CHAPTER 265: CHAPTER 264 ASURA DRAMA

Time passed by second by second.

The "chirp chirp" sounds from outside remained incessant.

As the sun gradually slanted and the night slowly descended, the lizard swarm surrounding the lagoon began to stir.

Their blood-red eyes widened, necks raised, issuing a series of sharp cries like bugles signaling a charge.

They swore to give the intruders who dared to invade their egg-laying grounds a bloody lesson!

Indeed, this ring-shaped coral reef formed by volcanic eruptions clearly couldn’t sustain so many lizards; this was actually a fixed egg-laying ground for the lizard tribe.

If not for a specific season, such vast numbers could never appear here.

During this time, the "Shadow Lizards" already in heat made several small-scale probes in the water.

Yet, without exception, they were met with fierce counterattacks directed by Milan aboard the "Siren’s Song."

Lesson learned.

Knowing they wouldn’t return once they entered the water, they no longer launched reckless attacks, but driven by their instinct to guard the tribe, not a single one chose to leave.

Though they had been very uncomfortable with the glaring sun when they first descended hastily into the Material World, as time passed, the environment of this strange world was slowly turning into something similar to their homeland.

Dark, cool, with no blinding light like this...

Once the world was entirely shrouded in shadow, they could maneuver through the shadows as they pleased, swarm over that massive "monster," and slay all the invaders evidently lacking such abilities!

Watching the sun gradually set, so too did the spirits of the crew sink.

"Aiven! Quickly! Quickly!"

Standing on the stern deck, Milan clenched his fists, praying quietly; at this moment, aside from giving Aiven absolute confidence, he had no other options.

Even though everyone had complete faith in their captain, the crew’s situation felt like standing in a floodplain of a soon-to-collapse dam, a precarious situation that left their minds racing uncontrolled.

Tick... tick...

First Mate Borg checked his pocket watch nearly every two seconds, and even though the sea’s weather was unexpectedly good today, sunset wouldn’t be later than half-past six.

And now, there were... 25 minutes until that judgment-like moment!

Unable to resist wiping the sweat from his forehead, the middle-aged first mate felt more nervous today than during the ambush by the Hilus Great Treasure Fleet.

After all, back then, the crew hadn’t had Aiven’s long-range vision. Although aware of the impending calamity, the entire process took only a few minutes, and life or death had been decided the moment the "Inverted Cross Halberd" was triggered.

But now, it was a minute-by-minute torment, growing more intense as sunset approached.

If he didn’t hold onto his confidence in their "all-powerful" captain, he might feel as if his neck were being slowly sawn off by a rusty blunt saw!

"Look at the lake surface!"

Suddenly, the sailor Vid, who had been personally stationed in the lookout, issued a warning to the crew, and Borg could hear his voice slightly trembling beneath his forced calm.

"What’s going on?"

The crew turned towards the lagoon’s surface, finding that as the sun slowly set, the shadow of the "Storm Horn" was stretched longer and longer, casting into the water.

Now, with the sun nearly half buried beneath the sea horizon, the sunset’s afterglow had stretched the "Storm Horn’s" shadow to an extreme length.

On the tranquil and unobstructed water surface, glimmers danced, soon approaching the eastern shore of the lagoon where the lizards were gathered.

Even without physical knowledge, they understood that once this "bridge" of shadow reached the shore, nothing would obstruct them from the "lizard flood" anymore.

At that moment, it would no longer matter whether the sun had set.

Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!...

The lizards with instinctual perception abilities for shadows reacted even faster to this situation.

With frantic shrieks, ripples spread in the black tide, and subsequently, an endless "stream" began madly converging towards the tip of the main mast that extended first.

Layer upon layer they gathered, countless black bodies and red eyes, enough to half kill someone with trypophobia with just a glance!

Once inside the "two-dimensional" world of the shadows, even the slender shadow of the mast was akin to a fourteen-lane highway for them.

"How about... we cut down the main mast?"

Among the crew engulfed in infinite terror, someone suddenly suggested, and many eyed the towering cold pine mast... eager to try.

Cold pine, also called "cedar wood," grows in cold northern forests on the continent where the snow never melts year-round. It grows extremely slowly, resulting in incredibly resilient wood, one of the best materials for making warship masts.

The height of a battleship’s mast is generally four times its hull’s width.

