Chapter 294: Snatched a Great Treasure
The whaling ship was like a fat sheep trapped among a pack of wolves, being torn apart by them. Four or five longboats surrounded the whaling ship trying to escape. The strong Norsemen threw their barbed ropes, ensnaring it right in front of the sailors. In no time, numerous hooking ropes flew towards the whaling ship.
The sailors immediately wielded their sharp blades to cut the ropes, but the ropes were resilient and they couldn’t finish cutting through them with a few strikes.
Below, the Norsemen hurled spears; when the spears missed their targets, they struck the ship’s hull, embedding themselves completely into it. The sailors, shocked, quickly withdrew their crossbows.
“Don’t throw your spears carelessly!” a Norseman stopped a companion about to throw a spear. “Capture them as slaves to present to the chieftain!”
Everyone viewed this as a good omen, seeing the entire crew as lambs to be caught.
“Roar!”
The Norsemen responded with fierce cries. They yanked the hooking ropes hard and, with a leap, climbed onto the whaling ship.
The sailors, lying in wait, stabbed fiercely with swords and knives.
But the Norsemen were not ordinary humans; they relied on their armor and tough skins to withstand the blades, rolling onto the ship, raising their axes, and striking with force. They easily dented the sailors’ helmets and knocked them down one after another. The sailors fell to the deck, blood streaming from their heads.
In a fit of sadness and rage, the captain brandished his longsword, rushing to the door of the captain’s cabin, which had already been occupied by Jima, voluntarily.
Upon seeing the woman in a pure white dress, slender and as beautiful as a fairy, he felt his heart conquered by beauty. He could not bear to see such a pure and innocent Lady Jima corrupted by these barbaric Northerners.
He wanted to assist Lady Jima in taking her own life.
He knocked on the door forcefully, shouting, “Lady Jima, please open the door! Come out, it’s me, the captain.”
All that came from behind the door was a frightened meowing of a cat.
Lady Jima must be cowering behind the door in fear, not daring to come out, right? But that was self-deception; this door could not stop those barbarians. He should coax her out instead.
Thinking this, the captain felt more and more sorrowful, tears streaming down his face.
He had fallen to such a state, having collected a pile of gold coins, yet he couldn’t protect the passengers, and now he had to trick her out to force her into suicide. Not only would this ship be defiled by the Northerners, but he also had to witness Lady Jima being defiled.
He knocked heavily on the door, calling in a hoarse voice:
“Come out, Lady Jima! I will take you to safety immediately! If you don’t come out now, it will be too late.”
Footsteps sounded from behind the door.
The captain took a deep breath, suppressing the guilt that was about to arise, glancing at the dire situation below. He tightened his grip on the longsword, intending to persuade Lady Jima to take her own life. If she refused, he would have to go against her wishes…
“There’s still one up here!”
“Kill him!”
Two heavily armored Norsemen rushed up the creaking stairs.
The captain hunched over, determined to find someone to back him up even in death.
“Bang!”
The door was kicked open violently. There appeared Jima, wearing a pure white lace dress, adorned with a flower headpiece, her figure slender and as beautiful as the first time he met her.
The two Norsemen below were momentarily stunned.
But Jima wielded a “branch axe spear,” the runes glowing with a blood-red light, entirely out of sync with her overall pure aura.
She stepped out boldly, scolding, “Why does something happen at this moment? Are the weak in such a hurry to seek death?”
The captain felt that the image of the pure, innocent fairy in his heart began to crack.
Jima’s golden eyes looked at the captain.
Instinctively, the captain blurted out the organized words: “Lady Jima, I’m sorry, the Northerners are attacking! You deserve a… dignified death.”
With an unhappy expression, Jima almost rolled her eyes.
The Norseman shouted, “This chick is great! Whoever grabs her first gets her.”
With that, he stepped forward and reached out his large hand to grab Jima’s black hair.
“Seeking death!” Jima shouted, “Bald Strong!”
Instantly, behind her, a two-meter-tall figure clad in black armor, with a bald head and shattered lips, called “Bald Strong” appeared. He moved with lightning speed, his two steel fists piercing through the chests of the two Norsemen, exiting from their backs.
The Norseman who tried to grab Jima’s hair suddenly found himself unable to move, his hand suspended in mid-air. In disbelief, he glanced down to see fists protruding through his chest and armor.
Bald Strong shook his arms, throwing the two Norsemen’s corpses aside, then jumped down, grabbing an axe. With dual axes in hand, he charged at all the Norsemen standing on the deck. They died quickly; in the blink of an eye, the deck was filled with Norsemen, and a few sailors back-to-back stared in disbelief at all of this.
How did the enemies suddenly all lie down?
Jima turned her head to the shocked captain and asked, “Where are my oysters?”
