15 Chapter 15 - The Pacific Fleet Needs Help Part 3

"Marco, Wake up!"

"Huh? Mr. Zao... are we there yet?"

Zao shook the unconscious Mario awake in mid-air. The sounds of gunfire and explosions filled the air around them. Foul smoke and the taste of iron filled the senses.

"I need you to transform and start swimming so that I can fight the monsters attacking the ships without being dragged down by you."

Marco slowly recovered from his disorienting awakening and took in the sight of the battlefield around him. He realized that he and Zao were still attached by a rope. Zao's armor is covered in Monster blood and guts. In addition, there were multiple cracks on his Golden armor. Some of which seemed to have been fixed by activating the skill Metal Brazing.

Zao was carrying Marco over twenty feet above the Resurrection bay in his arms. Mario noticed the dismembered bodies of both Navy men and Ice-Bugs floating in pools of burning oil below.

Nearby, Soma and Carl were engaged in battle with the crustacean monsters attacking the ships.

Carl stood on the water laughing like a crazed maniac as over a dozen Giant Ice Blue Coconut crabs were floating in the air and wriggling in panic above him.

Carl had used the 'Mana Gravity Pull' skill to absorb the Mana out of his opponents and make them his own. Then he activated the skill 'Decrease Gravity,' making any opponent who possessed less Mana than Carl float in the air without any control of their orientation or movement.

"Thanks for all that delicious Mana! You know what, I am not satisfied with just that! I need to know how you freaks taste like on the inside."

Carl then activated the skill Gyro-Telekinesis, which lifted all the metal shrapnel from the sea that had been blown off the ships during the battle. Once they were all floating in front of him, Carl motioned a throwing action with his right hand, and the metal shrapnel shot forward like bullets being discharged from a gun. The projectiles failed to penetrate their thick Ice armor carapace, but a few managed to break the joints supporting their massive crab claws.

"Looks like I need a hammer for this job!"

Carl lifted his left hand up, and the Ice Crab monsters rose up into the sky up to two hundred meters above the battlefield. Carl then activated 'Increase Gravity' on them, and they fell to the surface of the sea in a blink of an eye. Unfortunately, this time, the Crab monsters' armor could not withstand the blunt force impact and splattered like a fly under a powerful strike from a swatter.

Crabmeat flew out everywhere, and Carl managed to be covered in them from head to toe. He grabbed a piece of it off his shoulder, smelled it, and hesitated for a few seconds before taking a big bite. His eyes widened in shock before he took another bite and another, not bothering to chew before swallowing them.

"That settles it! Monster Crabmeat is now on the menu!"

Carl roared and charged over to another ship with Ice Coconut Crab Monsters crawling all over and ripping through the steel.

Meanwhile, Soma was teleporting across the navy ships using the Static skill step. Each time he appeared, he would use his thunder whip skill to electrocute the Giant Ice White Lobsters, whose armor had held up against everything except Lightning.

The Lobster monster would instinctively try to physically attack the puny human who caused it so much pain. However, Soma would activate his Lightning Fiend skill before they could land a hit, which turned his body into a pure elemental form of light that no physical attack could touch.

Eventually, some of the monsters realized that physical attacks don't work, so they switched to elemental Ice attacks, but then Soma would teleport behind them and repeat his attack pattern.

Marco stared in amazement at the fighting prowess of the Tamers below and wanted to get in on the action.

Marco looked back at Zao and felt sorry for hindering his battle so far. But Zao didn't need to have carried him by air in the first place. After all, his monster is a surfer.

"Thank you for protecting me, Mr. Zao, but I can handle myself. AxoThunder!"

[Summoning Monster: Storm Axolotl (AxoThunder)

Type: Mind, Sea, Mana, Amphibian, Lightning

Mastery: Enhanced Elemental Damage

Monster Skills: Tidal Wave Generation (Beginner), Hydrokinetic Regeneration (Beginner), Electric Conductivity (Beginner), Hydro Surf (Beginner),

Tidal Wave Generation: The Monster can call forth huge water waves to crash down at its targets, washing everything away in a mighty torrent.

Hydrokinetic Regeneration: The monster can use water to regenerate its body from the environment. The amount of accessible water defines the healing speed.

Bio-Electric Conductivity: The monster can conduct bioelectricity through its external gills. The gills serve as lightning rods, making it invulnerable to Lightning-type attacks. It can also discharge electricity through conductive media (metal, water, etc.).

Hydro Surf: The monster controls the surface of water bodies in a way that increases its ability to move like a Surfer]

From Marco's Monster App, a deep blue-colored Axolotl came out. There are black patches of skin covering its body. However, its external feelers and eyes are pure white. They even seem to be generating static electricity. Its body is five feet long, with translucent fins on its thick tail and elbows. Axothunder also has webbed clawed hands and feet.

"Monster-User Fusion, activate!"

The phone in Mario's hand flashes then creates an opaque sphere of light to surround his body.

The sphere shatters and reveals a humanoid Axolotl. Marco's now slimy body slips through the rope tying him to Zao and falls into the water below. Marco leaps out of the water a few seconds later and activates Hydro Surf.

Zao watched in disbelief as Marco zig-zagged his way into the battlefield and felt stupid for carrying the young man all the way here. All that time he wasted trying to protect Marco, who fell unconscious because of his flying, seemed like a slap in the face.

