Chapter 580 No Way Out

Trailing quietly behind the fishman squad, Dodd arrived at the coast, but he did not see the scene he had imagined.

According to his original plan, a backup ship fully stocked with supplies should have been waiting, ready to set sail the moment he stepped on deck. Instead, it was completely gone.

In its place stood a massive altar of unprecedented scale.

Coral shimmering with an oily, sickly-sweet luster had been forcibly molded by an unknown power, twisting and proliferating under the drive of magic. Tiers of steps were paved with dim rock from the deep sea, their texture coarse and lusterless, exuding a murky, ominous feel.

Yet for Dodd, the sight that chilled his heart and sent a shiver down his spine was not this towering altar rising from the ground.

Not far from the altar, amidst the coming and going of the Sahuagin along the coast, lay a massive pit that made even a veteran adventurer like Dodd feel faintly sick.

The soil at its edges had long been soaked through with blood, revealing a nauseating dark brown hue.

Corpses in numbers too great to count were piled up layer by layer. From a distance, it looked like a small mountain of flesh and blood erected by the coast.

Dodd had no idea how deep the fishmen had dug this pit, nor did he know if what he saw was merely the tip of the iceberg.

But just the portion of the corpse pile protruding above ground was enough to make him suspect that the fishmen had used this time to slaughter everyone on Stodd Island.

It wasn't until he spotted a few familiar, thoroughly dead faces in the pile of corpses, and saw the remains of a recently destroyed ship bobbing weakly in the waves near the reef, that he suddenly realized the truth. These sacrifices were not just the ordinary civilians of the island, but adventurers killed by the fishmen, and—his loyal subordinates who had been waiting to extract him.

The pent-up Rage in his heart instantly erupted. Beneath his supple skin, covered in fine scales, his muscles engorged with blood and swelled.

He was just about to lash out, but right at the critical point of his erupting fury, a hoarse, awkward voice drifted out from behind him.

"Your advancement ritual didn't seem to go very smoothly, Dodd."

He spun around.

A withered, hunched figure entered his sight.

It was indeed a Sahuagin, but compared to those elite guards, or even the fishman grunts, their frame appeared shriveled and frail. They couldn't even compare to a taller, stronger human, standing only a little over 1.7 meters tall.

Their deep cyan scales were ashen and rough, and the scales on their face showed signs of shedding from extreme old age, exposing the flesh beneath covered in hideous ravines. Their eyes were murky, yet completely lacked the listless haze of the dying. Instead, they shimmered with a pale, pearl-like glimmer, blocking out any gaze that tried to pry into their thoughts.

The fine robes draped over them, sewn from the hide of an unknown sea beast and embroidered with intricate patterns, along with the Bone-White Staff gripped in their palm like a cane with its tip resting on the ground, clearly displayed their status and role within the fishman tribe.

—A high-ranking Sahuagin priest.

Unlike the other Sahuagin that Xia Nan and the others had encountered, this elderly priest was extremely fluent in the common language, without any noticeable accent in their speech.

Only in a few specific places did their words carry the muddy intonation unique to the Sahuagin tongue.

Of course, "Algae Scale" Dodd naturally wasn't going to praise the standard of their common language at a time like this.

Completely unable to suppress the Rage in his heart, he roared at the Sahuagin priest before him in an outburst, "Urk!"

"You killed my sailors! You destroyed my fucking ship!"

"You damn old dog!"

This wasn't out of sympathy for his men, of course.

The root cause of Dodd's fury was that the fishmen before him had completely cut off his retreat, rendering his prepared backup escape plan utterly useless.

He was, after all, an elite Class Holder who had once nearly touched the threshold of the Transcendent Tier. Even though he had been weakened by both the secret realm and his failed advancement, the dangerous aura naturally radiating from his Rage made the dorsal fins of the commanders behind the Sahuagin priest stand on end. Their gills flared, instinctively emitting strange clicks of vigilance.

But the elderly Sahuagin priest called "Urk" by Dodd showed no obvious reaction.

They didn't even raise an eyebrow, merely gazing at him with those pearlescent, glowing fish eyes. "This was our agreement, Captain Dodd."

