Chapter 469 Rapid Descent!

Appearing before the group was a heavily scarred sahuagin.

This was not an elite guard with two pairs of arms, nor a fishman priest capable of casting spells. It was just the most ordinary, common individual of the sahuagin race.

It looked as though it had just survived a fierce battle. Many deep, bleeding wounds marred its fine blue-green scales, and the most severe gash had nearly flayed its chest and abdomen open, faintly revealing the outline of organs beneath the diaphragm.

Its right hand tightly gripped a metal harpoon, the standard weapon of its kind, but the tip wasn't pointed at the group. Instead, it was stabbed deep into the mud to support the fishman's weight.

Clearly, this sahuagin was gravely injured.

As mentioned before, coastal islanders viewed sahuagins as monsters because of their brutal nature and extreme hatred for other races.

But in reality, they were intelligent creatures. They possessed their own language, script, and a unique civilization.

They also feared death and grieved the loss of their companions.

Under normal circumstances, a lone, heavily injured sahuagin encountering a well-rested, powerful veteran adventurer squad like the Blade of Vengeance would realize it was outmatched.

Unable to fight, it wouldn't even be able to flee.

Aside from a few exceptionally stubborn individuals, they rarely initiated attacks.

Begging for mercy or simply waiting for death would be the most likely course of action.

Strangely, however, the moment this sahuagin saw the group, it displayed obvious hostility.

Possessing the sharpest Perception among them, Xia Nan had been drawn by a faint noise from outside the corridor. He had actually spotted the fishman before it even saw them.

Because of this, he had observed its entire reaction.

There was no hesitation, no wavering whatsoever.

The instant the sahuagin saw his group, it let out a highly aggressive roar.

For an intelligent creature capable of thought, this was undoubtedly abnormal.

Of course, its actual strength did not match the reckless courage it displayed.

A Challenge Rating 0.5, combined with a gravely injured body, facing several veteran adventurers with an average Class Level exceeding Level 3... the outcome was entirely predictable.

"Galu!"

Thick saliva sprayed from its maw along with its maddened, furious roar.

Struggling to yank the harpoon out of the mud, the sahuagin limped forward and launched an attack at the adventurers.

Rip—

It was the harsh sound of a sharp blade tearing through flesh and blood.

A heavy, anchor-shaped axe blade cleaved through the air. Requiring no special power buffs, relying solely on pure physical Strength and a sharp weapon, it effortlessly split apart the thrusting harpoon and the fishman's body behind it.

Without a shred of mercy, Aken diagonally cleaved the enemy in two with his weapon.

Confirming there were no more enemies and that this was merely a lone sahuagin, the Blade of Vengeance's tight combat formation relaxed slightly.

Captain Lorraine stepped forward slowly. She frowned down at the sahuagin at her feet, which, despite being severed from its lower half and spilling its organs across the ground, still gripped the broken shaft of its harpoon in a futile attempt to attack her.

"Something's not right."

Even the thick-nerved Barbarian brute, Aken, could see the peculiarity of the fishman before them.

"It's not like we slaughtered its whole family. I've never seen such a gutsy water rat," Aken muttered.

Meanwhile, Xia Nan's gaze was fixed on the harpoon Aken had chopped in half.

—The blood remaining on the tip of the harpoon was fluorescent blue.

"Are you saying... these fishmen were infighting too?" Hein asked.

Stepping to the side, Hein crouched down to carefully inspect the sahuagin's body, noticing that the shapes of many wounds on it matched the weapons used by fishmen.

This was very interesting.

Granted, whether among humans or sahuagins, infighting was a common occurrence.

But at this juncture, having first discovered traces of islanders slaughtering each other in Twin Canyon, and then coincidentally seeing a similarly infighting, seemingly mindless fishman—coupled with the bizarre, alien architecture they had witnessed along the way—it was hard not to draw connections.

"Perhaps... there is something in this ancient ruin that can affect a creature's sanity?" Hein deduced, combining the clues the group had investigated so far.

For experienced, veteran adventurers like them, the things they guarded against the most during regular missions were not powerful monsters, but invisible, intangible potential threats like this one.

