Leviathan Three rose through the darkness.
Inside the Command Chamber, the piloting team kept their eyes tightly shut, making fine adjustments to the enormous creature through the Hive Terminal. The contours of the seabed appeared in their minds, and a massive rock formation was drawing closer.
[Five hundred meters to target,] the deputy helmsman reported.
[Slow down. Prepare to ascend.]
Moonlight spilled through the surface, forming hazy shafts in the dark water. Leviathan Three's tentacles swayed slightly as its massive body changed course, stirring and distorting the beams.
[Ascend to a depth of ten meters.]
[Understood.]
The immense beast rose slowly, spreading its eight tentacles through the water as though probing for something.
Within the Hive Terminal, the outline of Weeping Rock grew increasingly clear. It was a black reef rising from the seabed, its surface covered in sharp edges and deep fissures.
[Stop ascending. Maintain depth.]
The Leviathan stopped in the shadows of the reef, its eight tentacles resting lightly on the rocks below like a crouching beast.
Kale stood before the hatch, checking the equipment at his waist one last time: shortsword, grappling hook, rope...
He instinctively attempted telepathic contact, but there was no signal. He reached toward the back of his neck without thinking, only to stop halfway.
This infiltration through the shallows meant they could not bring the bulky [Queen Insect] used to establish a local communications channel.
That meant that once they left Leviathan Three, the squad of more than twenty would lose all contact, relying solely on basic hand signals and their coordination.
"Prepare to land," he said in a low voice, brushing his thoughts aside.
Xiao Lan stood behind him, both hands gripping the shortsword at her waist.
Mia hugged her burlap sack, her purple eyes fixed on the hatch.
"I don't want