Volume 8 / Chapter 224
TL: LightNovelCafe
Editor: Hungry Panda
A smooth and slick outstretched caudal fin lightly strikes the walls of the underwater cave. The entire cave shakes.
Clear, bumpy muscles wave and follow movement.
A huge form glares and focuses on smell of the sensory organs. A vague and subtle smell bothers him.
It is the smell of blood.
It was pretty familiar, too.
It seems like it is coming from far away, but a lot of blood must have been lost if it flowed all the way down to here.
Smelling it over and over again, it can guess what kind of creature it is.
It is similar to the turtles acting as the king in its corner of the sea. They are lower subjects, but they swarm together annoyingly!
It lets them live however, because they provide ample nutrients.
Are they fighting over territory or something?
It looked to the side.
A female similar to itself in size and her baby, a fourth of her size, are looking at each other.
The female smelled it. It is a being on the same level in the first place.
‘Will you go?’
‘No.’
The female wants to know what is going on out of curiosity, but she cannot leave the baby and go. Taking the baby is even worse.
Before, she would have gone alone but she does not want to now. They were born recently, so she felt what death is for the first time.
If they are the ones ruling this area, those animals are the ones that rule the entire ocean. They might still be wandering this area. What that one said is still in his mind.
‘I’ll let you live because of the baby.’
It had been sincere.
If it hadn’t been for the baby, it would have killed her. She won’t go outside if she doesn’t need to because they could run into each other again.
The male must have recalled the memory of that time, because it left the smell and just decided to keep sleeping. Thinking of the one that is more than twice as large as they are combined, it is easy to stop being curious.
***
“The damage?”
[A submersible and 95 advanced have been destroyed, but they can be recovered.]
Strategist made a sound of pain when Uranos told him about the damages.
⅓ have been destroyed.
Almost 100 Lifers have been killed or injured as well. It would have been worse if Cha Jun Sung hadn’t been able to kill the Turtle Captains on time.
“So these are the kinds of issues we get from choosing the default Albatrus.”
The lowest armed status.
If they had followed the level S drawings, they could have armed it more heavily by 5 times. There is a lot of other technology too.
The armor is close to level S, but other functions – offensive power in particular – are level A. That is why the balance is tilting to one side.
If the Albatrus had been a complete level S battle weapon, it would have been able to kill the Turtle Babies without the help of Lifers and submersibles.
‘We need to advance Overload no matter what. For him and for us.’
If that happens, they can purchase more of the materials they need for Albatrus.
The level S energy core is priority.
With items like hydraulic guns and hydraulic impact guns, they need to increase the fire power and destructive power in the Albatrus’ energy. All circumstances are in Strategist’s mind.
Bang bang bang!
There is still a battle going on outside.
The smell of blood is that of more than what would be in hundreds of trucks. Albatrus’ porthole didn’t close. The submersibles didn’t go back either.
A majority of low level guys are like this, so it is fortunate that Lifers are going back and forth and fighting.
“We’re getting out.”
Strategist gives Uranos an order.
Mutants swarm in with no end. It seems it would be better for them to get out than to keep staying here.
Lifers and submersibles retreat to the Albatrus.
The mutants manically ripped up the Turtle Captains and Babies’ corpses amongst themselves. It is hundreds and thousands of tons of flesh. Different kinds of mutants are having a party. It is an amount that allows them to feast even without fighting.
“Uranos, search for a place where we can anchor nearby. We need to rest.”
[Wide scan activated.]
It is a large battle, so the Albatrus’ energy has been reduced to less than half.
They need to fix the submersibles and cyborgs, and they need to take care of the injured.
For the dead, they took care of the corpses, spraying antiseptic and freezing them>
“Is it 150km…”
There are still 150km left until the location where Sea General said he found Deep-Sea Teeth. From now on, they need to place more importance in their radar than other functions.
They search a radius of 50km with 10% energy.
They can’t do 500km just because they use 100% energy. A maximum of 200km is the limit.
It is certain as they get closer, and uncertain as they get farther away.
If they check 200km outside with maximum output radar, they can know ‘there’s something there.’
They can only determine what something is if it is within 100km. They can’t just look out like it is their palm because it is such a wide range.
“It’s making me nervous.”
Two level 8s.
They cannot even imagine how many underlings there are. It is uncertain whether they can take one on even if Cha Jun Sung gets involved.
Discovering first and delivering the first blow is the shortcut to lessening the damage and increasing the odds. They need to stay alert.
***
They are 2500m deep in the ocean. The Albatrus is seated on an adjacent coral reef bigger than a person with some of the features turned on, reorganizing.
Reorganizing doesn’t mean anything tremendous. They are just on board, repairing broken or damaged submersibles and advanced cyborgs. A majority of high level or special cyborgs are put into repair work. Unless the Albatrus doesn’t operate, they are basically unemployed.
Even if the material items are finite, they packed enough so they wouldn’t run out before going out.
If the water barrier is broken through and the Albatrus itself was hit, it would hurt but there is no issue with the parts.
They can take this kind of damage even if they do it a few more times. Their battle against the Turtle Captains and Turtle Babies consumed almost 65% of the Albatrus’ energy. It is the result of fighting for nearly half a day.
Energy being consumed at a high speed. Strategist left level A energy cores gathered during battle, a general charging device plugged in the energy room. The speed of charging is several hundred times slower compared to a rapid charging device, but they cannot use rapid charging devices in fighting mere turtles.
They need to save it until the end and use while fighting level 8s. Albatrus needs to be holding more than 30% energy no matter what. 10% radar, 10% water barrier, 10% engine.
Uranos managed the rest of the hydraulic guns efficiently with the leftover 70% of the remaining energy. Since he is artificial intelligence, he is meticulous and computational.
The Albatrus currently consumes at least 40% of the energy. The figure went up a little because the water barrier used 20%.
If the water barrier is taken away, the enemy’s attack will hit the main body. If the radar goes off, there’s no way to know where anything is. If the engine is turned off, they will plummet to the ocean floor. This is how they get to 30%.
If the energy goes down below this, they need to give up on functions in order. Of the three, plummeting seems to be the most dangerous. If they hadn’t plugged in the general charging device, they would have gone down below that. That’s how fierce the battle against tens of thousands of Turtle Babies is.
“How long will it take?”
[10 to 12 days with natural charging, 2 days with the general charging device. We have 900 to 950 general charging devices.]
General charging devices are different in quality and quantity according to store level. The average of what they prepared for this mission is level B. With this much energy, they could fill up the energy of level B battlesuits all the way seven times and have some left.
“It takes too long… But let’s try it since we have some time.”
If they add a few more days, natural charging takes about 2 weeks. They brought 5000 general charging devices with them. They’ve used about 400, so they have 4600 left. They also have 500 rapid charging devices, so there’s no need to worry about energy. They will use what the Lifers possess when the Albatrus is in danger.
Woong!
Special cyborgs take out general charging devices and plug them into the level A energy room. This energy flows into level B and C energy rooms as well.
“We’ll finish up our search as soon as it’s completely charged.”
[Roger that.]