The orcs who scavenge the spoils of victory are children of Xia; other creatures...
The timing of Jiang Yunlan and her group's entry into the ocean was perfect for setting sail. The Xia ship had not encountered any dangers from the sea since it began sailing.
The orcs responsible for sailing the ship took turns in several shifts, incorporating the night into their travel time, gradually closing the gap with Jianying. Perhaps because the orcs were all holding their breath, they remained energetic and never complained of being bored even after sailing for a long time on the vast and empty sea.
The unicorns and coral whale-men were happier than the other orcs. They had returned to their homeland, and their smiles were impossible to suppress. Every now and then, they would transform into their beast forms and leap into the sea, carrying the other summer orcs to the sides of the ship, accompanying it forward.
If they accidentally missed the boat's speed, the dragon-shaped Ilovian would pick them up and put them back on the boat.
At this point, they would smile ingratiatingly at Jiang Yunlan, displaying a very obedient demeanor, as if afraid they would not be able to continue swimming in the sea.
Unable to withstand their stares, Jiang Yunlan had no choice but to tell them to let it go this time, "Next time you get tired of swimming, be sure to pull yourself back with the rope. Otherwise, I'll have to arrange extra training for you."
The orcs who escaped extra training cheered, completely unaware that their own voluntary swimming along the sides of the ship was also a form of extra training.
Two coral whale beastmen, who had already integrated into the Xia beastmen community, secretly high-fived the unicorn beastmen and huddled together to share their thoughts on swimming in the sea.
The whale chattered excitedly for a while, its gaze unconsciously drifting towards the sea.
The calm ocean shimmered, empty of anything. Looking at the vast expanse, she recalled the past the chieftain had mentioned and couldn't help but say, "If only I could meet Miman. The chieftain said that when our clan invited Miman to leave the ocean with us, Miman refused."
“I really want to know how they are doing now. Our clan was able to come to the mainland safely because of their help. The older orcs in my clan miss them very much,” she said.
After the sudden changes in the sea, suitable habitats for orcs will only decrease. The Miman have always been unwilling to leave the sea, and the Coral Whale orcs are very worried about their safety. Their clan was already small, and after losing their habitable habitat, they have become an orc clan wandering all over the ocean, making it even more difficult to raise new cubs.
However, they said, "Protecting the ocean is our duty, and we must find out why the ocean has changed. Coral Whale Beastmen, we will meet again when the ocean returns to its tranquility."
We will definitely meet again.
The moon's voice rang in Whale-like eyes. Whale-like eyes were startled, and she turned her head to look at the unicorn man who only reached her waist.
The unicorn-man Yue raised his hand and slapped Whale-like Pi heavily on the back, revealing a hearty laugh. "Lan said that after bringing Jianying back to the main city, they will continue sailing to find out the problems that have arisen in our birthplace. We will stay in the ocean for a long time, and we will definitely find Miman and the others."
Jiang Yunlan, who was not far away, overheard the conversation and responded with a word of agreement.
The unicorns left their original habitat because the water temperature had changed; they could no longer tolerate the increasingly lower temperatures and had no choice but to leave. The coral whales left their habitat because they woke up to find half of their coral island gone, with inexplicable scorching marks appearing on the island.
Jiang Yunlan remembered the dangers the beastmen had mentioned. But looking at the sea, which only occasionally blew a breeze, she found it hard to reconcile the sea before her with the one they had described.
The blazing sun shone on the Summer Beastman.
Yue, the Unicorn, and Lan gazed at the sea and remarked, "The ocean is so calm now. The water temperature is normal, and nothing strange is rising from the surface. It's a pity I've never seen the ocean as it used to be; I wonder if it has returned to its former state."
“It will get better and better,” Jiang Yunlan said.
The sea creatures loved this saying and echoed it, shouting, "The sea will get better and better—"
The wind carried the blessings of the summer beastmen, their leaping and bounding words reaching deeper into the sea. It stopped atop a mountain on an island and tossed the captured sounds into the mountain pass.
"call--"
"The wind is rising, Lord Shadow." A coral whale beastman felt the wind blowing past him and unconsciously curled the corners of his mouth.
The wind carried away the scent of blood, and Jianying, who had just fought a giant beast, was equally satisfied. He was used to the smell, but that didn't mean he liked the place where he lived to be constantly filled with the stench of blood.
