The black sun hangs high

Chapter 329 Hounds and Fish
While the fleet carrying Hugh and his companions was attacked by the deep-sea community, the port of Dawn Society, where the Goddess of Dawn resided, was also thrown into turmoil.

The members of the Dawn Society, who were already on high alert, were surprised to find that a large number of splashes suddenly appeared on the sea outside the port, as if a large school of hungry fish was approaching the port from below the surface.

The soldiers, who had been notified in advance, immediately went into combat readiness.

Although they had no way of confirming what was causing the ripples and waves, under the orders of commanders like Darthville, they decisively began to unleash firepower on the sea ahead.

A barrage of firepower, consisting of heavy machine guns and small crystal cannons, instantly enveloped the sea surface, shattering the rolling ripples and revealing the shadows hidden beneath the water under the illumination of numerous lights.

If experienced fishermen were present, they would surely recognize that the creatures swarming toward the harbor docks are the sea bream that they used to rely on for their livelihood.

Yes, sea bream.

The most common type of sea bream found in seaside restaurants.

Even the burt snapper that fishermen are most familiar with and love the most!

However, these sea bream, which normally grow to the length of an adult's forearm, are now clearly not quite normal.

In the bright light woven by numerous crystal spotlights, a deadly rain of metal swept rapidly through the waves, and then, a large number of enormous figures covered with gray-blue scales emerged from the surging blood.

Just like the deformed creatures that Hugh and Vera had previously discovered at the fishermen's house, these sea bream had also undergone severe mutations.

They are the stitchers of nightmare images, possessing the most ferocious appearance in Linhai folk legends.

An exceptionally large mutated sea bream thrashed violently under the stimulus of pain. Its body was nearly the size of an adult human. Several heads full of sharp teeth grew at the front of its massive body, and its dorsal fins had become like sails. Amidst the spray of blood, there were many indistinguishable shadows, like limbs, flailing about...

Having witnessed this scene firsthand, the soldiers operating the weapons and the mages preparing the magical ritual held nothing back. With each order relayed by the Dawn Order commanders, the abundant firepower was unleashed. The sea outside the port was instantly covered by a series of magical explosions, and the heavy crystal cannons on the Dawn Goddess were already in position.

A crystallized cannonball exploded precisely upon entering the water, the terrifying impact instantly tearing a small group of sea monsters attempting to storm the dock into pieces of varying sizes. Amidst the splashing waves, a mutated snapper, now only half its body remaining, soared and spun through the air before crashing heavily onto the deck of a guard gunboat.

In an instant, a strong smell of sea fish, blood, and an indescribable strange odor wafted into the nostrils of a member of the Dawn Society. This member of the Dawn Society was from the inland and did not particularly like the ocean, so he gagged on the spot. He then immediately picked up his revolver and fired a shot at the trembling half of the strange fish, before kicking it into a corner.

"Ugh, I hate fish! I swear I won't eat fish for the next two years!"

"Stop talking nonsense, you don't eat fish anyway."

Another Dawn Squad soldier cursed as he raised his gun and fired several shots at a shadowy figure "lying" on the edge of the deck. After eliminating the immediate threat, he wiped a few drops of seawater from his face and then turned his gaze to the distant sea.

These deformed, enormous sea breams seemed to be merely probing attackers. Behind them, on the sea surface, one could vaguely see some floating, iridescent lights. Those strange colors rose and fell with the waves. They simply remained there quietly, without making any further moves.

The soldier had previously stood guard near the laboratory, and he clearly remembered seeing a similar light through the crack in the laboratory door one night.

"Is that why they attacked us?"

The soldier had this question in his mind, but then a splash of water not far away caught his attention. Instinctively, he immediately turned his weapon and pulled the trigger in the direction of the splash.

His reaction time was very fast, and his shooting was extremely accurate.

However, to everyone's surprise, what appeared in the huge, exploding wave was not some mutated fish. As the two crystal spotlights were adjusted, bright light shone on the sea surface, and people were astonished to find that an extremely burly and strange figure emerged from underwater.

It was as if it could stand directly in the water, its upper body firmly planted amidst the surging waves.

The members of the Dawn Society almost immediately realized that this strange humanoid was completely different from any of the Vaan races they knew. Although its upper body structure looked similar to that of a human, it appeared extremely burly, and its body surface seemed to be covered with some kind of hard, dark blue scales.

Its head, exposed to the light, looked even stranger.

The soldier who fired the first shot was completely dumbfounded.

On that flat face, he couldn't see any facial features at all.

Eyes, nose, ears... such organs simply do not exist. The only thing he can see is a huge mouth in the middle of this skull, which protrudes slightly and looks like the mouth of some carnivorous marine fish.

"What the hell is this?"

The soldier stared wide-eyed and muttered to himself. Then he saw the strange figure raise its hand, which was actually more like a limb made of several tough, twisted tendrils. The end of this limb gently tapped twice on the figure's head.

It removed a deformed metal bullet that was shallowly embedded in the scales.

It held the tiny foreign object between its tentacles.

These lost entities with ancient origins seem to be earnestly identifying and understanding these weapons that exist in the new era.

……

The Dawn Division's defenses at their port base were excellent. Given prior warning, their response was timely and their countermeasures were robust.

Furthermore, with their base backed by their own territory, they had ample supplies and multi-faceted fire support, so those bizarre attackers, whose abilities defied common sense, failed to truly impact or damage the Akatsuki's defenses.

