Chapter 477 Hunting Sea Beasts
Facts have proved that once you enter the waters of the Blue Flame Islands and enter this chaotic land, it is absolutely impossible to achieve calm.
Gothe, who had just returned to the cabin for dinner, was only halfway through his meal when the horn of the Columbus suddenly sounded outside the cabin.
The sound was extremely harsh and rapid.
The rhythm of three short and one long means an alarm.
The moment they heard the horn sound, Gothe and Lan Wen both rushed to the deck immediately.
"Three o'clock left!" The lookout on the observation deck made a frightened voice: "It's coming, what kind of monster is this!"
Without too much reminder from the lookout hand, Gothe had opened the Mandola Magic Eye and clearly saw a giant gray shadow rushing towards the Columbus.
It was an extremely large sea beast. Its spindle-shaped body was covered with dark green scales. It looked extremely ferocious, but for such a ferocious sea beast, half of its scales rolled up and fell off at this moment, revealing the bloody muscles underneath.
Its left pectoral fin was torn open with a twisting wound, and the bone was deeply visible.
The blue blood spreads in the sea water as it moves quickly.
The most horrifying thing is that its neck is covered with densely packed sucker-shaped mouthparts, which are shrinking violently due to fear at this moment.
There are still rags and flesh hanging on the edges of those suckers.
This deep-sea beast is like a bereaved dog, its tail fins slapping the water crazily and running away in a panic.
Behind it, followed a long boat with a strange hull but extremely fast speed.
The main body of the ship is dark hardwood that has been eroded by wind and waves, with dark red blood stains printed in the wood grain.
The ribs of the ship are spliced together from the ribs of some kind of sea beast. White bone stubble has been pierced from the gaps in the planks. The hull is covered with various "patches" and dried tentacle suckers.
The sail is made of the skin of sea beasts, with a pattern of crossed anchors and fish bones drawn on it with some kind of blood.
Shenban stood and looked at seven or eight figures, all wrapped in leather cloaks.
What really attracts attention is the giant crossbow set up at the bow of the ship.
The body of the crossbow is ten meters long. The arms of the crossbow are wrapped with dark iron chains as thick as human arms. The chain links are covered with barbs, and three iron buckets filled with lead weights are tied to the end of the chain.
That giant crossbow arrow is even more mind-numbing. The arrowhead is triangular in shape, with a cold light on the edge. The arrow shaft is wrapped with mackerel skin.
The tail feathers should be made of the fin membrane of some kind of giant sea monster.
"This is... the hunting ship of the City of Black Sails?!" Looking at the giant bow crossbow, Gothe narrowed his eyes slightly, and a noun flashed in his mind.
In the City of Black Sails, there are people from all over the world, including but not limited to black mages from the Nolan Continent, smugglers from the Terra Continent and even explorers from the Atrium Continent.
These outsiders account for more than 80% of the population of Black Sails City, and are engaged in various serious and informal businesses on the Blue Flame Islands.
But there are aborigines in the Blue Flame Islands themselves, or local aborigines, called Abaddons.
They may be the descendants of survivors who were transformed by Abaddon's power and used the environment. They regard Abaddon as the father of the island and the source of disasters that must be respected. They are the only people who can safely approach certain core areas of the Blue Flame Islands within a certain range.
Before the city of Black Sails was established, the Abaddons lived on the Blue Flame Islands.
I don’t know the reason, but it is most likely related to the life energy emitted by Abaddon.
In short, the sea area around the Blue Flame Islands is simply a paradise for giant sea beasts, inhabited by an extremely large number, different types and powerful giant sea beasts.
These sea beasts are ferocious in nature, and any one of them can easily overturn an ordinary ship.
But for the Abaddons, hunting sea beasts is a unique culture deeply integrated into their blood, and it is also the mainstay of their economy.
Every part of the leviathan can be turned into wealth.
Grease can be used for lighting fuel or waterproof coating, flesh and leather can be made into food, armor or luxury goods, and bones and fangs can be made into weapons or decorations.
Those extraordinary organs are even more valuable. For example, the "green sac" of the rare sea monster Erythrus can be used to purify magic essence. A small bottle of it can be worth up to ten thousand gold.
With the discovery of the Blue Flame Islands, more and more people came here from all over the world, and after the establishment of the Black Sail City, the sea beast hunting culture not only did not decline, but was even highly developed, forming a more complete and developed industrial chain.
At various docks in Black Sail City, there will be open markets where fresh sea animal bodies are auctioned every day.
In addition, rare organs of sea beasts will also be circulated through the Black Sails City, and even some forbidden potions and necromancy experiments will be involved.
