Chapter 520 "Whale Anchor" Ode and the Metal Longbow

Standing at the forefront of the crowd on the Black Tide Hunter Ship's deck was a burly, powerfully built middle-aged man.

He looked to be in his forties. Years of exposure to the sea wind and sun had left his skin dark, rough, and mottled with sunspots.

He wore only a sleeveless vest tanned from the hide of an unknown sea beast, exposing his bulging torso and a hideous scar that peeked out from his collar, looking as if it had once torn his entire chest apart.

This was "Whale Anchor" Ode.

Captain of the Black Tide Hunter Adventurer Squad.

His most prominent feature was his massive, daunting primary weapon, which exactly matched the emblem on his squad's flag.

Nearly five meters long, it was a heavy harpoon crafted from oak and inlaid with metal. He gripped it in one hand, resting it upright by his side. From a distance, it looked like an extra mast for the ship.

The sharp prongs at the tip featured barbs on both sides, while a thick, gleaming iron chain was attached to the base of the handle, currently wrapped tightly around Ode's arm coil by coil.

Such a heavy weapon was clearly designed for hunting sea monsters.

Xia Nan could easily picture the man standing at the edge of the deck, hurling his harpoon into the vicious monsters beneath the surface, before gripping the iron chain with both hands to wrestle the sea beasts amid the wind and waves.

Of course, against humanoid adventurers, a weapon of this style would be far less effective.

Especially against an agility- and mobility-focused fighter like Xia Nan. His own style would perfectly counter Ode's wide-sweeping attacks. Even if they fought on the open sea—an environment favoring Ode—Xia Nan wouldn't be at a disadvantage in the slightest.

Furthermore, through his Perception, Xia Nan sensed that while the man's aura was formidable, it was roughly on par with Lorraine's. His Class Level was likely level 6 or 7 at most.

Unless he was hiding his true strength, he was well within the range of opponents Xia Nan could handle one-on-one.

As he pondered this, the Black Tide Hunter Ship steadily drew closer.

Ode had clearly noticed the combat-ready stances of the crew on the Blade of Vengeance Ship, but he had no intention of making enemies out of them. He understood that on this lawless sea, simply approaching was a threat in itself.

With his massive harpoon still in hand, "Whale Anchor" Ode lowered his posture and called out from his deck to the Blade of Vengeance Squad across the water.

"I've long heard the great name of the Blade of Vengeance, but I never expected today would be the day we finally meet."

"Captain Lorraine, we mean no hostility."

He hadn't raised his voice, keeping to a normal speaking tone.

Yet his slightly deep voice carried perfectly over the sea breeze to the deck of the Blade of Vengeance Ship.

As the squad captain, Lorraine remained wary of these uninvited guests. Having no desire for small talk, she cut straight to the point.

"Don't waste our time."

"Ode, what do you want?"

Faced with Lorraine's blunt and rather impolite questioning, the middle-aged man—being the one asking for a favor—didn't show the slightest hint of anger or resentment. Instead, he flashed a magnanimous grin and stated his intentions directly.

"The night before last, we ran into a crew of pirates in the waters near Mud Snail Island. They were fairly strong. My brothers and I sent them to the bottom of the sea in the end, but they managed to destroy our supply hold."

"It just so happens that our mission is at a critical juncture. Turning back would cost us dearly, and searching nearby islands to resupply would very likely cause us to lose track of our target."

"So..."

Ode paused, his gaze sweeping over the adventurers on the Blade of Vengeance Ship's deck as he laid out his request.

"We need fresh water, along with five days' worth of rations for twenty people."

"Don't worry, we won't take it for free."

"I can trade some monster materials in exchange, worth around 30 gold."

"At the same time, if we strike a deal, you'll earn the friendship of myself and the entire Black Tide Hunter Crew. If you ever need anything in the future, we're willing to offer whatever help is within our power."

Without a doubt, knowing this was a special situation at a critical time, the price Ode offered far exceeded the actual value of the supplies. And the latter half of his offer meant they were willing to owe the Blade of Vengeance Squad an extra favor on top of it.

While the reputation of the Black Tide Hunters wasn't exactly legendary in Barracuda, it wasn't bad either. They were the sort of adventurers who focused strictly on their work.

A favor from them was definitely nothing to scoff at.

