Since the wall was holding, I went back to darting the mass of antithesis on the far side. The monowire was as effective underwater as it was on land, so I didn’t see any point in changing things up now.

  The mass of smaller models showed no sign of letting up, but the complete lack of larger models was starting to worry me. After the handful of larger models early on and the one leviathan, it seemed like the heavies had all but disappeared. If they had struck while Skyler and I had been occupied with the breach, it would have been disastrous, but they didn’t.

  Sure, Limelight was doing overwatch, but I hadn’t even noticed a single laser lance anywhere near us in quite awhile. It was actually a little unnerving how quiet they were.

  As I darted back and forth along the wall, I tried to keep an eye out for anything unusual on the other side. However, after more than an hour of combat, the water wasn’t only murky from the sediment, but it was also saturated with antithesis blood. I would have thought that it would dilute and dissipate over time, but we were killing so fast it really didn’t get a chance. It was so thick that I could barely see the antithesis right on the other side of the wall in some places, never mind the hordes hidden in the ocean beyond.

  While I was clearing the hordes off the wall, I felt a subtle change in the water. The vibration from the sonic cannons was still there, constantly shaking the water around me, but there was something else too. A much lower rumble.

  {Sky: Reina, do you hear that?}

  {Rei: If you mean that ominous rumbling noise, then yes. What is that?}

  {Sky: I don’t know, but it’s getting louder. We better figure it out quickly.}

  {Rei: Call the Starchaser and report it. Hopefully they can identify the source, but if not, we’ll probably need them on standby.}

  {Sky: Right.}

  Leaving the hordes along for a minute, I shot back and forth along the wall, looking for the cause. No matter which direction I went, it seemed the sound was everywhere and growing louder. It was only after I paused, letting myself float in place for a minute, that I realized I could feel the vibrations below me.

  Sinking down to the bottom, I placed a hand against the uneven gravel floor and immediately felt the violent shaking below me.

  “Fuck…” was all I managed to get out before something erupted out of the sand only a couple of feet away from me. It looked like some sort of woodlouse, or roly poly; An insect with a heavy segmentted shell on it’s back, but this thing was huge. It easily dwarfed the Twelves we fought on the surface.

  The creature seemed to test the water with its antenna for a moment before dragging itself out of the burrow and relaxing the plates on its back. Within seconds, all sorts of smaller antithesis were climbing out of its carapace, scattering into the surrounding area.

  {Rei: Breach! We have tunnelers from the other side of the wall breaking through. Athy, inform the surface. Sky, keep your eyes open; they’re transports, and now there are a ton of smaller models loose over here. If you catch one of the bastards surfacing, don’t hesitate, just flatten it!}

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  {Sky: You want backup?}

  {Rei: Pretty sure I can take this one, but if too many show up, we could get overwhelmed.}

  I didn’t wait for Skyler’s reply and charged forward to sink Rending Wave into the head of a Model Three-O that was trying to squeeze out of the carapace. Instead of withdrawing the blade, I dragged it forward through the various segments as I approached the creature’s head. It buckled, thrashing in pain, until the very last second when I pulled the blade out of its back and sliced down through the thinnest part of its ‘neck,’ beheading the beast. The body collapsed, slowly sliding back into the tunnel it had only half climbed out of.

  That would prevent reinforcements from pouring out, at least for now, but it didn’t help with the existing issue. More than two dozen Model One-Os, and half a dozen Model Three-Os and Four-Os had managed to climb out of the oversized bug before I killed it.

  The Model One-Os were gathering together in preparation for an attack run, while the others scattered into the surrounding area. I’d have to deal with the threats first, then chase the survivors after.

  Scrambling behind the oversized isopod’s body, I slammed a new dart into my launcher. The small school of Model One-Os swooped over the monster’s formation in tight formation, making a beeline directly for where I’d been just a moment before. The entire group turned simultaneously, mouths snapping like a swarm of hungry piranha. With the aquapack I was just barely faster than them. Slamming my sword back into its sheath, I twirled around tracking the Ones following me. As soon as they clumped again, I shot my dart directly into the face of the leading creature.

  Monowire exploded outwards, nearly disintegrating the lead Model One and catching more than half of followers. The rest of the school scattered in every direction, trying their best to avoid the deadly tangle. When the monsters dispersed, I turned as sharply as I could and chased the closest one. Even though there were only a handful left, they were still dangerous, and I was going to take every advantage I could get to deal with them.

  The first one died within seconds when it turned to engage me instead of running and got a sword in the face for its efforts. Seconds later the second and third died as they darted around in random directions, like they were panicking. By the time I got around to the fourth, the school had mostly recovered, but it was heavily diminished. Sinking down to the bottom of the bay, I planted my feet and let them come.

  When the leading One-O was within a few feet of me, I drew RendingWave and brought it straight through the offending antithesis, cutting it cleanly in two. The antithesis following it tried to split up and flank me, but before they could, I flipped the switch to extend the blade and started mechanically dissecting the left side group.

  Even though I had the cavitation armguards, the process was much slower than I wanted, but what I lacked in speed, I made up with my skill. Performing hit-and-run attacks might have been more efficient underwater, but this was the type of combat I was most comfortable with. Even with the handicap, it was highly effective.

  In seconds I’d cut down five of the remaining Model Ones, leaving just four. Thankfully, the early antithesis models were simple and didn’t have any self-preservation instincts. If they’d scattered like the others, I probably would have had a terrible time catching them. Instead, the remaining four models gathered up and made another pass, running directly into my waiting sword. They died just as quickly as the others.

  With the final four slowly sinking to the bottom in pieces, I shut off the blade extension and slipped Rending Wave back into the sheath. I’d already lost track of the Three-Os, and Four-Os that had slipped away. They would just have to be a loose end I’d have to clean up later.

  Crouching down, I once again placed a hand against the gravel. I could still feel rumbling, but it didn’t seem to be anywhere close.

  {Sky: Arty, are there any sort of disposable sensors I can drop along the wall to give us a heads up before one of those things pops up again? This would have been a disaster if I hadn’t been here to deal with it.}

  {Arty: There are a couple. Considering this is an extreme corner case, I recommend unlocking the underwater seismic sensor net catalog. The narrower the focus of a catalog, the cheaper it is, and this one only has several thousand options.}

  {Sky: You know, to humans, that’s not exactly a ‘narrow’ selection.}

  {Arty: But most protector catalogs have millions, so it’s much narrower than usual. From here you’ll need a Deep Dweller Monitoring System and several dozen deployable sensors. Honestly, the entire thing will cost you less than a hundred points. It’s a pretty low-tech, but reliable and disposable system.}

  {Rei: Give it to me.}

  There was no box this time, but something that looked like a canvas messenger bag. Around the strap was something that looked like an oversized diving watch. I strapped it to my wrist and tapped it a couple of times, but it didn’t respond. Grabbing the bag, and strapping it over my shoulder, the watch pulsed with my movements. Guess that made sense, it wasn’t going to be that useful until the sensors were in place.

  Nudging the pack to life, I quickly moved towards the wall. The sooner these were in place, the better. I’d had more than enough surprises for today.

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