Originally, Luke had planned to raise Cthulhu, the Mosasaurus, allowing it to grow before harvesting it.
The vast Pacific Ocean provided more than enough food for Mosasaurus's growth.
Judging by its performance in the film Rampage, with sufficient nourishment, Cthulhu should be able to mutate into its ultimate body form within a month.
It might even awaken a special ability.
But now, if Cthulhu was truly being hunted by some unknown monster, Luke would have to abandon this plan.
"No, I need to see what's going on."
Luke had to remain careful and vigilant.
He had no intention of letting the anomaly points he was cultivating be taken by someone else.
After all, Cthulhu was heading into the Pacific Ocean, the largest ocean on Earth.
Anything could emerge in a place like that.
Moreover, even Godzilla was sleeping deep beneath the Pacific.
Luke even wondered whether Godzilla might be the one chasing Cthulhu.
That didn't make sense either.
Cthulhu was merely classified as a giant creature; it didn't qualify as a Titan.
In Godzilla's eyes, it posed no threat at all.
It wasn't worth him taking action.
"Honey, are you up for it?"
Veronica wrapped her arms around Luke from behind, her curves pressing against him without restraint.
Luke took a deep breath. "I need to go out for a bit. You take a shower first. Later, we'll have a little Golden Cudgel Three Times Against the White Bone Demon."
Veronica covered her mouth and chuckled softly.
After calming himself down, Luke left the bedroom and headed to the underground room.
Because he didn't have Cthulhu's exact location, Luke couldn't use long-distance Arcane Teleportation, nor could he open a Kamar-Taj mystic portal.
But that didn't trouble him.
Aside from the enhanced perception granted by the Evil Spirit Mark, the Jason template also came with an Evil Spirit version of instantaneous movement.
As long as he locked onto a target, regardless of the environment or location, he could instantly teleport to an uninhabited area near the marked target, provided he himself was in an empty space.
Luke sensed the Evil Spirit Mark and focused his mind.
In the next instant, he crossed tens of thousands of kilometers and arrived in the middle of the vast ocean.
Gurgle—~~!
With Luke's physique, he could hold his breath underwater for an entire day of combat.
But there was no need to make things difficult for himself.
He immediately switched to the Orochi template.
Even in the deep sea, he could swim freely like a fish.
Can't breathe? Take it up with the Will of the Earth.
"Let me see… Cthulhu should be in this direction…"
Luke looked around, preparing to move toward Cthulhu's location.
But when he glanced upward, he noticed a research station floating on the surface of the sea.
"What's that?"
Luke was momentarily stunned. No wonder Jason's instantaneous movement had sent him here. So there were even more tempting targets in this area.
However, another thought quickly followed.
This was above the Mariana Trench. Had technology already advanced to this level?
After a moment of consideration, Luke decided to investigate it later.
He had a premonition that something strange was bound to happen here again.
At that moment, within the 3D stereoscopic view, Luke finally saw the true identity of the mysterious monster pursuing Cthulhu.
It turned out to be an old friend. A Kaiju.
This Kaiju was ugly in appearance. Luke didn't know its name, but it was likely one of those recorded in the archives of the original work.
Its body was around ninety meters long, and its weight was estimated to be roughly three thousand tons.
No wonder it was able to chase Cthulhu.
The current Cthulhu was still a juvenile. Being pursued by a Kaiju for such a long time was already pushing its limits.
[Anomaly Object Kaiju Chaos detected. 100 anomaly points gained. Current anomaly points: 900 / 3900]
Luke glanced over, confirmed that Cthulhu the Mosasaurus was temporarily safe, and decided to swim upward first to check on the research station.
...
At that moment.
Inside the research station.
A group of people were anxiously worrying about the researchers trapped at a depth of eleven thousand meters.
Morris, the project leader, had specially invited the only expert with experience in deep-sea rescue at such depths, Jonas Taylor.
