Even in broad daylight,
thick fog still hung over the surface of the lake,
let alone seeing the opposite shore—they could not even reach the middle of the lake with their eyes.
The old-fashioned pedal boat was extremely strenuous to operate, and every rotation of the axle produced a harsh grinding sound,
while the pressure transmitted to their legs gave them the feeling of being trapped in deep mud.
As the boat gradually ventured deeper into the lake, everyone increasingly sensed the vastness of Green Lake... like a gigantic mouth with no visible edge, ready to swallow any intruder at any moment.
On the boat,
the huge, greatsword-wielding man and the woman wearing a feather-decorated hat sat at the front,
while Yi Chen and the blond Edmund sat side by side in the back.
The staff member sat facing backward at the bow, his wide eyes fixed on the four of them, paying particular attention to the movement of their feet as they pedaled. He seemed to be supervising slaves.
"Although nothing happened to the passengers who came before us,
this lake always gives me a very bad feeling~ If anything goes wrong along the way, we may have to cooperate.
Let's introduce ourselves again.
My name is Edmund, and I'm from the Mariano Family."
He continued introducing his two companions, reaching out to pat the broad, muscular back of the man in front.
"This is Dagobert, a warrior who came from the North Territory. Part of this physique comes from his bloodline, while the rest was carved and tempered by the extreme cold... He is destined to become a gentleman of strength.
As for this beautiful lady, she is a friend I met at the training grounds, Julianna."
"William."
After softly giving the name of the body's original owner, Yi Chen continued:
"Also, I don't recommend chatting here..."
"Okay."
After the introductions were over,
everyone turned their attention to the lake.
Because of the potential risk of disease and the rules for riding the boat, everyone behaved honestly. Nobody foolishly touched the lake water; they merely observed the surface with their naked eyes.
As Yi Chen stared at the lake for a long time,
he unexpectedly sensed a gaze peering at him from the depths of the lake... as if something terrifying were watching him from below.
When this sensation reached Little Grape, it drooled greedily.
"There seems to be something delicious down there!"
Just as everyone was observing and staying alert to the conditions on the lake,
creak~
The pedal boat suddenly jammed. The main oar seemed to have become tangled in something.
"Water plants? Or some other debris?"
Considering the unknown danger,
Yi Chen did not recklessly poke his head out to inspect the water. Instead, he extended his right arm and used Little Grape, hidden in his sleeve, to observe the situation beneath the boat.
Through the relatively clear lake water,
a great deal of unsettling material came into view—hair.
Thick black hair had wrapped around the oar,
and beneath it was a swollen corpse.
After Yi Chen briefly explained the situation, the three members of Edmund's team also became wary. One of them had already gripped a weapon.
At that moment,
the staff member, who had not blinked once and had stared blankly throughout the entire journey, instinctively performed his duty.
He put on a pair of plastic gloves that reached his elbows, leaned half his body out over the stern, and began clearing the entanglement from the oar.
Seeing this,
Yi Chen and Edmund, who were seated in the back row, also grabbed the young man's clothes to keep him from accidentally falling into the lake.
As strand after strand of black hair was pulled free and everyone was about to escape,
the staff member's body suddenly stiffened.
An unimaginable force seized him... The strength was so great—hiss!
Only torn scraps of cloth remained in Yi Chen and Edmund's hands.
The staff member instantly fell into the water and vanished without a trace.
Smack!
The blond Edmund shed his usual friendly manner. His gaze turned resolute as he snapped his fingers.
Everyone went on guard,
watching their surroundings.
However, nothing frightening emerged from the calm surface of the lake for the time being.
Beads of sweat slid down Edmund's forehead. He spoke somewhat awkwardly:
"None of the previous visitors had any trouble, yet something happened only when it came to us... Is it a coincidence? Or has something in the lake set its sights on one of us?"
His words immediately reminded Yi Chen of his walk along the lakeside the previous night and the unexpected act of throwing the 'sheriff' into the lake.
However,
Edmund soon confessed on his own:
"The three of us killed several diseased individuals from the town after the party ended last night. We may have angered whatever exists behind this.
We accidentally dragged you into this, William. We're truly sorry for the trouble."
Yi Chen replied coldly:
"Think of a way to get out of this lake."
