Chapter 306: Death Strikes (4K) |
"Master, it has agreed," Pula said.
Qin Ziwen nodded, then looked at the fish-man chieftain again. He found that although this guy looked blue-faced with protruding tusks, like a monster, it seemed quite easy to talk to.
"Pula, ask it for me, if there are any Hunter Clan fish-men."
Hearing Pula's translation, the fish-man chieftain shook its head.
It opened its mouth and said something. Qin Ziwen could sense a feeling of regret.
Pula sounded very angry, chattering and gabbling as he communicated with the fish-man chieftain.
Then he said to Qin Ziwen, "Master, it says the last Hunter Clan fish-man in the tribe was gifted away three years ago."
Gifted away... It seemed this fish-man tribe had invested more than just this batch of tribesmen.
However, Qin Ziwen keenly noticed the phrase 'three years ago'.
Apart from that, he hadn't heard any news about residential complexes or buildings crossing over.
Of course, there might have been, but the information was suppressed, and ordinary people didn't hear about it.
The fish-man chieftain looked at Qin Ziwen and began to speak.
Pula acted as a real-time translator beside him.
"Master, it says although there are no Hunter Clan fish-men left in the tribe, there are still some Turbid Clan fish-men. Turbid Clan fish-men are stupid, but loyal, and they are strong, capable of working."
Qin Ziwen thought of the three Turbid Clan fish-men who had obeyed orders before. Although they were rather dull and clumsy, their strength was no small matter; even a human with a five-star physique was far inferior.
This was the innate racial talent.
"Ask it for me, if there are any more of these things, and if they can be traded." Qin Ziwen took out the white jade coral.
Seeing Qin Ziwen take out the white jade coral, the fish-man chieftain sitting on the stone chair immediately spoke.
Pula relayed, "Master, it says there are quite a few stored in the warehouse. If you need them, it can trade with you."
Qin Ziwen had a guess in his heart. It seemed the fish-man chieftain knew what this was and knew the value of these white jade corals.
Perhaps it had taken out the white jade coral to tempt him.
Thinking about it, it made sense. After all, fish-men themselves could breathe underwater, so the white jade coral held little value for them.
It was like giving a human a tool that allowed breathing on land.
Qin Ziwen asked, "What do they need?"
"Master, it says it needs a large amount of food. Fruit would be even better. If you assist them in hunting the Thousand-Eyed Death God, it is willing to take out its treasured card library for you to choose from."
Qin Ziwen hadn't expected the fish-men to also lack meat, but upon careful thought, Turbid Clan fish-men were not small in stature and had big appetites. From observations along the way, these fish-men didn't possess large-scale farming techniques. Their main food source was still hunting. A hunting civilization determined that their demand for food could never be completely satisfied.
Qin Ziwen was still speculating. Since the fish-man race still retained the Deep Sea Temple building, could there be no other buildings similar to fields?
"Guild Leader, I thought of something. Since there is no Home Master among the fish-men, where did the buildings in their Home come from? When a Home Master dies, I remember the buildings in the Home disappear, right? Are there a few old fish-men secretly hidden here?" Cao Biansheng leaned over and voiced the doubt in his heart.
Qin Ziwen narrowed his eyes. He had also noticed this blind spot, but he was more inclined to believe the fish-man race possessed some method to preserve the Home.
Because judging from the location, the temple they were in didn't seem like a Home.
He was just about to have Pula ask the fish-man chieftain.
Suddenly, a sharp, piercing cry came from outside.
The sound was sharp, like the whistle of a large ship sailing on the sea.
Qin Ziwen had heard from professionals in the Qin Alliance that in the dark, high-pressure deep sea, the transmission through many mediums was affected. Sound was the only carrier that could transmit information over long distances at high speed.
Its status in the deep sea was equivalent to light on land.
The speed of sound propagation underwater was about four times that on land.
In the deep sea, especially the pitch-black seabed, when vision no longer dominated, sounds of various frequencies and sizes formed a complex network.
That sound just now was like a low, heavy hammer, piercing through the damp air, striking the membranes of his bones, his skin, his internal organs.
The fish-man chieftain stood up. The sound from its throat became low.
"Master, it says the Thousand-Eyed Death God has appeared."
Hearing this, Qin Ziwen's heart tightened.
Judging from its performance, this Thousand-Eyed Death God's rating was still above the Giant Rock Dragon, and the Giant Rock Dragon they had hunted back then was in a weakened state.
It was hard to imagine how massive the Thousand-Eyed Death God, feared so much by the fish-man race, would be in the deep sea environment.
