CHAPTER 75: ANCIENT LEVIATHAN EASTER EGGS

Ancient Leviathan?!

The title alone made players memories flash back to the massive skull in the Lost River of Subnautica, a skull so big that the Ghost Leviathan guarding it looked tiny in comparison. Like... snack sized tiny.

And now the dev had actually brought the Ancient Leviathan to life?!

The excitement was too much. Countless players clicked in immediately.

The video opened with TenderTomato piloting his Cyclops submarine, the endless ocean stretching ahead. His voice rang out over the gameplay.

"Guys, I’ve been trying to explore the edge of Subnautica’s map for ages. I wanted to see just how big the dev made this ocean."

"But before, because of energy limits, even with over a dozen power cells, I could never make it before running dry. Now though," The camera panned to his inventory. "Ion batteries. Practically infinite power. This time, I brought a dozen and I’m challenging the map’s limit again."

"The plan’s simple, pick a direction and keep going until we hit the edge!"

With that, the Cyclops powered south.

"This map’s massive, so I’m speeding up the footage for you guys," he added, cranking the game speed to ten times normal.

Eight in game hours passed on the counter in the corner. The reefs vanished. Fish disappeared. The seafloor faded into an endless abyss. There was nothing but black-blue water in every direction.

"Damn, eight hours straight... Tomato’s dedication is insane."

"And now it’s just... water. Which is somehow creepier."

Tomato narrowed his eyes.

"This is probably the border. Honestly, I suspect the old thief just reused the same water texture in a loop to make it look like you’re still moving."

He wasn’t wrong. Game dev veterans in the audience recognized the trick instantly, looped assets to give the illusion of infinity. Still, it was impressive to last this long.

Just to be sure, TenderTomato kept going for another half hour. Still nothing.

"Alright, conclusion time," he said. "The map does have an edge. Eight hours in a Cyclops will get you there."

He grinned.

"But do you think I’m done? Nope. This is the ocean. We’ve gone outward, now we’re going down. Let’s see how deep this world really is."

He angled the Cyclops downward.

"Tsk, Tomato’s going all in again."

"This is gonna take forever."

The depth meter climbed: 500m, 800m, 1000m. The light from the Cyclops was swallowed completely by the abyss. Even the sonar pinged into nothing, no reefs, no fish, no structures. Just... emptiness.

Then Cortana’s voice chimed in.

"Warning: You are entering No Man’s Land. Beyond lies endless abyss and extreme danger. Return immediately."

"Whoa, even the Cortana’s scared?"

"This place looks like hell itself."

Ignoring the warning, Tomato kept diving.

"If you try this, only use the Cyclops. It has an energy shield to survive the pressure. The Seamoth or Sea Mantis would’ve been crushed by now."

2000m. 3000m. 6000m.

He sped up the footage again. Nearly an hour passed. The depth gauge broke 10,000m. Cortana’s AI voice repeated danger warnings like a heartbeat in the dark.

"At this point, I think the dev’s looping textures again. Maybe there’s no bottom."

"Didn’t you see the title? There’s an Ancient Leviathan down here!"

"Forget that, one hour in pure darkness? I’d be traumatized."

ROAR!!!

A sharp, bone rattling roar echoed through the abyss.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Ancient Leviathan?"

"No... that sounds like a Ghost Leviathan."

Another roar. Then a third.

In the video, faint blue lights appeared in the darkness ahead. They grew brighter, until shapes emerged, three adult Ghost Leviathans, each nearly a hundred meters long, their glowing patterns stark against the pitch black. They twisted and roared, charging straight for the Cyclops.

"Three of them?! Tomato’s dead!"

"One is bad enough, three is just cruelty!"

"Yeah, this is 100% a dev kill zone to stop people from wandering too far."

"Wait. What’s behind them?"

Then, the chat went silent.

Because in the darkness beyond the Ghost Leviathans... two enormous lantern like lights flickered on.

And they were still getting closer.

They called it a lantern only because of its shape, perfectly round, glowing an eerie green. In the pitch black depths, the light was blindingly clear. But it wasn’t small. Not at all. It filled two-thirds of TenderTomato’s field of vision.

And that was from far away. By perspective alone, it had to be massive, far larger than the three Ghost Leviathans still circling ahead.

"What the hell are those glowing orbs?"

"They’re huge! Bigger than caves!"

"No way... they look like..."

Before anyone could finish the thought, an earth shaking roar tore through the water.

