Chapter 471 Post-Battle Review and Venturing Deeper

Although the two human settlements they had encountered along the way—the fishing village on Hare Island and the cliffside settlement in Twin Canyon—no longer had any living survivors, the good news was that the crew of the Blade of Vengeance Ship had not suffered any actual losses.

Neither the previous storm at sea nor the recent Sahuagin attack had caused any actual fatalities or reduced their numbers.

Of the two most heavily injured crew members, one had slipped while running across the deck, piercing his arm on the sharp fin of a fishman corpse. The other was a lookout who had fallen from the mast a few days ago, breaking his thigh.

In a way, compared to the crew's injuries, the damage to the Blade of Vengeance Ship was far more severe.

Fortunately, Xia Nan and Hein had returned in time to stop the fishmen from causing further damage to the hull, ensuring the Blade of Vengeance Ship remained intact enough to sail.

Otherwise, the entire crew would have truly been forced into wilderness survival on a deserted island.

The battle had only just ended.

With no time to rest, Ryan and Gordon were already frantically organizing the crew to inspect the damaged areas and plan temporary repairs.

Meanwhile, Xia Nan and Hein led a few sailors in cleaning up the battlefield.

In truth, there was nothing of value. The Sahuagin themselves only had a Challenge Rating 0.5, meaning their bodies lacked high-value materials. Furthermore, the fishmen that had besieged the ship hadn't included any Spellcaster priests or even four-armed elite individuals. They were all ordinary grunts, so they naturally didn't carry any precious equipment.

They were mostly carrying junk. After sorting through it, there were very few items in good enough condition to fetch a decent price.

Spotting something useful, Xia Nan stripped a nearly new Fishman Half-Armor from a corpse that had washed ashore. He handed it to the young sailor following behind him, his attention drifting as he mentally reviewed the battle.

His gains were quite substantial. Discovering that his proficiency in [Heavy Tide] had increased by two points was a pleasant surprise. Most importantly, Xia Nan now had a clear understanding of his underwater combat capabilities.

It was true that his combat ability had been somewhat weakened. However, the underwater environment extended the battlefield from a two-dimensional plane into a three-dimensional space, and the drastically enhanced mobility of [Fang Hunt] compensated for that weakness to a certain extent.

To be honest, when Xia Nan had driven the Wolf Head to ram wantonly beneath the surface, he had actually felt a sense of unbridled freedom, vaguely feeling as if he had grasped the complete form of the [Meteor Blade Hunter] class.

Unfortunately, he was still far from being able to fight in outer space, so he could only use the underwater environment as a poor simulation.

If one day Xia Nan could truly expand the hunting grounds of [Fang Hunt] beyond the atmosphere, he figured he would truly comprehend the essence of the [Meteor Blade Hunter] class.

If that was the case...

Xia Nan suddenly realized that it was no wonder [Gravity Control] was a mandatory condition for advancement. It seemed [Meteor Blade Hunter] truly was an advanced class born to adapt to combat in zero-gravity environments.

Under normal circumstances, it was absolutely not a class that a rookie Adventurer who had just scraped together the standard three combat techniques could acquire.

Now that he thought about it, managing to obtain this class by a twist of fate was indeed somewhat absurd.

Of course, he had also swallowed a bitter pill because of it.

The excessively high starting point and his exaggeratedly solid foundation granted him combat abilities far surpassing Class Holders of the same level, but it also drastically slowed his promotion speed.

If he had chosen the common [Warrior] class back then, with his outstanding talent and the assistance of the Attribute Panel, he might have already surpassed Level 5 by now and been heading toward the "Transcendent Tier."

He wouldn't be like this, grinding away at [Gravity Control] point by point. Having finally obtained a combat technique like [Heavy Tide] that leveled up slightly faster, he treated it like a precious treasure, wishing he could practice it twenty hours a day.

Naturally, if he were allowed to go back a year and choose all over again... he would still choose [Meteor Blade Hunter] a hundred times over.

After all, compared to the short-term leveling speed of an ordinary class, the upper limits an advanced class could reach in the future were clearly much more attractive.

Additionally, even though the battle with the Sahuagin hadn't lasted long, Xia Nan clearly felt the differences between fighting underwater and on land, making a mental note of several key points.

First and most importantly, of course, was oxygen.

