Chapter 424 Just as When They Arrived

"Ooo..."

The cold, damp sea breeze wove through the jagged coastal rocks, its sharp whistle echoing through the air like the howling of ghosts.

To the islanders who had lived by the sea since childhood, the endless sound of the tides had long become a kind of white noise they subconsciously filtered out.

But at this moment, the seemingly endless crashing of the waves—the splashing and roaring—felt so grating, harsh, and maddening.

Steven, the chief of Cliff Rock Village, stood at the very front of the group.

His right hand gripped a well-maintained iron sword, though its hilt bore obvious signs of age. In his left hand, he held an equally old, mottled iron-studded wooden shield.

Behind him stood a dozen or so tense villagers, wielding an assortment of weapons as they loosely filled the gap. Before him lay crudely constructed, hastily arranged traps, and beyond that, the rocky cliffs and the vast expanse of the ocean.

According to the plan, Steven had led over a dozen able-bodied men from the village to block off the other exit of the northern cliff area of Cliff Rock Island.

Compared to villagers in remote inland settlements who used pitchforks and iron pots for weapons and armor, the fishermen of Cliff Rock Island—who lived on the ocean, frequently faced pirates and monsters, and were only a five-day journey from Barracuda Bay—were noticeably better equipped.

At the very least, they held proper weapons, and some even wore ancestral studded leather armor.

Coupled with their somewhat rusty formation and the makeshift wooden traps, the dozen or so men standing together looked rather formidable.

It was far more organized than the typical brawls of remote villages; they could be considered a decent fighting force.

Under the current circumstances, however, the atmosphere among the villagers had frozen to a breaking point.

Suffocating tension filled the air. Every howl of the wind and every crash of the waves wound their nerves tighter. Even the occasional cry of a seagull from high above made the faint-hearted among them flinch.

As for the reason...

It was naturally the terrifying monster that had just attacked Cliff Rock Village and even snatched away an adventurer.

Judging from the scene described earlier by the youth named Colin, and the abducted adventurer's status as a Class Holder, this monster's danger level was likely far higher than they had anticipated.

Steven couldn't understand why the monster had acted so cautiously before, only attacking isolated residents outside the village, when it clearly could have just charged right in like today without anyone being able to stop it.

Was it testing them, or was it purely toying with them out of sadistic pleasure?

He couldn't figure it out.

But one thing was certain: if this dangerous and brutal monster charged them head-on, all their preparations—the traps on the ground, the cheap and crude equipment in their hands—would be utterly useless in the face of such a massive gap in strength.

Right now, the safest plan for him and the dozen villagers he had brought along was actually to retreat, abandon this pass, and return to the village to await news.

However...

Steven remained rooted in place, but he casually turned his head, catching a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of the dark-skinned middle-aged man standing nearby with an equally grim expression.

That was Gregory, the captain of the Black Gull.

Right now, the man was leading his crew to hold this position alongside them.

Gregory would absolutely never agree to Steven's proposal to retreat. Steven already knew this from his brief, probing exchange with the captain earlier.

As a cargo ship captain sailing the seas, dealing with adventurers on nearly every voyage, his reputation was of paramount importance.

If he flinched in the face of this crisis and abandoned the task entrusted to them by their fellow adventurers, his reputation among the adventurers of Barracuda Bay would hit rock bottom. He would never again find an excellent, reliable adventure squad to work with, forcing him to hire adventurers with equally poor reputations and mixed skill levels.

Steven had similar concerns of his own.

The villagers were under immense pressure, yet the pass ahead was completely empty, showing no signs of any monster. What if the creature had simply fled into the sea, or been killed on the spot by those adventurers?

Although the potential outcome could be tragic, the chances of them actually having to face the monster were likely only fifty-fifty.

But if they shrank back from battle... the villagers of Cliff Rock Village would naturally avoid the danger of the monster for now, but the probability of offending those adventurers would be one hundred percent.

To some extent, that might be a far worse outcome than facing the monster directly.

In these chaotic waters, the line between adventurer and pirate was never very clear.

To put it bluntly, if a few adventurers came into the village, slaughtered everyone, robbed them blind, and sailed away, who could stop them?

They had no room to resist.

The atmosphere between the villagers and the crew was far too heavy. As if sensing Steven's thoughts, Gregory, captain of the Black Gull, took two steps forward and patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry," Gregory comforted him. "This Silver Claw Osprey squad escorting the ship is entirely composed of veteran adventurers who have already obtained their Class Levels. They've handled many similar missions and have a wealth of experience."

"The combat capabilities of the other two are even stronger. We already verified that while we were out at sea."

"It will be fine, just be patient. It's not impossible that they'll even resolve that monster problem for you along the way."

Hearing this, Steven's gloomy expression lightened slightly. Feeling the captain's words made sense, he nodded at the dark-skinned man in front of him.

"I hope so," he said.

In truth, Gregory was far less calm on the inside than he appeared on the surface.

After sailing for many years, he had accumulated vast experience in all sorts of fields and encountered countless monsters.