"Woo-woo, one, two—"
Outside, came many intermittent whistling sounds.
Although Qin Ziwen didn't understand, Pula promptly explained to him. "Master, this is the fish-men gathering their army, preparing to counterattack."
Watching the fish-man chieftain leave the Deep Sea Temple, Qin Ziwen thought for a moment and followed.
There were fish-men all around, and after so many years of fighting the Thousand-Eyed Death God, they must have some methods. At the very least, they shouldn't be instantly killed upon first contact, right?
Taking this opportunity, he would first observe the situation of the opponent.
Fish-men emerged from the coral mounds one after another. They pulled out a large pile of tools from who knows where. Among them were tools constructed from wood, coral, and even sea beast skeletons.
From a distance, they looked like some kind of shield, but at the front of the shield, there were densely packed bone spikes.
Several Turbid Clan fish-men held the shields aloft at the rear, floating above.
By the faint light of the seabed corals, Qin Ziwen could vaguely sense a strong current surging overhead. It did not approach but circled above.
Occasionally, when it came closer, he could see a thick, undispersed mass of shadow.
Although its exact appearance couldn't be seen, the disturbance it created while swimming was very loud.
In Qin Ziwen's airflow perception network, the changes in the surrounding water currents were also extremely obvious.
He could sense a strong current, carried by a massive shadow with a thin head and thick tail, constantly circling.
"It's huge." Qin Ziwen frowned tightly. Although sensing through water currents couldn't precisely determine the other's size, just the length of the stirred water current exceeded forty or fifty meters.
This size was exaggerated.
After circling for a while, the Thousand-Eyed Death God above moved.
It suddenly thrust downward.
The nearest shield was struck.
"Hum!"
The undercurrent vibrated. The shield was abruptly pushed down seven or eight meters, almost shattered.
"Roooaaar—"
The Thousand-Eyed Death God let out a low, resonant cry. It seemed to have been injured by the bone spikes.
With a twist of its head, it stirred up a large volume of water beneath it. Its thick, long body swept past overhead.
The coral forest illuminated a corner of its outline. Its pitch-black, rounded body was covered in densely packed white dots.
If not observed carefully, from a distance, it truly looked like it had hundreds of white eyes growing from its head down its body.
No wonder it was called the Thousand-Eyed Death God.
Qin Ziwen could sense the water current being carried away as it swam into the distance.
Qin Ziwen was surprised, guessing in his heart, had it fled?
But the surrounding fish-men did not relax their vigilance. Instead, more fish-men stepped forward to raise shields. These shields were positioned defensively towards the north side. At the same time, many Artisan Clan fish-men worked together to lift long, thin spikes, thrusting them out through the gaps in the shields.
Qin Ziwen felt more at ease. The ones who knew it best were surely its enemies. After so many years of hunting, the fish-man tribe must have rich experience.
Sure enough, after about ten minutes, the sound of surging water currents came from the deep sea behind them.
Before long, the Thousand-Eyed Death God actually attacked again from the rear.
This guy held a grudge!
And it was cunning!
It deliberately took a big detour, circling to the back of the group to try a sneak attack.
However, this time, after seeing the shields, the Thousand-Eyed Death God did not rashly charge forward. Instead, it gradually approached while countless low sounds emanated from the surface of its body.
Observing up close, Qin Ziwen noticed more details about this Thousand-Eyed Death God.
For example, its tail was very wide, like a flat eel, its width almost three times that of its head.
Also, it wasn't that it had no scales; its scales were just very fine and dense. If not for being close enough, they could easily be mistaken for folds or textures on its body.
Its actual size was somewhat smaller than initially guessed, probably only about forty meters long.
It was just that the disturbance it created while swimming was huge, stirring up large undercurrents, leading to the mistaken estimate.
Low resonances came from the many pores on the Thousand-Eyed Death God's body surface. With the resonance vibrations, Qin Ziwen could feel his own heart, and his entire body, being shaken.
It felt like standing in front of a concert speaker, the thumping vibrations directly striking the heart.
"Damn, this thing actually has sonic attacks too."
Qin Ziwen threw Insight at the Thousand-Eyed Death God.
Superhuman · Thousand-Eyed Snake (☆☆☆☆★) (Abilities: Level 1 Hallucinogenic Snake Venom, Level 1 Sonic Pore Resonance)
Its basic attributes were one star less than the Giant Rock Dragon's.
But it couldn't be calculated that way. Even with one less star in basic attributes, its bounty points were still higher than the Giant Rock Dragon's. This could only mean that within the same tier, its upper limit was higher than the Giant Rock Dragon's.
