Chapter 55: Predictive Strike · Uprooting the Roots
The Doom Number sailed toward Terror Island. From a distance, the area above Terror Island was pitch black, and everything on the island was black.
Boom!
A crashing sound came from beneath the ship, followed by a spreading shockwave. Some marine creature was screaming in agony.
Something had attacked the Doom Number with a weapon. But the Doom Number was no lifeless object that would take a beating without retaliation. The moment it was struck, withered roots sprouted from its hull, entangling the attacking creature.
A shriveled corpse floated to the surface. Baha swooped down, scooped the body from the sea, and tossed it onto the deck.
With a thud, the dried corpse hit the deck. The creature had a human torso and a fish tail, and it still clutched a sharp trident in its hand. This was a Sea Clan member.
The sea surface began to tremble, sending up large sprays of water. A Sea Clan member with a human torso and fish tail, its hair as long and tangled as seaweed, burst out of the sea. Midair, it swung its arm and hurled a bone spear.
Thud!
The bone spear embedded itself in the deck. This was clearly a warning, telling Su Xiao to stay away from Terror Island.
Sea Clan guards were stationed near Terror Island, forbidding humans from landing. Thinking this over, Su Xiao raised his left arm. Roots spread from the deck beneath his feet, winding up and wrapping around his left arm.
Gurgle～
The Doom Number began to sink into the sea. The sails were furled. Su Xiao took a deep breath. Seawater first rose past his knees, then his chest, and finally, he was completely submerged.
In the shallow blue seawater, countless dark shadows darted around the Doom Number. A conservative estimate put their numbers in the thousands.
Crack, crack.
The planks at the Doom Number's bow split open, revealing the bow cannon within. Dark energy gathered inside the nearly half-meter-wide cannon barrel.
Boom!
Ripples spread through the seawater. A solid cannonball blasted out. Wherever the cannonball passed, Sea Clan members exploded into clouds of blood mist.
With a single shot, over a dozen Sea Clan members were instantly killed. The bow cannon was meant for sinking ships; it wasn't very effective against the Sea Clan—they were too spread out.
"Hehehe…"
"Living things, come on, join us, sweet living things."
"Who am I? Ah~, I forgot. But come, drown with me, drown in the Demon Sea, hehehehaha!"
One by one, cursed men crawled out from all over the Doom Number. They laughed wildly, cursing and spitting. In the sea, they were like demons of the deep. To them, everything alive was delicious.
The cursed men had once been cursed sailors. Their swimming skills were, as one might imagine, on par with the Sea Clan in the water.
In the seawater, the Doom Number moved forward quickly like a sea monster. Cursed men burst out from all over the hull, lunging at the surrounding Sea Clan members.
A few minutes later, the Doom Number surged out of the sea. Seawater poured from every part of the hull. On the surrounding sea surface, cries of lament and roars of fury mixed together. The Sea Clan, accustomed to intercepting passing ships, had today encountered the demons of the deep.
Su Xiao's left arm strained. With a crack, he snapped the withered roots connecting him to the Doom Number. As if receiving a command, the cursed men in the seawater returned to the vicinity of the Doom Number, their bodies merging back into the hull.
"Kill, kill them all, I haven't…"
A cursed man poked his upper body out of the deck. His murky eyes fixed on Su Xiao, and a strange, grating laugh came from his mouth.
"Shut up. Get back into the ship."
"!"
The cursed man's wild laughter cut off abruptly. His teeth ground together with a cracking sound.
"As you command, Captain. The curse of the Demon Sea is coming, hehehehaha."
The cursed man shrank back into the ship's hull. Both the Doom Number and the cursed men were double-edged swords. Without sufficient inner strength and power, one couldn't control them at all. The first thing this ship wanted to do after breaking free from its seal was to devour its master.
The Sea Clan was stunned by the cursed men's assault. They had been able to lurk near Terror Island only because the major powers hadn't bothered to deal with them. This had led them to mistakenly believe they were the rulers of Terror Island.
The Doom Number ran aground as it reached the shore. Su Xiao jumped off the ship and took a glass bottle from Amu's backpack.
Su Xiao tossed the glass bottle toward the Doom Number. With a shatter, the lower half of the bottle broke. Gray-black sand and soil surged out, enveloping the Doom Number.
