CHAPTER 105: CHAPTER 105

How to Rip a Submarine Apart

"You said it was a hundred million per kilo, right?"

Seowoon lifted a broad, plank-like shell left behind from the monster’s corpse. A faint smirk crept onto his face.

It felt heavy. Easily over 30 kilograms.

Alongside it was a leather pouch containing some dried meat and small, stone-like beads.

Ding! Giant Turtle’s Bile Stone. Consuming it removes minor status ailments.

That marked the end of the first hunt and the first day’s farming on the island.

"Well, at least we know this island hasn’t been looted. Time to head back."

He tossed three cubes near the beach, where the others waited. The cubes unfolded into two large barracks and one small tent — base camp complete.

"I’ll start cooking. Go bring the rest."

"On it, hyung."

Kichan sprinted off. Soon, he returned with the party.

Lyle, still woozy, was piggybacked by Limin. Seowoon, prepping dinner, stepped forward to take Lyle from her.

"Motion sickness hits like a truck."

Seowoon knew the pain. He’d suffered terrible car sickness as a kid.

He gently laid Lyle down and pulled out a Giant Turtle bile stone, slipping it into the boy’s mouth.

Without a word, Lyle swallowed it, trusting Seowoon completely.

Curious, Limin asked, "What was that?"

"It’s a bile stone from a Giant Turtle monster. Supposed to cure minor status issues."

Before he even finished, Lyle shot up.

His pallor vanished. His head cleared. Nausea gone like it never existed. He stared at Seowoon, amazed.

"Hyung! That thing really works!"

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah. Like someone poured cold water on my brain. Totally refreshed!"

"Good. Let’s eat."

Seowoon ruffled Lyle’s hair and returned to the grill.

"What kind of meat is this? Looks like pork..."

Dumph hovered by the grill, already drooling.

Fair enough. They’d gone all day without eating while fighting.

Most of the team had been too seasick to stomach anything earlier.

"It’s called samgyeopsal."

He fired up two big grills and laid out thick cuts of pork belly brought from Earth. Dump’s eyes sparkled.

"Sam-gyeop-sal. I like the sound. Bet it tastes even better."

—Sizzle.

As the meat cooked, Kichan set up disposable plates, a folding table, and laid out drinks.

"Oooh! Carbonation!"

Dump rushed over and grabbed a soda can.

"Mm! Fruity aroma this time!"

With nearly ten pounds of pork grilling, Seowoon finally served up the meat.

Fresh vegetables from subspace storage, hot rice, dipping sauces — it was a feast.

Everyone copied Seowoon, wrapping meat and rice into leafy greens.

The ssamjang sauce, in particular, stole the show — even across worlds.

"I’ve never tasted anything like this in my life."

Even Juriel, a noble from the House of Lornis, was stunned.

"To be honest, I thought roasting unseasoned raw meat was a savage custom only Sisle barbarians practiced... but the flavor is... incredible."

She admitted everything, completely won over.

After the hearty meal, Seowoon issued the next order.

"Three-man shifts for night watch. Get to bed early. Farming starts before dawn."

Thus ended day one.

At dawn, Seowoon confirmed the magnetic field and woke the team.

"Gear up. We farm fast, then move in."

Moving toward the inner islands meant giving up outer-island loot. A risky trade.

"Why?" Limin asked, naturally.

"Better to target the large inner islands than waste time on small ones."

One look at the map confirmed it. Fewer islands inside, but each one bigger.

He marked a spot with a ping.

"Here. The central island is shielded by three smaller ones. We’ll dig in and wait."

"Wait? As in... give up farming?"

"Yeah."

"Why would we do that?"

Seowoon looked over the team. "Apologies to our mages, but this is to boost our overall power."

Limin frowned, not understanding.

Then Namsagwang grinned.

"He means he’s going to train your martial arts."

In that moment, every martial artist in the group snapped to attention.

