Chapter 540 Third-Party Forces and Sudden Unrest

A thick, pungent stench of blood surged into his nostrils on the sea breeze. The furious roars and shrill screams that had echoed through the air were gone, reduced now to the faint, wet patter of blood pumping from torn flesh.

The three members of the Windforged squad who had just been confronting Xia Nan on the beach ahead were now three stiffening, cooling corpses.

And the creature that had butchered them loomed like a mound of gray-blue rock, radiating the savage malice unique to monsters as its turbid, bloodthirsty eyes fixed upon the final two prey left on the sands.

Blood dripped from the rim of its disproportionately massive maw. The flesh and bones of the tattooed adventurer had already been swallowed whole.

Xia Nan stood opposite the beast, his straight sword [Ember Fall] already bare in his hand.

His expression remained steady, but his mind raced, analyzing every angle of the field.

First and foremost was one crucial fact.

Moments ago, in the split second after the Shark Beast breached the surf—

Xia Nan had clearly seen the Deep-Sea Resonance Stone gripped in the tattooed adventurer's hand vanish into the monster's belly along with the man's entire upper torso.

Which meant that if he wanted the resonance stone back, he would have to slaughter the beast before him and carve the item from its guts.

But—was it worth the trouble?

They were on Stodd, the "Isle of a Thousand Piles," an island teeming with adventurers, and he had taken on no quest or bounty to hunt this Shark Beast.

Xia Nan could easily scoop up the little fellow and fall back; with the overland speed of [Fang Hunt], the creature had zero chance of running them down.

His path of retreat was wide open.

Besides, there were a hundred Deep-Sea Resonance Stones scattered across the island. He could likely find others through easier avenues rather than locking himself into a battle to the death here.

The thought of retreating surfaced, only to be dismissed just as quickly.

Xia Nan had fought Shark Beasts more than once and held a solid understanding of the threat posed by these Sahuagin-summoned monsters.

Judging strictly by its build, the Shark Beast before him was nothing like the grotesque mutant from Twin Canyon, and it was visibly two sizes leaner than the one lurking in the hollows of Cliff Rock Island.

That meant its actual fighting strength was considerably lower than that of any Shark Beast he had encountered before.

It was certainly no match for Xia Nan, whose strength had grown considerably since he first set foot in the Southern Archipelagos.

Relying on his gear and combat techniques, Xia Nan was confident he wouldn't even need to reveal his trump cards. At most, a single deflection field from the [Deathline] ring coupled with a few strikes powered by [Gravity Etching] and [Heavy Tide] would be enough to bring it down.

If this single Shark Beast truly was the only enemy present, turning tail was hardly his sole option.

As he weighed the choice, Xia Nan swept his gaze across the rolling surf near the shore.

He found no trace of any Sahuagin.

Recalling the fishman patrol he had run into during the fishing contest earlier, he found the whole affair increasingly suspicious.

Shark Beasts were summoned creatures of the Sahuagin, bound intimately to their masters.

With both showing up in such close succession, the chance that either had simply strayed here by accident was virtually nil.

Could they be plotting something in the waters around Stodd Island?

And if his hunch proved correct, would the fishmen's schemes threaten the upcoming Lunar Tide Banquet?

The possibilities tangled in his thoughts, but the fleeting pause gave him no time to reach a firm conclusion.

The slaughter and the reek of fresh blood had already inflamed the beast's feral bloodlust.

With a thunderous bellow, it lunged toward Xia Nan in a frenzy.

The sheer explosive power coiled in its thick lower limbs detonated like a bomb beneath its feet. Sand sprayed violently as the hideous gray-blue blur vanished from where it stood.

Having resolved to fight and carve the resonance stone from its gut, Xia Nan slipped instantly into a battle stance.

A high, chilling wolf howl erupted in an instant.

The dark, abyssal phantom of the Winter Wolf condensed into razor-sharp qi. His limbs touched down lightly on the sand, and with a clean, effortless side vault, he swept around to the monster's flank.

Childlike and naive as Alton usually seemed, the moment he entered combat, his reflexes proved far sharper than those of any adventurer of his rank.