After a sound of scraping planks, the Doom Number was resealed. As the gray-black sand and soil was sucked back into the glass bottle, the fragments at the bottom pieced themselves back together.
Picking up the glass bottle from the reef, the sand and soil inside had turned pure black. The Doom Number was sealed within. If the seal lasted too long, the Doom Number would degrade from a five-masted ship to a four-masted one. This would take about three to five years.
Time was plentiful, but Su Xiao planned to find an opportunity to sell the Doom Number. The curse of the Demon Sea was no joke. Being the captain of the Doom Number for too long would lead to erosion by the Demon Sea's curse.
Besides, Su Xiao felt the cursed men weren't all that impressive. Their combat power in the sea was indeed decent, but the moment they landed, they would instantly turn to ash. Enduring the Demon Sea's curse for these high-level cannon fodder wasn't worth it.
Su Xiao's first thought was to sell the Doom Number to the Divine Emperor, but he quickly abandoned the idea. The Doom Number was a top-tier sixth-rank dangerous object. If the Divine Emperor dared to use this thing, it might lead to an instant team wipe.
"Hey."
A somewhat familiar voice came. Su Xiao followed the sound and saw Lord Rat, his entire body wrapped in bandages.
"Law Destroyer, aren't you curious how I ended up like this?"
Lord Rat sat on a reef by the shore. Blood was still seeping through his bandages.
"Not particularly."
Su Xiao tossed a bottle of wine toward Lord Rat. Lord Rat raised his rat claw to catch it, bit off the cork, and gulped down several large mouthfuls.
"The third round was wild, huh. I should have known this place was the sea."
Lord Rat adjusted his sitting position, wincing in pain. He had ended up like this because he leaked the location of the third round and was punished by the Void Tree.
Don't think this was shameful. Being punished by the Void Tree and surviving, and still being able to continue serving as a "guide," already proved Lord Rat's ability and personal strength.
"You're slower than I imagined, even though you're the first to arrive."
"I killed an Ancient God on the way."
"Pfft~"
Lord Rat's shoulders shook, and then he burst into loud laughter.
"That's just like you. No wonder you could inherit the Law Destruction legacy. Did the Ancient Gods eat rice from your Law Destroyer family's pot? Every generation of Law Destroyers has it out for the Ancient Gods. I can't take it anymore, laughing until my stomach hurts."
Lord Rat laughed heartily. After laughing for a while, he was pulled by his wounds and winced in pain.
"I heard a while ago that there was an Ancient God called the Moon God. It seemed to be squatting at home when someone suddenly came knocking to kill it. There was an ancient tree and two little elves watching the scene. That wasn't you, was it?"
"Who knows."
"Is that so."
Lord Rat's tone was meaningful and profound.
"You need to be careful. Someone has put out word that they want to seek justice for the Moon God. They just don't know what you look like yet."
"Oh? Who is it?"
Su Xiao didn't really care that Lord Rat knew he had killed the Moon God.
"So it was you after all. The Ancient God looking to get revenge on you is called…" Lord Rat stopped there, his face twisting in pain before he continued: "That Ancient God is called… Nightmare God · Nigadi. It and the Moon God are from the same 'Divine Source System' of Ancient Gods. The most obvious features of that type of Ancient God are exoskeletons and faith power."
"Nightmare God, Nigadi…"
Su Xiao now understood why Nigadi had looked familiar. So this guy was the same breed as the Moon God. From what Lord Rat said, the two of them even had some connection.
"Nigadi hadn't even come to get revenge on you, and you killed it on the way. On the way, hahaha, what the hell does 'on the way' even mean?"
Lord Rat gulped down a few more mouthfuls of rum and let out a long breath of alcohol.
"Enough reminiscing. There's one more thing. The fourth round is an arena mode. This information has been made public. An 'old acquaintance' will be watching: Mage Sage Seraphilia."
Hearing this name, Su Xiao immediately thought of Dilin. She was the disciple of Mage Sage Seraphilia.
"I heard that Seraphilia's disciple also came to participate in the Strongest Warrior Tournament. What do you think would happen if the two of you ran into each other in the fourth round's draw? Seraphilia would be watching then. That would be… really interesting."
The moment Lord Rat finished speaking, Su Xiao felt a teleportation sensation. He was about to return to the rest area of the Strongest Warrior Tournament.