Chapter 38: This Is Truly Delicious
The sky gradually brightened. This was the second day since Su Xiao arrived at the Viking Sea, and it was still overcast.
Inside the captain's cabin of the Doom Number, Su Xiao looked at the sea chart on the table. This chart was expensive, yet most areas were blank, only marking the lands where various kingdoms were located, as well as famous routes and such.
A sea chart covering the entire Viking Sea could perhaps only be possessed by the various kingdoms or legendary pirate groups.
So far, among the three legendary pirate groups, Su Xiao had only encountered one, the Black Sea King. That group had no specific name; the title Black Sea King itself represented a group with 17 large ships and over 5,000 pirates.
Su Xiao temporarily had no plans to contact those three legendary pirate groups. However, if he wanted to find Terror Island, contacting them was the fastest way.
In the perception of most commoners and pirates, Terror Island didn't exist at all. Only a few top-tier pirate groups, the three legendary pirate groups, or the high-ranking officials of various kingdoms could access this island.
What was on Terror Island was unknown for now. Su Xiao's plan was: with a 15-day stay limit, he would spend 5 days searching for the Ancient God and dedicate the remaining 10 days to locating Terror Island.
Having the Doom Number was Su Xiao's advantage, so he intended to make good use of it.
Thinking this, Su Xiao picked up a green fruit from the table. Just as he was about to taste it, a shaking sensation occurred.
Su Xiao quickly walked out of the captain's cabin. On the deck, Bubu Wang and Amu were at the stern, looking down at the sea surface.
Rumble~
The entire Doom Number trembled, as if something had tugged it from behind.
A sea beast was dragging the Doom Number backward. The reason for this was that Su Xiao had tied a thick cable, as thick as an arm, to the stern. The other end of the cable had a four-pronged hook nearly a meter in diameter, with a large piece of fresh meat attached, thrown into the water.
Just this cable, mixed with metal wires, cost Su Xiao 94 gold coins. It was bought from a pirate group that had just suffered a crushing defeat; otherwise, they would never have sold this cable specifically used for hunting sea beasts.
The Doom Number needed to devour supernatural sea beasts to grow. Yesterday, sailing for nearly an entire afternoon, they hadn't encountered any sea beasts. So, Su Xiao started fishing for sea beasts. Since the sea beasts wouldn't attack proactively, he would fish for them.
The wooden winch fixed at the stern spun rapidly, some parts starting to smoke, as the cable wound around it was quickly dragged into the sea.
Amu stepped forward, grabbed the cable with one hand, and began pulling it backward. Bubu Wang turned the wooden winch, winding up the cable that Amu pulled back.
This was the method of hunting sea beasts Su Xiao had learned from the pirates. Even with his strength, he wouldn't recklessly jump into the sea to fight sea beasts in the water.
The sea was the sea beasts' home turf. Who knew what abilities these supernatural sea beasts had or how strong they were? Jumping in recklessly could easily lead to disaster.
So, Su Xiao had Bubu Wang and Amu fish for sea beasts. Once a sea beast was hooked, if it didn't approach the Doom Number, it would eventually be exhausted by Amu's tugging and be devoured by the Doom Number. Wrestling with a bull? The sea beast probably hadn't woken up yet.
As for the sea beast surfacing to attack the Doom Number, that was even better. Su Xiao could slash out blade auras, handling mid-range combat without issue.
"Moo!"
Amu roared, gripping the cable with both hands and pulling back with all its strength. The cable creaked against the ship's railing.
After pulling back a few meters, the tension in Amu's hands suddenly eased. The cable in its hands was quickly dragged into the sea. After releasing about ten meters, it gripped the cable again, repeating the cycle to exhaust the sea beast's stamina.
Forty meters below the sea, a massive shadow was swimming through the water, bound by a cable that prevented it from returning to the deep sea.
Through the faint light underwater, the sea beast was visible: a giant octopus. Its body was bloated, its tentacles over ten meters long, with many parasitic shellfish attached to the suckers.
An undercurrent surged beneath the sea. The octopus twisted its massive body, trying to break the cable. Unfortunately, this cable was specifically designed for hunting sea beasts. Even if this octopus-like sea beast had rows of sharp teeth, it couldn't bite through this cable.
The octopus wasn't a sentient being, so its only thought now was to escape.
One hour later.
On the Doom Number, Amu had been fishing for nearly an hour without even panting. It was now pulling the cable with all its strength, wanting to end the fight quickly. The main sail of the Doom Number had been furled, and the ship was being dragged backward.
Amu's arms and upper body muscles bulged. After over ten minutes of pulling, an octopus tentacle broke the surface, wrapped around the Doom Number, and the ship began to tilt.
As soon as this tentacle coiled around the Doom Number, several more followed, seemingly intent on snapping the ship in two and dragging it under.
Seeing this, Amu's eyes widened. It dropped the cable and pressed one hand onto the deck.
Crack, crack, crack~
Ice spread, freezing the Doom Number on the sea surface. The next moment, the ice broke, and the octopus's round head emerged from the sea, its large mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth roaring.
Su Xiao drew the longsword at his waist. His blood aura immediately attracted the octopus's attention, and a tentacle swung toward him. The nearly meter-thick tentacle carried immense force.
The octopus was very cautious, having encountered a "worthy opponent."
Five minutes later.
Sizzle~
A wisp of smoke rose from the grill, the charcoal beneath glowing red. On it were tender white octopus tentacle meat, the aroma tantalizing.
"This is truly delicious."
Baha swallowed saliva. Behind it were Bubu Wang and Beini, their eyes full of longing, looking like they were waiting to be fed.
As for Amu, it was too hungry and had already started eating octopus sashimi.
Su Xiao stood before the grill. This thing wasn't easy to use; if you didn't control the heat well, the octopus tentacle could easily burn. After all, it was second-hand. Considering that the Cripple had sold a pile of daily necessities for 1 gold coin, there wasn't much to complain about with a second-hand item.
A tentacle cut into four sections lay on the deck, taking up a considerable area. Below the ship, the octopus, cut in two, was being coiled around by large, root-like tentacles, gradually withering. The Doom Number was devouring this sea beast.
On the deck, Su Xiao picked up a piece of hot octopus meat and put it in his mouth, chewing slowly. Even without any seasoning, as a supernatural creature, the octopus meat was very chewy. It proved that as long as the ingredients were fresh enough, the taste wouldn't be bad even without any seasoning.
He had originally planned to have octopus meat for lunch too, as it was much more delicious than jerky. Unfortunately, before noon, the octopus tentacles had gone bad. This made Amu very sad, and it stayed at the stern, waiting for other sea beasts to bite.
Bubu Wang lay lazily on the deck, yawning. The octopus they had caught was a supernatural creature, and from a mid-to-high-tier world. So, Bubu Wang's Advanced Creature (Active X) ability triggered, slowly increasing its attributes.
The benefits of hunting sea beasts weren't just the chance to obtain treasure chests and enhance the Doom Number. More importantly, it could improve Bubu Wang's attributes and abilities.