Fatal Shot
chapter-57

The intangible threat would be the most deadly weapon!

As the Stingray dove for the bottom of the sea, it completely disappeared in front of everyone. The players could not even track its movements.

It was a mistake to believe that one could see anything at the bottom of the ocean—especially in the middle of the sea. In fact, due to the distraction caused by the reflection of the water's surface affecting their vision and the decreasing visibility beneath the water, the players' human eyes could only see the white item under the sea within a few dozen meters. Not to mention gray-colored stuff; the water quality was unfavorable, so they could only see around 10 meters deep under the water surface from the ship.

Furthermore, the Stingray's dark gray back was similar to the color of the sea, which granted him great camouflage capabilities. In addition to the distance, once it entered the deeper parts of the ocean, it would be almost invisible to their sight. However, it definitely would continue to chase the ship. The Stingray was 150 meters away from the ship before entering the ocean, and, considering its previously observed movement speed, it would take about 10 seconds for it to get to the cruise. This estimation was made assuming that the cruise ship was charging in full speed, at over 30 kilometers per hour.

Feng Luo took his rifle scope and quickly scanned the surface of the ocean to see if he could discover any sign of the Stingray. As a Sniper, he was equipped with high visual awareness mastery. However, he was still unable to track the location of the Stingray. Under the current circumstances, only a Scout player would have been able to detect its coordinates by using special skills. But there were only Doctors, Snipers, Warriors, and Manipulators aboard the ship. None of them were Scout players.

Hold on a second! There are still several Scouts here! Feng Luo realized. He had completely forgotten about the NPC sailors on the ship.

NPCs in the game had their own professions. The 15 sailors on the ship all were of the Gunner profession and were able to operate machine guns. Among these sailors, there would certainly be a Scout. After all, they were the "professionals" who spent most of their time sailing in the ocean. Therefore, there was bound to be a Scout sailor among them.

As expected, one of the sailors started to report information in a loud tone while looking at an instrument in his hand. "The Stingray is that going way, 10 meters beneath the water's surface, 87 meters from the stern of the ship, charging at 11 meters per second, slowly getting closer to the cruise… 84 meters… 80 meters…"

A middle-aged NPC with a bushy beard, wearing a blue sailor's uniform, immediately began giving orders. He was the chief of the ship, and he had previously been a junior officer of a guard team at a town by the seaside.

"Ready!" he said. "Aim…! Fire!"

Not all of the sailors believed in the theory connecting the god of the sea, Poseidon, with the Stingray. In fact, the greater the technological advancement in the community, the less superstitious the people tended to be.

Ta-ta…! Ta-ta…!

The sailors with machine guns did not hesitate. They set up the six-barreled electromagnetic machine gun and started to fire at a rate of hundreds of bullets per second, with blue flame erupting from the weapon's muzzle.

The Stingray was hiding in the sea at a depth of over 10 meters. Normally, when machine gun bullets dropping into the water, the high-speed spinning bullets would lose their balance due to the water's resistance, instantly causing them to lose their lethality and reduce their damage effect within five meters.

Even if the rounds being used were the armor-piercing bullets fired by Feng Luo's M110, they would still lose their power within 10 meters upon entering the water surface. However, the bullets fired by the six-barreled electromagnetic machine gun situated at the aft of the ship were custom-made for hunting sea creatures, which could still guarantee significant lethality within 20 meters of entering the sea. As the bullets came swarming out of the machine gun, the surface of the sea within 100 meters became like water boiling, producing numerous meters-high water columns.

Boom!

The Stingray burst to the surface, its humongous body emitting light blue water energy as it flew over. After taking a bit of damage, the Stingray had entered a state of fury. Its airspeed was now faster, and it flew even higher than before!

"It's flying over here!" White Crescent cried out in fright. As a Doctor, she was unable to make any sort of contribution to the current situation. The scene was so thrilling that she had almost forgotten she was in a game.

After the Stingray rose above the sea like a bomber, it started gliding toward the ship. Although the vessel was already moving at full speed—over 20 meters per second—it was still not fast enough to compare to the high-speed flying Stingray, which was getting closer. They were at risk of being overturned and dumped into the sea!

What possible course of action could manage to stop this giant flying fish? The Stingray was exactly 20 meters above the sea, exposing its abdomen with a grayish-white color that differed from its back. In the middle of the abdomen, there was a diamond-shaped area the size of a washbasin, producing the dim blue light of water energy.

"A diamond-shaped area?"

Feng Luo immediately recalled the tips from the information obtained by the rifle's scope, which had mentioned that "the diamond-shaped area on the abdomen" was its weak point. Previously, its abdomen had not been exposed and could never have been hit because the Stingray was hiding under the water. However, it had burst into the sky, flying up high above the sea. And the weak point had been exposed completely, right in front of the players.

Feng Luo squinted as he immediately brought up his M110. He took aim at the Stingray and, within a second, regained the previous feeling he'd discovered while hunting the sea eagles.

Unlike the previous bird-hunting quest, it was time to go fishing!

Fish-hunting in the sky? Who would ever have believed that?

Bang!

A sharp bullet blasted from the gun. It pierced through the air and was fired directly at the targeted diamond-shaped tender area on its abdomen.

−8992

Within a second, the armor-piercing bullet landed directly in the targeted area. The high-speed, spinning, armor-piercing round blasted through its skin and flesh and traveled deep into its body. Eventually, a massive damage amount of nearly 9,000 points appeared over the head of the Stingray.

The number was blood red! A critical hit!

In War, critical hits could not only deal massive damage but also had a special effect, which was to interrupt the enemy's skill!

At this crucial moment, Feng Luo had managed to take the shot! The Stingray's abdomen was left with a hole as big as a bowl after getting hit by the bullet. Large quantities of blood poured down from the wound. The flat, floating body trembled. The light-blue luster on the surface instantly faded away. In addition to the tremendous pain, the Stingray could no longer glide and eventually fell to the water's surface 50 meters away from the ship.

Boom!

The Stingray dropped heavily onto the surface of the sea, but what happened next stunned every player on the ship.

After falling onto the water's surface, the Stingray did not sink into the sea. Moreover, its kite-shaped body created a strange physical effect in contact with the sea. Upon the fall, its body rebounded against the surface of the sea and "jumped" back up into the air, bouncing toward the direction of the cruise.

"Holy God! Did that really just happen?" the Big Pineapple shouted, watching with glassy eyes.

Yes, of course it had. Actually, the theory was simple. The Stingray was like a skipping stone—a game many players were familiar with from childhood, where a flat stone would bounce off the surface of the water continuously after being thrown sidearm.

The difference was the "stone" in this situation had been enlarged by 10,000 times, with an estimated weight of over ten tons!

Although the cruise ship was already at full speed, fleeing from the Stingray at over 30 kilometers per hour, the speed of the "skipping Stingray" was faster. Without a doubt, the Stingray would connect with the aft part of the ship, generating a massive collision that would be enough to overturn the ship!

The crisis had yet to be averted!