The Almighty Ring

“And down we go,” said Jiang Fei as he braced himself for what was to come.

Jiang Fei had to use the sword to descend instead of just swimming because of the travel distance. It would take a long time if he had swum instead of relying on the speed of the sword.

The suit that 0541 had provided had a built-in breathing mechanism. The further Jiang Fei descended, the higher the pressure pressing on him.

“0541, how far had we dived?”

The light of the afternoon sun was bright on the surface but where Jiang Fei was, he could only see the sun as a tiny dot of light. The pressure around him was getting higher as well.

“We are only 250 meters below sea level. At this point, any human would have already perished under the immense pressure,” said 0541.

“Damn… I’m feeling it now though…” said Jiang Fei to himself. The pressure he felt was so strong that it was like being under a huge bus.

“There’s nothing to worry about, Captain. I am constantly monitoring your health. This pressure might be fatal to ordinary humans but you are not ordinary. Think of it this way, this condition serves as good training!” said 0541.

After diving for about two minutes, Jiang Fei’s vision had started to become a blur. Even though his breathing was unaffected, there was the unpleasantness inside him that he could not explain. That was the differences in atmospheric pressure acting on him.

After a few more meters, Jiang Fei started to feel dizzy. He could not breathe for a moment. In an instant, a blue light faintly appeared around Jiang Fei’s body and the unpleasant feeling subsided.

The blue light was a barrier that 0541 had created only to protect Jiang Fei. Even though the blue faint light was really dim, it was a beacon of light in the shadow that was deep under the sea.

At most, Jiang Fei could only see five to six meters ahead of him. The rest was complete darkness.

At this point, the barrier’s strength was not set on maximum. Jiang Fei’s vision was not fully restored and the pressure acting on him was still there. Now, even Jiang Fei, a Metahuman could not move around freely.

“Give me a rough estimate time of arrival to the Bridge,” said Jiang Fei.

“Half an hour or more, Captain,” said 0541.

“Half an hour…”

After fifteen minutes of diving, Jiang Fei could not even see anything. Even with the light shining faintly in the dark, Jiang Fei could not even see his feet. At this point, the barrier 0541 had erected for Jiang Fei was set to the maximum power. He felt completely fine then as he had gotten used to the immense pressure. He did not know how deep he had dived but he knew that he had dived really deep as the regular fishes had decreased and more and more large sea creatures were spotted.

“Warning! Warning! Critical threat detected approaching at high speed!”

Suddenly, out of the eerie silence, 0541 blared loudly.

“What’s going on?” cried Jiang Fei as he prepared for the worst.

“Warning! Warning! Critical threat detected! Target approaching us! Evasive maneuver advised!” 0541 exclaimed in its system-monotonous tone.

“Where? Where should I go?!” shouted Jiang Fei, louder than 0541 could.

“Immediate ascension toward the surface is advised!”

“Alright!”

Jiang Fei immediately took the hoverboard from his feet and directed it upward to the surface.

“Warning! Warning! Critical threat detected! Imminent attack incoming! Immediate ascension is advised!”

“What the f*ck is that!?” cried Jiang Fei as he controlled the hoverboard to go up faster. The surrounding was pitch black. He could literally see nothing!

“Critical threat identified as Void Manta. Threat speed supersedes ascension speed. Abort. Abort. Please be ready for combat,” said 0541.

Jiang Fei had only understood two things from what 0541 had reported back. He was too slow to escape and he would have to fight.

“What the hell is a Void Manta?” asked Jiang Fei as he stopped going up and got ready to fight. At this point, 0541 returned to its normal self and talked normally.

“Remember what I had informed you during the retrieval of the Bio-Experimental Laboratory? The lab had lost two virus samples and three alien beings samples. One of the alien being samples is this Void Manta.”

“What…? I remembered you said that the ship had crashed landed 7,000 years ago! How could any beast or monster live that long?” asked Jiang Fei as he gathered his energy in his body.

“Alien species had been known to live far longer than any of the Earth’s beings. This is nothing stranger! However, the incoming Void Manta is not one of the alien species,” said 0541.

“What do you mean?”

“Amongst the lost alien samples, the Void Manta is a peak of a Level 4 being. The incoming being is only an intermediate Level 4. I deduced that the original Void Manta had procreated with Earth beings to produce this mixed-breed. Hence, reducing its power level. However, I cannot advise you to lower your guard as we are currently fighting in its turf! It could easily be a peak of Level 4.”

“Peak of Level 4? Are you crazy? How am I supposed to defeat it?” cried Jiang Fei. Jiang Fei knew that he was only at the beginning stage of a Level 4. It would be suicidal to fight an enemy at the peak of Level 4!

“Captain, there’s no other way. There is no way you can escape from it underwater!”

Just as 0541 had finished its sentence. 0541 immediately reverted to its system-default voice tone.

“Warning! Critical threat detected in close proximity!”

As soon as 0541 had said that, a shadow zoomed past Jiang Fei. Although he could not see it physically, Jiang Fei could feel the underwater current moved around him at an insane speed. If Jiang Fei did not resist, he would have spun like a spinning top.

“Shit! It’s too fast! I can’t see anything!” yelled Jiang Fei. If 0541 had not alerted Jiang Fei about it, he might have been caught off guard. Its swimming speed was so fast that Jiang Fei could only feel it swimming past him and could not even catch a glimpse of its shadow.

“It’s too dark! 0541, let there be light!” shouted Jiang Fei. It was impossible for him to fight anything in that pitch black condition. The only light source Jiang Fei had was the barrier that 0541 had erected for him. However, its lighting was too poor and dimmed.

“Roger that!”

At that moment, preserving power was not the priority. The main priority was to defeat the incoming threat and survive. Since proper vision was necessary for combat, 0541 had gladly obliged to Jiang Fei’s order.

“Oh my god…” cried Jiang Fei in horror as he saw just how large was the Void Manta was.

Spanning at ten meters long, the triangular beast was huge and vicious-looking. Unlike regular manta rays that Jiang Fei had seen in an aquarium zoo, this ginormous beast was a behemoth. Its teeth were sharp and long, unlike anything that he had seen. Its green eyes were huge and fierce, glaring at Jiang Fei, making him feel like a poor little rabbit in the eyes of a hawk.

“F*ck me. How am I supposed to fight this?”

Panicked overwhelmed Jiang Fei as he could not think of a way to fight something that he had never encountered before.

The Void Manta was the first offspring of the original Void Manta from outer space. Even so, it was a predator and hunting was coded in its genes. At that moment, it had undoubtedly seen Jiang Fei as its prey. However, when Jiang Fei had 0541 to shine brightly, the Void Manta was stunned for a brief moment. Since it had never seen anything in the deep sea to shine that brightly, it was confused as to what it was supposed to make of that. If Jiang Fei had not ordered 0541 to make some light for him, the Void Manta would have already swallowed Jiang Fei whole when it had locked onto his position.

“Captain. I am unable to do anything. However, I need you to remember that we are currently deep in the ocean. As long as my power reserves can hold, I will continue to project the barrier to counteract the immense pressure. Every second you waste would be detrimental to your survival. It is advisable for you to defeat it as soon as you can!” said 0541. Not only 0541 could not provide any battle advice, but it had also only given Jiang Fei a piece of awful news.