Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 468 Rapid Plunge!
What appeared before everyone was a battered and bruised sawa fishman.

It was neither an elite guard with two pairs of arms nor a murloc priest with spellcasting abilities, but simply the most ordinary and common individual of the Shahua murloc race.

It looked as if it had just gone through a fierce battle. You could see many deep, bleeding wounds on its body, which was covered with fine blue-green scales. The most serious one almost tore open its chest and abdomen, and you could vaguely see the outline of its internal organs under the diaphragm.

Their right hand gripped a metal harpoon, a standard feature of their race, but the tip of the harpoon was not pointing towards the group. Instead, it was deeply embedded in the mud below to support the fishman's body.

Clearly, this sawa fishman is in a state of serious injury.

As mentioned earlier, the Shahua fish-men are regarded as monsters by the islanders living by the sea because of their brutal nature and extreme hatred towards other races.

But in reality, they are also a type of intelligent life, with their own language and writing system, and possess unique civilizations.

They are also afraid of death, and they grieve for the death of their companions.

Under normal circumstances, a lone, severely wounded Sakawa merman would encounter a well-preserved and powerful team of experienced adventurers like the Blade of Vengeance.

Knowing they were no match for the enemy, they couldn't even manage to escape.

Except for a few individuals with strong personalities, they rarely take the initiative to attack.

Begging for mercy or simply waiting to die are the most likely actions.

But what's really strange is that the moment this Shahua fishman saw the crowd, it showed obvious hostility.

With the most acute senses of all, Xia Nan was drawn to the faint sounds coming from outside the corridor, and even spotted the fish-men before they did.

It was precisely because of this that he was able to observe the other party's reaction in its entirety.

Without hesitation or the slightest doubt.

The moment the Shahua fishman saw them, he let out a highly aggressive roar.

For intelligent beings with a certain capacity for thought, this is undoubtedly abnormal.

Of course, its actual strength does not match the reckless courage it is displaying at this moment.

With a challenge level of 0.5 and a body severely injured, facing these seasoned adventurers whose average class level was over 3... the outcome was predictable.

"Garu!"

Thick saliva spurted from his mouthparts with a furious, manic roar.

With considerable difficulty, the Sawa fishman pulled the harpoon from the mud beneath his feet and limped towards the adventurers before him.

Sizzle—

It was the sound of a sharp blade tearing through flesh.

The heavy, anchor-shaped axe blade slashed through the air, requiring no special power; it easily cleaved the forward-pointing harpoon and the fishman's body behind it using only pure physical strength and a sharp weapon.

Without a shred of pity, Arken used his weapon to slice the enemy in front of him diagonally in two.

Confirming that there were no more enemies and that it was just a lone Sakawa merman, Oathbringer's Blade, which had been in a tight formation ready for battle, relaxed slightly.

Captain Lorraine stepped forward slowly, her brows furrowing as she looked at the Sawa fishman at her feet, who, even though he was separated from his lower body and his internal organs were spilling out, was still holding onto the harpoon with only the handle left, trying to attack her.

Something's not right.

Even the thick-skinned, burly savage Arken noticed the strangeness of the fish-man before him.

"It's not like I killed its whole family. I've never seen such a gutsy water rat."

Meanwhile, Xia Nan's gaze was fixed on the harpoon that Aken had cut off.

—The blood remaining on the tip of the harpoon was fluorescent blue.

"You mean... these murlocs also had internal strife?"

Hein stood to the side, crouched down, and carefully examined the body of the Shahua fish-man.
The shapes of many of the wounds on its body match the weapons used by the fishmen.

That's very interesting.

Although it is true that internal strife is common among both humans and the Shahua fish-men.

But at this point in time, they first discovered signs of infighting among the islanders in Twin Valleys, and then, quite coincidentally, they saw fishmen fighting amongst themselves, even showing signs of losing their minds. Coupled with the strange buildings with exotic styles they had seen along the way, it was hard not to make some connections.

"Perhaps... there exists something within this ancient ruin that can influence the mind of living beings?"

