Chapter 543 The Key! It's the Key!

When Sasha, Ellison, and Flynn arrived at the docks, they were greeted by the chaotic aftermath of a massive battle.

Scarlet and fluorescent-blue blood mingled, splashed like paint across the Dark-Brown Water-Iron Wood Platform.

Piles of dead sahuagin, their corpses twisted in various death throes, had been divided up and were being hauled by dockworkers to the ships of the Adventurer Squads that had slain them. The bodies of fallen adventurers had already been collected by their peers. Almost all the survivors were wounded, and even the few who were relatively unscathed were splattered with glaring bloodstains.

The most striking sight of all was the monster corpse in the center of the harbor.

Massive and burly, it looked from a distance like a grayish-blue mountain of flesh. Even sprawled on the ground, its naturally arched spine reached an ordinary person's shoulder height.

It resembled a humanoid shark. Its broad, blunt, inverted-triangle head made up nearly a third of its body, and dense rows of razor-sharp teeth were visible in its half-open maw.

Its humanoid limbs and torso were packed with muscle. Even now in death, stripped of its ability to move, the bulging contours beneath its rough skin still broadcast the explosive strength it once possessed.

One didn't even need to wonder if the creature possessed special powers. Its exaggerated, terrifying appearance alone proved that its combat prowess far surpassed that of an ordinary human, or even a low-level Class Holder adventurer.

But now, this Shark Beast had been reduced to a corpse with no chance of revival.

Right in the center of its chest were several overlapping, deep blade gashes, the edges of the wounds bearing obvious scorch marks.

Its elbow and knee joints appeared to have been pierced by something sharp, leaving gaping holes. Torn pieces of kelp and vine were scattered on the ground nearby, and faint binding marks marred its skin.

But the true fatal blow came from the back of its head: a broad-bladed greataxe, bizarrely shaped like a ship's anchor, had half its blade embedded deep into the creature's skull.

The Barbarian Aken hadn't yet bandaged his wounds. Blood flowed down his tattooed skin from a gash the Shark Beast's claws had left on his shoulder.

He clearly didn't care about such minor injuries.

Right now, he was declaring his and his companions' victory in the most primal, direct way possible.

He stood with both feet planted on the Shark Beast's corpse, one hand gripping the handle of the greataxe buried in its flesh, while his other fist pounded his chest, thumping like a beating war drum.

Unlike her wildly celebrating crewmate, Lorraine, captain of the Blade of Vengeance Squad, stood alone to the side. The [Scale-Fire Scimitar] hanging at her waist was already sheathed, though the surrounding air still held a lingering heat.

With a cigarette dangling from her lips and her brow furrowed tight, she stared at the Shark Beast's corpse, seemingly lost in thought.

"Captain! Captain!"

Sasha's shouts from behind brought her back to reality.

She turned to see the tabaxi stepping lightly on his paw pads, swiftly arriving in front of her.

"Boss Lorraine, what's the situation?"

"I was out on the streets looking for Deep-Sea Resonance Stones. When I heard the harbor was under attack, I rushed back immediately."

Hearing this, Lorraine pressed a hand down to reassure him. "These sahuagin did strike suddenly. Fortunately, Hein and I had already finished our business and returned to the ship. So all in all, it's fine. A few sailors just took some minor injuries."

Just as Lorraine said, the sahuagin attack had come without the slightest warning.

One second the harbor was bustling with people coming and going amidst endless shouting, and the next, the fishmen leaped out of the sea and began a massacre.

But clearly, they had chosen the wrong place.

With the Lunar Tide Banquet approaching, the docks were packed with adventurer ships from across the entire Southern Archipelagos.

Although a large portion of the ships' main forces were away participating in the island's event, a few Class Grade crew members had been left behind as a precaution to guard the vessels.

They might have been caught off guard by the sahuagin's initial ambush, but once they reacted, they immediately organized a counterattack.

Among them were veteran adventurers like Lorraine, whose Class Level exceeded Level 5.

It didn't take long to slaughter every last fishman that leaped ashore.

For the Blade of Vengeance Fleet, it was somewhat unlucky that the main force of the attacking fishmen—the Shark Beast—had chosen the Blade of Vengeance Ship as its target.

But on the other hand, it was also a stroke of luck.

Lorraine and the Spellcaster Hein, who had gone to the island to handle some business, had returned to the ship just ten minutes before the fishmen struck.

