“What? What time is it?” I asked in confusion. However, Dicken simply pulled me aside and raised his webbed paw, reaching slowly for the ceiling. The scales on both sides of his tail were rattling rapidly, and soon, a bundle of blue bolts sparkled over his paw with a buzzing sound. Thin bolts hence accumulated around him, and I could feel air being charged by his bolts. Then, in the instant Dicken’s paw touched the ceiling, the entire ship quaked, and the people above erupted in an uproar and fled to every corner available to them. “What’s going on? What happened?!”“Oh no! The test subjects are getting out of control as if they’ve sensed something! Professor Bob, we need to ask for reinforcements!” As two sets of footsteps rushed past us overhead, a cabin door could be heard slamming shut while horrific hisses echoed above. Soon, something started to scrape harshly against the floor—seemingly merfolk sliding along it. The glass tanks holding them had shattered and were left str
I seemed to know Dicken better now, and finally saw what lay beyond his profound love for the ocean. Like human emperors who expanded their borders, Dicken’s nature was as callous and bloodthirsty as the merfolks leaders, and he revered defeating violence with more violence. Of course, this was the best solution to snuff out the vileness which humans wrought, and the mastermind of this great conspiracy ought to pay the price for challenging a troublesome leader like this one.I wondered where Bob and Gary were hiding at that moment… Were they shaking in their boots? And then there was my grandfather—or the elder of the merfolk, to be precise….Nonetheless, even as that thought crossed my mind, there was a melodious cry echoing nearby, and the frenzied merfolk that were tearing the soldiers into pieces suddenly stopped. Dicken’s gaze turned dark, just as his expression turned solemn.I had a bad feeling about this, too.“Come out, my king. I know you’re there… Still hiding there t
“Of course. Everything I said was true.” A familiar voice that left me revolted suddenly spoke beside me.“Linda!” Dicken roared and started to slither towards me, only for Baron to suddenly leap up and pounce at him, knocking him into the sea.A webbed paw seized me before I could react.I was stunned when I clearly saw the person before me, unable to believe what I was seeing: Gary was holding me, and he now had a long surgical scar in front of his chest. Moreover, he no longer had legs beneath his waist, with a dark-blue tail in its place. “I’m that one experiment subject who survived.” Gary stared viciously at me, his eyes flickering with maniacal obsession. “Do you like my new look, Linda?”I was stunned speechless, because everything that had happened before my eyes had completely exceeded my level of tolerance. I struggled to free myself from his grasp on my legs to hide further into the ballast, but he suddenly dragged me away, pulling me over several feet away while my
50 years later.[I’m Linda, from France. I’m officially joining the Navy today—it’s a day worth remembering for me, even if I know an exceedingly demanding trial awaits me.][I’ve seen and heard about the terrifying merpeople and their horrific fighting capabilities, but I fear nothing.][I shall be leaving tomorrow with the Navy to enforce the blockade against the merpeople. This is a good chance for me to show myself, which is why I’m really thrilled.]I couldn’t help clenching on my pen as I looked outside the window, where a gigantic warship was berthed at the harbor. Sacre bleu, it had to be the most imposing warship I had ever seen—it was painted in black for camouflage in night battles, whereas its hull was of a sleek design. With the towering bridge on its bow, it looked just like a horned beast sailing through the seas.The thought of sailing in that warship as it crashed through the waves to the merpeople’s territory excited me. “All new recruits! Assemble!” As a res
Amid the high-pitched whistle, we swapped formations into a single file as we assumed this journey I had long looked forward to. My heart was pounding relentlessly, an indescribable feeling lingering in my heart aside from the thrill and exhilaration from finally realizing my dream. When I looked upon the boundless ocean, I suddenly had this strong feeling that this voyage would be a turning point in my destiny. I would be heading in a direction completely different from my past life, to arrive upon an ending which I had been waiting for over a long time. I couldn’t believe that I suddenly felt the impulse to run away!‘No, no, no—what’s with you, Linda? When did you become such a coward? You have to persevere!’ As I took a deep breath to calm my restlessness, someone barked at me from behind, “Recruit! Why are you spacing out?! Keep up!”“Yes, sir!” Flustered, I threw a salute as I rejoined my squad.Afterwards, I was given a protective vest, a submachine gun, and a tempered
As the skies darkened, the stern ramp opened, and our speeboats swiftly slid out into the boundless sea as we set out, riding the waves.I looked out through the glass towards the sea shrouded in darkness, unable to help clenching on my gun as my heart skipped about like the ocean's waves. My eyes were fixed on the electronic navigation system to see that we were heading towards a red zone, which was alleged to be deep within merpeople territory. Our objective was to set a sonar bomb in a zone within the channel. It was a newly developed weapon that would distort the merpeople’s sense of direction and render them incapable of fighting, while ensuring that the underwater nuclear power stations were not destroyed.As we approached the channel, we slowed down our speedboat as the waters around the mouth of the channel slowly steered us through the gap. The cliff on both sides blocked out the moon, and we were immediately engulfed in sinister darkness—I actually felt the breaths of the
Once we cleared the rushing waves, the open sea was there before me, but I couldn’t spare the thought to admire the beautiful view even as the moon sprinkled its silver glow over me. After all, I saw thousands of merpeople perched on the reefs over both sides of the channel, looking hungrily at us—recently captured humans all, as if they were going to rush at us and devour us in the next instant. I had long since found out that the merpeople ate humans, and I couldn’t help shivering at the thought of being eaten alive. There wasn’t much meat in me and they might soon be over with, but we were most certainly dead meat because no one was coming to rescue us. I despaired—fuck! Laura and the rest had all treated us as bait! The Navy? The fleet? It was all lies… The reason they were recruiting this year was to send us to our deaths!I closed my eyes even as fury blazed my heart, somehow purging my terror as well. However, that wasn’t going to spare me the fate of being eaten.Meanwhil
“What?” My whole body was trembling, even as I wondered if I was so scared that I had hallucinated the merpeople’s leader saying my name.And yet, before I could even get a picture of what was happening, I felt the merpeople’s leader holding my chin, and my lips were covered by something icy the next instant. It felt like I was being gnawed and chewed upon, as if I was going to be crushed into tiny pieces and devoured. I was absolutely flabbergasted when I realized that the merpeople’s leader was kissing me, and my soul almost leapt out of my body. Still, I reacted in reflex and whipped out the Swiss Army knife that I had kept sheathed over my thigh, and then stabbed it into his back despite my panic. The blade sliced through his tough skin, thanks to the burst of strength I had gained from the heat of the moment. There was a dull sound, too—it must have struck his spine. I could feel his whole body flinching right then, but he still held on to me, and I felt as if he was going to