Chapter 105: Teaming Up to Steal the Kills
The Survivors got the hint and all turned their attention to the Fish Fiends.
But just as they started attacking, those Fish Fiends, like flies that could smell danger, jumped back into the sea with a splash.
The Survivors just stood there, dumbfounded.
These guys knew how to retreat tactically? They were way too smart for monsters.
Up in the air, Kevin stood on the back of the Dragon Form Mist Phantom, watching everything down below with a cold look.
He turned to the girls behind him and smiled. "Everyone ready?"
The girls nodded at Kevin and pulled out their prepared bottles of "Slime Holy Spring."
[Slime Holy Spring: C-Tier potion. After drinking it, you gain the ability to shapeshift like a Slime. You can transform into any known form. Duration: 15 minutes.]
Soon, all the girls changed into Eldritch Entities.
Some turned into Fish Fiends, some into Skeletons, and some even turned into Eldritch lobsters...
Then, a bunch of drones lowered their ropes.
The girls, now disguised as Eldritch Entities, grabbed their weapons and rode the drones down onto the decks of the three ships.
Captain Andrew and Captain Cosby saw even more Eldritch Entities dropping from the sky and gasped in shock.
Then, they saw a huge Fish Fiend carrying two Vulcan Cannons land right in front of them.
Captain Andrew stared at the row of dark gun barrels, then looked up at the drones above. His jaw dropped. "Holy crap! Are Eldritch Entities using high-tech weapons now?"
The only answer Captain Andrew got was a flash of blinding gunfire.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
A fierce storm of metal swept across the deck. The Eldritch Entities that had climbed onto the ships were instantly torn to shreds by this terrifying display of technology.
Even if some of the stronger Eldritch Entities managed to block the bullets, they couldn’t stop the grenades quietly rolling in at their feet.
BOOM! BOOM!
"This feels amazing!" Toti, disguised as a huge Fish Fiend, howled with excitement.
He raised his Vulcan Cannon and sprayed bullets everywhere, clearing out a wide-open space around the deck.
Right after that, Celula, Monchhichi, Nova, Luna, Amelia, and the other girls landed one by one.
"I’ll take the left, you take the right." Celula growled at Raphael, then dashed toward the ship on the left on her Wheels of Flame & Wind.
After drinking the Slime Holy Spring, she had turned into a Skeleton.
To the other Survivors, Celula looked like an Eldritch Skeleton riding Wheels of Flame & Wind and holding a Molten Edge.
Celula charged forward and sent over a dozen Eldritch Entities flying into the air.
Her blade flashed with flames, cutting through the bodies of those monsters like butter. She sliced them apart and vaporized them on the spot.
Captain Cosby watched this and swallowed hard. "Are these Eldritch Entities fighting each other?"
On the other side, Raphael wasn’t going to be outdone.
She drew her [Unicorn Gryphon] and slid toward the ship on the right.
She leaped into the air, and the [Unicorn Gryphon] created a fast air current that lifted her and let her glide straight across to the other deck.
By now, Raphael had transformed into a white-furred lion.
She wielded her rapier like an elegant swordsman. Every step she took, she pierced a vital point of an Eldritch Entity and took its life.
The Survivors, who had been fighting for their lives just moments ago, were all stunned.
It was the first time they had ever seen an Eldritch Entity so graceful and so powerful.
And what really got them was that this Eldritch Entity was actually helping them fight.
"What the hell is going on? Am I dreaming?"
"An Eldritch Entity that knows how to fence? And it’s so elegant?"
"If it weren’t for the Eldritch invasion, I’d think this was the Olympic fencing finals."
"This is insane. Where did that Eldritch Entity come from?"
While the crew was still buzzing with confusion, an Eldritch Water Snake snuck up behind Raphael.
It flicked its tongue, baring its green fangs, and was about to lunge at her.
"Watch out behind you!"
The Survivors all shouted out warnings, but by then, Raphael had no time to turn around.
Just as things were about to go wrong, a gunshot rang out.
The next second, the Eldritch Water Snake’s body was blown in half, exploding into a shower of blood and shredded flesh.
Seeing this, the Survivors all turned to look at Andrew’s ship.
There, standing on the lookout tower of the ship, was a lizard-woman aiming a "Zero Error" sniper rifle in their direction.
"Holy crap! There’s a sniper among the Eldritch Entities. Can someone tell me if this is an Eldritch invasion or a cartoon?"
"This is bull. Those Eldritch Entities must be mutated humans."
"Hey, look, that lizard-woman with the sniper rifle has a pretty nice figure."
While all the Survivors were focused on Monchhichi, Amelia, Nova, and Luna had already set up three main cannons from Military Armored Vehicles.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Ear-splitting cannon fire swept across the surrounding sea, sending limbs and body parts flying everywhere.
