"Why is the sea covered by mist now?" Captain Trotro waved his hand and condensed the mist in his range into water droplets that rained to the sea, clearing the immediate space. "This feels strange."
He turned around and eyed the Vice Captain, "Any signs of the ferry boarded by Runthral?"
"We've dispatched teams all around the place." The Vice Captain stated with respect. He had a thinly toned body sporting a faint glisten, as if he had applied oil all over.
As he spoke, streams of clarity appeared in the region of mist as Cooter Clansmen cleared out the sections they moved through while riding the waves. The Cooter Clansmen formed teams of five and rowed a wave to travel the sea.
While the ship sped forth, the Cooter Clansmen on the sea expanded radially outward, intending to cover as much ground as possible.
Captain Trotro was in charge of the group sent to protect Runthral in place of the Empyrean Snapper. He promptly followed the route the ferry was supposed to take, but when he couldn't find the ferry, he had dispatched his people to expand their search.
A slab of water formed on the deck as Captain Trotro marked the data relayed by the Cooter Clansmen, marking various places around a ship that was constantly moving forward.
He continued to file in the reports, "Hmm?"
He pointed at the area on the sea that one of the dispatched teams was supposed to investigate, "Why hasn't this team returned yet?"
"Captain," The Vice Captain's expression turned serious.
"Yes," The Captain condensed a sphere of compressed steam and released it through the ship's horn, signalling the dispersed teams to return.
Gong!
As the teams of Cooter Clansmen returned, the ship veered towards the spot where the missing team was supposed to investigate. Soon, they found traces of surface currents that were most likely to be left behind by a ship passing through.
'Judging by the weak currents, it should belong to a ferry.' Thinking as such, Captain Trotro moved his ship to follow the currents, constantly clearing a large area of mist before him.
At the Life Stage, every additional body incremented the Spirit Weapon range. At the peak of the Body Stage, the Spirit Weapon range was 180 metres, which increased to 360 metres at the 2-Life Stage, 540 at the 3-Life Stage, and so on.
With a 6-Life Stage cultivation, Trotro had a sprawling Spirit Weapon range of 1080 metres. This meant he was clearing a kilometre in radius of mist around himself every time he employed Mystic Mist Art.
"HALT!" Soon, he noticed the silhouette of the ferry in question, releasing a powerful roar in response. A vapour cone blasted from his position and slammed into the ferry, roaring upon those on board it.
'Hmm?' The roar carried with it enough power to rattle his muscles as Torq peered out the window, observing the mist surrounding the ferry's vicinity had been cleared.
As droplets of rain fell into the sea water, the Trotro's ship came into clear view, 'There are reinforcements.'
Teams of Cooter Clansmen promptly rode waves out of the ship and landed on the ferry's deck. The Vice Captain was one of them, who stomped on the deck and roared, "Come out, Captain Wudwud!"
"Yes, I am here." Captain Wudwud rushed out of the cabin and saluted towards the other party, "To what do I owe…"
Slap!
His cheeks turned red as Captain Wudwud blinked in confusion as well two seconds later, only now realising he had been slapped.
"Why haven't you followed the established route and veered off on your own without communicating with us?" The Vice Captain was named Quoquo, possessing a 5-Life Stage cultivation. He was a senior to Captain Wudwud in terms of both age and power.
He had every right to slap the other party, "Considering the importance of the guest on board, you still dared behave with such irresponsibility?"
"What's your excuse?" Vice Captain Quoquo condensed a whip of water and lashed Captain Wudwud, "Huh? Answer me!"
"The route seemed dangerous, so I took it upon me to…" Captain Wudwud dropped to his knees and hit his forehead on the deck. His apology was cut short by a kick to his stomach.
"That doesn't excuse the lack of communication." Vice Captain Quoquo roared in anger and delivered another kick, "You haven't followed a single protocol."
"What the fuck is Khakha even doing?" He grumbled next, "His carelessness is too much."
"And now that I see you…" Vice Captain Quoquo eyed Captain Wudwud, "Why do you seem so filthy?"
"I don't remember you being like this in the past." The stench wafted into his nose, causing him to scowl in disgust, "Why the fuck are you like this?"
He lashed out with the water whip a couple more times, unaware that the speed of his subsequent lashes were reducing little by little, at levels not noticeable yet.
Captain Wudwud received all the lashes without complaint, poising his face to the floor, making grunting sounds as if he were making an apology while in reality, he had a wide grin plastered on his face.
"Stop the ferry, NOW!" Vice Captain Quoquo shouted upon seeing the ferry continuing to move about at a consistent pace, having never stopped all along.
"Make it stop," Captain Wudwud lifted his face and revealed his uncanny grin, "If you can, that is."
"What?" Vice Captain Quoquo grew incensed in response and without hesitation, struck Captain Wudwud with the intention to kill the other party.
With a 3-Life Stage cultivation, Captain Wudwud had three lives in total. Losing one would teach him a lesson, which was Vice Captain Quoquo's intention.
"We're here," Captain Wudwud smiled with glee as his head got crushed without resistance. Now, sporting a 2-Life Stage cultivation, Captain Wudwud appeared beside his crushed corpse, his expression unceasing as he eyed the other party, "You came at the right time, fool."
Gollrakh Island spanned a length of 50 kilometres and a breadth of 36 kilometres at its largest. It was structured to house multiple freshwater lakes within the island, making it optimal for farming.
It was the island reserved as the breadbasket for the local region. The food being supplied to the Academy of Accumulation came from this island, situated only 100 kilometres away.
Close to 200 Cooter Clansmen managed the island's operations, which were mostly logistical in nature. The grunt farming work was done by the Free Humans who numbered over 60,000.
Gollrakh Island came into view once the layer of mist in the region was dispersed by Captain Trotro. The ferry stopped upon crashing into the island's shore, unable to be stopped on time by the Cooter Clansmen dispatched by Captain Trotro.
Barging into the topmost room of the ferry's cabin to emerge momentarily after was Vice Captain Quoquo, carrying Runthral in his arms, "Are you alright?"
"What happened?" Runthral felt disoriented from the crash for a couple seconds before he had recovered enough to observe the situation at hand. His expression collapsed upon noticing something strange across the island, "Something seems to have happened here."
"Where's Captain Wudwud?" He released his Prana detection means and immediately noticed three, mangled corpses of the person in question, "He's dead?"
"I killed him, since I felt he turned traitor." Vice Captain Quoquo rode a wave and landed on his ship, bringing Runthral with him to report to Captain Trotro, "I'm afraid it's the enemy headquarters had warned us about."
"Nirclicks?" Captain Trotro made a split-second decision, promptly veering the ship away from the island, "The situation here seems strange. But that's not our concern. Let the Raid Teams deal with it."
He patted Runthral and motioned him to hide with the ship's cabin, "We'll move to the headquarters at full speed…"
[Hehe!]
[The prey's here!]
[Right on time!]
Rocks that had been scattered on the shore wriggled and expanded in size, communicating in their respective language as they reverted to their original appearance.
"It's them!" Vice Captain Quoquo gasped in shock as he eyed the number of wriggling rocks. One…ten…when he counted past a hundred, his expression paled.
Boom!
Before he could think of a solution, a series of explosions resounded from the ship's hull. Expanding his Prana detection means, Vice Captain Quoquo shouted in alarm, noticing dozens of corals had slammed into the hull with enough force to break into it, "More Nirclicks are here!"