Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 521 - 457

Chapter 521: 457

The Orochi broke in two like a pair of chopsticks tightly clamped together, and from the two hollow, tube-like compartments, people fell towards the sea from over 500 meters up in the air, some torn to pieces, others left with only limbs and severed arms, or half of their bodies, or relatively unscathed.

One by one, they hit the water, blood indistinguishable from the spray of the waves.

The Ocean Descendants swam swiftly; they had Dragon-like sharp heads and thick scales, and their elongated antennae at the head-end twitched wildly, clawing for any victim they could find—not to feed but to deliver them back to the surface; it wasn’t their time to die yet.

Bang!

The remnants of the Orochi, stubbornly propped by the power system, eventually slammed into the sea, raising a huge wave that rolled towards the sky.

As the warship plunged into the sea and splashes scattered, the black foam splashed onto the bodies of the Ocean Descendants. Most of the Ocean Descendants, once they entered international waters, would become corroded and decayed by the highly polluted sea, which made them especially frenzied, combative, and roaring angrily, eyeing the fresh flesh.

But they were obedient to their common ancestor, dominated by their chieftain and mother, Farosa. The flesh and blood of their creator buried deep within Farosa’s body, consumed and digested by her, hence she could invoke their instinct to obey.

Farosa listened to the sounds of people diving, the screams of crew and passengers particularly pleasing to her ears, like a herd of pigs at death’s door. Humans, now without high or low status, equally vile and humble, were all beasts in her eyes.

She reached out her hand to gently manipulate the ocean, and the whirlpool-like currents gathered the corpses and surviving fallers back towards the center.

People smeared with liquid fuel burned on the surface of the sea, those affected by the explosion lost half their bodies, many drowned after hitting the water or died from inhaling the toxic seawater. Witnessing so much gruesome death, those who survived the catastrophe treasured their lives all the more and frantically tried to surface.

Some of the elite warship soldiers burst from the sea; they were clad in exoskeletons reminiscent of Power Armor, with thrusters on their backs that transported them upward from the seabed, but they were quickly targeted by the Ocean Descendants.

"Roar!"

The Ocean Descendants, already exceptionally irritable, now leapt furiously out of the sea, dragging them back to the seabed, crashing them against the reef rocks until they died.

Bang! Bang—

A senior warship officer landed on the seabed, who had been prepared to take the shock when the accident occurred; now, he lay quietly in the water, pretending to be dead.

He listened to the sounds of his comrades being smashed to death at the bottom of the sea, and to the rough roars of wild beasts and the thundering surge of the sea. Faced with such a terrifying scene, he remained motionless, imagining he was a stone.

The emergency manual never mentioned that the Orochi would suddenly disintegrate in mid-air...

Its main body was built by Northern Military Industry, underwent two major modifications by the Lighthouse Core and Fenrir Metals military consultants, and was completed over seven years. It had only been in service for fifteen years, a state-of-the-art warship, having participated in several regional corporate wars, annihilating over 125,000 enemy corporate troops and members of The Rebel Army... and now it had been shot down from the sky.

His field of vision, having been modified, still functioned with the visual processor chip allowing him to see the sparkling sea surface through the dark water.

There lay the wreckage of the Orochi slowly sinking, countless people bobbing in the sea, and as many as 20 Ocean Descendants swimming in search of prey, gathering the survivors together by dragging, as if ready for a mass execution.

Every now and then, an explosion sounded from somewhere, with shockwaves propagating through the deep sea, tossing about the corpses in the water.

The warship was both the career and life of the warship soldiers; seawater rushed in through gaps in the helmet visor, and he felt a chill on his chin.

"This is the OKO communication channel, I’m Aida." The officer drank the sea water that had filled his helmet and locked his air-tight valve.

The visor display showed an oxygen reserve of 10 liters. Enough to be a coward at the bottom of the sea for 10 hours—screw that, there are no cowards in the warship forces, those who make it on board are the most biting among the corporate dogs.

Previously, the communication channel was filled with a series of sharp shouts and urgent cries, but in an instant, as the Ocean Descendants efficiently scavenged and hunted, these noises grew less and less.

Since when did these sea monsters become so numerous and concentrated? Was someone feeding them?

"Miyoko? Shibata? Yukiki?" Aida clutched a piece of reef, lest the current carry him away. He called in the communication channel for his squad members, hoping they had a sliver of a chance.

"Aida—save me..."

"Yoshi? " Aida heard his comrade’s voice and struggled to stand up from the seabed, his feet planted on the black seabed littered with cans, plastic bags, starfish carcasses, and foul-smelling reefs.

"It hurts so bad... I’m dying—Aida—it hurts—dying in pain—oh it hurts—dying in pain—burning me alive—burning me alive—" The continuous cries of Yoshi nearing death came through the communication channel, heartrending.

Yoshi’s voice gradually quieted down.

Aida tapped his helmet a few times, and the last green marker on the personnel list disappeared.

The others were either dead, unwilling to respond, or simply unable to.

The Orochi’s 7,300 crew members were scattered across the vast sea surface, smashed, drowned, burnt, eaten, or blown to pieces; most had died instantly when the warship disintegrated, but many were still alive, being taken away one by one.

What had struck the Orochi? Aida crouched down, pressing his helmet hard, recalling what had happened before.

The warship soldiers worked diligently in all parts of the ship, preparing to evacuate from this corporate war.