Chapter 541 Convergence of the Four Factions

The relationship between the Sahuagin and Flynn—or rather, "Algae Scale" Dodd—was a reciprocal arrangement bordering on mutual exploitation.

Dodd required a massive quantity of Deep-Sea Resonance Stones, far exceeding what the market could supply. Relying on their biological advantage of moving freely across the ocean floor, the fishmen had spent this period helping the pirate lord mine the deep-sea minerals.

In return, "Algae Scale" Dodd would provide the Sahuagin with the high-quality sacrifices they required.

At least on the surface, those were the terms of their transaction.

But whatever hidden motives each side harbored remained unknown.

The Lunar Tide Banquet was the critical juncture for this deal.

According to the original plan, the Deep-Sea Resonance Stones that "Algae Scale" Dodd had spent this time gathering and processing were entirely for this moment.

As for the other half of the trade, the so-called sacrifices meant for the fishmen—all the adventurers gathered on Stodd Island for the Sea Rhythm Festival—were to be handed over on the night of the banquet.

Given the current situation, however, with several nights still remaining before the banquet, it seemed the Sahuagin had grown impatient and launched their operation early.

"What happened at the docks? What Sahuagin?"

Looking at the wretched, bloodstained adventurer before him, Flynn—the man in charge of all the island's activities—felt a sudden sense of dread and hurriedly asked.

The young adventurer's face was filled with terror. Although he didn't know Flynn's identity, he noted the man's formal attire, which clearly distinguished him from ordinary islanders, as well as the two heavily armed veteran adventurers standing behind him.

It was as if the panicked young adventurer had found an anchor. Panting heavily, he answered in broken gasps, "The port—over at the port. Everything was normal at first. I—I was just planning to watch the laborers finish unloading the cargo, and then find a tavern—"

"Fishmen! So many Sahuagin suddenly burst out of the sea! Yeah, and there was this Shark Beast monster that looked like a person. I've never seen anything like it."

"There are so many Sahuagin, and a lot of fishmen priests among them. That Shark Beast was even stronger than a professional adventurer! The captain—the captain didn't even last two exchanges before half his body was bitten off."

"I killed one fishman and just ran."

"The others—the others—"

Still in shock, the young adventurer couldn't even organize his words properly. His speech was fractured and incoherent.

But for the few people present, it was enough for them to realize exactly what had happened: the Sahuagin had attacked the docks of Stodd Island!

"Damn it!"

Sasha's fluffy long tail suddenly bristled behind him, his spine arched slightly, and his crystalline feline eyes—much larger than a normal human's—instantly locked.

"The Blade of Vengeance Ship is docked at the port, and Aken and the others are there!"

Having personally survived the battle at Twin Canyon, the Tabaxi immediately recognized from the young adventurer's vague words that this humanoid shark was the exact same Shark Beast monster that had nearly wiped out their entire adventurer squad.

But right now, not only was he absent, but Xia Nan—their main combat force during that battle—had also left the ship alongside the halfling Alton. There was no guarantee that Captain Lorraine and Hein had returned yet either.

The Blade of Vengeance Ship was severely lacking in combat power!

Under these circumstances, even with the help of other adventurers at the docks, if they faced a siege from fishmen and a Shark Beast—

"Hiss!"

A tense hiss, unique to felines, involuntarily escaped his throat.

Sasha instinctively looked toward Ellison beside him.

At this point, the middle-aged man had clearly noticed the Tabaxi's distress and could easily guess what he was worried about.

Even though he still felt some internal resistance about interacting with his sister Lorraine or her crew, he couldn't afford to care about that now.

"Let's go. To the port."

Ellison nodded at Sasha and said in a deep voice.

But Flynn moved even faster than the two of them.

In the few short seconds since the young adventurer had finished his report, Flynn's brain had spun so fast it was practically smoking.

First, as the premise for everything.

As the man in absolute control of the island's factions, possessing the most precise and timely information channels, "Algae Scale" Dodd was surely already aware of what was happening at the port.

There was absolutely zero possibility of hiding or covering it up.

And as the lead planner for all Sea Rhythm Festival activities and the liaison with the fishman forces...

Flynn would bear the primary responsibility within Dodd's faction for the Sahuagin's unplanned actions.

'Maybe if I head to Lord Dodd's estate right now and explain the situation clearly, I might be able to secure—'

'No!'

