57: Master and Commander: A Rhapsody of Flesh and Steel

“Boom!!!”

The Skull Crusher's old 406mm main gun spewed a tongue of flame dozens of meters long, and its one-ton armor-piercing shell tore through the air in a nearly straight trajectory, heading directly for the Blood Ark's glowing purple "eyes"! Almost simultaneously, the Deep Blue's barrage of Eagle Strike-18 anti-ship missiles arced through the sky, rushing towards the colossal monster from different angles!

Facing the incoming artillery fire, a twisted expression, almost like "mockery," appeared on the Blood Ark's "face," which was composed of metal and flesh! On the surface of its massive body, the pulsating "blood vessels" suddenly contracted violently, and dark red energy surged across its body! The next second, a translucent energy shield with bloody patterns, like an eggshell, instantly unfurled, enveloping most of its body!

“Bang!!!”

The Skull Crusher's armor-piercing shell struck first! The warhead, capable of penetrating a battleship's main armor, merely created ripples on the eerie shield before being deflected and falling into the sea! Only a few fragments penetrated the weaker parts of the shield, leaving a few insignificant scars on the Blood Ark's surface, from which viscous, fluorescent blue "blood" flowed!

Immediately after, the Eagle Strike-18 missile swarm arrived! The intelligent penetration systems of these modern anti-ship missiles immediately identified the shield's weak points and attacked from multiple angles!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Continuous explosions erupted around the Blood Ark! Two missiles successfully penetrated the shield; one hit the cluster of turrets on its port side, causing a violent explosion; the other directly struck the lower jaw of its "face," causing flesh and blood to fly! Fluorescent blue "blood" splattered onto the sea like heavy rain, emitting an eerie, hissing corrosive sound!

“Direct hit!” A brief cheer erupted on the Deep Blue's bridge.

However, before the cheers died down, a sudden change occurred!

“Warning! Ultra-high energy reaction detected! Blood Ark main guns charging!” The electronic warfare officer's scream rang out.

On the Blood Ark's bow, its three twisted main turrets slowly rotated, and blinding purple energy began to gather within their barrels! The surrounding air twisted from the high temperature, and large amounts of white mist rose from the sea! A chilling hum, like the whispers of thousands of people, grew stronger with the charging, causing a splitting headache even hundreds of meters away!

“Evade! Full speed evade!” Lin Feng and the Scarred President on the Skull Crusher roared almost simultaneously!

The two human warships immediately turned at full power, leaving dramatic white wakes on the sea! But the Blood Ark's gun barrels, like a persistent disease, relentlessly tracked the Deep Blue!

“It's locked onto the Deep Blue Heart's resonance signal! We have technical equipment on board derived from the blueprints!” Lin Feng instantly understood the key, “Skull Crusher! Divert its firepower!”

“Understood! Lads! Hit it with everything you've got!” The Scarred President's wild roar echoed through the communication channel. The Skull Crusher's secondary gun turrets and its few remaining old anti-ship missiles all opened fire. Although their power was limited, their sheer numbers, like a swarm of wasps, attacked the Blood Ark!

This strategy worked! The Blood Ark seemed enraged; one of its main guns suddenly changed direction, aiming at the Skull Crusher!

“Boom!!!”

A purple energy beam, over two meters in diameter, tore through the sea and sky, hitting the Skull Crusher's stern at nearly the speed of light! There was no explosion, no fire, only terrifying erosion! Wherever the energy beam passed, steel melted like butter, and flesh instantly vaporized! One-third of the battleship's stern was directly severed! Raging flames instantly engulfed the aft section of the hull!

“Damn it! Damage control! All hands to damage control!” For the first time, the Scarred President's voice carried a hint of terror.

Meanwhile, the other two main guns remained locked onto the Deep Blue!

“Torpedo tubes ready! Launch decoys! Full power electronic jamming!” Cold sweat beaded on Lin Feng's forehead as he rattled off a series of commands. The Deep Blue's torpedo tubes launched several specially designed decoys. These decoys not only released sonar jamming but also carried trace amounts of the Deep Blue Heart's energy signature, attempting to confuse the Blood Ark's targeting.

“Boom! Boom!”

Two slightly thinner purple energy beams fired almost simultaneously! One hit a decoy in front of the Deep Blue's port side, instantly vaporizing it; the other grazed the Deep Blue's starboard side and fell into the sea, its terrifying energy directly vaporizing dozens of meters of seawater, creating a temporary vacuum crater! The ensuing tsunami-like giant wave tossed the Deep Blue up and down, and unsecured equipment on deck fell into the sea!

“Report damage!”

“Starboard side partial electronic equipment overloaded! No structural damage!”

