Chapter 413: Piercing Scream

The four people gathered on the beach, but didn't set off immediately, instead turning back to pick up Kelin.

Just because he smelled the pungent blood in the air, for the sake of safety, this boy who had no combat power in the face of professional-level battles was temporarily left behind by Nick and the others.

When Xia Nan saw this kid, the other party was hiding behind a huge reef alone, shrinking his body like a quail, occasionally poking his head out carefully, alert to the front, back, left, and right.

Seeing their party, Kelin first breathed a sigh of relief, and then was happy at Xia Nan's appearance, subconsciously showing a look of greatly increased sense of security.

Greeting the youth from afar, Xia Nan's brows subconsciously furrowed.

"It's dangerous here, why bring him over?"

Although Kelin had received a period of basic hunter training, wanting to become a truly mature Adventurer still had a considerable distance, let alone being a veteran like them who had already obtained professional levels.

Even the prefix of his sailor identity still had the word "apprentice" hanging on it. Participating in this kind of professional-level adventure mission is almost no different from courting death.

Sensing the dissatisfaction in Xia Nan's tone, the expression on Nick's face couldn't help but stiffen, squeezing out a smile, and the volume of his explanation was a few points lower:

"He was also there when the monster attacked the village before, but was shocked unconscious by the aftermath. He can be considered an eyewitness."

"Letitia has an expertise that can track the monster's direction, but it needs Kelin as an intermediary, so we brought him over."

Things have come to this, a few people have already gone deep into the middle of the north cliff of Qiaoyan Island, with stone walls and the sea on both sides. Sending the other party back now is too delaying, and it is easy to have accidents.

Letting Kelin return alone, in the dangerous environment full of sharp reefs on the road, where one accidental slip would be rolled into the undercurrent in the sea, it is hard not to worry.

So he could only let him temporarily follow the team.

Fortunately, the two members of the Silver Claw Osprey squad are still smart, although it is possible that they hit the mark by mistake, but at least they brought Alton the Halfling.

With this God-Favored of the Lucky Goddess in the team, nothing should happen.

Coming all the way to Shoal Islands under Xia Nan's protection from the remote village where he was born, Kelin perhaps has no experience in other aspects, but he has performed incomparably skillfully in the position of "drag-oil-bottle."

Even if the tragic fishman corpses on the beach made his face pale again, he endured it without saying a word, just treating himself as an invisible person, very sensible and silently following behind a few people.

Occasionally, the Half-Elf responsible for tracking at the very front of the team paused, and without needing a reminder, he would take the initiative to step forward to strengthen the other party's perception of the monster's aura with his own body.

Encountering harsh terrain that ordinary people find difficult to walk, he didn't force it, just treated himself as a pendant, letting Nick carry him through.

Not too long, just ten minutes or so.

When the monster aura under the Half-Elf Letitia's expertise perception almost reached her "half-hour" residual limit, a few people also arrived at their destination.

That is a deep and secluded cave that is isolated from the beach by tides and reefs, as if embedded in the rock wall of the cliff, directly connecting to the sea.

It's just because the terrain is slightly higher than the sea level, so it wasn't poured into by seawater, and the entrance position gathered several small water puddles due to wave erosion.

There is no doubt that when the tide rises, the entire cave will be filled with seawater.

The distance is so close that even without the help of the Half-Elf's expertise, Xia Nan can smell the rich fishy smell drifting out from the cave.

"You find a place to hide here first, and after we come out... or tomorrow dawn, leave by yourself."

Not in a hurry to enter, Xia Nan turned around and instructed Kelin at the end of the team.

Understanding his meaning, Kelin nodded very obediently and began to look for a suitable hiding place on the stone beach.

"Just there, it looks quite high, the view is good." Alton stood on tiptoe, pointing to a place near the rock wall in the south, where several huge rocks gathered together, and hiding behind them could isolate most of the sight from the surroundings.

Seeing Kelin's figure disappear behind the stones, a few people continued to move forward.

