Sailing between two giant worms was no easy task.
Especially when the two giant worms were only five or six hundred meters apart, it was like dancing on a razor's edge. The slightest mistake would spell utter doom! He had to constantly watch his position and the storm's effect on the ship.
His nerves taut, Yang Yi wove back and forth, sailing for a full eight hours. A pile of Vitality Coconuts lay scattered at his feet.
Refreshing Coconut Juice could only take effect once every twenty-four hours, but Vitality Coconuts had no such restriction. Repeated consumption simply produced diminishing returns and left his stomach a little bloated.
Thanks to that, Yang Yi was like an iron man, with his energy still above 70.
But only he knew how miserable he felt.
"How much farther to the exit?"
Yang Yi began to waver.
But his will was as tough as steel. He quickly shook his head, stopped thinking about that question, and steeled himself to keep sailing forward.
Messages kept popping up in his private message channel, mostly words of thanks from other players.
During this time, another large batch of players had escaped the Storm Sea.
Their ships were generally slower, and giant worms had blocked their way before the exit.
Only after Yang Yi's reminder had they mustered their courage, judged the distance, and charged through.
So many of them were grateful to Yang Yi and sent him private messages.
Of course, there were surely some who had failed and accidentally gotten eaten by the worms. But dead people could not send messages, so Yang Yi had no way of knowing.
At the same time, Yang Yi picked up some information from the private messages.
The waters near the exit were a buffer zone about fifty nautical miles long. There were no giant worms there, and the wind and waves were much weaker.
So the sight of a vast stretch of open sea without giant worms meant the exit was close!
Yang Yi stared at the crystal ball.
At any rate, no such waters existed within a hundred nautical miles. There were giant worms everywhere, in greater or smaller numbers...
The Nightmare was a relatively fast ship, and with the nautical chart to help, they ought to be getting out by now...
Another three hours passed.
Finally, he spotted a patch of sea without black dots on the crystal ball.
It looked as though someone had rubbed it clean with an eraser, making it stand out clearly. It was about eighty nautical miles from the Nightmare.
"Su Na, we'll be out soon!" Yang Yi said excitedly.
But she showed no sign of relief or joy. Instead, she reached out a hand, sensing something, then suddenly replied.
"Have you noticed that the storm seems to be weakening?"
Yang Yi immediately grew alert at her words.
At this point, the storm at sea had become a protective umbrella for the ships still trapped there.
If the storm weakened... that meant the giant worms' detection range would gradually increase until it recovered completely!
Yang Yi immediately checked the weather forecast.
---------- Today's weather The storm is dying down. Surprise! Location: Origin Sea (Storm Sea) Daylight duration: Unknown Temperature: 12-18°C. Wind force: 9 ----------
The storm really had weakened. Yang Yi remembered that the wind force had been 10 when he woke up!
And the sky was no longer as dark as before. A faint light was gradually appearing.
Having been sailing all this time, Yang Yi had paid no heed to these subtle changes. Now, as though waking from a dream, he broke out in a cold sweat!
If this continued, the wind force would soon drop to 8, or even 4, then 1.
When that happened... these giant worms would bare their sharp fangs and tear apart every ship in their path!
"Full speed ahead!" Yang Yi practically shouted, immediately changing his original route that prioritized safety.
He was now only about eighty nautical miles from the buffer zone. Rather than carefully taking detours, he might as well pick the shortest possible route, even if it carried risks!
Because nobody knew when the storm would stop!
But Yang Yi felt... it would happen very quickly, faster than expected, and when it did, attacks from the giant worms would be unavoidable!
So the faster he went, the better!
After sailing for over another hour, the Nightmare finally approached the edge of the buffer zone, with fewer than forty nautical miles left to go.
The giant worms were much less densely packed here.
But the wind force had already dropped to 4, barely interfering with their senses anymore.
The world channel was filled with curses.
Though there were only a handful of players, every one of them had a mouth as sweet as honey, furiously cursing the system.
"You dog* system!"
"I ***!"
"The worms spotted me, I **..."
"Aaah!!!!"
Yang Yi was in the same situation.
Two giant worms followed behind him, gradually closing the distance.
He had no idea how these giant worms managed to swim so fast in the sea with their long, narrow bodies!
