Chapter 154: Island Royale 23
They had thought it would be a simple matter, especially since Perry Yates had already confirmed the others’ location.
However, for some reason, when they arrived, there was no sign of anyone. All they found was a recently extinguished campfire on the ground.
"It’s still warm. They probably just left," Amber Sheridan said.
Perry Yates pulled her hand back from a nearby tree trunk, her expression grim.
Seeing this, Evan Fuller asked, "Did something happen?"
At his words, Perry Yates nodded. "Three of them were sacrificed by the fourth, and then the one who did the sacrificing was swallowed in one gulp by a crocodile that shot out of the water."
After hearing what Perry said, Amber Sheridan’s eyes widened. "For real?"
Perry Yates nodded affirmatively. "For real."
It was no wonder Amber didn’t believe it; even Perry herself found the whole thing absurd.
The way those four had died was just a bit too anticlimactic.
Especially the sacrifice.
The one who performed the sacrifice was none other than Morgan Abbott, who had escaped from them before.
Just then, ripples suddenly spread across the calm surface of the water. If one were watching from above, they would have seen a large, dark shadow slowly approaching them from below.
Finally, when the shadow was close enough, the thing in the water lunged out. Water splashed everywhere as a gaping maw, large enough to swallow all three of them, appeared before them.
The trio reacted instantly, dodging the fatal attack.
"Okay, I believe you now," Amber Sheridan said with lingering fear, staring at the crocodile whose lower jaw alone was taller than them.
Perry rolled her eyes at him and paid him no mind. Her gaze was fixed on the crocodile below as she considered their next move.
The crocodile’s entire body was covered in emerald-green armor that glinted like metal in the sunlight. Its massive maw was filled with dark spots.
’Wait, those aren’t spots.’
Perry stared into the crocodile’s mouth. They were actually swarms of fat, bloodsucking leeches.
Seeing that its first attack had missed, the crocodile showed no intention of leaving. It heaved its enormous body onto the shore step by step, crushing the surrounding trees as it moved.
Seeing this, Perry and the others had no choice but to find a new spot to take cover.
Perry tried attacking with vines, only to find they couldn’t even break through the creature’s armor.
’Sigh, the Wood Attribute’s attack power really is a bit lacking.’
She then switched tactics, changing to her Sun Attribute.
The Sun Attribute had higher attack power than the Wood Attribute, but it only left a few scorched marks on the crocodile’s body. It seemed to cause no pain at all.
’Looks like to deal with this crocodile, we’ll have to either break through its armor or attack it from inside its mouth.’
With this in mind, Perry looked at Amber Sheridan and Evan Fuller.
Clearly, neither of them had any intention of leaving either.
What Perry didn’t know was that because of the deal they’d struck with her, the two of them were in desperate need of prey.
A crocodile this enormous was a feast on legs in their eyes. How could they possibly let it go?
Seeing the fighting spirit in their eyes, Perry decided she was perfectly fine playing a support role.
Then, countless vines shot up from the ground. While they couldn’t pierce the crocodile’s armor, they could restrict its movement and provide footholds.
After doing all this, Perry waved her hand, and two sets of War God Armor appeared on Amber Sheridan and Evan Fuller.
Amber’s eyes lit up as he looked at the armor on his body, which looked like something out of a superhero show. What kid didn’t dream of having their own suit of armor?
"Little Perry, love you!"
Hearing this, Perry was so taken aback she almost stumbled and whipped Amber with a vine.
The battlefield was now in their hands.
Because the two of them wanted to keep the crocodile intact, the Dodder Seed and Seed of Life Skills couldn’t be used.
The crocodile was huge, but its movements were not at all slow. Its unusually thick tail, in particular, could snap a tree trunk that would take two or three people to encircle with a single sweep.
If a blow like that landed on a person, every bone in their body would probably be shattered to pieces.
However, Evan Fuller and Amber Sheridan were clearly experienced fighters. Knowing the crocodile’s armor was tough and its defense was high, they simply avoided confronting it head-on.
It was worth noting that in addition to constantly dodging the crocodile’s attacks, the three of them also had to evade the bloodsucking leeches it occasionally flung from its body.
Those plump, well-fed leeches were like little blood-plasma bombs. If they landed on a person, they would instantly latch on and not let go. But if they hit a hard object, they would explode on impact.
To prevent the crocodile from retreating back into the water, Perry used her vines to block its path. After a period of fighting, Evan and Amber finally managed to open a gash on the crocodile’s body. Things became much easier after that.
With this opening, the two of them—no, the three of them—focused all their attacks on the wound.
Perry controlled petals infused with the Sun Attribute to land on the wound, then instantly detonated them.
The small gash gradually turned into a large, bleeding wound.
After who knows how long, they finally managed to wear the crocodile down to death.
’Hmm, actually, Perry felt like the crocodile might have just been tired to death.’
But however it died, what mattered was that it was dead.
Because the crocodile was so massive, the three of them began butchering its body right there on the spot.
They worked until evening. Perry harvested a huge, complete crocodile hide, its teeth, and one-third of the meat—she specifically asked for the tail meat.
Once they had finished, they left the area using the Any Door.
Not long after they left, ripples once again spread across the surface of the calm lake. A pair of blood-red, slitted pupils appeared in the water, only to vanish again as if they had never been there.
「Day eleven of the game.」
Early in the morning, right after breakfast, Amber Sheridan dragged Perry Yates off to continue processing the prey in the Space Backpack, while Evan Fuller went out to hunt and gather information.
"No wonder I thought there were so few animals on this island. Turns out you guys have them all."
Perry muttered as she looked at all the prey.
"You don’t get it. If we don’t take them now, they won’t survive the later stages of the game anyway. They’re better off with us. At least we can give them a good final resting place in our stomachs."
Can’t argue with that logic!