The huge value contained in sea beasts makes sea beast hunting no longer a traditional skill and culture exclusive to the Abaddon people, but has become a way for many people to survive and pursue wealth and glory.
For the people who live in this land full of opportunity and chaos, sea beasts mean huge wealth.
But there is no doubt that the best sea hunters are the Abaddons.
As the main force for hunting sea beasts, they formed teams of hunting boats and were active in the rough waters of the Blue Flame Islands.
In the sea-hunting ship team, the harpooner is undoubtedly the core role.
Harpooners are skilled in using special harpoons and are responsible for hooking and killing prey.
The experienced old harpooners are the souls of sea hunting ships. During the dangerous sea hunting journey, they rely on their superb skills to hunt sea monsters and earn huge wealth for the fleet.
Many harpooners or perfect marksmen can accurately shoot harpoons from a long distance and pierce the vital points of sea monsters.
There are also harpooners who are good at close combat and are brave and fearless. They dare to jump directly on the sea monster, pierce the tow hook into the monster's body with their bare hands, and then carry out bloody dissection.
But this kind of high-risk work makes the harpooners dance on the tip of the knife every time they take action, and they may die at any time.
The strength, courage and skills required by a harpooner all require talent and time to hone. Few outside mages master this skill.
Hence, there is a saying in the Blue Flame Islands that the best harpooners will only come from the Abaddons.
Hence, the moment he recognized the hunting boat, Gothe already understood the general context of this situation:
It should be that something went wrong when the hunting boat was hunting sea beasts, and it failed to restrain the target sea beast, allowing the sea beast that was supposed to be a trophy to escape by chance. At this moment, it is pursuing it with all its strength.
What a coincidence, this panicked sea beast turned out to be heading straight for the Columbus when it was escaping.
Thinking like this, Gothe's heart moved, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he began to clearly outline the appearance of the sea beast in his mind.
The spindle-shaped body, covered with dark green scales...:::. Every detail is quickly engraved in the mind.
At the same time, Gothe quietly triggered a certain spell model in the spell sea.
【Know yourself and know the enemy+】.
The next moment, some extremely scattered information poured out of Gothe's mind, like seeing things through thick frosted glass, blurry and scattered.
Compared to the last time I cast [Know Yourself, Know Your Enemy] on the ice worm, which was as detailed as a biological illustration, the information obtained by Gaode this time was extremely limited, with only two items in total:
One is the level of the sea beast, and the other is the name of the sea beast.
But Gothe is not surprised.
The ice worm is a first-level earth-line creature, and its power level is far different from that of a second-level mage. It is like looking at dust in the sun, and it can be seen clearly.
The sea beast in front of me is a third-level sea beast. Being able to pry these two pieces of information out of it is considered lucky.
· Gothe looked at the Garrote Chapter getting closer and closer. At this moment, he could already hear the cry-like sound of a baby made by the opponent's suction cup mouthparts. He made a decisive decision: "Lan Wen, take action to deal with it!"
· If nothing else, the Columbus was on the escape path of the Garrote Chapter. If it was not dealt with, the Columbus might suffer a heavy blow.
Destroying a double-combed sailboat is not a difficult task for a third-level sea beast.
After receiving the order, Lan Wen was also a man of few words, and immediately cast a spell.
The tail fin of the Garrote Chapter was flapping wildly, splashing water all over the sky, and rolling violent waves.
At this moment, a blue ray of light came out of the nitrogen box in Lan Wen's hand. It did not shoot out in a straight line, but turned into countless ice threads and burrowed into the sea like a living snake.
This blooming blue light did not immediately freeze the sea water, but first weaved a transparent net on the water surface, and hexagonal ice crystals condensed at the mesh.
Immediately afterwards, the ice crystals expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye, starting from the tail fin of the Garrote Chapter and spreading upward along its spindle-shaped body.
说时迟那时快，原本翻滚的暴浪突然定住了。
The water droplets on the top of the waves hung in mid-air, like a string of crystal pearls; the open suction cup mouthparts of the garrote froze at the moment of roaring,
Even the blood droplets seeping out from the gaps between the scales were frozen into dark red ice crystals.
Looking carefully, a small area of water centered on Garrote Zhang's body was covered with thick ice at this moment.
The twisted and struggling outline of the sea beast can be clearly seen in the ice.
"Frozen...::.Frozen?!" The hunting boat that finally caught up suddenly stopped at the edge of the ice. Abaddon's harpooner standing at the bow looked at this scene with some disbelief,
The turbulent sea water and the infinitely powerful garrote seal were actually frozen like this. The water droplets on the top of the waves were already about to drip down, but they were all still, sticking to the water threads on the top of the waves.
