Chương 207: Gauntlet - Attack of the Octopus.
The following few hours after the first attack were a gruelling gauntlet for the crew members, every half hour or so another monstrosity from the depths that had been swept to the outer circle of the Red Sea would grasp on to the ship and attempt to have a stacked buffet made of the crew.
From giant sea snakes to sea snails that tilted the ship from their sheer weight, the crew managed to hold them off by sending them back into the water and killing the ones that were overly persistent with cannons and the large, mounted harpoon gun, but their supply wasn't infinite, and they needed to make the same trip back, so it was beginning to look dicey.
"Get this one off and we'll be scott free! We're almost out of the dangerous waters, put your backs into it men!" The captains yell echoed across the decks, booming above the sounds of rain pattering against the wood and ravenous waves pushing against the hull.
The ship had been damaged in the continuous assault, railings were missing, and holes were punctured through the thick wood, sounds of frantic hammering and yelling could be heard below deck as they patched them, the crew had become spread thin, so the women were helping as well.
The roar of a vicious serpent screeched as its eye was punctured by a harpoon and it fell overboard, the crewmates that were holding it off fell on the deck breathing heavily in relief.
"Is it usually this dangerous?" Shu He was still abiding by their request to not assist, he had still wanted to help multiple times but was asked to stay on standby, so he had just been sitting on a crate resting his chin on his hand and watching.
They hadn't had any fatalities, but there had been some injuries including broken bones, yet Yu Ya had led the others perfectly to apply first aid and get them back in action, the fact was even under these harsh conditions Shu He didn't need to do anything.
'In the end they're mortals that live in a world in which monsters like this are normal… even if they're not cultivators they can deal with it on their own' He thought, before he frowned as he began to spread out his territory.
He had been keeping on eye on things and even warning of attacks before they happened, his could spread his territory quite deep underwater since it wasn't as dense as a solid, so he was picking up anything that appeared within thirty meters of depth… however he suddenly noticed that, unlike before, the smaller marine life had disappeared completely.
The captain, Zou Qiang leaned over the rails as he looked ahead before breathing a sigh of relief. "Seems the worst of it is over, the sea is beginning to look calm and we're just crossing the outer edges of the Red Sea" he took of his hat and fanned himself, sweat caked his face from being in a tense situation for hours.
"I wouldn't be so relaxed quite yet, captain" Shu He hopped off the crate as he walked to the edge of the ship and stood next to the captain, his golden eyes stared down, piercing the depths below them.
"What? Is there another one already?!" Zou Qiang slapped his hat back on as he got ready to bark orders once more.
"Something different, I'm not sure yet" Shu He manipulated his territory like a radar, focusing on range solely into the sea, he couldn't find a thing; Almost as if they'd entered a zone of death where no living thing was allowed.
"Different?" The captain grit his teeth as he also stared in to the deep blue water, the rain was still pouring hard so it was hard to see beneath the dark surface.
Suddenly Shu He's eyes opened wide as he began running towards the front of the ship, the captain wordlessly followed before they stopped at the helm.
"What do you see?" Zou Qiang's face was grim, he could tell that what was coming next was something far worse than what they'd seen so far.
Shu He was silent for a few seconds before he closed his eyes.
[Get ready, there's an enemy] he sent a mental message to the sleeping duck.
When his eyes opened, they were sharp as he fixated on a large figure resting beneath the waves.
"Captain, I'll take this one; Go wake the other two up in case something happens" he said as the Qi in his body began circulating, his muscles began to bulk.
"…Alright, what should we do meanwhile?"
"Steer the ship north-east… no, east, just get away from that thing ahead" Shu He jumped up on the railings, the sound of a door slamming opening from behind echoed as a small white haired figured hopped out, landing next to Shu He on the railings.
"Starboard it is then, be careful!" The captain ran off and began ordering the helmsman to change course.
"Can you see it?" Shu He asked Shu Xue who stood next to him.
"Yeah! A big squid!" She replied as a golden sheen overcame her rubellite eyes.
This was an applied ability of his <<Divine Territory>>, he had figured out that Shu Xue that had a deep bond with him was capable of utilising the effects of his sight while she was inside of it.
"It's an octopus, not a squid…" He shook his head "Remember what I taught you, stay out of range, don't get hit".