Hearing her say this, the tabaxi Sasha suddenly tensed up. The fur all over his body stood on end; with just a bit more stimulation, he would likely hiss.

Xia Nan silently agreed with Hein's speculation.

Taking into account their encounters along the way and his past experiences, he also suspected that something from within the secret realm had affected the minds of the islanders and the fishmen in Twin Canyon, causing them to slaughter their own.

Upon realizing this possibility, he heightened his vigilance even further, constantly monitoring his own mental state.

But up until now, he hadn't noticed anything abnormal.

With a Perception attribute of 12 and the mental resistance bonus granted by the [Gaze into the Abyss] Feat, even if he couldn't completely resist a mind-control spell, he should at least be able to feel its influence.

And if this mind-altering ability was truly so strong that even he couldn't sense it, then whether they stayed on the island or retreated right now made no difference anyway.

Therefore, he judged that whatever was causing the fishmen and islanders to infight likely had some sort of underlying limitation.

"I need more clues." Hein stood up, her crystalline eyes staring at the dying sahuagin on the ground as its life force rapidly drained away. "At the very least, we must figure out what happened here."

She looked over at Lorraine.

Although Hein was the core Spellcaster of the team, Lorraine was the strongest and most prestigious captain of the entire squad, possessing absolute decision-making power during missions.

How the six of them proceeded next depended entirely on her command.

Lorraine pondered for a moment, her flickering gaze showing she had clearly made a decision.

She was just about to speak when a sudden clamor erupted from the canyon below, outside the cave.

Faintly, they could hear the "Galu" screeches of fishmen, mingled with the sound of a horn and familiar human roars.

"Not good!"

...

...

Meanwhile, at the makeshift dock in Twin Canyon.

The Blade of Vengeance ship, guarded by the twin Warrior brothers Ryan and Gordon, had not relaxed its vigilance just because they had reached their destination.

The temporary departure of the core adventurer squad made them even more cautious.

As one of the only two remaining Class Holders on the ship, Gordon personally climbed up to the crow's nest atop the mainmast, hoping to use his eyesight—superior to that of an ordinary crew member—to spot any potential threats from their surroundings in advance.

His brother Ryan remained on the deck, directing the sailors.

Fixed sentries armed with bows and hand crossbows were set up at the bow and stern. The gangplank leading to the shore had been pulled back, leaving only a rope ladder that could be severed at a moment's notice. Anti-boarding nets were laid out along the edges of the ship's gunwales, ready to be thrown down to stall enemies. Even the dark corners around the dock had been rigged with warning traps by a few bold veteran sailors.

Evidently, this was not their first time guarding the ship. The deck was highly organized, and even the usually rowdy crew members kept their mouths tightly shut, not daring to make a sound.

Considering the sahuagins they had encountered on their way here, the brothers had even made special preparations against potential underwater enemies.

Several empty iron cans, strung together with segmented rope nets, were forcefully hurled onto the nearby water surface by the crew.

When the currents were normal, they would only bob slightly. But if a large creature bumped into them, the violent rattling that followed would alert everyone on board to the danger.

It was exactly this precaution that granted the Blade of Vengeance some maneuvering room, preventing what would have been a catastrophic loss.

Clang, clang, clang!

The hollow iron cans floating on the water crashed violently against each other, emitting a rapid, high-pitched racket.

"Watch the water!" Ryan shouted a warning to the crew while stepping forward, striding right up to the railing at the edge of the deck.

Alongside the fierce clattering of the iron cans, the originally calm water surface suddenly surged, and humanoid silhouettes faintly flickered within the waves.

Knowing they had been spotted, these sea monsters no longer deliberately slowed their movements to hide. Thrashing their bodies, they roared and rapidly closed in on the Blade of Vengeance from beneath the surface.

The sharp harpoons occasionally breaking the surface, along with the dark fins slicing through the currents like sharks, exposed their identities.

"It's the sahuagins!"

"Prepare for battle!!!" Accompanying Ryan's roar, the first thing to sound out was a high-pitched horn from above.

