Chapter 44: The Ambushed Sea Demon Ship

Soon the Sea Demon Ship came into Gune's sight.

With a leap, Gune quickly jumped up, crossing twenty or thirty meters before landing lightly on the bow of the Sea Demon Ship.

The moment Gune landed,

"Captain, it's the captain back."

Exclamations rang out, mixed with a hint of surprise and joy.

Immediately, a commotion arose on the Demon Whale, with heads bobbing.

"Captain."

"Captain, you're finally back..."

"Captain, those damned fishmen ambushed us, along with other humans..."

"Captain, two of our men were captured by them..."

Arriving at the wide deck at the center of the Sea Demon Ship, many crew members gathered around, all talking at once.

Gune looked around.

Clearly, the Demon Whale had been through a bloody battle.

Traces of blood were everywhere on the deck, the gunwales were broken in many places, the deck was cracked in several spots, and even the secondary mast had snapped and fallen into the water.

Not only that, the side planks of the Sea Demon Ship were split in many places, seawater was pouring in constantly, and the ship was sinking.

"What exactly happened? You, first mate, tell me."

Gune's deep and commanding voice rang out, carrying the immense pressure of a leader creature like the Death Beast.

Feeling that authority and pressure, the crowd immediately shut up and fell silent.

Stepping forward, still stained with blood, Arthur Howell spoke calmly.

"Half an hour ago, about forty minutes after you left,"

"about fifty or sixty Yasha Fishmen attacked us."

"Among these fifty or sixty Yasha Fishmen, the weakest were second-rank, with a few third-rank, and two fourth-rank."

"Besides these Yasha Fishmen, there were also two humans."

"Those two humans were very powerful."

"Working together, they nearly killed Buster Johnson."

"Fortunately, we were not weak either."

"And those Yasha Fishmen were not as strong as us on the Sea Demon Ship."

"After a fierce fight, they left some corpses behind and quickly retreated."

"They lost about seventeen or eighteen."

"And we also had some casualties."

"How many casualties?" Gune asked with a dark expression.

"Four dead, and two were captured into the sea; they probably won't survive. Those Yasha Fishmen feed on humans."

This casualty ratio was commendable given that the enemy's strength exceeded that of the Sea Demon Ship.

"If only I had been here, otherwise... so many crew members wouldn't have died," Gune sighed inwardly.

"The others were injured to varying degrees, but they used potions, and the lightly wounded have mostly recovered."

"Five seriously wounded are still lying in the captain's cabin recovering."

"Right now, the most important issue is..."

Arthur lowered his voice, speaking softly so only Gune could hear.

"This wave of attack was most likely a probe."

"Once they know our strength, those Yasha Fishmen will soon return in force, and then..."

Arthur didn't say more, but Gune understood his meaning.

"A larger-scale attack?"

A hint of bloodlust and killing intent rose in Gune's eyes, and he clenched his fists tightly.

"Perfect, I was just afraid they wouldn't come!"

"Don't worry, with me here, no matter how many come this time, they'll all die." Gune said with a firm and steady tone.

Gune said this not only because of his greatly increased speed.

But also because, over the past month or so, Gune had been cultivating while idling, which had already greatly enhanced his own strength.

Moreover, Gune possessed many treasures. When outnumbered, Gune had never been afraid.

It's not that I fear your numbers, but that your eyes aren't sharp enough.

Then Gune looked toward the captain's cabin.

"How are the severely injured?"

As he walked over, Gune asked Yasen.

"The situation is not optimistic."

"Buster Johnson was targeted; they must have known Buster was the strongest fighter on the ship."

"Those two human experts went after Buster specifically—one water elementalist, one sword-fighter from the combat system."

"Buster's heart was smashed, and I don't know how he survived."

"And Martel, that young fellow, he fought desperately. His physical defense and strength are astonishing, and his vitality is terrifyingly abundant."

"His body was nearly turned into a sieve by the Yasha Fishmen's tridents, with shattered internal organs spilling out, but he still fought wildly with his black iron short sword."

"When the battle ended, Martel's left arm was broken. I wanted to find his arm and reattach it, but I don't know if a Yasha Fishman picked it up or if it fell into the sea and sank to the bottom in the chaos."

"It's a miracle that guy survived."

"I hope he can find a potent potion to restore his arm."

Listening to Yasen's account, Gune's heart sank completely.

Some of these crew members might have had ulterior motives or schemes when they boarded the ship.

But at this moment, they were the warriors fighting bloodily on the Moby Whale.

Naturally, Gune would not treat them poorly.

With a creak, Gune pushed open the captain's cabin door.

On the bedding spread on the floor lay five people; Old Chart was tending to the five severely injured crew members with two others.

"Captain." It seemed Martel saw Gune enter.

Martel struggled to prop himself up.

"I didn't let you down. I killed three filthy fishmen."

Martel smiled, his face somewhat pale.

"Your wound just stopped bleeding; don't move." Old Chart quickly pressed the still energetic Martel, despite his severe injuries, back down.

"You did well." Gune walked over and patted Martel on the shoulder.

"With such severe injuries and still so energetic, maybe this Gluttony talent increases more than just strength and defense—it might also boost vitality, like what they call HP." Gune thought to himself.

Gune looked at the five men; they were all in a state of severe injury and recovery.

Except for Martel, their life auras were quite weak.

If they had high-grade essence potions, they could obviously escape the severe injury weakness, recover faster, and even restore their strength before the next battle.

But from his time with these crew members, Gune knew they weren't as wealthy as he was.

Not to mention the highly effective essence healing potions costing over a dozen gold pounds.

Even high-grade healing potions at five gold pounds a bottle—

basically none of these crew members would stock them.

They preferred to stock mid-grade healing potions, which cost only one-tenth of high-grade ones, at five silver dragons a bottle.

And even cheaper low-grade healing potions, which could be bought for a few dozen copper coins.

But these low-grade and mid-grade potions might not be very effective against such severe injuries.

They didn't have them, but that didn't mean Gune didn't.

"High-grade essence recovery potions are running low and troublesome to prepare."

"I'll just use Life Spring Water directly! It's several times better than high-grade essence recovery potions and has an astonishing effect on these severe injuries."

"Using sealed Dragon Blood Wood bottles can hide most of the abundant life aura of the Life Spring Water. Even if they recognize it, so what? Can't I have a mine at home?"