Lin Feng gripped the command console tightly, his gaze sweeping across the tactical screen like lightning. Conventional weapons had limited effect on the Blood Ark, while its main guns could cripple or even sink them with a single hit! They had to find a weakness!

“System! Scan the Blood Ark! Locate energy nodes or shield generators!” Lin Feng urgently called out in his mind.

[Scanning… Three main energy nodes detected: 3 meters below the bow "face" (suspected control center), the base of the central main turret (shield generator), and above the stern thrusters (energy conduction core). Recommend prioritizing destruction of the shield generator!]

“Can the main gun still fire?” Lin Feng asked sharply.

“Barely! But accuracy and rate of fire are significantly reduced!” The gunnery officer replied.

“Enough! Target, the Blood Ark's central main turret base! High-explosive shells! Load!”

The Deep Blue's damaged 130mm main gun rotated with difficulty, finally locking onto the target and roaring!

“Bang!!!”

The shell streaked across the sky, directly hitting the Blood Ark's central main turret base! The violent explosion sent surrounding flesh and tissue scattering! The translucent shield flickered violently a few times, visibly thinning considerably!

“Effective! Shield weakened!” The electronic warfare officer shouted.

“Missiles loaded! Target unchanged! Salvo fire!” Lin Feng pressed the attack. The Deep Blue's vertical launch system again spewed flames, and four Eagle Strike-18s roared out!

The Blood Ark seemed to sense the threat, and its "face" twisted into an expression of rage. Its massive body suddenly vibrated violently, and dozens of honeycomb-like launch ports opened on both sides of its hull!

“Swish swish swish—!”

Hundreds of bizarre, javelin-like projectiles swarmed out of the launch ports! These "javelins" were about two meters long, entirely black, with purple energy flames flickering at their tails, and incredibly agile in the air! Some met the incoming missiles, intercepting them with suicidal collisions; others, like locusts, swarmed towards the Deep Blue and the burning Skull Crusher!

“Anti-air full power! Don't let a single one get close!” Lin Feng roared.

The Deep Blue's CIWS roared again, its dense barrage weaving a net of death in the air! "Javelins" were constantly blown apart mid-air, but their numbers were simply too great, and their speed astonishing! Soon, the first batch of stragglers broke through the defense!

“Bang bang bang!”

Over a dozen "javelins" directly impacted the Deep Blue's hull and superstructure! What was terrifying was that these "javelins" were not simple explosives; they "melted" into a viscous black liquid upon contact, rapidly infiltrating the steel! The eroded areas immediately began to twist and discolor, as if parasitic life had infested them!

“Report! A3 armor compromised! B1 circuit shorted!”

“Starboard CIWS contaminated! Rate of fire reduced by 30%!”

Even more terrifying, the Skull Crusher, due to its weak anti-air firepower, had been hit by dozens of "javelins"! The entire surface of the battleship was riddled with holes as if doused with concentrated acid, flames and black liquid intertwined, and screams were incessant!

“Lin Feng!” In the communication channel, the Scarred President's voice was resolute, “My ship is done for! But I can still create one more opportunity for you! Remember! You owe the Iron Brotherhood a life!”

Before Lin Feng could respond, the Skull Crusher's damaged hull suddenly unleashed its last burst of power, dragging raging flames and billowing black smoke, and charged directly towards the Blood Ark! Simultaneously, the safety on its ammunition depot was manually disengaged, and the fuse began its countdown!

“No! Stop! We can—” Lin Feng's words were cut short.

The Blood Ark clearly sensed the threat; all its remaining main and secondary guns turned towards the Skull Crusher, and purple energy beams poured down like rain!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The Skull Crusher was completely torn to shreds less than two hundred meters from the Blood Ark! But at the moment its hull disintegrated, the ammunition depot detonated! The sympathetic detonation of thousands of tons of ammunition and fuel created a giant fireball nearly a hundred meters in diameter on the sea! The shockwave completely shattered the Blood Ark's shield, and its hull was tilted a full thirty degrees, with an expression of pain appearing on its "face" for the first time!

“Now!” Lin Feng's eyes were bloodshot, “All missiles! Target the shield generator! Fire!”

The Deep Blue's vertical launch system unleashed full firepower! Eight Eagle Strike-18s, like avenging thunder, plunged towards the Blood Ark, now unprotected by its shield! At the same time, the main gun continuously bombarded at maximum rate of fire!

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Continuous explosions erupted in the Blood Ark's midsection! The area where the shield generator was located was completely blown into a bloody, mangled ruin! Fluorescent blue "blood" gushed out like a fountain! Its "face" let out a silent roar, and its entire hull began to convulse unnaturally!

