The sky was an iron curtain of leaden gray, heavy storm clouds seeming to press directly upon the sea. Gale-force winds whipped up waves several meters high, which crashed over and over against the surface with thunderous roars.
Under these vicious conditions, the Moriah cut through the whitecaps and headed for the designated waters.
"Send a light signal. Tell the Sumeru Platform to open the dock." Minamoto Chisaki stood on the bridge, his voice carrying through the wind and rain, still steady.
Ahead, the horizon swallowed by black clouds suddenly lit up, as though sunlight had fallen across the sea.
Then, as if a dragon palace from an undersea myth had risen from the waves, exquisite towers, interlocking steel structures, and the outline of massive platforms emerged. Under the fierce glare of searchlights, they were more real and magnificent than any mirage, turning the dim expanse between sea and sky into a blinding white.
This was the colossal creation jointly built by the Eight Clans of the Serpent and Maruyama Construction—the "Unsinkable Sumeru Platform." These floating offshore platforms had originally been used for deep-sea resource exploration. Their immense weight and design allowed them to withstand Category 12 hurricanes and even tsunamis.
For this Dragon Abyss Project, the Eight Clans of the Serpent had spared no expense, gathering all six Sumeru Platforms here to form a fortress at sea.
The Moriah shut down its engines. The thick towing chains attached along both sides of the hull were firmly seized by mechanical arms on the Sumeru Platform. Like a small fish caught in the mouth of a giant whale, it was smoothly drawn into the dock opened within one of the floating platforms.
The dock gates slowly closed behind it, shutting out the raging wind and rain.
Lights came on one after