Previously, during a mission, a submarine accident had occurred. Jonas had personally carried out the rescue, but during the operation, they were attacked by an unknown massive creature.
When Jonas spoke about it afterward, no one was willing to believe him.
During the rescue, someone had died because of the attack, and Jonas was blamed by everyone else, including the eleven people he had saved. In the end, Jonas was forced to leave the team and chose to drown his days in alcohol.
Originally, Jonas had not planned to accept this rescue mission, but when he learned that the person trapped was his ex-wife, he had no choice but to agree to Morris's request and return to this place.
"What's the situation now?"
Jonas, the central figure of this incident, frowned as he looked at the computer.
"It's not good. I know they're still alive."
"I can still remotely monitor their vital signs, but the ballast tank valve is jammed, which means the submersible can't ascend on its own."
"If we try to tow it, there's a fifty percent chance the submersible will be destroyed by an explosion of the flotation tanks."
"And now there's an even bigger problem…"
"Their oxygen is leaking."
"They can only hold out for a few more hours."
Hearing how dire the situation was, Jonas felt a headache coming on.
This operation was exactly the same as the one he had experienced last time.
If he had a choice, he didn't want to return to that place and face that mysterious monster again with no way to fight back.
"Jonas, I suspect they've encountered the same species you ran into before."
"I hope you can save them, just like last time."
Morris said this sincerely.
He placed immense importance on this research.
His father had once proposed a theory that a layer of hydrogen sulfide might exist at the bottom of the ocean.
Below that cold, misty thermocline.
And beneath it, a brand-new world might very well exist.
To verify this theory, Morris invested a staggering 1.3 billion US dollars, hiring Dr. Zhang, a top expert in deep-sea scientific research, as well as Dr. Zhang's daughter, the chief marine biologist Zhang Suyin.
[Image]
In addition, there were the outstanding engineer and preliminary designer Jax, the medical specialist Heller, and the remote pilot DC, among others.
Every one of them was a veteran in their respective fields.
A first-class research institution staffed by first-class professionals.
Now, they were only one step away from perfectly completing this exploration.
But the prerequisite was rescuing the trapped personnel. Otherwise, he would be forced to abandon any further research under the pressure of public opinion.
Moreover, the data held by those trapped below was his only evidence to prove the theory's validity to the world.
"Wait, everyone, I think you should take a look at this!"
The person monitoring the radar detection pointed at the image on the screen in shock.
"My god… I'm not imagining things, am I?!"
"Just six thousand meters from us, a giant creature sixty meters long has appeared!"
"How is that possible?!"
Morris and the others hurried over. When they saw the detection results displayed on the radar, they all sucked in a sharp breath.
Morris turned to the chief marine biologist, Zhang Suyin. "What's your opinion?"
Zhang Suyin shook her head, shock evident on her face. "That's impossible. The largest creature known to humankind is the blue whale, and even the longest ones are only a little over thirty meters."
"Wait. Unless it's those things…"
"What things?" Morris pressed.
"Titans."
Zhang Suyin had clearly studied information related to Titans as well. "Do you remember the giant monsters that appeared in Maine and San Francisco a few days ago?"
"That was the Titan Godzilla, the most powerful creature in history."
"But this unknown creature… it's only sixty meters long. Maybe it's another Titan?"
"Hm!"
"There's another monster behind it! Oh my god, it's nearly ninety meters long, even bigger than the first one!"
Zhang Suyin cried out.
Dr. Zhang's expression turned grim, though a trace of shock was still visible in his eyes.
"Their direction of movement… it looks like they're heading straight toward us?!"
Morris was stunned.
Before they even had a chance to rescue the trapped personnel, they were already being forced to face an unknown creature sixty meters long, along with another that was ninety meters long.
Fate was truly playing a cruel joke on them.
Now, they were faced with a decision.
Should they continue the rescue under the threat of these unknown giant beasts, or retreat immediately?