CHAPTER 61 - QUEEN OF THE OCEAN

The chat was right, turns out there was an easter egg on the back of the Reefback Leviathan, secretly placed by none other than the Tony himself.

As soon as a player lands on the Reefback's back, the creature automatically becomes a living taxi, heading straight toward whatever coordinates the player has marked on the map. It was a thoughtful design, ensuring players wouldn't be stuck traveling for ages without a faster vehicle.

"Looks like you guys guessed it right!" Natalie laughed, lounging atop the moving reefback. "I've gotta hand it to the devs. Sometimes... they are actually kind to us players."

"Tsk tsk, is Natalie defending the devs now?"

"Natalie, don't make me think you've got a thing going on with them..."

"Still, gotta admit, this is one of the rare times the devs have shown some mercy in this game!"

Natalie ignored the teasing in chat, taking in the view while the Reefback steadily swam forward beneath her. Though not as fast as the Seamoth, the Reefback was still quicker than traveling on foot with the Sea Mantis. After about ten minutes, it arrived above shelter, which sat 800 meters below the surface.

"Alright, folks, I'm about to make the dive!" Natalie gulped, staring at the deep, dark coordinates.

"Dive, dive, dive!"

"First time diving into the deep sea? Haha, Natalie don't get too scared!"

"I just watched PureWhite stream and, this part's about to get wild!"

Amidst the excited spam in chat, Natalie leapt off the Reefback and began her descent into the deep.

It had still been daytime at the surface, but the deeper she fell, the faster the light vanished. Soon, she was surrounded by utter darkness. Nervous, she flicked on the Sea Mantis's floodlights and kept the sonar pinging.

"Ugh... it's so dark and gloomy down here..." Natalie muttered. The eerie silence of the deep sea, mixed with the distant echo of the Reefback's calls, made the whole scene feel like a horror movie.

Worse, the Sea Mantis didn't have a hover or float function. It just dropped, like a stone. No control, no brakes. Just endless, slow motion free fall. The weightlessness made her stomach churn.

Thankfully, the lights and sonar gave her some sense of control.

Soon, just like in PureWhite's stream, red, flickering shadows began to appear around her. A dense swarm of small fish was closing in fast.

A scan through her wristband confirmed it, Piranhas.

"Piranhas?! Are you kidding me? They have those down here? Same rules as Earth too, smell blood and they attack!" Natalie yelped. "But I'm in the Sea Mantis. I should be fine. No way they can hurt me, right?"

"Hehe, chat, remember she said 'No way they can hurt me.' Quote her on that."

"Uh-oh, Natalie, maybe start heading the other way... still time to avoid the swarm."

"Shhh! Don't spoil it! I wanna see her freak out when it starts!"

"Yeah yeah, hush, hush, no spoilers! Let her play naturally."

"What the hell are you guys talking about?!" Natalie panicked, hearing the sudden shift in chat. "What are you hiding from me?!"

She knew her audience too well. Whenever they started acting cryptic like this, something awful was just around the corner.

Ping!

The sonar suddenly picked up a large moving shadow below.

About two meters tall. Humanoid. A long, tendril-like tail...

Ping!

Three seconds later, the sonar refreshed, and the shadow had moved a lot closer. It was coming fast.

"What the hell is that?" Natalie squinted at the monitor. "It's moving crazy fast..."

"Ahem, probably just a normal octopus."

"Yeah yeah, just an octopus! Super cute. Go take a closer look, Natalie!"

The trolling was relentless.

At that moment, the alien broadcast system crackled to life.

First came a buzz of static. Then Cortana's voice translated it clearly:

"Alert: Unknown entity detected, infected by foreign bacteria. Status: Hunting Mode. Broadcasting target coordinates to all Warpers."

"Wait, what? What does that mean?!" Natalie blurted. "Infected by bacteria? They're not talking about... me, right?!"

Her mind raced. She remembered what happened back on the Aurora, how after getting scanned, the system confirmed she'd been infected by some unknown bacteria.

"Yo, Natalie actually figured it out?!"

"She's evolving!"

"Playing Subnautica actually boosts IQ confirmed!"

But Natalie had no time to reply to the sarcasm flooding her chat. That "'octopus' had now entered visual range, no sonar needed.

It had the head of a fish, the tail of an octopus, and translucent skin. But what caught her eye were the scythe like forelimbs, sharp as mantis blades.

"What the hell is this thing?" Natalie murmured.

And then it vanished.

No animation. No dash. Just pop, gone from sight.

A second later, it reappeared a dozen meters closer.

"Did you see that?! Teleportation! That thing can TELEPORT!!" Natalie screamed. "And it's coming straight for me, it spotted me!!"

"Teleportation, big deal. You're inside a mech. That thing doesn't even look strong. No need to panic!"

"Yeah, Natalie, be bold! Show it who's boss!"

"Exactly! Go teach that seafood wannabe a lesson!"

Chat continued to egg her on gleefully.

And Natalie, unfortunately, was too worked up to notice the suspicious encouragement. After a moment of hesitation, she actually nodded.

"You guys are right! I'm wearing a freakin' Mech Suit. Unless it's a Leviathan, nothing's taking me down!"

She looked back at the monster's dagger-sized claws.

"Tch. You think those can pierce my armor?"

"Alright, boys, if it dares come any closer, I'm going full drill mode. Let's see how this 'Warper' likes that!"

With a cocky grin, she swapped the Sea Mantis's arm into electric drill mode.

A confrontation was inevitable.