Based on the clues the group had uncovered, Hein made a reasonable deduction.

For experienced adventurers like them, what they usually fear and are most wary of during missions is not powerful monsters, but rather unseen and intangible potential threats like the one they are facing now.

Upon hearing this, Sasha, the spotted cat-man beside her, tensed up instantly, her fur standing on end, as if she were about to hiss if she were to be further agitated.

Xia Nan agreed with Hai Yin's guess in his heart.

Based on his encounters and past experiences, he also suspected that something from the secret realm had affected the minds of the islanders and fishmen in Twin Valleys, causing them to kill each other.

After realizing this possibility, he became even more vigilant and paid close attention to his mental state.

But until now, he has not noticed anything unusual.

With 12 points in Perception and the Mental Resistance bonus from the [Looking into the Abyss] feat, even if it doesn't guarantee 100% resistance to mind control spells, you should at least be able to sense the influence from the opponent.

If this ability to influence the mind is so strong that even the person themselves cannot perceive it, then there is no point in choosing whether to stay on the island or retreat.

Therefore, he concluded that there might be some underlying limitations to this phenomenon that leads to conflict between fishmen and islanders.

“I need more clues.” Hein stood up, her crystal-clear eyes fixed on the Shahua fish-man on the ground, whose life force was rapidly fading and who was slowly dying. “At least we need to find out what exactly happened here.”

She looked at Lorraine beside her.

Although Hein is the core spellcaster of the team, Lorraine, as the strongest and most prestigious captain in the entire squad, has absolute decision-making power during missions.

How the group of six will proceed depends on the other party's instructions.

Lorraine pondered for a moment, her eyes flashing, clearly indicating that she had made a decision.

Just as I was about to speak, a commotion suddenly came from the canyon below the cave.

Faintly, one could hear the murlocs' "ga-lu" howls, as well as the familiar human roars mixed with horn sounds.

"not good!"

……

……

Meanwhile, Twin Canyons, a simple dock.

The Blade of Vengeance, guarded by the twin warriors Rein and Gordon, did not let their guard down even after they had reached their destination.

The temporary departure of the adventurer core team made them even more vigilant.

As one of only two remaining professionals on board, Gordon climbed to the lookout tower atop the mainmast, hoping to use his superior eyesight—better than that of the average crew member—to anticipate potential dangers from the surrounding area. His brother, Ryan, remained on deck to direct the sailors.

Fixed sentry posts were set up at the bow and stern, equipped with bows and crossbows; the gangplank leading to the shore was pulled back, leaving only a rope ladder that could be cut at any time; anti-climb nets were placed along the edges of the ship's sides, ready to be dropped at any time to slow down the enemy's boarding progress; even the dark areas near the dock were set up with warning traps by several daring veteran sailors.

This was clearly not the first time the ship had been left unattended. The deck was orderly, and even the usually noisy crew members kept their mouths shut and dared not make a sound.

Considering the shahua fishmen they encountered on their way here, the two brothers even made special preparations to deal with potential enemies coming from below the water.

Some hollow iron cans, still attached to broken rope nets, were forcefully thrown into the nearby water by the crew.

When the water flow is normal, they will only sway slightly, but if a large creature touches them, the loud noise will alert the people on the boat to the danger in advance.

It was this very action that gave the Blade of Vengeance, which should have suffered enormous losses, some room to maneuver.

"Ring ring!"

The hollow iron cans floating on the water collided violently, producing a sharp, high-frequency sound.

"Watch out underwater!"

Ryan loudly reminded the crew members, and then stepped forward, walking straight to the railing at the edge of the deck.

As the iron cans collided violently, the previously calm water surface suddenly rippled, and human-shaped shadows appeared and disappeared in the waves.

Knowing they had been discovered, the monsters in the sea no longer slowed down to hide themselves. They swayed their bodies and roared as they rapidly approached the Blade of Vengeance from underwater.

The sharp harpoons that occasionally peek out of the water, and the dark fins that cut through the water like sharks, also revealed their identity.

"They are Shahua fishmen!"

"Prepare for battle!!!"

