Above the mage!

Chapter 477 Hunting Sea Beasts

As it turns out, once you enter the waters of the Blue Flame Islands, this chaotic land, it is by no means possible to find calm seas.

Gao De had just returned to his cabin for a meal, and was only halfway through his food, when suddenly the horns of the Columbus sounded outside, the sound incredibly shrill and urgent.

The rhythm of three short beats followed by one long beat indicates an alarm.

Upon hearing the bugle call, Gao De and Lan Wen immediately rushed to the deck.

"Three o'clock on the port side!" the lookout on the watchtower cried out in terror. "It's coming! What kind of monster is that?!"

Without needing much prompting from the lookout, God had already activated his Mandora's Eye and clearly saw a giant gray shadow rushing toward the Columbus.

It was an extremely large sea beast with a spindle-shaped body covered in dark green scales, looking incredibly ferocious.

But this ferocious sea beast now had half of its scales rolled off, revealing the bloody, mangled flesh beneath.

Its left pectoral fin had a gruesome wound torn open, deep enough to expose the bone.

The dark blue blood spread through the seawater as it moved rapidly.

The most horrifying thing was its neck, which was covered with countless sucker-like mouthparts, but now it was contracting violently out of fear, with bits of cloth and flesh still hanging from the edges of those suckers.

This deep-sea monster, like a stray dog, frantically slapped its tail against the water as it fled in a panic.

Behind it followed a longboat with an oddly shaped hull but incredibly fast speed.

The main body of the ship is made of dark hardwood that has been eroded by wind and waves, with dark red bloodstains imprinted in the wood grain.

The ship's ribs were pieced together from the ribs of some kind of sea animal, with white bone fragments already protruding from the gaps in the wooden planks. The hull was covered with various "patches" and dried tentacle suckers.

The sails were made from the skin of sea creatures, and were decorated with crossed anchors and fishbone patterns using some kind of blood.

There were seven or eight figures standing on the deck, all wrapped in leather cloaks.

What truly draws attention is a giant crossbow mounted at the bow of the ship.

The crossbow was ten meters long, with a thick iron chain wrapped around its arm, the links of which were covered with barbs, and three iron barrels filled with lead blocks attached to the end of the chain.

That giant crossbow bolt was even more terrifying. The arrowhead was triangular, the blade gleamed coldly, the shaft was wrapped with shark skin, and the tail feathers were probably made from the fin membrane of some kind of giant sea monster.

"This is... a hunting ship from Black Sails City?!" Looking at the giant crossbow on the prow, Gao De narrowed his eyes, a term flashing through his mind.

Black Sails City is a gathering place for people from all over the planes, including but not limited to black mages from the continent of Nolan, smugglers from the continent of Terra, and even explorers from the continent of Midgard.

These outsiders make up more than 80% of the population of Black Sails City, and they engage in all sorts of legitimate and illegitimate businesses on the Blue Flame Islands.

However, the Blue Flame Islands are inhabited by native people, or local aborigines, known as the Abaddon people.

They may be descendants of survivors whose environment was altered and used by Abaddon's power. They regard Abaddon as the father of the islands and a source of calamity that must be revered. They are the only people who can safely approach certain core areas of the Blue Flame Islands within a certain range.

The Abaddon people lived on the Blue Flame Islands before the Black Sails were established.

The reason is unknown, but it is most likely related to the life energy emitted by Abaddon.

In short, the waters surrounding the Blue Flame Islands are a paradise for giant sea monsters, home to a vast number of diverse and powerful giant sea monsters.

These sea monsters are ferocious by nature, and any one of them can easily capsize an ordinary ship.

But for the Abaddon people, hunting sea monsters is a unique cultural practice deeply ingrained in their blood and a pillar of their economy.

Every part of a sea creature can be converted into wealth.

Grease can be used as lighting fuel or waterproof coating, flesh and leather can be made into food, armor or luxury goods, and bones and fangs can be made into weapons or ornaments.

Those extraordinary organs are priceless. For example, the "green sac" of the rare sea beast, the serpent fish, can be used to extract magical essence, and a small bottle can be worth tens of thousands of gold.

After the Blue Flame Islands were discovered, more and more people flocked here from all over the world. And after the Black Sails City was established, the culture of hunting sea monsters did not decline, but was even highly developed, forming a more complete and developed industrial chain.

At the various docks of Black Sails City, there are open markets where fresh sea monster carcasses are auctioned off daily.

Furthermore, rare organs of sea monsters also circulate through Black Sails City, and may even be involved in experiments with forbidden potions and necromancy.

The immense value of sea creatures meant that sea creature hunting was no longer a traditional skill and culture exclusive to the Abaddon people, but rather a means for many to survive and pursue wealth and glory.

