Chapter 457 Storm and Fish Swarm

Xia Nan had never seen this kind of fish before.

It was about 2.2 meters long, much longer than a grown man. It had a blunt head and a broad, thick snout. The slightly pale edges of its lips parted to reveal fine, comb-like teeth, while its gill covers opened and closed slowly, displaying the filtering structures inside. A pair of perfectly round, lifeless eyes reflected the azure sky above and the people gathered on the deck.

Its most striking feature was its back.

From the back of its head all the way to the base of its tail fin, a dense layer of dark green marine vegetation grew in the crevices between its rough, rock-like, grayish-brown scales.

Seaweed, aquatic grass, and even a few small fragments of coral were rooted deeply into the gaps between the scales, as if they had formed a symbiotic relationship with the massive fish.

Xia Nan could even imagine how the seaweed and aquatic grass on its back would sway and flutter when the great fish swam slowly along the ocean floor.

"Turf-Spine Fish," Hein said. Hearing the commotion, she had approached and was now looking down at the large fish on the deck.

"Judging by its size, it recently reached adulthood. It should be around twenty years old."

"These fish can get huge!"

"One visited the coral reef I manage near Barracuda Bay before. Its body alone was over eight feet long. Swimming in the water, it looked bigger than the small boats of the fishermen in the shallows. Unfortunately, it only stayed for two months before swimming away."

Hein was a druid, and she truly loved nature, even going so far as to protect a small coral reef near the bay.

It was much like the various Churches within the Servia Kingdom.

The druids on the Aifala Continent held vastly different philosophies regarding nature, depending on their upbringing, family backgrounds, and the societies they belonged to.

There were, of course, extremists who forbade chopping trees for firewood and would slaughter a person's entire family just for catching a wild rabbit to stave off hunger.

But Hein's views were much milder, and her Coral Society promoted a dynamic balance in nature.

As long as it wasn't overfishing, she didn't mind normal angling. She even took the initiative to tell Xia Nan and the others all about the fish, including how to cook it and which parts tasted best.

"Don't let the rough, ugly scales on its back fool you. The meat along its spine is actually the most delicious. Just boiling it is enough, and you'll be able to taste a special, fragrant grassy flavor."

"It's a pity that its size is still a bit small. I've heard others in the tavern say that some adventurers have seen Turf-Spine Fish larger than cargo ships. A casual flick of its tail would whip up a massive wave."

'If one that massive really showed up, it wouldn't be something I... or even Alton could reel in. It would probably capsize the entire ship,' Xia Nan thought as he stood to the side, listening to the druid's explanation.

At the same time, however, he felt a spark of anticipation for the grass-scented fish meat Hein had described. Since it was almost time for dinner, they could cook it and see how it tasted.

His gaze swept over the fish, lingering on its spine, overgrown with aquatic grass and seaweed.

Suddenly noticing something, Xia Nan frowned slightly. "Why is this fish so lifeless?" he asked Hein. "It hasn't flopped once since it was reeled in. Are Turf-Spine Fish just like this?"

"No. Although they usually swim rather slowly, they can move very fast when they encounter natural predators." The druid shook her head and looked at Aken, who had just climbed out of the sea and was dripping wet. "Aken probably used too much force when he threw it up here and knocked the fish out."

With a large fish over two meters long, still in the water, forcefully hauling it up with a fishing rod would snap an ordinary pole instantly, even if the person had enough strength.

It required auxiliary equipment like landing nets or gaffs to bring a fish of this size aboard.

As a Level 4 Barbarian, Aken could easily handle an ordinary creature like this purely with his physical attributes, even in the water. He had practically lifted the fish straight out of the sea and chucked it onto the deck.

Hearing this, the burly man scratched his bald head and recalled, "I remember holding back a little because I was afraid of overshooting. It shouldn't have been that hard."

Catching such a massive fish so suddenly had caused quite a commotion on the deck.

It quickly drew the attention of many crew members.

Even the Tabaxi, Sasha, who had just been napping on the rigging, jumped down. He stood to the side and stared at the Turf-Spine Fish lying on the deck, looking incredibly interested.