Moreover, the Blade of Vengeance Ship was already fully stocked. Even if they parted with the requested amount, the remainder would be plenty for the crew, and they had numerous waypoints scheduled along their route to restock.

For the Blade of Vengeance Fleet, this trade was a guaranteed profit with zero risk.

After pondering for a moment and weighing the pros and cons, Lorraine figured she might as well maximize the favor. Not bothering to haggle, she turned to the older of the twin Warriors behind her and ordered, "Ryan, take a few sailors down to the hold and fetch the supplies. Give him the exact amount he asked for."

Hearing this, Ode breathed a sigh of relief from across the water.

He then called over his own crewmates, instructing them to fetch the monster materials from their makeshift storehouse for the exchange.

Standing in the crowd, Xia Nan had no intention of interfering.

Lorraine was the captain of the Blade of Vengeance. In a situation like this, it was naturally up to her to make the call.

At the end of the day, he was just a temporary member.

Even though he was highly respected within the team right now and could easily voice a few thoughts without issue—thoughts his teammates would value—he preferred to play it safe and avoid participating directly in the fleet's decision-making.

Throughout the entire negotiation between Lorraine and Ode, he merely prepared for the worst, carefully eyeing the personnel on the opposite deck and planning how he would respond if a fight broke out.

'There are seven Class Holders visible on deck. In terms of size, they're slightly larger than the Blade of Vengeance, assuming you don't count Alton and myself.'

'But their average Class Level is clearly lower than ours. At least two of them are rookies who just advanced; their auras are still unstable.'

'Hm, no Spellcasters.'

'The only ones worth paying attention to, besides "Whale Anchor" Ode, are a dwarven Warrior, a half-orc, and a...'

The wooden ship and the sea reflected in his dark eyes. His gaze swept over the crowd across the water before quietly stopping on a particular spot.

Much like the druid Hein, who was currently standing behind him, Aken, and Sasha, there was a figure on the deck of the Black Tide Hunter Ship being subtly protected behind the others.

It was a female human Ranger.

She had a tall, slender build, her head reaching nearly to the shoulder of the half-orc beside her. He estimated her height at around 1.85 meters—significantly taller than many average human men.

Her long platinum-blonde hair was meticulously braided into a neat ponytail that trailed behind her head, swaying gently in the sea breeze between her shoulder blades. Her facial features were sharp, and her skin was a pale white, a rarity among the local natives.

Her eyes differed from those of ordinary humans; they were an amber yellow that refracted golden light, and he could vaguely make out slitted, beast-like pupils. Xia Nan didn't pay much mind to this detail, however.

After all, there were simply too many human crossbreeds in this world. Half-orcs, half-elves, and even half-dwarves—it was as if the concept of reproductive isolation between races didn't exist, and anything could mix.

Running into someone with human features but sporting ram horns on their head or a fluffy tail trailing behind them was perfectly normal on the road. What truly caught Xia Nan's attention was the weapon this Ranger wielded:

A matte silver longbow made entirely of metal.

Xia Nan had encountered quite a few professional Rangers of various races in the past.

But their weapons were mostly crafted with wood as the primary material, at most featuring metal inlaid in certain parts of the structure.

A bow like the one in this woman's hands—devoid of any visible wood and constructed entirely of metal—was a first for him. And the moment his eyes swept over it, his incredibly acute Perception caught the bizarre nature of this Metal Longbow. It had no bowstring!

Between the bow limbs stretching out to either side, there was no trace of a connecting bowstring—only thin air.

If one looked closer, they would realize that it wasn't just the bowstring; this Ranger didn't even have a quiver for arrows.

She merely held the iron bow in one hand, while her waist and back were completely empty.

This naturally piqued Xia Nan's interest, sparking his imagination about how this longbow operated and attacked. It was a pity they were too far apart; otherwise, he could have focused his attention to call up the weapon's Attribute Panel and gotten a real good look at it. Just as these thoughts crossed his mind, a voice suddenly pulled him back to reality.

"This here must be 'Sea Fang' Xia Nan, right?"

His gaze instinctively shifted toward the sound, only to see "Whale Anchor" Ode looking across at him with a friendly smile. The exchange of goods took time, and as the ones making the request, the Black Tide Hunters naturally wouldn't just stand around watching. Their leader, Ode, used the opportunity to strike up a casual chat with Lorraine.

