[Book 2] That time I got reincarnated as a slime,no, a DRAGON?

3rd Person POV

"Under the sea. Look under the sea." Shinsha spoke up suddenly. This caught everyone's attention as they had returned back to their original posts.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You asked me where they would hide in a open scenery like this, right? Well, there's your answer. They are hiding underwater. Just like how the water dragon can swim under water, they might be hiding underwater as well." Shinsha told her, but Hikari was unconvinced. Being a mermaid, she had pride in herself that there is no other intellingent species that could best them in an underwater fight.

"Hah! There is no way a ship can survive if it is underwater. How will it move?" Hikari seemed unconvinced, but still decided to heed Shinsha's advice. She sent one of her men to go below water and check the condition. But this, in reality was just for the purpose to make others believe.

In reality, she had already used her magic sense once when she was mocking this idea of Shinsha's. That is also the reason why her viewpoint changed so drastically and quickly.

Within a minute, the man returned and in shock told everyone how there were large chunks of metal coming towards them. It's shape was similar to that of the ships of the Holy Empire, which further sent the control room into chaos.

Just as Shinsha was about to take command, Hikari spoke up.

"Calm down. All of you. This new machine might be something that we have never faced, but it isn't unbeatable. Send the Kraken to the lower depths of the ocean in front of us. Once those machines are above it, order it to attack. Combined with my elite troops, we will take them down."

Hearing this, everyone nodded. Right now, this was the only plan that they could have implemented, or so Hikari thought.

"No. Bring the water dragon back as well."

"Huh?"
"We can fight with those ships which are above the ocean. But those below? We have limited options. Bring back the water dragon. Combining it with Kraken and your elite squad, we can pincer them from three sides. These ships don't have any methods of attacking them, but they must have some way of attacking." Shinsha explained.

"... Very well. We will not pursue the main battleships. We will deal with the underwater ships. Do you have any idea about them, Shinsha?"

"Hmm... I would be lying if I said I had none. It was in one of father's books. It seems to be called a submarine. They can move underwater by meticulously maintaing air pressure inside and using fuel. Their main weapons should be torpedoes. They are like missiles, just working in water. They should have high penetrative power, so it's better to assume that a single torpedo is enough to sink a ship.

"How fast are they?"
"The torpedoes themselves aren't that fast. The problem is that they are small and difficult to intercept. For now, we will divide our forces. I will take care of those submarines. Meanwhile, Hikari, don't let them run away." Shinsha said as she pointed to the ships floating in the distance. They didn't seem to be closing the distance. Rather, they were waiting for their allies to strike first.

"I will take 100 ships and charge straight into them. I am sure they will think that I didn't notice them. We will then use Kraken to attack and pincer them." Shinsha said.

"Fine. I will take the remaining 200 to flank from the left in place of the water dragon." Hikari said and quickly got to work.

Soon, Shinsha's force broke into three parts. Two of them flanking from the side, while the third part attacking from the centre. The ships that were bidding time, now suddenly started closing the distance. They wanted to be within attacking Range once the submarines attacked.

Meanwhile the submarines that were underwater were preparing torpedoes.

Holy Empire's General...

As I look above the water surface, I see the enemies foolishly charging in. Hah! There's no way they would think that we can sail even below water. Our Goddess is the only one who deserves to rule over this world.

"Prepare the torpedoes. We will take down the ships at the back first." I issue my orders.

"General! We are ready at any moment."

"Very well. Let's get ready. Pre-" just as i was about to order an attack, red sirens began to glow.

"W-what is this?" I asked.
"According to the manual the Goddess gave us, a red glow means that a dangerous creature has been detected nearby."

"Tch. A sea monster? Now of all times!"

"Report. Five of the submarines in the front have disappeared without a trace." One of my adjutant reported.
"Report. We have sighted a water dragon at our rear. Estimated strength is lower S-class."

"What? In the front and the back?! What's going on? We are getting pincered? Quickly find the reason the submarines disappeared."

"Report. Traces of broken parts of submarines have been located below us."

"Below? Show it to me."

What I saw horrified me. The submarine was snapped into two, as if somebody snapped it like a stick.

"Report. Another seven ships have gone missing. We have confirmed visuals on the target."

A screen showed a large octopus. And ask ask my fears came true. As expected.

"It's a kraken." I utter. But before anyone could reply, the submarine shaked violently.

I could hear metal being crushed as water started to seep in.

"W-what do we do? General?"

"What can we do? We are all dead. Atleast inform the ships above to retreat. Launch the flairs." I issue out, what would most probably be, my last command.

The soldiers under me grimly did their tasks as they understood their fate. Suddenly a large gush of water entered the control room, making all the equipments useless. We all held our breath, hoping for a miracle, yet nothing happened. To think we would have such an anti climatic end.

3rd Person POV

As the main submarine was broken, the other submarines prepared to take down the Kraken. As soon as the Kraken rose up to catch more of the submarines in its tentacles, all the submarines launched their torpedoes at it. It directly had an effect, as the Kraken again went down, destroying only a few submarines. Just as the Empire's soldiers believed that they have a chance to fight back, their backline fell as the water dragon had started to rampage.

Now, being surrounded in both the sides, they were unable to focus on a single opponent. With defeat being the only probable outcome, the soldiers fell into despair.

"FOCUS! ATLEAST TAKE DOWN THE KRAKEN!" A sound resounded throughout the submarines. An unnamed soldier had just shouted out his thoughts. Such a thing, without a doubt would have led to execution for not following military rules. But at a time like this, his words were like a beacon, telling people what to do. They all understood that there was nothing they could do to defeat them both, but they must atleast take down the Kraken.

So that their comrades could atleast fight back. Atleast run away. Atleast... Hope to live.

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I hope you guys like it.