Chapter 529 Strength +1

Xia Nan's battle plan wasn't complicated.

Since he already knew the Wind-Seed Octopus's vital spot lay at the base of the pointed horn on its head, the key to breaking the stalemate was bypassing the defensive perimeter of its tentacles.

There were actually quite a few ways to do it. He could have tried using [Fang Hunt] with the underwater mobility bonuses from his [Abyssal Current] armor to maximize his speed and burst power, cutting his way in from the front.

Alternatively, he could have asked his teammates to distract it while he relied on the Deflection Field of the [Deathline] ring or his Snake-Scale Arm Shield to force an opening, trading a few acceptable injuries for a chance to strike.

In the end, though, Xia Nan chose to ask the druid Hein up on the deck for help.

They executed the special "combo move" they had practiced many times before.

He had her shift into her albatross form, hoist him high into the air, and launch a diving ambush on the monster from above.

As for the result—

Clearly, the fully enraged Wind-Seed Octopus never expected the pitch-black wolf beast it had just been fighting in the water to suddenly appear directly overhead.

[Fang Hunt] + [Gravity Etching] + [Heavy Tide] + [Gravity Control].

The simultaneous layering of multiple combat techniques transformed him into a falling meteor that plunged straight into the monster's body.

Knowing he would only get one shot, Xia Nan attacked with absolute lethal intent, unleashing nearly all of his strength short of Stage 2.

The moment his blade pierced the octopus's flesh, he triggered [Gravity Etching] consecutively, detonating it three times in a row.

Ochre-red force field energy erupted along the surface of the blade like a string of bombs.

The Wind-Seed Octopus didn't have particularly high physical defense compared to other monsters of its tier; its true strengths lay in its regeneration and flexibility.

Its resistance to force field damage was absolutely zero.

Driven by the combined momentum of [Gravity Etching] and his downward plunge, Xia Nan instantly sank deep into the monster's body.

It was hard to describe how he felt in that moment. His vision went completely black as freezing, highly elastic flesh engulfed him. He could even feel the rhythmic contractions of the creature's innards sliding right against his skin.

As he twisted his blade, slime and shredded bits of soft organs sprayed over him from all sides.

Xia Nan didn't know if he was drenched in blood or brain matter. He just kept attacking relentlessly, gripping his straight sword, [Ember Fall], and repeatedly casting [Spinning Slash] toward whatever his Perception identified as vital organs.

He only stopped when the muffled, high-pitched shrieks of the Wind-Seed Octopus finally ceased, and the freezing flesh suffocating him lost its vitality, no longer thrashing or convulsing.

Panting heavily, he finally stilled his blade.

Familiar translucent text flashed in the empty space before his eyes.

"Proficiency +1"

"[Heavy Tide] lv2 (100/100) → [Heavy Tide] lv3 (0/100)"

"Strength +1"

Ever since acquiring the [Proof of Diligence], his training efficiency had significantly increased, bringing him right to the verge of a breakthrough.

Now, after such an intense battle, the proficiency level of [Heavy Tide] had naturally advanced to lv3, reaching the "Proficient" tier.

As one of the innate combat techniques of the [Meteor Blade Hunter] class, the quality of [Heavy Tide] might not match [Gravity Control] or [Ember Echoes], but it was still on the same tier as [Fang Hunt] and [Gravity Etching].

Upon reaching lv3, it provided Xia Nan with an extremely precious additional point in Strength.

That single point bumped the stat up a whole digit, pushing it directly from "9" to "10"!

It might seem like a mere one-point increase, but in reality, if two clones with identical stats fought each other, the one with a single extra point in Strength would crush the other without any suspense.

To some extent, if you stripped away gear and combat techniques, the key reason high-level Class Holders could utterly dominate low-tier adventurers lay in the cumulative stat bonuses provided by these "Proficient" tier techniques.

From Xia Nan's subjective point of view.

Almost the instant the translucent text flashed before his eyes, the bonus from that single Strength point manifested physically in his body.

His muscles violently bulged, then abruptly compressed.

Though his outward appearance didn't seem to change, the actual raw power and explosiveness of his muscles had surged dramatically.

If someone had stripped off his armor and shirt at that moment, they would have found that his already powerful musculature had become even more perfectly sculpted and sharply defined.

He hardly needed time to adapt. Having developed his five core attributes in every area except Intelligence, and with his primary physical stats like Agility and Constitution already elevated, he had no weak links. This allowed Xia Nan to master his suddenly skyrocketing Strength at an incredibly fast pace.

