Arknights: The Life Inside-Chapter 82

Traveling through the world of Terra so far, Yoren had faced many battles. With a mix of luck and strength, he had survived, even if the journey had been full of close calls and moments of sheer desperation. But he had made it this far.

Staring out at the distant sea, Yoren had a feeling that the battle ahead would be unlike any he had faced before. It would be his greatest challenge yet.

But he was no longer the person he used to be.

He had faced death alone before. Now, as he stood beside ACE and the others, fear no longer had a grip on him.

Boom!

ACE lowered the speedboat hanging from the stern and jumped in without hesitation.

Yoren turned to Ifrit, gripping her hand tightly.

"Are you ready?"

"Stop talking nonsense. Hurry up—I want to show you what the fire of hell really looks like."

"Just be careful and hold onto the Origin Stone."

"Hurry up!" Ifrit's eyes gleamed with excitement, her whole body brimming with anticipation like a tigress on the hunt.

Yoren glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

"Oh, by the way, can you swim?"

"Huh? Of course not. I hate water."

"Well, before I come save you, try flopping around a bit on your own."

"Tch."

The deck was silent except for the sound of waves.

Yoren kept his gaze fixed on the southwest, tightening his grip on Ifrit's hand.

Ouuuuhhh—!

The eerie cry echoed across the sea again. This time, Yoren pinpointed its location by the waves breaking in the distance.

The black power in his body surged to his arms. He clenched his fists and roared.

"Go!"

In the next instant, he launched Ifrit into the air like a cannonball.

The wind howled past Ifrit's ears as she soared in a long arc toward the southwest, straight toward the disturbance in the water. Oddly enough, she reveled in the sensation. It reminded her of when she first met Yoren in Mandel City.

As she fell, the Origin Stone in her grasp shimmered. Energy surged through her body, shifting into a form she could use. Then, like a meteorite crashing through the night sky, her entire body erupted into a blinding crimson light.

With a wild, almost maniacal laugh, she allowed the burning furnace inside her to unseal, directing every ounce of her power toward the sea below.

Thoom!

She struck the water.

For a moment, all was still.

The passengers aboard the ship stared blankly at the spot where Ifrit had vanished. It was like tossing a firecracker into a puddle—anticlimactic, almost absurd.

Then—

BOOM!

A thunderous explosion shattered the silence. The ship's windows burst apart as an intense red light illuminated the faces of everyone watching.

A pillar of fire, vast as a mountain, erupted from the sea.

Fire and water should not coexist. One should always extinguish the other. That was the law of nature.

But in this moment, nature was defied. A volcano had seemingly awakened beneath the waves, sending steam and flames skyward. The force of the explosion churned the sea into chaos, the resulting shockwave rocking the passenger ship from over a hundred meters away.

The captain was stunned. The Platts brothers were stunned. Every single passenger was stunned.

Most of all, Yoren, who had just thrown Ifrit into the sea, stood frozen in shock.

He really had thrown a damn nuclear bomb.

Snapping out of his daze, Yoren ran to the deck's edge and shouted down.

"Brother ACE! How's it looking?!"

ACE gritted his teeth as he steadied the speedboat against the powerful waves. One thick arm gripped the engine while the other shot up in a thumbs-up.

"No problem! We can move out anytime!"

Yoren turned to Snowsant.

"Snowsant, stay on deck. No matter what happens, don't go into the water."

With that, he leapt from the deck, plunging toward the sea below.

The pillar of fire slowly dissipated, its explosive force spent. But Yoren knew that wasn't the true power of the Fire Demon's flames. Unlike the disaster at Base No. 4, this was the ocean—it couldn't sustain the inferno for long.

But that didn't matter. The fire had already served its purpose.

"Brother ACE! Let's go!"

With a sharp nod, ACE gunned the speedboat's engine, sending it tearing across the waves toward Ifrit's landing site.

Below the surface, a red glow pulsed like a submerged lantern. The heat radiating from Ifrit's body was so intense that the surrounding seawater had begun to boil.

Bubbles rose violently to the surface. The sound of gurgling filled the air. The ocean within a dozens-meter radius was now a churning cauldron.

Yes—this was Yoren's plan. A plan so absurd it was almost comical.

If he had to name it, he'd call it The Boiled Fish Plan.

He wasn't worried about Ifrit's safety. Right now, she was like a molten iron sphere—too hot for anything to touch. Whatever lurked in the deep wouldn't dare get close.

If it had intelligence, it would flee to the depths.

If not... it had only one other option.

It would leap out of the water.

Ten seconds later, the speedboat reached Ifrit's position.

Yoren clenched his fists, every muscle in his body tensed with anticipation.

If that thing dared to surface—

He would strike the moment it showed its face.