However, for those who are adrift at sea and have nowhere else to stand but their own ships, what happens in the darkness is no different from the most terrifying hellish scene they can imagine.

The crew of the Windless were lucky.

Although they were not a warship in the traditional sense, the ship had a sufficiently robust magical protective ritual and was staffed with true experts capable of directly confronting those unknown dangers.

What reassured everyone present was not only the powerful strength that Hughes displayed, which could directly eliminate danger, but also the arrangements and deployments he made.

The more chaotic the times, the more obvious the sense of security brought by stable, orderly, and reliable instructions becomes.

After the strange creatures successfully approached the vicinity of the Windless, people were even more grateful for the cautious decisions they had made in advance, because they found that the emergency protective rituals activated in advance on the Windless were very effective against the monsters that tried to approach the ship and use their access to the deck and hull.

This massive ritual, which was constantly consuming magical crystals, was spreading deadly magical shocks outwards. The soldiers witnessed a colossal creature, twice the size of an adult shark, being torn into pieces of varying sizes the instant it tried to approach the Windless. Even the hallucinogenic blood gushing from the flesh was vanished under the violent magical fluctuations.

On the other hand, the two sister armored ships, Silver Shield and Dark Sand, were also fortunate.

As an important symbol in the development of the navy in the Vanian civilization, armored ships still provide their crews with the highest level of security to this day.

Even as the encirclement tightened and the two armored ships began to engage the enemy at close range, their stable hulls, sturdy armor, and fully equipped heavy weapons and protective gear gave them a significant advantage in the confrontation. Under the command of the two armored ship commanders, the heavy naval guns were even providing continuous support to the other ships in the convoy.

However, these strange attackers were quite deadly to the other three small escort gunboats.

The ocean community's will, capable of communicating with each other through consciousness, initially targeted the three small vessels as its primary targets. Although the powerful weapons inflicted severe damage on the community's life forms during the attack, the situation quickly changed once they successfully reached the gunboat's side and began boarding using their catalyzed deformed bodies.

Undoubtedly, the gunboat that failed to activate the emergency protection ceremony immediately paid a heavy price for it.

Under the cover of the other mages and soldiers, Hughes boarded another long-range gun that had been set up. Through the sights on it, he saw the soldiers on the gunboat being hunted or driven away by those strange limbs. Hughes could even see people being thrown into the sea by the tentacles. The soldiers who fell into the water didn't even have time to struggle before they were swallowed up on the spot by the terrifying shadows that suddenly appeared in the surging waves.

Using his personal skills, Hugh once again began firing at key targets. However, after successfully destroying several dangerous "tumors," Hugh soon discovered that many tiny shadows were climbing onto the gunboat through those broken tumors.

These shadows looked like some kind of insect, or perhaps a sea fish that had undergone severe mutation. With his magical vision, Hugh saw their long, slender bodies, which resembled those of fish, and of course, some strange structures extending from these bodies.

It appears that their bodies are deeply integrated with the tentacles of large shrimp, crabs, or certain mollusks.

This immediately reminded Hughes of the horror works created by a cartoonist with a perverse sense of humor in another time and space.

Hugh's brow furrowed at the sight of these intruders. These deformed monsters that boarded the ship were not too difficult to deal with, but their numbers were simply too exaggerated. For the gunboat soldiers who had already been forced to enter the cabins to defend, these scattered intruders would cause a great deal of trouble.

At that moment, a violent tremor came from inside the metal disc, and the court hound, which had been lying in the thick shadows, suddenly took the initiative to convey a clear emotion to its master.

"What, you're finally interested?"

Hugh asked in a low voice in the mental world, and he immediately received a clear reply—a hoarse growl filled with the desire to kill and hunt.

He immediately flipped off the seat of the far-seeing gun, a dark purple light flashing in his palm, revealing the Hound's Fang.

The idea of ​​shooting at a target at such a distance with a "pistol" is rather absurd.

However, as Hugh pulled the trigger of the strange pistol, an extremely shocking and terrifying roar immediately resounded on the deck of the Windless, causing nearby soldiers and mages to tremble in fear.

This roar clearly possessed a terrifying power, easily stirring up the most primal fears in people's hearts—at this moment, they felt as if they had been dragged back to that distant era filled with instability, where they had no weapons or shelter, and could only be chased by cruel hunters in the dark woods with their bare hands.

The astonishing impact of the Hound's Fang sent a shiver down Hugh's arm. He saw a vivid, dark purple light tear through the night and hurtle toward the distant gunboat like a giant arrow.

In the blink of an eye, the impact had already occurred.

The barrel of a crystal cannon was unfortunately grazed by the dark purple light, causing the sturdy barrel to explode on the spot. The solid metal structure and magical crystals attached to its surface evaporated and disappeared without a trace.

Beside the crystal cannon, a mass of fleshy growths that was pelting deformed fish onto the gunboat's deck suddenly exploded. However, this time, not a single drop of flesh fell. The dense abyss mist was like a giant maw capable of devouring everything, instantly engulfing any potential threats in the instant of the explosion.

The surging mist seemed to be a gateway connecting reality and the abyss. In the next instant, a huge chelicerae that gleamed with a dangerous light forcefully pried open the crack, and a huge hound's head with long, narrow eyes and scarlet eyes emerged from it. In its slightly open, ferocious maw, forked whiskers and a long tongue curled up slightly.

After successfully devouring and digesting the Dark Abyss Spider, the hound finally found a new hunting ground that could arouse its interest enough.

It couldn't hold it in any longer.

(End of this chapter)