This meant that the entire Blade of Vengeance Fleet was only missing the tabaxi Sasha, alongside Xia Nan and Alton, the two newly joined temporary members.

More than half their main force was present, along with ranged support like Sarissa.

Facing a Shark Beast they already had combat experience against—and one whose fighting ability was clearly weaker than its counterpart in the Twin Canyon—the battle wasn't too difficult.

Hein cast spells to restrict its movement, Sarissa provided ranged suppression, Lorraine held its attention from the front, the twin Warriors Ryan and Gordon assisted from the flanks, and finally, the Barbarian Aken delivered a fatal leaping strike.

Through tacit coordination, the battle ended.

"Phew—that's good."

Hearing Lorraine's brief rundown of the battle, Sasha visibly sighed in relief.

His crystalline cat eyes drifted toward the adjacent Blade of Vengeance Ship. Seeing Ryan directing the crew to move supplies and handle the spoils just as always, the atmosphere felt normal.

The urgency and regret that had filled his heart gradually faded, and his emotions settled.

Seeing that Sasha was alone, Lorraine asked in confusion, "Where are Xia Nan and Alton? Why aren't they with you?"

"We all participated in the event on the island. We split up temporarily to find the Deep-Sea Resonance Stones hidden everywhere," Sasha said, swishing his tail. Suddenly, as if remembering something, a strange smile formed on his furry face.

"Captain, guess who I ran into on the island?"

Catching the subtle tone in the tabaxi's voice, she immediately formed a guess.

Her gaze subconsciously drifted past Sasha, looking behind him.

There, standing in the crowd not far away, was a familiar figure she hadn't seen in years.

And right at the moment their eyes met...

"Voom-boom!"

A blinding, fluorescent-blue pillar of light erupted into the sky from the center of the island.

Flynn had arrived at the harbor even earlier than Sasha and Ellison.

As a silver lining, the sahuagin attacking the docks had been intercepted by the adventurers present.

Even the Shark Beast he had seen before—whose combat strength far exceeded that of low-level Class Holders—had been slain on the spot.

The fallout was contained to the harbor and dock area, preventing it from spreading.

However, this didn't ease Flynn's tension at all. Instead, a bone-chilling cold washed over him, making him feel as if he had been plunged into freezing water.

He hadn't seen the entire battle, but the sahuagin corpses were right in front of him.

Their numbers—far greater than he had imagined.

There was even an extra Shark Beast among them.

Flynn knew all too well what this meant.

It was highly likely that the sahuagin attacking the harbor were not just a small splinter group acting independently due to unforeseen circumstances.

Instead, this was planned and premeditated. The sahuagin, who were supposed to strike only after the banquet ended, had pushed their schedule up to now.

If Flynn guessed right, it wasn't just this dock—the entire coastline of Stodd Island was probably under attack by the fishmen.

Without a doubt, this was a massive dereliction of duty on his part, as the one responsible for coordinating with the sahuagin.

And there was no room to salvage it.

Given Lord "Algae Scale" Dodd's temperament—

Just as Flynn plunged into despair—

Perhaps the shouting of crewmen moving cargo nearby caught his attention.

Driven by some unseen force, he turned his head and looked at the deck of the wooden ship beside him.

A familiar figure caught his eye.

He immediately froze.

"Sarissa?"

He didn't even have time to think further.

With a loud rumble, a massive pillar of light shot up into the sky from the center of the island behind him, drawing the attention of everyone on the docks.

Meanwhile, Alton was in a rather delicate situation.

Just moments ago, he had been playing his lute to support Xia Nan in battle.

But a few seconds prior, he had watched with his own eyes as Xia Nan and the Shark Beast plunged into the sea, one after the other.

This left him all alone on a battlefield that had just been locked in furious combat.

And on either side of him stood the Raging Tide Warband and the Windforged, locked in a tense standoff.

Both were Adventurer Squads led by veteran Class Holders whose Class Levels exceeded Level 5.

If an ordinary person were caught in the middle, they probably would have collapsed to the ground shivering, terrified of drawing either side's attention.

But the halfling appeared exceptionally relaxed.

—

Not only did he not turn and run, he actually plucked his strings with impeccable timing, providing a little background music for the tense atmosphere.

It almost made a dwarf in the Raging Tide Warband laugh out of pure annoyance.