Flynn immediately rejected the thought.

He knew "Algae Scale" Dodd's results-oriented nature all too well after all these years.

He could only hope to earn Lord Dodd's forgiveness by cleaning up the mess at the docks first, and then returning to plead his case.

But—that might not even be the crux of the problem.

As his thoughts dug deeper, Flynn suddenly realized an even more terrifying possibility.

What if the sudden Sahuagin attack at the docks wasn't just an unexpected action taken by a rogue portion of the fishmen, but a coordinated plan by the entire Sahuagin population to advance the operation originally meant for the night of the Lunar Tide Banquet?

If so, Lord "Algae Scale" Dodd's plans would undoubtedly be ruined entirely!

When that happened, as the liaison to the fishmen and the lead planner for the festival, what kind of punishment would he face?

A shiver ran down Flynn's spine at the thought.

His legs moved, breaking into a mad sprint toward the Stodd Island docks before Sasha and Ellison could even react.

The Stodd South Coast on the Isle of a Thousand Piles.

Xia Nan stood with the [Ember Fall] straight sword in hand.

Behind him was the halfling Alton, holding his Lute.

Before him was the Shark Beast monster, howling in pain as blood spurted from the heavy strike it had just taken to the back of its neck.

And further away to the side stood the Windforged Squad, drawn in by the commotion of the battle; upon seeing the situation, they had halted and entered a watchful stance.

With three forces converging, the situation on the field had entered a rather delicate state.

The Shark Beast went without saying. To it, any moving creature was prey; now, the intense pain inflicted by its enemy was rapidly transforming into bestial fury.

From Xia Nan's perspective, the situation was somewhat complicated.

Truth be told, the Windforged had arrived at a terribly awkward time.

If they had arrived a little earlier and grouped up before the tattooed adventurers were attacked, the Windforged Squad would obviously be the ones fighting the Shark Beast right now. Arriving slightly later, Xia Nan wouldn't have even needed to get involved. Whether he chose to observe their battle before making a decision or simply turned and left, he could have handled it leisurely.

If they had arrived a little later, giving Xia Nan three or four more exchanges to completely kill the Shark Beast and carve the Deep-Sea Resonance Stone out of its belly, the Windforged likely wouldn't have done anything even if they saw it, as the battle would have already ended.

But they had to show up right at this critical juncture, just as the battle was about to hit a fever pitch.

Retreating now would mean all his prior efforts had just paved the way for the Windforged, leaving them with a heavily injured Shark Beast and the Deep-Sea Resonance Stone in its belly.

But if he kept fighting, who knew what the Windforged Squad standing nearby would do?

This was a veteran adventurer squad led by high-level Class Holders approaching Level 6 and Level 7.

Even with Xia Nan's current combat ability, dealing with them without activating Stage 2 would not be an easy, damage-free task.

Meanwhile, the Windforged Squad on the other side was also unsure of the situation on the field.

Zephyr, the tall and slender pure-blood Elf captain of the Windforged, raised his hand slightly, signaling the squad members behind him to halt.

Casually tucking a stray strand of silver-white hair behind his pointed ear, he gazed into the distance at the field.

This was the information he could gather.

Three adventurers from his own squad were now nothing but mangled corpses.

Judging by the wounds, the cause of death was that bizarre humanoid Shark Beast on the field—a monster he had never seen before.

And the person currently fighting the monster was "Sea Fang" Xia Nan, whom he had just crossed paths with at the Glass Oar tavern.

Zephyr didn't know what role this man had played in the deaths of his three squad members.

That, in truth, did not matter.

His years of rich experience as an adventurer allowed the pure-blood Elf to sense an opportunity on the field.

It was exactly as Xia Nan had considered.

If "Sea Fang" chose to retreat, this heavily injured, unknown monster would become the Windforged's spoils of war;

and if "Sea Fang" continued to fight it, they could rely on their numerical advantage, pick the perfect moment to intervene, and swallow "Sea Fang" whole along with the beast.

"Tch."

Acutely sensing the hidden hostility radiating from the Windforged, Xia Nan clicked his tongue.

Sweeping his gaze over them, he silently assessed their personnel configuration.

He pondered the safest way to take out the group across from him while exhausting as few of his trump cards as possible.

"Roar!!!"