They had made an agreement when Lorraine and the others left the ship. Almost the instant danger was discovered, the other twin Warrior, Gordon, who was standing in the crow's nest, blew the horn signaling that the ship was under attack.

Positioned in the middle of the canyon, flanked by towering cliffs on both sides, the loud, drawn-out blast of the horn echoed between the rock walls.

After blowing it three consecutive times to ensure everyone heard it, Gordon rapidly climbed down from the crow's nest and returned to the deck.

By this time, the first wave of fishmen had already engaged the sailors in combat.

Beneath the surface of the sea was the fishmen's home turf.

Even the most reckless crew member knew that jumping into the water was sheer suicide.

As a result, they could only stand at the edge of the deck and shoot their crossbows at the rapidly approaching enemies below the waves.

Unfortunately, their aim was lacking.

Faced with those terrifyingly fast phantoms in the water, even Ryan, a Class Holder, only managed to hit three or four of them.

Furthermore, the resistance of the seawater severely dampened the power of the bolts. Even if a fishman was hit, it suffered only light injuries at most.

"Damn it!"

"Get out of the way!" Hearing the sound of sharp objects gouging the ship's hull, the twin brothers, who had always seemed wooden and quiet in front of Xia Nan, now displayed their true sense of responsibility as the remaining core crew members. They charged directly at the fishmen leaping up onto the deck from the water or climbing aboard using their harpoons.

Thud—

A sharp harpoon struck the surface of an iron-rimmed round shield head-on, producing a muffled boom.

The shield held steady. With a slight forward push, the harpoon stabbed into the shield was forcefully deflected, instantly throwing the fishman gripping the shaft off balance.

Before its dripping wet body could even steady itself, a one-handed sword swung from the side and cleaved off half of its head. Splattering blue and white fluids, the corpse plunged back into the sea.

The well-rounded nature granted by the [Warrior] Class meant that while they might lack the specialized quirks of more obscure classes, they possessed highly adaptable combat abilities.

Coupled with the innate synergy of being twins, their actual combat strength when working together far exceeded that of ordinary teammates.

Covering one another, they managed to hold the deck for the time being, kicking fishman after fishman off the ship.

However, the expressions on their faces didn't relax in the slightest; instead, they grew even more tense.

That was because, right at this moment, they could feel distinct vibrations from the deck beneath their feet, along with the muffled sounds of gouging coming from the water.

The sahuagins were attacking the ship's hull underwater.

This was the fatal weak point of all non-aquatic creatures.

As long as the ship was sunk, they would be forced to fight the fishmen in the extremely hostile underwater environment.

Once they entered the water, their Level 3 combat prowess would likely be slashed by more than half on the spot. It would be impossible to fight as easily as they were now.

"We can't keep going on like this, brother!"

"Should we cover the boys and abandon ship first?" Gordon shouted, panting as he forcefully chopped off the arm of a fishman about to climb onto the deck.

If the ship was sunk, the two of them still had ways to cope as Class Holders. But the rest of the crew, no matter how good they were in the water, would face certain death under the siege of the fishmen.

Since they were currently docked near the pier, taking advantage of the fact that the underwater sahuagins hadn't managed to storm the deck yet to cover the crew's retreat to the shore would preserve as many lives as possible.

Faced with this option, the older brother Ryan appeared somewhat hesitant.

He knew that doing so meant completely abandoning the Blade of Vengeance.

Once the ship sank, their entire group would be completely trapped in Twin Canyon.

Setting aside whether there were other dangers on the island, whether their remaining supplies could last until another ship made port was a serious problem in itself.

Crash—

Another wave surged past, violently rocking the deck.

Casually grabbing a crew member who lost his balance and nearly fell into the water, Ryan gritted his teeth, his mind made up.

"All crew, head for the dock—" Ryan only managed to get halfway through his sentence when, accompanied by the high-frequency hum of magical energy, emerald-green motes of light drifted down leisurely.

[Fast-Growing Vine Shell]!

Water weeds and tough vines rapidly blanketed the hull of the ship.

Everyone subconsciously looked up at the sky.

What met their eyes was a Short-Tailed Albatross circling the heavens, and a pitch-black figure rapidly plummeting downward.