CH 39.2

The arrows shot out and viciously struck the shark-toothed monster’s nose.

The monster cried out in pain and immediately pulled its nose back. The light returned to the crowd’s gaze, and they saw the huge shark-toothed monster flinging its body in pain and quickly fleeing.

The space that had been obscured by the shark-toothed monster was also finally exposed to the gaze of the crowd.

The moment they saw the scene in front of them, two words came to the minds of all the mermen.

Armageddon.

Corpses.

The middle sea area, which should have been covered with coral thickets, was now covered with countless corpses.

In the midst of these corpses, Bai Lixin saw a small, extraordinarily insignificant skeleton.

Because of the shark tooth monster’s presence, there were no other monsters around, and with its departure, the place was safe for the time being.

Bai Lixin left the tunnel and swam to the bones, which were very small compared to the others.

A round head, neck, collarbone, sternum, and tail.

It was the skeleton of a merman.

The joints of the skeleton were intact and Bai Lixin picked it up easily and returned to the mouth of the tunnel, “This seems to be the old Patriarch.”

The bald merman almost broke down.

Large white pearls fell from the corners of his eyes as he looked at the skeleton and ran his fingers over the skeleton’s fingers.

“It’s the patriarch.” The bald merman took the skeleton’s finger, “The patriarch’s little finger was missing a small knuckle from a previous battle.”

Bai Lixin looked down and saw that the skeleton’s pinky finger was also a tiny bit smaller.

The bald merman, “Give it to me.”

Bai Lixin handed the skeleton to the bald merman, who turned around to the rest of the mermen.

The rest of the mermen’s eyes were also dropping pearls in a steady stream.

He looked around the group and finally handed the skeleton to the youngest one, “You are given a more important task than hunting. Send the old patriarch’s skeleton back to the new patriarch, tell him what has happened here, and warn him not to allow anyone to leave the cave. Don’t come back either; we need to hurry off to hunt while we can.”

The pearls fell one by one from the young merman’s face like a chain, “It’s so dangerous out there, take me with you! I can help you guys out. It’s too dangerous out there now and one more of me is better. You only have ten mermen, can you do it?”

The bald merman laughed and punched the young merman on the shoulder, “What are you thinking?! We have crossbows, hunting is important, but the clan is more important. Information from the outside world has to be passed in in time for our clan to be prepared. Your task now is more important than any of us. Come on, hurry up and get going!”

The young merman clutched the skeleton in his arms and nodded vigorously, “Okay! I’ll go back now.”

With that, he rushed out with a single bound, his tail swimming at top speed.

As he watched the young merman leave, the bald merman’s gaze suddenly turned cold, “Alright, let’s get going too. I’m warning you all in advance; we are charged with the burden of finding food for the pack, and I don’t want any deserters except Bai Lixin!”

He looked at Bai Lixin, “Little one, you have more important things to do, and if we are in danger, we will do all we can to bail you out.”

Bai Lixin pursed his lips as he narrowed his long, thick eyelashes and swept his gaze across the countless pearls that had fallen to the rocky floor of the tunnel, and then over the mermen who were ready to die, before finally nodding, “Okay, let us go.”

The party set off in a great hurry, no longer using the common sense they once had of the sea area, where everything could be found. To find a Lantern beast was dozens of times harder than before.

Had the split turtles already invaded so deep in just one day?

The once blue waters of the mid-sea area had now turned a thick indigo. The clear, translucent water was gone, and was now replaced by dim, filthy currents.

Not only did the sea monsters begin to scurry about, but even the quality of water had become complex.

Bai Lixin, “Must we hunt a Lantern beast? Is there a substitute meal besides it?”

The bald merman thought for a moment, “There are several other creatures that would work, but in this case, we’ll catch whatever we come across first.”

Bai Lixin, “Okay.”

He didn’t need the points anymore, and as he swam, he didn’t forget to observe the situation around him.

They had been swimming for about ten minutes, and aside from the shark-tooth monster they had just seen, they had not seen any more life.

This sea, which was previously filled with countless terrifying auras, had surprisingly become dead silent.

“What’s going on? I haven’t seen a single prey on this journey.”

“Let alone seeing any prey, I haven’t even seen any plankton.”

“There is no prey, and there aren’t any predators either.”

“Where have they all gone?”

“Should we dive and swim further down?”

The bald merman thought for a moment, “Okay, let’s dive.”

Even if the waters were in turmoil, they wouldn’t get lost in this familiar sea.

They had reached the Eastern Sea area and still hadn’t come across any creatures.