"We provided a massive amount of Deep-Sea Resonance Stones for your advancement ritual. I'm sure I don't need to remind you how much those are worth on your adventurer market, or how much time it would take to scrape them together."

"And in exchange, after your advancement ritual concluded—regardless of success or failure—" Urk glanced at Dodd's slightly trembling arm, "the remaining intelligent creatures on Stodd Island, primarily the adventurers, including the civilians who originally lived here, have all become the property of us Sahuagin."

"Of course, we are very sorry about what happened to your sailors and your ship, Captain Dodd."

"If they had stated their identities a bit earlier, perhaps the situation would be vastly different now."

Total bullshit!

Before Urk had even finished speaking, Dodd was already cursing in his head.

The crew members who knew of his final plan and stayed behind on this ship to wait for him were the most trusted of all his men.

They were absolutely aware of Dodd's cooperative transaction with the fishmen. Faced with a fishman attack, there was no way they would hide their identities as "Algae Scale's" subordinates.

The only reason Urk dared to explain it this way now was because dead men tell no tales!

"You damn sea rats, I—"

Dodd had only gotten halfway through his insult when he suddenly seemed to realize something, his voice trailing off.

His gaze, which had been fixed firmly on the opposition, flickered for a moment.

Forget a successful advancement—even if time were dialed back to yesterday, he wouldn't have hesitated like this in the slightest.

But the situation right now was completely different.

On one hand, he was in terrible condition. It was hard to say if his actual combat capabilities were even half of what they were at his peak, stripping him of his usual confidence.

On the other hand, the number of Sahuagin present had far exceeded what he could handle. Even ignoring the fishman grunts, just the elite guards, commanders, and the priest Urk in front of him were enough to threaten his life.

Having roamed the Southern Archipelagos for many years, he might have had a decent reputation among adventurers, but he wasn't a Transcendent Tier or a Legendary rank expert. Dodd wasn't unaccustomed to bowing his head.

Right now, in order to make a comeback, he had to swallow the curses that had practically reached his throat.

Thick anger could still be heard, but his tone had largely shifted into a stiff, forced reluctance.

"The matter of the ship and the sailors—I can put that aside for now."

Dodd gritted his teeth hard.

"But you need to give me compensation, and then send me off this island."

"Never mind, we'll talk about compensation later. Just any shark will do. Send me out of here, and we'll consider it a favor I owe you."

If any of his crew were alive and present at this moment, they probably never would have imagined that the infamous "Algae Scale" Dodd of the high seas would ever see a day where he compromised so pathetically.

However, faced with the great pirate's submission, the Sahuagin priest in front of him clearly didn't appreciate the gesture.

Their voice and intonation didn't change in the slightest as they slowly replied, "Captain Dodd, it seems you still don't understand."

"According to the agreement, our cooperation is already complete."

"You accepted our resources, and everything on this island already belongs to us."

"Including the fishermen and sailors who originally lived here, the adventurers on the docks, the towns you passed through on your way here, the coast you are standing on right now, and also—yourself."

Dodd felt an icy chill shoot straight to his heart, instantly freezing the Rage that had ignited it.

'What the hell do these damn Sahuagin want to do!?'

'They won't even spare me, are they insane!??'

Thinking this, Dodd felt as though a basin of cold water had been dumped over him, but because of it, he clearly recognized the situation on the field.

With his understanding of monsters like the Sahuagin, since the other party had already said as much, there was absolutely no room for de-escalation between them.

These inferior and lowly sea rats truly wanted to kill him and use him as a sacrifice for their ritual.

Having quickly grasped reality, Dodd didn't pathetically beg for mercy and make promises to the Sahuagin before him, unlike the countless adventurers he had killed in the past.

His mind raced, hurriedly formulating a makeshift contingency plan.

His expression suddenly changed, feigning a highly realistic panic as he spoke rapidly, "Wait! Wait!"

"Gold coins? Equipment? Or high-level adventurer sacrifices?"

"Whatever you want, I can give you more!"

As he spoke, he imperceptibly shifted his footing, slowly inching closer toward Urk.

"You know I've spent many years in the Southern Archipelagos. I know of plenty of remote human settlements with no defensive forces."

"The civilians on those islands can all be used as your sacrifices."