Standing on the speedboat, staring at the sea, Yoren's fists trembled slightly—not from fear, but from an indescribable, complex mix of emotions.

This kind of scene was unimaginable to the version of himself who used to go home after school just to spend his holidays playing games.

But this was Terra, a world where survival meant everything. Behind him stood the ever-reliable Brother ACE, waiting on the ship was the future Rhodes Island operator, Snake Butcher, and beneath the water, radiating intense heat, was Rhine Lab's special experimental subject—Ifrit.

And right now, he was the core of this team.

People grow. Unlike the past, when he trailed behind Vina and Indra, cheering them on, at this moment of life and death, he was the one taking the lead.

His gaze remained locked onto the boiling sea. If the creature was going to strike, it would be now.

"Brother ACE, just keep the speedboat steady. Leave the rest to me."

"Clear."

Yoren focused, channeling the power of the black and white twins into his left arm. It was now the 13th day of the operation cycle, and his individual power, nearing 2000, far surpassed that of most normal creatures.

Ifrit couldn't swim. Time was of the essence—this battle would be decided in an instant.

"Come on, damn it! Show yourself!"

Boom!

The sea erupted as an enormous wave surged into the sky.

A massive shadow appeared, reflected in Yoren's pupils.

Time seemed to freeze.

His prediction had been spot on. Trapped in the boiling waters, the creature had no choice but to leap out rather than dive deeper.

But when he finally saw it in full, an eerie chill ran down his spine.

It wasn't a monstrous octopus or some colossal deep-sea leviathan.

It was something far worse.

At least ten meters long, its size alone was intimidating, but that wasn't what unsettled him. As it broke through the surface, casting a looming shadow over the speedboat, Yoren got a good look at its grotesque form.

Its slimy, dull-green skin contrasted with a pale underbelly. Its back was lined with jagged scales, while its head resembled that of a bloated fish, complete with bulging, unblinking eyes and gills that quivered grotesquely. But the worst part?

It had limbs.

Slender forearms. Thick, muscular hind legs. Long, webbed fingers. It was a nightmare spawned from the abyss, a twisted chimera of the deep.

"Oouurrghh!"

The creature let out a hoarse, guttural screech—a sound that sent a ripple of unease through Yoren's very bones. Though its stiff fish-like face lacked expression, that cry was filled with emotion, something primal, something dark from the depths.

Yoren's brain scrambled to process the sight before him. He had braced himself for a shark-like terror or an eldritch monstrosity. Instead, he was facing a grotesque, towering, fish-headed abomination.

Even ACE, a man who had seen horrors across the world, couldn't help but blurt out, "What in the hell is that?!"

Yoren didn't have time to think.

The beast, its skin scorched by the boiling water, had leapt tens of meters into the air. And now, gravity took hold, bringing it crashing straight down—right onto the speedboat.

On the passenger ship, people gasped in horror. Some dropped to their knees, unable to comprehend what they were witnessing.

Even from hundreds of meters away, the sheer scale of the creature compared to the tiny speedboat was enough to fill them with dread. If that thing made it onto their ship, there would be no escape. It would be a massacre.

A massive shadow enveloped Yoren. The monster's eyes remained eerily static, but its massive webbed claws were poised to tear him apart.

"Yoren!"

ACE shouted, urgency in his voice.

Yoren's left eye flared with black flames. His grip tightened, crushing the Source Stone in his hand, sending shards scattering into the sea.

He bent his knees and sprang from the speedboat, a battle cry erupting from his throat.

"Fuck your uncle! Die, you bastard!"

Midair, man and monster hurtled toward each other.

The fish-headed abomination swung first, its webbed claw slashing through the air with lethal force. Yoren barely had time to react. He twisted his body, bringing up his leg in a desperate counter.

Wham!

The impact sent a jolt of pain through his body. The force of the strike was immense, and though he managed to deflect it, deep gashes were torn into his thigh.

The searing pain threatened to break his focus. Gritting his teeth, he refused to let it slow him down. His momentum was still carrying him forward.

The real attack had yet to come.

"DIE!"

With all the power he had gathered, Yoren roared, driving his left fist straight into the creature's grotesque face.

Boom!

A dull, sickening crunch echoed through the air. The monster's bulbous eyes burst, blood spraying as its skull caved inward. The sheer force of the blow sent its massive body careening backward, flailing wildly as it crashed back into the sea.

For a moment, silence.

Then, gasps and murmurs rippled through the passenger ship. Many were too stunned to react, their minds unable to process what they had just witnessed.

Some, with more active imaginations, half-expected a film crew to appear, revealing this to be some elaborate deep-sea monster movie shoot.

The boiling ocean. The monstrous abomination. A lone man tearing it apart with his bare hands.

To them, it was unreal.

But for Yoren, this was just another battle in Terra's unforgiving world.

One that was far from over.