As they dived, the view of the deep sea floor became clearer and every merman’s face was shrouded in horror and shock.

There were more corpses at the bottom of the East Sea than in the Middle Sea area. If the Middle Sea area was filled with corpses that shouldn’t be there, then the East Sea area was filled with corpses of all kinds of creatures that usually dwelled there.

Bai Lixin’s eyebrows knitted together; the thing he feared the most had happened.

In a normal ecosystem, creatures die, plankton and creatures that live on carrion survive, and they in turn provide food for other creatures.

But in one day, there was no more carrion to be found.

The plankton and creatures that feed on carrion gradually perished, followed by the next stage of life, where more and more creatures lose the food they depend on and die of starvation.

The split turtles have been around for who knows how long, but they quietly devour just one creature at a time.

They were insignificant in number, and they weren’t noticed.

Then a second, a fourth, and more and more split turtles appeared.

The split turtles must have been around for a long time before he came to this world, just not long enough to exceed the threshold that this sea could provide.

They kept on increasing, and the sea could no longer carry the demand, and disaster broke out.

Another explanation for the shark-toothed monster’s strange behavior as it hit the narrow tunnel earlier was that it was hungry.

So hungry that after smelling the fragrant scent of merfolk, it became hungry and desperate for food.

A thought suddenly flashed through Bai Lixin’s mind, and he stopped abruptly and shouted at the bald merman, “The shark-toothed monster.”

The bald merman looked at Bai Lixin in confusion, “What?”

Bai Lixin, “Now that food is scarce outside, the shark-tooth monster’s sense of smell is unusually keen. So no one should get hurt, or the shark-tooth monster will definitely follow the smell of blood and attack us again.”

The faces of all the mermen, who were already in a state of panic, became clouded with worry.

On the sea floor were countless bones piled up into mountains.

Even if the split turtles had suddenly erupted, they wouldn’t have turned the sea into this overnight. There must be something else.

As Bai Lixin pondered, an eerie, melodious voice suddenly rang out from the bottom of the sea.

The sound was somewhat like a trumpet, and it stood out in the sea that had become dead silent.

“It’s the God of Doom.” Dijia’s voice rang out in Bai Lixin’s ears, “It is one of the ancient gods of the Northern Sea area, even though it has left the Northern Sea area.”

“The God of Doom carries the ability to feel doom in its body. It remains silent from the beginning to the end, and only when the end is near will it let out a sound.”

Bai Lixin’s brow furrowed.

Doomsday.

There could be doom in the sea and even the ocean.

The ocean was the source of all things.

If there were only one hundred million creatures on land, there were three times as many in the ocean as there were on land.

On most of the planets he knew, the oceans were much larger than the land.

The huge oceans were an integral part of sustaining life, and having them meant, to a large extent, that life was present.

But now the ocean, which had given birth to countless lives, was coming to an end.

Bai Lixin’s brow furrowed even further.

Dijia watched Bai Lixin’s silence. He wanted to help this persistent young man, but once he did, the system would eject him from this copy of the game.

As time passed, the mermen’s movements became more and more rigorous, even their breathing became lighter.

Suddenly, a rush of water emerged from the placid waters.

Sensing this current, Bai Lixin immediately shouted, “From behind, dodge!”

No sooner had he said that than he saw several huge tentacles rushing towards them!

Unlike Dijia’s tentacles with smooth skin, these tentacles were rough and huge, and each one was covered with dense bumps.

The mermen heard Bai Lixin’s warning and fled almost as soon as they heard it.

Just moments after they left, several tentacles lodged themselves into the sea sand where they had just been.

The skeletons were swept up by the force of these tentacles, falling in all directions of the sea before slowly falling back to the ground.

When the blow missed, the tentacles retracted and hovered in the water. Eight huge tentacles spread out like a towering eight-fingered mountain, blocking their path.

It was a very ugly octopus with a spiky shaped head. Its body had a thin layer of brown skin wrapped around it like a plaster, and its huge tentacles were snaking and writhing in the sea water.

“Fuck, it’s a tentacle monster! How did we even come across this sick thing?!”

A merman wailed as the bald merman set up his crossbow, “Grab your weapons and be careful not to get stung by its tentacles. Those tentacles are poisonous!”

“There’s a paralyzing type of poison in them, and once you get stung, you’ll die from heart paralysis. This monster is dangerous, so be careful! However, the tentacle monster’s attacks are intermittent. It has to build up its strength after each attack in order to make a second one.”

They had brought enough crossbows and arrows with them, but it took time between firing the crossbows and reattaching the arrows.