The Blade of Vengeance Fleet already carried a sizable reputation in Barracuda, but lately, their name had been popping up more and more frequently on the lips of adventurers in taverns all over town.

The reason for this, naturally, was the new temporary member who had joined their squad: "Sea Fang" Xia Nan.

The identical fates of the Horned Shark Gang and the Ebb Tide Gang had already proven that this rumored, exceptionally young black-haired adventurer possessed a terrifying strength that even veteran Class Holders could hardly match.

And the grisly, gruesome post-battle scenes sworn to by eyewitnesses only added a touch of horror to the title of "Sea Fang," making people instinctively feel he was not someone to be trifled with.

With his black hair, dark eyes, and the twin swords slung across his back, Xia Nan's appearance wasn't hard to spot on the Blade of Vengeance Ship.

It had taken Ode only a single glance to pick out this recently famous figure.

In response, Xia Nan offered a polite nod.

Seeing that the young adventurer had no interest in chatting, Ode didn't press the matter. He changed the subject, turning his eyes to Lorraine, who stood in front of Xia Nan.

"You're heading to attend the Lunar Tide Banquet, I assume?" he asked.

"Why do you ask?" Lorraine nodded, her tone tinged with confusion. "Didn't you receive an invitation?"

Although the Black Tide Hunters weren't as famous as the Blade of Vengeance in the Southern Archipelagos, they had been working the seas for years and possessed a decent reputation of their own. They more than qualified to attend the Lunar Tide Banquet.

Yet, according to what Ode had just revealed, they were still in the middle of a mission, showing absolutely no signs of heading to the feast.

"We did receive an invitation, but..."

Ode flashed his teeth in a wry smile and hoisted his harpoon at the female captain opposite him.

"We ran into some unexpected complications during this commission. The prey has been quite difficult to deal with, which dragged our estimated mission time way out. We haven't even been back to Barracuda once since last month."

"We're definitely going to miss the Lunar Tide Banquet. Right now, I just want to finish this job quickly so we can head back, get some proper rest, and give the brothers on the ship a long vacation," he added.

Lorraine didn't doubt "Whale Anchor" Ode's explanation.

After all, given the usual tendencies of the commissions the Black Tide Hunters took, their target was highly likely to be some powerful monster deep in the ocean. Such prey often required a massive amount of time to track and gather intel on, so delays were perfectly normal.

Following the unspoken rules of the adventurer trade, she didn't press the topic to pry into the specifics of the Black Tide Hunter Fleet's mission. She merely kept her guard up and made casual small talk.

They chatted idly, and within a few minutes, the two sides had completed the exchange of supplies.

"Thank you for the helping hand. When you get back from the Lunar Tide Banquet, it's my treat. We'll all gather at the Three-Legged Sea Dog Tavern for a meal," Ode said gratefully. Lowering his weapon briefly, he placed his right hand over his chest in an old-fashioned captain's salute.

Knowing that the Blade of Vengeance crew hadn't let their guard down around him, he didn't drag out the pleasantries and decisively took his leave.

With their sails billowing, they steered their ship away from the Blade of Vengeance Ship and headed off into the distance.

Standing on the deck, Xia Nan gazed into the distance at the Black Tide Hunter Ship as it grew smaller and smaller.

A sense of oddity gnawed at him.

Thanks to the delay they had caused, the storm that had just been a small gray patch at the edge of the horizon was now blanketing nearly half the sky. The howling sea winds grew fiercer by the minute, and the waves surged and rolled.

In the face of nature's sheer might, adventurers of their level had absolutely no power to resist.

They could only obediently reef their sails and prepare to weather the natural disaster.

Yet the Black Tide Hunters seemed entirely unafraid of the violent storm bearing down on them.

Right now, they were actually sailing directly into the storm.

Such a counterintuitive move couldn't help but arouse Xia Nan's suspicions, making his mind race with theories.

But since the trade was already done, whatever the Black Tide Hunters' goal was in charging into the storm—whether they lived or died against the natural disaster—it had nothing to do with Xia Nan or the rest of the crew on the Blade of Vengeance Ship.

Before he could dwell on it any further, the shouts of passing sailors beside him broke his train of thought.

He turned around to help a crewmate who had accidentally slipped, using the strength of his arms to help lift the cargo crate that had tumbled onto the deck and carry it toward the hold.