It wasn’t like the scream of a Ghost Leviathan. It wasn’t even in the same category. This sound drowned out their cries entirely, rolling through the deep in an endless echo, shaking the water, and the viewers, down to the bone.

"Oh crap... it’s the Ancient Leviathan!"

"No, no, no... it’s way bigger than I imagined!"

"Wait... are there two of them?!"

The camera’s point of view swayed as TenderTomato’s Cyclops descended. And then a face.

A monstrous fish like visage surged up from the abyss below, filling the entire screen. It wasn’t a creature in the distance, this was the seafloor, or so it seemed, until the audience realized the truth.

There weren’t two Ancient Leviathans. There wasn’t a pair of glowing beasts.

Those twin lanterns were simply... its eyes.

The head alone was so colossal that the hundred meter long Ghost Leviathans now looked like pale worms wriggling in the dark.

Every viewer fell silent .Minds blank. Breath stolen.

TenderTomato’s own voice broke the frozen moment, trembling with raw panic.

"What... what the hell is that?!"

The Ancient Leviathan roared again. It opened its maw, not a mouth, but a black hole in the shape of one. A darkness so deep it bent the surrounding seawater into a spiraling vortex, sucking in everything.

The Ghost Leviathans forgot their prey instantly. They spun around, desperate to flee. It didn’t matter. One by one, they were dragged screaming into the abyssal void, swallowed whole in seconds.

And then it came for him.

"No, no, AHHH!"

Tender Tomato’s frantic steering did nothing. The world went black. The Cyclops, the player, gone, devoured in a single gulp.

No pain. Just the cold finality of a prompt.

[You Died!]

The game’s main menu faded in. The stream, however, did not fade into calm.

"That thing... it’s too big. Too big!"

"The head alone is the size of a mountain!"

"So this... this is what a Leviathan is supposed to be."

Even veterans compared it to the fossil in the Lost River, and concluded that this living monster seemed bigger.

TenderTomato’s voiceover returned, still shaky.

"Guys... that was the Ancient Leviathan the dev hid in the No Man’s Land. I just wanted to find the edge of the map... and I found that. I can’t even describe it. That moment when a face that had no end came rushing at me, I swear, after it ate me, I sat staring at my screen for two hours before I could move again.

Players with weak hearts, don’t come here. I’m serious. This thing is ten thousand times more terrifying than the Sea Dragon, the Ghost, and the Reaper combined. You’ll die of fright before you die in-game."

The audience didn’t argue.

"Yeah, no thanks. I’ll watch you get eaten."

"Just seeing it in a video gave me chills. In person? Forget it."

"Nope. My brain cells are low not suicidal."

The video exploded in popularity overnight, proof of a long suspected rumor. The Ancient Leviathan wasn’t just lore. It was alive. And it was terrifying.

---BREAK---

At the same time TenderTomato’s video was making waves, another video was shooting up the trending list, this one from PureWhite.

The title alone was enough to hook people instantly.

[Shutting Down the Pioneer Canon early. Can the Sunbeam Be Saved? Awesome Ending!]

For veteran players, that title hit straight at an old wound. In Subnautica, the destruction of the Sunbeam was a moment that left countless players frustrated and helpless. Seeing a chance to change that fate? That was bait no one could resist.

The video opened with PureWhite’s familiar voice.

"Alright, guys, you all know the drill. In Subnautica, after a certain point the Sunbeam contacts us, coming all the way here to rescue our sorry selves. But before it can land, bam it gets obliterated by the Pioneer Canon, and everyone onboard dies.

So here’s my question: If we shut down the turret before the Sunbeam arrives, will it land safely? Can we meet the crew, and maybe even leave this planet together?"

He gave a dramatic pause, then declared.

"I’m going to find out today!"

The camera cut to his character standing on the game’s lone island.

"Okay! Week two, my infection’s fully cured, the Pioneer Canon is disabled, and the Sunbeam has already sent word that they’re inbound. Let’s see what happens next!"

The comments went wild.

"Tsk, PureWhite really is a grinder! I’m barely halfway through four weeks in, and he’s already completed everything in two."

"I can’t wait. I bet he got to meet the second living human NPC in Subnautica!"

"Logically speaking, if he’s shut down the alien defense canon early, the Sunbeam should be able to land without incident!"

"Exactly. This might unlock the game’s second ending, leaving with the Sunbeam crew. Sounds a lot better than the original, at least they’d survive!"