“They’re… on the small boat.”
“The small boat?”
“It’s… by the side of the ship.”
At that moment, a Norseman suddenly leaped down from above, swinging a large knife at Jima.
Without even glancing, Jima sidestepped, using her spear to thrust upward, the spear tip piercing through his armor and into his chest. Then the “branch axe spear” extended its tongue and licked.
The Norseman let out a shriek, blood splattering. Jima swiftly shoved him aside, the blood gushing from his chest flowing into the “branch axe spear.”
Jima turned around; a dozen drops of blood stained the hem of her dress.
The pure, spotless fairy image of her in the captain’s heart shattered into finer pieces than dust.
The captain was too scared to speak.
“I found it myself.”
As Jima spoke, she leaped down.
At that moment, the captain remembered to breathe. He realized his right hand was empty; looking down, he saw that the sword he had intended to use to help the lady gracefully commit suicide had already fallen to the ground without him noticing.
The deck was smeared with blood, dirtying Jima’s shoes. She placed the “branch axe spear” on the deck, and all the blood converged into the spear, draining it clean in an instant.
The nearby sailors stumbled back in fear, and Jima turned her head, saying, “Quickly thank me for helping you clean the deck.”
The sailor was stunned, and when Jima urged again, he finally said, “Thank you for helping me… clean the deck.”
“You’re welcome, it’s what my branch axe spear is supposed to do.”
At that moment, a battle cry came from below the ship. A group of Norsemen climbed the ropes onto the deck; before they arrived, they feared the lambs would deflate too quickly, with nothing left to plunder.
But as they boarded the deck, they were greeted by the sight of their fallen comrades.
A black-haired woman in a white skirt stood holding a red “branch axe spear,” next to her stood a two-meter-tall steel giant. The towering figure raised a hand and pointed at them, saying:
“You’re afraid.”
Before the words finished, the Norsemen who had just boarded the deck and witnessed this scene had their necks severed as if by an invisible knife. Their heads fell to the ground like autumn apples. Those climbing the ropes behind had yet to understand what had happened, only to see heads flying, feeling a depth of fear.
Thus, the six or seven longboats surrounding the whaling ship were completely destroyed.
Jima walked to the side of the ship, looked out, and scanned for her well-deserved oysters.
Her gaze landed on a longboat speeding away. The boat had no sail but was running faster than the wind, its captain sporting a topknot. On the longboat, there was a basin overflowing with gray oysters, and two bound sailors lay beside it.
Those were her oysters! She had taken days off just to eat live oysters and enjoy the delicacy.
“Seeking death!”
Jima clapped her hands.
Bald Strong’s body shook, as heads of those he had killed flew up behind him, forming rows. Face devoid of fear, he obeyed Jima’s will, bellowing at the topknot captain, “Return my things!”
All the heads shouted together, their voices melding into one, sounding like thunder striking down from the clear sky.
The topknot captain felt a faint fear arise within him, but greed quickly took over.
Indeed, whatever that looked like oysters must be something precious, otherwise, he wouldn’t be acting so angrily.
Struck it rich!
The topknot captain’s ship charged into the Norse fleet, home to over eighty longboats, with the chieftain being the strongest warrior the captain had ever seen.
Whether out of self-preservation or greed, he made what he thought was the best decision.
“Row faster! Head over to the chieftain; I want to offer this treasure to him.”
The topknot captain didn’t believe that the black-armored warrior on this ship could kill the chieftain. He must be a coward who would retreat.
The longboat with the topknot captain increased its speed.
Jima’s face twitched; she felt deeply embarrassed.
Seeing so many tightly packed longboats felt extremely troublesome. For just a basin of oysters, why was there such a big fuss? The more this happened, the angrier Jima became.
They were actually going through all this trouble just to prevent her from eating oysters at any cost.
Could she not kill them?
The branch axe spear heightened her desire for slaughter, and Jima momentarily forgot she could fly, concentrating her thoughts.
Bald Strong plunged straight into the sea, rapidly rotating his limbs to keep himself afloat. He was indeed a swimming champion, having once surfed across the vast ocean of Osuan holding onto a piece of wood.
Jima also leaped down, landing steadily on Bald Strong’s shoulder.
Bald Strong began to move, his arms swinging fast as he swam forward, quick as a swordfish, leaving a white wake behind him, directly charging toward the Norsemen’s fleet.
Unaware of their impending doom, the Norse longboats rushed toward Jima. Bald Strong slapped the water, leaping into the air, crashing down onto the longboat. All the “fearful heads” roared out, hapless fighters instantly losing their heads, while those still standing were promptly beheaded moments later.
At that moment.