He casually brushed off what the coral whale beastman had said to him, then asked the other coral whale beastman, "How is the ship? Can the hole caused by the behemoth be repaired?"
The orc repairman, hanging by a rope outside the ship, answered with a somewhat solemn tone, "It can be repaired! But Lord Jianying, if we want the ship repaired, we'll have to stay here for three days. The damage is on the side, and if we move the ship carelessly, seawater will flood the cabin."
Seeing Ying frown, he reluctantly made the decision to stop the ship.
Three days isn't a long time, but for Jianying, who had been traveling at a frantic pace, it was truly unbearable. However, he wouldn't abandon the ship and choose to travel on the back of the Coral Whale Beastmen; he couldn't completely trust them. Even though they always obeyed him and trusted him implicitly.
He endured three days of vigilance, remaining wary of his surroundings. Only when the ship restarted did he begin to relax his tense nerves. However, at that moment, an unexpected event occurred.
"Lord Kage-Kage!"
The panicked cries of the Coral Whale Orcs rang out in the air, but Jianying kept her eyes fixed on the figure that appeared in her field of vision, unable to look away.
On the sea, two summer ships that had met not long ago rushed toward him at an extremely fast speed.
The red dragon in the sky flapped its wings, carrying the squirrel-orc he hated so much that he could never forget him as it flew over.
"Damn it! I only stopped the ship for three days, how did she find me!" Jianying gritted his teeth and finally dared to turn his gaze to the coral whale beastmen who had been calling out to him.
At that moment, he finally realized that in the two seconds he had been stunned, the four coral whale beastmen on the deck had been swept into the air by the strong wind, and were powerless to resist.
Sure enough, orcs without the power of nature are so weak. This thought flashed through his mind.
Jianying frowned, clearing his mind of his thoughts. While disdainfully watching the coral whale beastmen being dragged away by Jiang Yunlan and her group, he waved plant branches to try and rescue them. If it weren't for the fact that his ship couldn't outrun Xia's, and that it would be easier to avoid Xia's ship if he were on the back of a coral whale beastman, he wouldn't have bothered to save them at all.
He rescued the coral whale beastman reluctantly, and the plants he controlled ultimately failed to capture him. His attack was interrupted by Jiang Yunlan and the elves.
Plant debris fell into the sea with a loud crash, causing the surface to churn. A few drops of water splashed near Jianying. He looked at the five forces of nature surrounding him and unconsciously took a step back.
A blue ocean surrounded him; there was no soil or trees here. He suddenly snapped back to reality and frantically unleashed his skills, attacking and defending simultaneously. This wasn't the continent he was familiar with; his usual methods were largely ineffective here, and there was nowhere to escape.
The red dragon descended above him, and he stared at Jiang Yunlan on its back, his expression gradually turning ferocious, a cold and dangerous laugh escaping his lips. Even if he died, he wouldn't let Jiang Yunlan suffer.
Seeing the shadow's laughter made Ilovian and the other elves very uneasy. Seeing his expression as he stared intently at Lan, they immediately and in unison increased the intensity of their attack.
His strangeness was too obvious. Even when Jiang Yunlan spent half of her energy sending the Coral Whale Beastmen to the ship with Whale Skin and Whale Flash, she could still notice his problem.
"Kage-sama!"
The Coral Whale Orcs, thinking they had encountered evil orcs, howled in terror. They never expected that they would run into their own kind on the Xia Ship, just after being kidnapped and taken to the evil orcs' ship.
They were stunned, staring blankly at the battlefield as their kinsmen explained.
Suddenly, the furry lion-man in beast form leaped into the air, his body sprouting branches and green leaves unique to plants. The wooden boat beneath his feet was also assimilated, becoming part of his body.
The seawater that came into contact with the ship became its source of nutrients, providing it with a continuous supply of water for growth.
"call out--"
The deformed wooden boat spewed out poisonous thorns.
Sveta angrily swatted away the dense swarm of poisonous spikes flying towards it, only to see the spikes explode in mid-air, releasing toxic gases. It laughed in exasperation. It was the first time it had known that the power of wood could create such "plants"—plants that resembled weapons and monsters.
Jiang Yunlan, standing beside it, witnessed the same scene. Without hesitation, she unleashed her wind power, blowing the poisonous air into Jianying's face and simultaneously pushing the two approaching Xia ships away from the battlefield. The current situation was unsuitable for other Xia beastmen to join the fight. The remaining Xia beastmen were no match for Jianying and could hardly defend against its attacks.
