Chapter 433 - 405: Underwater Yama
Black Fin stared daggers at Luo Sea. "A Fishman from who-knows-where dares to be so arrogant."
Suddenly, Black Fin’s expression shifted.
’My clansmen said they saw a giant, humanoid figure flash by that day,’ he thought. ’Could it be... was this the guy who killed the Chief?!’
At the thought, Black Fin was ecstatic.
’It doesn’t even matter if he did it or not. As long as I can kill him and bring his body back, I’ll make it his doing! With the credit from avenging two generations of Chiefs, the position of new Chief is as good as mine.’
Luo Sea vanished from the spot.
"BANG!"
"Huh?"
Luo Sea looked at the Fishman opposite him who had blocked his punch. A strange glint flashed in his eyes, and his lips curled further upward. "Interesting. A bit stronger than that last piece of trash."
Black Fin’s arms, gripping the Fish Spear, trembled slightly. With a low roar, he charged forward. "I’ll hold him off! The rest of you, go kill the other Fishmen behind him!"
On the water’s surface, a massive number of Dark Tide Fishmen swarmed out in a stream.
Meanwhile, Yan Da looked down at the fallen Black Stone before him and, without hesitation, swung his blade, beheading him instantly.
’The most difficult part, hunting the Extraordinary, is complete. Now all that’s left is to hunt the ordinary Fishmen!’
Yan Da looked up at the horde of charging Fishmen. For some reason, an image surfaced in his mind: hauling up a fishing net packed to the brim with large fish, body to body, flopping about as the thick, fishy stench filled the air.
’When it comes to slaughtering fish, I’m an old hand.’
...
The Muddy Race Fishman climbed up from the ground, holding a large shield in its left hand and a wide fork in its right.
Muttering something, it strode forward and swung the shield in its left hand in a vicious arc.
A large group of Fishmen in the way were sent flying. "GURGLE GWAA..."
Yan Da raised his Curved Blade and, following in the formation, slashed out, splitting open the head of a Dark Tide Fishman before him.
But the Dark Tide Fishman showed no fear. It stared at him fiercely and thrust its Long Spear forward.
"CLANG."
Yan San blocked the thrust with his long blade.
The two forces crashed into each other like a pair of surging tides.
Yan Da noticed that the opposing Dark Tide Fishmen were ferocious—far more fearless and reckless than the ones they had hunted before.
Sometimes, they would take a wound just for the chance to tear a chunk of flesh from his body.
"Big Brother, these Dark Tide Fishmen must be their elites," Yan Wu said, cutting down two Fishmen. But even more surged forward. Fortunately, the narrow terrain they had chosen limited the enemy’s numerical advantage.
In this kind of large-scale charge, Yan Da found that his agility was severely restricted.
He was flanked by his teammates, with more allied Fishmen behind him and nothing but enemies in front.
’There’s nowhere to dodge, only a head-on clash.’
"SQUELCH!"
A Long Spear stabbed from the side, piercing his left shoulder. Yan Da let out a muffled grunt, a savage glint in his eyes. He grabbed the spear shaft with one hand and yanked. A Fishman hiding behind others to his front-right was pulled stumbling forward. Before it could react, a heavy downward chop nearly split its head in two!
Yan San shouted, "Big Brother, let’s retreat! You’ve already completed the mission to kill the Extraordinary. We can find another chance to kill some regular Fishmen later."
Yan Da’s mouth twitched. "Retreat my ass! Old Luo is still fighting them! If we just leave without a word, we’d be selling him out."
Further away, near the water’s surface, two figures clashed at high speed. A large, empty space had been cleared out around them.
Hearing his Big Brother say that, Yan San clamped his mouth shut and continued to battle the Dark Tide Fishmen in front of him.
But their numbers were too great. After cutting down several in a row, Yan San was stabbed in the thigh. The pain made the corner of his eye twitch violently. "Fuck, these sons of bitches fight dirty, always aiming below the belt."
"You guys retreat first! I’ll fight a while longer. They can’t stop me."
Luo Sea’s voice carried from the distance.
Hearing this, Yan Da swung his Curved Blade even more viciously, cutting down three Fishmen in a row before turning his head to look toward the center of the battlefield.
Luo Sea was overwhelming Black Fin, but more and more Dark Tide Fishmen were swarming him.
"Hahaha, where are you running, shorty!" Luo Sea laughed, and instead of retreating, he charged forward, plunging deep into the ranks of the Dark Tide Fishmen.
Seeing this, Yan Da gritted his teeth. "Retreat!"
He roared the command and turned to run deeper into the cavern.
Yan San and Yan Wu guarded his flanks while the Muddy Race Fishman brought up the rear, swinging its great shield in wide arcs behind it and sending the pursuers scattering.
The group followed the route they had scouted beforehand, slipping into a narrow stone crevice.
There was water below. Yan Da leaped into it.
After swimming forward some distance, he broke the surface.
A narrow passage lay ahead. Yan Da wiped the water from his face and glanced back. The Muddy Race Fishman was blocking the entrance to the crevice, its shield wedged between the stone walls like a door, holding the pursuers at bay.
In front of the Muddy Race Fishman, the Dark Tide Fishmen pressed forward desperately, one after another.
A roar rumbled in the Muddy Race Fishman’s throat, its body bending further and further under the pressure.
Finally, it glanced back one last time and let out a long, low cry.
A Fishman next to him spoke in the broken tongue of the Human Race, "It’s telling us to go."
Yan Da was silent for a long moment, then turned sideways and started down the passage.
The stone walls scraped his shoulders and back, the rough surface rubbing repeatedly against his wounds.
His breathing grew heavy. ’Funny,’ he thought, ’I don’t remember these rocks feeling so sharp on the way here.’
After walking some distance, the way ahead suddenly opened up.
Faint firelight flickered ahead, revealing a broken wall over two meters high. Atop the wall, a waiting Fishman reached down and pulled Yan Da up.
He sat down on the ground, gasping for air, and only then did he feel his entire body ache.
He looked down and assessed his injuries.
The bloody hole in his left shoulder was still oozing blood. There was a cut under his right ribs—he didn’t know when he’d gotten it—where his clothes were torn open, revealing mangled flesh beneath.
The stab wound on his calf wasn’t deep, but he hadn’t had time to treat it. In his hasty retreat, blood had soaked his lower leg, and now his boot felt sticky inside.
He’d been seeing red in the frenzy of battle, hacking away with his blade, and hadn’t felt any pain at all.
Now, his wounds just felt like they were on fire.
The group waited on the platform. After a while, a clamor arose from behind them, and a large group of Dark Tide Fishmen came running over, one after another.
When they saw the two-meter-high broken wall, the Dark Tide Fishmen, who were generally only 1.2 meters tall, froze.
"Get me a spear." Yan Da took the Long Spear and stabbed down at the nearest Dark Tide Fishman below, running it straight through.
The Dark Tide Fishmen behind it scrambled back.
The spot only allowed one person to pass at a time. The Dark Tide Fishmen were small and slender, so they could just barely squeeze through two abreast, but in such narrow terrain, numbers offered no advantage.
After several were stabbed to death in succession, the remaining Dark Tide Fishmen got smart. They started forming a human ladder to get three or four Fishmen over at once, each one holding a weapon.
But watching their wobbly, trembling movements as they tried to carry each other, Yan Da couldn’t help but laugh.
’Perfect. I’m still short a few heads, anyway. You have only yourselves to blame for this delivery.’
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