Chapter 920: Chapter 459: Fishman, Ritual _2

Hai Yin, who was walking in front, couldn’t help but look back at him several times — though it might also be because the "A Yin" on his wrist was pulling too tightly.

After all, driving away snakes and insects was usually the job of the Druid, which was her task.

The emerald light emanating from the tip of the wand made the few walking in the forest seem as if they had merged with the dense woods. As long as they didn’t step directly on a poisonous snake, even walking over its head wouldn’t draw its attention.

Now, with Xia Nan’s added effect, it provided them an extra layer of safety.

Since it was an unfamiliar environment, everyone was acting very professionally, focusing on traveling rather than chatting along the way.

After walking through the forest for about twenty minutes, Xia Nan, at the back of the group, suddenly halted his steps.

"Stop."

He whispered cautiously.

Then, Hai Yin, who was also a Druid and had excellent perception attributes, seemed to sense something too, her brow slightly furrowed as she instinctively raised her wand.

Among the three, Lorin, at the front, reacted the slowest.

However, with the reminder from the two behind her, she quickly prepared for battle.

Focusing all their attention, they sensed the faint scent of blood drifting through the air.

Xia Nan swiftly turned his head, his gaze fixed on the dense forest towards the front left.

"Over there."

The distance wasn’t far, but after walking dozens of steps towards the direction Xia Nan pointed, the source of the blood scent appeared before the trio’s eyes.

It was a small piece of blood-soaked rag, now lying quietly in the bushes, with obvious trample marks on both sides of the grass.

Being experienced adventurers and observing that there was no effort to conceal the scene, they quickly gathered a lot of information with a brief inspection and analysis.

"Hmm... this piece of cloth should have been torn from some clothing, and the texture itself is very ordinary, just the cheapest burlap."

Lorin crouched down, bringing her body closer, her brownish-red eyes scrutinizing the marks on the ground.

"Considering the situation on Wild Rabbit Island, this piece of blood-stained burlap should come from the nearby village’s fishermen."

"There are very obvious drag marks on the surrounding grass, but no signs of struggle or resistance."

The scene that unfolded here, swiftly reconstructed through the clues, told a story.

A villager from the nearby fishing village was chased and finally killed here by a creature far stronger than ordinary humans, and the corpse was dragged away.

Considering they hadn’t spotted any other team’s ships at the port, the culprit likely wasn’t an adventurer from this sea. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"So... it must be some kind of demon?"

Hai Yin summarized nearby.

Xia Nan was also inclined to agree with the Druid’s hypothesis, as he caught a faint disappearing trace of a strangely familiar metallic scent in the air.

The sudden encounter disrupted their original plan beyond doubt.

Leading the team, Lorin, after careful thought, didn’t intend to return directly to the dock with the two.

Without suitable materials, maintenance couldn’t be completed quickly.

For the safety of the entire team, she at least needed to identify the enemy they might face, and understand what happened in the village on the island.

Thus, under Lorin’s command, the three deliberately slowed their pace to reduce noise while enhancing their vigilance of the environment, making covert combat preparations as they headed towards the jungle depths.

Notably, be it out of confidence in eluding other observers or just none-the-wiser, the drag marks from pulling the corpse across the ground were entirely exposed, seemingly serving as a guide, with sporadic blood spots along the trampled grass, extending into the depths.

In less than ten minutes, as the underbrush suddenly opened up ahead, Xia Nan and the others finally grasped the specific situation on this small island.

Fishnets, roughly torn apart, were scattered among the wooden frames; an overturned rattan fish basket lay on the damp muddy ground, a few sand crabs crawling in and out through a hole in its mouth;

Small huts built with wood and thatch stood quietly, most of their doors wide open, some uprooted entirely, lying on the ground; coarse cloth garments still hung from the clothesline in the yard, yet no people were seen.

As for the reason...

The dense scent of blood in the air and the chaotic webbed footprints on the muddy ground spoke volumes.

The fishing village was attacked by Fishmen.

"Sha Hua Fishman?"

Recalling that familiar scent he’d just caught, Xia Nan confirmed.

At the front of the group, Lorin picked up a blue-green scale from the mud, examining it carefully between her fingers before gently nodding:

"It’s them."

Sha Hua Fishmen were already an infamous marine species, equally intelligent as they were hostile to any creatures—including humans—that invaded their self-claimed sea territory, frequently clashing with adventurers sailing the oceans.

As for island-dwelling fishermen, they wouldn’t hesitate to mercilessly loot and slaughter them, lacking any empathy that intelligent beings ought to possess.

Should the residents of Wild Rabbit Island have been discovered by the sea dwellers like the Sha Hua Fishmen, an attack, indeed, seemed plausible.

Yet, oddly enough, within their current field of vision, no human corpses were seen throughout the village, despite its state of devastation.

Would these sea Fishman goblins surprisingly help bury the villagers?

Closer inspection revealed these mongrels didn’t even plunder valuable items from the homes; instead, tools, oil, and salt remained untouched, left where they were.

This wasn’t typical Sha Hua Fishman behavior.

Not even Lorin, as the captain, had seen such a scenario, her brow tightly knitted.

"Gah... loo..."

With a peculiar rhythm, a fishman’s call echoed from the village depths, drifting in the direction near the seashore.

No longer was backing out an option; Lorin urged Hai Yin and Xia Nan forward.

The village had been massacred, and the three didn’t encounter a single survivor along the way, only evidence of battle.

And, of course, no corpses.

Passing empty huts, they arrived at the shore.

It was there that they finally found the village’s missing fishermen... their bodies.

The fishermen’s deaths varied: some were pierced through the heart by tridents, leaving a gaping hole; others were sliced in half, their guts sprawled out.

Unusually, their corpses had all been tossed into a ditch by the beach, the stench overwhelming.

Yet the culprits, the Sha Hua Fishmen, hadn’t fled the scene.

Before the corpse pit, facing the sea, stood an altar crudely constructed from rocks, seaweed, and coral.

A Sha Hua Fishman priest, long and slender, with two sets of arms, was grasping two conch shells, swaying as if chanting in their own tongue some sticky litany.

The other Fishmen fervently kneeled at the altar, appearing as its most devout followers.

The scene before them wasn’t just a mere case of déjà vu—

Xia Nan vividly remembered witnessing a similar sight in a hollow at Cliff Island.

Back then, the fishmen used a Half Orc from the Silver Claw Fish Eagle Squad as a sacrifice; now, it seemed, it was an entire village of fishermen.

And...

His dark eyes narrowing, Xia Nan’s gaze scanned the shoreline and rocks, seeming to search for something.

How could Xia Nan forget that sharks beast monster unrecorded even in the Monster Encyclopedia, the very one that destroyed his "Pulse of Purgatory" during battle, indirectly forcing him to spend thousands of gold coins to have new armor custom-made.