Eyes wide. Alert. Ready.

Being Taught by a Master of Rejuvenation Martial Arts wasn’t a trivial matter for the martial artists.

Especially for Jinryung, who had been continuing his training with his fellow disciples in the absence of their busy master — his heart pounded with anticipation.

The reason Seowoon was rushing to finish the farming wasn’t a mystery.

930 / 1000

***

Barris → Killed by Jin Chuiyen (swordsmanship)

Skers → Killed by Jianil (swordsmanship)

Senlurk → Killed by Zhang Ren (swordsmanship)

As soon as he saw the names, Seowoon realized — strengthening their power now was far more critical than gathering more items.

Even the twin siblings were formidable. Add a lunatic king who enjoyed being called insane, and the urgency was self-evident.

Above all, he was worried about Juriel.

She was the daughter of a renowned noble house from Crescent.

Could she truly bring out her full strength when facing the King of Crescent — someone who might have been tied to her past?

If she were from Earth, he wouldn’t have worried. But she wasn’t. She was from another world — which made it more delicate.

That’s why Seowoon hadn’t said a word about the list he saw the night before.

Eventually, she’d find out. But until then, he wanted to keep her emotions as steady as possible.

As for Kichan — while he was primarily a mage, he had trained enough martial arts that he had no complaints.

Lyle, who practically obeyed everything Seowoon said, had naturally agreed.

Even Juriel, whom he’d been most concerned about, only nodded calmly.

"If it means boosting our squad’s power, delaying the farming a bit is no problem. We could always ambush another squad that’s farming near the outer islands."

As expected, she understood the real point of PvP farming.

"Then let’s farm quickly and head out."

They split into two groups and began farming the larger island. It didn’t take long.

They cleared creatures and even hunted a few Giant Turtles. By the time the sun rose, the main island and surrounding ones were done.

"Other than the island where we sank that enemy ship, we’ve cleared them all."

As Kichan sorted out recovery scrolls and consumables and handed them out, Seowoon nodded.

"This should be enough for a few engagements. Lyle can handle the healing."

This was why high-level players in Cloyd Survival often avoided early fights right after drop-in.

Even if they won, the damage would leave them weakened, slowing down their farming — which could be fatal later.

But if you had a healer, that pressure eased up considerably.

"We even picked up a few ship repair items. We can sprint straight there if needed."

"We’re already heading that way."

A peaceful moment passed as they sailed across the blue sea.

Even those who had been seasick now enjoyed the calm, thanks to the Giant Turtle’s bile stones.

—THUD!

Their peace was shattered by a deep, heavy impact — the ship shook violently.

Ding!Hull integrity: 14% damaged. Flooding initiated due to breach. Mobility reduced by 32%.

Before anyone could process what was happening, something burst out of the water dozens of meters away.

—SPLAAASH!

It sliced through the sea like a dolphin — a sleek, armored vessel.

Its bow, shaped like a spear or a needlefish snout, jutted forward aggressively.

Juriel shouted.

"Sea Crystal! That thing’s dangerous!"

"Sea... Sea Crystal?!"

Kichan echoed in shock. Juriel, face pale and stiff, explained quickly:

"It’s a submarine-style warship developed in the Tawa Empire — which has deep ties to the sea. It can stay submerged for over 30 minutes and moves fast."

"I’ve heard stories," Dump muttered, "but this is the first time I’ve seen one."

Seowoon’s gaze tracked the ship as it skipped like a flying fish and disappeared beneath the waves again.

"They’ll strike again!"

Kichan, eyes glowing green with magic, shouted, "They’re already—"

—THUD!

Another crash. The ship shook hard as another breach alert sounded — more flooding.

As Kichan tracked the submerged ship with his vision-enhancing spell, Seowoon moved.

He dived straight into the sea.

"Hyung!!!"

Kichan screamed, but Seowoon was already gone — swallowed by the black waters.