With such a wealth of knowledge, even though he had not obtained a Class Level himself and wasn't an adventurer, he could still roughly estimate the danger levels of various monsters.

When he heard the loud crash in the village and rushed to the scene, he carefully inspected the marks left by the battle between the monster and the half-orc Guka.

This usually reckless half-orc Class Holder had clearly been at a disadvantage in his clash with the creature. In just the span of a few dozen seconds before being snatched away, he had likely been severely wounded.

And this meant the monster's actual combat prowess far exceeded what an ordinary Class Holder could handle.

Even if there were three adventurers in pursuit, counting the Halfling, could they really defeat that monster so easily when Xia Nan—clearly the strongest in the group—had gone off alone and was nowhere to be seen?

Gregory didn't have much confidence in it either.

As if thinking of something, he glanced toward the cliff wall ahead. Seeing no movement, his gaze shifted back to Chief Steven beside him.

After a slight hesitation, he spoke slowly, "After this is over, if that monster... if there are no results."

"I suggest you leave this place for now. Wait until the adventurers who accept the Association's hunting commission deal with it before coming back. Otherwise, it's too dangerous."

Given the monster's extremely high danger level and the fact that ordinary commoners couldn't deal with it, its escalation from probing attacks on isolated villagers to brazenly breaking into homes today meant one thing: it had gradually realized the villagers posed no threat.

If their group had arrived just a few days later, the increasingly aggressive creature might have devoured the entire village.

Therefore, staying far away until this monster was wiped out was the smartest choice.

Steven had considered something similar earlier, but the villagers had lived on Cliff Rock Island for generations. If they suddenly moved to a completely unfamiliar environment, wouldn't they—especially the elderly—fail to adapt?

And if they really did need to relocate, where could such a large village settle down? Barracuda Bay?

Just as his thoughts grew more chaotic and tangled, several undisguised footsteps echoed from behind the cliff wall ahead.

"On guard!" Gregory growled softly beside him.

The villagers and crew behind them immediately braced themselves, raising their weapons and preparing for battle.

Their focus reached its peak. Even their breathing grew slow and silent, no one daring to make a sound.

Pairs of eyes locked onto the distant pass, the air filled with nothing but the roar of the waves and the howling of the sea breeze.

Clack, clack.

The footsteps grew closer, yet they were far lighter than expected.

Before anyone could think twice, a pair of exquisite, blood-stained high-top leather boots embroidered with a clover pattern stepped out from around the corner of the rock wall.

With his Lute slung across his back, Alton walked with a brisk step, humming a little tune. He carried a small basket over his arm—scavenged from who knows where—which faintly revealed some yellowish-brown mushrooms inside.

Seeing Gregory and the others in the distance, a smile bloomed on the little guy's face, and he gave a small skip as he waved at them.

"Come, come!"

"Hurry over and help carry some things!"

Steven instinctively beckoned the villagers forward, unable to help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Though he had no idea where the other adventurers had gone, seeing the Halfling looking so relaxed meant things had clearly gone well. He just wondered what had happened to that monster...

Captain Gregory reacted much faster than Steven. The moment Alton called out, he was already striding forward.

"How did it go? Was there any trouble?"

"Where are the others?"

"Do we need to evacuate early?"

His flurry of questions washed over them before he even drew close.

Alton deliberately chose not to answer.

Instead, he half-turned his body, extended his right hand, and grinned as he pointed behind him.

The very next second, Gregory's gaze followed the Halfling's pointing finger.

Scraaape...

A sluggish, heavy sound suddenly rang in their ears, like a massive object dragging across the ground.

Thick hemp ropes were wrapped around the surface of blood-splattered, twisted, and dented silver-gray armor. Bulging, strained muscles pushed high against a slightly torn shirt, clearly revealing their sculpted outlines beneath the fabric.

The black-haired, black-eyed young adventurer stepped out from behind the cliff face. The coarse hemp rope coiled around his shoulders pulled taut behind him, as if he were dragging some immensely heavy cargo.

Yet his footsteps were extremely grounded, every step planting firmly into the earth.

One step, two steps...

The taut rope gradually stretched out into view, bringing a crude, makeshift wooden raft into everyone's sight.

Three broken corpses lay stacked together. The half-orc's unfocused, lifeless eyes stared at the sky; Captain Nick's arm dangled off the side, stained with damp mud; and the half-elf's shattered skirt armor swayed gently in the wind, exposing a bloody, mangled mess underneath.

And then came that colossal, terrifying blue-gray figure, as massive as a mountain of meat.

The Shark Beast's head, which had been blasted apart by force field energy, had been gathered from the ground and haphazardly pieced back together. Like a smashed watermelon, it rested upon the monster's belly.

Colin trailed at the very back of the group, his clothes drenched in sweat as he panted and helped push the raft.

Xia Nan halted and slightly loosened the ropes over his shoulders. His prolonged use of [Gravity Control] had massively drained his mental strength, prompting him to subconsciously raise a hand and gently massage his temples.

He then turned his head, his pitch-black eyes settling on the crowd frozen in place ahead of him.