Although there is a large area of shallow water area full of slippery reefs between the cave and the beach, the four of them are all professionals after all, stepping on the reefs protruding from the water surface, and very easily arrived at the opposite side.

Almost at the very instant Xia Nan's feet landed and took hold, accompanied by a cold, eerie draft whistling out from the depths of the cave ahead, he caught the scent of a thick, bloody stench wafting from within.

And unlike the rusty, metallic tang of ordinary humans or the foul stench of Goblins, this bloodiness was mixed with a faint, salty taste.

Xia Nan is very familiar with it.

It is exactly the same as the fish blood smell remaining on his body right now.

Feeling strange in his heart, he reminded the teammates beside him to be vigilant, and the four of them arranged in formation and walked slowly into the cliff-side hollow.

The tunnel space is damp and spacious, allowing Xia Nan and Nick, the only two front-rowers in the team, to walk side by side at the very front.

Alton fell behind two positions slightly. Facing the unknown enemy in the darkness, the lute responsible for applying bonus effects was carried on his back, and he held two small curved blades in his hands—the Bard profession he held was not a purely Spellcaster type, the lute sound blessing was just auxiliary, and if he really encountered a real hard fight, he also had a good dual-wielding skill.

Having arrived at the destination, the Half-Elf Letitia, who needed expertise to lead the way before, dragged to the end of the team, and a pair of crystal-clear eyes reflected the silver-white light unique to the Elf bloodline in her body under the dim light.

As expected, as the four of them went deeper and deeper, the originally empty cave tunnel gradually began to appear with Sahuagin corpses.

These corpses were new and old, some had rotted and stunk, and some looked like they had just died not long ago, and their bodies still secreted mucus used for moisturizing.

But without exception, the wounds on these corpses all presented a kind of irregular biting shape, clearly coming from the monster that the Silver Claw Osprey squad was tracking.

And for Xia Nan, who wanted to find clues about Morton, he also indeed found some traces left by humans living here on the way.

But the time interval was too long, and it was already a bit blurred. He could only guess that it should have been left by that Lailuo Morton when he lived on Qiaoyan Island many years ago.

Thinking about the possibility of finding the key to 【Dream Weaving Corridor】 here, suddenly as if sensing something.

Xia Nan's spirit subconsciously condensed, raising his hand to greet the people behind him to stop.

In the silence, a "Woo-Lu" sound that sounded like chanting, carrying some kind of strange rhythm, came from the deep depths of the cave.

Vaguely, it could be distinguished that this was the

Feeling increasingly strange, the few of them moved with light steps toward the direction from which the chanting came.

Finally, after rounding a corner, a huge, spacious cavern space came into view.

The air was humid, cold, and viscous, permeated with a heavy, salty, fishy odor; the fungi growing from the cracks in the stone walls emitted an unnatural, ghostly blue light as if breathing, providing the only meager illumination for an environment that should have been pitch black, yet also causing more details to be swallowed up in the swaying, flickering shadows.

At the very depths of the cave was a calm pool of water, its surface showing not a single ripple, reflecting the darkness and ghostly light in the air like a mirror.

In front of the pool sat an extremely crude and primitive altar.

Its main structure was pieced together from a few rough, barely polished dark-brown reef rocks and wreckage from sunken ships salvaged from the sea, and one could vaguely see inexplicable patterns and runes carved onto its surface.

The Orc Gagu... or rather, Gagu's corpse, was lying quietly on the altar.

Even though his race and profession granted him physical attributes far exceeding those of ordinary people, given his professional level, having one-third of his body—including his right shoulder and a small portion of his neck—bitten off, there was clearly no possibility of him surviving.

Even his blood had already drained away, turning into reddish-brown, filthy sediment on his skin, leaving only a pair of dead, gray eyes staring at the stone ceiling.

This former member of the "Silver Claw Osprey" squad had already become some sort of sacrifice.

And the priest presiding over the sacrificial ritual was a Sahuagin with a bizarre appearance.