"Directly below us! One hundred meters down! It stopped!" On deck, Ye Sheng jerked his head up.
"What is it going to do?" Selma asked instinctively.
"It's gathering strength! Sixty knots, rising straight up, heading right for the middle of the keel!" Kneeling on the deck, Ye Sheng reported the Dragon Servitor's movements.
"We can't dodge it. It's coming for our centerline!" In despair, Grayson shoved the engine telegraph all the way forward. Against a vertical strike from directly beneath them, any maneuver on the surface was futile.
"We haven't lost yet. Don't give up!" Mans clapped Grayson on the shoulder, then raced to the maintenance passage at the edge of the deck and jumped down, sliding along a narrow iron ladder toward the engine room at the bottom of the ship.
He charged into the lowest watertight compartment, dropped to his knees on the steel plating, and planted both hands on the floor. Tremors from the underwater movement traveled through the steel. He could almost feel the pressure building beneath the water before the massive creature rose.
"Still takes an old veteran to get the job done." Mans's eyes flashed. Ancient Dragon Script rang out in the cramped compartment. An instant before impact, a repulsive field three meters across pierced the steel plating and burst open beneath the Morania's hull!
Word Spirit: Realm of Dust!
BOOM!!
Mans's Realm of Dust shed some of the kinetic energy, keeping the keel from snapping on the spot, but the remaining force still traveled through the steel framework and hurled him away.
A tremor like muffled thunder spread from the point of impact, traveling from the keel to the tip of the mast. Every rivet shuddered, every weld was put to the test. Then, under the pressure of the river water, the steel plates around the bottom compartments buckled like an aluminum can.
Slowly, the armor plating below the port-side waterline burst inward. Under the enormous stress, the surrounding rivets snapped one after another, ricocheting wildly through the cramped compartment like bullets.
High-pressure river water tore open a half-meter-long crack and surged inside, striking Professor Mans just as he regained his feet and slamming him hard against the bulkhead.
Blood poured from Mans's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and he passed out.
As river water flooded in, the violently rocking hull began to list to port.
"Flooding in the bottom compartments! All hands, save the ship!"
"Damage control team! Isolate compartments one and two!" Chief Engineer Kumagai Naoki brandished his hydraulic cutters and led the charge into water already waist-deep.
"Get him out first!" The sailors formed a line and passed the unconscious Professor Mans out of the compartment, then threw themselves at the heavy watertight doors.
"Compartment one watertight door closed!"
"Compartment two's manual crank is jammed!"
"Use a lever! Force it down!"
On the bridge, the engine telegraph's needle swung wildly.
The helmsman could feel resistance through the wheel: the river water pouring in was fighting the ship's turn. The needle on the heel indicator had already crossed the red line.
"Fifteen-degree list to port! Sluggish steering response! Starboard propeller's about to clear the water and spin free!" the helmsman shouted.
On the bridge, Grayson clung to the tilted console and gave a decisive order. "Hard to port! Flood empty starboard ballast tanks three and four! Now!"
The valves below opened at his command, and river water rushed into the starboard side. Amid an agonized groan of metal, the Morania forcibly halted its list and struggled back onto an even keel.
Before anyone could catch their breath, the bulkheads of the flooded compartments began to groan under the steadily mounting water pressure. High-strength steel plates creaked as they crumpled.
"Get the shoring in!" Chief Engineer Kumagai Naoki roared, standing thigh-deep in oily water.
The sailors carried shoring timbers and adjustable steel posts into the bottom compartments. They braced one end against the supporting ribs and the other against the buckled, dented plating. Kumagai Naoki swung a sledgehammer, driving wooden wedges into the gaps blow after blow, making wood bear the pressure in place of steel.
On deck, Aki staggered toward the weapons rack and quickly adjusted the fuses of two miniature Alchemy Torpedoes to detonate under hydrostatic pressure. Following Ye Sheng's instructions, she and Second Officer Gunayal rolled the weapons, modified by Cassell College's Equipment Department, straight into the churning river, silently praying they would work as Director Akadulla had promised.
These were specially modified versions from the Equipment Department. At Mans's insistence, its researchers had abandoned their pursuit of explosive power, instead using mercury alloy and infrasonic vibrations to harm dragons.
Several dozen seconds later, the Alchemy Torpedoes exploded underwater, sending up faint tremors. Preparing for a second ramming attack, the Dragon Servitor suddenly rolled in the shock wave. Infrasonic vibrations and mercury-alloy toxins sent savage, tearing pain through its internal organs, forcing it to lash its tail fin and dive back into the abyss to put distance between them.
The infirmary door suddenly opened. Third Officer Pacino rushed in and tossed two life jackets onto the floor.
"The bottom compartments are breached, and Professor Mans is badly hurt. Put on your life jackets!" Pacino panted. "The starboard life rafts are ready to launch. Come with me now!"
"No." Zero kept her eyes on the IV bottle.
"Have you lost your mind? The ship is sinking!" Pacino bellowed.
"His concentrated glucose and repair solution need another twenty minutes to finish infusing." Zero's voice was as cold as Siberia's ice fields. "Pull the needle now, and the lactic acid in his muscles won't be metabolized. His ATP reserves definitely won't sustain him in prolonged combat."
"Close the door and go repair the ship," Zero ordered.
"You... suit yourself!" The third officer turned and rushed out, slamming the door behind him with a bang.
The moment the door closed, Zero stood. She rummaged through her medical kit, pulled out a pouch of ultra-concentrated devil nutrient solution specially made by the Equipment Department, and handed it to Lu Mingfei. "Drink it."
"I don't want to drink anything from the Equipment Department." Lu Mingfei stared at the bizarre, multicolored liquid and kept shrinking back.
"Open your mouth!" Zero forcibly gripped Lu Mingfei's chin and squeezed the nutrient solution into his mouth.
Like a useless dog being force-fed dried fish, Lu Mingfei streamed tears and snot. The thick liquid had a strange, cockroach-like taste that made him gag.
Still, the Equipment Department's products really were incredibly potent. After drinking the nutrient solution, Lu Mingfei felt warmth in his stomach, which slowly spread through his body, making him much more comfortable. Before he could catch his breath, he saw Zero roll up her sleeves, step in front of him, and begin flexing her fingers.
"What are you going to do now?" Lu Mingfei immediately had a bad feeling.
"Help you recover quickly." With that, Zero planted both hands directly on Lu Mingfei's thigh muscles and pushed roughly along the muscle groups and arteries.
The purpose of this pressure was to forcibly squeeze out the lactic acid and metabolic waste accumulated deep in his muscles, allowing oxygen-rich blood to flow in.
"Fuck... that hurts!" Tears sprang from Lu Mingfei's eyes. Those doll-like hands exerted a force comparable to a pair of heavy-duty pliers.
"Bear with it."
Intense pain and utter exhaustion blurred Lu Mingfei's vision. In his daze, the girl's platinum hair caught a flicker of the flashing red lights and took on a faint, strangely familiar blue.
He heard high-pressure river water pouring into the Entry Plug; felt torrential rain hammering the ship's armor like a barrage of bullets; smelled the familiar scent of LCL filling the compartment.