For the people who make a living in this land full of opportunities and chaos, sea monsters mean enormous wealth.

But without a doubt, the best sea hunters were the Abaddon people.

As the main force of the sea monster hunters, they formed fleets of sea-hunting ships, active in the turbulent waters of the Blue Flame Islands.

In the sea-hunting fleet, the harpooner is undoubtedly the core role.

Harpooners are skilled in using specially made harpoons and are tasked with hooking and killing their prey.

Experienced harpooners are the soul of the hunting ships. On perilous sea hunts, they use their superb skills to hunt sea monsters and earn huge fortunes for the fleet.

Many harpooners or sharpshooters with perfect aim can accurately fire harpoons from a distance, piercing the vitals of sea monsters.

Some harpooners were skilled in close combat, brave and fearless, daring to jump directly onto the sea monster, stab the harpoon into the monster's body with their bare hands, and then carry out a bloody dissection.

But this high-risk job means that harpooners are dancing on the edge of a knife every time they act, and they could lose their lives at any moment.

The strength, courage, and skill required to be a harpooner all require talent and time to hone, and few foreign mages have mastered this skill.

Therefore, there is a saying in the Blue Flame Islands: the best harpooners only come from the Abaddon.

The instant he recognized the hunting boat, Gao De already understood the general outline of the situation:
It must have been a mishap during the hunt for the sea monster that the hunting ship failed to subdue, allowing the sea monster, which should have been a prize, to escape and is now giving chase with all its might.

As luck would have it, the panicked sea monster was heading straight for the Columbus in its escape.

Thinking this, Gao De's heart stirred, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he began to clearly sketch the appearance of the sea monster in his mind.

Its spindle-shaped body and the dark green scales covering it—every detail was quickly etched into my mind.

At the same time, Gaode quietly activated a spell model within the spell star sea.

【Know yourself and know your enemy+】.

The next instant, some extremely fragmented information surged from Gaode's mind, like looking at something through a thick frosted glass, blurry and scattered.

"Third-tier sea monster. Throat-locking seal."

Compared to the detailed information obtained from casting "Know Your Enemy" on the Ice Silk Worm last time, which was comparable to a biological encyclopedia, the information Gao De obtained this time was extremely limited, consisting of only two items:
One is the sea beast's rank, and the other is its name. However, Gao De wasn't surprised.

The Ice Silk Worm is a first-tier ley line creature, and its power level is far inferior to that of a second-circle mage like him. It's as clear as looking at dust in the sunlight.

The sea beast in front of us is a third-tier sea beast. It's already quite lucky to have managed to extract these two pieces of information from it.

As the gargoyle drew ever closer, Gao De could already hear the baby-like cries emanating from its suction cup mouthpiece. He decisively ordered, "Lan Wen, take care of it!"

Putting everything else aside, the Columbus is currently on the escape route of the gag, and if it is not dealt with, the Columbus will likely suffer a severe blow.

Destroying a two-masted sailing ship is not a difficult task for a Tier 3 sea beast.

Upon receiving the order, Lan Wen, a man of few words and ruthless nature, immediately began casting a spell.

The octopus's tail fin was flapping wildly, splashing water everywhere and creating turbulent waves.

Just then, a blue light emanated from Lan Wen's hand. Instead of shooting out in a straight line, it transformed into countless ice threads, which burrowed into the sea like living snakes.

The burst of blue light did not immediately freeze the seawater, but first wove a transparent net on the surface of the water, with hexagonal ice crystals condensing at the mesh.

Immediately afterwards, the ice crystals expanded at a visible speed, starting from the throat-grabbing octopus's tail fin and spreading upwards along its spindle-shaped body.

In the blink of an eye, the churning waves suddenly stopped.

Water droplets on the crest of the wave hung in mid-air like a string of glistening pearls; the gaping mouthparts of the gargoyle froze in the instant of its roar, and even the blood droplets seeping from the gaps in its scales froze into dark red ice crystals.

Upon closer inspection, a small area of ​​water centered on the throat-grabbing octopus's body was now covered with a thick layer of ice.

The outlines of the sea creatures twisting and struggling can be clearly seen inside the ice.

"Frozen?!" The hunting boat that had finally caught up stopped abruptly at the edge of the ice. Abaddon, the harpooner standing at the bow, looked at the scene in disbelief.

The surging seawater and the incredibly powerful strangler were frozen in place. The water droplets on the crest of the wave, which were about to fall, were also frozen in place, clinging to the crest of the wave with the water droplets.

In such a vast ocean, freezing a huge sea monster is extremely difficult, comparable to lighting wet firewood in a storm.

Firstly, the flow of seawater continuously dilutes the ice elements; secondly, the marine mammals' own life energy also helps them resist the low temperatures.

