Fog of War

Hi, it's your local biological living carrier, Kato Aori, or just Ai Magicnet as I was classified in this world! Despite the fact that I am not made of flesh and bone, I am pretty much feeling alive in this metal body. Now that I have escaped the enemy reinforcements from the Tora-tora or whatever the hell it was called, I am now heading into the thickest fog I have ever seen. Even with automatic navigation from an AI such as myself, I barely know where I am going.

▲ Warning. Power Level is Low. Head to the nearest base now for refueling and rearm. Nearest base location: 90km E. ▲

Status: Low Power

Power: 4.6% / 100% !

Rank: 2/5 ✰ ✰ - - -

Speed: 50 kph

Waypoint distance: 90 km

Shields: 98%

Weapons: ARMMS - Online

I seem to have lost about .4% of my power from being activated to attacking alone. Even traveling at a constant speed seems to consume more power than using my weapons. Power is very low to try anything at the moment. Even with a soul-based artificial intelligence, it still needs to consume power. I have yet to see what type of power the modern people in this world use for their devices.

Magical power seems likely but I have generators inside me. The ones that use actual fuel to power vehicles and ships. I am surprised I haven’t consumed most of the remaining power I have since I am a massive ship. Even for fossil fuel-based generators, moving a ship this size would be a logistical nightmare. Even for a certain ship back in world war era Japan would use their one massive flagship as a mere troop carrier instead of utilizing it as an actual battleship elsewhere.

The Radar on my HUD is scanning everything at a certain radius. It even shows a map of where I am right now relative to the base Arika said there would be. A dark grey fog surrounds me as I head east on the map. I see myself on the map as a ship heading straight east with a meter of the fogless area around me. I believe that would be my line of sight that I currently explored. For the past few hours, It has been too quiet and eerily dark.

Arika can see what I see outside in this dense fog. She is currently on my bridge and overseeing everything as she hangs around being healed by what seemed to be a magic spell, recreated by my own ship self. I have yet to wonder about her own appearance while traveling into the mist. She doesn’t seem to look like a bad person despite her status as a demon lord. Seeing through inside myself with the most high-definition camera I’ve ever used, her eyes seem to glow in golden yellow. Her hair was silver-golden white with her body was pale as well. She had horns near both her ears. All those horns do not resemble a typical demon as one would expect, they were similar to deer antlers with the shape of the letter ‘Y’. Her chest resembles mountains which I would be envious of if I was a human being right now. Before I had been reincarnated as a machine, I barely had such hills. She wore a dress in golden white as well which led me to doubt a bit if she was really a demon lord. All the while I was looking at her without her knowing, I scanned her using one of the ‘Digital Instrument Skills’ I have in a speed dial on my HUD called [ Digital Scan: Mk.1 ]. There were 6 small icons that can be accessed by me in my HUD. The icon that contained the scan had a ruler stick symbol that supposedly meant ‘instruments’. Under that symbol contained only the digital scan. I used it on her and without the need to wait for it to process, her stats appeared on my screen.

[ Digital Scan: Mk.1 - Target: Person]

Target Name: @%!!#%$% Arika Tenevris Aineura @%!!#%$%

Race: Demon

Faction: Aineura Demon Empire

Lvl: @#$% 250 @#$%

HP: 4,320/25,000 + 70/hour + 200/hour - 360/hour -2,000 Weaken

State: [ Weakened ] [ Regina Aqua Poison -360 ] [ HP Recovery +200 ]

[ Healing Apparatus +70 ]

I guess that is why it was too fast to process because this list of stats was too short. With the ‘mark 1’ meant that this skill was only at level 1 and upgradeable, this appraisal barely gave me anything other than her basic statuses. Man, having level 1 skills suck especially at times like this. Where curiosity is currently running through your head and something stupid just stops it because it wants to.

A short, green, horizontal bar floats above Arika’s head. Another long bar floats below the first but is now blue. The last bar floats below the first two and is now in yellow. 4 white circles then appear below the bars. By my knowledge of games I have played back in my world, those circles represent cooldowns for skills while the yellow bar represents the XP they have gained before leveling up. The other bars are self-explanatory for health and mana.

