"Mosasaurus at left of the ship!"

Off the coast of the Empire, in the middle of the North Sea, was a large fleet. Following Wafner's order, all of the Empire's navy had immediately ventured to sea to hold out as long as possible. And now they were engaging in a fierce battle against the creatures of the sea.

Marine reptiles, whales, killer whales, sperm whales, fish: every vertebrate of the sea was hurling itself furiously at the ships. And at the head of that army, of course, was Mazu.

As asked by Old Li, the mosasaurus had attacked the coasts of the Empire in order to occupy them and establish another front from which to bomb enemy military bases and eliminate as many atomic weapons as possible. An armada of notosaurs, seals, sea lions, crocodiles and other semi-aquatic animals had invaded the beaches and begun establishing a base camp. However, they had underestimated the Empire's resistance: all the warships already at sea and even some in the harbors immediately started a firefight, not even bothering to strike their own coast. Because of this, the marine animals had temporarily withdrawn from the beaches and were, on the contrary, engaging in a fight to the death with the opposing fleet.

Imperial warships were true battleships with no weak points and armed with all sorts of cannons. But Mazu and his subordinates were no less dangerous: they too were armed with weapons provided by Sobek's [Weapons system] and had a greater ability to move in the water.

The technique to bring down the ships was simple but effective: using [Teleportation], the marine animals reached the rudder and tore it apart, taking control of the vessel and directing it towards the others and then crashing them. However the other ships soon realized the trick and did not hesitate to fire on their comrades to eliminate the threat. Therefore Mazu had been forced to change tactics: she simply destroyed the rudders and then her subordinates tore the hull apart, causing her to sink.

However, humans weren't exactly naive: they had been preparing for years to face all the fauna on the planet. So they used electric lures to disrupt the sharks' sixth sense, unleashed strong sonic waves to disorient cetaceans, emitted controlled vibrations to terrify fish and marine reptiles, and in the meantime they took advantage of every opportunity to unload all their artillery in the deep sea and kill as many animals as possible.

The seabed was continuously illuminated by explosions. Human weapons were capable of creating fireballs that counteracted the pressure of the water for a few seconds and caused strong underwater waves that disoriented the animals even more. In addition, the constant bombardment was rapidly heating the water, making it difficult for the animals to approach the ships.

It was clear to Mazu that if the fight continued like this, it would be stalemate for hours. Even if the animals won in the end, she would lose many soldiers. And in the dangerous situation she found herself in, she couldn't afford to waste hours of time: with the atomic threat on the horizon, every second counted.

"We have to change tactics" she growled. "At this rate, we will not be able to achieve a breakthrough. We must deal him a fatal blow, at least one! This would allow us to regain the advantage"

"Maybe I have an idea, my lady"

Mazu looked at the animal that had just spoken. It was a large orca weighing almost ten tons. "What do you mean?"

"That maybe I know how to cause a bit of a commotion" she answered with a kind of smile painted on her face. "Commander Mazu, I think I must tell you how my companions and I once captured seals in the freezing southern seas…"

On ships, sailors constantly monitored the location of marine animals using radars. Thus it was that they were immediately able to notice that their enemy was rapidly retreating. "Sir, the animals are moving away!"

"How, boatswain? Can you repeat?"

"I assure you! They are flying away in all directions!"

The sailors were cheering, convinced they had won. However the officers aboard each ship were not of the same opinion. Why should the animals retreat now, when the fight was still level? Humans had had no advantage. It was therefore clear that this was not a retreat. There was only one possibility: the animals were grouping together to devise a new plan of attack.

And in fact shortly after the radars quickly signaled a huge group of marine animals, so vast as to cover entire square kilometers of sea, which was gathering about ten kilometers from the ships.

"What are they doing? So they are making themselves easier targets!"

"I'm not even deep. They are swimming near the surface!"

"It's illogical. That way they'll get hit more easily!"

But no one had time to figure out what the animals were up to: the super-powder of dolphins, killer whales, turtles, whales, sperm whales, fish, mosasaurs, notosaurs, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, pliosaurs, thalassosuchins and countless other sea creatures began swimming at full speed against the Imperial fleet. Since they were animals that lived in the sea, Sobek had provided all of them with [Swim speed]. Therefore the shoal moved with a speed never seen before.

The largest creatures in the ocean, such as whales and sperm whales, could reach speeds of 37 km/h. With [Swim speed] they could travel at 370 km/h, the same speed as a torpedo fired at full power. And this was obviously true for larger animals: medium-sized ones, such as dolphins, sharks and ichthyosaurs, could travel at 50 km/h, so with [Swim speed] they reached 500 km/h.