“Keep going! Don't give it a chance to breathe!” Lin Feng roared. The Deep Blue's torpedo tubes also launched several heavy torpedoes, heading directly for the Blood Ark's waterline!

However, just at this moment of apparent victory, another anomaly occurred!

“Warning! Spatial distortion detected! Directly above the Blood Ark!” The electronic warfare officer's voice was filled with terror.

Above the Blood Ark's damaged hull, the air suddenly rippled violently like water! A purple vortex, over fifty meters in diameter, appeared out of nowhere, slowly rotating! At the center of the vortex, a larger, more terrifying shadow was vaguely visible, attempting to pass through!

“It's a summoning channel! It's calling its kin!” Lin Feng instantly understood the Blood Ark's intention. It knew it was severely wounded and wanted to open some kind of spatial channel to summon more Leviathans!

“We absolutely cannot let it complete the summoning!” Lin Feng looked at the weapon status, “How many missiles are left?”

“Only four! And our electronic systems are being corroded by that black liquid! Some fire control systems are already offline!”

In this critical moment, Lin Feng's gaze fell upon a grayed-out icon on the system interface—a weapon unlocked after analyzing the Deep Blue Heart blueprint, but not yet fully tested: ["Resonance Pulse" Prototype (Single Use)]. This was a directional pulse weapon based on the Deep Blue Heart's energy principles, theoretically capable of disrupting or even destroying targets relying on spatial resonance!

“System! Activate "Resonance Pulse"! Target, that spatial vortex!” Lin Feng urgently called out in his mind.

[Warning! This weapon has not completed testing! Extremely high risk of use! May lead to onboard energy system overload!]

“No time! Activate!”

On the Deep Blue's bow, an armor plate suddenly slid open, revealing a strangely shaped launch device. Inside the device, an unstable mass of blue energy surged wildly!

“Resonance Pulse! Fire!”

“Humm—!”

A strange, low-frequency pulse, like a deep-sea whale song, erupted from the launch device! It had no dazzling light, no deafening explosion, only an eerie fluctuation that instantly disabled all electronic equipment and made everyone feel their hearts squeezed by an invisible hand!

This pulse accurately hit the purple vortex!

“Crack!”

A sound like shattering glass echoed across the sky! The entire spatial vortex instantly filled with spiderweb-like cracks, then collapsed with a roar! The massive shadow in the process of passing through let out an invisible roar, its connection brutally severed!

An expression of disbelief appeared on the Blood Ark's "face," quickly turning into utter madness! Its damaged hull began to swell violently, all its exposed "blood vessels" bulged, and dark red energy surged wildly within them!

“It's going to self-destruct! Full speed astern! Prepare for impact!” Lin Feng warned sharply.

The Deep Blue's engines roared, pushing its scarred hull to retreat at full power. Just as they had pulled back about five hundred meters—

“Boom!!!”

The Blood Ark exploded like a supernova! Blinding purple light instantly engulfed several square kilometers of sea! A colossal water column, nearly a hundred meters in diameter, shot skyward, reaching the clouds! The shockwave nearly capsized the Deep Blue! All unsecured items flew around the cabins, and several crew members were thrown several meters, slamming heavily against the bulkheads!

When everything finally calmed down, only a giant, slowly rotating vortex remained on the sea, along with fluorescent, floating remnants of flesh and blood. The Blood Ark, this nightmare from the deep sea, was finally ended.

The Deep Blue's bridge was a mess, but soon, cheers of survival erupted!

“We won!”

“The monster is dead!”

“The Iron Brotherhood… they…”

The cheers gradually subsided. Lin Feng looked towards the area where the Skull Crusher had sunk; only floating debris and oil slicks remained. The Scarred President, that crude but straightforward enemy, had, in the most heroic way, secured a chance for humanity's victory.

“Broadcast a ship-wide announcement,” Lin Feng's voice echoed through the Deep Blue's every corner via the broadcast system, “In today's battle, we lost a respected opponent and defeated a threat from the deep sea. But this is not the end; the Blood Ark was just one of the Leviathans, and a greater threat still lurks in the deep. All personnel, immediately engage in damage control and combat readiness recovery! In one hour, we will return to base to prepare for the upcoming summit!”

He took one last look at the now calm sea and turned to the electronic chart. On the system log, a new mission prompt flickered:

[Urgent Mission: Before the Deep Blue Heart Summit, ascertain the connection between the Leviathan and the Observer, and reinforce base defenses to repel possible retaliatory attacks. Reward: Complete "Phase Shift Shield" blueprint.]

And just as the Deep Blue began to turn, no one noticed a tiny piece of the Blood Ark's debris, emitting a faint purple glow, silently sinking into the deep sea. Deep within that fragment, an organ resembling an "eye" still flickered with an eerie light…