Chapter 117

Gervas observed the wound for a moment, then used his dagger to pry off a piece of blue scale from its edge.

The scale was hard and heavy, with the texture of iron.

“Lei Meng, try a strike with your sword!”

Gervas placed the scale on the edge of the raft.

Lei Meng nodded and drew his longsword.

Clang! The blade struck the scale precisely, leaving only a scratch about one centimeter long on its surface.

“Try with aura!”

Lei Meng immediately activated his aura and slashed at the scale again.

Crack!

The Starblade, wrapped in aura-light, flashed past.

This time, the scale broke cleanly.

Yet Gervas was still impressed by its defensive power.

“With this defense, if processed into leather or iron plates, it’s as good as forged iron…”

Mid-sentence, Gervas’s expression changed sharply—he hurled the scale into the sea.

Boom! Boom!

Two explosions roared, spraying up huge plumes of water!

“This…”

Lei Meng and several knight retainers stared, dumbfounded.

They had no idea what had just happened!

The explosion was powerful—blasting seawater high, drenching everyone on the raft.

Only then did Gervas regain his composure, silently cursing under his breath.

He’d reacted fast enough to toss the severed scale away—if he hadn’t, even a Bronze Knight’s hands might’ve been lost.

This power rivaled a tactical grenade.

Just now, as he spoke, Gervas suddenly felt intense heat burning his palm, accompanied by the scale swelling.

Without hesitation, he threw it away—and narrowly escaped disaster.

At that moment, he recalled the system’s warning.

This Flame-Blue Scale Beast was unusual—its magic wasn’t in its flesh, but concentrated entirely in its scales.

“System, please be clearer next time!”

Now, Gervas looked at the beast’s scales not with delight, but with deep reverence.

One scale equaled one tactical grenade—this giant creature had tens of thousands of them.

If they all exploded at once, how terrifying would that be?

Fortunately, the scales only exploded when completely destroyed.

So simple movement posed no risk.

To be safe, he tested twice more—just as he’d suspected.

Only a direct cut cleaving it in half triggered explosion; surface dents or scratches did nothing.

Gervas then notified the other rafts: do not damage the scales.

Though they likely couldn’t even if they tried.

Still, better safe than sorry.

Soon, they drove massive wooden stakes into the beast’s wound, then tied ropes around them.

Thus, the colossal creature was towed by the Stormrider away from the reef zone, heading for shore.

Over an hour later, Stormrider Coast.

When the giant sea beast appeared, everyone on shore froze—some timid serfs even wet themselves.

Fortunately, Thomas spotted the Stormrider and managed to regroup the serfs.

“Good heavens, what a huge sea beast! Is… is this what our lord hunted?”

“Of course! Don’t you see the ropes? It’s tied to the Stormrider—unless our lord killed it, do you think the beast tied itself on?”

“Our lord is mighty!”

Once the serfs understood the situation, they calmed—once again attributing it to their lord’s greatness.

Since their lord had slain it, like the swamp giants and demons before, it posed no threat.

So the serfs grew excited, rushing toward the shore to get a closer look at the giant beast.

“Congratulations, my lord! You are mighty!”

Thomas arrived at the makeshift dock at once, eyes filled with awe and reverence for his lord.

Like the serfs, he too believed their lord had slain the giant beast.

But Gervas clearly had no interest in such false glory—it was too much of a lie.

Other nobles might not care, but he still had some pride.

“Thomas, I didn’t kill this. I’m not strong enough yet. I found this beast.”

But Gervas didn’t realize his explanation sounded even more unbelievable to Thomas and the others: “Found… found it?”

Could you just find a sea beast this big out at sea?

Thomas and the serfs were stunned.

But Gervas had no time to waste.

“Thomas, send men back to Stormrider immediately—gather a thousand serfs. We must process this beast as fast as possible!”

“Its meat, like fish, makes the best dried salted meat.”

“Also, summon Wizard Isabella—tell her the scales explode if damaged…”

Gervas emphasized the magical scale issue.

Though Isabella wasn’t an alchemist, wizards always studied magical biological materials.

So having her assist was perfect.

…

Revival Island.

This was the name the villagers had given the island themselves.

It symbolized their escape from noble oppression and rebirth.

Inside the village’s large meeting hall, the village chief and several villagers debated.

“Chief, I suggest we make contact with the Stormrider lord. Nobles are proud—they wouldn’t deceive us with tricks.”

“If he truly wanted us dead, he’d just send soldiers to the island—we couldn’t resist!”

“What about you? Do you agree with Berna?”

After hearing Berna’s words, the chief didn’t answer immediately—he turned to the other villagers.

Facing the chief’s piercing gaze, all others lowered their heads.

Satisfied, the chief nodded coldly at Berna: “Berna, see? You’re the only one on Revival Island still thinking of returning to serve the nobles!”

“Have you forgotten what we are? We’re fugitives—captured by nobles, we die!”

“And over ten years ago, if the nobles hadn’t tried to kill us, why would I have led you all out to sea?”

“Chief, I’m not trying to serve the nobles—I’m saying that since another ship appeared at sea, the noble clearly won’t let us live here in peace.”

“To avoid provoking him into a sudden attack, we should reach out first and test his intentions—that’s the wisest course.”

“Otherwise, when the Stormrider lord sends his army to land, with only a hundred of us, we can’t stand against them!”

“Who says we can’t resist? This is the sea, not land—if we stand united, even if the nobles send ten times more men, we’ll drive them off!”

The chief spoke with firm resolve.

This puzzled Berna—normally, the chief was rational and wise, and should’ve recognized his proposal was correct.

Why now, when contact with nobles was mentioned, did he grow so irritable?

Could it be, as Berna suspected, that the chief had hidden something from them when they fled all those years ago?