In the video, PureWhite stood alone on the island when a voice crackled from the radio on his wristband. "I’m Eli Bronze, captain of the Sunbeam. I can see you... wow, buddy, I have no idea how you’ve survived this long!"

"I can see you too!" PureWhite replied, his excitement obvious. You could feel it even through the screen, after all, this was his chance to undo the regret from his first playthrough.

High above, the sleek, streamlined Sunbeam appeared in the sky, descending slowly. This time, the Pioneer Canon remained dormant. It didn’t transform into its deadly combat form, it just stood there like an ordinary building.

"Alright! The canon’s not activating!"

"Looks like the Sunbeam will land safely. Haha, time to meet the crew!"

"Second playthrough saving the Sunbeam, guess the dev finally decided to be kind!"

But just as chat messages filled the screen, the calm ocean in front of PureWhite suddenly churned violently. A deafening rumble shook the air. It was as if a nuclear bomb had detonated beneath the waves, sending a monstrous tsunami racing toward the island.

And then,under countless disbelieving eyes, something colossal burst from the depths.

The creature’s immense body rose from the sea like a second sun, blocking half the sky. The sheer size made day turn to night in an instant. It looked like something from ancient legends, something like a dragon from the myths of the Eastern Kingdom.

"Holy Shit!" PureWhite’s voice cracked in terror.

"My God! That monster’s heading straight for us! Pull back! Pull back!" the Sunbeam captain shouted, his voice drenched in despair.

The behemoth leapt, several kilometers into the air, and bit down on the Sunbeam in a single, devastating chomp.

Boom!

The captain’s voice cut off instantly. Flames erupted, but compared to the monster’s size, they were like the flicker of a candle in a storm. The Sunbeam, ship and crew alike, vanished down its throat.

With an almost graceful turn, the beast arced through the air and plunged back into the ocean.

BOOM!

The impact sent a wall of water more than ten meters high surging toward PureWhite’s island. The monster’s impossibly long body twisted and rolled, taking a full thirty seconds to disappear beneath the waves.

When it was gone, the sky cleared. The sun returned. And PureWhite just stood there, staring blankly at the sea.

The viewers were no better off. Every single one of them was rattled.

"What the hell was that?!"

"My brain’s gone numb!"

"That thing jumped several kilometers into the air, and its full body still wasn’t visible, it’s got to be at least five or six kilometers long!"

"This has to be the Ancient Leviathan! You guys see TenderTomato’s video earlier? Same thing, but his encounter was in the No Man’s Zone!"

"My God... this thing feels like it came straight out of a myth!"

"Definitely an easter egg. The dev just wanted to drop an absurdly huge monster on us for fun."

"And it’s not just for the spectacle, you can get up close if you go to the No-Man’s Zone... if you’ve got the guts."

"I bet this is the real adult Ancient Leviathan. The one in Lost River was just a kid!"

PureWhite’s voice over came in, still trembling with excitement. "The dev’s easter egg is absolutely insane. This thing blew my mind, I’m convinced! If anything deserves to be called a Leviathan, it’s this beast. I’ve gotta say it again... thank you, New World!"

"But... I really feel sorry for the Sunbeam. I thought I could save it on my second playthrough, but I was too naive. This twist caught me completely off guard."

The video ended, but viewers kept replaying it, still talking in chat.

"Man... what kind of grudge does the dev have against the Sunbeam? The Pioneer Canon is finally stopped, and then a few kilometers away, this thing pops out. Brutal."

"Yeah... the Sunbeam were destined to go up in flames from the start."

"But seriously, this is more shocking than the Aurora explosion. Way more intense."

"Probably the single most epic scene in the whole game. This Ancient Leviathan... tsk... it’s the stuff of legend."

"The dev just gets us players, every fetish, every thrill, top tier understanding!"

"When that thing launched out of the ocean, I swear I reached the peak of my life. No regrets!"

The back to back Ancient Leviathan easter eggs had cemented Tony’s reputation. Not only were players thrilled, their fascination with colossal creatures had been fully satisfied, for now.

Still, everyone knew Subnautica held more secrets. The real joy of a single player game was taking your time, exploring at your own pace, and stumbling upon treasures like this.

And this latest easter egg hadn’t just gone viral, it had elevated Tony to near mythical status among players.

Sure, they joked about his ’evil’ habit of messing with players, trolling expectations, and dropping emotional sucker punches. But deep down, they saw him as a genius, almost godlike in the worlds he created.

And with that in mind, anticipation for his next project, New World, was higher than ever.

2444 Words.