4: The terror of the Kraken!

The moment those words fell,

the main gun turrets, missile launchers, and close-in weapon systems of all Joint Fleet vessels rotated and locked onto their targets, like sharks smelling blood!

The cold metallic sheen glinted under the sun, a blatant threat of death!

Inside the sea wolf's bridge,

Captain Smith, chewing on a cigar, squinted at the 'tiny' silhouette of the Ship Name on the screen and the massive underwater shadow displayed by the sonar.

His eyes were a mix of greed and shock:

"My God... what treasure did the Divine Summer people find? This size... it's like something crawled out of a myth!"

The obsequious and urgent voice of Colonel Matsushita Ichiro, commander of the Fusang 'kirishima,' came through the internal communicator channel:

"Officer Smith! My ship has cut off the Divine Summer people's retreat! General Headquarters also sent an urgent telegram: the target has epoch-making strategic value! We absolutely cannot let the Divine Summer people take it alone! We must seize it!"

The voice of Lee Jae-hyuk, captain of the Goryeo '"Yi Sun-sin,"' came through, filled with blind arrogance:

"Annyeonghaseyo, Officer Smith, Colonel Ichiro, you worry too much! How dare the Divine Summer people resist our great alliance? They are only fit to tremble and hand over their prey!"

However,

this time they had clearly miscalculated.

The next second,

on the screens of all Joint Fleet bridges, they clearly saw the single 100mm main gun on the bow of the 'wave settler',

suddenly raise its muzzle, pointing towards the sea wolf!

The missile silo covers on the ship's side opened, revealing the menacing warheads inside!

The entire Divine Summer fleet immediately sounded a piercing,Level 1 combat alert (Level 1 Battle Alert)!

Li Weiguo's voice, as cold as the Siberian permafrost,

pounded like a heavy hammer on the eardrums of every Joint Fleet personnel through the public channel:

"This is the adjacent area of Divine Summer territorial waters! This creature was first discovered, contacted, and guided by us!"

"Your actions are blatant armed robbery at sea! A serious provocation to Divine Summer's sovereignty!"

"Divine Summer Navy—!"

"Absolutely no retreat!"

"Repeat! Absolutely no retreat!"

"aishiba!" Lee Jae-hyuk's arrogance instantly froze, turning into unbelievable horror,

"They... they're crazy?! To start a war with us for a sea monster?!"

Matsushita Ichiro's voice, however, was filled with bloodthirsty excitement: "Yoshi! Then let's fight! The world order is being reshuffled, and this is the time for our great Fusang to rise again! Sink them! The target will be ours!"

His side had three fully armed missile destroyers and four frigates.

In contrast, the Divine Summer side,

only had one light frigate and two patrol boats.

If it really came to a fight,

his side could easily sink them all!

Smith's face darkened, and he quickly communicated with the senior officials behind him for a few words,

then issued an ultimatum into the microphone,

his voice like ice:

"Divine Summer Fleet! Final warning! In three minutes, transfer the target! Otherwise... our fleet will open fire! And sink you! Countdown... begins!"

The cold electronic countdown, like a death knell, ticked between the ships of both sides.

The air seemed to solidify into steel,

the heavy pressure suffocating every sailor.

"Captain! Tactical simulation complete! Once hostilities begin... our side's... survival rate... zero!"

The Ship Name's tactical officer's voice was dry, trembling with despair.

Li Weiguo suddenly turned, his gaze sweeping over every young and resolute face on the bridge,

his voice like a thunderclap:

"To hell with zero! All I know is, this opportunity... concerns the fate of the nation! We absolutely cannot lose it!"

"Order! Once the enemy opens fire! All missiles! All torpedoes! All shells! Fire everything! Target—the enemy flagship 'sea wolf'! Even if we die, we must tear off a piece of their flesh! Blow them up!"

"Yes!!!"

A roar of shared hatred erupted in the bridge, tragic and resolute!

At the same time,

Divine Summer Naval Headquarters.

Marshal Qin Zhenshan, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, stood before the huge integrated situation screen, his hands pressed against the cold control panel, knuckles white from exertion.

On the screen,

the tiny icon of the Ship Name was tightly surrounded by several glaring red hostile markers.

His face was as dark as the sea before a storm.

"Order!"

Qin Zhenshan's voice was like the clang of metal, decisive and resolute,

"Air Force! All fighter jets capable of carrying anti-ship missiles, take off immediately! Head to the sea area where the Ship Name is located! Rush there at top speed!"

"Land-based Dongfeng-21D Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile Unit! Disarm safeties! Enter launch sequence! Lock coordinates on the Joint Fleet! Once the enemy fires first... hit them! Hit them hard!"

As soon as the order was given,

the entire command center instantly fell silent!

You could hear a pin drop!

A lieutenant general staff officer's face turned pale, and he cried out in alarm:

"Marshal! This will trigger... a world war!"

Qin Zhenshan suddenly turned his head, his eyes burning with long-suppressed rage and desperate resolve:

"What must come, cannot be avoided!"

"Constant retreat only leads to being taken advantage of!"

"This Kraken... possesses intelligence! Its strategic value is immeasurable! If it falls into American hands... it will be a Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads! It must... remain in Divine Summer!"

However,

at this moment, Qin Zhenshan forgot one thing,

the Kraken they spoke of,

was not a harmless octopus.

But... the terrifying—Kraken!

Just then!

"It's gone!!"

An observer, who had been staring intently at the underwater monitoring screen, suddenly jumped up, his voice torn by extreme shock,

"Commander! The Kraken! From beneath the Ship Name... it's gone!!"

"What?!"

Qin Zhenshan's pupils suddenly contracted, his gaze fixed back on the screen like a searchlight.

That huge shadow representing the Kraken,

had indeed... vanished into thin air from beneath the Ship Name!

On the sea wolf's bridge.

Smith also immediately noticed the disappearance of the huge shadow on the sonar screen,

he paused for a moment,

then burst into triumphant laughter:

"Hahaha! It ran away! It got scared away! Divine Summer people! Your efforts... were in vain! In vain! God bless America!"

Matsushita Ichiro's wild laughter also echoed in the channel:

"Yoshi! This beast knows what's good for it! It knows who the true masters of the ocean are! Divine Summer people... all for naught! How refreshing!"

Lee Jae-hyuk also breathed a huge sigh of relief,

patting his chest:

"aishiba... you scared me to death, I thought we were really going to fight... Officer Smith is wise! Subduing the enemy without fighting! The mission is considered complete..."

However,

before Lee Jae-hyuk could finish the word "complete"—

"Officer!!!"

The Yi Sun-sin observer let out a heart-wrenching shriek that almost tore through his throat,

"Commander! The Kraken! From beneath the Yi Sun-sin... it's gone!! It's directly below us!! Depth... 50 meters! No! 30 meters! Surfacing extremely fast!!"

"Wh... what?!"

Lee Jae-hyuk's look of relief instantly froze and twisted into extreme terror!

He lunged towards the porthole!

Boom—!!!

The sea surface less than twenty meters from the port side of the Yi Sun-sin destroyer exploded as if detonated by a hundred-million-ton underwater nuclear bomb!

Ten thousand tons of seawater were blasted skyward by an unimaginable brute force!

A terrifying tentacle, over five meters in diameter, covered in dark black keratin and dense, giant suckers, with ferocious bone spurs growing along its edges,

carrying a destructive hurricane and the weight of endless seawater, like the spear of a demon god piercing from the abyss of hell,

broke through the sea surface, directly stabbing into the sky!