Dodd took another two steps forward, his tone sincere. His right hand, however, had already dropped to his thigh in an incredibly concealed, natural manner.

"If you want slightly higher-quality sacrifices, it's not like I lack information."

"As far as I know, there is more than one high-level adventurer currently living in seclusion alone on islands in remote waters."

"I can use my channels to help you gather intelligence!"

This seemed to have hit exactly upon their point of interest. A distinct look of intrigue appeared on Urk's elderly, wizened face, and even the white light gleaming in their eyes flickered slightly.

Dodd took the opportunity to take one more step forward, fully bringing the opponent into his attack range.

Without the slightest warning, while his mouth was still feeding them intelligence on sacrifices, his right hand resting by his thigh swiped at his waist with an exaggerated speed that would appear as nothing more than a blur to ordinary people and even low-level adventurers.

Amidst a flash of cold light, he thrust his dagger toward the fishman ahead in a Straight Stab.

Clearly incorporating the mechanics of a combat technique, the blade of the dagger tore through the air, its surface coated in a flickering, white-gold light that resembled a flame.

A strike gathering the full might of Dodd's entire body. Even though he was weakened and far from his peak, there was no doubt this blow could easily pierce steel plating.

His control over the distance was practically perfect. Having brought the priest into his attack range, the several Sahuagin commanders acting as guards behind them could do little more than watch helplessly as the gleaming dagger drove a Straight Stab right at the priest's face.

But unexpectedly, faced with Dodd's sudden assault, the expression on Urk's face did not change in the slightest. It was as if they had anticipated his reaction all along, and had even prepared defenses in advance.

The tip of the Bone-White Staff in their hand flashed with magical light, and a translucent shield radiating a bright blue luster enveloped their entire body.

A second later, the dagger wrapped in white-gold flames violently collided with the bright blue shield.

The shield trembled violently, ripples spreading across its surface.

The instant the dagger touched the shield, "Algae Scale" Dodd knew something was wrong.

With his extremely rich combat experience, just relying on the force feedback transmitted from the dagger's hilt upon impact was enough for him to judge in a split second that this strike was unlikely to break through the defense.

He rapidly changed strategies.

His right hand abruptly let go, allowing the Short Dagger serving as his weapon to be knocked away by the recoil.

The dragon tail behind him suddenly exerted force, pushing against the ground. At the same time, his waist and abdomen flexed, and with a stride of his legs, he had already completed the motion of turning around.

Heading away from the coast, Dodd sprinted at top speed, his loose overcoat pressing tight against his body from the wind pressure.

"Ga! Ru!"

"Garuru!"

Having just attacked the leader of their tribe right in front of their faces, the fishman commanders naturally couldn't let Dodd leave. Bellowing, they prepared to charge forward in pursuit.

Yet Urk lightly raised a hand and stopped them.

The Bone-White Staff slowly lifted from the ground. The Sahuagin priest's lips moved, as if chanting some sort of incantation. The magic particles in the air rapidly condensed, and then, under the control of their spiritual force, aligned into a specific pattern to fill out a spell model.

"Hum!"

Accompanied by an ear-piercing screech echoing across the coast.

A pink magical glow symbolizing the Enchantment School flashed through the air.

The spatial distance was crossed in an instant, and the light landed directly on Dodd's back.

It caused no actual damage. At the very least, on Dodd's sweat-drenched face, no expression of pain could be seen; it still bore the same focus and endurance from when he turned to flee.

But at the same time, his two long legs, which had been pumping so fast they were practically a blur, began to move slower and slower.

One step, two steps—

From an all-out sprint at the start, to a jog, and then a brisk walk.

Finally, he came to a complete halt, stopping in his tracks.

Of course, Dodd hadn't voluntarily given up on the idea of retreating.

The enchantment spell from Urk had pierced through the dragonborn's Perception resistance, rendering him entirely unable to perform any actions related to "fleeing" or "retreating" for a short period of time.

It forced him to fight.

He slowly turned around, his expression shifting.

No one knew what was going through Dodd's mind at this moment, having suffered setback after setback.

Facing the school of fishmen slowly closing in on him from the front, he took two deep breaths.

Then, he stripped off the overcoat he had originally used to conceal his figure.

"Boom!!!"

A violent explosion resounded across the coast.