The bald merman stared at the big monster and suddenly cursed.

“Fuck, I’m pissed off. I didn’t come across anything on my trip. Brothers, today we’ll kill this big guy and bring it back to our companions to relieve their cravings. What do you say?!”

The other mermen had been brewing in terror for a long time, but no amount of danger could stop the hungry mermen.

They were already so hungry that they would either starve to death or be eaten by the huge tentacle monster.

Either that, or they’ll eat the tentacle monster!

Who dares say they can’t eat tentacles?!

They were hungry to the core!

The hungry mermen set up their crossbows, their eyes determined. The tentacle monster, which they would have fled at the sight of before, was now delivered to them like a cloud of raw takeaway.

Only that they had to prepare this takeaway themselves.

Bai Lixin looked at the battle-ready mermen and suddenly smiled, following suit and setting up his crossbow.

Before the tentacle monster could rest, the bald merman barked out a command, “Aim for the tentacle monster’s eyes; that’s its weak point. 3, 2, 1! Release!”

Eleven arrows were fired towards the tentacle’s eyes in unison.

The monster stretched out its tentacles to sweep away the tiny arrows. In its eyes, they were just fish spikes.

But the next moment, it realized that it had missed its mark.

The seemingly tiny fish spikes easily penetrated its tentacles, and among the 11 arrows, one was so fast that it not only broke out of its tentacles but also went straight into its eye.

The tentacle monster’s body shook violently, and it’s skin turned from a plastery brown to a rich, dark red.

It swept away the fish spikes, but the one that went past had lodged straight into its eye and a constant pain was coming from the eye.

It slapped the ground in anger, and sea sand and bones flew all over the place.

The bald merman had found a formidable enemy.

The crossbow was most effective when fired at the correct target, but there were so many obstacles now that it was difficult to hit the target.

The mermen had planted new arrows as the tentacle monster lashed out. All the mermen scattered quietly under the command of the bald merman, waiting for the next part of the bald merman’s command.

Bai Lixin kept his eyes on the tentacle monster warily. Suddenly, he saw a swelling in the top of the monster’s now red head, followed by a slow darkening around it.

“Watch out, everyone retreat,” Bai Lixin shouted, “it’s going to spew ink.”

All the mermen swept their tails wildly as Bai Lixin said “retreat” and skittered backwards in unison.

The tentacle monster’s gaze had turned blood-red. It stared at the rebellious ants angrily as the ink on top of its head coalesced once more.

A thick black mist spewed out from the tentacle monster’s abdominal cavity, instantly blackening the already dim sea.

In the blink of an eye, the mermen who were fleeing were instantly covered in a layer of black mist.

The mermen’s special sound waves reached everyone’s ears.

Although the sound waves could not help in making clear communication, each one represented a meaning, and this one now meant for them all to stop moving.

The mermen trusted this sonic signal unconditionally, and they stopped moving. Their bodies began to slowly sink, landing silently on the skeletons.

Although the mist blurred the vision of the prey, it also blurred the vision of the tentacle monster.

The tentacle monster could only rely on its tentacles to try and find their whereabouts.

In the darkness, Bai Lixin slowly drew a dagger from his waist and gently cut his finger.

The black mist was so thick that the blood flowed out and blended into the darkness without even showing red.

The smell of blood caught the tentacle monster’s attention.

Several tentacles abruptly shot out in Bai Lixin’s direction.

But the fluctuations of the water betrayed the direction of the tentacle monster’s attack from the get-go.

He did not need his eyes and could rely on the ripples in the water.

Bai Lixin’s dagger slashed at his finger again, and another line of blood flowed from the wound.

Before the darkness, all the other mermen could hear was the constant sounds of slapping and dodging.

In the near blindness, they faintly smelled a very faint hint of blood.

The bald merman panicked.

Who was it?

Who was fighting that tentacle monster?

It couldn’t be Kaya; he didn’t have it in him, so who was it?

Was it Bai Lixin?!

No, nothing should happen to Bai Lixin!

The bald merman braced himself against a skeleton and was about to push himself to rush over when Bai Lixin’s voice suddenly came over along the current, “Stay back! It’s coming!”

It?

What?

The next moment, he felt a surge in the current and instantly understood Bai Lixin’s intention.

It was the king of the deep sea, the shark-toothed monster!

It had smelled Bai Lixin’s blood and was coming to kill!

The bald merman instantly understood that Bai Lixin was not injured but had used the smell of blood to deliberately lure the shark-toothed monster over, so that the two monsters would kill each other.