Mercenary Wars

Chapter 195 The Dangers of the Ocean

“Okay.” Gao Jiano nodded in agreement.

But just then, along with the slight rocking of the ship, several panicked howls suddenly rang out: "Awooo—"

At the same time, shouts from mercenaries could also be heard.

"There's a shark!"

"Quick, someone, stop the sharks from getting near the sea camels!"

Gaucano and Cassandra rushed towards the sound and soon arrived near the bow of the ship.

They then saw several dark figures swimming rapidly towards them from beneath the surface of the sea in the distance, their sharp shark fins occasionally surfacing.

The two sea llamas at the bow of the ship—large sea creatures domesticated by humans to pull the ship—became increasingly panicked, howling incessantly, causing the Griffith to sway violently.

Several heavily armored mercenary warriors immediately drank underwater breathing potions and had the mage cast "levitation" on them. Then they jumped into the sea, holding swords and shields, and stood between the sharks and sea camels.

More mercenaries provided support with ranged weapons.

Gao Jiano immediately put on his heavy-duty gloves, drew his bow and nocked an arrow, each of the two fine steel arrows carrying six wisps of swift wind.

"call out--"

With a whooshing sound, two steel spiked arrows each struck a shark, but failed to kill it.

Gao Jiano frowned slightly.

Although these two arrows lacked blood-stained tips and were not aimed at the target, they were still fired from a fully drawn bow while he was wearing heavy-duty gloves. Combined with the six swift breezes, they failed to kill the target shark outright.

These sharks were clearly not ordinary wild animals; they must have been around level three.

“They must be sharks used by the Naga sea monsters to probe us,” Hicks said from the side.

"There are Naga nearby!" some surprised voices rang out.

For people sailing at sea, apart from the "Throat of the Tide," a natural disaster that leaves almost no survivors, the thing they least want to encounter is probably the Naga Siren.

These monsters possess awe-inspiring power in the ocean.

Especially in the deep sea, once the Naga sirens successfully destroy a ship, they can easily reap the lives and property of most humans, with only a few—such as gifted sailors blessed by certain water elements—surviving.

It's no exaggeration to say that, compared to humans, the Naga sea monsters in the deep sea have several times the combat power of their counterparts.

Therefore, upon hearing Hicks's words, many mercenaries showed surprise and worry on their faces.

“We must deal with these sharks decisively,” Hicks continued. “If we show the slightest weakness, the lurking Naga sea monsters will attack us without hesitation!”

He then drank the underwater breathing potion and tore open several spell scrolls, including one that said "Walking on Water".

Then he leaped onto the water, stood on the surface, and charged straight at the nearest shark with his spear in hand.

Immediately, a flash of blood appeared, and the shark's head was pierced through by his spear!
Gaucano also added blood-stained arrowheads and aimed shots to his arrows, quickly killing the sharks in the water.

Before long, the mercenaries had killed several sharks, and the nearby sea surface rippled with waves of blood.

To avoid attracting more sharks or other marine predators with the smell of blood, the mercenaries immediately took out a special animal-repelling potion, sprinkled it on the sea camels and the boat, and ordered the sea camels to pull the boat away quickly.

"Aww—" The two sea camels seemed extremely unwilling.

Animal repellent also has a very unpleasant smell to them.

Humans were sprinkling this disgusting stuff on them while simultaneously expecting them to pull boats; you can only imagine how they felt.

Fortunately, there were many hunters among the mercenaries, who were skilled in animal instincts and could effectively soothe the sea camels. The mercenaries who had gone into the water also returned to the ship one after another.

Just as a mercenary was swimming toward the ship, a shadow suddenly began to rise in the water beneath him.

"Watch out!" Hicks warned quickly, hurrying over as he went.

But it was too late.

"Splash!" With a splash of water, the mercenary only had time to let out half a scream before being dragged into the water by a scaly hand!
Then a pool of blood dispersed in the water.

"It's the Naga!" Everyone's expression turned serious.

Lucius acted immediately.

He quickly drank several bottles of potion, tore open several scrolls, and activated his underwater combat buff to the maximum. Then, holding a longsword, he plunged into the water!
Despite losing an arm, Lucius's strength as a level seven warrior and leader of a mercenary group should not be underestimated.

All the people saw was a surge of figures underwater, accompanied by occasional roars and howls that broke through the surface, and bloody splatters appeared in several places.

With the help of other mercenaries, Lucius soon resurfaced.

"Those bastards are done!" he shouted with his right eye closed. "Hurry up and repair the ice pods; they've blasted through the bottom of several of them!"

"Commander, your eyes!" People noticed that his closed eyes were bleeding.

"Blinded," Lucius said nonchalantly, continuing as he boarded the ship, "Go and repair the ice pods! Everyone who knows water magic, go!"

Gaucano frowned as he looked at Lucius, who was blind in one eye but seemed completely unconcerned.

He couldn't understand why someone would be so indifferent to losing an eye.

Of course, he had heard of some such ruthless people in historical legends—some even ate their own blinded eyes.

But Lucius doesn't seem to be that kind of person, after all, he was visibly unwilling and depressed when he lost his arm.

The eyes are probably just as important as the arms, right?
Why doesn't Lucius care at all now?

Gao Jiano had no time to think it over and immediately went with the mages to repair the ice chamber.

Ice cells are ship compartments built of ice, which is very common in Farallon's maritime industry. All large ships have ice cells, and some ships are even made entirely of ice.

The existence of ice hulls has played an indispensable role in the prosperity of the shipping industry.

After all, its cost is extremely low.

Seawater is inexhaustible, and "Ice Formation" is a simple water-based spell, requiring only some cost for the ship's frame and ice-building powder.

Inside an icebox.

The ice chamber was light blue all over, emanating a chill that wasn't intimidating.

This was a good place to store food, with all sorts of ingredients piled up to the brim. However, due to damage to the hull, a large amount of seawater rushed in, and much of the food was floating on the water.

A blue-haired mage was waving his staff, trying to push the surging seawater back through the breach in the hull.

Once all the seawater had been expelled from the icehouse, another mage immediately used magic to evenly sprinkle a bottle of light blue powder onto the damaged area at the bottom of the hull, while saying, "Ice spell, quick."

Gao Jiano immediately chanted a spell and cast a first-ring freezing spell.

As the incantation was completed, the seawater mixed with ice-building powder at the damaged part of the hull immediately began to freeze, and in no time the hull was repaired as before, without any trace of damage.

(End of this chapter)