It shows that she really is a demon, well if that was not painfully obvious. Her faction is from her kingdom she rules which is the demon race called the Aineura Demon Empire. She is surprisingly low-level for a demon queen ruling a kingdom though. Aren’t they supposed to be higher than everyone else like level 99 or something? She is losing 90 HP every hour because of that Regina Aqua curse. My ship's healing barely exceeds her own recovery in this state. The [ weakened ] debuff decreases her max HP as well, so she cannot gain a full recovery otherwise. Speaking of which, her name contains symbols and is also disrupting my own HUD just on those symbols. Must be a glitch on my systems maybe? How could the ones who made me make sure that I was not glitchy at the point of launch? Either that or Digital Scan mark 1 is just too elementary at the moment that even her real name isn’t shown on my scans.

Now I know how much time the demon queen has left but what about myself. Since the beginning of my existence in this world, I have yet to understand myself as an AI mixed with a ship. I guess most of the important things from Arika are yet to be scanned when I manage to level up or in this case, upgrade my digital scan. The statuses of Arika then disappear from my screen as I set the target to myself.

[ Digital Scan: Mk.1 - Target: Self]

Target Name: @%!!#%$% A1-Magicnet @%!!#%$%

Race: Artificial Intelligence

Machine Type: A1 ARK SUPERCARRIER

Manufacturer: Black Angel Industries

Faction: Aineura Demon Empire

HP: 500,000 / 500,000

State: [ Low Power ] [ Power Saving Mode ]

To my disappointment, there is nothing much to know of myself either at least at the moment. The scan doesn’t show my own name from my homeworld which is understandable to see. Similar to my scans from Arika, the target name still shows a glitch in the text. This digital scan sure is the most glitchy skill I currently have. Either way, they still show the most important stuff to know for a target such as their HP. Black Angel Industries? That is one hell of a shady name for a company, well not in this case since it originated in a territory controlled by the demons. Artificial Intelligence seems to have existed as a form of a race in this world. Doubted my scans for a bit as they showed me as a ‘Magical Artificial Intelligence’. How can you even mix magical elements into a machine that is purely electronic? This probably explains my existence here as my own soul is sucked into this machine.

As for HP… WHAT?! I have more HP than that of Arika by 20-fold! Those pirate ships suck at damaging me as I received none from them. My State shows Low Power and Power Saving Mode which I could understand. Little did I know how much time I have spent in cold storage down there.

As much as I want to learn more about myself, the dense fog is getting thicker as I move deeper into it. Darkness engulfed most of the vision behind and beyond my heading. A concerned Arika is caught off guard as the mist gets darker and darker as time goes by. The darkness also envelopes the sky as the sun slowly sets, beginning to make the place dimmer and dimmer by the minute. I thought of thinking of something that would illuminate my surroundings without being too well-lit for our pursuers, the pirates, to see us with a glow in the fog. I check for the Digital Instrument Skills for any luck of a new skill being unlocked or appearing for my time of need, but there were none.

I was disappointed only for a short while until there was a notification below to toggle lights. This toggle button then appears on the bottom right corner of my HUD with several settings that include turning all of my ship lights, a searchlight, and more. I toggled it once and a searchlight is slowly getting constructed on top of my head or on top of the main bridge superstructure. I could see it being clearly laid out like it is being 3D printed. A blue transparent light layout appears to take the shape of the searchlight, almost as if it was a hologram model being made on the spot. The blue light then rapidly darkens into a darker black color much like my own hull. The searchlight is already made and ready to operate. Wow. That was quick! If I timed it, it almost took like 5 seconds to complete all of that! That moment I noticed the thought of me needing something, my ship body makes it possible. I must have been made to do such a thing to improve or improvise on the way in order to adapt to whatever my supposed enemies would throw at me. What a terrifying concept for a secret weapon, the ability to adapt into anything the enemy would throw at ya.

This one massive searchlight illuminated my heading and only that direction. The light pierces the thinnest fog in close proximity to me. I checked inside me and the demon queen seemed to have been surprised with the bright light.

“Impossible. Even Illuminance magic could not create such a bright light. Your power as a weapon is truly magnificent, Ai.” Arika cheered.

