Chapter 573 Coming Ashore and Fighting

The adventurers currently on the coast were Xia Nan and the halfling Alton, along with the core squads of the Raging Tide Warband and the Windforged.

In total, there were nearly twenty elite veterans who had already obtained their Class Levels.

Among them, the individual strength of those who had just been pulled into the Ritual Secret Realm ranked at the forefront of all the adventurers currently on Stodd Island.

If such a force were well-trained and placed in the inland regions, they would be more than capable of attacking not just remote, rundown villages, but even small towns with relatively weak defenses.

However, the current situation was vastly different.

For one, these dozen or so adventurers were not a unified group. Xia Nan and Alton went without saying, but the grudge between the Raging Tide Warband and the Windforged was deeply rooted. Even when facing a powerful enemy, it was hard to say if they could truly fight a common foe. In battle, they often had to guard against sneak attacks from their supposed comrades, meaning their overall combat strength was far weaker than it appeared.

On the other hand, aside from Xia Nan and Alton—who had naturally exited following the death of "Algae Scale" Dodd in the Secret Realm—the adventurers from the other two squads had been ejected halfway through the Ritual Secret Realm for various reasons.

While their conditions might not have reached the point of critical, near-death injuries, they were undoubtedly weakened, their combat prowess noticeably diminished.

And the enemies they now had to face—

"Hum!"

The Gray-Black Straight Sword was instantly unsheathed, carving a fleeting, sharp gleam of cold light through the air.

Feeling the long-absent, icy touch of the [Ember Fall] straight sword's hilt, Xia Nan turned around, his dark eyes gazing toward the ocean surface to his rear flank.

What met his eyes were swaths of wet fish scales shimmering with a dark green luster amid dangerous roars.

For the Sahuagin, the forces sent out before the Secret Realm had clearly just been a probe, not their main army.

Now that the prematurely triggered ritual had completely ended, they—having long cooperated with Dodd—knew full well that adventurers forced out of the Secret Realm would be in a weakened state.

Naturally, the Sahuagin wouldn't waste this opportunity. They directly dispatched the massive army they had specially prepared for today to various shores along the island's edge.

On Xia Nan's stretch of coast alone, just from what he could see, there were dozens of grunt fishmen with a Challenge Rating around "0.5".

The number of elite guards wielding Fine weapons and wearing the race's standard-issue equipment also exceeded double digits.

Within his Perception, there were three distinct spots beneath the sea's surface where magic particles were densely concentrated, meaning there were three dangerous Sahuagin priests.

But what drew Xia Nan's attention the most was the robust, commander-like individual positioned right in the center of the fishman army.

It was evidently the highest-ranking and most powerful existence among the entire Sahuagin group present.

It had four thick arms covered in slimy scales and fins. The upper two were crossed over its chest, the overlapping posture revealing bulging, steel-like muscles. The lower two slanted to grip a massive trident forged from deep blue metal and stone, longer than the height of an average human adult.

It was clearly no shoddily crafted ordinary item; the air around the trident was noticeably humid, condensing into crystalline water droplets on the weapon's surface like morning dew.

Even the armor it wore seemed much finer than that of the surrounding fishmen. The surface was engraved with special wave-like patterns, and thick metal plates protected most of its body from neck to calf.

Having never encountered such an elite commander-type individual among the Sahuagin, Xia Nan didn't know its exact level of strength.

However, the enemy was clearly far beyond ordinary in terms of Perception.

He had only just looked over, yet the commander fishman seemed to detect his gaze, immediately sweeping its eyes toward him.

The moment it spotted the black-haired young man in the strange armor on the shore, the fishman commander's gaze instantly hardened.

Perhaps it had sensed his peak aura, which stood out from the other weakened adventurers on the shore, or maybe it had simply noticed Xia Nan's formidable strength that vastly exceeded a normal adventurer's.

"Garuga—"

Who knew what it had just said in the Sahuagin language.

The magic particles hiding beneath the water, previously only slightly gathered, suddenly became hyperactive. In turn, the already rolling surface of the sea began to churn and splash violently.

After the Secret Realm, his Perception—the most prominent of his six attributes—had reached 13 points, far exceeding what an adventurer of the same level should possess.

Standing in place, as the magic particles suddenly thickened beneath the distant ocean surface, Xia Nan vaguely felt a bizarre, almost mystical sensation of being locked onto.