In close quarters, humans had the ability to hit sea creatures because their projectiles generated fireballs and tidal waves that would hit the target even if it moved very quickly. But at that distance and with the animals constantly traveling in a straight line it was impossible to aim and hit a target with that speed.

"Do they want to use a frontal attack?" This update is available on nοvelfire.net

"Prepare for impact!"

"To all soldiers! Point your cannons in that direction! As soon as they fire, you fire too!"

The weapons of the marine animals were almost all placed on their backs, therefore they were clearly visible since they were swimming along the surface of the water. From the humans' perspective, the animals aimed to charge at them and then shell them once they were close enough.

But what happened was unexpected.

Suddenly, the animals submerged and then activated [Teleportation] all at once, vanishing into thin air. However, the charge did not stop: something else was in fact coming. As soon as the animals submerged, the water rose. A huge wave ten meters high quickly formed and ran at full speed against the ships.

The sailors' eyes widened when they saw it: they could face the charge of the sea creatures, but how could they stop a tsunami!? No weapon in the world could have stopped a wave of that size. The bullets would have crashed on the water like appetizers! The only solution would have been to create a second wave larger than the first traveling in the opposite direction, but that was impossible even for sophisticated human technology!

But the animal attack was not over yet. Human beings were distracted for a few seconds by the formation of the gigantic anomalous wave. That time was enough. Using [Teleportation], the entire army of sea creatures appeared under the fleet and their weapons fired in unison at the ships.

A series of huge explosions occurred under the surface of the sea. The hulls of the ships were irreparably damaged, even those of the most armored vessels. The rudders and propulsion systems were destroyed. Cracks and openings opened up everywhere and the ships began to take on water.

Then, while humans were still recovering from that sudden onslaught, the tsunami struck.

The ten-meter tidal wave crashed against the imperial fleet with devastating violence. All ships were pushed back several tens of meters and many of them were even capsized. Several of them collided with each other, dragged by the fury of the water. Any human being outside was instantly swept away and their bones and internal organs were shattered by the immense weight of the wave.

By the time the tsunami overtook the fleet, most of the vessels were already under water. Of those still afloat, many were taking on water and it was evident that they would soon sink. And to top it off, there was no one left on deck. Sea creatures certainly did not miss the opportunity: within an instant thanks to [Teleportation], thousands of notosaurs, crocodiles, turtles and other animals appeared on the deck of the ships and began to destroy their weapons.

Meanwhile, below the fleet, Mazu and the orca who had proposed that idea were observing the scene with pleasure. "I told you it would work" the satisfied killer whale said.

Orcas were extremely intelligent animals. They had the highest IQ in nature, possibly higher than even humans. And thanks to this they had invented nothing short of extraordinary hunting techniques. One of them was based on throwing a wave at the seals and penguins to make them fall from the icebergs: the orcas had in fact understood that by swimming all together at high speed and plunging suddenly they would have generated an anomalous wave which would have hit the iceberg by dropping any animal on top of it.

Killer whales generally used this technique while in groups of four and traveling at about 40 km/h. But Mazu's huge army had many more members who could use [Swim speed]. Using the same principle, the super shoal of sea creatures had been able to create a veritable tsunami. By exploiting the timing and carelessness of humans, the animals had been able to destroy most of the fleet and managed to attack the remaining ships immediately.

"Already. It worked" Mazu said, then looked at the killer whale. "What's your name?"

"Mel, Commander"

"I owe you my thanks, Mel. You've come up with an ingenious strategy"

The orca whirled around in satisfaction. Every animal was sensitive to flattery, especially the smarter ones. Mel was no exception.

Mazu felt the taste of victory in her mouth. It was done now. The fleet was too damaged to regroup and mount a counteroffensive. All the sea creatures had to do now was not give the humans even a breather and eliminate the remaining ships one by one. "Attack!"

All the marine animals that were unable to get on the deck of the ships (therefore almost all of them) threw themselves upwards and began to hit the hulls of the boats. They shredded metal with [Powerful bite], created rifts with [Devastating roar], or simply used their weapons to open new breaches. In practice, they went out of their way to sink ships. And with the humans busy fighting the creatures that had taken to the deck, there was nothing stopping them from doing as they pleased with the hulls.

For Mazu, there was now nothing that could threaten them. Even [Supreme instinct], despite being in the midst of the battle, had calmed down.

But he had sung victory too quickly. Suddenly [Supreme instinct] kicked back in and almost seemed to kick her from the suddenness. A new threat was on the way.

Nearly three hundred kilometers away, in the middle of the ocean, three gigantic metal titans were emerging from the depths of the waters. They were three submarines up to four hundred meters long. It was the most powerful naval force in the Empire: nuclear submarines.