In such a vast ocean, the difficulty of freezing a huge sea beast is extremely high, comparable to lighting wet firewood in a storm.
First of all, the flow of sea water will continuously dilute the ice element, and secondly, the life energy of the sea beast itself will also resist low temperatures. To do this, not only requires a powerful extraordinary power of at least three rings or above, but also an ultimate understanding and mastery of ice element spells.
"It's done, my lord." Lan Wen turned to Gaode and nodded slightly, cutting off the word "my king" that he was accustomed to blurting out.
Now that he is not in the north, Gao De specifically asked Lan Wen to change his words and stop talking about my king, so as not to reveal his identity and attract unnecessary attention.
The people on the hunting boat came to their senses at this moment. Under the command of Abaddon's harpooner at the front, they chose to stop the boat ten meters outside the ice.
They abided by the rules and did not get closer to the Columbus, nor did they do anything to the frozen choker.
Abaddon's harpooner shouted at the Columbus at the top of his lungs: "We discovered this Garrote first. We squatted in the trench for four days and four nights before we caught it when it left the nest to look for food. We also seriously injured it. The wounds on its pectoral fins were from our harpoon!"
Of course, this Abaddon harpooner is not so greedy that he wants to monopolize this garrote.
"Thank you for your help. According to the rules of the sea, everyone who sees it will have a share. How about 50/50 of the loot?" He asked tentatively.
They were not actually polite and friendly people, but the cold ice shocked them - in the face of the powerful force, no matter how brave the hunter was, he had to restrain his sharpness.
Even if the value of the garrote medal was not too high and he was afraid of Lan Wen's powerful power, he would rather give up this profit.
But not this time... For them, a third-level sea beast is a huge harvest that they cannot give up. Moreover, in order to hunt this choker, they have already spent a huge amount of time, energy, and money in the early stage.
Facing the temptation of Abaddon's harpooner, Lan Wen turned to look at Gothe.
Gaode nodded, and then added: "Five to five is fine."
His voice was calm and emotionless: "This is our first time in Black Sails City. We have some goods on board. You are locals. If you can help us find a suitable shipping channel, we can give you 10% more revenue from this choker."
Under normal circumstances, the hunted sea beasts must be sold immediately after they are brought back to Black Sails City, because the fresher they are, the higher their value will be. In this case, these hunters must have their own shipping channels in Black Sails City.
In addition, when you first arrive, if you can catch a ride with a local who is familiar with the situation in Black Sails City, you can more or less learn more about the local information and avoid unnecessary troubles.
After hearing what Gothe said, the people on the boat looked at each other, exchanged glances, and began to discuss in a low voice.
The discussion did not last long, not only for the 10% extra profit, but also out of respect for Lan Wen's strength.
Soon, the leader of Abaddon's harpooner raised his head and replied: "Deal!"
The ice layer that originally covered the sea beast began to melt at a speed visible to the naked eye.
First, fine cracks appeared on the ice surface, spreading like spider webs, and then water droplets dripped along the ice edges, causing ripples on the sea surface.
The frozen waves also resumed their flow, and the water droplets drew an arc in the air and fell back into the sea.
Garrote Chapter's huge body was gradually revealed, and its dark green scales were wet.
Lanwen controls the receding speed of the ice element to ensure that the sea beast's corpse will not be damaged due to sudden thawing, especially those valuable extraordinary organs.
The people on the hunting boat were also ready. They quickly twisted the chain plate and dragged the iron chain wrapped with barbs close to the choke medal.
Then, first smash the iron claw of a section of the iron chain into the root of the dorsal fin of the Garrote Chapter, which is the weakest part of the scales of the Garrote Chapter. The barbs on the iron claws instantly open up, biting the spine of the sea animal.
The other two strong men stepped on the rickety springboard, fastened three auxiliary chains to the sea beast's pectoral fins and tail vertebrae respectively, and wrapped the tails of the chains around the winch of the hunting ship's main mast.
"Release the air bag!" the lead harpooner yelled.
Four inflatable skin bags made from the viscera and stomach bags of sea animals were thrown into the sea. The air bags have amazing buoyancy. By adjusting the lead weight under the air bags, the body of the choker can be kept in a semi-floating state.
Hence, the capstan of the hunting boat began to rotate, and the wooden shaft groaned. The iron chain was stretched tighter and tighter, pulling out a bright silver straight line on the sea.
Garrote Chapter's body was slowly dragged, and its tail fin drew a half arc on the water, like a huge dark green leaf.
The hunting boat dragged the Garrote Chapter toward the Blue Flame Islands, and deliberately slowed down so that the Columbus could steadily follow behind.
Under normal circumstances, the hunting speed of a hunting ship can be more than twice that of an ordinary cargo ship.