His physical instincts reacted faster than his thoughts. Almost subconsciously, he twisted his waist and abdomen while his feet stomped down hard, generating explosive force against the soft sandy beach beneath him.

"Bang!"

Accompanied by an explosive spray of sand, a blurred figure leaped backward at high speed.

And right at the moment Xia Nan's legs left the ground and he launched himself backward...

Hum—

At the spot he had just been standing, a scorching air current rippled out alongside orange-red flames, condensing within a single breath into an orange-red fireball with a temperature so high it slightly distorted the surrounding air.

—2nd Circle Conjuration: Flaming Sphere!

It didn't remain in place. After being cast, the Flaming Sphere seemed to still maintain a certain connection with its caster.

Amidst the fluctuations of magic particles in the air, Xia Nan could feel an invisible link forming between this fireball and a specific concentration of magic beneath the sea's surface.

"Whoosh!"

Facing the black-haired adventurer who had leaped backward to evade, the orange-red sphere of pure condensed flame seemed to have completely locked onto him, whistling through the thin air as it flew in pursuit.

Suspended in midair with his feet off the ground, he naturally found it difficult to generate any force.

Despite this, having felt the flame's intensity up close, Xia Nan unexpectedly chose not to dodge further through other means like gravity manipulation. Instead, he gripped his straight sword tightly, raising it at an angle to ride the momentum, and slashed down at the incoming fireball.

"Boom!"

Due to the extreme speed of his blade, the arc of light that faintly distorted the air was stretched into a thin line.

[Spinning Slash] plus [Heavy Tide], combined with the [Ember Fall] straight sword, which ranked at the absolute pinnacle even among blue-tier quality items.

Under the ravaging sword light, the once solid fireball had no ability to resist whatsoever. It was cleanly and crisply cleaved in two, its fiery core completely severed along with it.

Unable to maintain its original form, it scattered into countless shapeless streams of fire.

His thick leather boots slammed into the ground. A casual wave of the Snake-Scale Arm Shield swatted away the stray streams of flame surging toward him. Because of its close contact with the high-temperature fire, the Gray-Black Straight Sword tightly gripped in his right hand had taken on the intense heat, causing water vapor to rise from its surface with a hiss.

By combining his physical constitution, combat techniques, and equipment, a powerful spell that should have severely injured the vast majority of low-level adventurers was scattered by a single sword strike after his evasion, failing to deal the slightest bit of damage.

Of course, it didn't end there. Relying on its own Perception, the fishman commander had clearly sensed Xia Nan's uniqueness.

It ordered the three priest Spellcasters in its ranks to simultaneously launch a siege against him.

Just as Xia Nan's feet hit the ground, two energy beams moving at speeds far beyond normal human reaction—one flashing with a pink hue and the other with a sickly green acidic light—pierced out from under the sea and landed directly on his body.

—2nd Circle Enchantment School: Hold Person!

—2nd Circle Evocation: Melf's Acid Arrow!

The former was noticeably much faster, crossing the spatial distance in an instant.

However, right as this beam of pink light landed on Xia Nan's body and attempted to spread according to the spell model to envelop him entirely, it seemingly met an invisible, inside-out resistance. It vibrated violently before collapsing powerlessly into motes of light.

—Feat [Gaze into the Abyss]. The control check bolstered by his Perception bonus was easily passed. At the same time, it rebounded a Saving Throw against the caster; if they failed, they would fall into a "Brief Trance" state and suffer a certain amount of mental damage.

Evidently, the fishman priest hiding beneath the sea did not possess Xia Nan's high level of Perception. After the spell was saved against, an agonizing shriek echoed from the distant waters.

As for the other [Melf's Acid Arrow], under the effect of the [Darkscale Coiled Guard] Arm Shield's "Corrosion/Acid Damage Immunity (Non-Legendary Source)", it fared even worse than the initial [Flaming Sphere].

Raising his hand and thrusting the shield forward, the sickly green beam seemed to meet its natural enemy, shattering in the blink of an eye.

The entire combat sequence might have seemed like it lasted a long time, but if an onlooker were standing on the sidelines watching the whole thing—from Xia Nan's jump to dodge the fireball to his final landing and shield raise, utilizing various methods to withstand three successive spells—the entire process took less than two seconds.

The battle had already broken out, yet Xia Nan's inner emotions only grew calmer and more profound. Distracting thoughts were quietly discarded as his brain spun rapidly, analyzing the situation on the field.

First, what was his objective?