Interestingly, when the soaking-wet Aken approached, the furry leopard-man instinctively stepped back, seemingly highly averse to the water dripping from the barbarian.

'Is he afraid of water...?' Xia Nan thought in amusement. 'It would be quite absurd for a crew member who spends all year working in the archipelagos to be afraid of water.'

"Thump!"

Perhaps because more and more crew members were gathering around, or because being out of the seawater for so long made it hard to breathe, the Turf-Spine Fish—which had looked dead ever since being thrown onto the deck—finally flopped.

Its thick tail slammed violently against the wooden planks beneath it, producing a loud, muffled thud.

The motion threw its steadily resting body off balance, causing it to tip over and expose its relatively soft, pale gray underbelly.

'Hm?'

Xia Nan's gaze suddenly sharpened.

Just below the center of the fish's belly, a grayish-black shadow hung between the scales like a malignant tumor.

It was a slender marine fish, less than two feet long—about the length of a grown man's arm.

Its entire body was grayish-brown, with blunt, rounded ends shaped like a cigar. Its belly bulged slightly, and overall, it looked utterly unremarkable.

The only exception was its mouth—a disproportionate, gaping maw that took up nearly half its head. Right now, it was clamped tightly onto the Turf-Spine Fish's soft underbelly like a suction cup.

Even after being nearly crushed to death under the heavy Turf-Spine Fish when they landed on the deck, the small fish's mouthparts remained instinctively and firmly clamped to the flesh, refusing to loosen in the slightest.

"Scorch-Neck Whorl-Tooth Shark," Hein said, a thoughtful expression on her face. "No wonder this Turf-Spine Fish looked so lethargic. It was targeted by this little guy."

She stepped forward, bent down, grabbed the shark by the tail, and gave it a hard yank!

A second later, with a sickening squelch, the Scorch-Neck Whorl-Tooth Shark was ripped right off the Turf-Spine Fish.

Where the shark's mouthparts had been attached, the Turf-Spine Fish's belly now displayed a perfectly uniform, chillingly deep circular wound.

The clear texture of pinkish-white flesh could faintly be seen writhing inside.

One could only imagine the excruciating pain if human skin—fragile and soft—were bitten by such a creature. A perfectly circular wound like that would likely leave a lifelong scar.

"The habits of these Whorl-Tooth Sharks are very unique. Although they're a type of shark, they rarely hunt other fish, and they only grow to just over half a meter at most."

"Their prey are the massive creatures of the sea."

"Whales, other sharks, dolphins, seals... As long as they are relatively large, they can become targets."

"Of course, with their size, it's hard for them to deal any serious, fatal damage."

Hein dangled the dying shark by its tail in her left hand and pointed at its mouth with her right.

Looking over, one could see the shark's incredibly unique jaw structure.

It looked like a bizarre disc. Sharp, triangular teeth were arranged in a spiral beneath the lips, shrinking inward to form a perfect circular arc.

"This special mouth structure allows them to bite off a large chunk of flesh from their prey in an instant. Because their bodies are small and agile, they bite and run. Massive prey like whales can't catch them at all."

"Sometimes, Whorl-Tooth Sharks act like parasites, using their teeth to anchor themselves to other fish to migrate."

"Ships sailing on the sea serve as their vehicles, too. Sailors often find circular wounds on the wooden hulls when they return to port for maintenance; they're left by these sharks."

"They're incredibly bothersome."

She added finally, "And they don't taste good, either."

Hearing this, Xia Nan's kindled interest in the shark instantly faded.

He remembered that a similar marine fish seemed to exist in his past life. It was called a "cookiecutter shark" or something like that. However, he only had a vague impression of it from scrolling through short videos and hadn't looked into it deeply, so he didn't know if they were the same species.

"But..." Hein wasn't finished.

The druid frowned deeply, her dark brown eyes staring fixedly at the neck of the fish in her hand.

A wide, dark stripe encircled it like a collar, resembling a scorch mark.

This was the origin of the name "Scorch-Neck Whorl-Tooth Shark."

"Whorl-Tooth Sharks aren't common, but they are widely distributed. You might encounter them in almost any sea around the Southern Archipelagos."