"Got it!" She nodded cheerfully; he could tell she had been bored being confined to the ship.
"Then let's go" Without wasting anymore time the two hopped off the ship, launching themselves into the air shocking the few crew mates that were watching, they were even more shocked when they saw them land and casually begin to run on the water.
Shu He wouldn't have decided on an ocean journey without insurance of course, <<Aqua Stride>> was a basic technique that belong to the Water element, luckily Water was his second most compatible element, so he learned it fairly easily.
Shu Xue on the other hand was an odd situation, normally one would be incompatible with the opposite of their best element, hers being Fire should make Water techniques hard to learn for her.
Yet, she was a duck; A natural born water creature, so this odd inconsistency was born.
The two dashed across the waves like they were running across dunes of sand, the water pushing against their feet as their Qi infused into it upon contact, it wasn't as stable as solid land, but it was good enough.
When they were a couple of hundreds of meters away from the ship, Shu Xue immediately stopped before a flash of light covered her, turning into her duck form that floated proudly in the water, maintaining human form was an unnecessary drain on her Qi and concentration as she was right now.
Shu He dashed ahead as his hand laid on the hilt of his sword, he awaited the first strike.
And not long after, as mass of tentacles burst out of the sea aiming to surround Shu He, he stopped in place before jumping backwards as his free hand performed a hand sign pointing upwards.
*CRASH*
A mass of water burst up in front of him, knocking the tentacles upwards and delaying their attack.
<<Pressure Burst>>!
Then, he moved to the side and drew the silver sword, the blade pierced a tentacle as he ran alongside it, filleting it in half!
But he didn't press the attack after, instead he backed off as he watched the target closely; He could see a beating core inside of the beast, he estimated that it was past the Satiated stage, and was close to the Lucid stage.
It was a spirit beast! That was the reason he told the others to leave, satiated level beasts had an innate technique, the ship could be in great danger depending on what it was!
The large octopus began sinking below the water, the waves echoed as it cried in pain and anger, it wasn't leaving, only preparing to strike again!
"This is…" Shu He's eyes fixated on the cut limb that bled blue blood, what surprised him was that threads of the flesh began reconnecting and after just ten seconds, it was healed!
[It can regenerate! Aim for where I cut!] He immediately knew what to do.
[Got it!]
He heard a quack of acknowledgement in the distance.
'It shouldn't be Lucid… then, I should be able to deal with it'.
He stared beneath him, the octopus began to rise once more, except it didn't blindly charge this time, instead it began attacking with one tentacle after another, the large bundles of flesh pierced the waters surface like bullets aiming for Shu He's comparatively small body, but he could see the octopus clearly, there wasn't a single ounce of surprise!
Suddenly the waters began to turn a pitch black, ink was staining the sea!
'The ink contains Qi to confuse sensory techniques… but it can't fool these eyes of mine!' He couldn't help but stare at the beast in contempt as it made another attack that he dodged easily.
'Come up already!' He couldn't do much damage unless it came to the surface, he hadn't been cutting the limbs off since they could just regenerate, it was a waste of effort.
The octopus suddenly stopped and twisted in the water, it had picked up the scent of another being, one that seemed much more enticing.
[It's heading your way!]
[I see it! Run away!]
He warned Shu Xue as she joyfully quacked like this was a game, her little feet beneath the waves started paddling like there was no tomorrow propelling her body across the sea, from a distance you could mistake her for a speeding boat!
Shu He gave chase as his hand rested on the sword – his Qi began flowing into it steadily as the silver metal began glowing.
"Fine then, don't want to surface? We'll bring you up" he murmured as he watched it slowly catch up to Shu Xue's fleeing figure.
[Dredge him up] He said, the mental images he was picturing appearing in the little duck's mind as she nodded.
Multiple feathers began glowing with a bright red light withing her plumage before she stopped in place, opening his small wings as the glowing feathers shot in to the air before plunging right in to the water behind her.
The octopus beast tried to slow down as it sensed something was wrong when the prey above stopped, but its weight pulled it forward as the feathers surrounded it in a circle below!
And then, in the next moment-
*DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON*
An explosion shook the waves as a massive pillar of water rose from the ocean, a writhing swarm of tentacles contained within swept back and forth as panic overcame the creature, it was flying in the air!