Below the surface, he saw it: the enemy ship turning to make another charge at the Caravel.

It surged forward like a dart, bubbles trailing behind.

Faster than their ship.

Seowoon’s eyes narrowed, calm and deep.

—BOOM! KRAAK!

Just as the enemy vessel was about to spear through him, Seowoon struck with his left palm — a forceful blow that sent his body veering sharply to the side.

Barely evading the collision, he dragged Hammit, now shaped like a trident, across the submarine’s hull, leaving a long scar.

Tch. Not enough to tear the hull, huh?

—It’s mithril-reinforced and magically treated. Not exactly soft.

Hammit briefed him instantly.

As the enemy sub pulled away, Seowoon’s lips twisted into a grin.

"What the hell is that thing?!"

"That was crazy! We nearly lost the ship!"

"They can’t guard the ship from underwater forever. Let’s just follow from a distance."

Inside the Sea Crystal, the crew muttered nervously.

One of the players, who had been tracking Seowoon using vision magic through the hull, stuttered:

"...W-who the hell is that guy...?"

"N-No... No way!"

"What’s going on—"

The player who turned at the noise lost their words mid-sentence.

A bizarre creature — upper body of a human, lower body of a fish — was furiously chasing them, brandishing a trident in one hand.

"What is that?!"

"A Siren?!"

"No! It’s him!"

"He’s coming up—"

—CLANG!

The moment the creature vanished from view, a bone-shaking sound rang out — a sound that made hearts drop just from hearing it.

As the pilot tried to pull the Sea Crystal up to the surface, rocking the ship left and right—

—CRACK! SSsshhhhh!

Three holes were punched through the ceiling. Water began flooding in, violently.

—CRACK!

As the flooding worsened, panic spread among the crew. One player shouted:

"L-Look ahead!"

In front of them, a massive whirlpool began to form — creating violent currents around it.

The damaged Sea Crystal, wobbling from the breaches, began to get sucked into the swirling current.

Watching the whirlpool about to swallow the ship, Seowoon clenched his teeth.

’Damn it!’

Without hesitation, he turned his back on the enemy ship and swam away — heading against the pull of the current.

—Check the map!

Seowoon’s voice came through team voice chat, and everyone instinctively opened their maps.

Their faces turned pale.

"B-Black Sea Zone?!"

"A vortex!"

The rapidly growing blue zone on the map marked the expanding territory of the Black Sea region.

—Get out of there!

—Protect the priest...

—I’ll be fine! Just protect the ship and the team!

Without hesitation or argument, Rimin turned the wheel and launched the Caravel away from the area.

As the whirlpool’s reach expanded, the Caravel just barely escaped. Kichan tossed repair items onto the deck, restoring the ship and regaining lost mobility.

Finally, outside the Black Sea’s range, the ship stopped.

Then — a mermaid burst out of the water, trident in hand, and landed on the deck.

Several team members prepared to attack, thinking it was a monster — but as the figure shifted back into Seowoon, they breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Your transformation magic is truly something else."

Jinryung let out a laugh, hand to his chest in relief. Seowoon gave a half-hearted nod, eyes already scanning the now-chaotic sea.

Just a few hundred meters ahead, black clouds loomed, and countless whirlpools churned — numbering in the thousands.

The sight suddenly struck a primal fear in him.

A deep, instinctual fear of nature.

"Scared?"

Nam Sagwang stepped beside him, asking in a low voice.

Seowoon nodded honestly.

"Challenging the realm of nature," Sagwang said, "means walking straight into its terrifying heart."

It was a cryptic comment — both easy and impossible to understand. Seowoon had no reply.

Then, just like that, the whirlpools vanished as if they had never existed.

The dark clouds cleared. The blazing sun returned. The once-frenzied sea fell calm.

"Let’s go."

Seowoon gave the order, and the rest of the team, still stunned by the surreal scene, finally began to move.

[T/L: Read extra Chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]