For example, the main mast of the "Storm Horn" was nearly one meter in diameter, reaching fifty meters from the lowest layer of the battleship starting from the keel, so obviously, it wasn’t made from a whole tree trunk.

In fact, the "bottom mast" of the battleship is usually made by doweling and assembling several or even dozens of high-quality pieces of wood, and then tightly secured with mast hoops.

Only the upper mast and top mast, which are relatively thinner, are treated as "single wood masts."

As a Level 4 Battleship, the sails on the "Storm Horn" are almost the highest standard of shipbuilding in this era.

Although the top mast at the upper level can be dismantled, only by cutting off the bottom mast could time be maximized in a delay tactic!

Even though everyone knows this is just... drinking poison to quench thirst!

"Commander?"

With Aiven absent, everyone looked towards First Mate Borg and Milan, the highest-ranking officer besides Aiven, and awaited their command. The soldiers, like wolves and tigers, would chop down all masts on the ship with rapid speed upon their order.

Undoubtedly, this was an extremely difficult decision for everyone.

Even if they cut down the masts, it would only delay the disaster by a few minutes, at the cost of "Storm Horn" losing all power and turning completely into a drifting coffin at sea. Is it really worth it?

Seeing the time was running out to chop down the masts, some crew members who were watching the lizard swarm rolling on the distant shore had their eyes red with urgency.

"Commander?!"

"So... we..."

Milan, who has lived a privileged life as a young master and never made such a major decision in his life, found it difficult to breathe, swallowed his saliva, and was just about to say something.

Suddenly.

The "Prophet" sent him a clear and precise signal through his sharp sixth sense. Milan’s face instantly relaxed, then he almost dropped to the ground, his legs giving out.

Whistle—

A long whistle echoed through the sky.

Dozens of White Seagulls, which were already hovering in the sky waiting, shot down like arrows from above, into the door suddenly opened from Aiven’s laboratory, and flew out through the porthole on the other side.

But each White Seagull had a large bottle of blood-red "Frenzy Potion" tied to its feet!

Without the slightest delay.

The sea birds, as if bombers already replenished with ammunition, took off in formation as a flying fleet!

Whoosh—

Once all the White Seagulls were airborne, Aiven, holding a bottle of blue potion, leapt out from the laboratory and landed lightly on the deck.

"Bring a barrel of fresh water here, quick!"

Watching as shadows loomed from the sky swiftly approached and mostly already landed on the lagoon-side rolling lizard tide, Aiven issued an urgent command.

No one dared to be careless at this moment.

Gary, the Knight with the strongest strength, responded immediately, smashing the door of the lower deck, rushing into the supply depot, carrying a sealed barrel of fresh water back to the deck.

Bam—

As the barrel hit the ground, Gary, using his right hand with iron gloves like a pry bar, easily flipped the lid of the barrel.

Aiven took a glance into the barrel, since it wasn’t for long voyages, even after a few days at sea, the freshwater quality on the ship still remained decent.

Pouring the blue potion into the barrel while maintaining a serious expression, Aiven shouted to the crew: "If you don’t want to die, everyone come and take a sip!"

The crew, already realizing the sea birds were holding something terrifying, immediately gathered all the cups, glasses, bowls, or plates they could find and, in the shortest time, nearly three hundred crew members each took a sip.

At the same time, before the tiniest shadow at the mast tip touched the shore, against the setting western sun, the flock of White Seagulls already arrived over the lizards’ heads.

Under the remote command of the wise Owl Bass, the "bombers" scattered based on the density of the lizards on the ground.

At the instant the aerial deployment was complete, they dropped the deadly "Biological Bombs" from their claws!

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!....

The potion bottles shattered, with blood-red liquid splashing everywhere, then rapidly evaporated under the wind’s force, turning into rolling red smoke that enveloped a large area of lizards.

In reality, these dozens of bottles of "Frenzy Potion" did not completely cover the boundless lizard swarm, but even if there were some escapees, it no longer affected the overall situation.

Roar—

Roar—

Gathered on this island due to the automatic gathering during the egg-laying season, the lizards’ unique physiological state during the mating season, coupled with the outbreak of survival instincts, hunger, lust, sleep, greed (territorial), display, and indulgence... had collectively erupted.

What was once a warm "large-scale matchmaking event" scene had now turned into a "true Asura drama."

The situation was completely out of control!!!