The thick, pungent smell of blood surged into his nostrils with the sea breeze. The roars and screams that had echoed through the air had now been replaced by the faint sounds of blood gushing from wounds.
The three members of the "Windforged" squad who had been confronting Xia Nan not far from the beach moments ago had now become three stiffening, cooling corpses.
The culprit behind their deaths looked like a small gray-blue mountain. Emitting the savage aura unique to monsters, it stood there quietly, gazing at the only two remaining prey on the field with its murky, ferocious eyes.
Blood dripped from the edge of its huge maw, which was disproportionate to its body. The Tattooed Adventurer's flesh and bones had already been completely swallowed by it.
Xia Nan stood on the other side, the [Emberfall] Straight Sword already drawn in his hand.
His expression remained unchanged, but his mind was racing as he analyzed the situation.
First, one thing had to be made clear.
Just now, in the instant the Shark Beast leaped out of the sea, Xia Nan had clearly seen the Deep Sea Resonance Stone in the Tattooed Adventurer's hand, along with his upper body, swallowed into the Shark Beast's stomach.
That meant that if he wanted to retrieve the Resonance Stone, he had to kill the monster before him and then cut open its belly to take it out.
But—was it worth it?
He was currently on Stodd, "Thousand-Stakes Island," where a large number of adventurers had gathered, and he had not accepted any mission related to hunting the Shark Beast before him.
Xia Nan could simply turn around and retreat with Shorty in tow. With the speed of his [Tooth Hunt] on land, the other party had no chance of catching up.
His