Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1090 - 1083: Out of a Desperate Situation Comes Survival

Chapter 1090: Chapter 1083: Out of a Desperate Situation Comes Survival

"It’s dead, the bomb exploded on its head, blasting a big hole. Now it’s slowly sinking to the bottom of the ocean," Fulajie’er’s response didn’t seem to contain any joy but rather sounded quite somber.

"That’s great, that’s just great," Luo’er nodded, unable to resist breaking into a smile, one of relief after enduring hardship.

"Luo’er, don’t let your guard down yet. The problem isn’t solved," Fulajie’er spoke up at that moment.

"There’s more?" Luo’er was stunned for a second, his scalp tingling at once.

"Yes, a bigger one is coming. Bearing seven o’clock, about three hundred meters away, approaching at high speed," Fulajie’er replied.

"Can you stop it?" Luo’er asked urgently.

"It’s a bit tricky, but I’ll try," said Fulajie’er.

"Alright, you find a way to stop it," Luo’er nodded and then shouted loudly to the crew below, "A formidable enemy is incoming, bearing seven o’clock, distance three hundred meters, mortar rounds for a ranging shot!"

"Roger that, bearing seven o’clock, distance three hundred meters, ranging shots underway!" Hu Daoke repeated while slotting a fused mortar shell into the muzzle, waiting for Baiyue to finish the adjustments before releasing it to fire.

A muffled boom sounded on deck once again as the mortar shell was lobbed high, arcing down heavily into the water. Not long after, underwater explosions thundered, creating towering plumes of water.

It must be said, with anti-submarine weapons on hand, the people on the ship were no longer as passive against the Leviathan as they had been before.

With Fulajie’er’s reports, Luo’er kept adjusting the firing coordinates. The Leviathan clearly wasn’t deterred by the explosions and continued to advance. Luo’er gave up on the ranging shots and decided to fire two guns simultaneously, allowing for the beast’s movement.

When faced with such beasts unique to the Otherworld, the Advance Team’s first thought was of Feng, who had once slain Neptios. But at this time, she was not on the ship.

Besides, even with her presence, she may not have been able to threaten the Leviathan, because the last time they had encountered one, Feng had virtually no effect. After all, the Leviathan hid beneath the sea, whereas Feng had slain the enormous beast on land.

Water is denser than air, making it harder for magic to penetrate completely through water, especially as the depth increases, where the concentration of magic is even lower.

An all-out attack from Feng could not guarantee a direct hit on the underwater beast, so she had to be cautious. Moreover, as the water deepened and the concentration of magic lessened, Feng couldn’t dive in for underwater combat because this wasn’t mythology—magic follows its own laws.

It was for this reason that oftentimes, the people of the Otherworld had no way to deal with the Leviathan; if they encountered one, they either ran or, if they couldn’t, all they could do was pray.

But the arrival of Earthlings changed everything. Earth’s arms dealers quickly seized on the Otherworld’s need for anti-submarine weapons and thus lobbied Earth’s related countries to lift the export ban on such arms.

Through their lobbying, the United Nations amended its weapon export policies, removing anti-submarine weapons from the prohibited list. This development led to a booming market for anti-submarine munitions in the Otherworld.

In fact, everyone always hears about encounters with the Leviathan resulting in the loss of a ship and its crew. However, since the involvement of Earthlings in the Otherworld, it’s been the Leviathans that have suffered more casualties. Most times, Leviathans sink after being killed, and without effective detection means, the crews cannot be sure they have dispatched a Leviathan.

The curse of the Forbidden Ocean is slowly being lifted. Only those who live by the sea have noticed that in recent years, some shipping routes have become very safe, with no signs of Leviathan for years, even decades. With the help of Earthlings, people from the Otherworld have actually gained control over the entire Continent’s shallow waters.

So, under normal circumstances, Luo’er would have been very unlikely to encounter a Leviathan on this voyage. Now, having come across two at once, with such persistence, one could no longer chalk it up to coincidence. Clearly, Tana really wanted him dead, wielding the forces of nature.

