The sea depths.

It was home to many creatures transferred over from Earth. It was a world of darkness where light from the sun didn’t reach.

A gigantic shadow advanced within it.

It was the Giant Murder, Apate. It was a Murder named after the ancient Greek goddess of deceit.

Its form was reminiscent of a giant water bug.

There were also small beetle-type Keres advancing alongside it. They were amphibious diving beetle-shaped Murders called Cybister.

It was a kind of submersible landing fleet made up entirely of Murders.

They were heading straight for Fortress Area P336.

However, their advance met an unexpected obstacle.

The movements of the Apate dulled.

Several underwater explosions went off.

They were located at a depth of 700 meters below the sea surface. The Murders couldn’t detect any signs of enemies.

The Cybister-type Keres continuously got smashed to pieces by the explosions one after another.

They were being attacked.

However, they couldn’t detect any enemies. They were unable to trace where the attacks were coming from.

The source was probably at an even further depth–

Consecutive explosions went off all around the Apate.

It had withstood the explosions so far due to its thick armor, but getting hammered with explosions without pause was still undoubtedly dangerous for it.

The Murder scattered numerous mines that served as something akin to a barrier as a countermeasure.

The gigantic body that was over 70 meters ejected mines one after another.

The Apate finally managed to detect the sound of a screw propeller.

It was a sound it hadn’t detected before. An enemy machine– No. It was actually a large torpedo.

To be exact, it was a wire-guided torpedo. The wire was allowing Whis to flow through it, enhancing its penetrating power.

After detecting the torpedo, the Apate had also finally managed to triangulate the location of the machine that fired it.

They were located far below.

They sat within even deeper depths.

Multiple submarines were eerily stalking the Murder fleet from below. They were in the deepest part of the sea where light cannot reach, and have been waiting for their prey to arrive.

The submarines made use of superconducting propulsion that made it difficult to detect them using ordinary sonars.

They were the Silhouette Base submarine unit, Deep One. They operated the state-of-the-art submarine Silent Shark.

They were the trump card Kou prepared to seize control of the sea.

「It looks like they’ve finally detected us.」

A penguin-type Familiar announced while grinning.

「These submarines designed by Kou-san sure are amazing.」

A spotted seal-type Familiar clapped his flippers in glee.

「Let’s beat them up more!」

「Scatter the noise makers and decoys. Avoid the enemy torpedoes.」

The Apate fired its torpedoes to retaliate and destroy the submarines.

「Launching anti-torpedo torpedoes!」

The penguin-type Familiar cried out and fired interceptor torpedoes. The smaller torpedoes intercepted all the torpedoes fired by the Apate and brought them down.

Another submarine took aim at the Apate and launched an underwater rocket. In order to protect the giant Murder, Cybister-types gathered together to act as a makeshift shield and were eventually destroyed.

Another submarine had already scattered naval mines all over the course the enemies were taking.

It was a well-planned and executed ambush.

The submarine unit first puts up a wide-area net of radars and mines in order to accurately detect the position of enemies, then gathers to perform a concentrated ambush. It was a collaboration between Familiars who are able to function in water and cutting-edge submarines.

Seawater began to flow inside the perforated armor of the giant Murder.

It had no crew inside its body. It wasn’t designed with damage control in mind.

Due to its movements slowing down, several more torpedoes scored direct hits. The Apate flailed its arms and legs in desperation, but there were no submarines nearby.

It was an overwhelming victory. With this, the Silhouette Base submarine fleet had taken control of the dark sea depths.

A half-baked gigantic weapon was nothing more than helpless prey.

Attacked unilaterally from all sides within the deep sea, the giant Murder Apate couldn’t even get one foot on its target and sank to the sea floor.

「Report from Deep One! Giant Submersible Murder, successfully taken out!」

「Well done.」

Barry was relieved. So, the enemy’s first move was an invasion from the sea depths.

Even though the rest of them were warier about an invasion from the air, Kou had always considered an attack from the sea.

Kou had been on alert for some time and designed submarines as a countermeasure. The killing machines known as Murders didn’t usually operate in the oceans of Planet Asia.

That’s why ordinary Fortress Areas would have descended into a panic if they encountered an invasion from the sea.

Most Fortress Areas and Underground Forces wouldn’t have been able to handle such an attack.

Kou’s point of view was unique due to their extensive use of the Aristides and Cimon underwater.

「How about the battles occurring in each area?」

「Yes. The Murders have begun attacking various human settlements on Planet Asia.」

The main operator was Aki. There were three sub-operators under her. One was a Nereid and the two others were Therianthropes like herself.

「They are probably just aiming to pin them down, but with this, we can’t expect any reinforcements from the other Fortress Areas and Defense Domes around the planet.」

They had already expected as much. The simultaneous invasion operation of the Stones had begun in earnest.

Even if they’re aware that the attacks were nothing more than feints, the respective administrators of the various human settlements would probably refrain from any aggressive actions in fear of retaliation.

「Commander Barry, we’ve received replies from the A-Class Development Engineers of five transferee companies. They have all agreed to our proposal.」

「Five? Not four companies?」

「It’s five companies. Kurt Maschinenbau is also included.」

「Kou huh. Kurt Maschinenbau is currently based here after all.」

It was a strategic arrangement made by Barry. Basically, he sought help from the A-Class Development Engineer-led companies.

The local administrations of each settlement were trying their hardest to hire mercenaries for themselves. There were not enough available personnel, so they had no choice but to mobilize more Familiars.

That’s why Barry sought help from the major transferee companies.

He left the means they’d use to send help entirely up to them. After all, Metal Iris wasn’t in a position to give them orders.

「It would be great if they do manage to make it in time....」

The Ate was going to participate in the ground battle for sure.

And before that, there’s the air battle to worry about.

「What’s the status of the Murder swarm?」

「They’re already on their way, but it will probably take some more time before they reach us.」

「There’s no hiding a giant that’s dozens of meters tall after all. They’re marching straight for us huh.」

「There are quite a lot of them. We’ve managed to confirm at least tens of thousands for now, but the recon planes can’t approach them carelessly after all. So we still don’t have any detailed numbers.」

「The ballistic missiles?」

「Just as we expected, there was no effect. Even though they have weaker outputs, the Ant Worker-types do come equipped with laser weapons after all.」

「So, they defended against the missiles by using tens of thousands of Ant Workers huh. They really are worker ants.」

Even though they were weak against Silhouettes, Ant Workers were particularly good as mobile anti-air batteries.

And at least tens of thousands of them were deployed this time around.

「This really isn’t something a single Underground Force can normally take on.」

Even while grumbling, Barry started thinking up his next move.