Although his breath-holding ability was excellent given his Class Grade physical constitution, it was difficult to maintain for extended periods while in combat, requiring him to surface for air.

During the fight, he had used the dashing effect of [Fang Hunt] to briefly breach the surface for a few breaths; he couldn't fight underwater uninterrupted for long.

Next was stamina.

Xia Nan's Constitution attribute wasn't low. His experience in the Snake Den Secret Realm had even made it the most prominent aspect of his physical fitness at one point. However, without suitable opportunities later on, it had slowly fallen behind.

Right now, it had been surpassed by "Strength," "Agility," and "Perception," remaining higher only than "Charisma" and "Intelligence."

He hadn't noticed it before, but in the underwater environment where stamina consumption sharply increased, he found himself faintly struggling to keep up with the frequency of his combat techniques. He figured that if he encountered a similar situation in the future, he would have to avoid prolonged, high-intensity underwater battles, or at least pay extra attention to the rhythm of combat.

Regardless, this battle confirmed for Xia Nan that he still retained decent combat capabilities underwater, and that his original fighting style could be maintained.

Of course, he couldn't let it go to his head.

The current battlefield was the shallow sea near the port, and the number of enemies had been fixed. If they were in the deep ocean... he was still quite apprehensive of those bottomless abyssal trenches.

After all, he was currently in a proper fantasy world where transcendent powers existed. Sea monsters the size of islands absolutely existed; he had to remain vigilant.

In his previous life, he had heard the proverb, "it is always the good swimmers who drown." While it might not be entirely accurate, the principle it conveyed was sound: he couldn't ignore the inherent dangers of a situation just because he was feeling a little confident.

As he mentally reviewed the battle, he continued gathering scraps across the battlefield.

A burst of hurried footsteps echoed from the nearby corridor stairs leading to the cliffside hollows.

Lorraine and the others were late to arrive, only rushing back to the docks after the battle had concluded.

Seeing that Xia Nan and the others had already started cleaning up the battlefield and that the deck was bustling with activity, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Stepping forward, she asked, "How's the situation?"

Xia Nan casually handed another reasonably intact harpoon to a nearby sailor and replied, "Not bad. There were no casualties."

"They were just ordinary Sahuagin, with no elite individuals."

His tone was casual, simply reporting the battle's outcome without exaggerating or being overly modest.

Lorraine gave a slight nod, but her brownish-red eyes subconsciously drifted toward the messy remnants on the water—the shredded chunks of heads bobbing with the waves.

The unique terrain of Twin Canyon had allowed them to keep an eye on the battlefield below while weaving through the cliff hollows. They had naturally seen the shadow prowling beneath the surface and were well aware of the role Xia Nan had played throughout the fight.

"Too ruthless, Sea Fang..." Aken the Barbarian spoke his mind, resting his giant anchor-shaped axe on his shoulder as he clicked his tongue in marvel at the fishman corpses washed ashore.

Even the usually slow-to-warm-up Tabaxi, Sasha, looked at Xia Nan with a different gaze, his long, furry tail swaying gently behind him.

As a temporary member who had newly boarded the ship, Xia Nan's performance on this mission had thoroughly earned the trust of these veterans.

There wasn't even a need to say anything more; when the time came, they would naturally bring him along to attend the Lunar Tide Banquet.

Patting his shoulder, Captain Lorraine nodded slightly before shifting her gaze to Ryan, who had disembarked to report the situation upon seeing their return. "Where did these fishmen come from? Were there any other unusual circumstances?"

Having clearly prepared his thoughts beforehand, Ryan briefed them on the specific details of the battle.

There wasn't much information to be gleaned. The only clear point worth investigating further was one thing—

There were no elite individuals among these fishmen.

Given the racial habits of the Sahuagin, this was undoubtedly abnormal.

A pack of dozens of ordinary fishmen absolutely could not exist without a leader.

Yet that was the reality. Let alone a fishman priest, there weren't even any four-armed elite guards.

What did this mean?

Lorraine frowned deeply, pondered for a moment, and asked, "During the battle, did these fishmen show any signs of slaughtering one another?"

Hearing this, Ryan looked quite puzzled and voiced his denial.

Standing to the side, Xia Nan—who had discovered the bizarre situation in the islanders' living area within the cliffs alongside Lorraine and the others—naturally knew the reason behind her question.

