sisi switched to the grenade launcher and unleashed a barrage.
Explosions filled the narrow space, but underwater grenades were weak at their depth. Their damage was far less than the harpoons.
The tentacle stayed firm.
A deep growl shook the water, full of mocking rage.
“Sisi, I can’t hold on!” Tail’s voice trembled through the comms.
“Hold on, Tail!” Sisi forced herself to calm down, searching for a weakness.
The monster hid behind a massive turbine shell, using the wreckage as cover. It had exposed only one tentacle, baiting her closer.
As the light beams swept the ruins, she noticed the turbine’s base rested on fragile rocks and bent beams.
Her eyes lit up as she adjusted her aim and emptied the grenade rack into the turbine’s underside.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The supports shattered. With a groan of twisting metal, the huge turbine collapsed, slamming down onto the tentacle monster.
“ACK!” The tentacle flung Tail away as it lost strength. She tumbled through the current and slammed into the ruins as she choked.
Sisi accelerated hard, steering toward the probe’s signal, opening the hatch just in time. “Get in!”
Tail nearly got knocked unconscious by the throw. Her helmet alarm flashed red, but she fought through the pain, grabbed the hatch, and rolled inside with the probe.
Blip’s Thoughts
OWN UP NOW, WHO THOUGHT ABOTU THE WRONG THINGS
