Chapter 76: Instant Kill
Two kinds of Kuo-Toa, besides the purple-skinned or brown-skinned merfolk that Anse had once seen in Baldur’s Gate, there was also a kind with a much larger build, with exceptionally developed dorsal fins and hook claws.
Looking at their eyes and expressions, they seemed very unintelligent.
After the huge wave, the wind and waves grew smaller and smaller, the dark clouds slowly dispersed, and visibility improved.
One man and one horse quietly approached not far from the 【Sea Shark】, with six or seven crew members lying scattered across the deck, apparently having luckily climbed aboard.
Upon discovering Anse’s arrival, they scrambled to their feet, only to find they had no weapons in their hands.
Several of them instinctively looked toward the man standing in the corner.
Anse’s eyes shifted, and he said indifferently, “Are you the captain?”
“Oh, so followers of Tyr are afraid of death too. You didn’t go to Silver Scale Bay to save people, but came to kill a few doomed men?” Hels had a face full of mockery.
“What was that just now?”
“Didn’t you see? A merfolk tide.”
“Does it have anything to do with you?”
“If I had that ability, would you still be alive now?”
Anse stroked his chin. It seemed the other party had just wanted to summon a few shark-folk to escape, but unfortunately ran into the merfolk tide. The two kinds of merfolk were like mortal enemies, and the Kuo-Toa had conveniently wiped them out along the way.
It was also possible that the two sides had already been fighting underwater for half a day, and the shark-folk heard the horn and thought reinforcements had arrived, only for the result to be…
“Where did these Kuo-Toa come from?” he pressed.
“Do you think I know more than you?” Hels slowly drew his longsword, assuming a desperate fighting stance.
“Is the water breathing potion tasty?” Anse raised an eyebrow.
He had seen the state and mana fluctuations of Ragna and the others after drinking the water breathing potion; the other party’s little scheme couldn’t fool him.
Hels’s expression changed, no longer pretending. He dropped his longsword, turned, and ran to the other side of the ship, attempting to jump into the sea to escape.
“
「Metamagic」+「Psionic Energy: Quick Cast, Escalate」+「Hold Person」!
As soon as Hels took a step, a burst of Dragon Speech exploded in his ear. His heart tightened; he wanted to dodge but found his body no longer under his control. A paralyzing sensation instantly swept through his body, and he could only collapse powerlessly onto the deck.
Anse concentrated, the orb in his hand rippling with circles of mana.
“
「Psionic Energy: Empowered Spell」+「Fire Ray」!
Three fire rays flashed through the air and almost simultaneously struck Hels’s cheek. With a bang, his head was knocked askew, black smoke billowed, then was scattered by the sea wind.
【…Sea Shark captain hit, takes 64 fire damage, critical hit, target death, gain 575 combat experience】
Too fast—from Hels preparing to flee to his head being charred, it was merely a matter of seconds.
In the time it took for the others to be stunned, the once-feared captain was already out of breath.
The remaining people felt a chill through their bodies and almost simultaneously ran to the ship’s rail, leaping into the sea—only that path offered even a sliver of hope for survival.
Anse ignored the others and locked his gaze on the mustache man. He recognized him: that sleazy first mate.
He lightly touched his spell storing ring, and three fire rays precisely hit the mustache man in mid-air, making his body shudder and cry out in pain without a sound.
Just as he was about to hit the water, three magic missiles tracked after him again.
“Bang bang bang!”
【…Target death, gain 247 combat experience】
‘Not bad.’ Anse relaxed a bit. Though the process had some twists, at least the two big fish hadn’t gotten away.
It wasn’t surprising they hesitated to act decisively—with merfolk everywhere underwater, who would want to jump into the sea unless absolutely necessary?
Combined Psionic Energy was truly too powerful. He one-shotted an elite professional in one burst, though the drawback was the high cost. After two spells, his Psionic Energy was more than half depleted.
This was still a relatively simple Psionic Energy combination. To burst, he had to sacrifice sustainability—”wanting both” just wouldn’t work.
A wave surged in, and the mustache man’s body was gone. He had weapon equipment on him, which would surely sink after hitting the water.
He didn’t go retrieve it, his mind fully focused on Silver Scale Bay.