Along with Renn's roar, the first sound to ring out was the high-pitched horn sound from above.

As agreed upon when Lorraine and the others left the ship, almost the instant the danger was detected, Gordon, the other of the twin warriors who was standing on the lookout tower, blew the horn signaling that the ship was under attack.

Located in the center of the canyon, with towering rock walls on both sides, the high-pitched and long-lasting sound of horns echoes between the rock walls.

After blowing the whistle three times to make sure no one was missed, Gordon quickly climbed down from the lookout tower and returned to the deck.

Meanwhile, the first group of fishmen had already engaged in battle with the sailors.

Beneath the sea's surface lies the merfolk's domain.

Even the most reckless crew members knew that jumping into the water was suicide.

This left them with no choice but to stand on the edge of the deck and fire their crossbows at the rapidly approaching enemy beneath the sea.

Unfortunately, his accuracy was poor.

Faced with those incredibly fast underwater phantoms, even a professional like Ryan could only hit three or four of them.

The resistance from the seawater further weakened the arrow's power, so even if you were hit, you would only suffer a minor injury at most.

"damn it!"

Get out of the way!!!

The sound of sharp objects striking the ship's planks reached their ears. The twin brothers, who were usually dull and taciturn in front of Xia Nan and the others, now showed a sense of responsibility as the only remaining core crew members.

He went straight to meet the fishmen who jumped up from underwater onto the deck or used their harpoons to climb up.

boom--

The sharp harpoon landed directly on the surface of the iron-plated round shield, producing a dull thud.

The shield was sturdy, but with a slight forward thrust, the harpoon thrusting straight at the shield was violently pushed away, causing the murloc holding the handle to lose his balance.

Before its wet body could even stand up straight, a one-handed sword from the side sliced ​​off half of its head, and the body, covered in blue and white liquid, fell back into the sea.

The versatility granted by the Warrior class, while not possessing the specialization of other less popular classes, still endows them with highly adaptable combat abilities.

In addition, the natural chemistry between the twins makes their combined combat power far exceed that of ordinary teammates.

With their combined efforts, they managed to hold onto the deck for a time, kicking the fishmen off the ship one by one.

However, their expressions did not ease at all; instead, they became even more tense.

Because at that very moment, they could feel a distinct vibration from the deck beneath their feet, as well as a muffled chiseling sound coming from the water.

Those safari fish are attacking the bottom of the ship underwater.

This is also a pain point for all non-aquatic organisms.

Once the ship is sunk, they will have to fight the fish-men in the extremely harsh underwater environment.

Once they reach the water, their original level 3 combat power will likely be significantly reduced, making it much harder to maintain their current level of ease.

"This can't go on any longer, brother!"

"Should we cover the brothers getting off the ship first?"

After forcefully severing the arm of a merman that was about to climb onto the deck, Gordon asked breathlessly.

If the ship were scuttled, the two of them, as professionals, would still have ways to deal with it, but the other crew members, no matter how good they were at swimming, would be doomed if they were surrounded by the fishmen.

We are currently docked near the pier. Before these underwater sawa fishmen can attack the deck, we should cover the crew's retreat to the land on the pier to preserve our strength to the greatest extent possible.

Rein, the older brother, seemed somewhat hesitant about this.

Because he knew that doing so would mean completely abandoning the Blade of Vengeance.

With the ship sinking, they would be completely trapped in Twin Valley.

Leaving aside the possibility of other dangers on the island, the very question of whether the remaining supplies could last until other ships docked was also a concern.

boom--

Another wave surged over, causing the deck to rock violently.

Rein grabbed a crew member who was about to fall into the water after losing his balance, gritted his teeth, and made up his mind.

"All personnel, proceed to the dock..."

Before he could finish speaking, accompanied by the high-frequency sound of magical energy, emerald green light spots drifted down leisurely.

Fast-growing vine husks!
Aquatic plants and resilient vines quickly covered the hull.

Everyone instinctively looked up at the sky.

What came into view was a short-tailed albatross circling in the sky, and a dark figure falling rapidly.

(End of this chapter)