BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM-Chapter 1320: The Vermillion Lake (10)

Chapter 1320: The Vermillion Lake (10)

Erik picked it up, turning it over in his hands. The bone was old, yellowed with age, and ruined by the water. No ordinary drowning victim would end up this deep. This person died down here, far from shore.

Erik said to the clones.

The skull provided the first evidence that humans had indeed been there, deep under the Vermillion Lake. If people had gone this far down, there must have been a reason—like accessing an underwater facility or escaping from it. The lake was deep, and the lake bottom had the conformation to hide a facility.

Erik gave a better look at the skull. There were no obvious fractures or trauma, though one side was slightly discolored. He set it back down on the lakebed. It might provide clues later, but nothing he needed to figure out now.

Erik said.

He swam forward, following the base of the cliff. The terrain flattened out into what appeared to be a large basin, surrounded by rock formations. Erik noticed how unusually level the bottom appeared here.

His clones reported similar observations from their positions. The basin floor was made of sediment that had settled over a hard, flat surface. In places, the current had worn away this sediment, revealing glimpses of what might be metallic plating beneath.

Erik said.

As Erik swam closer to investigate, his scouts continued mapping the perimeter to search for an entrance.

Through the Hive Mind, he received the clone’s estimates of the entire area’s size. It was roughly rectangular, around two hundred meters long by eighty meters wide.

Erik directed his palm light at the lakebed, brushing away sediment with controlled water currents. Beneath the layer of silt, something solid and smooth emerged—not rock, but an artificial surface. He scraped away more sediment, revealing what appeared to be a seam—a straight line running across the basin floor.

Erik said to his clones.

All the clones converged on his position to help clear more of the sediment. Something approached Erik, unbeknownst to him.

Then one of his clones’ link to the hive mind went blank. Then another vanished, and another.

Before he could react, three more Dark Shapes went silent. Through the fragmenting Hive Mind, Erik caught glimpses of movement—dark shapes cutting through water with frightening speed. They weren’t his clones, though.

Erik said to the remaining scouts.

The surviving Dark Shapes left their search and converged on Erik’s position. They put themselves in a protective circle.

Something moved in the murky distance. Through the sediment-clouded water, Erik saw multiple shapes approaching.

Not just one thaid, but many. More than many.

The first attacker burst through the defensive line—a fishlike creature with grotesque arms that seemed oddly mismatched with its body. A clone intercepted it, only to be ripped apart by the creature’s unexpected strength.

More appeared, and they were all large, yet darting through the water with lightning speed.

Erik drew more mana into Elemental Lord and formed blades of compressed water on both arms. He started releasing them.

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[0%…1%…5%…30%…70%…100%]

[Mana successfully absorbed, starting converting procedure.]

[3…2…1…0]

[Mana successfully absorbed into experience. 734,615,330.12 experience points awarded to the host.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

…

…

…

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

Then the Thaids struck again, overwhelming two more Dark Shapes. The larger ones held back, circling the perimeter.

Something wasn’t right. The attacks were too coordinated, too strategic for typical thaid behavior.

<I’m getting tired of this fucking continent.> Thaids were too smart there.

A thought struck Erik’s mind. The lab’s proximity and the Thaids’ unnaturally coordinated behavior were connected.

Erik realized this wasn’t a coincidence. If the Thanatocoleoptera queen was created, was intelligent, and could control Thaids, maybe there was something in the lake that could do the same, and the reason was that the beast was most likely another of the Silverline Corporation’s proto-Thaids.

Erik created a barrier around him and the clones. The barrier blocked an attack. Erik traced the attack back to its source, and it was at that moment he saw it.

Through the chaos of combat and swirling sediment, a massive creature emerged from the shadows of the underwater cliff.

Partially obscured, its size dwarfed the other Thaids. Deep blue scales covered its back, while its belly was a light yellow. It had an alligator-like head sitting atop a neck that stretched at least ten meters.

The creature was observing the battle. That was proof enough of the fact that the smaller Thaids weren’t acting independently. They were extensions of the larger creature’s will, soldiers following the commands of their general.

Erik said.

[The log said that at both the facilities their specimen escaped. It must be it.]

The massive Thaid advanced closer; four enormous clawed paws propelled it forward. Its fifteen-meter spiked tail swept behind it, creating currents that further disturbed the already murky water.

Erik and the remaining clones were still behind the barrier.

Erik said. He needed to know what he was going to fight. There were two ways: one was to ask Emily, and one was to analyze the monster.

<System, do your thing.>