Goblin Dependency

Lorin gazed at the half-orc corpse on the deck in front of her, retrieved by the sailors from the sea, and assessed.

Recalling the information revealed earlier by the Black Tide Hunters about their mission, it seemed they were tracking a sea beast and were unafraid of the storm, heading straight into the core area.

"It seems their mission isn’t going smoothly."

Lorin’s voice remained calm, neither gloating nor feeling sorrowful, as she had grown accustomed to the deaths of her fellow adventurers.

There wasn’t much of a relationship to begin with, so it wasn’t worth investing emotions.

Her main concern was what kind of danger the Black Tide Hunter had encountered and whether it might affect their Vengeance Blade Ship Group.

In contrast, Xia Nan, although equally indifferent to the fate of the Black Tide Hunter Ship Group, had a keen perception that allowed him to notice more details on the corpse.

Notably, the half-orc’s body, apart from the massive severance at the abdomen, had no other wounds.

This indicated that the opponent faced by the half-orc was not a group of weak enemies, but a singularly powerful entity.

The half-orc hadn’t even managed to put up a fight and was torn in half.

The rigid and pained expression of terror on its face somewhat testified to this.

But with just one body and without any specialized spellcasters like necromancers on board the Vengeance Blade, the information obtained was limited.

After tossing the half-orc’s body back into the sea, Lorin instructed the crew not to lower their guard and continued on the planned course.

At this point, worrying would not change anything.

All they could do was proceed step by step and hope trouble wouldn’t come their way.

However, in a world filled with extraordinary powers, things often didn’t go as planned.

Even after deliberately avoiding the direction Black Tide Hunter had sailed, more debris appeared on the sea with the continued journey of their ship group.

Broken planks, severed limbs, and floating empty barrels...

Bizarrely, although it seemed like a complete wipeout, apart from the initial half-orc body, Xia Nan and the others found no other corpses.

Before they could deduce the reason, an inconspicuous small point suddenly appeared in the distant sea.

Exactly, it was the Black Tide Hunter they had parted ways with not long ago.

Xia Nan remembered the modified adventurer ship’s former appearance, but now it seemed to have suffered the same fate as the half-orc.

The entire bow of the ship, including the mast and the prow statue, was entirely gone.

Only about a third of the hull remained, floating on the calm sea like a miniature wooden island, buoyed by its own material.

Since they had encountered it, it was prudent, at least, to understand what enemy they had faced, allowing them to prepare and avoid being caught off guard.

After careful inspection and confirming there was no danger nearby,

the Vengeance Blade stopped at the nearby sea area. Captain Lorin, with Xia Nan and Sasha from the Spotted Cat race, rowed a small boat closer.

From the break on the edge of the deck, they judged that the damage to the Black Tide Hunter was similar to the half-orc’s, torn apart by some immense force.

However, compared to the latter, the Black Tide Hunter was evidently harder to tear apart. The break wasn’t clean, and multiple exertions of force could be seen, indicating it wasn’t done in one go.

This made Lorin breathe a sigh of relief.

Otherwise, if they had encountered such a behemoth that could tear an entire ship in one go, with the Vengeance Blade being not much larger than the Black Tide Hunter, they might have suffered a similar fate.

Still, no bodies were found.

Though the battle marks could be seen on the deck, with coagulated dark blood and pieces of flesh, not a single body was left behind on the ship.

This was unusual.

Using Tidal Shaping and Gravity Control, Xia Nan leaped from the boat, landing steadily on the tilted, broken deck of the Black Tide Hunter.

As if discovering something, Xia Nan bent down and pulled a broken scale from a crack in the ship’s plank, lightly running his finger over the bluish blood scab on its edge, his expression thoughtful.

Turning around, just as he was about to say something to Lorin and Sasha, who had boarded the ship as well,

he suddenly paused, instinctively looking towards the entrance leading to the cabin.

"What’s wrong?"

Noticing Xia Nan’s unusual behavior, Lorin asked.

The sharp perception worked silently.

"There seems to be..."

Xia Nan didn’t give a direct answer, as he only vaguely sensed something under the influence of his perception.

Concerned it might be a trap, he didn’t approach rashly but instead, grabbed the nearby railing and snapped off a small piece of wood.

Then he tossed it towards the cabin entrance.

"Whoosh... plop."

The wood described a graceful arc in the air, seemingly about to fall on the deck. Suddenly, it appeared to hit something invisible, making a collision sound.

Swaying, it fell back to the ground.

Buzz—

The magic particles in the air suddenly disturbed, moist air quickly condensed.

Visibly, the previously empty deck at the cabin entrance twisted, creating ripples like an illusion, forming a blurred humanoid outline.

He already had a guess in his mind.

From a certain distance, Xia Nan manipulated gravity, lightly stirring the humanoid outline.

"Crash."

Already close to collapsing, the condensed obscure magic radiance dispersed into countless vapors, vanishing into the air.

The once vague and transparent figure finally revealed its true form.

A platinum ponytail stained with blood, a tightly gripped stringless metal longbow, a tall, slender figure...

It was the human ranger from the Black Tide Hunter Ship Group, someone Xia Nan had remembered!

Unlike the previously discovered, deceased half-orc,

this ranger’s body was largely intact, and the gentle rise and fall of her chest indicated she was still alive.

But at the same time, the huge depression in her chest and the blood constantly oozing from her mouth and nose with each breath indicated she was gravely injured.

Having entered a concealed state by some means, if Xia Nan had found her a few minutes later, she would likely have perished.

There was still no movement.

To Xia Nan, this was just a stranger he had only met once, someone with whom he had never actually communicated.

Whether she lived or died didn’t particularly concern him.

Moreover, in this scenario, the decision wasn’t his to make.

Xia Nan turned his head to look at Lorin, the captain beside him.

With her flame-like long curls swaying in the sea breeze and one hand gripping the Scale Fire Saber, Lorin’s face showed a contemplative expression.

Weighing the pros and cons, the decision wasn’t difficult.

Not to save her—she wasn’t a part of their team, so there was no reason to heal her. Even if this ranger died in front of them, it wouldn’t cause any loss to the Vengeance Blade.

Of course, there wouldn’t be any benefit either.

To save her—considering the worst-case scenario, if the person freed from a near-death state retaliated against them, Lorin didn’t believe that the ranger, even after disarming, could handle the Vengeance Blade Squad in melee combat.

And should this ranger cooperate after regaining consciousness, they could learn from her about what the Black Tide Hunter encountered, which would give them some understanding of potential dangers in this part of the sea, allowing them to prepare in advance.

The thoughts flashed through her mind.

Lorin’s free left hand gently flicked over her waist pouch, and in the next moment, a bottle of healing potion, shimmering with flickering light, appeared between her fingers.

She was just about to administer it to the ranger.

Suddenly, the ranger lying on the deck shuddered violently, coughed out blood, and muttered unconsciously:

"Fish... Fishman..."