Chereads / Elfen Lied: The Novel Series / Chapter 92 - Bewilderment and the Sea

Chapter 92 - Bewilderment and the Sea

The admiral in charge of the Japanese Self-Defense Force's naval First Escort Fleet and his crew are chafing under the burden of a secret cargo. Guarded more heavily than shipments of plutonium and under the control of two arrogant operatives sent by Saseba to operate a top-secret attack craft, their goal is to secure the research and scientists at the offshore Diclonius Research Institute, whose leader has gone rogue and out of contact.

Even recalling his briefing by the Joint Staff brings only frustration and more questions for the admiral, chiefly focusing on the desire of the Japanese government to not have its role in sponsoring this research known to the world as a whole. The Chiefs tell the Admiral very little, much of it vague and parts he finds wholly unbelievable.

The tension only rises as the typical crew grumbling over the mission is cut off at every turn by the cold and dismissive operatives, pushing the admiral to say that he will not permit this secret cargo to be a danger to his ships and crew, and threatens to dump it in such a scenario. The first mate is ready to throttle the lead operative when he states the cargo is more important than the crews' lives, just as a wave emanating from out the target island threatens to capsize the overburdened ships.

The admiral dismisses all talk of threats to humankind and issues the order to dump the cargo and save his crew. As the first mate starts to issue the order, he is shot and executed at point blank range, shocking and enraging the admiral and crew just as the wave arrives, capsizing two ships and flooding a third, cutting fleet size in half in a heartbeat. The operatives' only concern is that the attack crafts aboard the flagship are in place and safe. Gun in hand, the admiral, arrives, intent on avenging his officer's murder, only to witness one of the crafts burst open, revealing what looks like to be the grayish organic matter of a giant brain oozing out.