Chapter 657: Reconnaissance Personnel
Near Osaka, a large number of fish monsters have died due to volcanic eruptions and climate change, leading to eutrophication in the coastal waters. The sea water is tinged with red tide.
Nearly ten days have passed since leaving the village. The young girl sat on a speed boat, while Shadow Jingwei stood quietly beside her, holding a parasol for her. Wearing black sunglasses, she looked very much like a bodyguard.
Wearing a loose white shirt, the young girl also wore sunglasses and leisurely steered the speed boat. The boat, like a divider, sliced through the red floating debris in the river.
As far as the eye could see, the entire sea was uniformly crimson, and beneath the crimson were those scavenging monsters. Local fishermen dared not go out easily. The local government could only apply for assistance from institutions such as the Adventurer’s Guild and the Yin-Yang Bureau. Su Jiu took this opportunity to brush for magic crystals and refine monsters to increase her strength.
“After a day’s hard work, this is all I have. But judging by yesterday’s harvest, I should be able to reach Intermediate Battle King tonight.”
Su Jiu shook the gourd, which contained only a few drops of liquor. She sniffed it with her nose and then rolled her eyes. Different monsters, different tastes. This liquor smelled like fish sauce that had been dried for seventy to eighty days.
With Intermediate Battle King, she might be able to exchange a few blows with an Intermediate Battle God, and not just bully Intermediate Battle Gods like Lin, who had a disabled hand.
“Come, Shadow Two, eat one…”
Su Jiu tossed a slightly mottled red Beginner Magic Crystal towards the shadow under the umbrella. From under the shadow, a hand immediately reached out and took the magic crystal into the darkness. Chewing sounds came from the shadow.
Then, the lake water rippled slightly, and several phantom images of fish with saw-like teeth jumped out, emitting low growls, somewhat like small sea dogs.
“You juniors can talk about it tonight. Now, patrol for prey properly.”
Su Jiu pressed her hand down, continued to steer the boat with one hand, played some random music with Bluetooth, and her hair flew straight in the sea breeze.
During her free time, she named her eight Jingwei Shadow One to Shadow Eight. These days, she had been frantically hunting the monsters in the red tide and had also obtained the phantom images of six rift-toothed whales, all of them at High-Ranking War General Level.
To form these monsters into an organized troop, Su Jiu named this monster troop the [Shadow Society], with their slogan being: Nine-nine-six every day, feed yourself, feed the boss!
Who is the boss?
Of course, it’s the cute and charming [Boss Su]!
General Feng served as the [Captain], and the newly promoted Demigod Level Shadow One served as the [Team Leader], managing all the remaining phantom team members.
Current employee count: 14 in total, with only two Demigod Levels.
To advance the phantom images in the gourd to Demigod Level requires the energy of 108 Beginner Magic Crystals and 12 Intermediate Magic Crystals. Shadow One was the first to reach Demigod Level. To advance from Demigod Level to War God Level requires top-grade magic crystals as a catalyst, with the subsequent stages unknown.
Moreover, after these days of exploration, she discovered two problems with the Shōtoku Gourd: one joy and one sorrow.
The sorrow is that “instant refinement” is probabilistic. If lucky, she can enslave their soul phantom images. This probability increases with the strength of the soul. Ordinary Battle Kings have only about a tenth of a chance to convert them into War General Level phantom images.
The joy is that these phantom creatures do not die. After being killed, they fall into a period of weakness and can recover their state through magic crystals.
“Wuwu…”
Suddenly, a rift-toothed whale phantom image leaped out of the water, letting out a long cry, as if reminding Su Jiu that there was an anomaly ahead and she needed to slow down and pay attention.
Hearing this, Su Jiu also slowly slowed down, tapped, and asked the shadow under the umbrella, “Shadow One, what is this silly fish saying?”
“Replying to Old Lingmeng ① Wosan@n (2) Lingqi Master Shrimp!; Boss, it detected some movement in the ten o’clock direction ahead. According to the response, it seems some other humans are under attack.”
Shadow One slightly bowed and spoke with a slightly ancient sakura accent. Its voice was young, and it sounded like a woman.
After advancing to the half-step War God Level, the Shadow Jingwei could also speak normally, but their behavior logic was still like robots, based on Su Jiu’s commands.
“Let’s go take a look. We haven’t hunted any Battle King Level monsters today.”
Hearing this, Su Jiu smiled and accelerated the speedboat again. The waves almost sliced a straight line through the red floating substances. In a short while, she arrived at the ten o’clock direction.
She found a huge cruise ship before her. Su Jiu observed the cruise ship and found that most of the passengers were students wearing blue and white academic gowns. They had small name tags on their chests, and their young faces showed signs of panic as they looked downwards.
Following their gaze, she saw more than a dozen strange fish, not of the same species as her subordinates. They occasionally leaped out of the water, emitting low growls, and then the light in their mouths flickered, turning into beams of light and shooting towards the hull of the ship.
These strange fish were mostly High-Ranking War General Level, causing some damage to the passenger ship, which did not have very high alchemical defenses. Some parts of the hull even showed cracks, and the entire giant ship began to take on water.
In the center of the fish school, she seemed to see a nearly two-meter-tall, earth-brown dorsal fin. The owner of this dorsal fin was quietly watching the situation ahead, but did not choose to act.
Su Jiu could sense that it was a High-Rank Battle King Ocean Commander. Its strength in the sea might even be comparable to Demigod Level.
Given that the highest strength on the ship was only Intermediate Battle King Level, if no one intervened to stop these big fish in time, it could lead to the entire large ship sinking in the nearby sea.
As if sensing the figure of Su Jiu in the yacht, a middle-aged man wearing a sailor uniform and a navy cap at the head of the large ship suddenly shouted out, asking in common English:
“Are you a local Onmyoji? We are the ‘Big Stick’ people who called for help, and we came here specifically to participate in the joint exploration… We mentioned it on the phone!”
He was the only Intermediate Battle King on the ship.
“We’re saved, smida!”
As soon as his voice fell, the people on the ship stopped their panic and all looked towards Su Jiu. Their eyes were initially startled, why did she look like a young lady on vacation?
She even had servants holding umbrellas behind her…
Hearing this, Su Jiu shook her head. She hadn’t even accepted a quest from the Adventurer’s Guild, as her gourd would swallow the entire monster.
Seeing Su Jiu shake her head, those people’s surprised expressions froze. They then looked at Su Jiu, who appeared to be on vacation and not very old.
The person dressed as the captain immediately reacted. He was only at Intermediate Battle King Level and could not see through Su Jiu’s strength. He quickly waved at Su Jiu:
“Since you are not here to support us, Miss, please leave quickly and help us call for support!”
However, before Su Jiu could answer, someone pointed downwards and shouted, “They’re coming! Those fish are coming towards her!”
The sea below churned, and all the strange fish dove underwater, only the gurgling sound could be heard. As if influenced by Su Jiu’s shadow fish, they suddenly rushed towards her.
Slightly stunned, Su Jiu did not choose to act. Instead, she casually adjusted her sunglasses, waved to Shadow One, who was holding the umbrella behind her, pointed ahead, and said softly:
“Deal with them.”
It was time to test these Shadow Jingwei and see their strength.
