Chapter 1144
Move the ship closer to me!
Chapter 1144 Move the ship closer to me!
The second swordsman, Qasim Muhammad, frowned slightly and said in a tone full of disgust:
"These heretics are truly disgusting. I feel like I could twist the heads off all these abnormal historical kings of the Sea Siege."
He asked the first swordsman, "Sauron, where are we now? Which country and lineage is the nearest to us?"
The first swordsman, Sauron Saint Valentine, gently turned the black umbrella-shaped weapon in his hand, glanced down at the pages turning in his palm, and as the light on the pages shimmered, the threads of fate quietly wove a blurry sea chart.
He raised his head, his tone concise and calm:
“I just used my abilities to make a preliminary location… This is the edge of the First Ocean. Based on the geographical structure, it should be the former Eastern Pacific Ocean, which is the ocean area where the west coast of the Edisi Federation is located… The former capital of Atlantos should not be far away.”
He paused, raising an eyebrow slightly, "And coincidentally... Atlantos's fleet is also patrolling this area."
These words startled Xia Xiu, who instinctively asked in return:
"Warships? Why would Haisi need warships?"
His tone was filled with barely suppressed doubt and confusion.
It's no wonder he was surprised, after all, the Sea Si is a deep-sea species that has become completely aquatic, with a structure and speed that are more adapted to the ocean than ordinary ships, and even its body itself has tactical capabilities such as high-speed movement, deep-diving suppression, and sonic interference.
The ocean is their home ground; they are an extension of the ocean. It's rather incongruous that such creatures need to rely on ships.
Faced with Xia Xiu's question, it wasn't Saint Valentine who stepped forward to explain, but Mu, who slowly said:
“I just reviewed the historical timeline of this world. Here, Atlantos—which we know as the Edisi Federation—was seized by the Sea Siege after its defeat in the First Undersea War.”
"There is one point that is particularly noteworthy."
"During the takeover of the old Federation site by Haisi, they discovered an unfinished superhuman armed system."
That's a deep-sea biomimetic technology called the "Siren Lineage." This lineage can materialize ships into sentient, individual weapons, enabling them to develop personalities, evolve tactics, and implant emotional modules, thus achieving a deep integration between the ship's hull and a biological structure.
To put it simply...
Mu's gaze was deep as he looked at the distant horizon shrouded in thick clouds.
"...They successfully anthropomorphized and intelligentized deep-sea ships, and continued to use them as firepower platforms and information nodes for deep-sea warfare. You can understand it as them evolving ships that were originally just steel tools into armed ship-like organisms that can self-repair, self-think, and self-combat through the Siren lineage."
"These individuals, known as ship spirits, are both the embodiment of the ship's will and experimental models used by the Sea Siren to mimic human warfare. They can adapt to complex battlefield conditions and make up for the Sea Siren's shortcomings in firepower output and long-range strikes... And the fleet that Soren is currently observing is the standard formation of the Atlantos Siren lineage ship spirits."
Xia Xiu immediately understood. So it was the Federation's "ship girl" technology. No wonder.
However, just like the Federation, all of Hai Si's ship spirits are female?
Or are they all female sharks and female octopuses?
Xia Xiu stood on the sea, looking down at the shimmering deep blue waters, his brows furrowed slightly, his voice low and calm: "Which direction is that fleet in exactly? Since we're all here, let's start with them and say hello."
The first swordsman, Sauron Saint Valentine, closed the book in his hand and said in a calm tone:
“We don’t need to go looking for them. Just let out our scent, and the fish will swim up on their own.”
Xia Xiu nodded after hearing this: "That works too."
As they spoke, the four sword-wielders subtly released their normal spiritual energy fluctuations.
It carried no murderous intent or divine pressure; it was merely the most basic, natural dissipation of spirituality, like the first wisp of morning mist, subtly permeating the entire spiritual domain of the First Ocean.
At this moment, four distinct yet equally profound and vast auras, like the scales of a giant beast awakening, rippled across the spiritual net of the sea.
……
……
The sea surged, a deep and mysterious blue, while a glimmer of light shone through the gaps in the clouds, illuminating a colossal steel warship as large as a mountain.
This is the USS Hornet, a deep-sea strategic aircraft carrier over 300 meters long, belonging to the third order of the Atlantos Fast Carrier Task Force. Its hull lines resemble a giant blade cutting through the sea surface, and its gray-blue hull is made of alloy and abyssal hard bone coating. Under the modification technology of the Sea Instinct, the entire ship is a fusion of biological and mechanical elements, and even the bridge has grown a radar mast that looks like tentacles, resembling the eyelids of a sea monster.
