Chapter 276 - 256: The Bewilderment of the Deep Sea Treasure
Now, Da Fei’s fleet was trapped inside the massive maw of the Sea Demon; the only way was to unleash the full power of their crossbow cannons to blast it open.
With Da Fei’s command, the Radiant Wings had forty cannon ports on both sides, adding to his own medium-sized ship’s four cannon ports, and the whaling ship’s six whaling cannons on all sides. The fleet’s crossbow arrows blasted the surrounding massive flesh walls, with huge echoes reverberating in the fleshy cavern, while a large barrage of "-6!" "-7!" "-5!" damages filled the whole screen!
Da Fei’s jaw dropped to the floor!
What was the damage of that last shot? 30! He wasn’t mistaken; it was 30 points!
What was the normal damage of his Master-level Crossbow Cannon? Cannon damage = basic damage × player’s total attribute points. After deducting the attribute points added by equipment, his total attribute points reached 80 points, with a Master-level Crossbow Cannon’s basic damage at 7–8, thus his uncorrected damage was 560–640! Averaging 600 points of damage, but his actual damage was only 30 points, meaning a damage reduction of 95%!
According to the game’s damage calculation formula, when the attack was lower than the enemy’s defense, the final damage = basic killing ÷ (1 + attack-defense difference × 5%); achieving a damage reduction of 95% meant an attack-defense difference of over 400, and the Master-level Crossbow Cannon had an attack of 35, indicating this Sea Demon’s maw defense was at least 500!
What concept was 500 defense? A copper wall and an iron bastion!
Alright then, as a demigod, if this creature dared to swallow a fleet whole, it must be confident in its power! But he had a day to retaliate, he’d fire at it for a day; even ants could bite an elephant to death!
Da Fei gritted his teeth and roared: "Keep firing! Focus fire on a point and shoot steadily! Blast it for a day!"
The sounds of the crossbows firing echoed once again.
And just then, a dull sound once again echoed through the space: "Mortal, it seems you’re in a last-ditch struggle? However, let me remind you, I once swallowed a fleet of mortal navy; their firepower was much stronger than yours, but eventually, they ran out of ammunition and couldn’t escape. If you believe you have enough ammunition and time, then continue, but I won’t tell you that I can self-heal, hm~~"
—Ah, puh! Da Fei spat out blood in rage!
Damn it, not only was its skin thicker than the city walls, but it could also self-heal! Fighting this was pointless! Was he being punished for being too ahead of the curve?
Wait! Ahead of the curve? Great, he still had his final ultimate move! He would use the foresight to combat foresight!
Da Fei pulled out the Luck Coin given to him by the Gambling God — Come on, he’d exchange a month of misfortune for a day of invincible luck!
—System Prompt: Warning! Are you sure you want to use the Divine Artifact Luck Coin? Once used, you will remain in a state of Absolute Misfortune for the next month, and cannot benefit from any luck items or altar blessings.
Of course! If he were to die here now, that would be true Absolute Misfortune!
Use it! Whether it worked or not, he’d gamble on it!
A rainbow light rose from Da Fei’s head, and at the same time, the entire fleet was enveloped in a rainbow!
—Boom pop pop! The crossbow cannons roared once more, a barrage of "-10!" "-11" "-12" damage filled the screen.
Although the damage was still unbearable to look at, at least it was doubled, wasn’t it? That meant it was like doubling the number of cannons, right? But even if it doubled, was there any way to match the formal navy fleets? Even they couldn’t escape; could he really do it? Da Fei began to miss the Artillery Emperor babies left behind at the Pool of Radiance. If they were here, the damage wouldn’t be so weak. But even if they were here and it still failed—could he afford such a loss?
If even doubling couldn’t win, then he’d have no choice but to admit defeat.
For a moment, Da Fei’s heart was tangled with complicated emotions, lamenting life’s unpredictability, and riches as fleeting as smoke.
Wait! Wasn’t the formal navy the ultimate existence players could develop into? If even they couldn’t win, then players couldn’t win now or in the future! Could it be this Sea Demon couldn’t be dealt with by force? Right, it said only the hero Odysseus had succeeded before; was that a hint for the player?
But who was Odysseus? Also known as Odysseus, the renowned half-man, half-god hero from Greek mythology— a demigod! A notch above the Golden Saints! His crewmates must have been heroes too. In their time, they probably didn’t have high-tech weapons like crossbows; they might’ve just jumped off to act as human siege machines and hacked away? Ultimately, it still required strength; it depended on whether the player could reach their level?
Damn! That’s absurd! How could players reach his level? Even becoming a Golden Saint was impossible!
Just then, the order flag bearer came to report: "Captain, the flagship sent a message, it seems they’ve found valuable items among the surrounding wreckage!"
Da Fei’s eyebrow jumped, treasure? Damn! There was something substantial inside this Sea Demon’s mouth? Could the key to breaking the situation be in these wrecks? It had to be! No matter how godlike the boss was, there had to be a chance for the players, right?
Da Fei excitedly said, "All gunners continue firing, while the other sailors start diving to search the wreckage!"
Each ship quickly lowered lifeboats; Catherine, Anlicia, and Coltner dived in to search. Treasure hunting was something Da Fei wouldn’t fall behind on either.
Soon there were results, a treasure chest! There was a dazzling golden chest inside a wreck!
Da Fei’s eyes twitched! Damn, there really was something of substance in its maw!
Da Fei approached and opened it in excitement, and the immediate dazzling brilliance blinded Da Fei’s eyes!
—System Prompt: You searched the sunken shipwreck and obtained 1 unit of sunken ship salvage "Deep Sea Night Pearl"!