The electric drill arm of the Sea Mantis buzzed to life, churning the water into a swirling vortex around it.

Though Cortana had mentioned this mode was originally designed for mining, Natalie was convinced, if it could cut through rock, it could definitely carve up monsters. This wasn't just a tool. It was a weapon.

"I haven't tested this bad boy yet," she grinned with a mischievous gleam in her eye. "Looks like today's the perfect time to try it out!"

Right on cue, the strange octopus creature drifted toward her location.

"Well, well, you've got guts coming straight at me," Natalie smirked. "Don't blame me for what happens next!"

With that, she raised her right arm and lunged the drill forward, only for it to stab into empty water.

She blinked. The creature was gone.

"Huh? Did it run away?"

But before she could react, the pressure around her shifted, and cold water pressed tightly against her skin. Then, realization struck.

She was outside the Sea Mantis.

"W-Wait, what? Why am I out of the mech?! Is this a bug?!" Natalie panicked, confused and unarmed. She'd heard of glitches before, but this was absurd.

The chat exploded.

"Not a bug! It's an ability! The Warper can warp space, teleport itself and other creatures!"

"Congrats, Natalie! You just triggered its special skill!"

Before she could make sense of it all, a chilling screech rang behind her. At the same time, her health bar dropped by a third.

She whipped around, and was face to face with the grotesque octopus monster.

"FUUUUCCCKKK!!"

In pure reflex, she scrambled backward and pulled out her sidearm, simultaneously scanning the thing.

Ding!

[Identified: Warper, bacteria infected deep sea predator. Mode: Hunting.]

"That damn alien broadcast earlier... It was about me!!" she realized in horror. "It marked me as infected!"

Natalie aimed, but before she could fire, the creature vanished again.

"YOU COWARD!"

But she didn't have time to pursue. Around her, a massive swarm of bloodthirsty piranhas surged in, drawn by her scent.

Without hesitation Natalie ripped off her VR headset, severed the neural feedback link, and bolted off the platform in one fluid motion.

A clean escape.

"Yo! That was a speedrun exit!"

"Natalie's practiced this! No hesitation!"

"I'm STEALING that move. If I ever get jumped in-game, I'm out."

"I swear, you people suck," she yelled, face flushed. "Escape is cowardly, but effective!"

And truth be told, the chat wasn't wrong. Natalie had practiced her emergency exit moves. Many times. Alone. In the middle of the night. With her bedroom door locked, so even Tony wouldn't find out.

And now that they'd exposed her secret on-stream, she was fuming.

"You bastards all knew about the Warper, huh?! And you didn't say a damn thing?!"

"I dunno what you're talking about!"

"Wasn't me!"

"Fake news! Stop spreading lies!"

The chat played dumb with perfect synchronicity, denying everything like guilty children.

Still fuming, Natalie returned to the VR pod. Unsurprisingly, her character had already been devoured alive by piranhas.

"This is cruel," she muttered. "Letting players die to swarms like that... Good thing I bailed when I did!"

The game rebooted, and she respawned on the back of the Reefback again. This time, when she passed near shelter, she leapt off, but now with the wisdom of experience.

No more trying to flex. She avoided the piranhas entirely, repeating PureWhite's tactic. If I can't beat it, I'm not going near it.

"I underestimated this world," she sighed. "Even with the Sea Mantis, I'm not the queen of the ocean..."

In her mind, there was still a top predator above her, the Reaper Leviathan. But after that? Surely, she was second.

Descending deeper, Natalie soon reached the ocean floor. Not far off, she spotted a massive cave shaped like an eerie, staring eye.

"This must be the place," she murmured, and dove in.

What awaited her was breathtaking, a vast forest of glowing fan shaped mushrooms, illuminating the water in shades of soft pink and lavender.

"Wow... This is like a fairy tale..."

"So pretty!"

"Careful, Natalie! If something's this beautiful, it's definitely hiding something terrifying."

"I knew you'd say that," she snapped. "You guys are never up to anything good!"

Still, curiosity won out. Carefully, she guided the Sea Mantis toward one of the massive mushrooms.

Suddenly, a monstrous snake-crab hybrid burst from a nearby tunnel.

BOOM!

The creature's enormous head slammed into the Sea Mantis with enough force to shake it. Its pincers raked against the plating, but didn't pierce it.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" she screamed, jolting back in instinct.

The creature lunged again, jaws clamping down on the Sea Mantis's rear, still no damage.

Realizing that the Sea Mantis had held firm through two massive attacks, Natalie's panic slowly transformed into rage.

"The Repear Leviathan chased me. The Warper ambushed me. And now you think you can bully me too?!"

Fury ignited in her chest. She toggled the Sea Mantis's left arm to grappling claw mode, the right arm to full-power drill.

"If the drill didn't finish off the Warper, I'll damn well test it on you!"

She lunged.

The claw gripped the serpent's thick torso.

The drill spun.

SCREEEEEE!

Blood exploded into the water as she drove the drill into the snake's head. The horrible grinding, the creature's shriek, it was chaos.

"HOLY SHIT!!"

"That's... gruesome. Snake rights activists are in shambles."

"I actually feel kinda bad for the poor thing."

"NO MERCY! Get her, pink snake! Bite the mech girl!"

"Too late! SHE'S UNHINGED!"

"That thing's a BEAST!"

"Natalie just turned into the final boss!"

As the blood cloud dispersed, Natalie stood victorious, breathing hard but triumphant inside her indestructible Sea Mantis.

She grinned.

"This... is my ocean now."

1905 Words.