The nuclear force of the Empire could be summed up in three parts: the first, the most numerous, were the military missile bases from which all types of nuclear missiles were launched. The second, and less numerous, were the tactical nuclear bombs available to the Air Force: weapons that were small and did not cause much damage (by the standards of atomic bombs), easy to transport and to throw.

Finally, the third force was nuclear submarines. These submarines were designed to be equipped with the best cloaking technology the Empire had been able to produce. They could move silently in the depths of the ocean and be invisible to radars and the heightened senses of sea creatures. Since they were basically walking launch pads, they carried some pretty powerful weapons.

Most of the Empire's nuclear submarines, as soon as they received orders from Wafner, had begun preparing to bomb strategic targets that had been ordered to them by the high command. However, in every army there were always hot heads, and this was no exception in nuclear submarines.

These three submarines would have had the task of launching their nuclear warheads on some neighboring countries with the Empire, therefore they had not strayed too far from the coasts of their nation. But being so 'close' their crews had noticed the clash between the fleet and the sea creatures and understood what was happening. And when they saw the fleet lose, they decided they didn't want to sit idly by.

"We can't let those bastards invade the motherland!" the captain of the first submarine was yelling. "We have the most powerful weapons ever created by man at our disposal and those bastards have all gathered in one place!"

"But sir, some of the ships are still there…"

"We all know they will get destroyed soon. The fate of those men is already decided. Worrying about them is useless! Let's at least make sure that their sacrifice was not in vain!"

Similar conversations were going on in the other submarines as well. After all, it was clear to all that the Imperial fleet had already lost. Even if the nukes would have also obliterated the ships and consequently the humans still alive, those people would still have died even if the submarines had done nothing. So we might as well ignore them and unleash humanity's most devastating weapon against sea creatures.

The submarines surfaced and the nuclear missile hatches opened. On each of the three metal giants, the captains and other officers entered the nuclear codes and activated the countdown. An immense explosion was heard and in an instant three huge missiles were launched from the three submarines, flying so rapidly that they vanished from sight in a second.

Three hundred kilometers could seem like a huge distance for any living creature, even those with [Swim speed]. But a ballistic missile could go from one point of the ocean to another as easily as a person moved rooms in his or her house. Only Sobek, if he had used [Swim speed] and [Ultimate Mutation] at the same time, would have been partially able to match that speed, and even so it would have been a tough challenge. In just over a minute, the missiles had already passed the three hundred kilometers that separated them from the battlefield.

When [Supreme instinct] activated, Mazu realized they had to leave quickly. Her survival instinct was warning her that it was best to run, for she would never be able to counter whatever was coming her way. Even the other animals, judging by their expressions, seemed to have the same thought. "Let's go away! Right now!"

In the submarines, the countdown was almost over: "Detonation in 10… 9… 8…"

All the animals activated [Teleportation] and went to the same place where they had gone before, when they had started the plan to generate the tidal wave. They were about ten kilometers from the fleet, but Mazu wasn't sure that was enough. However, she didn't have time to think about it.

"… 3… 2… 1… 0!"

In an instant, a sun appeared in the middle of the sea. The massive armored ships, built of the strongest materials the Empire could access, instantly turned to steam. Hundreds of tons of water disappeared immediately. Everything within three miles of the explosion site was instantly sublimated.

The newly detonated atomic bomb didn't have the power of a Tsar bomb, like the first one the Empire had detonated, but it was still one of the most powerful bombs ever built. Mazu and her subordinates, ten kilometers from the blast site, were instantly blinded by the intense light. The poor dolphins and ichthyosaurs that were leaping out of the water caught fire instantly. Luckily they were in the ocean, so the flames died down as soon as they reentered the water, but that still didn't stop them from getting third-degree burns all over their bodies.

Mazu clearly felt that the temperature of the water was rising, to the point where it was already boiling on the surface. "Let's move now!" she exclaimed. They had to get out of the destruction radius of the atomic bomb as soon as possible. The animals didn't let him repeat it and teleported further and further away, desperately trying to escape the heat. But as they went on, a second sun appeared.