“Ehe. I would say I am not surprised but yes. It is indeed such a bright light.” I calmly responded. She finally said something after about 2 hours since we escaped. She must have been so exhausted that she could not speak after she was nearly killed with Aqua Regina slowly killing her.

“Though I must warn you Ai. The waters here that are enveloped by the mist are barely explored and are dangerous to any race that passes here. Sea monsters were reported here by Admiral Petrel who barely survived the encounters. I suggest you prevent that searchlight from hitting the surface ocean. The light from the ships seems to attract them towards the surface.” Arika warns with her eyes closing the moment she says her last line. As if she remembers a tragedy that befalls upon her long ago.

“How did you know that they are attracted to the light from the ships? Surely Admiral Petrel would not have told you about this exploit to explore the Siren’s Mist.” I asked.

“In the first few months of the war declared on our nation, there was a battle right here inside the mist and on top of the sea we are right now.”

“A naval battle? I thought no ships ever crossed the mist?” I asked on the spot after which a short pause and a sigh emanated from Arika. It seems that she may not want to remember it but for the sake of my lack of knowledge, she had to.

“It was not intended for the battle to be fought inside the mist. We were simply… forced to move inside it in hopes of confusing each other with the low visibility the mist has to offer.” She added.

“While failing to locate you at a different island in our search. Our fleet was ambushed by Admiral Petrel. We were a fleet of 3 and the enemy had 24 on their side. We did not have the firepower or the numbers. We had to hide in the mist in an attempt to lose our pursuers.”

“It was only then… that thing. It appeared from the depths. Something I have never seen before from the vast ocean that any race had explored.” She stops speaking afterward. Trying to catch a breath for mentioning something fearful for the habitants in this world.

“How bad was it? How many did you lose?” curiosity killed my respect for her loss.

“From their chase for us, we had 45 crew losses, most of which were lower-ranking demons that manned the light cannons. That was from the leading flagship where I was on. I don’t know how many losses the other two ships sustained from the attack. We were taking fire from all of their ships. Once we entered the mist, each light arrow that came off each ship disappeared one by one. We were ecstatic to see our enemies fall from the creatures that lurk in the mist.”

“Only then our plan backfired while leaving the edge of the mist. Visibility got worse as we exited the fog as if the fog itself was following us until we left. A minute before we could still see the two of our other ships that managed to survive the chase. The second we broke away from the fog, we were the only ones left.”

“...So… You never saw what hit your ships?..” I asked

“I did see a glimpse of its enormity as it finished its attack. Two tentacles pierced the fog from the surface of the water and went down to the depths. I saw another one which was different from the one with tentacles, it had a long fin with a scale of a dragon.”

Tentacles huh… I have a bad feeling that I used to know what it was but I forgot what it was called. It was from a legend that I barely paid attention to such mythologies back then. Learning it from high school was the only clue I remember. My memory from my past life doesn’t retain that far back of information in my life history.

Something does not add up though despite Arika explaining everything that had transpired in the Siren’s Mist. Why would the demon lord escape from such a monster? Shouldn't a demon lord be all-powerful, greater, or similar to a ‘legendary’ class monster as some would say? Why was she running away? I can’t stand the thought and asked her indiscriminately after she just finished her reminiscence of the past.

“There is one thing I could not get with you saying that you didn’t have the firepower. How could you not take those ships alone if you are a powerful demon lord with almost no hero who could have stopped with no experience? Those 24 ships would have been easy pickings for you alone? Why didn’t you?” The demon lord lowers her head, preventing me from seeing it through the camera behind the monitor she is looking at. All I could see in her face was her teeth smashing together, as if she was angry, with a face almost a prelude to bursting in tears.

While all of this conversation takes place inside me, a large wave slipstream slowly appears and disappears in front the moment the light passes through it. A loud bang interrupts our conversation and is then heard all around the ship, with me slightly screaming in shock with the pain hitting my stomach or the lower hull of the ship.

▲Warning. Proximity Alert : Object below ship. ▲

Warning. Remaining power allocated to shields. Shield Integrity maintaining 98%

“ARGHH!... What the heck was that!?”

Something stopped me from moving and a dark silhouette slowly rose from the ground.

“Is this..?!”

"...It can’t be!"

Oh boy this surely not is the right convenient time for it to appear!?