Zao took out his anger on the nearest crustacean that popped its head of the water to shoot an ice projectile attack at him. But, instead, a conical black lance sword pierced its chest and drilled into its innards.

Then more Lobster and Crab monsters popped out, which caused Zao to smile under his Bumblebee battle helmet. He would make up for his mistake as fast as possible until every Crustaceon he saw was dead.

Meanwhile, Marco activated the Tidal Wave Generation skill, which caused the sea to rise up behind him into a thirty-foot wave. He then slowed down his speed to reach the top of the wave that slammed into the ships covered in Crustacean monsters.

Since most of the sailors were hiding inside the vessels. The monsters on top of the ships felt the full force of the wave and got washed away. The ships were safe as they had been designed to be Tsunami proof and rolled themselves back to the right side.

When Soma and Carl saw the Tidal wave attack from their positions on the battlefield, they felt relieved that Marco was careful to avoid friendly fire.

Suddenly, more fireballs rained down from the sky above as Dale conducted his second dive bomber attack run.

The battle was in its final stages now. There were still monsters harassing the remnants of the pacific fleet, but the tide had been shifted.

As Dale passed over the ships while using his jet propulsion, he noticed the sailors, soldiers, and pilots on the decks saluted to the sky before cheering victory cries.

All automated guns still functioning on the ships began the mop-up operation of hunting down the stragglers. Fortunately, the Giant Ice Crabs and Lobsters did not know the retreat concept, so they kept assaulting the vessels regardless of the casualties inflicted on them.

This made taking them all out a simple process.

Carl Freeman noticed the carnage and decided to climb aboard the Admiral's Flagship to request them to stop.

"Don't kill them all! We can eat their meat!"

The crew on the Flagship were disgusted by his request. They were about to deny it, but their Admiral walked in to meet Carl, who saluted his arrival with seriousness on his face. He even tried to pull in his belly and expand his chest, which sadly failed at hiding anything.

Admiral. "Are you Ex-Navy?"

Carl. "Once a Marine, always a Marine, sir!"

Admiral. "Reason for quitting?"

Carl. "Dishonorably discharged for drug possession, sir!"

Admiral. "Are you clean now?"

Carl. "For two years, sir!"

Admiral. "You seem to have let yourself go in that time, but nevertheless, I saw the way you fought those creatures while standing on water. Is it some Gravity manipulation?"

Carl. "Sir! yes, sir!"

Admiral. "My God, that is indeed incredible! To think we could have had this at our disposal if our leaders weren't so paranoid about intel leaks. So many lives have been lost to those monsters when they break like toys in front of you Tamers."

Carl. "Thank you for the acknowledgment, sir! But I fear there will not be enough Crabs and Lobsters left if you don't stop the mop-up now."

"Don't speak unless given permission Marine!"

A young vice-admiral warned, but the Admiral raised a hand to stop.

Admiral. "This man is one of the Tamers who saved our fleet after all. The least we can do is honor his request. Order the guns to only fire in self-defense."

Vice Admiral. "I understand."

The Vice-admiral then ordered one of the sailors to shoot a flare into the sky that grabbed the attention of the other captains. The Flagship used flag signals as a medium to issue the new orders to the other ships nearby.

The guns on all the Ships soon became silent.

"Marine, what's your name and previous rank?"

Carl. "Sergeant Carl Freeman!"

Admiral. "Well, Sergeant! If you are capable of capturing these monsters without killing them. That would be a big boon to the scientists on board who need live research subjects. Those things are not easy to capture alive through conventional means, you see."

Carl. "If I may speak, sir?"

Admiral. "You may."

Carl. "I hope you can order the men to pull up all the meat floating around too. For research purposes, of course!"

The Admiral wasn't fooled by Carl's reasoning, but it did intrigue him.

Admiral. "Hmm, for research, then yes! If you bring back twenty or more of them alive and undamaged. I will reinstate you into the Navy and promote you to Master Sergeant."

Carl. "Master Sergeant?"

Carl could not believe his ears. He had been dishonorably discharged and put in jail for two years because of drug possession. But now he was being given a chance to be re-enlisted as well as a huge promotion.

Admiral. "Yes, you are dismissed, Sergeant."

Carl decreased his Gravity and jumped out of the Flagship to hunt the last survivors as quickly as possible.

Carl. "Zao, don't you dare kill that Crab! We need it alive!"

Carl yelled at Zao, who was about skewer a Giant Ice Crab.

Zao. "What, why?"

Carl. "Admiral's orders! We need them for food and research!"

Zao. "Food?"

Carl does not bother to explain the details and activates his skills to make all the nearby monsters still alive float in the air.

The Admiral of the Pacific Fleet watched Carl work and coordinate with the other Tamers, who came over to find out about his orders. Once the instructions and reasoning were given, they used their skills to round up the survivors and drive them towards Carl's anti-gravity. In several minutes they had captured thirty-five mostly undamaged crustaceans.

Meanwhile, back on the Flagship, the Admiral gave out instructions to his crew.

Admiral. "Today marks a new beginning for all of us that is left of the Pacific Fleet. We were all saved by those Tamers' bravery and combat prowess. I observed that they can control Gravity, Fire, Water, Metal, and Lightning to quickly destroy the monsters that our tech could not handle. Even though a few of our men were granted the license to become Tamers. They have not displayed this level of firepower on the battlefield. I am afraid we have no choice but to change our tactics and learn how to assist these Tamers in building a proper military force. Only then will we have a chance to take back America from those damn Ice-bugs."