And as the foundation for everything else, this improvement in his physical physique would further amplify the power of [Fang Hunt] and [Spinning Slash], which were already at max level.

It achieved an effect where one plus one was greater than two, pushing Xia Nan's actual combat prowess to new heights.

Truthfully, if an outsider could see his Attribute Panel, they would see "8 Constitution," "10 Strength," "11 Agility," and "12 Perception."

No one would ever believe this was a low-level adventurer at just Class Level 3 who hadn't even begun a class advancement.

It was also hard to imagine what his Attribute Panel would look like once Xia Nan relied on this kind of accumulation to push his Class Level to Level 10, or even Level 20.

"Xia Nan? Xia Nan?"

"How is it? Can you still move?"

Lorraine's voice echoed through the air from just outside the wound in the octopus above his head, interrupting Xia Nan's thoughts.

Calling out a reply, Xia Nan grabbed the hand she offered and crawled out of the Wind-Seed Octopus's body, utterly drenched in blood and slime.

Seeing that he didn't seem injured, Lorraine breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Still seeking confirmation, she asked, "How's your condition? Do you need to drink a Healing Potion?"

Xia Nan waved his hand, signaling that he was fine.

His [Tidal Stabilization] Feat inherently provided a permanent "halved fall damage" effect. Coupled with his Class Level-enhanced physical Constitution that far exceeded that of a normal person, a drop from that height wasn't nearly enough to cause him any serious harm.

Moreover, his landing zone had been the soft, incredibly resilient body of the Wind-Seed Octopus, which absorbed a great deal of the impact.

Therefore, aside from the stamina he had burned through repeatedly casting [Fang Hunt] underwater, he hadn't actually sustained any injuries.

In stark contrast, the Wind-Seed Octopus that had just been furiously thrashing its tentacles was now completely dead. It lay slumped on the ocean surface like a lump of rotting meat, its eight thick tentacles drifting idly with the waves.

On the other side of the battlefield, Ryan, who had been swatted away and severely injured by the octopus, had been dragged back onto the deck of the Blade of Vengeance Ship by his brother Gordon. After having a Healing Potion poured down his throat, he might not have fully recovered on the spot, but his life was at least saved.

The battle wasn't entirely over, but the primary threats—the Wind-Seed Octopus and the sahuagin priests—were all dead.

Only a few sahuagin grunts and elite guards remained. With Xia Nan, Lorraine, and the others now free to deal with them, they were no longer a concern.

In just over ten minutes, the remaining trash mobs were completely wiped out, and the crew began cleaning up the battlefield.

"Strum—"

A melodious lute tune echoed across the deck.

The halfling Alton sat on the railing at the edge of the deck, his short legs swinging back and forth.

He cradled his exquisite, miniature Lute against his chest, his nimble fingers plucking the strings.

It had to be said that in many situations, whether or not a party had a bard determined exactly how far they could go.

The encouragement and inspiration brought on by the spiritual energy woven into that music largely dictated a team's upper limit.

This was especially true for Adventurer Squads trapped in desperate situations with no clear path forward.

Sometimes, all it took was a simple tune played by the party's bard beside a late-night campfire to give them the strength to hold on for just one or two more days—until the situation turned around and hope returned.

The Blade of Vengeance Fleet had just finished an incredibly brutal melee, so casualties were inevitable. Even the Class Holders—the core of the fleet—had sustained heavy injuries, and naturally, a few ordinary crew members had died beneath the sahuagin's sharp spears.

The joy of victory might briefly dilute the shock of losing men, but soon enough, as the journey continued and they stared out at the unchanging sea, the grief of seeing friends they had lived with day in and day out reduced to corpses would rush back over them like a tide, dealing a heavy blow to their overall morale.

Alton knew this very well.

That was exactly why he hadn't joined in the post-battle cleanup.

Instead, he took this opportunity to play his crucial role as a bard, strumming a melody to bolster everyone's spirits.

The little guy had a real knack for choosing his songs.

At a critical juncture like this, right after a battle had ended, he didn't play some triumphant, high-tempo tune celebrating a bountiful harvest. Rather, he played a gentle, flowing melody that even carried a faint undertone of melancholy.

It quietly melted away the negative emotions lingering in everyone's hearts.

Sarissa stood alone by the ship's rail. Her amber, slit-pupiled eyes stared out at the sailors ahead on the sea as they shouted to one another while carving up the monster parts, her heart heavy with complex emotions.