His short legs pumped in a blur of near-afterimages. Barely trailing Xia Nan by a few paces, the halfling's compact frame darted out to the opposite side.

Boom!

A stinging gust whipped past their cheeks.

Possessing tremendous burst power but crippled by its lack of agility, the Shark Beast barreled between them like a runaway train, roaring as it tore past.

Finding its charge evaded, the beast tried to skid to a halt and pivot. But the sheer momentum of its massive bulk drove its stubby legs deep into the sand with every braking stride, setting its balance wobbling violently.

Xia Nan was not about to let such an opening pass.

With mobility and explosive power on his side, he was accustomed to seizing every momentary advantage that let his strengths shine.

Behind him, the soaring, resonant chords of a lute rang out right on cue, infusing his limbs with an uncanny surge of strength.

The mane-trailing black wolf sprang with effortless grace. Sharp fangs imbued with an ochre-red glow struck the nape of the Shark Beast's neck like a stinger, then sprang back instantly, leaving the beast's air-splitting backhand claw to cleave empty space.

The very next second—

Buzz—

The ochre-red force field detonated across the back of the monster's neck like fireworks.

Its coarse, leathery hide and dense muscle offered zero resistance, ruthlessly pulverized and shredded.

Blood and mangled flesh sprayed outward as the force field pulsed, underscored by a howl of pure agony.

As the ochre energy dissolved into motes of light and drifted away, a horrific crater remained at the base of the Shark Beast's neck, exposing twitching muscle and splintered white bone.

Xia Nan gave a slight nod to Alton, who was still strumming his lute from the edge of the clearing. His gaze locked tight onto the thrashing, roaring Shark Beast as his mind swiftly reviewed that single exchange.

Just as he had reckoned, this visibly leaner Shark Beast was far weaker than those he had faced in the past, falling comfortably within his capabilities.

All he needed was one more clean strike into that ragged wound to bring the battle to a close.

Yet just as the scales of victory were tipping decisively in his favor, a rapid flurry of footsteps sounded from the other side of the beach.

The Shark Beast's bellows had likely drawn the attention of passersby.

A vaguely familiar squad of adventurers clad in uniform Fine standard armor was hurrying toward the scene.

And their leader, tall with cascading silvery-white hair, was someone Xia Nan had seen not long ago: Zephyr, the pure-blood Elf captain of the Windforged squad.

Checking his momentum before pressing the offensive, Xia Nan swept his eyes over the professional adventurers at Zephyr's back, then glanced down at the mangled remains of the tattooed adventurer on the sand.

He couldn't help but sigh inwardly at the sheer headache of it.

In the vast majority of cases, a third party showing up just as a battle was drawing to a close...

...was never good news, at least not in the adventurer trade.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of Stodd Island, along a street near the town's central plaza...

Sasha, the Tabaxi from the Blade of Vengeance Fleet, walked side by side with Ellison, the brother of his captain, Lorraine.

Given the tense history between Lorraine and Ellison, Sasha, as one of her crew, had little reason to get along with him so smoothly.

Yet the reality was quite the opposite.

For one thing, as a core member who had spent years aboard the ship, Sasha knew that his hot-tempered captain bore no real malice toward her brother.

They had simply chosen different paths in recent years, drifting apart until conversation withered away entirely.

There was no telling when one of them might come around, at which point the ice between them could thaw in an instant.

On the other hand, with the Lunar Tide Banquet approaching and "Algae Scale" Dodd poised to show himself—

—Ellison's very presence on Stodd Island signaled that he stood with his sister.

A partnership with the Blade of Vengeance Fleet was all but inevitable.

Given that reality, running into him before the banquet made buttering him up an obvious duty for any loyal crewman.

Using angling as a conversation starter back at the Glass Oar tavern had already yielded great results.

Now, having split off from Xia Nan and Alton to search for Deep-Sea Resonance Stones, Sasha continued hunting eagerly for topics, probing Ellison's feelings toward Lorraine from every angle to pave the way for their upcoming reunion.

"Mr. Ellison, Captain Lorraine often brought you up during our voyages over the years."