The water around the ships quickly turned black with Eldritch Entity blood.
Now the monsters didn’t even get to climb onto the deck before they were turned into corpses.
And then those corpses attracted new Eldritch Entities, and the new Eldritch Entities got blasted apart by the girls’ cannons all over again.
Even if a few Eldritch Entities managed to climb onto the deck, they were torn apart by Celula, Raphael, and Toti.
Meanwhile, Monchhichi stood at the highest point, ready to support the deck with her sniper rifle at any time.
For a moment, the girls had formed a complete three-dimensional combat tactic.
Captain Andrew watched the whole thing from start to finish, his eyes twitching like crazy.
In just ten minutes, the group of Eldritch Entities carrying modern weapons had slaughtered two to three thousand enemies right in front of him.
The roar of gunfire and cannons nearly made him dizzy, and his ears wouldn’t stop ringing.
Finally, no more new Eldritch Entities appeared on the sea.
Captain Andrew and Captain Cosby looked at each other from across their ships and both let out a sigh of relief.
But before they could even go over to ask questions, the Eldritch Entities that had just helped them started lifting off the ground again.
That was when they finally noticed something strange. Hanging above those Eldritch Entities were modern drones.
"Drones... carrying Eldritch Entities?"
"No way—those guys aren’t Eldritch Entities. They must be Survivors and their summons. That’s gotta be it!"
"Wait, don’t they look familiar? Those drones look just like the ones Kamiza Saki recorded."
"Oh, damn! We’ve been played. They used us as monster bait!"
By now, Captain Andrew’s face was dark. He had already figured out what just happened.
Right then, Captain Cosby jumped over to his ship. He walked straight up to Captain Andrew and frowned. "Is what the crew said true?"
Captain Andrew let out a cold snort. "Those bastards. They deliberately used us to lure monsters, then farmed points. We got played."
Captain Cosby heard this and let out a loud "Fuck."
But while they were cursing, none of them noticed that underneath the water around the three ships, a bunch of Fish Fiends were carefully searching through the bodies of the dead Eldritch Entities.
The Dragon Form Mist Phantom was fast. Within just a dozen minutes, Kevin had brought the girls back to the "Daddy" Cannon.
By now, the girls had returned to their original forms. They looked at each other excitedly and burst out laughing.
Celula counted on her fingers. "Kevin, based on tonight’s results, we should still be in the top ten on the leaderboard tomorrow."
Raphael heard Celula’s guess and her eyes flickered.
She turned to Kevin and asked softly, "So this is how you guys used to dominate the leaderboard?"
Kevin nodded. "Pretty much. Though back then, we didn’t rob anyone."
"Damn! Robbing people feels way better." Toti set down the two Vulcan Cannons on the deck and plopped down, laughing. "You should’ve seen the looks on those lazy bastards who tried to rob us. They were scared shitless."
Amelia covered her mouth with a chuckle. "Everyone, get some rest. The new leaderboard should be announced tomorrow morning."
Luna nodded and added, "And the rewards from the storm crisis haven’t been handed out yet. We’ll be able to cash in big time."
That night, news spread like wildfire that Captain Andrew and Captain Cosby had been attacked by a massive swarm of Eldritch Entities.
Various photos were flying all over the World Channel.
The Survivors never expected Kevin and his group to be so sneaky.
Before they could even rob Kevin, he went ahead and turned the tables, robbing them instead.
"This is too much. We can’t let them get away with this. Hunt them down!"
"Exactly. Kill that guy and take his women. I want Miss Stephanie!"
"And his weapons and gear—they’re too good. They should belong to us. We can’t let a bunch of dirty cheats keep such high-quality equipment."
The World Channel was boiling with anger. Some Survivors started forming alliances on purpose.
In just one night, the teams that originally had only three to five members began merging and regrouping.
New teams were usually formed by combining three to four ships. They would pick a new Captain, keep the sturdiest ship, and continue sailing.
As a result, a large number of Survivors began gathering. Ship crews of ten, or even twenty to thirty people, quickly formed.
This went on until dawn. Finally, the long-awaited notification sound rang in every Survivor’s ear.
[Detected a large number of Survivors forming joint fleets. Now activating fleet management function...]
[All Survivors may re-register their fleet within the next twenty-four hours. The Captain will be elected by the Survivors.]
[Team size must not exceed thirty people. Fleet warehouse function activated. Fleet points function activated. Fleet reputation function activated.]
[Leaderboard settlement complete. Top ten: Kevin, Nova, Luna, Amelia, Monchhichi, Celula, Raphael, Toti, Franky, Nami.]
[Congratulations to the Survivors on the leaderboard. The top ten Survivors will receive a "Resurrection Cross," a "Ship Modification Card," and a used "Inflatable Doll."]
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