Having been in close contact with the fishmen underwater and similarly not seeing them fight each other, he shook his head as well.

Silence fell over the group.

"Captain, what should we do next?" Aken asked Lorraine, bending over to pick up a fishman's head. He examined it for a moment before tossing it back into the sea.

Naturally, Lorraine had no intention of retreating just like this.

The reason they had interrupted their vacation to travel from Barracuda Bay to Twin Canyon was partly because a discovery at the black market had piqued her interest, and partly because they had conveniently accepted the Adventurers' Association's investigation quest regarding ancient ruins.

Regarding the former, the buildings and creations discovered in the islanders' living area looked somewhat similar to what she was searching for, but upon closer inspection, they were clearly a different type, so that matter was considered resolved.

But as for the Association's commission, things had only just begun.

What they had found so far was completely insufficient to meet the minimum requirements of the investigation quest.

Regardless, the Blade of Vengeance Ship was an adventurer fleet after all. At their core, these seemingly formidable Class Holders were still adventurers who viewed money as their lifeblood.

Since the existence of the ancient ruins was almost certain, they naturally wouldn't back down over a few potential dangers that had yet to even appear.

After a moment of thought, Lorraine waved to Hein, who had just stepped off the gangway and was walking toward them, and instructed Ryan, "You two brothers stay behind to guard the Blade of Vengeance Ship with the crew, just like before. Send a signal if anything happens."

"I'll take some people deeper into the canyon to have a look. We might discover something."

There were no objections.

In a veteran adventurer party that had worked together for years, even if the captain's decision midway through a mission was slightly flawed, there would basically be no dissenting voices interfering with the choice as long as it wasn't overly absurd. This was especially true under the current circumstances, where there was a high probability of an ancient ruin surfacing.

In fact, if Lorraine had chosen to retreat at this moment, Aken, Sasha, and the others would likely have been dissatisfied.

As for Xia Nan...

The Secret Realm was right in front of him; he naturally had no reason to walk away now.

...

After a brief inspection of the ship, they confirmed there was no severe damage to the hull.

The group of six changed directions. Instead of exploring the hollows where the islanders had lived among the cliffs, they ventured deeper into the canyon, following the corpse drag marks left on the ground.

As they walked further, the ruins' creations—which were already quite numerous among the cliff hollows—began to appear with increasing frequency.

Along the muddy path at the bottom of the canyon, worn down by generations of islanders, a piece or several large chunks of marble brick would jut out from the ground every few steps.

Like puzzle pieces scattered on the floor, these stone bricks were arranged in a completely irregular manner, scattered here and there. Some were intact, while others were reduced to less than half their size, with a few local weeds bizarrely wedged between them.

There was a balcony-like structure pressed tight against the ground, with a bare cliff face right behind it. The intricate and delicate patterns of flowers and shells carved into its railings could be clearly seen.

In the corner of the balcony, they could even spot an equally exquisite little flowerpot, though it held no plants and was entirely empty.

A magnificent ribbed dome had fused with a tree canopy; a broken staircase connected to the ground on one end, while the other end led straight into a tree trunk; the legs of a park bench were embedded in the mud, and a leather sofa was wedged upside down in the bushes...

The bizarre and unfamiliar environment forced the group to walk very slowly.

And precisely because of this, they increasingly felt the anomalies occurring within the canyon.

This was especially true for Xia Nan.

His past experiences let him know clearly that the increasingly dense presence of otherworldly architecture meant their group was approaching the center of this Secret Realm.

Just as the group maintained their vigilance and ventured deeper, they discovered another anomaly.

It was the corpses of Sahuagin.

There weren't many of them, and the frequency of their appearance couldn't be considered high.

But the harpoons piercing into each other's bodies, along with the webbed footprints leaving traces of fluorescent blue blood on the ground, indicated as clearly as day that these fishmen had died slaughtering one another.

Before the group could inspect them closely, the otherworldly architecture—which had been so dense it was practically everywhere—abruptly vanished, leaving behind a massive clearing.

Xia Nan's heart immediately skipped a beat, and he gestured for the others to be on guard.

No one knew better than him what an inexplicably wide-open space in the middle of a complex, cluttered environment signified.

—A boss fight was coming!