The topknot captain, seeing the longboat surrounded by the terrifying black-armored warrior, felt a sigh of relief.
As the ship approached the chieftain’s longboat, the topknot captain jumped onto the chieftain’s ship, kneeling halfway and holding out a basin of oysters, saying, “Great chieftain, I’ve snatched something great for you.”
“Is this an oyster?” The chieftain fumed, “Are you mocking me?”
“This can’t possibly be an ordinary oyster,” the topknot captain insisted. “I saw them digging treasure from the island. If it could cause such a strong warrior to get angry and break into my army, it must be extremely precious.”
“That makes sense.”
At that moment, the previously noisy frontline suddenly fell silent.
They watched as over a hundred heads tumbled into the sea, dropping like dumplings.
A tall black-armored warrior jumped out from the pile of boats, using the longboats as a springboard, leaping toward the chieftain. Each leap severed a longboat in half. A woman in a white dress stood on the black-armored warrior’s shoulder, shouting, “Northerners! Return my oysters!” Hundreds of floating heads followed behind her.
“Chieftain, she has come to challenge you,” the topknot captain saw this and immediately returned to his own boat, rowing away.
The chieftain held the basin of oysters, finding it rather ridiculous. In a fit of anger, he flung the oysters down, shouting, “Today, I will use your skull as a bowl.”
Seeing the oysters splattered by the chieftain, Jima was furious, roaring, “I’ll kill you!”
With a growl, she and Bald Strong charged into the midst of the chieftain and his champion warriors, commencing a bloody battle.
They fought fiercely; it was evenly matched. The chieftain held out for a full three minutes before Bald Strong used the branch axe spear to strike, sending his head flying into the sky. Every Norseman who witnessed this scene was greatly shocked, their hearts filled with fear, and with overlapping howls, their heads fell off on their own.
In just ten minutes, the surviving members of the entire fleet were scattering everywhere, panicking and running in confusion.
In the end, Jima only picked up three pieces of oysters, the rest having fallen into the water, inciting her to stomp her foot angrily. Once again on Bald Strong’s shoulder, she commanded him to swim after the detestable topknot captain.
As the topknot captain glanced back, terrified, feeling his legs weaken, he threw the two bound sailors into the icy sea.
Jima frowned slightly; she simply wanted the mastermind behind it all to die sooner. Thus, she finally remembered she still had a pair of wings. Crouching down and jumping with all her might, she spread her wings and soared into the sky.
Bald Strong dove straight into the sea, grabbing a drowning sailor with one hand, pushing off from the surface with his feet and shaking his arms to leap into the air, throwing both sailors skyward. Then, like a cannonball, he pursued his fearful prey, swiftly plunging into the longboat of the topknot captain.
Thirty berserkers, fearless, rushed up, wielding axes and sharp blades.
A massacre ensued.
Two sailors screamed as they fell from the sky onto the topknot captain’s ship.
Bald Strong leapt up, arms wide, catching one sailor and landing steadily. Meanwhile, all the berserkers on the deck wore expressions of fear, collapsing onto the deck lifeless.
As soon as the sailors touched the deck, they couldn’t help but vomit.
The topknot captain was on the brink of death, the axe spear piercing through his chest, pinning him to the mast.
Jima exhaled a long breath, feeling some of her gloom dissipate. As she reached to pull out the axe spear…
The topknot captain asked, “What… what on earth is this treasure?”
“Oysters.”
“Don’t… lie to me, how can that be?”
“I chartered a ship to come here to dig for oysters.”
Jima couldn’t pull out the axe spear, so she abandoned that idea and took out a small knife to crack open a “scallop-shaped” oyster, revealing the tender, plump oyster meat inside, still stained with blood at the edges. She leaned forward, sucking it into her mouth, biting a few times before swallowing.
Jima purposely spoke to herself, “Delicious, the fishy taste isn’t strong, it has a sweet aftertaste.”
It really was delicious; not every oyster was suitable for raw consumption. Of course, she didn’t know if it was due to the “exercise” either.
The topknot captain gazed at a pile of unclaimed longboats floating on the sea, covered in headless corpses, with a few heads bobbing on the surface. Not far away, terrified longboats fled in all directions.
All of this was merely because of a basin of oysters.
He was so furious that he couldn’t catch his breath; his head drooped in death.
Jima tossed the oyster shells into the water, gazing at the remaining Norse longboats. The branch axe spear sent a surge of murderous intent.
“It seems killing enemies and eating oysters go hand in hand,” Jima said, “Bald Strong, let’s go.”
That day, as Jima consumed her third oyster,
an entire Norse fleet nearly met its end at sea, with over two thousand heads now floating on the surface. The few remaining survivors were warned by Jima to never again attempt to steal oysters.
——
Four thousand words.