This Sonic Pore Resonance should be one of its talents.
Some fish-men around were trembling. One Artisan Clan fish-man suddenly shuddered, then looked at its chest and slowly lay down.
Qin Ziwen quickly looked at the people he had brought. Cao Biansheng's expression was grave, but his condition was okay.
Chitu kept shaking its head, looking somewhat uncomfortable.
Du Yu's condition was slightly better than Cao Biansheng's. Among the three Yan brothers, although Yan Da and Yan San frowned tightly, clutching their chests, their complexions hadn't changed much.
Only Yan Wu had his brows knitted together, his lips purple, his body bent like a bow.
Qin Ziwen grabbed him and dragged him back into the undersea temple.
After returning to the temple, Yan Wu's complexion improved a lot.
He spat out the white jade coral he had been holding in his mouth and gasped for air.
"You stay here for now, don't go out," Qin Ziwen instructed him.
Yan Wu felt ashamed. "Master..."
"It's not your fault in battle. Rest well." After settling Yan Wu, Qin Ziwen went back out.
He found that this Thousand-Eyed Snake was still circling nearby.
It attempted to attack several more times.
Twice, it was stabbed by sharp long spears.
After being painfully stabbed, it no longer came so close, keeping a distance from the group.
After a while, the Thousand-Eyed Snake circled for a bit, then slowly swam away.
The fish-men maintained their formation for nearly half an hour. Only after the Thousand-Eyed Snake didn't return did they slowly disperse.
Qin Ziwen swam over and observed that the several Turbid Clan fish-men who had been holding the shields and were struck had suffered significant injuries. The most severe one had blood beginning to seep from the corner of its mouth, clearly having injured its internal organs.
After settling its tribesmen, the fish-man chieftain swam over. From it, Qin Ziwen sensed a wave of fatigue.
It began to communicate, with Pula assisting in translation. "Master, it says this is the Thousand-Eyed Death God. After this resurrection, it will frantically hunt various creatures in the ocean over the next period. At the same time, it will also grow and develop during this process."
"It can still grow bigger?!" Qin Ziwen frowned.
This thing's size was already exaggerated, and now it could continue to grow.
Was this a monster they could deal with?!
What if one day this guy surfaced, swam directly onto the island reef, and crawled into the residential complex... then... that would be great.
Although the Thousand-Eyed Snake was huge, judging from its earlier performance, its defense was inferior to the Giant Rock Dragon's.
It was just that its large size resulted in very dense muscle mass.
Ordinary weapons would have difficulty harming it. But if it left the water and came to the surface, couldn't the Crowned Eagle's God's Rod be used then?
Moreover, those heavy crossbows could also exert their full lethality on land.
"Master, it says the current Thousand-Eyed Death God has just resurrected not long ago, so its strength isn't very great. If it were a fully mature Thousand-Eyed Death God, its body length could increase by half again. As long as there is enough food, this time will be greatly shortened." Pula's voice trembled as he relayed this.
Seeing that Thousand-Eyed Death God just now had also given him a great shock.
Qin Ziwen estimated in his heart: it could still grow by half.
Originally forty meters long, half of forty more would be sixty meters.
It sounded like an ordinary number, but to visualize it, if laid straight, from snake head to snake tail, it would be as tall as a twenty-story building.
This size had long since transcended the category of a beast and could be called a "monster."
At such a size, just the muscle density alone would be a terrifying figure.
But if the fish-man tribe knew this, did it mean they had methods to deal with this kind of "monster"?
Thinking of this, Qin Ziwen couldn't help but become solemn.
These fish-men might still have hidden cards he hadn't seen.
Qin Ziwen said, "Ask them if the fish-men have a method to deal with the Thousand-Eyed Death God. If not, then we can only think of a way to lure it onto land. We can't let it continue to grow."
Hearing Pula's translation and learning that Qin Ziwen and his group could deal with the Thousand-Eyed Death God, a flash of apprehension passed through the fish-man chieftain's eyes.
Just as expected. It had guessed these humans wouldn't be so simple.
Because this sea area was home to a large number of beasts, even some Superhuman creatures.
Any Shedding Abyss that could come here was not ordinary.
This was also the reason it chose to cooperate from the start. Many Shedding Abysses appeared ordinary on the outside but contained magnificent worlds within. It was difficult to judge their strength from appearance alone. This was experience passed down by ancestors.
"Master, the fish-man chieftain knows where the Thousand-Eyed Death God lives. All previous Thousand-Eyed Death Gods have also lived in that nest. It's in a nearby trench. The location is quite hidden; the Thousand-Eyed Death God likes to live in narrow places."