Su Na noticed the danger behind them too and immediately ran toward the stern.
"What are you doing?" Yang Yi immediately shouted.
"I'm going to release the Astrologer's grappling hooks. That should buy us some time!"
"That..."
Yang Yi was a little surprised, but he had no intention of stopping her.
Because it really was a good idea.
The giant worms had no visual organs and would most likely attack the unmanned Astrologer, buying them time.
But if they did that, Su Na would no longer have a ship...
There was no time to worry about all that. Escaping alive came first!
Su Na acted decisively, releasing the Astrologer's grappling hooks outright.
The Astrologer was slower than the Nightmare to begin with. Without the grappling hooks towing it along, it immediately fell behind and, as expected, became prey for the two giant worms.
The two giant worms were not on the same side either. They even began fighting over the prey before them.
Seizing the opportunity, the Nightmare sped away, putting a great distance between them.
But Yang Yi did not relax.
Losing the Astrologer meant the crystal ball in his hand would no longer display the nautical chart.
Yang Yi could only sail onward from memory.
He remembered that there was another giant worm ahead, one they would have to face head-on!
This was the best route Yang Yi had chosen!
Had he chosen another route, there would have been more than a dozen giant worms following them instead of two!
Rather than be chased to death by more than a dozen giant worms, he might as well face this one in a desperate fight!
"Su Na, take the helm next. Just maintain our heading!" Yang Yi said gravely. "When I tell you to jump into the sea, don't hesitate. Jump immediately. Don't just stand stupidly at the bow!"
Su Na nodded and took the helm.
Yang Yi took two steps forward and stood at the very front of the ship.
The Nightmare had no weapons. Before a giant worm, it had no power to resist and was nothing but a fish on a chopping board.
Nor did Yang Yi harbor any hope of somehow escaping the giant worm's attack through sheer chance.
So he would take a gamble and see whether this giant worm's head and life were tougher than the caliber of the rare-grade Flintlock in his hand!
He changed into his sharkskin swimsuit and stood at the bow, braced for battle.
Soon, a dark shape appeared ahead.
Once they passed that dark shape, the relatively safe buffer zone lay beyond.
Yang Yi switched the Flintlock to cannon mode and gave a cold laugh.
"Come on, let's gamble!"
Without the storm's interference, the giant worm's detection range was astonishingly large. It soon locked onto the Nightmare and swam toward it.
Yang Yi's nerves were stretched taut, and he gripped the gun so tightly that his fingertips turned white...
He was far from a sharpshooter.
So he needed to get close enough to be certain of hitting.
He had only one chance!
Failure... meant death!
When they closed to three hundred meters, Yang Yi could judge the size of the giant worm before him.
It was about three meters in diameter, not particularly large among the giant worms, with roughly forty meters of its length above the surface.
It lowered its body and charged straight at them, spreading four blade-like jawbones that gleamed coldly like an open guillotine, trying to sever the Nightmare in a single strike.
"Su Na, jump into the sea now!"
Yang Yi shouted the order while aiming his gun at the giant worm's head.
He could make out the giant worm's mouthparts: two rows of bristle-covered mouths resembling arthropod appendages, arranged in a circle like a curled-up spider.
These appendages could feed prey within reach into its mouth, where the densely packed sharp teeth inside would crush it.
And its prey was the Nightmare right before it.
Faced with mortal danger, Yang Yi instead grew calm and relaxed, taking deep breaths over and over.
He looked at the giant worm, seeing it so clearly that he could almost smell the salty, fishy ocean scent coming off its body...
At the same time, this meant that Yang Yi was already close enough to the giant worm!
Less than ten meters!
Now!
Yang Yi pulled the trigger.
Boom!
The powerful recoil sent Yang Yi flying backward. His gun-holding right arm went intensely numb and sore as he crashed into the captain's cabin behind him.
The deafening gunshot was like a roar from civilization, challenging nature.
Its power was naturally terrifying too, no less than that of a cannon.
The shot struck the giant worm squarely in the head, blasting it apart.
Its mouthparts and frontal bones flew off, scattering across the sea.
But the giant worm's charge did not stop, and it still slammed into the Nightmare.
[The Nightmare took a direct hit. Durability -600. Hull breaking apart...]
The flimsy Nightmare was rammed into two pieces by the worm...
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