And the unfortunate events did not end there. It wasn’t long before a sudden crosswind whipped up on the other side of the merchant ship. Dark clouds rolled in the sky, and the wind carried large drops of rain, signaling that a downpour was imminent.

The crosswind significantly affected the efficiency of the mortar launch, causing two shells to veer off the designated area directly. However, at this moment, the Leviathan had already come within the launching distance of the deepwater bomb launchers, and at Luo’er’s command, Cheng Ziang released two deepwater bombs in one breath.

After the bombs were dropped into the water, there was a brief silence followed by a trembling sensation under everyone’s feet as two thunderous explosions erupted underwater, sending giant plumes of water skyward. The resulting waves even caused the merchant ship to sway.

The water columns rose more than ten meters high, and under the influence of the crosswind, they broke apart into droplets that pattered down on the merchant ship, delivering a head-on blow to everyone on board.

In an instant, it was as if a downpour had hit the deck; everyone was inevitably soaked by the salty seawater.

Luo’er hugged the mast and energetically wiped the seawater off his face, looking somewhat comical in the process. But the downpour didn’t seem to stop immediately, rather, it appeared to be getting heavier. Turning his head, he saw that the rain clouds over the merchant ship had already reached above them, and the curtain of rain instantly enveloped the ship and everyone on it.

"Luo’er, it has stopped..." Fula’s voice echoed in Luo’er’s mind.

Wiping the seawater from his face again, he shouted down loudly, "Keep launching, keep launching, and try to kill it."

"Roger that, continuing launch," Cheng Ziang shouted as he vigorously pulled the release device and then turned to yell at Hu Daoke, "Old Hu, get some people to bring more bombs, the launcher’s almost emptied!"

"Got it, get some men!" Hu Daoke responded, then waved his hand and hurried toward the ship’s hold.

"Captain, where are we now?" Luo’er asked without turning around.

"We’re about to enter the normal sea route, just a little more effort," Wadulan struggled to control the ship’s wheel, occasionally glancing at the sea chart that the first mate had spread out, and shouted back at Luo’er, "We’re over halfway through our voyage, and we’re about to enter Xia Yue Island’s territorial waters!"

"Xia Yue Island has territorial waters?" Cheng Ziang couldn’t help but ask.

Another deepwater bomb was dropped into the sea and then detonated, seemingly similar in effect to the others. They had just used such a bomb to kill a Leviathan, but for some reason, the creature they were dealing with now didn’t seem to be so easy to handle.

"It’s getting closer again!" At this moment, Luo’er heard Fula’s update once more.

Surprised, he frowned and asked, "What’s going on, why doesn’t the deepwater bomb affect it?"

"It’s hiding at the bottom of the sea, I can’t reach it. The bomb explodes midway, at best it just startles it," Fula replied.

"Just startles it?" Although Luo’er was somewhat relieved, he quickly became surprised again.

Water is denser than air, so the effect of an explosion in water is entirely different from one on land.

In principle, a deepwater bomb detonating underwater should be much more powerful than one exploding on land. According to Luo’er’s assumption, such a massive iron lump exploding underwater, even if it couldn’t kill the monster completely, should at least damage its hide considerably. But according to Fula, such power seemed trivial to the Leviathan.

After pondering for a moment, Luo’er guessed it must be due to differing species.

As mentioned before, Leviathan is not the name of a certain top-tier creature but a term for a group of creatures, like whales. Therefore, Leviathans vary in shape and are not uniform.

According to the Otherworlders’ maritime records, Leviathans come in different shapes and sizes, some like whales, others like squids, and still others resemble turtles. However, as these descriptions are only circulated among merchants and fishermen without accurate eyewitness reports, Earth’s academic community has always been troubled by this.

Many things in the Otherworld sound particularly fantastical, but some do exist, while others are made up. Thus with truth intertwined with fiction, Earth’s academic community also finds it difficult to properly discern the reality.

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