Surrounding her were four heavy cruisers, six guided-missile destroyers, three high-performance reconnaissance boats, and two support platform ships for the Sirens' spirit adjustment and hibernation.
This is the maritime weapon of Atlantos, specifically designed to deal with the remaining human forces and maritime rebellions, and is also one of the direct means by which the Sea Heirs maintain order in the First Ocean.
The fleet's commander-in-chief was none other than Colonel Charles P. Mason, a member of the cartilaginous fish lineage from the Azure Abyss.
Standing over two meters tall, its grayish-white skin was covered with sand-like scales, and its gills split horizontally along both sides of its shoulders to its chest cavity. Its wide shark snout and deep-set blue eyes made it clear at a glance that it was descended from a deep-sea shark.
This is a giant shark-man.
He stood in the center of the bridge, the pupil of one eye trembling like mercury, and he whispered:
"Tia, is something wrong?"
A white streak of light extended from the bridge to the deck, and a figure slowly materialized—a creature ship spirit dressed in white ship uniforms, with a female-like figure but the lower body of a sea serpent. She possessed translucent skin and spiral-shaped ear fins, and her pupils shimmered like those of a sea lanternfish.
This is the ship spirit of the USS Hornet, named Tia Stylane.
"Commander, an unknown high-intensity spiritual unit is approaching. Its aura is unclear, and it may be a human pirate resistance force."
The officer in charge of bridge observation, a bony sea creature, quickly reported, his voice carrying a deep, metallic resonance. But this warning did not stir up any panic in the bridge of the Hornet; instead, it was like a slightly sweet breeze, gently stirring the suppressed desires beneath the officers' scales.
"Yeah……"
Colonel Charles P. Mason licked his lips, his tongue, stitched together with nerve cables and runic lines, swirling over his barbed teeth—three rows of sharp, knife-like cartilaginous teeth that gleamed pale and cold in the dim lighting of the bridge, like an ominous new moon.
He slowly extended his fingers, the tips of which were metal tags embedded with ingredient numbers like knuckles. These were part of his military uniform and also his recipe notes.
He looked at his knuckles, a blend of a kitchen knife and an analytical instrument, and whispered, his voice like a tide seeping into bones:
“We haven’t had meat for a while… Ah, the taste of humans is so wonderful.”
"Tia, you know what? Humans actually do many wonderful things."
Tia: "Commander, I don't need to eat organic food." The sharkman replied:
"I know, I know, I just couldn't resist sharing some delicious human food with you. Especially fresh steamed meat from a pregnant woman..."
He chuckled softly, not out of simple pleasure, but out of the instinctive thrill of predation.
Upon hearing this, the officers behind him, all showed excited expressions.
The jawless fish lineage, with their exposed spinal canals, writhed slightly and emitted a damp hissing sound.
The shark-toothed warriors of the cartilaginous fish lineage rubbed their sharp dorsal fins against the metal surface of the ship's hull, producing a sharp, metallic sound.
Meanwhile, the officers of the bony fish lineage opened their mouths, embedded in their breastplates—where they stored rare human-grade taste enhancers—their expressions one of rapture as if on a religious pilgrimage.
"Humans are so wonderful..."
Colonel Mason slowly turned around, looking at the psionic disturbance waveforms appearing on the main screen of the bridge. He laughed heartily at his ship girl:
"Haha, actually we can eat other things, such as chickens, ducks, cows and horses, which are creatures without intelligence. In fact, we are just like the humans who dominated the world in the past, and we can eat these things to fill our stomachs. But the problem is—none of them are as warm, flexible and... intelligent as humans."
His voice grew lower and lower, more and more suppressed, as if he were forcibly shutting down some kind of inner desire.
"Especially living people, I like to eat raw marinated humans, just like humans used to like to eat raw marinated seafood. The taste is simply irresistible."
He licked his teeth and whispered:
"Recently, shops that can provide raw, marinated humans are becoming increasingly rare, and they are closing down one by one due to the decrease in the human population. The Empire is making large-scale adjustments to its captive breeding policy, and those sea creatures converted from humans are trying to push for a human protection law again... Bah, they eat people themselves, what are they pretending to be saints for? Bah, disgusting sharks."
"Tia, take us to find those humans and give our warriors a treat."