The Shark Beast naturally had no such complex human thoughts.

The agonizing pain from the back of its neck, along with the vitality rapidly draining away with its spurting blood, had driven it into a state of frenzy.

Completely ignoring the Windforged Squad to its side, it let out a wild bellow and launched itself at Xia Nan like a bomb.

Twang—

A melodious Lute note rang out right on cue.

A high-pitched wolf howl whipped up a sharp gale that tore across the shore as a black wolf gracefully sidestepped the monster's charge once again.

The grayish-black blade, which slightly distorted the surrounding air, trailed smoothly along the Shark Beast's momentum. Harnessing the beast's own forward inertia, the sword carved a massive, deep wound across its flank, exposing its writhing internal organs.

The single point of Strength provided by Level 3 [Heavy Tide] meant that even a half-powered sword strike combining [Spinning Slash] and [Heavy Tide] dealt damage far exceeding what Xia Nan could have achieved in the past.

Shifting his footing, he positioned himself behind the Shark Beast once again.

An ochre-red glow coalesced along the surface of the blade.

How should he deal with this situation on the field?

Xia Nan's solution was to finish off the Shark Beast as quickly as possible, before the Windforged had time to react.

At that point, the three-way brawl would revert to a simple "1v1" standoff.

However, the Shark Beast was not some completely mindless, low-tier monster. Summoned through a Sahuagin ritual, it might have been inherently savage and violent, but it was still capable of drawing on combat experience.

Having just suffered a heavy blow from Xia Nan because it overextended its charge, the Shark Beast noticeably reduced its rushing speed this time.

While this made dodging even easier for Xia Nan, it also allowed the Shark Beast to quickly adapt to its inertia, completing a turn mid-stride at a slower pace.

Rumble—

Its gaping, bloody maw snapped open right at Xia Nan, who was stepping in to land a finishing blow.

Deep inside the dense rows of razor-sharp teeth and fleshy palate, water vapor suddenly concentrated as its thick neck rapidly swelled.

His keen Perception instantly triggered a mental alarm.

The black wolf he had incarnated into was mid-pounce, but its slender limbs slammed on the brakes against the sand. The forcefield energy gathering on its fangs dissipated before it had fully formed.

Pushing off with its legs, the pitch-black Winter Wolf executed an incredibly agile short hop to the side.

A second later, a highly compressed, high-pressure jet of water blasted out of the Shark Beast's mouth.

It slammed into the sand, blasting out a massive crater.

With such sheer force, if an ordinary person had been hit, they would have been instantly torn to shreds by the compressed stream.

Only because Xia Nan possessed [Fang Hunt] was he able to execute such an emergency halt and dodge with an exaggerated mobility far beyond that of a normal adventurer.

Otherwise, he really might have been injured.

On the other side, standing a short distance away, Zephyr witnessed this exchange between Xia Nan and the Shark Beast with his own eyes.

His wealth of combat experience made him instantly realize that Xia Nan was trying to end the battle quickly.

Sweeping his gaze over the wounds on the Shark Beast's neck and flank, he decided the time was ripe. He could delay no longer.

He immediately waved his hand, preparing to order the squad behind him to launch an attack on the Shark Beast, Xia Nan, and Alton all at once.

But just at that moment, coming from the opposite direction along the coast...

An all-too-familiar, deeply detested, muffled voice drifted over on the sea breeze, accompanied by the sound of rapid, heavy footsteps.

"Damn it, what the hell is that thing? Did it come with those fishmen?"

"Xia Nan, what are you doing here?"

With a short and stout 1.65-meter frame, intricately braided beard, and Barbarian Tribe tattoos, the newcomer was none other than the captain of the Raging Tide Warband, Tieg!

The Raging Tide Warband looked like they had just been through a fight. The massive iron hammer slung over Tieg's shoulder and the clothes of the members following him were all splattered with fluorescent blue blood.

Having also been drawn in by the monster's roar, Tieg's fiercely scarred face went blank for a moment when he saw Xia Nan engaged in combat with the Shark Beast. He clearly hadn't expected to see him here.

Out of respect for their mutual connection with Auriel the collector, Tieg was just about to call on his squad members to step in and help.

But in the very next second, his eyes landed on the Windforged Squad on the other side of the battlefield, who were equally poised and ready for combat.

His movements suddenly froze.