At the same time, Shu He took a deep stance as he held his sheathe with one hand and hilt with the other, the sword shone like a star in the night as he drew it-
<<Overedge – Vicious Fang>>!
A screech ripped through the air as a line was drawn through the pillar of water – and the beast with it!
The Enduring Edge – now named Endless Edge displayed its might! It had inherited the properties of the Razor Wolf's innate technique, along with the propagating properties of the metal it creates a burst of metal in the shape of a slash!
"Tch, didn't cut enough!" Shu He sheathed the sword again, filling it with his Qi, the only downside with this technique was the prep time.
The octopus had sensed the high concentration of Qi and twisted its body to dodge, yet 5 of its tentacles had been cut off along with a portion of its body!
Its body began falling back to the water, yet before it did another set of feathers arrived before it and blew up, creating an incinerating flame that covered its body!
[Good job!]
The feathers were Shu Xue's innate technique, she could manipulate them as she pleases… though she takes a while to regrow them, so she can't use them infinitely.
Again, he drew the sword and a large screech cut through the waves, the main body of the octopus was bisected in half horizontally!
[Torch It!]
It wasn't over of course, it was still an octopus, they were creatures that were annoying to fight even before they regenerated!
The flesh was writhing as it began to regrow, he estimated that in a full minute it would be back to normal!
'I have no idea how much more it can regenerate, but I'm not going to wait and see!' he dashed forward.
On the other side, Shu Xue breathed in deeply as the Qi in her core began flowing through her body, twisting and concentrating in a light that gathered in her throat, then she expelled it, sending a wave of bright flames to engulf the regenerating beast!
A cry akin to crackling flames echoed from inside the scorching fire, the water boiled from the temperature and steam rose through the air creating a thin mist.
Shu He burst in to the fog of mist, he watched the creature very carefully, it was in a terrible state with burns all over that hampered the regeneration, he dashed right for it.
'This isn't a technique for this, but allow me to use it!' His hand twisted into the form of a claw, not physically but the Qi that surrounded it sharpened.
<<Heart Piercer!>>
His hand gouged straight through the flesh of the octopus, all the way up to his shoulder, before it grasped a small round object; He pulled it with ease as the sound of visceral tearing came from the beast.
He jumped away, landing on the water as he stared at the creature, its body began to turn limp, all that was left was the occasional twitching of its limbs, it was dead.
He searched around him with his territory just to make sure, there were no other enemies, the chopped off tentacles had sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
He breathed out in relief.
[It's dead].
A quack of acknowledgement came from the other side of the corpse before Shu Xue hopped towards him in human form, her eyes were fixated on the object in Shu He's hand.
He lifted it up and took a look, it was, of course, the spirit heart he had torn from the octopus, a spirit heart was a spirit beast's weakness, without it they lose their innate techniques and die shortly after.
It was easier to break them to kill the beast, but extracting them was the preferred option, simply because they were valuable, Shu He had been rather ambitious this time, but it had paid off, he purposely avoided the spirit heart which was why he missed the first time.
'But, regeneration huh…' He stared at the small uneven blue orb in his hands, traces of flesh and blue blood were still on the surface. 'It's not that valuable…' he thought, regeneration was a trait that was often found in certain species.
Octopi could regenerate naturally, so it was common for them to have an improved version of it; Because of this it wasn't a need technique, the other problem was that it was a technique that was impossible to learn for humans, and was almost useless for weapons.
'I could make a bit of money off of it but..' his eyes drifted to Shu Xue who was eyeing the orb like she was eyeing a ball of gold, a hint of drool was at the corner of her mouth.
"Want it?" He held it out to her.
"Can I?!" Her eyes contained stars as she looked between him and the heart for confirmation.
"Go ahead" he placed it in her hands, and without a second of hesitation she opened her mouth wide and gulped it down.
'Always an odd sight…' A drip of sweat fell down Shu He's brow as he watched, seeing a young girl happily gulp down a heart that was definitely too big for her to normally do so made him question his actions sometimes.
He looked over at the corpse, it was tattered and burned all over, but some of the organs may be valuable.
'Guess I'll drag it to the ship'.
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