Chapter 272 - 265: A Cruel Twist of Fate

Chapter 272: Chapter 265: A Cruel Twist of Fate

The Sea Serpent opened its great maw, trying to rip through the surrounding net with its fangs.

However, while its bite was strong, its fangs weren’t sharp enough.

The net had also been woven in multiple layers and treated with a special coating, making it incredibly tough.

Trapping a panicked Sea Serpent whose strength was already greatly diminished was not a difficult task.

But even so, Elder Liu and his team made no move, merely watching in silence as the Sea Serpent struggled violently.

Night fell, and brilliant stars studded the boundless canopy of the sky like pearls. The glittering expanse was like diamond dust scattered across the galaxy.

Then, the inky blackness of the night sky began to fade, the edge of the horizon quietly tinged with a faint, grayish blue—the prelude to the handover between darkness and light.

As time passed, a new sun crested the horizon, its increasingly scorching rays beating down on the Sea Serpent.

Gradually, the Sea Serpent’s movements grew sluggish as its body began to show clear signs of dehydration.

Its former vitality drained away, and it grew increasingly exhausted and desperate.

After being left to bake in the sun for an entire day, as dusk approached that afternoon, Elder Liu saw the barely breathing Sea Serpent and finally gave the order.

"Prepare to haul in the net!"

They then picked up the Vine Shields they had prepared and hidden earlier. Casting their fishing lines from a distance, they hooked them onto the net.

Then, gathering the rest of their haul, they began the long walk back to their village, dragging the net behind them with their fishing rods.

Normally, this would have been the moment for Elder Liu to order his team to kill the Sea Serpent with spears and arrows.

But just as he was about to give the order, he hesitated.

The snakeskin was extremely valuable. It could be used to craft Magical Artifacts or in Alchemy, and would fetch a handsome price.

But if it were damaged, they would lose most of the Spirit Stones they could have earned.

’This haul is enough for this month’s taxes, but what about the next three months?’

After mulling it over, he ultimately decided against giving the order, letting his men drag the unconscious Sea Serpent toward their village.

Halfway home, the sun sank low, and the sky filled with the twilight haze, but nothing could dampen the irrepressible excitement and anticipation bubbling in Elder Liu’s heart.

He was gleefully calculating the value of the Demon Beasts he had hunted over the past few days.

’One three-colored carp, weighing a little over forty jin. At about five jin of meat per Spirit Stone, that’s eight stones right there.’

’The scales and bones are worth a bit, too. The swim bladder, entrails, and all the other miscellaneous parts should fetch another two or three Spirit Stones. A shame there’s no roe...’

He was so absorbed that he failed to notice a change in the sky, which had been cloudless just moments before. A thick bank of dark clouds was silently gathering.

At first, since it was nearly dusk anyway, the sudden gloom didn’t arouse Elder Liu’s suspicion.

It wasn’t until a cold evening wind swept past, carrying a dampness that chilled his skin, that he was finally pulled from his reverie.

He looked up to see that the once calm and gentle sky was now completely obscured by heavy, dark clouds.

In that instant, Elder Liu’s pupils contracted.

He suddenly remembered something—something that could get his entire team killed.

His calm expression twisted in an instant. His eyes bulged like saucers, veins popped on his forehead, and he screamed himself hoarse.

"Run! Run now!"

The words had barely left his mouth when a blinding flash of lightning tore across the sky, illuminating the night as if it were day. In that flash, Elder Liu’s terrified, contorted face was thrown into sharp relief.

KRA-KOOM—!

It was followed by a deafening clap of thunder, like the beating of a celestial drum, that shook one to the core.

At almost the same instant, a torrential downpour erupted from the sky. A fierce wind whipped huge, fat raindrops that hammered against the ground.

The weather on Greed Wolf Island was notoriously fickle and unpredictable. The shift from clear skies to a downpour could happen in the blink of an eye.

One moment could be bright and sunny, and the next could bring a sudden squall, or even a heavy blanket of snow.

Elder Liu had just run headfirst into one of these special situations.

Ordinarily, this might not have warranted such an extreme reaction from Elder Liu.

At worst, he would have been sitting on the heated brick bed in his house, complaining that the foul weather was keeping him from hunting.

But out here, in the middle of a Demon Beast hunt, a sudden event like this could be fatal.

And so it was.

Before Elder Liu’s horrified eyes, the Sea Serpent—which had been on the verge of death, its life hanging by a thread—snapped its eyes open the moment the downpour touched it. Its body, once at the brink of collapse, instantly regained most of its vitality, becoming tough and powerful once more.

The rain washed away the special, sticky substance the Sea Serpent had been coated in, which vanished without a trace.

With no time to think, Elder Liu could only manage to swing the Vine Shield behind him to block!

BAM—!

An immense force slammed into the Vine Shield, the sheer power of the blow sending Elder Liu flying several meters!

"PFFT—!"

Elder Liu felt an excruciating pain rip through his entire body, as if all his organs had been ruptured. A mouthful of blood, mixed with visceral fragments, spewed from his throat. The pouring rain couldn’t wash away the sickening, metallic tang of blood.

But Elder Liu ignored the agony wracking his battered body. Forcing himself to endure the gut-wrenching pain, he fixed his gaze on the Sea Serpent, which had long since broken free of the net.