Half of the black hair entangled around the oar had yet to be cleared. If they continued, they might well be dragged under.
At this moment,
Dagobert, who had come from the North Territory, stepped forward of his own accord.
The broad, heavy greatsword in his hand could serve perfectly as a makeshift oar, and he had also gained experience rowing boats while living in the North Territory.
The greatsword plunged into the lake.
He rowed from side to side in alternation.
With one man's strength alone, he made the boat move rapidly, at more than twice its previous speed.
It was worth noting that
the black hair wrapped around the oar dragged the corpse along with it, creating a somewhat eerie scene.
However,
the danger had not passed.
The large ripples created by the greatsword seemed to awaken something sleeping at the bottom of the lake.
As circles of ripples spread,
several black silhouettes roughly the size of humans appeared and vanished beneath the surface... They swayed their soft, slender bodies and approached the boat.
Seeing this,
Edmund gently patted his companion's muscular shoulder with one hand.
"Dagobert, just keep rowing in a straight line... Leave the rest to us."
"Mm."
With that,
Edmund took out the Feather-Decorated Pistol with his left hand and loaded a Silver Bullet.
His right hand tightened around the Silver-Plated Shortsword, while his eagle-sharp eyes surveyed the surroundings.
Julianna bent down and drew a dagger from inside her boot, likewise adopting a standard combat stance.
Yi Chen drew the Silver Axe from his waist, while Little Grape attached itself to his shoulder.
"Here they come!"
Splash! Water sprayed into the air!
An arm covered in fish scales and studded with seashells gripped the edge of the boat.
When a severely waterlogged head emerged from the surface, a cold gun muzzle was already pressed against its crown.
Bang! The gunshot tore through the veil of silence over the lake.
Red bodily fluid spread across the surface, and the first Strange Fishman to cause trouble sank into the depths.
After completing the kill, Edmund even found time to offer a warning:
"Against these parasitic creatures, you only need to destroy their brains... They haven't evolved into true Sick Ones yet, so they aren't particularly troublesome to deal with.
But keep one thing in mind:
Don't let them damage the boat. I have no intention of falling into this filthy, disgusting Green Lake."
The instant he finished speaking,
three pairs of arms reached toward the boat from different directions.
Swollen, rotting heads rose with them, their mouths protruding and packed with sharp teeth.
With a precise sword stroke, the blond Edmund drove the Silver-Plated Shortsword in his right hand into his target's face, piercing through to destroy its brain.
Julianna swung backward, stabbing her dagger horizontally into the target's temple... even faster than him.
Compared with the two well-trained fighters,
Yi Chen, a transmigrator who had taken up combat 'halfway through life,' was naturally inferior in many respects.
However,
faced with the danger from the lake before him,
a powerful desire to slay his target took shape in his mind.
Driven by that desire,
strands of Plant Root Tendrils drilled out between the back of his hand and his palm, wrapping around the hand axe and even merging with its Hickory Wood handle.
They made his grip tighter
and his swings more powerful.
Kill!
A flash of silver swept across, landing precisely on the mermaid's neck.
Fish scales,
flesh,
cervical vertebrae—
none of the obstacles that could possibly hinder the strike had any effect.
Slash!
A swollen, rotting head was sent flying through the air and landed on the boat with a wet smack.
When the head tried to crawl and harm Yi Chen,
a Black Flesh Ball leaped down from Yi Chen's shoulder.
It instantly devoured the mermaid's two 'grapes,' then burrowed further into the eye sockets and ate all the fresh sashimi inside the head.
At this sight,
both Dagobert, who was rowing,
and the other two fighters looked over in astonishment, raising their estimation of Yi Chen another level.
After everyone fought together,
and killed nearly twenty Diseased Mermaids from the lake,
the boat reached the shore.
The corpse entangled around the oar was dragged ashore along with it.
When Yi Chen saw what the corpse looked like, his body trembled.
The corpse, which had grown thick, long hair, was none other than the sheriff he had thrown into the lake... But in his memory, the sheriff clearly had short hair.
It was as if the lake had the effect of a cultivation chamber, causing any living creature thrown into it to undergo some kind of stimulation that accelerated its growth.
So it really was because of me...?
Before you continue