The answer was extremely simple: Algae Scale Dodd, who was highly likely located right in the center of Stodd Island holding the encryption keys for the [Dream Weaving Corridor].

So, was his best option right now to ignore these Sahuagin about to come ashore, turn around and retreat, and head out to find Dodd?

That was certainly possible.

But one had to realize that the Algae Scale in reality would absolutely not be as easy to deal with as he was in the Secret Realm.

According to the prior speculations of their group, Algae Scale Dodd's purpose in holding this ritual was to advance to the Transcendent Tier.

And this meant the man's Class Level had at the very least reached the Level 10 bottleneck.

In contrast was Xia Nan, who had just advanced to Level 4.

Granted, his actual combat prowess far exceeded his surface level, and the opponent had been severely weakened due to dying in the Secret Realm.

But exactly whose strength was higher between the two of them still had a major question mark hanging over it.

Always cautious, even when faced with the temptation of the [Dream Weaving Corridor], there was no way Xia Nan would gamble his own life on a risky bet.

With this as a premise, he needed teammates.

Whether it was the halfling Alton traveling alongside him nearby, the Blade of Vengeance members at the harbor on the other side of the island, or the Raging Tide Warband and Windforged right in front of him.

By forcefully dragging these elite adventurers into the ritual and attempting to step on their heads to ascend to the Transcendent Tier...

...Algae Scale Dodd now stood in direct opposition to all the adventurers on the island.

To a certain extent, these adventurers were practically teammates in the same camp as Xia Nan.

If he could secure their help, the final battle against Algae Scale Dodd would obviously be much easier.

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, yet only an instant had passed in the real world.

As the first Sahuagin grunt to crawl ashore roared and engaged in close-quarters combat with a dwarven adventurer from the Raging Tide Warband closest to the sea, Xia Nan had already made his decision.

A long, profound, and echoing wolf howl erupted across the battlefield.

Its proficiency level on the Attribute Panel was still at the maximum of Level 5, but the experience of the Fifth Evolution in the Secret Realm had caused the [Fang Hunt] Xia Nan unleashed to undergo an indescribable transformation.

The pitch-black wolf beast formed of pure energy that enveloped his entire body during high-speed movement seemed to have become somewhat clearer.

And his enhanced Strength attribute granted it an even more explosive starting speed and impact force.

Its slender limbs turned into a blur as it sprinted. The exaggerated speed allowed it to once again achieve the miraculous feat of "treading water" while moving at high speeds across the sea's surface.

Still employing the "Spellcasters first" principle, he had long used his sharp Perception to lock onto the positions of the fishman priests beneath the surface.

The black wolf sprinting across the ocean abruptly leaped high into the air. Then, carrying immense impact force and bodily momentum, it viciously pounced down toward the water.

"Bang!"

Water splashed everywhere as the ferocious figure vanished above the sea.

Taking its place was a pitch-black shadow beneath the surface—accompanied by a muffled wolf howl—whose speed had slightly decreased but whose agility had drastically surged.

Clearly not expecting Xia Nan to successfully withstand the magical attacks of three priests in a row and then burst forth with such incredible speed, the fishman commander holding the center of the swarm visibly blanked for a moment before quickly snapping back to its senses.

Using the particularly slushy-sounding Sahuagin language, it mobilized the fishman guards who had yet to rush ashore, sending them to intercept.

Knowing full well the importance of the fishman priests to this battle, it even planned to step forward itself to eliminate this unexpected trouble first.

But at the same time, the sounds of slaughter from the shore were continuously pouring into its ears.

After all, these were veterans who had already acquired Class Levels. Even if their combat strength was somewhat weakened by their encounters in the Secret Realm, when faced with these Sahuagin monsters charging ashore, the adventurers put up an incredibly fierce resistance, slaughtering the grunts that lunged at them one by one.

On one side were the Sahuagin, their numbers plummeting under the adventurers' fierce resistance on the coast.

On the other side was a lone human adventurer who had charged directly into the sea—their home turf—attempting to ambush the priest Spellcasters while under the siege of numerous fishman guards.

An intellect that far exceeded ordinary fishmen but was still not exceptionally brilliant, coupled with combat command experience that didn't apply to the current scenario, led it to make a hasty choice that was entirely logical in theory, but incredibly flawed in reality.

The fishman commander was seen continuing to mobilize several elite guards to intercept Xia Nan, who was piercing through the formation from the flank. Afterward, it personally went ashore, charging toward the group of adventurers that was clearly larger in number and appeared to be a far greater threat.