"Are they crazy!? They threw two!?" Mazu yelled inside her mind. She had not been present when the first bomb had been detonated on Frigeria; even if her companions had told her something, her words could not compare with reality. That was the first time she had come face to face with the device that terrified even her pack leader. The first atomic explosion had already terrified her, and now another one was happening!?

Panic gripped Mazu's heart like a vice. "Everyone, teleport away from the coast!" she yelled. "Everyone, teleport at least fifty kilometers away from those monsters! I don't care where you go, just go!"

The animals obeyed and disappeared one by one. Where they were going Mazu didn't care; at that moment she just wanted to get as far away from that hell as possible. She activated [Teleportation] and traveled to a point in the ocean about forty kilometers away from the point of the explosion. The water finally returned to an acceptable temperature, but even at that distance the surface was boiling slightly from the heat.

Mazu was still trying to figure out what to do when a third sun appeared on the horizon. "Three!? Seriously!?" she exclaimed in her mind as her head poked out of the water to look at the immense lights in the distance. To her horror, she realized that the spot where the third bomb had detonated was exactly where she and her subordinates had been just seconds before. Apparently the humans had assumed that the animals would sense the danger, so while the first bomb had been dropped exactly where they and the fleet were fighting, the other two had been dropped several miles away and in different directions, as if humans had tried to guess where the animals would flee.

Mazu gulped; if she hadn't given the order to teleport away, or if she had delayed even a few seconds, they would all be dead before they even figured out what had happened. "So these are… the terrible nuclear bombs…"

The three small suns shone in the middle of the sea for just about ten minutes, then disappeared. The tens of millions of degrees temperature had turned the seabed to glass and created a gigantic cavity in the middle of the ocean, which rapidly began to fill with water as the fireballs vanished.

An atomic bomb exploding on land generated a shock wave, as the pressurized air expanded with a force greater than that of a hurricane. But otherwise it didn't do much: the ground-penetrating force of the bomb was barely a tenth of its original strength, and it couldn't do much except create earthquakes.

But in the sea, things were very different. The instant the bombs exploded, water had been thrown in all directions, as if a stone had just been thrown into a pond. Atomic bombs had awakened the most devastating force in the ocean: the tsunami. Gigantic waves five to ten meters high expanded in all directions. At the same time, the air above that penetrated thanks to the new cavity into the sea became pressurized and generated a shock wave that lifted the waves even more and made them gain speed.

But things didn't end there. As soon as the fireballs disappeared, water poured into the cavity until it was filled. The impact against the bottom created a recoil that went back up and made the water rise. A second set of huge waves were created and spread out in all directions.

If the bombs had exploded in the open ocean, most of the force generated would have quickly dissipated and the giant waves would never have had time to break against the coast. But the clash between the sea creatures and the imperial navy had taken place a few tens of kilometers away from the imperial coast. When the gigantic waves reached her they were still over five meters high. The fury of the water pounded the coast and penetrated hundreds of meters inland, knocking down everything in its path.

Then, as swiftly as it had come, the water withdrew back into the sea. Unlike the shock wave, it could not continue for long on land. What was left of the coast was now pure devastation. The beaches had changed shape and even the heaviest rocks had been moved at least half a meter.

Mazu saw the tsunami and the shock wave hitting her long before they reached her. To shelter, it was enough to dive into the depths of the sea and wait for the storm to pass. When she surfaced, the waves had already lost much of their strength and the sea was becoming as calm as it had been before. However, the cataclysm that had occurred shortly before had left its mark: not only had the coast been destroyed, but in the sky the clouds had moved tens of kilometers away and continued to move away at an unnatural speed.

Meanwhile, in the very distant nuclear submarines, the military were observing the result of their work, when someone yelled: "Alarm of proximity!"

"Uh? What is it about?"

"I do not know! It's fast approaching, it seems..."

There was no time to react. One torpedo hit full on the central submarine and exploded. It wasn't an atomic bomb, but it was still a large-scale device. In an instant the submarine was gone, swallowed by a fireball. The other two didn't have time to react before two more torpedoes hit them too.

Mazu was too far away to see this. She was still staring at the point where the three bombs had exploded, when suddenly a thalassasuco teleported in front of her: "Commander! Good news! They have come to help us!"

"Uh? Who?"

"I'll show you! Follow me!"

