Chapter 214: Were we under attack earlier?

Today was the day they planned to cross the rocky bridge to the next island.

Eva squinted at the water, as if trying to see its depths or spot any marine monsters waiting to jump out.

"I can do this," she encouraged herself. She had already crossed one bridge, so what was another one going to do? There was no way it could stump her.

Feeling ready to cross the stone bridge, she suddenly felt her feet leave the ground, causing her to let out a startled scream as she quickly wrapped her arms around Ethan’s neck.

"You could have given me a heads-up! My heart nearly flew out of my chest," Eva chided as her arms tightened around his neck.

She wasn’t going to tell him that his sudden action had almost made her think she had lost her footing and fallen into the water.

"Sorry. Can you ease up your grip a bit? You’re almost choking me." Ethan patted her back softly, his face flushed. If she squeezed any tighter, he might actually lose consciousness.

Her gaze fell on his face, and she quickly loosened her hold with an embarrassed smile before changing the subject.

"Are you going to carry me over to the next island? I’m very light." Eva asked with her eyes brimming with hope. She even tried to throw him a seductive wink, but it looked more like something was wrong with her eye.

"Pfftt... cough..."

Ethan quickly suppressed his laughter with a cough, fearing she might beat him to death if she noticed he was laughing at her.

Julian, who had returned with a woven basket filled with ripe fruits, happened to witness Eva’s seductive wink and asked in concern,

"Did sand get into your eye? Why is your eye twitching so much?"

He asked genuinely concerned, already prepared to blow the sand out of her eye if necessary.

But he didn’t expect to receive a furious roar in response.

"Julian, you’re so dead!"

Eva jumped out of Ethan’s arms and rushed toward the clueless Julian. Ethan’s face turned completely red as he struggled to hold back his laughter.

Julian could only dodge her kicks and punches while feeling completely wronged by her reaction.

He was only showing concern. Why was she so angry for no reason?

"I’m sorry, okay! Stop hitting me!"

Julian could only apologize and try to coax her until her anger faded.

But Eva was burning with shame. She wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole. She would never try to wink seductively again.

’Ugh... so embarrassing. I want to wipe their memories—and mine. Haaa...’

Eva covered her face and groaned inwardly before turning to Ethan with a blank expression and outstretched arms.

He didn’t need to be told twice. Ethan quickly carried her and wisely kept quiet, even when he noticed Julian trying to get information from him.

"Let’s go," he called out as he stepped onto the stone bridge.

He didn’t shapeshift into a bird, fearing the huge fish in the water might see him as prey.

Julian placed the basket into his space ring and stepped onto the stone bridge with a clueless expression. He thought hard but still couldn’t figure out what he had said wrong to anger Eva.

They walked halfway across the bridge without any thrilling incident. It was so peaceful that Eva’s tense mind gradually relaxed, and she eventually fell asleep.

Half an hour passed.

Suddenly, the water rippled slightly, and a line of bubbles trailed quietly beside the stone bridge.

Julian was the first to notice them. He paid extra attention to the bubbles while calmly taking his sword from his space ring.

Seeing that whatever creature was beneath the water wasn’t planning to attack yet, he assumed it was merely passing by. However, that didn’t cause his caution to fade.

And he was right to be cautious.

He had barely looked away for a second when a huge, triangle-shaped fish suddenly jumped out of the water, aiming straight for Ethan at the front.

Julian’s eyes narrowed. With a flick of his sword, he sliced the fish in half. Its blood splattered across the ground before its huge body fell back into the water with a loud splash.

Ethan merely gave it a brief glance before withdrawing the hand that had been covering Eva’s ears.

"It seems more trouble is heading our way," Julian announced calmly as he pointed toward the bubbles approaching them from afar.

He squatted down and threw the floating fish corpse into his space ring for Eva’s lunch.

"Pack some fish corpses. Eva would like the change in taste. We’ve been eating meat for a while now."

Ethan was more concerned about gathering enough fish for Eva and wasn’t bothered by the countless bubbles heading toward them.

"Hmm." Julian nodded in agreement.