With the help of the Blade of Vengeance Fleet, she had finally achieved her revenge.

The sahuagin and the octopus that had destroyed the Black Tide Hunter Crew were now as dead as dead could be.

Strangely, she didn't feel a sense of relief; she only felt lost and melancholy.

Where should she go next?

Should she follow Captain Lorraine's arrangement and disembark at a human settlement along the way to return to Barracuda Bay on her own, or should she follow them to attend the Lunar Tide Banquet and come back with them later?

But the Black Tide Hunter Crew that had once been her home was already history following the death of their leader, Ode. What did that make her, the only one left behind?

Should she bear the name "Black Tide Hunter" once again, find another squad to join, or simply change professions altogether?

Sarissa felt like her mind was a tangled mess; she couldn't see the path ahead.

Just then, the sound of approaching footsteps made her subconsciously turn her head.

She saw the black-haired young man who had left such a deep impression on her during the battle. Dripping wet, he greeted her, a very familiar massive harpoon resting on his shoulder.

"I found this inside the Wind-Seed Octopus's stomach. This weapon belonged to your captain, right?" he asked.

"It's completely ruined, but do you want to keep it as a memento?"

Xia Nan, of course, had long since checked the harpoon's detailed attributes through his Attribute Panel.

It had originally been a green Fine-grade item, but during the battle between "Whale Anchor" Ode and the Wind-Seed Octopus, it had been completely destroyed. The chain attached to the end was gone, and the head of the harpoon was snapped in half. Right now, it didn't even qualify as common white-tier gear.

Moreover, the material itself had been dissolved by the Wind-Seed Octopus's digestive fluids, losing its original texture. He figured it could only be scrapped as junk metal.

Lorraine figured there was no use in keeping it herself, but throwing it away felt like a waste, so she had Xia Nan come over and ask Sarissa if she wanted to keep it as a memento.

"...Thank you."

After a moment of silence, Sarissa gave a firm nod and accepted it with both hands.

Her crystalline eyes looked at Xia Nan, seeming to recall the phantom wolf silhouette she had seen from the deck earlier—the one that had plummeted from the sky like a meteor.

Her mind involuntarily recalled his title, "Sea Fang."

With his sharp Perception, Xia Nan sensed the complex emotions swirling within the dragonborn before him.

Thinking about everything she had just been through, he didn't say much else after returning the harpoon to her.

Instead, he began silently tallying up his gains from the battle.

First and foremost was naturally the exceptionally massive Wind-Seed Octopus.

As a rare monster that seldom appeared on the ocean surface, even if the Blade of Vengeance hadn't taken on a related hunting quest, the monster's body parts alone would sell for a massive sum of money.

The most valuable part—the octopus's horn—could even be sent directly to an auction house to be bid on.

If they ran into a blacksmith who took an interest in it, or a spellcaster who needed it, the gold coins earned from that single horn might equal several months of the crew's income.

Next were the spellcasting tools used by the two sahuagin priests—two shells struck together to cast spells, and a crude Sea-Rock Staff.

They were only ordinary white-tier items, but since they were spellcasting catalysts, they should still fetch a few hundred gold coins combined.

Finally, there were the miscellaneous bits of armor, harpoons, and other gear dropped by the sahuagin elite guards.

Individually, they weren't worth much, but they added up. He estimated their value would at least cover the cost of all the supplies they had purchased before the voyage.

Xia Nan's contribution in this battle was undoubtedly the greatest.

Both sahuagin priests and the Wind-Seed Octopus itself had died by his hand.

According to the Blade of Vengeance Fleet's loot distribution rules, as the one who contributed the most, he would receive a correspondingly massive share of the profits once everything was tallied.

Speaking of which—

Suddenly sensing something, Xia Nan turned his head and looked out at the distant sea.

The merchant ship that had been ripped in half by the Wind-Seed Octopus during the storm hadn't completely sunk yet. Right now, its two halves were floating, one behind the other, on the gradually calming sea.

Its crew had all been killed by the sahuagin; there were no survivors.

Naturally, the merchant ship had become part of the Blade of Vengeance Fleet's spoils of war.

As soon as the battle ended, Lorraine had sent two crew members over to scavenge for anything useful.

Right now, those two crew members were rowing their small dinghy back.

They looked incredibly excited, as if they had found something special. Standing in the boat, they waved frantically from afar and shouted.

"Come quick! Hurry!"

"We found something on the ship!"