Tia: "Yes, Commander."
The fleet set sail, heading at full speed towards the direction detected by the spiritual radar.
Just then, around the bridge, the Sealing officers, clad in combat robes and bio-armor, slowly began to chant the Fish-Flesh Cult's hymn—a melody blending ancient Terran languages, spell fluctuations, and the God-Eating scale, its rhythm slow yet progressively advancing, like the ceaseless vortex beneath the deep sea:
"Sharks are coming, flesh will return to the sea, star remains will be feasted, and skeletal boats will sail."
"Use human words to transform human flesh, and human lives to fill the belly of a god."
“Skin it, peel off its bones, boil its blood, and swallow its soul.”
"The sacred fish descends, its mouth opening into abysses; the world is soup, and humanity is the ingredients."
They sang with devotion and passion, each line like a final prayer for the souls of humans about to be sacrificed. Yet, in this distorted civilization, it was a celebration, the prelude to a grand feast.
The sea surged, and the ironclad behemoth broke through the heavy curtain of waves. The Hornet, the main ship of the Atlantos Third Fleet, was the first to break through the edge of the sea area, leading several ships behind it to form a high-speed cruising strike formation, piercing like a sharp spear towards the four immovable figures standing on the sea.
On the bridge, the spiritual radar hummed slightly. Shipgirl Tia's fingers quickly swept across the floating rune screen, blue and white spiritual patterns blooming between her smooth, fin-like knuckles, and data was continuously added to the Hornet's tactical core.
"Commander, four spiritual units have been detected ahead. Location has been completed, and images have been projected onto the main screen."
The image then leaped onto the bridge's large screen, the black radar lines transforming into a tangible image—four figures floating on the sea, their spiritual energy unusually calm.
"Analysis complete. There are spiritual fluctuations, undoubtedly indicating an extraordinary unit."
"I suggest the fleet adjust its formation and, once it reaches the optimal engagement range, all fire control units engage in a focused, intelligent bombardment—should I activate the fire control chain to prepare for concentrated fire?"
Her gaze remained calm, but the gill openings of the several Sea Si officers behind her were slightly open, their pupils shrinking to the size of pinholes, subtly revealing a kind of hunger before a predator.
"...No, no!!" Colonel Charles P. Mason turned around abruptly, stopping the Siren ship girl's spontaneous actions.
He grinned maliciously as he stared at the four figures projected on the screen, his eyes revealing a devout greed and hunger:
"Are you trying to fry the human food we finally found into minced meat?"
"I've finally gotten a chance to eat fresh, live human beings. It would be such a waste if they were all burnt."
Shipgirl Tia reminded them again:
"According to the Atlantos Naval Operations Manual, upon target discovery, one should..."
"Alright, alright, Tia, I know, I know."
He licked his teeth, his gaze sweeping over the four Heavenly Swordsmen.
"There are only four humans ahead. No matter how strong they are, they can't cause any trouble in our Third Fleet."
"And look at our side. Putting aside the fleet's firepower, just the berserk form of our Atlantean high school students can easily beat the best among humans."
"The four humans in front of us have pitifully low spiritual fluctuations, so they can't possibly be any strong individuals."
"These four humans are truly invaluable talents."
“Look at that guy with the umbrella… he looks like a pretty boy, very refined, and he’s holding a book. You know, some noble families like to cultivate educated people, saying that educated people have a richer spiritual life.”
"That tall guy in the white robe... his body is as solid as a freshly smelted copper block, tsk, the texture of his muscle fibers must be of very high quality."
"That old man... he is a bit old, but don't forget we also have recipes for seniors... the taste should be just as good."
But when the gaze fell upon the last person—the blond, fair-skinned young man who seemed almost out of place with the sea breeze—he let out a rough, hoarse groan, like the instinctive excitement of smelling a delicious dish:
"This...it's practically a gift from heaven..."
Mason murmured, slowly extending his hands and crossing them in front of his chest to draw an inverted cross, a ritual gesture in the Fish-Flesh Cult representing the reversal of sacrifice.
He prayed softly:
"Great Beast of Error above, thank you for your grace... Thank you for bestowing upon me these four abundant offerings, allowing me to sacrifice their flesh and blood to the abyss, so that the conquest of the Sea King may continue to expand."
He suddenly waved his hand, his tone so fervent it was as if he wanted to devour the entire sea:
"Tia, bring the boat closer to me!"
"I want them alive!"
(End of this chapter)