‘I hope Emon, Gweneth, Tich, Ragna, and the others are clever enough to just flee directly.’ He raised his hand to smooth his sea-wind-tousled hair, but it was futile, leaving his mood even more unsettled.
The merfolk tide attacking Silver Scale Bay was most terrifying in the first massive wave assault. The numerous sailing ships and coastal buildings would likely be more than half destroyed.
However, the anchorage and port had merchant ships and warships with strong strength, so the merfolk’s first assault shouldn’t go too smoothly. The residents on the outskirts of the town still had a chance to escape.
‘I should be neutral good—always worrying about useless things.’
Anse silently complained to himself, then turned his head to look. The 【Quesser】 had already come alongside.
He jumped onto the slave ship, bundled the captain’s longsword and personal belongings, hung them on the saddle, and hurriedly returned to the 【Quesser】.
The atmosphere on the ship was unusually oppressive. No one spoke; they just stared blankly at the barely visible lights of Silver Scale Bay in the distance, without even the will to search for drowned slaves or clean the battlefield.
“We can’t go any farther.” Anse arrived at the sterncastle and placed a hand on the helm.
Salian spun the helm hard, turning the bow. He knew it full well, but no one wanted to admit this cruel reality.
“Anse!” Kalenno suddenly dropped to his knees before him, eyes bloodshot. “I beg you, lend me Nolnos. I have to go save my sister—I can’t live without her.”
“Calm down.” Anse pulled at him but couldn’t budge him, so he squatted down and stared into his eyes. “Moon Shadow Kui Ling is some distance from the coast. Gweneth is smart; she knows what to do. Believe her, okay? Going there now would just cause chaos.”
The number of merfolk was probably more than the residents. Going by sea would be suicide.
Salian scanned everyone’s faces and comforted them: “Merfolk are slow on land after coming ashore; they’re not adapted to the terrain. It’s not that bad, not that bad…”
The 【Quesser】 paused briefly. The crew boarded the slave ship to search, rescuing six slaves from the cabin. After a quick loot, they set sail south again.
Paros was north of Baldur’s Gate, but the northern sea area was too terrifying now—they definitely couldn’t go. Better to sail south along the coast for a bit, find a place to anchor, wait out the disaster, then head north.
The crew gathered in the dining room on the first floor, the atmosphere very suppressed.
After comforting Brat a few words, Anse took Finn to the top of the sterncastle to monitor Silver Scale Bay and the nearby sea area together.
Both of them were lone wanderers with no ties, and having witnessed the post-disaster devastation in Baldur’s Gate, they had strong mental resilience and weren’t greatly affected.
In fact, Anse had long anticipated this. Disruptions in the Magic Net would inevitably cause massive catastrophic consequences. Baldur’s Gate might not be the first, nor the last.
“Have Greyhawk fly a bit higher—don’t let any monster spot it.” He instructed Finn, “Report any situation to me immediately.”
“Mm.”
Anse leaned against the flagpole and sat down, closing his eyes and pulling up the character card.
Experience at 5867/6500—he’d gained over a thousand experience tonight, not far from leveling up.
With disasters happening everywhere and chaos reigning, elite professionals level 5 and above were all caught up in it, leaving him with zero sense of security.
‘Can’t slack off.’
He checked Nolnos’s attributes again. With frequent combats lately, it hadn’t directly killed enemies, but had scraped together sixty or seventy experience points. Total experience just over two hundred—still far from leveling up.
Cooperating in combat as a mount did grant combat experience, but very little. Fortunately, Nolnos’s current abilities were sufficient, and the need to level up wasn’t so urgent.
At that moment, Finn suddenly tugged at his sleeve, his expression solemn: “Baldur’s Gate, Rivertown District also has large numbers of merfolk…”
Greyhawk expanded its scouting range and found battles raging around Baldur’s Gate: Silver Scale Bay, Baldur’s Gate, Rivertown District, larger human coastal settlements…
Underground creatures were everywhere, covering the hills and plains, with more varieties, and traces of drow elves and deep gnomes had appeared.
Baldur’s Gate’s Sea Tower District and Blonridge District near the Chongsa River had fallen. The three grand dukes could only rely on the city wall to barely hold the Upper City, and how long they could last was uncertain.
‘Something big must have happened in the Outer World that we don’t know about!’ Anse was very certain.