His gaze fell on Eva’s sleeping figure, and what had happened earlier suddenly flashed through his mind.

"Why was she so angry earlier?"

Ethan was reminded of the incident as well and chuckled softly, hoping the sound wouldn’t wake her.

"She was trying to give me a seductive..." He suddenly laughed again. "Haha... wink, and you had to ask her why her eye was twitching so much."

His words stunned Julian for a moment. He couldn’t help but facepalm.

"No wonder she was so angry. But it’s funny, though."

Julian couldn’t help but chuckle.

"That means I have to hunt down more fish to coax her properly later."

He took out his sword and swung it in an arc through the air, instantly cutting down several triangle-shaped fish that had jumped out of the water.

Blood stained the surface of the water as their severed bodies floated on the waves.

Ethan then froze the water around the corpses with a wave of his hand, helping Julian walk over and pick up the fish corpses and put them into his space ring.

His footsteps crunched against the frozen surface as he returned to the stone bridge. Behind him, countless bubbles continued to appear in the water.

"We need to leave here before their blood attracts more beasts," Ethan called out.

His steps quickened, soon turning into fast glides after he froze the ground beneath his feet.

Julian followed behind him, using his sword for balance as he glided forward. He only skidded to a halt whenever he needed to hack at the fish that aimed for them.

Half an hour passed, and they finally reached the boundary of the next island. The white sandy shore glistened beneath the sun’s rays.

But what caught their attention were the huge snails and crabs scattered across the shore.

They all turned toward them as soon as they stepped onto the island.

Eva, who had woken up at that moment, yelped in fright when she saw the crabs’ beady black eyes.

Sleep instantly vanished from her eyes.

A few seconds passed before she calmed down and realized they had reached the next island.

"I slept throughout the journey?" Eva asked aloud in surprise.

She had only wanted to close her eyes for a minute, only to wake up and realize they had already arrived.

"Should we fight them or run into the forest? My ring is filled with enough triangle-shaped fish from earlier."

Julian pointed his bloodstained sword toward the huge red crabs. The snails were clearly uninterested in them.

They had already returned to their sunbathing, spreading their sticky slime around without a care.

Eva turned to Julian, then to his sword, wearing a clueless expression.

"Huh? Were we under attack earlier?"

Hearing him hum in response, Eva looked back at the bridge. The water was calm and blue, leaving her with a baffled and shocked expression.

’Eh? Why didn’t I wake up from all that noise? Or was the battle not that serious?’

"It wasn’t serious, so we didn’t wake you," Ethan explained softly when he noticed her dazed expression.

He ran a hand through her hair, pressing down the stray strands that had been scattered by the wind. Then, without another word, he dashed toward the forest.

"You could have just said yes!" Julian yelled before dodging a crab’s pincers and running after him.

The crabs clacked their pincers angrily as they pursued them.

Fortunately, the forest wasn’t far from the shore, and they reached it within ten minutes.

The crabs didn’t enter the forest. They merely clacked their pincers angrily before turning back toward the quiet shore.

"We should have picked one or two crabs as revenge. They pursued us so relentlessly, as if we had killed one of their kind or something," Eva grumbled, miffed by the crabs’ actions.

"I would have picked them if my space ring wasn’t full. Don’t worry. We can hunt them down anytime you feel like eating some crabs."

Julian pinched her cheek with a smile before quickly withdrawing his hand before she could slap it away.

He rubbed his sword against a leaf to clean off the bloodstains, then sheathed it and tossed it into his space ring.

Eva patted Ethan on the shoulder, signaling for him to let her down.

As soon as her feet touched the ground, she stretched her numb limbs. Only then did she have the chance to properly take in her surroundings.

It was still the usual landscape of giant trees with sparse leaves, allowing sunlight to shine through easily.

Tall weeds and fruit trees were scattered throughout the area, but as Eva turned to the left, something caught her eye.

"Is that a coconut tree over there?" Eva gasped, pointing toward a cluster of tall coconut trees growing close to the shore.

A few lazy crabs and snails crawled around beneath them.