Chapter 216: The Island Battle (part 2)

“Ling, speed up!” Wu Qingsong commanded, then turned to Ram. “Can you manage?”

Ram nodded. “No problem.”

Due to handling various tasks, she didn’t have as much time to practice her abilities as Ling and Liuli. Therefore, her ability hadn’t continuously improved like Ling’s. However, whenever she had the chance, she often had Wu Qingsong awaken her abilities to do some small exercises.

Hiding a ship as large as the Black Pearl was beyond her capability, but concealing the raft they were on was manageable.

Of course, the enemy couldn’t be too close.

Because of her injury, she might not be able to sustain it for too long. So from the start, Wu Qingsong only planned to use her ability at the last moment.

“When the time comes, nobody makes a sound. No matter what happens, don’t make a sound!” Wu Qingsong warned everyone, especially Red Moon and the crew of the Black Pearl. 

Ram’s ability was limited to visual deception, but in such chaos, it should be enough.

The raft began to accelerate towards the shore under the propulsion of the propeller Ling had created. Wu Qingsong chose a spot on a sandy beach. Ram and Bernar’s injuries meant they could only land in such a place. Behind the beach was a rocky cliff, but their immediate concern was landing. They would deal with the rest later.

As they got closer to the shore, the strength of the fishmen’s forces finally came into view.

Unlike the birdkin coalition of penguins, harpies, and those small feathered ones on the shore, the variety of fishmen in the sea was quite astonishing. They came in all shapes and sizes: long, short, round, triangular, ribbon-like, stick-like, flat, smooth, covered in strange warty bumps, with sharp scales, or even covered in spikes. Most fishmen had fish heads, dorsal fins, pelvic fins, and tail fins like the sharkmen, but with strange hands in place of pectoral fins, and their bodies could bend and move more flexibly. Some fishmen even had webbed claws instead of pelvic fins, allowing them to swim efficiently underwater and move on land as well.

From a distance, Wu Qingsong saw some slender, brightly colored creatures commanding the fishmen. They stood out clearly from the rest and held staffs made of coral and shells or weapons made from large fish bones. These must be the fishman shamans that Eddie had mentioned.

“Avoid them,” he whispered to Eddie, who was steering.

The giant octopus corpse beneath the raft spread its body to drive away most of the fishmen, allowing them to approach the shore without being detected. However, they now faced another problem. How to signal to the birdmen that they were friends, not foes.

Under the water near the shore, penguin soldiers swam swiftly, tangling with the fishmen. Both sides wielded primitive-looking but deadly weapons. Blood occasionally bubbled up from below, and the surface was littered with fragments of bodies and feathers from both sides.

Suddenly, sharp cries came from above as a group of harpies circled overhead. They had noticed the arrival of the octopus corpse and began warning their comrades on the shore, preparing to launch a desperate attack to distract it.

“Ram, drop the illusion!” Wu Qingsong shouted.

They had chosen a landing spot without other giant octopuses or those massive mantis shrimp-like creatures, and at only twenty or thirty meters from the shore, the risk of dropping the illusion was minimal. However, if they ended up fighting the birdmen too, they would have no escape route left.

One harpy soared to a higher altitude, then suddenly folded its wings and dived toward the submerged octopus, ready to sacrifice itself for an attack. But just as it reached maximum speed, the area below distorted, revealing a large piece of odd-looking wood and a group of strange creatures.

The harpy hesitated, instinctively spreading its wings to slow down, but it was too late to avoid collision.

“Liuli!” Wu Qingsong urgently called out, activating Liuli’s ability. 

Through long practice, her cooldown time between uses had significantly decreased, and with hardly any energy used previously, she was nearly at full power.

Just as the harpy was about to crash into the raft, Liuli grabbed it mid-air, swiftly spinning twice to dissipate its momentum before flinging it back into the sky.

The harpy flailed its wings frantically but managed to regain balance and flew back up into the air.

“Everyone shout with me!” Wu Qingsong called out loudly. “We are friends!”

“We are friends!”

“Not enemies!”

“Not enemies!”

As they continued to rush toward the beach, they shouted loudly, but it was clear that the birdmen didn’t understand the beastmen’s language. However, Wu Qingsong started controlling the giant octopus zombie to furiously attack the surrounding fishmen, which proved to be more effective than any language.

The harpies continued to circle above them but showed no further intent to attack.

The penguins on the beach wriggled out of the way of the oncoming raft, staring in astonishment at the octopus zombie that had gone berserk and attacked its own kind. At that moment, Liuli leaped ahead and landed on the beach, letting out a meow before charging at the nearest mantis shrimp.

“Don’t go head-on with it,” Wu Qingsong hastily advised.

“Got it!” Liuli responded with a bit of irritation. “I’m not an idiot!”

The shore was littered with rocks, and she quickly found one large and suitable enough to wield. Amid the penguins’ cries of alarm, she raised it and charged at the mantis shrimp.

The giant crustacean spotted the rapidly approaching object and retracted its massive hammer-like claws before striking out at lightning speed, shattering the rock. But Liuli took advantage of the opportunity to jump onto its back, continuously smashing its eyes and head with a sharp rock.

She couldn’t break through its hard exoskeleton, but she quickly reduced its eyes to a pulp and snapped off several antennae at the base, depriving it of its sensory organs. The creature instinctively recoiled, jumping back into the water, where it began attacking everything around it in a frenzy.

Liuli jumped off its back and, visibly annoyed, skipped across the water before running back to the shore. Then she immediately dashed toward another mantis shrimp.