As Jianying actively mutated himself, he gradually lost his rationality, leaving only the instinct to fight, which made him eliminate all living beings around him at any cost.
"I am...the most powerful...orc!"
"Kill! Chief Xia! Kill!"
He still hasn't forgotten the opponent he most wants to eliminate.
The ever-growing branches chased after the red dragon in the sky, their massive bodies moving in tandem with the dragon's trajectory. While dodging, Ilovian spat fireballs to retaliate against the pursuing branches, making sure to lure Jianying in the opposite direction from Xia's ship.
"Hold on, Ilovian! We're destroying his main body!"
Lan's voice came from behind him. Ilovian spat out several more fireballs and roared in response, continuing to tense up and constantly changing his dodging route to confuse Jianying, whose mind was no longer working properly.
"Lan, I've frozen the water at the bottom of the Shadow, what should we do next?" Freya asked Jiang Yunlan, who was directing their actions, while keeping a close watch on the immobile Shadow.
“Expand the freezing area to prevent the shadow from drawing energy from the sea,” Jiang Yunlan replied.
The water spirits, including Belial, severed the roots of the Shadow that had spread into the sea, depriving him of his ability to lurk underwater and launch a sudden attack. However, his physical body remained firmly rooted in place, his movements not significantly slowed, and he seemed unharmed.
The fire attack didn't hit his main body; it only burned the branches he was using and part of the hull. His innate fear of fire made him instinctively try to minimize the damage the fire would cause him.
Jiang Yunlan watched his actions and immediately ordered Agni and the other fire spirits to attack his ship. She waited for him to cut off his tail to survive until only his main body remained, until he had nowhere left to cut and could only take the damage head-on.
"Whoosh—whoosh—"
The sound of the fierce wind rushed into his ears. Jiang Yunlan used the power of the wind to break through the wind for Ilovian beneath him, struggling to catch a glimpse of his figure in the violently shaking vision.
His current state is somewhat like the plant monster he controls; the core at the end of the roots and branches is the key to defeating him.
022 agrees with the weaknesses that Lan analyzed and takes the initiative to become her eyes, observing Jianying's reactions when she is attacked in different parts by the spirits.
Having been constantly abandoning its ship, Jianying lost its consumables and was unable to absorb new energy, gradually becoming unable to withstand the attacks of Jiang Yunlan and her group.
Jiang Yunlan noticed his reaction had slowed, so she and the other elves unleashed their full power, attacking his entire body simultaneously. Sensing the danger, he suddenly stopped attacking Ilov and turned to protect himself, but his defenses were still breached.
A black crystal embedded in his waist briefly peeked out before being covered again by the growing plants.
022 caught the moment and exclaimed excitedly, "Lan, the core is in his waist."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yunlan slowly revealed a smile and led the elves straight to the core.
"boom--"
Seeing Ying fall onto the ice, his mutated form faded, and his face gradually returned to its original appearance. He opened one eye and, through his blurry vision, saw a red dragon hovering nearby, and Jiang Yunlan approaching.
Before he died completely, his reason returned to his mind. He remembered all the memories that had disappeared during the alienation.
He lost.
He lost, he lost, he lost—
He had even risked his life, yet he hadn't even managed to harm a single hair on Jiang Yunlan's head. He was unwilling to accept it!
Jianying was furious. He wanted to curse Jiang Yunlan to vent his resentment, but he could no longer see anything or utter a single word. He could only hear the sounds coming from the outside world.
"A black object? Is this what the Coral Whale Beastmen called the thing that Seer used to find healing items? How amazing, 022, I can sense that it is pointing in a direction, and it really wants to go back there."
Jiang Yunlan's voice clearly reached his ears. He heard that his best research had fallen into Jiang Yunlan's hands, and that it was the Coral Whale Beastman who had betrayed him and informed Jiang Yunlan of this. He was filled with impotent rage and died with resentment.
In front of him, Jiang Yunlan picked up the black crystal and said happily, "022, thank goodness for your reminder. Otherwise, if we had chosen to break the black object, we wouldn't have had the item to guide us to the birthplace of the giant beast."
"Albero and the others can go back to see the elves now; they must be so happy."
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