"Hey, shorty! Go hide on the side if you've got no business here, don't get involved!"

The tone was aggressive, but given Alton's personality, he naturally didn't take offense.

"Hehe, alrighty!"

Grinning, he tucked away his lute and scurried backward with quick, tiny steps, retreating to a reef by the shore right in front of a dozen Class Holder adventurers from both sides.

He plopped down.

While waiting for Xia Nan to emerge from the water, he watched the drama unfold with great interest.

Compared to the stifling, frozen atmosphere, his completely carefree and relaxed attitude clearly provoked the displeasure of certain adventurers.

The Raging Tide Warband side was fine; thanks to their connection through Auriel, they wouldn't go out of their way to harass a Halfling who was with Xia Nan.

But the Windforged side was not nearly as agreeable.

"Where did this midget come from? Is he with that black-haired guy from earlier?"

"What are you looking at? Get lost already!"

"The little runt isn't even as big as my dog, and he dares to sail out to sea?"

As if finding an outlet in the tense, oppressive atmosphere, the adventurers of the Windforged Squad vented their frustrations on Alton.

Their captain, Zephyr, didn't stop them. From his deeply furrowed brow, it was clear that the pure-blood Elf was also displeased with the Halfling's behavior.

Yet Alton acted as if he didn't care about these insults in the slightest.

He just sat on the reef, swinging his legs in an unusually leisurely manner. He smiled cheerfully, occasionally peering into the nearby seawater as if he could see Xia Nan beneath the surface.

"Damn it!"

One of the adventurers in the Windforged Squad simply couldn't stand Alton's laid-back attitude anymore. He took a few steps forward, pushing past the crowd, seemingly intent on teaching the little guy a lesson.

But those few steps were enough to break the stalemate between the two factions. Setting off a chain reaction, the adventurers of the Raging Tide Warband immediately raised their weapons.

A battle was on the verge of erupting.

Just in that split second before the situation completely deteriorated—

"Voom-boom!!!!"

The blinding light radiating from the sky-piercing beam washed over the faces of everyone present.

Xia Nan had no idea what was currently happening on the docks on the other side of the island, nor was he aware of the clash between the two Adventurer Squads on the shore.

He had to admit that once in the sea, the Shark Beast fighting on its home turf enjoyed an exaggerated boost in movement speed and agility, miles apart from its performance on land.

If the creature had been at its peak—uninjured and full of stamina—it wouldn't have been easy for Xia Nan to take it down, even with his current combat strength.

But this Shark Beast had been forced to flee into the sea in a heavily injured, near-death state.

Its capabilities across the board had plummeted.

Facing Xia Nan, who possessed [Fang Hunt] and the [Abyssal Current] armor, it couldn't even manage to escape.

Instead, it exposed its defenseless back to the fangs of the black wolf.

"Boom—"

An ochre-red flash exploded like fireworks across the seabed.

The Shark Beast, half of its skull blasted away by [Gravity Etching], lost all signs of life.

Relying on his familiarity with humanoid anatomy—honed through the sacrifice of countless goblins—

The [Ember Fall] straight sword sliced open the skin of the Shark Beast's chest and abdomen with the precision of a Scalpel.

He simply reached his empty left hand in and gave a gentle stir. Amidst the slime and blood, he found the Deep-Sea Resonance Stone that the Shark Beast had swallowed, along with the tattooed adventurer's upper torso.

Hum—

For some reason, the moment Xia Nan pulled the Deep-Sea Resonance Stone from the Shark Beast's belly, its surface suddenly bloomed with an unnatural blue light.

His Perception triggered silently. Gripping the Deep-Sea Resonance Stone, Xia Nan swam around and looked up.

Through the layer of seawater, he saw a glowing blue pillar of light shooting straight into the sky.

He didn't have time to think much of it.

An inexplicable vibration and searing heat from his right ring finger snatched his attention back.

He looked over.

The Silver Ring formed by the [Dream Weaving Corridor] terminal device was vibrating violently, reflecting the blue light above the surface and causing the surrounding seawater to ripple slightly.

"Hmm!?"

Xia Nan froze in shock.

The upcoming Lunar Tide Banquet, "Algae Scale" Dodd who had attacked Lyle Morton, the violently vibrating [Dream Weaving Corridor] ring—

Piecing it all together, how could he not realize what was causing the ring to react like this?

The key!

It was the key to the [Dream Weaving Corridor]!