Mazu was a little confused, but she decided to trust the thalassosuco. The two animals activated [Swim speed] and disappeared with the speed of a torpedo. Thanks to that ability, crossing several kilometers of ocean was no problem. And soon a group of five heavily armored ships appeared in Mazu's field of vision. She initially thought of a new enemy, but she relaxed when she saw the flag of the Eden Union flying above the ships.

Suddenly everything was clear to him. "Good job, Al… you convinced them to help us. I knew you'd make it" she thought, satisfied. As soon as she was close enough she poked her head out of the water and stopped beside the larger boat. "I am the commander of the animal's navy, Mazu! Who can I talk to?"

"With me!" was the answer that came to her almost immediately. A tall, angular-faced man with close-cropped hair appeared at the edge of the ship and spoke in a rather deep timbre of voice. "Captain Mullenaro, of the Meilong Republic Navy. I have received orders from Eden Union headquarters to support the dinosaurs in this war"

"You have to be careful. My subordinates and I were hit by three atomic bombs. Whoever threw them could hit you too" Mazu warned them. The human warships were slow and conspicuous: they were an easy target.

"You needn't worry, mademoiselle. We have already dealt with the problem. No more nuclear bombs will arrive" Mullenaro replied. "My men and I were coming to support you in the battle when we saw the explosion. We reconstructed the trajectory of the missiles and identified where they came from. Right now those responsible are already ashes on the bottom of the sea"

Mazu breathed a sigh of relief. At least in the immediate future she needn't have worried about more atomic bombs. "Are there other ships?"

"Every military vessel within a thousand kilometers is converging on the coast of the Empire. All the nations of the Eden Union are offering their support" the captain explained. "Your ambassador has already informed us of your plans. We know you intend to take control of the coast and from there bombard the interior of the Empire. Well, our ships have the best heavy artillery that can be carried. We can start the bombing even now. And if you still need to conquer the coast, my men and our tools are at your disposal. We will also use Geiger counters to sense the signs of radioactivity from atomic explosions and allow you to avoid contaminated waters"

Mazu's heart leapt. The humans were really prepared! Even though they hadn't arrived in time to help out in the actual battle, they were providing a big hand. "Thank you. But don't you risk that there are other nuclear submarines nearby?"

"You don't have to worry about it. If every vessel within a thousand kilometers is converging here, in the rest of the world every ship, technological device and even satellites from space are looking for every single nuclear submarine to destroy it. The Imperial bastards have good cloaking technology, but we haven't lagged behind either" the captain replied.

"In that case, provide me with the coordinates of the research fleets. I will send some of my subordinates to help them"

"Good idea. Send one of your subordinates aboard, I'll tell one of mine to give him the coordinates of the other fleets" Mullenaro said. "In the meantime, let's deal with the serious issues. So, shall we get the party started?"

And so, within a short time, a huge armada of warships of the Eden Union had surrounded the coasts of the Empire. From there they aimed at each point indicated as a 'possible target' and bombarded it mercilessly. Meanwhile Mazu and her subordinates moved away from those waters, which had become too dangerous due to the radioactive fallout, but all the sea creatures that could walk on land conquered the beach, helped by thousands of human soldiers who landed with them. There they established a powerful outpost and began bombarding the interior in turn. Follow current novels on noⅴelfire.net

The situation was so favorable that very soon the captains of the various fleets that came to provide support agreed they could do more, so they sent a good part of their soldiers to conquer all the neighboring cities. Marine reptiles such as notosuchis provided them with support by teleporting them to designated locations. Since more than two-thirds of the Empire's borders were bordered by sea and most of the armed forces were concentrated on fighting Buck and Carnopo on the other side of the nation, within a few hours more than a third of the territory of the Empire had fallen under the control of the Eden Union.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the world, ships and submarines destroyed any Imperial nuclear submarine they could find, aided by many sea creatures who facilitated their movement via [Teleportation]. Even though the Eden Union hadn't invested as many resources in war technology as the Empire had, they had nevertheless built many instruments capable of identifying even the most cloaked of submarines in anticipation of a nuclear war. Those tools were now enabling them to hunt down the terrible iron giants of the sea and wipe them out of existence.