"But this 'Scorch-Neck' variant with the unique pattern on its neck has only ever been found in the Twin Oceans."

"We are still many days away from our destination. Under normal circumstances, it's virtually impossible to run into this species here."

A species of fish had appeared where it didn't belong.

As a veteran adventurer with years of sailing experience, how could she ignore such a detail?

The discovery of the Scorch-Neck Whorl-Tooth Shark aroused the druid's suspicion.

And if this fish had truly left its original habitat on purpose, there could be only one reason.

Something had gone wrong in the Twin Oceans.

Of course, it could just be the anomalous behavior of an individual shark. But adventurers were used to assuming the worst regarding everything they encountered on a mission. It was habit.

"It's fine. I'll report this to the captain later so we can prepare some preventive measures," Hein said with a smile. "This shark isn't poisonous, so the Turf-Spine Fish is still perfectly edible. If you're squeamish about it, just scrape off the meat around the wound on its belly."

It was just a minor interlude on the voyage. Although Xia Nan had learned a lot about the fish from the druid, his maritime experience was limited. It was best to leave professional matters to Lorraine and the others rather than interfering blindly.

'But looking at it this way, doesn't that mean I caught two fish with a single cast?' Xia Nan thought.

"Squawk! Squawk!"

The sharp, noisy cries of the seagulls suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

The seagulls that had been resting on the bow railing around the druid suddenly took flight all at once, for some unknown reason.

Shedding feathers and flapping their wings frantically, they looked surprisingly panicked.

To some extent, out of everyone on the deck, Xia Nan's reaction was the fastest.

He might not have known what was happening.

But his sharp Perception—far exceeding that of ordinary Class Holders—almost instantly made him aware of an indescribable, oppressive sense of danger, like an impending storm.

Next were the Tabaxi, Sasha, and the druid, Hein.

The former's reaction leaned more toward animal instinct.

His back arched subconsciously, the fur along his spine standing on end as his muscles abruptly tensed. His long tail, which had been swaying naturally upwards, tucked down between his legs, its tip pressed flat against the deck.

Although Hein's Perception attribute wasn't as high as Xia Nan's, causing her to react half a beat slower, the druid class's unique ability to commune with nature allowed her to glean something from the cries of the rapidly retreating seagulls.

She whirled around and strode to the gunwale. Gripping the railing with both hands, she leaned forward and stared straight out into the distance.

There, where the sky met the sea.

A barely perceptible grayish-black shadow was seeping into the clear azure sky like spilled ink, moving at a speed that looked slow but was actually terrifyingly fast.

The wind stopped.

The fierce sea breeze that had been making the sails snap and howl had vanished at some point, leaving behind an eerie, dead silence. The air grew heavy and thick, pressing suffocatingly against their chests.

Dark clouds swelled on the horizon. The leaden shadows churned and expanded, devouring the blue sky around them. Xia Nan could even see the oppressive, intermittent flashes of lightning deep within the thick, towering cloud banks. A blurry, grayish-white curtain of rain hung beneath the sea of clouds, moving slowly as the shadow spread.

It was an experience of extreme contrast.

He was still bathed in warm sunlight under a clear sky, yet the vast openness of the sea allowed him to clearly see that patch of leaden storm clouds drifting directly toward them from the distance.

And...

"Thud."

A muffled sound suddenly rang out in the silent air.

"Crrck."

It was closely followed by a noise from the side of the hull, sounding like wood being gnawed apart.

A cylindrical fish body twitched and thrashed. A Scorch-Neck Whorl-Tooth Shark had lunged out of the water from nowhere, as if driven mad, its spiraling sharp mouthparts clamped tightly onto the ship's hull.

"Hum—"

Before it could apply any force, a beam of emerald-green light dropped from above, smashing the shark to pieces.

The magic particles in the air rippled around the [Practice Staff]. Hein stared grimly at the storm drifting toward the Blade of Vengeance Ship in the distance, and at the terrifying swarm of fish faintly visible beneath the water's surface.

Behind her were the crew members, who were only just realizing what was happening.

"Reef the sails! A storm is coming!"

"The captain! Go get the captain!"