To achieve this, one needs not only extraordinary power at least at the third level, but also an exceptional understanding and mastery of ice elemental magic.

"It's all settled, my... lord." Lan Wen turned and nodded slightly to Gao De, abruptly cutting off the habitual "my king" that was about to slip out.

Now that they were no longer in the North, Gao De specifically instructed Lan Wen to change his way of speaking and stop mentioning "Our King" so as not to reveal his identity and background and attract unnecessary attention.

The people on the hunting boat only came to their senses at this moment, and under the command of Abaddon, the harpooner at the front, they chose to stop the boat ten meters outside the ice.

They strictly followed the rules, neither approaching the Columbus nor doing anything to the frozen throat cap.

Abaddon, the harpooner, shouted at the Columbus, "We spotted this gargoyle first! We waited in the trench for four days and four nights before we caught it when it left its nest to forage. We've already seriously injured it. See the wound on its pectoral fin? That was from our harpoons!"

As he shouted, he pointed to the wound on the ventral fin of the strangler, indicating that what he said was true.

Of course, this Abaddon harpooner wasn't greedy enough to want to keep the gargoyle for himself.

"Thank you for your help. According to the rules at sea, whoever finds it gets a share. How about we split the spoils fifty-fifty?" he asked tentatively.

They weren't actually polite or friendly people; it was just that the frigid ice surface intimidated them—even the most unruly hunters have to back down in the face of overwhelming power.

If it weren't for the high value of the throat-strangling seal and his fear of Lan Wen's powerful strength, he would have preferred to forgo this gain.

But this time it won't work. For them, a third-tier sea beast is a huge gain that they cannot give up. Moreover, they have already paid a huge price in terms of time, energy, and money in the early stages of hunting this throat-grabbing octopus.

Faced with Abaddon's harpooner's probing, Lanwen turned to look at Gaode.

Gao De nodded, then added, "A 50/50 split is acceptable."

His voice was calm and emotionless: "This is our first time in Black Sails City. We have some cargo on board. Since you are locals, if you can help us find a suitable way to ship the goods, we can give you an extra 10% of the proceeds from this throat-locking badge."

Normally, once the hunted sea creatures are brought back to Black Sails City, they are sold immediately, because the fresher they are, the higher their value.

In this situation, these hunters must have their own distribution channels in Black Sails City.

In addition, if you are new to the city, you can get in touch with locals who are familiar with the situation in Black Sails City. You can learn more about the local situation and avoid some unnecessary trouble.

Upon hearing Gao De's words, the people on the ship exchanged glances and began to discuss in hushed tones.

The discussion didn't last long. Not only was it for the extra 10% profit, but also out of respect for Lanwen's power, the leader of the Abaddon harpooners quickly looked up and replied, "Deal!"

After the deal was completed, Lan Wen received a signal from Gao De and raised his hand to grasp the frozen throat-snatching seal.

The ice that had covered the sea monster began to melt at a visible rate.

First, fine cracks appeared on the ice surface, spreading out like a spider web. Then, water droplets dripped down the ice ridges, splashing ripples on the sea surface.

The frozen waves resumed their flow, and water droplets traced arcs in the air before falling back into the sea.

The massive body of the throat-strangler gradually came into view, its dark green scales glistening with moisture.

Lanwen controlled the rate at which the ice element dissipated, ensuring that the sea monster's carcass would not be damaged by sudden thawing, especially its valuable supernatural organs.

The people on the hunting boat were already prepared. They quickly turned the chain wheel, dragging the barbed iron chain closer to the throat cap.

Then, it slammed the iron claw of one end of the chain into the base of the strangler's dorsal fin, where the scales of the strangler were the weakest. The barbs on the iron claw opened instantly and bit down hard on the sea monster's spine.

Two other burly men, standing on the swaying gangplank, fastened three secondary chains to the sea monster's pectoral fins and tail vertebrae, with the chain ends wrapped around the winch of the hunting ship's main mast.

"Deploy the airbags!" the lead harpooner roared.

Four inflatable bladders made from the stomachs of sea monsters were thrown into the sea. The bladders had amazing buoyancy, and by adjusting the lead weights underneath them, the corpse of the strangler was kept in a semi-floating state.

Then, the winch of the hunting boat began to turn, the wooden shaft groaning and creaking, and the iron chain was stretched tighter and tighter, drawing a bright silver straight line on the sea.

The carcass of the strangler was slowly dragged, its tail fin drawing a semi-arc on the water's surface, like a giant dark green leaf.

The hunting ship, towing the grappling hook, headed towards the Blue Flame Islands, deliberately slowing down so that the Columbus could follow steadily behind.

—Under normal circumstances, the speed of a hunting ship can reach more than twice that of an ordinary cargo ship.

(End of this chapter)