Chapter 24: Surprise Attack

Just as the submarine was about to surface, a flurry of alerts lit up the instrument panel in front of Sorcerer.

His hands continued working methodically at the keyboard as he said without turning around, “Underwater mobile weapon detected. A cs-7 Great White Shark, approaching. Their instruments can't detect us yet, but if we surface, there's a good chance they'll spot us.”

“Put the target on the main screen.” By the time Gunsmith finished speaking, Sorcerer had already done it.

“This is one of the Royal Navy's mainstay vessel classes. On the surface, its combat capability rivals a destroyer's, and it's even faster underwater. Its reconnaissance and combat capabilities are well balanced,” Gunsmith said, watching the screen.

“You certainly know your stuff. Just what you'd expect from a former imperial weapons adviser,” Marshal said beside him.

“I didn't have much access to the core technology, but the Empire's conventional military hardware only amounts to a few hundred types altogether, whether it's used by the royal forces, troops directly under HL, or local forces. It'd be hard not to remember them.” Gunsmith turned around. “Anyway, given our submarine's capabilities, they couldn't sink us even if they spotted us. What do you say, Gu Wen? Still want to surface?”

Before Gu Wen could answer, Tian Yi cut in. “Hold on.”

“Don't worry,” Gu Wen said. “We won't use you as a human shield against torpedoes.”

“That's not what I'm worried about.” Tian Yi took a Book of the Heart from inside his coat, waited a few seconds, then opened it straight to the last section that contained writing. He skimmed two pages at a glance and said, “Things have changed again. Let's not rush up there.”

“Whose thoughts are those?” Gu Wen asked.

“A soldier aboard their submarine,” Tian Yi replied.

In just a few seconds, Gu Wen weighed all the information implicit in Tian Yi's two remarks and extrapolated dozens of possibilities. When he spoke again, his question offered only two alternatives. “Is that Great White Shark carrying a nuclear warhead, or an ability user powerful enough to turn the battle?”

Tian Yi smiled. “Watch the live feed yourself. You'll know soon enough.”

...

At that same moment, on the surface of Hell Island.

The rocks crushing the ability users on the surface were not enough to kill or injure them.

Mastering the technique of shielding the body with energy was a basic requirement for reaching Fierce rank or above. Different abilities produced different forms of protection, but the effect was much the same. A dozen or so seconds later, the ability users began breaking through the inward-folding mass of the island and returning to the surface.

Jarvidon understood now, too. These people had coated their skin or surrounded their bodies with protective energy, blocking the effects of his ability. He couldn't tear their bodies apart the way he could those of low- and mid-ranking ability users or ordinary people. Attacks using physical objects alone weren't very effective. Judging by their strength, they could probably withstand direct hits from gunfire and artillery. Killing them by smashing or crushing them with rocks, chunks of iron, and the like would be difficult.

“A bunch of persistent vermin. In that case...” Jarvidon raised one hand, palm up, and all the dozens of ability users flew into the sky. “Off to space with you all. Find out what high blood pressure feels like.”

Energy could indeed protect their bodies from being torn to pieces, but Jarvidon could still move a person as a single object.

At the sight of this move, quite a few of them instantly despaired.

Only two people resisted the attack. One, a man as thin as a skeleton, stood firmly on the ground. His feet seemed rooted in place, crushing the rock beneath them. The other could fly and was using all his strength to counter the force carrying him upward.

“You can change your body weight, can you?” Jarvidon snapped his fingers at the skinny man, sending him hurtling backward like a marble. “Then you don't need to go to space. Stay on the seabed.”

Changing his weight again did no good. An enormous force shoved the skinny man into the sea and drove him all the way to the bottom. Holding his breath to keep from drowning was a secondary concern. His immediate problem was fighting the immense pressure of the deep sea with every ounce of strength he had. Powerful as he was, blood still surged up from his chest as he sank, gushing from his mouth in great mouthfuls...

“As for you.” Jarvidon looked up at the fellow straining to hold his position in the air, his head drenched in sweat. “No need to keep struggling. Let me put you out of your misery.” Before he had finished speaking, he flashed out of sight and appeared beside the man.

Even his speed is this terrifying! The thought was still running through the man's mind when a punch struck his abdomen. He vomited three liters of blood on the spot, his consciousness blurring, and at last he too flew helplessly skyward.

Only about thirty seconds had passed since Jarvidon raised his hand to fling them into the air, but the ability users sent hurtling toward space at the outset had already reached the stratosphere. Needless to say, if they went any higher, they weren't coming back.

Jarvidon felt he had dealt with most of those who dared resist him. He was considering whether to kill the prisoners who had jumped into the sea as well, and whether he might as well go destroy Tiandu while he was at it.

Just then, a figure shot out of the sea.

The man wore an ordinary sailor's uniform and had the skinny prisoner Jarvidon had forced underwater tucked under one arm. A transparent, spherical force field extended ten meters around him, keeping even the seawater out.

He rose into the air, casually tossed the skinny man onto the island, then charged straight at Jarvidon to kill him.

“Hmph... Another piece of vermin crawling out of nowhere. You want a look at the scenery beyond the atmosphere too?” Jarvidon flicked his fingers, intending to fling this man into space as well.

But two seconds later, entirely unaffected and without slowing at all, the man reached him and drove an uppercut into his stomach. In that instant, the invincible Jarvidon Harl's eyes bulged. He choked up stomach acid and saliva, his limbs curled inward, and his entire body contorted. The force of the punch traveled through him and burst through the back of his prison uniform.

At that moment, the prisoners who had almost risen high enough to see stars in broad daylight, Blood Owl and Darkwater among them, stopped rising and felt the pull of gravity again.

“Hah... hah...” Jarvidon gasped for breath. Saliva kept spilling from his mouth, soaking his long beard, which could have rivaled Guan Yu's. Even his loose, disheveled hair could not hide the shock and fury in his eyes. “You... How dare you...”

Time Attendant had no intention of waiting for him to catch his breath. He grabbed Jarvidon by the collar and spoke very quickly. “Sorry, you're too powerful. I'm not confident I can beat you either. Since you got careless and let that punch land, I'll take the liberty of beating you to death.”