—Deep Sea Night Pearl: Sunken ship salvage item. It is a specialty item produced only in the unreachable deep-sea areas, worth a hundred times gold in the surface world!
Da Fei’s eyelid twitched! Whoa, damn! This was indeed good stuff! Gold in the trading post was a high-end luxury item, with a purchase price of around 10,000 gold coins per order. A hundred times gold meant one million? Perhaps the literal interpretation used exaggerated rhetoric, but selling at ten times gold for 100,000 gold coins was absolutely not a problem! Just the label "origin unreachable to mortals" guaranteed the price!
In other words, if the player managed to escape its mouth, these would be considered bonus rewards? (Note: Items labeled as sunken ship salvage do not require purchase orders when trading at trading posts worldwide)
Then, Catherine shouted from the front, "Captain, we found 3 orders of Crossbow Cannon Ammunition!"
orders? That’s 800 Crossbow Arrows! That meant ammunition wasn’t a problem either! There must be more ammunition, and surely more good stuff!
They were definitely getting out! There had to be a strategy! Da Fei’s eyes lit with burning hope, excitedly shouting, "Everyone, keep searching! We must be able to find a way to escape from these wrecks!"
In a short while, Anlicia also brought good news: "Wow haha, we found 2 units of Deep Sea Ice Crystal Diamond, have you ever seen these? It’s my first time seeing them!"
Coltner couldn’t help but exclaim, "Ice Crystal Diamond? Legends say that under the extreme cold and high pressure of the ten-thousand-meter-deep-sea trench, water becomes permanently solidified, like carbon under extreme pressure turns into a diamond. This is the origin of Ice Crystal Diamonds! These are items no mortal could ever acquire, how can they be here?"
Anlicia happily said, "Does that mean they’re worth a lot?"
Coltner admired, "They’re invaluable!"
Damn, this Sea Demon’s mouth was quite loaded! It even had such powerful treasures; it surely had a Divine Artifact or key item to break the situation!
—System Prompt: You searched the sunken shipwreck and obtained 3 units of sunken ship salvage "Deep Sea Jade Coral"!
Wow haha! Deep-sea productions must be high-quality! 3 units too! At least tens of thousands were secured again! His fleet’s total capacity was 3000, and they only loaded up 2400, which was a significant regret. Wasn’t this clearly an opportunity to completely compensate for that regret?
Wow haha! Search! Keep searching!
For a time, the search team harvested massively, discovering various deep-sea specialties one after another. The sailors busily transported goods up and down with joy, entirely forgetting they were still within the Sea Demon’s mouth, entirely forgetting these things still belonged to the Sea Demon.
Finally, a dull but clearly disdainful, mocking voice echoed again in the space: "Still ignorant and laughable mortals!"
Tch! What did it know; he was looking for a way to deal with it from the wrecks! This was called strategy and reward double harvest! Wow haha!
Just then, Catherine rowed a small boat over: "Captain, something’s not right."
Da Fei asked, surprised, "What’s not right?"
Catherine furrowed her brow: "Didn’t you notice, Captain, these goods we’ve found are all incredibly rare, immensely valuable deep-sea merchandise, yet on the shipwrecks here, they’re as common as can be, and looking at these ships’ models, they don’t seem like ships of seasoned sailors. Just by them wanting to acquire deep-sea specialties, I’m deeply skeptical."
Da Fei suddenly awoke! She was right! This was indeed too suspicious! Wait, it was mocking him just now as "still ignorant and laughable" mortals, which meant others have done the same thing he did?
Damn! That’s obvious, anybody encountering this situation would most likely search the wreckage, right? So, searching the wreckage was not feasible!
Da Fei suddenly realized: "We’ve been tricked! These goods were nothing more than a way it confused mortals, misguiding them!"
Catherine furrowed her brow and said: "I think so too, after we’ve wasted a lot of time on the wrecks, we’ve completely lost our chance to escape!"
Da Fei was drenched in cold sweat! This Sea Demon was too cunning, directly exploiting human nature’s weaknesses!
Wait, so what were the Sea Demon’s weaknesses? As a demigod needing to use tricks against mortals, it surely had unspeakable vulnerabilities, right?
So, what was the weakness? Did its mouth have a weak point? Did he need his God-level Reconnaissance Technique to stare at it for a while and trigger the Intelligence Analysis Divine Skill to find its weakness? But even if triggered, it was most likely only reducing the defense by a tiny percentage. For something with a defense of 500 points, that would mean nothing. At most, reducing damage immunity from 95% to 93%, which was insignificant.
Not to mention such a famous Sea Demon was not meant to be solely dealt with by a player with God-level Reconnaissance Technique. That would not follow the game’s boss design principles.
Could it be, it was still that initial hint, Odysseus?
Da Fei’s eyebrow suddenly jumped, and he asked: "Catherine, do you know about Odysseus?"
Catherine shook her head with a sigh: "We could never achieve the power of that mythological hero, much less he wasn’t alone in battle."
Da Fei hurriedly said: "I mean, Odysseus must have broken out from its mouth, right? We can rush out through the path he once opened! That must have been the Sea Demon’s wound, where the defense is weaker than elsewhere!"
Catherine suddenly realized with excitement: "That’s remarkable, Captain! Legendary heroes like Odysseus of that mythological age were imbued with divine qualities, and wounds inflicted by their attacks might not fully regenerate, perhaps even lack self-healing abilities!"
It must be so! Da Fei was filled with joy: "Then let’s find this wound! Others keep moving the goods!"
Wow haha haha! So this was the real strategy and reward double harvest! If even this wouldn’t work, he would go smash the glass of the hero proxy merchants.
(Actually, he made it to the newspapers, being a rare entity in the web fiction world, haha, wow haha haha!) (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote with recommendations and monthly tickets, your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)