Chapter 912: Chapter 455: Storm and School of Fish (Part 2)

It was a slender sea fish, not even two feet long, about the length of an adult’s arm.

Its whole body was gray-brown, bluntly rounded at both ends like a cigar, with a slightly bulging belly; overall it didn’t look special in any way.

Only its mouth—that disproportionately large, gaping maw that almost took up half its head—was at this moment pressed tightly against the soft belly of the grass-ridge fish like a suction cup.

Even though it was on the verge of death, its small body crushed under the heavy fish thrown from the water onto the deck, this little fish’s oral apparatus still clung instinctively and firmly to the flesh, not loosening in the slightest.

"Scorched Necked Shark." A thoughtful look appeared on Hai Yin’s face. "No wonder this grass-ridge fish looked so lethargic. Turns out it had been targeted by this guy."

She stepped forward, bent down, grabbed the shark’s tail, and gave it a fierce yank!

The next second, accompanied by a dragging "schh" sound, the so-called "Scorched Necked Shark" was torn straight off the body of the grass-ridge fish.

Where its mouthparts had been attached, a perfectly circular, deep and regular wound was revealed, enough to send a chill down one’s spine at a glance.

You could vaguely see the clearly layered, faintly writhing pink-white fish flesh within.

It wasn’t hard to imagine how painful it would be if something like this bit into a human being’s fragile, soft skin; that exaggerated, perfectly round wound would probably leave a scar that never fully healed for a lifetime.

"The habits of this Saw-tooth Shark are very peculiar. Although it’s a kind of shark, it basically doesn’t hunt other fish most of the time, and its body length tops out at a little over half a meter."

"Its prey are the large creatures in the sea."

"Whales, sharks, dolphins, seals... as long as the body size is relatively large, they can become the targets of its Hunting."

"Of course, with their size, it’s hard for them to cause any truly serious lethal damage."

Hai Yin held the dying Saw-tooth Shark upside down in her left hand and pointed at its mouth with her right.

Looking closely, you could see this species’ extremely special rostrum structure.

It was like a strange round disc, with sharp triangular teeth arranged in a spiral beneath the fish lips, contracting inward to form a perfect ring arc.

"This special mouth structure lets them bite out a large chunk of flesh from their prey in an instant, and because their bodies are small and agile, they bite and run. Big prey like whales can’t catch up at all."

"Sometimes Saw-tooth Sharks will also act like parasites, using their teeth to fix themselves onto other fish and migrating by hitching a ride on the host."

"Ships sailing on the sea surface are also their means of transportation. Sailors often find circular bite marks on the planks of the hull when they return to port for maintenance—that’s what this species leaves behind."

"Very troublesome."

She added one more line at the end,

"And they taste bad too."

Hearing this, the interest Xia Nan had just developed in this kind of Saw-tooth fish instantly faded a lot.

He vaguely remembered that in his previous life there had been a similar sea fish, called something like a "cookiecutter shark," but he had only some impression from scrolling short videos and had never looked into it deeply, so he didn’t know if it was the same kind.

"But..." Hai Yin hadn’t finished her sentence.

The Druid’s brows knitted tightly together as she stared at the fish’s neck in her hand with her dark-brown eyes.

There, encircling it like a collar, was a dark broad band, as if it were the trace left behind after being scorched.

This was where the name "Scorched Necked Shark" came from.

"Saw-tooth Sharks aren’t exactly common, but they’re very widely distributed. You can run into them in practically any sea area around the Southern Islands."

"But this kind with the special neck markings—the Scorched Necked Shark—has only ever been found in the Twin Ocean."

"We still have many days of sailing before we reach our destination. Under normal circumstances, it should be basically impossible to encounter this species."

A fish had appeared in a place it shouldn’t have been.

As a Senior Adventurer who had sailed the seas for many years with rich experience, how could she possibly overlook such a detail?

The discovery of the Scorched Necked Shark had aroused the Druid’s suspicions.

And as for the cause—if this species had really deliberately left its original habitat, then there was only one reason.

Something had gone wrong in the Twin Ocean.

Of course, it could also just be the unusual behavior of an individual Scorched Necked Shark; but adventurers... have already formed the habit of considering everything they encounter during a mission in the worst possible light.

"It’s fine. I’ll go report the situation to the captain later and have some preventive measures prepared." Hai Yin smiled. "This fish isn’t poisonous or anything; the grass-ridge fish can still be eaten normally. If you’re squeamish, just scrape off the flesh around the wound on its belly."

It was just a small episode during the voyage. Although he had learned a lot about this fish from the Druid, Xia Nan’s experience at sea was ultimately limited; it was better to leave professional matters to Lorin and the others rather than have him meddling blindly.

But looked at this way, didn’t that mean he had hooked two fish at once with a single cast?

Xia Nan thought to himself.

"Gaa! Gaa!"

The sharp, grating cries of seagulls suddenly cut off his train of thought.

The seagulls that had been perched on the railings near the bow because of the Druid, for some unknown reason, all took off from their spots at the same time.

Feathers shed as they beat their wings hard; their manner actually carried a trace of panic.

In a certain sense, among everyone on the deck at that moment, Xia Nan was the quickest to react.

He might not know what had happened.

But his Perception, far surpassing that of an ordinary professional, immediately made him sense an indescribable, oppressive feeling of coming danger, like the onset of wind and rain.

Then came Sasha of the Spotted Cat race and Druid Hai Yin.

The former’s reaction was closer to some kind of animal instinct.

Her back arched unconsciously, the fur along her spine standing on end with the sudden tension of her muscles; her long tail, which had been gently swaying upward, drooped down between her legs, its tip pressed flat to the deck.

Although Hai Yin’s Perception Attribute was not as high as Xia Nan’s, and her reaction was a beat slower, the Druid class’s unique ability to commune with nature let her realize something from the cries of the seagulls rapidly retreating into the distance.

She suddenly turned, quickly walked to the ship’s side, braced both hands on the railing, leaned forward, and stared straight into the distance.

There, at the line where sky met sea.

A faint gray-black shadow was spreading like ink across the clear azure dome, advancing at a speed that looked slow yet was actually very fast.

The wind stopped.

The strong sea breeze that had been making the sails hum without pause had disappeared at some point, leaving only an eerie, deathly stillness; the air turned heavy and viscous, weighing on your chest and making it hard to breathe.

Dark clouds were growing along the horizon, leaden shadows surging and swelling, devouring the surrounding blue sky. Xia Nan could even see the oppressive flicker of lightning now and then within the bulging, piled-up masses of cloud; a blurry gray-white curtain of rain hung between the cloud sea, drifting slowly as the shadow spread.

It was an experience with an extremely strong sense of contrast.

Bathed in warm sunlight under a clear sky overhead, yet because the sea was so open, Xia Nan could see with absolute clarity that small patch of leaden cloudburst drifting in his direction.

And also...

"Bang."

In the silence, a muffled sound rang out.

"Scrrrk."

It was the sound that followed, from the side of the hull, like teeth gnawing on wood.

A cylindrical fish body jerked and thrashed; a Scorched Necked Shark that had appeared from who knew where shot out of the water like it had gone mad, its spiral, razor-sharp mouth clamped tight onto the side of the ship.

Vmm—

Before it could exert any force, a Green light fell from above and smashed the shark to pieces.

Magic Particles rippled in the air around the Practice Staff. Hai Yin stared grimly at the storm drifting toward the Vengeance Blade Blade and at the terrifying fish swarm flickering in and out of sight beneath the surface.

Behind her were the sailors, slow to realize what was happening.

"Take in the sails! A storm’s coming!"

"The captain—go get the captain!"