"Oh? Nothing flattering, I imagine," Ellison replied offhandedly, his eyes carefully scanning the eaves of a nearby Water-Iron Wood cabin for any hidden Deep-Sea Resonance Stones.

"No, no, not at all," Sasha said, shaking his head. "She said your navigational skills put the navigators on our ship to shame."

"She said if we had you on board, travel time on our expeditions could probably be cut by a third."

From the way his long, fluffy tail stiffened and ceased its swaying, however, it was plain the Tabaxi was lying.

Or at least stretching the truth to its limit.

Lorraine might well have mentioned her brother aboard the Blade of Vengeance, but she certainly had never praised him in such glowing terms.

As for complaints and curses—those were far from absent.

Ellison knew his sister's temperament better than anyone, and he had no doubt most of Sasha's flattery had been heavily doctored.

Still, he refrained from calling him out.

Seeing right through the Tabaxi's game, he merely laughed it off with a wry chuckle. "My rates don't come cheap. If I actually joined the Blade of Vengeance, I suspect plenty of your crewmates would rather burn that extra third of transit time than pay my cut."

"How could they?!"

Unaware that his little scheme had been seen through, Sasha assumed he had found an opening, an almost human eagerness showing on his furry feline face.

"If you're willing to come aboard, I know neither I nor any of the other brothers would mind—"

He was barely halfway through the sentence when Ellison raised a hand, cutting him off.

"Let's leave that for today. We'll talk during the banquet."

Knowing he had pushed too hard, Sasha let his long tail lash back and forth behind him.

Scrambling for the right words, he parted his lips to speak—

—only for an unexpected voice to call out from the passing crowd.

"Mr. Sasha, Mr. Ellison. What a coincidence to run into you both again."

Looking over, they were greeted by an immaculate, spotless formal suit and a meticulously trimmed goatee.

Flynn, right-hand man to "Algae Scale" Dodd and overseer of the festivities, stood smiling at them with mild surprise.

The encounter was truly unintentional.

He had just left Dodd's manor and was hurrying toward the town plaza, hardly expecting to bump into Sasha and Ellison on the street.

"If I recall, Mr. 'Sea Fang' Xia Nan was traveling with you two. Where might his esteemed self be?"

Whether by rigorous training or pure natural talent, it was hard to say.

Even though he had just been harshly reprimanded before "Algae Scale" Dodd for bringing up Xia Nan, cowed so thoroughly he hadn't dared raise his head—

—here he was, asking after Xia Nan's whereabouts in front of Sasha and Ellison with that polished trademark smile, showing not the slightest hint of distress.

"Ah, Mr. Flynn, you know how it is," Sasha replied evasively, careful not to give anything away. "There are only a hundred Deep-Sea Resonance Stones scattered across an island this size. Dividing our efforts is simply more efficient, wouldn't you say?"

"Of course, of course," Flynn agreed with an easy nod, his smile untroubled. "Though with skill such as yours, a few plain stones surely wouldn't trouble the renowned crew of the Blade of Vengeance."

"That remains to be seen."

Ellison chimed in from the side, a thread of probing curiosity running beneath his playful tone.

"I have to say, Mr. Flynn, your knack for hiding things is truly remarkable. With so many adventurers scouring the island, Alton is the only one who's qualified so far, isn't he?"

"Ah, the little fellow?" Flynn chuckled. "Halflings are blessed with uncanny luck, but I hear Alton is also a new recruit on the Blade of Vengeance. I don't suppose—"

He seemed poised to seize the opportunity to pry into Alton's background.

Just then, a sudden clamor broke out from the other end of the street.

A blood-spattered young man in sailor's clothes was sprinting toward the town center.

He bellowed at the startled bystanders gaping on either side, "Fishmen! Sahuagin—and sharks! They've attacked the docks!"

The docks?!

Sasha's expression changed instantly.

The Blade of Vengeance was currently moored right at the docks of Stodd Island.

He surged forward two steps, intending to intercept the man—

—but Flynn was faster, catching the sprinting youth with one hand as he bolted past.

His smile gone, Flynn furrowed his brow and demanded sharply, "What happened? Out with it!"